#and byleth never gets their humanity back either

[teaveetamer]

Like alright, say what you will about Fates’s story. Love it or hate it, at least we all generally agree on what the fuck happened.

No one is still discussing 3H because the story is just that Deep™️ and Good™️ that there’s always something more to find. People are still discussing 3H because people fundamentally do not agree on key aspects of the plot. And I cannot stress this enough, that’s just bad writing.

Like, can you imagine if we went the entirety of Triangle Strategy without defining whether or not the Roselle were actually oppressed or not, and that plot point was left entirely up to “how oppressed do you want them to be?” The oppression of the Roselle is not only a major aspect of one main character’s arc, it’s also a key detail for the entire conflict of the game. You cannot remove it or alter it significantly without running into some severe writing problems.

Like picture with me, for a moment, a Triangle Strategy wherein, on Frederica’s route, you discover that the Roselle have been horrifically oppressed for hundreds of years and your goal is to break them out. However on Roland’s route, because they didn’t want you to feel too bad about liking Roland, they game said “actually the Roselle aren’t that oppressed and even if they were, enslaving them is a necessity, so Roland has a point, actually. Fredrica is just overreacting.” Not only do both of those viewpoints exist within the game, the developers do nothing to develop the Roselle outside of their one appearance in either ending.

That’s basically how 3H treats the Nabateans. Their genocide at the hands of humanity is not only a key plot point, it’s the entire basis of the main character’s existence. Without it, Byleth would not exist. It should be important. But actually utilizing that or engaging with the questions it brings up would make one of the lords look bad. So the Nabateans have to live in this awkward space where they’re clearly a genocided race, the game says as much, but the game can’t focus on that too much for fear of making their main waifu less marketable. So you have Verdant Wind “my family was slaughtered by humans who drank their blood and turned their bones into gruesome weapons. Everyone and everything I ever loved was taken from me and I’ve been fighting desperately to get it back ever since” right next to Crimson Flower “lol, she’s crazy and evil, whatever, just kill her because I think she needs to be stopped” right next to Azure Moon “Rhea who? Never heard of her.”

The game can’t ever commit to one thing with her because committing to one thing with her risks making another major character come off as fundamentally unappealing (or just plain stupid, depending on which version of Rhea/worldbuilding they commit to). And then just for extra lols, the game literally gives you a library with a bunch of Alternative Facts Worldbuilding and says “idk, just pick which version you like best.” If the game can’t even agree on the basic fundamentals of a character and lore, how are we supposed to? Which is why we keep having the same goddamn arguments over and over. Not because the game is deep, but because the game can’t commit.

[deathbirby]

Sitri and the Others

This topic was suggested to me by @dovehearts-blog! Feel free to suggest your own topics to me.

We're going to look at Byleth's mother, Sitri. Who was she? What was she like? Were there others like her?

Let's unpack!

Creation

I thought that I could regain all I had lost, if only I could revive my mother... And so I tried to bring her back by creating a body, and then burying a Crest Stone within it. A young woman I created...my twelfth try after much heartache...was a failure.

Rhea created twelve vessels in order to revive her mother. She did this by creating a (human) body, and embedding the Crest of Flames in it. All of these vessels were failures as they lacked the conscience of the goddess. And yet, the Crest of Flames would give life to the body. These vessels would come and go in the span of a thousand years. The twelfth one was called Sitri.

Life

Sitri grew up with a frail constituion and was unable to go outside the monastery because of that.

Still, people talked to her. Aelfric and Jeralt were two men who held romantic feelings for her. Sitri did not smile often, but she would always brighten up when Jeralt brought her flowers. The two of them fell in love over time, and Aelfric was willing to watch her walk away, if only she kept smiling.

Sitri and Jeralt wed, and she became pregnant in time. She was so happy during this time, but that joy would not last long.

Death

The childbirth was too much for her and the baby. Byleth was stillborn, and Sitri was in grave danger. Sitri pleaded with Rhea to save her baby.

"My heart... Give it to my child."

Doing nothing would have led to the death of both the mother and child, and so Rhea granted her final wish. It worked. The baby started breathing.

Sitri died, surrendering her life so Byleth's might begin.

Vessels

Sitri and Byleth's names are derived from demons mentioned in the Ars Goetia. Listed in order of sigil, you get:

Bael

Agares

Vassago

Samigina

Marbas

Valefor

Amon

Barbatos

Paimon

Buer

Gusion

Sitri

Beleth

Not all of these names are feminine-sounding. While it seems unlikely that Rhea would create male vessels for her mother, it is not outside the realm of possibility. She never raises any concern about Byleth possibly being male.

There is also the possibility that some names might've been slightered altered to sound more feminine if all the vessels were female.

Or the names could pass off as either gender. It really depends on how you view it.

Soul

One might wonder if the eleven vessels before Sitri had their own souls like she did. I lean towards yes. Rhea doesn't sacrifice lives to revive her mother; otherwise, she would've shanked the apostles and drained all their blood for the Rite of Rising.

I believe that did they have their own souls and that they lived as long as they could because Rhea didn't want to outright murder them. A thousand years divided by twelve gives you around 83 years for each vessel's lifespan. Of course, they were likely frail and had shorter lifespans than the average person, but that still gives each of them a relatively long life.

Nabatean..?

Sitri has green hair and green eyes like Nabateans, but we never see her ears, so who knows. Rhea does say in the Japanese version that she created a human body, but that might be a translation error on my part.

STILL

SHOW ME THOSE EARS

Edit: @randomnameless mentioned that Sitri's body didn't decay. That would put her closer to a Nabatean than a human.

#fe3h #analysis #sitri

[kyogre-blue]

Second chapter of CF down. Bye, Claude <3

I powered through yet another month of boring monastery stuff with the single thought of seeing Claude again (and killing him <3). If nothing else, this route is much more amusing than SS because I can see characters I care about doing stuff... as the enemy... but they're there!

Which really just highlights again how much of a missed opportunity Academy phase really is. They have all your future enemy units in the same place with you and then do basically nothing to make you care about them. It's all left onto replay or presuming they have off-screen relationships.

Aside from that, Edelgard's narrative about the Relics, human superiority and anti-dragon people is... hm. Well, it sure is a thing! Given how blatantly misconstrued some of the stuff she's saying gets (eg, about the Relics), the writers had to have been intentionally writing her as being utterly misguided, and I get that you're buying into her coolaid in the CF route. But the fact that you can't ever confront her about it in other routes despite all the "if only we could have understood each other :(" is just so.... sigh. It's unsatisfying to put it mildly.

Live blogging:

Hubert and Ferdie B: Hubert goes against Edelgard's explicit orders for something.

Felix says he's killed tons of people for the empire in the last five years and has the same look in his eyes now as Dimitri. lol

Dimitri with both eyes <3

Hubert's pre-Bridge conversation is hilarious. We need to cooperate with the Agarthans (presented as Arundel's subordinates) because we need to topple the Church! This is a very painful decision for Edelgard because you see they used her father as a puppet and killed her siblings :( Why are we more opposed to the church than these assholes? Well, because, I guess.

Bridge mission - nothing interesting. We do fight Judith, who has a unique model but is never playable. She's holding the bridge because Acheron is useless. He shows up as a horse guy (I'm pretty sure he was a mage in another route?) and then ditches after only one turn.

Afterwards, everyone makes fun of Edelgard for doing a bad job running the war until now because she's been too into Byleth. I've heard this angle before, but I think the actual difference is kind of mixed. They made less progress in the Kingdom, but that was all on Cornelia anyway, so it comes down more to Rhea not getting captured, presumably because she didn't have Byleth weighing her down. And the Alliance situation was never a real invasion in the five year gap to begin with. SS did have Lorenz siding with the Empire, but the exact in and out is kinda... hard to track.

Anyway, now we're in the Claude killing month!

Talk about how Claude has been acting as intermediary between those that oppose the Empire and those who support it, keeping them from fighting each other. Since everyone is compromising to keep the Alliance united for now, no one has openly sided with the Empire either.

But now he's scheming something, as we know because people have been stopped from entering or leaving Derdriu.

Everyone else: Claude is a smart, tough opponent. Bernie: Who's Claude

Ladislava is tasked with managing the supply lines and keeping the Goneril territories under control.

Being betrayed by Byleth made Rhea crack. "She started laughing as if she was possessed and spouting complete gibberish..."

Edelgard: Why can't people admit defeat without fighting back first? If they're going to surrender after I crush them under my boot, why not surrender without fighting? (Logically collolary: If you choose to fight, die fighting and never surrender. Explains why she's Like That in Azure Moon: sunk cost fallacy)

Edie is "not disinterested" in romance lol

Caspar family drama: His older brother is lazy, greedy and skates by relying on his position as heir. Their grandfather was really obsessed with his second wife, Randolph's mom. And she really wanted Randolph to become the heir, but the grandfather had to step down "earlier than expected," so Caspar's dad took over the title. With all this, Caspar's brother is really worried about the possibility of I guess Randolph taking over as heir instead.

This has.... interesting implications, I guess.

First, this makes Randolph Caspar's uncle, lmao

Second, I really, really wonder if Randolph was the grandpa's biological child. His mom explicitly married in after he was already born, but she could just as easily have been the grandpa's mistress. Either way, we get a very funny inheritance situation because Randolph does not have a crest, we can see that in his battle stats. So either crest ownership just doesn't matter in this case (lol Edie), or even wilder, you can just pass on your title to a completely unrelated child. Even if they ARE related, that's likely unprovable without a crest. (lol Edie extra hard)

Third, I wonder what the exact timeline here is? Because if Caspar's dad took over recently enough, he might not have been the lord who took part in the Insurrection. That might explain why he's inexplicably so chill about helping Edie take the throne and gain a whole ton of military power.

Edie, of course, turns this around as "this is the price of taking your own desires into account when choosing an heir" and this is why "the concept of nobility is decaying" but isn't Edie opposed to nobility in the first place? And she doesn't plan to institute a democracy anyway, so isn't everyone just going to be choosing their heirs based on "their own desires"?

She goes on to say that she wants a world where the best rise to the top and succeed, "regardless of bloodline," but uuuuuh this entire situation is about how the grandpa did not follow bloodline properly...? And all this also means that Caspar's bro can absolutely be removed from his position as heir, regardless of his bloodline...?

Caspar is like "ok, so you're saying nothing would change for me in your world, right?" L M A O

The way Edie presents the history of the Relics is so... "Relics were created by the hands of mankind" imo I wouldn't really count the Agarthans as particularly human anymore, and also this wasn't exactly something triumphant. "Seiros manipulated the people of the world and defeated the all-powerful King Nemesis" Nemesis was indeed tough, but you don't need to lick his boots quite that much. "Should the one leading the people of the world by someone with humanity or a creature that can merely masquerade as a human at will?" Given that you turn into an inhuman monster when you feel like it, which side of this binary do you fall on, Edie? I personally feel that Flayn, Seteth and Rhea have plenty of humanity even if they aren't human...

"The Immaculate One and her family"... dang, this phrasing is really...

This knowledge is passed down from emperor to emperor, huh. I know this kind of thing! Naruto taught me all about it! I remember that Uchiha tablet full of bullshit!

Byleth has been compared to Nemesis now. Hm.

Claude scene <3 He's upset about Judith dying, and that many more people will die following his orders. But of course he also talks himself up "do you have any idea how much of the Alliance adores me and believes in in me?" How much? Hm... about half? I remember SS and Lorenz leading the other half.

Anyway, Nader is also here.

Linhardt stupid take: "It's as if Crests were designed to be used only in times of war." How can you use them in peace-time? My dude...

There are three gates that connect Derdriu proper to its naval port. It looks like the naval port is a reinforced, walled area where the ships must dock before any goods or people can move into the city itself.

Killed Lysithea with Caspar, but I still get the prompt to spare her. I don't like these, it's too easy!

lol Claude keeps being upset that people are too stubborn to retreat even though he tells them to. My man, this is what happens when the Alliance adores you, it's called ride or die for a reason

The Almyran King fighting on the front lines... as expected.

Nader has been a soldier for 30-odd years. Incidentally, he retreats rather than outright being killed like Judith and Hilda... and Claude. It seems he has no dialogue for if Claude is killed first. Too bad!

#playing fire emblem

[butwhatifidothis]

why are Rhea and Claude allowed to lie or kill for the ‘greater good’, but edelgard is the one who is evil for it when she literally had no other way but to go along with theagarthians who had power over her she only got agency back when she got byleth and others near the end ( and was able to find agarthian base ( if she stepped out of line she would be killed

Because that is not why Edelgard does what she does. By her own admission. Multiple times.

You can maybe, perhaps, argue that she couldn't fight back against TWS or whatever - I don't agree due to her attitude and words whenever she confronts them, but that's besides the point. Because never once is fear for what TWS will do to her ever stated to be why Edelgard starts her war.

She starts her war because, along with getting rid of the Church, she wants to eliminate Faerghus and Leicester and force them back under Adestria's banner. This is what she explicitly states at the end of the literal first cutscene she's in upon the player entering CF's timeskip. She starts her war because she wants to get rid of the Nabateans. This is what she explicitly says at the beginning and near the end of CF, her S support and even a cutscene right before the timeskip happens. She has been planning this war for what is implied to be years - a long time, certainly (links goes to a post I made that'd already went over this point specifically).

And all of the things she says she's starting her war over - the Church's corruption and its control over Faerghus and Leicester, who themselves are also corrupt - fall incredibly flat. The Western Church in Faerghus is in open revolt with the Central Church. The Eastern Church has no power at all - the lords of the Alliance don't even pray out of fear of not doing so (since they're the ones who hold power over the Eastern Church), but purely because it makes them look better. And all of the "corruption" the Church is accused of is stuff that Edelgard herself does. Lying to the public and even hiding the truth from close friends (two links refer to one incident), violently suppressing everyone who rejects her violent regime, wanting to rule Fodlan - it's shit she either does or even flat out admits to doing herself.

Compare that to Rhea. She lies about the origins of Crests and the true nature of Nemesis and the Elites. Why? To protect her family from extremely likely danger were the truth of Crests ever to come out - something that she, nevertheless, recognizes wasn't good of her to do (and is proven right to worry about as seen by Flayn’s kidnapping because of her Nabatean blood). She banned certain technologies for a time. Why? Because the last time humanity had hold of advanced technology (that they'd gotten from Nabateans mind) they blew up Fodlan and she felt it prudent to prevent that from happening again - something that, in any case, she obviously retracted at some point (as all of the banned items appear in some way in the game). She creates homunculi to be used as vessels for Sothis to enter and regain consciousness in. Why? Because she feels that Sothis is the only one that can help Fodlan due to her immense power - something that, in any case, she admits was wrong of her to do, and when a vessel gained consciousness she treated them as their own person (though this takes longer with Byleth). And Rhea, in WC, only ever kills people who have already threatened either her life or the lives of others.

Compare that to Claude. He lies about the truth of his origins. Why? Because he knows that should his mixed-race heritage be revealed in Fodlan it would put him in extreme danger and prevent him from achieving his dreams - something that is proven right of him to worry about, once the DLC dropped. He manipulates Byleth into joining his side. Why? Because he feels he needs the power the SotC gives him in order to achieve his dreams - something that he grows out of through the course of GD/VW. When Claude kills it is either because of 1) people trying to kill him first, or 2) the war that Edelgard started.

Edelgard is the villain for doing what she does because she is doing the things she does for morally bankrupt, selfish, and horrific reasons (when they're not flat out wrong) and through morally bankrupt, selfish, and horrific methods. She never apologizes for any of the things she's done to people. She never grows out of doing these things to people. Unlike Rhea and Claude, who learn to develop past their flaws (even as understandable as those flaws may be), Edelgard makes no effort to amend her violent imperialism, or her flagrant racism, or her use of violent and inhumane methods of getting what she wants.

None of this has to do with TWS. They didn't force her to have the want to eliminate Faerghus and Leicester, they didn't make her say the dehumanizing things she says about the Nabateans - that was all Edelgard. And I'm sorry, trying to compare her to Rhea and especially Claude (who, let's be honest, does nothing like these two do) as standing on similarly morally high ground by distilling all that they've done as "lying and killing" while overlooking all of the context surrounding the three of them is... not the most fair argument to make

#ask #anon #exqueuese me princess #anti edelgard #anti-edelgard #edelgard critical #edelgard discourse #just to be safe #Rhea admits that she was wrong. Claude stops trying to manipulate Byleth. They both grow out of their flaws #meanwhile Edelgard is sittin' over here just. Not doing that #I hope I wasn't too rude!

[gascon-en-exil]

"Pointing out that fictional characters aren't real never leads to anything, aside from sometimes the accusation that liking certain ships hurts real people." HOW? how does liking to ship Alear with the children of an alternate version of their evul dad hurts people ?? How does liking Byleth with their ex- students hurts people ?? How does liking Robin marrying the alternate version of their kids' friend thanks to time travel hurts people ??

By that logic, would'nt Chrobin, a ship consisting of shipping a man with the alternate version of his muderer hurt people too ??

It's typically framed as normalizing problematic things that have hurt people in real life. In this case though there will never be the acknowledgement that FE's stock in trade for incest is winking subtext between siblings, with other types being rare and with actual parental incest (what people usually think of when it comes to real-life cases) being limited to a single instance in Three Houses that's unambiguously portrayed as negative and results in a lot of murder. It's really just a way to bash ships that you're not into, but antis like to pretend that it's about victims. It's not so different from complaints about the abundance of M/M content coming from fujoshi fetishizing queer men...when most of us either aren't even aware that yaoi is a thing or don't care that it exists.

As for Chrobin, that never comes up when there are simpler ways to dismiss the ship. M/M Chrobin don't get an S rank; M/F Chrobin has Sumia briefly appearing with Chrom and their child in the Awakening intro. Yes, that's dumb - but apparently that was a source of quite the shipping war back in the day over which of those two is Chrom's "canon" wife.

If we are on moral territory, wouldn't it be more moral to pair up Alear with someone of their kinds since Alear is not human and longetivity stuff ? dunno makes more sense to pair them up with a fell dragon rather than a human because species.

If we go down that route we'll eventually reach something like the anti-Studentleths, who evaluated every Byleth ship in Houses and came to the conclusion that their only appropriate partner is...Jeritza. Because

Only S ranks matter for "representation"; everything else is fanon,

Straight ships aren't progressive enough so they're out,

Byleth/any student is grooming and pedophilia,

the Nabateans are incest, plus Rhea is evil and Sothis is a loli

That only leaves M/M Bylitza: the pairing that involves one party enthusiastically describing how they'd violently murder each other.

Yep.

#Fire Emblem

[dmclemblems]

Different anon, but I recall rhea in hopes confirms she does know about claudes heritage, she tells Dimitri that Claude isn't from Fodlan .

Headcanon but I think she knew the whole time and just decided not to say anything because

1. she knows how people will react to him being Almyran.

2. when Godfrey died House Riegan was left without an heir which would lead to chaos in the Alliance, Then an heir magically shows up and it brings back some semblance of order. Knowing Rhea she would prefer peace over chaos any day.

So I think her reasons for keeping his background secret is both out of compassion (as she was born a Nabatean that humans have attempted to genocide. she knows what its like to feel like an "outsider") and for practical reasons to keep the peace.

And the idea she knowingly accepted an almyran into her school and accepted that he would one day become the leader of the alliance is a fascinating prospect!

The idea that she's against fodlan forging foreign relations is so bizarre 😂

Well, everyone knows Claude isn't from Fodlan so I'm not certain Rhea knows he's from Almyra specifically. She does probably know that he's being treated as "different" though, similar to what Dedue deals with even if without the "your people murdered Faerghus' king" accusations.

I do think she kept quiet about any ideas she might've had because yeah, if she figured out he was from Almyra (which is probable because of Cyril, i.e. they both have Almyran fighting styles and Rhea has been around long enough to become familiar with that kind of thing), if she said anything then it would've definitely caused a lot of tension in Leicester. Gloucester and Goneril probably would've had the most issue with it, and both of them are the two most prominent names after Riegan, so that would be a mess.

As far as compassion, I do think no matter what she knew she wouldn't have done anything to cause Claude stress. If you notice, despite all the times Claude is caught doing something suspicious/acting somewhat shady, or whenever he gets annoyed/mad at her, she never gives him shit for it. He could slap her in the face and she would probably still respond gently and kindly to him. Remember, Seteth caught him with literal pictures of the Immaculate One and he was speculating about it. We don't know if Seteth told Rhea, because that could've been a dangerous leak of information, and we know Seteth was not happy to see those pictures having gotten out (even though they were planted by Solon and not Claude, they were still out there). What we do know is that Seteth was aggravated, but in comparison, Rhea has never become angry with Claude, even when Claude was being impatient and getting aggravated that she was still trying to hide some secrets.

Also, remember that Claude, aside from Byleth who would be obvious to learn about her secrets, is the only human she ever tells everything to. He's the only person who actually knows literally everything and the real history of Fodlan. The other Golden Deer were worried about Rhea after she was wounded and none of them reacted poorly to seeing her identity. Really, she could've told all of them and nothing bad would've happened. In a way, it might've also been a good idea to tell everyone when they were gathered together. It's not bad that she didn't or anything, but she easily could have done so without any bad reactions. Instead, the only human she tells everything to is Claude.

I think that says a lot about how she feels about Claude and the amount of trust she has in him, because the Church has always been close to Faerghus. She never tells Dimitri anything about her identity though. Of course, he never pressed her to whereas Claude did, but Dimitri wouldn't have judged her either. Nobody in Dimitri's most common company would've judged her either. In fact, if she told them, especially in CF, they may have been more inclined to protect her because she was the legendary Seiros, etc. Instead, the only person through every route in both games that she ever tells the whole truth to is Claude in VW.

Don't forget that she could have left things out, too. She could have made up a story that was believable, changed some details, etc. Claude couldn't have known if she did. She could have hidden some facts from him specifically and told only Byleth later. To me it's just very telling how much she trusts Claude and his goals and that he won't later grow into any sort of tyrant for her to have told him everything.

Honestly, as far as the school goes too, I think it makes sense to slowly start letting in some foreigners and not just open the school up to anyone and everyone. By doing it slowly, it allows for people like Claude and Dimitri to start change and garner acceptance for the smaller amount of foreigners first. If she just allowed a bunch of them in all at once, it might have caused more drama. For instance, the stereotypes between Almyra and Fodlan could have definitely caused fights to break out if they were enough people on both sides to take part in fights over that kind of thing. Instead, she has Cyril, who is both a good kid and very diligent as well as someone directly at her side. With Claude, people have met him first before realizing he's from Almyra, so they'd meet him before being able to judge him for his birthplace and upbringing.

Then you have Dedue, and progression with people's relationship toward Duscur is very slow in Houses. If she invited others in from Duscur, it would absolutely cause a fight because people would accuse them and they would react in defense of themselves. It would also cause a split between Faerghus and whoever was starting those fights because Dimitri wouldn't tolerate that happening to Duscur's people.

Petra is a political hostage, so Brigid's standing with the Empire isn't really that great yet. The relationship is still more strained than when Edelgard is emperor, because when she's in full power of her country she can let Petra come and go as Petra pleases. Prior to that, Petra was at the whims of Ionius and not really Edelgard. Many people from Brigid may have been so not okay with what was happening to their princess and Brigid's political standing that it could've caused fights. The best way to slowly integrate Brigid would be to have their princess there, treated well, and have her opinion be formed first so she can influence her people's opinion about Fodlan the way Claude wants to do with Almyra about Fodlan.

Dagda likely wants to stay out of Fodlan situations entirely because of the war, and they seem to keep to themselves now after all that. Shamir is a special case as a mercenary and not really considering anywhere in particular to be "home" for her. She stayed because of a debt to Rhea. Granted, I think her opinion of Rhea and the Church is good enough that she could vouch for them to other people from Dagda if asked.

So honestly, I think Rhea is doing the right thing by slowly integrating other nations into Fodlan and not just opening its gates to anywhere in a mass amount. First Fodlan has to accept others without judgement, and then they can start opening the gates to larger groups of other nations. Technically, she's not really forbidding people to come in, but it makes sense that we aren't seeing a larger number of people from other lands coming in at such a prominent military school.

Also, notice how the people she took in from other lands are mostly royalty or have a strong connection to royalty (i.e. Dedue being close to Dimitri). Definitely helps relations when their leaders will have good things to say about Fodlan.

#DCE Ask

[derekscorner]

Maybe 3 Houses should’ve been Azure Gleam

It’s not that rare a “hot-take”, believe me I know, but it is one I can’t help but agree with after experiencing 3 Houses, its dlc, and 3 Hopes several times through.

Everyone that plays either entry can tell it’s story writing took a bit of a hit due to the branching story routes. 3 Hopes helps a bit to explain some stuff that 3  Houses did not but both suffer from this decision.

The base 3 Houses story is still very enjoyable, I do not wish to make a hit piece (as if I’m popular at all to even attempt that) but there’s holes and questionable actions on the characters part depending on your route.

3 Houses DLC and 3 Hopes add context later as well but some stuff just feels rushed or half baked. Things such as;

Thales being Arundel. (I didn’t learn that till I saw a youtube video)

The full truth of the tragedy in Duscar.

How did Claude sneak in Almyran troops in Verdant Wind?

The whole questionably of Edelgards plans. Her goals are crystal clear but her plans felt rushed at times or her working with Agarthans in general.

The whole step sibling dynamic between Edelgard & Dimitri.

There’s more that I can’t think up off the top of my head, some of these may not even be mysteries to others in their first playthroughs, but these are things I remembered the most during mine.

I will even go as far as to say Verdant Wind is my first and favored route in 3 Houses because it answered the most for me. Rhea lived long enough to explain Byleth, I confronted and destroyed Shambala, and it sprinkled in a bit more of the mysterious history of Fodlan due to Claude always seeking truths.

I’d even argue Verdant Wind is a better “Silver Snow” for those reasons as well as due to Claude himself. He’s written as a tactician and it makes more sense for him to make the schemes I used as opposed to Seteth doing so in Silver Snow.

They both even have these random ass bosses that spring out of nowhere which is a weak point on them but I wont get into that because it’s minor. The point is they explained more and thus I liked Verdant Wind the most.

Silver Snow is just lesser Verdant Wind and Crimson Rose is way too short. I see Rhea and Edelgard as highly complicated, contradictory, but human characters. So I wont go into “Edelgard was wrong” debates either.

My main issues with Crimson Rose are its short length and my inability to agree with working alongside Agarthans. It makes no sense for me, as Byleth, nor Edelgard to not turn on them near the endgame.

Blue Lions

Then there’s Dimitri and the blue lions. I initially weighed this route lower for similar reasons to Edelgard’s. I never confront Shambala, that threat is there when the story ends. I also had no idea that I took out Thales as Arundel since the game didn’t give me enough to deduce it. I love a hub world but I’m not going to visit the Garegg Mach library every month for that kind of lore hint.

I also did not fully adhere to Dimirti’s trauma and rebound because the game did not delve into the Tragedy of Duscar enough. At least not for me. If anything I was more annoyed by his downward spiral by the time he rebounded.

However, upon playing 3 Hopes I can finally see why people like this route the most.

It answers a bit more about that Tragedy, I get to see the regent that was disposed of in 3 Houses, I get to see Dimitri tackle this mystery head on.

He still has his trauma and more negative tendencies but in this story he had people to keep him on track the whole way. I saw him confront Cornelia and ask questions, I saw him sorrowfully cut down his uncle despite having no love lost, and most important was the Agarthans being more present.

In a sense 3 hopes focused more on the tragedy as a subplot due to ‘Those Who Slither in the Dark’ being more present. Shez & Edelgard forced them to act early and openly.

I went through Azure Gleam and by the end I appreciated Azure Moon more because I understood more of it.

My mind also wandered back to videos and posts I had seen when 3 Houses launched. Azure Moon was the more traditional route in that title but it was lacking like the others. It was rushed, 3 Houses needed two routes at most and one at best.

And I can actually agree with that now. Of course, you can also make a similar argument for Edelgard. Her plans in 3 Hopes actually more sense and flow better than they do in 3 Houses. She uses Shez as a chance to cease the empire early, expose her tormentors, and prep for war far earlier.

My only personal issue with Edelgard is that I still feel like she’s burning down the world to rush her ideals. In contrast, Dimitri in 3 Hopes expresses similar sentiments to both Edelgard and Claude but has the wisdom to see that such a thing is a slow process.

Which ties back into his father and the tragedy. Duscar’s Tragedy taught him that you can’t rush change, it all comes full circle for his character to believe that. He is more interested in routing those who slaughtered his family and an innocent nation for personal greed.

His path through the story is about stabilizing his people’s lives first, understanding the tragedy second, and implementing slow change later.

And to be blunt I enjoyed that. I wished 3 Houses had been that. It didn’t have to be the exact same story but I liked what 3 Hopes presented as a possible path for Dimitri and his kingdom.

His words, actions, and beliefs circle back to the Tragedy of Duscar. He has some old school medieval drama and, most important, his desire for the truth pushed him toward finding some mysteries shrouded in Fodlan.

I finished Azure Gleam imagining what 3 Houses could’ve been if they had focused on just one story. Dimitri has the perfect set up in that worlds setting to delve into the mysteries and world building all the while growing his character and how his friends react to him.

Essentially, both versions of the Blue Lions from each title had the potential to be a really compelling old school fire emblem story but new. I can’t help but wonder what the story would’ve been had 3 Houses just been Azure moon.

All that creative focus in one route, a route perfectly fashioned to tackle most of what Fodlan had to offer.

You wouldn’t even have to cut the concept of three nations, three leaders, or the three classes. Edelgard and Dimitri’s past gives room to explore that dynamic even before Edelgard starts a war.

And Claude is the perfect advisor. Someone you could potentially recruit since his goals are more inclined toward opening Fodlan’s borders than anything else.

Sure, Claude seeks truth and change but he, like your avatar Byleth, is an outsider and thus his stake in it all feels a little weaker. It’s not as personal despite it being entirely personal.

Perhaps you could’ve even had a few alternative endings depending on whether you recruited Claude or allied with the Leicester Alliance. Heck, imagine how much better it’d feed some supports when you managed to recruit some of the Black Eagles in such a route.

I know I’m rambling at this point so let’s conclude this

After playing 3 Hopes and seeing this alternative Faerghus I can see the appeal of a game focused entirely on the Blue Lions. Their leader had everything needed to make the story more compelling than it became.

The kingdom has the most relics and crests

Dimitri has a personal stake in fighting Edelgard

He has perfect cause to ally with Claude

His pursuit of the truth would naturally force you to confront Shambala

And the kingdom is heavily tied to the church. Your Silver Snow units would be there for you by default. You’d be able to learn the truth of Byleth too.

All the core aspects of the four routes (and dlc) can be found in Azure Moon. Azure Gleam showed me what they could’ve been and I earnestly believe 3 Houses should’ve just been one route, the Blue Lions.

=======================================

Editors Note: This is a bit of a spin off from my traditional: Fiery Opinions posts. You’ll find the rest in that link if you’re curious about my trip through Fire Emblem.

#fire emblem #fe3h #fe3wh #fe #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #edelgard von hresvelg #claude von riegan #fiery opinions

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

Y'know, the more you look at it, CF really felt like a tidal wave of inconsistencies. Like it wants to tell its own story but it's attached to a game that has 3 routes where the exact same events more or less happens between the Academy and war phase. Like I'm sure someone will say "just treat it like its own game" but I don't get why we have to do that when we didn't have to in the other routes.

Here's my thing. I'm of the belief that each of these routes can stand on its own. The problem is what's in them. Bear with me, because I've gone for my usually obscene ratio of ask-to-response wordcount.

I get into pretty typical discourse-y things, which can wear people out by now, so if that's not your vibe, either mute the "s talks shit" tag or scroll past.

AM is the strongest route. And that's not my bias talking; you spend White Clouds literally cleaning up Kingdom messes, and when its shining hope loses himself to his crippling mental illness, you accompany him on his journey back to his place on the throne. It's a moving, character-driven story, right from the word go, and you're presented with Kingdom messes that are very, very bad. Boom, done. Kingdom is healing like you've been told it's needed to the whole game (like . . . literally all of it dflgjdf), and you've either gone on or witnessed an emotional rollercoaster. You are given resolution; the world is healing, and so is the prince-now-king.

VW and SS serve as stories about Fódlan. This functions better on SS because Byleth cannot, by the very nature of their character's function, have as much personality or presence as the other route lords; this leaves more room to focus on the history. Perfectly fine. Claude gets shafted, we've established this, but he sprinkles in an emphasis on opening up borders after years of turmoil inside of them; we got crumbs of a really cool dude, and we'll make cake from that if we have to. Sadly, here, he's just window dressing, but he doesn't detract from the story at all. All the lore buildup we got is resolved by a dump at the back end of the story which is . . . meh? But what are you going to do.

Now. The meat of this ask: CF is a story of inconsistencies. That the writers were going for that does not escape me. However. You need to have played the whole game to get hit full-force by these inconsistencies. The small lies, the omissions, the differences in lore--the only way you're going to know this story is lying to you, trying to tell a tragedy of warmongering dressed up as heroism on the part of its protagonist, is if you're familiar with the rest of the game.

I cannot stress enough that this is not a problem you encounter in the rest of the game. You don't lose out on AM by not learning the Nabatean lore; the story holds out just fine. You don't lose anything by leaving dimicIaude out of SS or Dimitri out of Verdant Wind because, well, while unification is never sexy, this was just never about them, it was about Fódlan. (though, I'm still of the "BAD SILVER SNOW, BAD" train for that one Dimitri cutscene . . . what the fuck was that. Have I not suffered enough? HAS HE NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH? but I digress.)

Each of these stories should be self-contained. You shouldn't have to need to play them all. So I find the omission of the Relics' true origins of being Nabatean corpses (in an event called the Truth About Relics, no less) a curious one. I've no doubt it's because EdeIgard herself wasn't told, but as a story, that's a pretty substantial lie to allow to go uncontested in a story. (Never mind that I'm throwing up in my mouth at humanity being secretly controlled by the people who are not at all human. Shut up, I fucking beg you. This is why I can't play this route.)

Now, that's not to say it lets everything go. EdeIgard lies to the Beagles about who fucked Arianrhod; she knows she lied, you know she lied, she's a liar. She blames the victims of her invasion for fighting back; she doesn't think about the extent of her actions beyond their impact on her. Assuming one is not ableist as all get out and thinks it was good that Dimitri died, you know that he is not at fault for literally doing what any sensible human being would do: defend their home. From that you could, and should, arguably, determine that you can't trust her as far as you can throw her in her full-blown Emperor regalia. But the problem with CF is that it takes the red herring of the church and turns it into . . . well. what's the opposite of a red herring?

It never subverts your expectation. The Church is suspicious in White Clouds and becomes the antagonist, with EdeIgard telling you that the people you're gunning for are eeeevil and inhuman and vile.

Example: The treatment of the Immaculate One in CF.

You get an event in GD-WC of Claude going into the story of the Immaculate One; you learn that its a creature divine in nature. To the best of my recollection, you never get that on BE-WC or CF. All you get is--oop! Church lady is now a dragon and she's angry at me. Did I just defend a graverobber? Maybe. But hooooly shit is she scary.

And let's get this straight. When Rhea transforms in the Holy Tomb, she isn't cited as a holy creature. Oh no.

In fact, I just went through every single Beagle event in the game. Oh yes. Paralogue to killing Rhea in Fhirdiad. I just CTRL+F'd the fuck out of the datamine. Which means everything in the main story, i.e., nothing you can miss like supports, paralogues, side battles. Unless you're pressing the skip button, at which point, godspeed.

Back to the point: There is nothing about the Immaculate One's holy origins. All you get is her being called a monster. And while that should raise flags in your brain, because when has THAT ever been good, in my eyes there is too much room to not necessarily agree with EdeIgard, but have no contradictory evidence to all the shadiness you got fed in WC and are now being fed in CF. EdeIgard will falsely accuse her and her family of pulling humanity's strings, and call her a vile creature, and she and Ferdinand will talk about defeating her without mentioning how, for all intents and purposes, that is indeed the dragon on the Church of Seiros' flag. You just killed a holy symbol for an entire-ass religion, and the tragedy of that, if not the outright criminality, is not played hard enough.

Frankly, and I cannot believe I'm saying this--this route did not lean hard enough into its inconsistencies. To really catch all of this stuff, you would need the rest of the game as a base. That should not be the case. This route should stand on its own as a story of ignorance and generational misinformation, if not disinformation, and the hubris that breeds in people who think they're going to be the one to take a jackhammer to a world of glass and claimed they fixed it. I think this route should have taken the time to present you with several sets of facts, no matter how true; think the "telescopes were banned" v. "stars are millions of years away" thing, but on a larger narrative scale. And then force the player into a series of choices that follow the inconsistent, illogical explanations for those inconsistencies. Really sell the whole path of ignorance. Make the player feel horrendous. While I won't be unfair and say CF doesn't do that at all, it uses the other routes as a crutch to do most of that work. That shouldn't be the case.

Anyway. This is just my opinion. I know a lot of this is old news by now, and I'm gonna stay out of the tags with this one because while I enjoy talking about these things with mutuals, I'm so not in the mood for this to reach a larger audience lol. Thank you for the ask, anon!

#s talks shit #s responds #anonymous metropolis

[bouwrites]

Those Warm and Halcyon Days: Chapter 29

Dividing the World

Ao3.

First, Previous, Next.

Story under read-more.

“Your Crest gives you enhanced strength, Veery, does it not?”

Veery gives Professor Hanneman a flat look but doesn’t allow his gaze to linger. Watching Marianne is much more interesting. “I don’t know anything about Crests,” Veery says. “That’s your thing.”

Professor Hanneman chuckles good-naturedly. “True enough. Still, though you do not exhibit the kind of strength that one would see from someone with the Crest of Blaiddyd, nor do your attacks bear the force that might be granted by the Crest of Fraldarius, you are quite strong for someone of your size.”

Veery shrugs. “I mean… I guess? I’m stronger when I’m shifted, but I doubt a normal human could beat a regular lion my size in a match of strength, either. And like this I’m not that much stronger than anyone else.”

“Hm.” Professor Hanneman strokes his beard thoughtfully. “Then perhaps Maruice’s Crest achieves that strength through a similar means as your shifting.”

“Directly altering the muscles?” Veery asks. “Sort of a… partial shifting to give her more muscle? Maybe strengthening the bone, too?”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible,” Professor Hanneman says. “We will, of course, need data. As we are this is purely speculation.”

Veery frowns. “I wouldn’t be sure it has anything to do with my Crest. All the other Crests seem to have effects for you humans that I’ve never seen in any agell. I don’t see why Marianne’s would work like mine does, even partially.”

Professor Hanneman nods. “Ordinarily, I would agree with you. But Marianne told me about the taguel, and your theory that she may be a descendant of one.”

“Technically, she’d be taguel herself,” Veery says, crossing his arms. “Though I guess it’s probably so far that if she wanted to call herself human then she can get away with it. It depends on if she can shift, really. No denying it after that, one way or another.”

“If she is indeed capable of shifting as you do, she would need Maurice’s Relic, Blutgang. The Crest Stone matching her Crest is likely a requirement. That said, given the rumors of Maruice’s Crest turning its bearers into beasts even without the Relic, it’s possible that the Crest Stone is less a requirement than a stabilizer, making the transformation safe and at will as yours is.” Professor Hanneman hums. “Either way, if the transformation is possible at all, it would imply that her Crest functions in a similar way as yours – by physically transforming the body.”

Veery purses his lips, watching as Marianne slashes once again at a training dummy with her sword. “I can’t argue with that. I don’t have the faintest idea what would happen if I tried shifting without my heart.” He sighs. “…I mean, I’d be dead without my heart, so that’s a moot point, but you get what I mean.”

“Indeed.”

As Veery and Professor Hanneman fall quiet, simply observing, Professor Byleth corrects Marianne’s form. Marianne blushes, and furrows her brow, but quickly makes the adjustments and tries again.

Veery naturally knows next to nothing about swordplay, but even so Leonie’s words to him way back when he first arrives in Garreg Mach still hold water. There are principles that carry over no matter how one fights, and though Veery can’t comment on Marianne’s grip or use of the blade, he can watch her balance, posture, and stance, among other things. (Not for the first time, he wonders how humans keep their balance without tails – though to those who grow up without them in the first place, perhaps adding a tail would throw them more off-balance.)

It shouldn’t be surprising that Marianne isn’t really that bad with a sword. Though primarily a healer, it’s not as if she doesn’t see combat fairly regularly, and she is still trained by Professor Byleth, so that her fundamentals are all solid is expected.

Of course, with her ability to heal from a distance, something Veery definitely lacks, and her affinity with animals, Professor Byleth is considering putting her on a horse, so though Veery doesn’t usually observe even the Golden Deer’s practice when he’s not participating himself (and thus doesn’t often see the shyer students like Marianne working on weapon skills) he imagines she has at least some experience with lances. Maybe even swords as well.

Actually, Veery has no idea how far Professor Byleth and Marianne are with that horse plan. That might already be in motion. Though, at this point in the year, Marianne likely won’t be on the level of the likes of Leonie or Lorenz before graduation.

“My, is that Hilda?” Professor Hanneman says suddenly, drawing Veery’s attention to the girl approaching Professor Byleth and Marianne. “Coming willingly to the training grounds? If we’ve not already had a divine intervention, I’d suspect a miracle.”

Veery snorts. “Isn’t that kind of rude to say about a student?”

“Oh perhaps,” Professor Hanneman chuckles. “But I do sincerely doubt Hilda herself would disagree.”

“…Yeah, probably.”

Veery’s ear twitches as he focuses on the conversation. Something about Fódlan’s Throat and the Almyrans beyond it. That already catches Veery’s attention. Are they going to Fódlan’s Throat? Can they see Almyra from there? Ordinarily, Veery will happily sit out of these little excursion missions – like when the class went out to Gloucester territory to do the duke’s job for him (though, that was when Veery was injured, so no one actually asked him to come anyway), but the opportunity to get a glimpse of Almyra is certainly tempting.

Then Cyril, who is cleaning some training weapons nearby, actually puts his work down to insert himself into the conversation. Veery still doesn’t know Cyril that well, but that’s more of a miracle than Hilda coming to the training ground in the first place in his mind.

“…I got captured in a battle at the Locket, and that's how I ended up here. So, I’m kind of worried that other kids who lose their folks might not be so lucky.”

Veery hears this and immediately starts making his way closer to the conversation. Eavesdropping is fine and all, but Cyril wants to go to the Throat to look out for orphaned children? Because House Goneril apparently takes them as servants and don’t treat them well?

This is the first Veery hears about such practices. Cyril uses the word servant, but Veery has a hard time believing that the children of the Goneril’s defeated enemies are anything but slaves. He doesn’t suspect it, because Hilda is overall a nice – if manipulative and occasionally frightening – girl who, for all her faults, definitely values everyone equally (there is a reason Claude likes her so much, and it’s not just for the banter), but even so…

There’s not much that Veery won’t accept humans to be capable of. Frankly, he thinks some agell are capable of forcing humans into slavery; it’s even easier to imagine the opposite.

“Can I come, too?” Veery asks, looking to Hilda.

Hilda actually raises her brow, looking at him with the same incredulity of someone looking at her offering to work. “You actually want to?” Hilda asks. “You always complain about being dragged into our missions.”

Veery shrugs. It’s the orphaned children being forced into slavery that really gives him the incentive, but Veery thinks it’s probably wise to keep that to himself directly in front of Hilda – at least until he actually sees the situation for himself. “Honestly, I’ve pretty much accepted that I’m a Deer at this point. And I want to see the Throat. Can you see Almyra from there?”

“It’s a mountain range,” Cyril says bluntly. “If you get on the other side of the mountain, then sure you can.”

“Neat.” Veery grins. “I want to see Almyra.” Despite his primary motivation, he isn’t lying. Going willingly into a battle isn’t his style, but this is a rare opportunity to see the Almyrans. Aside from Cyril and the occasional straggler in Abyss, Veery doesn’t know any Almyrans, and he knows next to nothing about them, so he’s naturally curious.

“Well that’s a relief!” Hilda coos. “The more strong allies that come with us, the safer we’ll all be.”

Fódlan’s Throat is… beautiful. Veery can’t contain his grin as he takes in the mountains.

It’s rocky – rockier than Garreg Mach, which is almost entirely lush except around Zanado – in that kind of craggy, precipitous drop kind of way, but there is still a lot of greenery growing on the spires and plateaus of rock. The terrain itself, rocky and precipitous, is like home to Veery, though he admittedly does tend to spend most of his time in Albinea on the shallower base of the mountains where the forest and food is, but the environment beyond that is like something out of a storybook.

It’s warmer this far east, though in the middle of winter it isn’t hot even for Veery, and the gnarled trees growing straight out of vertical rock are strange and alien to Veery. It’s magical how things seem to defy gravity here.

Fódlan’s Locket is almost as awesome as Garreg Mach, a proud, towering wall stretching across the mountains, and when Veery is led up to the top of the Locket, he can look out over the parapets directly into Almyra.

Which is… well, mostly brown. But no less impressive for it! Veery feels like he can see forever with how far the land stretches out before him. Mottled brown, tan, and patches of dull green make up the flatland on the other side of the mountains, the colors all blending together from the distance into a story that tells just a fraction of how vast Almyra is.

“Enjoying the view?”

Veery grins back at Claude, who approaches him on the wall. “Yes!” he exclaims eagerly. “Oh, how fun it would be to run out there…” He turns his gaze back to Almyra, enjoying the wind at his back and imagining simply sprinting through those Almyran plains.

No reason, no destination, just running off into the plains. Veery closes his eyes and feels a faint, hazy memory of flying, soaring endlessly simply because he can. It’s hard to remember, but he knows it’s the dream, the memory, that Sothis gives him after the Sealed Forest. Veery can’t fly and can’t pretend he particularly wants to (he’s used to unsteady terrain, being mountain-born, but he still likes the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet), but the feeling of freedom, of his own power bringing him wherever he pleases, is a hard one to forget, even if he knows it only from a dream.

It’s not so different, Veery suspects, with such a vast expanse of flat, welcoming land in front of him, to run those plains as it is to soar through the sky.

Claude chuckles. “Almyra is certainly different, isn’t it? And this is just a fraction of it. I wish you could see the cities.”

Veery shakes his head. “I’ll take the plains, thanks. You just really want to drag me into civilization, don’t you?”

“What can I say?” Claude says, smiling but doing his best to pout. “I’ll miss you if you’re all alone in the middle of nowhere.”

Veery giggles and nudges Claude affectionately. “I’ll miss you, too. That doesn’t mean I can put up with somewhere like Garreg Mach forever. Maybe you should just join me out in the wilds.”

Claude snorts. “Part of me wishes I could.” He sighs, shaking his head. “But I’ve got responsibilities, and a dream to fulfil.”

“Responsibilities.” Veery rolls his eyes. “All the more reason to live alone. I don’t have any of those.”

“Ha! You’re just a hermit version of Hilda, then?”

“At least we’re honest about being lazy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Claude gasps in mock offense. “I’ll have you know that I am utterly irresponsible.”

“Then run away with me into Almyra,” Veery teases.

Claude smiles, but it quickly turns strained. Veery frowns, wondering what’s wrong, but Claude just fixes his expression into a more relaxed smile – even now, if Veery doesn’t witness his expression change like that, he might mistake it for an honest smile. “Hey, I haven’t told you, yet, but…” Claude starts.

Veery’s ear twitches, picking up on another sound that quickly distracts him from whatever Claude is concerned about. “Sorry, wait,” Veery says quickly silencing Claude, who immediately falls into duty-mode to handle whatever this is as seriously as his position demands. Veery listens. There it is again. “Wyverns,” Veery says.

Claude curses. “The attack is expected to come today,” he mutters. “Let’s go find Hilda and Holst.”

Holst is sick, apparently. Veery doesn’t get the chance to see him, but if he’s bedridden, then no matter what ails him, curing it now won’t have him up and in fighting shape for the battle. Which is now. That means that Hilda, being the only Goneril remaining in any state to fight, is the de facto general.

Hilda.

She is, admittedly, good at telling people what to do, but Veery wouldn’t necessarily peg her as the general type all the same. That being said, she quickly convenes with Claude and Professor Byleth and comes up with a plan which makes Veery feel a little better about Hilda being in charge here.

Of course, Fódlan’s Locket is an impressive fortress, so their side has an advantage anyway. Still, Cyril, Veery, Claude, and Marianne take a hidden path through the mountains to flank the Almyrans as they approach the Locket just to be sure.

Part of Veery is very much not happy that he’s in the thick of the fighting again – though he has to admit that this time, he quite literally asks for it – but another part is actually relieved that he gets to just be a brawler.

Fighting as a healer, or a hybrid, as he typically does, is technically safer – at least now that he can cast while shifted, anyway – but it’ll never be his comfort zone. He’s a cat. Ripping and tearing with his claws is just the way he’s supposed to fight. Magic helps but standing around on a battlefield healing just makes him feel like a sitting duck.

Besides, Veery doesn’t think it’ll be this satisfying to take down a wyvern with just his claws and teeth. There are no wyverns in Albinea, and until now Veery doesn’t face them in battle. Which is a good thing, because wyverns are undoubtedly terrifying predators. All the same, that just means that when it comes down to it and Veery leaps up, digs his claws into a wyvern’s belly, catches its throat in his jaws and manages to get a kick off that shreds part of its wing, and then somehow manages to land with just a tumble and some scratches as he brings the beast down to the earth really scratches at Veery’s pride.

Who’s the top predator now, you overgrown chicken?

As stupid as it is to engage something so large and deadly, Veery is lying massively if he pretends that he doesn’t always get a kick out of surpassing the challenge. Like when he takes down a moose.

In hindsight, Veery is quite sure that he would not be able to take down a war wyvern on his own before Professor Byleth and Leonie and the others start dragging him into training all those months ago. He wouldn’t even consider pulling a stunt like he does here, because he would know that there is no world in which he succeeds, but he supposes that even he improves his martial skills in his time at Garreg Mach.

Marianne chides him for being reckless, which is frankly hilarious, and would baffle the Veery from six months ago, but he really does have the situation under control. Marianne knows him well enough by now to know that while he’s a lot of things, reckless is most certainly not one of those.

Although, with how efficiently Claude and Cyril ground wyverns, Veery does admit that he’s probably better off focusing on the enemies they find on solid ground. In his defense, that wyvern swoops at him, so it kind of deserves it.

Regardless, most of their fight is Claude and Cyril working scarily efficiently to fend off the vast majority of the Almyrans they come across, Veery sniffing out enemies and eliminating anyone who gets too close, and Marianne either healing or shooting fur-raising Thoron spells with the levin sword that Professor Byleth gives her.

It’s nothing any of them aren’t familiar with, frankly. Still, it’s only after the battle is over, when he rejoins everyone else at the Locket, and the chaos of the fight starts to settle that Veery realizes that this isn’t a very impressive invasion force.

Sure, there are quite a few wyverns and the Almyrans are definitely fierce fighters, but this is more of a skirmish than a border war. Veery doesn’t think there’s many more people than Miklan had in Conand Tower, and that was a single bandit gang. He’s not an expert on war or anything, but he’s pretty sure that taking a fortress like the Locket calls for a much more significant showing.

“They aren’t really trying to cross Fódlan’s Throat. I'm not saying they’re not serious, but fights like this one aren’t really invasions.” Cyril says to Professor Byleth.

That explains this battle, then. Cyril explains more, about how it’s just to show off how tough they are and have an excuse to feast, and Veery can’t help but agree that it’s a stupid reason to fight and get people killed.

Veery has his pride. He even has pride as a warrior. Or… hunter, at least. Even just in this battle, the satisfaction of taking down a wyvern with his own strength is something that’ll stick with him and stroke his ego for a while. Even so, pride is no reason to lead people to their deaths, nor to seek out one’s own.

That said, Albineans aren’t much better in that regard. They’re always fighting. They don’t necessarily kill each other, but Veery highly suspects that that’s mostly just because Albinea itself does enough killing. He does hear that Albineans further to the west don’t get along with the ones in the east, though, so maybe there’s even fighting there, but Veery himself usually is too far north to hear about human squabbles, so that’s just rumor.

The brawls he does see, though… It almost makes him want to laugh. Back then, he can only think about how violent these humans are but looking back now… he thinks it’s mostly just posturing and fun. Just like how Leonie and Felix love sparring so much, those Albineans love a good brawl.

So, he tries not to judge the Almyrans for liking to fight. He disapproves of throwing themselves at Fódlan’s Locket, killing Almyrans and Fódlanders alike just for the sake of their fighting culture, but he doesn’t judge them for liking to fight.

He hopes that wyvern will be okay. Veery tries his best not to kill, even though he isn’t under orders not to, and for the most part in the battle the Almyrans seem content to admit loss when they are clearly bested, so he doesn’t like the idea of that wyvern actually dying from this skirmish.

Wyverns are cool. It’d be a shame to die here for such a stupid reason.

“I’m going to drop by my family’s estate and complain to my brother a bit,” Hilda says. “It’s up to you if we spend the night here at the fortress or not, Professor, but I, for one, vote to have comfortable beds.”

Professor Byleth frowns. “Lady Rhea isn’t happy that Veery and I left the monastery at all. We should probably get back as soon as we can.”

“Or we can have baths and beds tonight,” Claude says, smiling teasingly.

Professor Byleth closes her eyes, nodding seriously. “Good point. We’ll stay the night. You’ve all earned the rest, and we’ll be back in time for the revelation either way.”

“That’s the spirit, Teach!”

Veery scoots a little closer to Hilda, who is already preparing to leave the Locket behind her. There are a couple things on his mind, and both lie at the Goneril estate, so it won’t do for him to sit here at the Locket while Hilda goes off alone. “Uh… hey.”

“Hm? Oh, Veery! How can I help you?” Hilda coos sweetly.

“Your brother isn’t here because he’s sick, right?” Veery asks, sticking to the safer of the two things he’s concerned about. “Should… I go see him?”

“Aw.” Hilda grins. “That’s a great idea! Thank you so much for thinking of him. I’d really appreciate it if you could take a look at him. I’m sure it’s nothing serious, but I really can’t risk losing my brother. Without him, guarding this fortress would be my job!”

“And that would be a travesty,” Veery chuckles, only half-joking. Hilda will step up to the plate if she has to, Veery knows, but… serious border general is no more Hilda’s cup of tea than it is Sylvain’s. Then again, if Hilda pulls a Sylvian and tries to negotiate peace with Almyra, then maybe this should be her job. “Well, just take me to him and I’ll do what I can. If he’s willing to let me, anyway.”

Hilda screws up her face. “Don’t worry about that. Holst isn’t… well, you won’t have any problems with him. Except, maybe you might have to fend off his offers to fight you…”

“I’ll just aim him at Professor Byleth,” Veery says. “She’ll fight him.”

“Hah! Oh, I’d love to see that. We might have to be careful that Holst doesn’t fall in love, though. A beautiful woman who can kick his ass? Geez, maybe I shouldn’t have offered to let you guys stay the night so close.”

Veery snickers. “Don’t worry. If he’s bedridden right now, then even if I can do something to help him, he’s not going to be fighting by tomorrow morning. Doctor’s orders.”

“I wish that would work.” Hilda sighs. “My brother is brilliant, but…”

“Yeah, I really don’t understand that thing you humans do where you don’t listen to the people trying to keep you alive.” Veery giggles. “But apparently it’s so common that Professor Manuela has to lead several seminars specifically on that alone.”

“I wish I could say otherwise, but… Holst is enough of an idiot that you might have to worry about that. I’m sorry in advance for any trouble he causes.”

Veery just shrugs. “Hey, it’s not my health.”

Hilda giggles. “Anyway, come on! I’ll take you to him right away.” She eagerly grabs Veery’s arm and starts dragging him along, calling back to the professor in the meanwhile, “I’m taking Veery with me! We’ll be back soon, maybe! Definitely in the morning!”

“By dinner!” Professor Byleth calls.

“Probably!”

“Hey!” Claude exclaims, hurrying to catch up to them as Hilda drags Veeery out of the room. “Veery’s mine! You can’t just kidnap him!”

“Veery’s going to take a look at Holst, dummy.” Hilda rolls her eyes. “I’m not taking your boyfriend.”

Even hurrying through the halls as they are, Claude does his absolute best to look like he’s pouting. “But I wanted to talk to him.”

“You can talk after dinner,” Hilda says, sticking her tongue out. “But you’re more than welcome to come along, if you want to deal with my sick brother…”

Claude makes a face, deliberates, and then stops following them. “Alright, you win. I’ll see you both at dinner!”

“Bye-bye, Claude!”

Veery just chuckles at the two and waves to Claude himself. The next thing he knows, Hilda and he are on their way to the nearby Goneril estate.

Veery doesn’t know exactly what he expects from the estate. Frankly, he’s never been in anything that can be called an “estate” in his life, so he doesn’t have any frame of reference for it, much less one in the far east edge of Fódlan.

It’s… basically a miniature Garreg Mach, really. There’s no obvious chapel, but beyond that, there are stables, a training ground, several buildings with one in the end being obviously grander, all walled off. Put it on top of a mountain – which it is – and the only major difference is the Goneril Crest and Leicester Flag emblazoned everywhere rather than Seiros’.

Actually, Veery thinks he likes the atmosphere here more than Garreg Mach. It’s smaller, but less crowded – most of the troops, he figures, are at the Locket rather than the estate. It’s humbler, but that just means he doesn’t need a month of living there to figure out where anything is. Plus, despite it being warmer, it’s so pretty here!

The warmer clime means that plants flourish. Though the forests around Garreg Mach are evergreen (which admittedly still astounds Veery – the trees in Albinea are “evergreen” too, but they’re usually so covered in snow at this time of year that there isn’t much green to see) and Goneril is notably more rocky and objectively less green overall, it plays to the land’s benefit. What grows here, in this rocky, dry mountain, stands out much more than what grows in Garreg Mach, and even now it’s warm enough that there are outdoor gardens full of colorful flowers.

Veery isn’t sure he’s ever seen some of those colors before.

Gods, it’s like his first day at Garreg Mach all over again, just gawking and marveling at every little thing, except he’s with a friend and not quite so scared. Hilda giggles good-naturedly and encourages him, though, telling him patiently about everything that catches his eye, so it’s not entirely his own fault.

And the people… he gets some questioning looks but being led by the arm by Hilda silences any concern. He overhears chatter, people talking about who that is with Lady Hilda. The words “cat saint” are thrown around a few times, which Veery tries very hard not to cringe at, but overall people just kind of accept that Hilda’s in charge of him and don’t pay him much mind.

Well, one person prays that Veery isn’t some suitor Hilda picks up in her time away, and frankly that’s a fair enough lament that Veery can’t find it in himself to feel insulted. He likes Hilda well enough, but even if the idea of marriage didn’t still confuse Veery massively… him and Hilda? Nothing would ever be done. Both of them are far too lazy, and he’ll openly admit that he would definitely enable her.

Veery is more than willing to do things if he’s asked (politely), but he’s sort of like Linhardt in that if it’s not something that interests him, he’s not going to just get up and do it. He just… doesn’t have that kind of sense of duty.

Not to mention that he is vastly underqualified to have any sort of power over anyone. That, and he doesn’t want power, because power means people relying on him and people relying on him means people, and he really just wants to live alone in the mountains without people constantly nagging him.

Anyway, he’s being led through the hallways of the main house – Hilda’s home, apparently – listening to her chatter and keeping an eye on any servants he can see when he realizes that he has absolutely no idea how to identify an Almyran.

So, the plan of looking into the Almyran slave thing subtly goes out the window if he doesn’t even know what an Almyran looks like. He knows what Cyril looks like, and he sees a few faces during the battle earlier, but… well, to Veery, they just look human. Cyril doesn’t look that much different from Claude, and aside from colors and tones, Claude doesn’t look that much different from Hilda.

Obviously each one looks unique, with their own features, like them, but Veery honestly has no idea what to look for that will set apart an Almyran from a Fódlander. How is he supposed to tell what an Almyran looks like when Fódlanders look like everything from Hilda to Raphael? He can’t even begin to guess at features that mark Fódlanders, and he’s been living here surrounded by them for months.

Well, that’s a lack of foresight. He’s at Holst’s door, though, so he figures it’s a concern to get back to when he no longer has a patient on his hands.

“Holst! I’m back!” Hilda cheers loudly, prompting a groan from within the room. “And I brought a friend!”

The responding voice is clearly weak, which makes Veery frown, but Holst still does everything he can to greet his sister enthusiastically.

Veery follows Hilda into the room, slipping in and closing the door behind him, carefully eyeing his prospective patient. Honestly, Flayn and Marianne are better healers than him, so yes, he offers, but he really thinks one of them should be here considering this is a noble, but he can only sigh and take the situation as it is.

Holst, though large and muscular (much like Raphael, or any Albinean), is pale and haggard. There’s a sheen over his brow, and some of his pink hair is damp and plastered to his skin. Clearly ailing, and in pain, Holst tries to sit up, eagerly grinning through whatever he’s feeling to welcome his beloved sister.

“Oh, lay down, Holst. You’re sick!” Hilda chides him. “My friend here is a healer, who generously offered to come take a look at you.”

Holst laughs good-naturedly, forcing himself into a sitting position regardless of Hilda’s words, and glancing over to Veery. “My Hilda writes about you all the time. It’s a pleasure to finally meet the famous cat saint.”

Veery doesn’t bother to stop himself from cringing this time. With only Hilda and Holst, and him not eavesdropping to hear the words, he doesn’t see the need to. “I’m a cat,” he sighs, “but I’m not a saint.”

Holst laughs, quickly wincing and clutching his stomach when he does so. “Well, it’s an honor all the same,” he says. With a stroke of his beard, he adds, “If the rumors are true, the goddess herself gave you her power.”

“Loaned,” Veery says. “Or, rather, allowed me to use. I’m no more powerful now than I was before she intervened.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, as great as it is to meet Hilda’s famous brother, you’re sick. Do you mind if I look you over? See what I can do for you?”

“Not at all! That’d be appreciated.” Holst chuckles, still smiling the day away despite clearly being in a lot of pain. “Though, we do have our own healers. But rumor is you can heal anything.”

Veery makes a face. “Far from it. Honestly, I’m the most inexperienced of the three in the Deer.” Hilda makes a squealing sound, prompting Veery to correct himself. “If you count me as a Deer, which I’m technically not.”

“You admitted it!” Hilda cheers.

“I admitted it before we left.”

“Yeah, grudgingly,” Hilda huffs. “It’s about time you just called yourself one of us.”

“Has my sister been giving you a hard time?” Holst asks, eyes dancing with humor.

Veery shrugs, moving to examine Holst with his magic. “Not any harder than she gives everyone. Do you know how you got sick? Something you ate? Or just a random illness?”

“Ah.” Holst blushes, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “I… might have eaten a weird mushroom. I think that’s what caused it.”

“You what?” Hilda shrieks. Veery just closes his eyes. “You just found a weird mushroom and decided to eat it? Right before a battle?”

Holst visibly deflates, finally letting the illness make him look anything but chipper. “Hilda! I didn’t think it would-”

“Don’t eat weird plants you can’t identify is, like, the first thing Teach taught us in class!”

“Sounds like a smart lady.”

“Holst, you complete idiot!” Hilda groans.

Veery awkwardly clears his throat. “Um… what did the mushroom look like?”

Holst brightens again without Hilda criticizing him. “Oh, well, it was about… this big, and had a really pretty pink top. Pink! That’s why I picked it up.”

“Pink…” Veery mutters. “Sweating, stomach pain… muscle pain?” Holst nods. “Right.” Veery is pretty sure Claude poisons himself with that last month. “I should be able to get the toxin out of your system, but you’re still going to have to rest for a while as your body realizes there’s no more threat. Hold still.”

Veery purses his lips, tail swaying as he concentrates on using his Restore spell. Restore is… complicated. Veery only learns it because of the incident at Remire, and the resulting lessons on poisons and dark magic ailments, and then Veery’s subsequent discovery of how Claude likes to test his experimental poisons.

Honestly, thanks to Claude, this might be the one aspect of healing that Veery is actually better at than Marianne. Still, it requires focus and patience to fully clear someone of toxins. A quick-fix to ward off symptoms in the middle of combat, applied right after (or before) the poisoning, is easy enough, but that’s very different from meticulously purging toxins from someone’s whole body.

Holst whistles. “Woah, you really can just cure me, huh? I guess I shouldn’t have doubted. Seems like the rumors are more right about you than you give yourself credit for.”

“No,” Veery says patiently. “They’re really not.”

“They are, though!” Hilda says, traitorously. “You should have seen him on the battlefield, Holst. He took down a whole wyvern! Just jumped on it as it was diving at him and brought it to the ground.”

“Ha! That’s gutsy. I like it! You transform into a big cat to fight, right? We should spar sometime!”

Veery glares at Hilda. She makes no attempt to pretend she doesn’t do that on purpose. “I don’t like fighting,” Veery says. “And we’ll be gone by the time you’re in any shape to fight, anyway.”

“Aw.” Holst pouts. “Then you’ll just have to come back to visit sometime! And bring your professor next time, too. From Hilda’s letters, I can’t wait to spar with her.”

Veery glances to Hilda. “It sounds like she writes a lot about us.”

“Oh, yeah! She really likes you guys. I really wish I could have come out and fought along with you and thank you all personally for taking care of my sister.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Veery says, narrowing his eyes at Hilda, who quickly realizes what’s happening and subtly gestures for him to shut up. “You won’t be able to fight, but if you rest today and sleep it off, you should be able to come out to the Locket in the morning to see everyone off if you want. Professor Byleth especially is so proud of Hilda, I’m sure she’d love to talk to you about her progress this year.”

Hilda audibly gasps. “You didn’t…”

“That’s a great idea!” Holst exclaims. “I can’t wait to finally meet this fabled professor! But Hilda never mentions much about her own progress at the academy. Still, it’s no surprise that her professor sees just how wonderful and talented my brilliant little sister is.”

“Veery,” Hilda growls into his ear. “You’ll pay for this.”

Veery raises his brow at her. “Oh, definitely,” he says, pointedly, to Holst. “In fact, she told me just earlier how proud she was of Hilda for taking charge at the Locket today. She led your troops to victory in today’s attack, you know. Our professor’s role there was as just another soldier.”

“Should I blame Sylvain, Claude, or myself?” Hilda sighs. “Who taught you to do this?”

Holst practically jumps out of his seat, forcing Veery to chastise him and hold him still even as he rambles praises that has Veery grinning and Hilda blushing under her brother’s unrestrained affection. “It’s all three of you that taught me.” Veery mutters just for her. “But I’m glad to see you’re taking responsibility, at least.”

“You’re the worst.”

“You’re blushing.”

“Shut up!”

Veery has to admit, he’s kind of smug when he sits down to dinner with Hilda and Claude and the others. Every time Hilda gives him the stink-eye, Veery can’t help but grin back.

Claude watches this exchange through the evening, staying quiet but obviously amused, though Hilda quickly gives up on pouting in favor of enjoying the meal with her classmates. It’s only when Claude grabs Veery’s arm after dinner and drags him and Hilda into a quiet, isolated place that Veery remembers there is something Claude wants to tell him. Something he almost says up on the top of the Locket, just before the Almyrans arrived.

“What happened between you two?” Claude asks, breaking the quiet that falls between them.

“Cruel and unusual punishment,” Hilda says.

“Payback,” Veery answers.

Claude raises his brow.

“I blame you, Claude. Veery’s too good at manipulating people now.”

Veery snorts loudly. “No, your brother is just easy.”

Hilda groaned, sounding almost pained. “I wish I could argue with that…”

Claude shakes his head. “What happened, exactly?”

“I might’ve praised Veery in front of my brother,” Hilda says. “But only because he was being so darn modest! And then he decides to get back at me by praising me, knowing full well that my brother won’t shut up with the praises when I’m involved. Holst is even going to meet us tomorrow before we leave to…” She gags dramatically on her words. “Talk to Teach about my progress. He’s going to be insufferable for years after this!”

“You made him want to fight me!” Veery complains. “You knew what you were doing, too!”

“Graduation is so soon! You might not ever even come back to Goneril, but I’m going to have to live with him!”

“He’s your brother!”

Claude bursts out laughing, swiftly bringing Veery and Hilda’s complaining to an end. “Well, it’s good to see you two getting along. For a while there I was worried you weren’t friends.”

Hilda protests. “What? Of course, Veery is my friend!”

Veery, however, just makes a strained groaning sound. “It’s not that I don’t like her…” he says. “She’s just hard to keep up with most of the time.”

“Excuse me?”

“Claude slows down for me. You just go and go and I have trouble following, sometimes. Today wasn’t bad, but… sometimes I have no idea what you’re talking about. You talk fast and don’t leave time for me to think and process and I get left behind a bit.”

Hilda’s eyes go wide. “Oh! Oh, I should have realized. That was so stupid of me. I’m so sorry. I never meant to overwhelm you like that.”

Veery chuckles. “I know. I know you just get excited. But Claude thinking we weren’t friends might’ve come from me avoiding you from time to time. I’m still not great with people, and you’re… a little more to deal with than most people.”

Hilda makes a show of pouting, but still sighs. “I understand. Don’t be afraid of just telling me I’m being too much, alright? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Hah. Right. I’ll remember that. I might do that now, but before…” He shrugs. “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. Point being, we’re definitely friends now, right?”

“Of course!” Hilda coos. “Does this mean I get to pet you?”

“Not a chance.”

“Aw, boo.”

Claude chuckles. “I could watch you two all day, but I did want to talk to you about something.”

Oh. Right. It’s too easy to get carried away with Hilda, honestly, now that Veery is a little more capable of keeping up with her. On good days, anyway, when he’s feeling more sociable. Hilda and he both turn their attention obediently back to Claude. “What is it that we need to sneak off to talk about?” Hilda asks.

Claude bites his lip, a rare show of uncertainty. “Hilda… first, I wanted to ask you about what Cyril says about Almyran children being mistreated by the Gonerils.”

Oh. It looks like Veery doesn’t have to ask about that after all. Good. That makes things easier.

Hilda’s expression immediately darkens. “It’s true that we take in orphaned kids if we find them.” Hilda sighs heavily. “I know for a fact that my brother has never mistreated anyone, but… I can’t say for certain that it’s entirely stopped. To be honest, Claude, I’ve been writing to my brother about that for a while now. He’s doing what he can for them, but… prejudices are hard to overcome, and my brother is just one person. He doesn’t always know when cousins or heads of staff or anyone else like that decides to take out their frustrations on the Almyrans in the estate. And my father is… more traditional than my brother, too. Not beyond reasoning with, but… progress comes slower with him.”

Claude blinks. “You’ve… already been writing to your family about that?”

“Of course!” Hilda frowns. “Before I came to the academy, I admit I had some pretty terrible opinions of the Almyrans myself. I didn’t think twice about the mistreatment, or even the servitude in the first place, because that’s just how I was raised.” She looks over to Veery. “But then I met you, and Veery, and Cyril, Dedue, Petra, and I… well, it took a while, but I started thinking, and looking back at life here, and realized there are some things that need to be changed. I don’t like to work, but my brother listens to me, and I can at least talk with him about it through letters for a while.”

Hilda sighs again, looking affectionately at the both of them. “You two both want a world where there aren’t any walls like that between people, right? Where people are free to be different and still respected. Me, I just want to live freely, with nothing tying me down. I want to do things my way, and no one else’s, so… I really respect your dream, you know? I think I can live my way in the world you two create, so that’s enough reason for me to support you.”

Claude, openly dumbstruck, smiles. “Hilda…”

Hilda flashes a cheeky grin. “And my way of life doesn’t involve stupid prejudices. So, I’ll be relying on you to help me keep fixing my own, okay? And in return, I’ll do my part to help you make your dream a reality. Starting right here in Goneril with the Almyrans. I’ve even been talking to Sylvain recently about how he’s planning on making peace with Sreng. I’m hoping my brother can pull off something similar here, too, and I won’t have to worry about inheriting a guard post anymore.”

“Ha.” Claude shakes his head. “Wow. You really knew exactly what I was going to say, didn’t you?”

“That’s my job, silly!” Hilda giggles. “I’m your second-in-command, aren’t I? What kind of deputy would I be if I couldn’t even figure out my leader’s intentions?”

“You really are amazing, Hilda,” Claude says. “Thank you. Your support means a lot to me.”

“Don’t look so surprised, dummy. You’re my friend and house leader. Besides that, your dream is worth following.”

Claude grabs her and pulls her, yelping, into a tight hug. Veery smiles watching them. “No, seriously,” Claude mutters. “Thank you.” He releases her, the surprise finally wearing off to allow the insecurity return to his features. “I’m… not used to having support, honestly. I didn’t really trust that I’d get any allies from my time at Garreg Mach, but somehow I got you two.”

He looks down, away, and then sighs. “I want to trust you both. Hilda… I think you might have already figured it out, but I know Veery hasn’t. I… It’s hard to trust anyone like this…”

“I know,” Veery says gently. “Trust is… hard.” Whatever it is that Claude is hiding, Veery definitely knows the feeling he’s describing. Wanting to trust someone, hoping that your faith isn’t misplaced, stepping forward into doubt, even certain failure and betrayal, on the mere chance that his fears will prove unfounded and everything will be okay. It’s the story of Veery’s entire time in Fódlan.

Claude smiles. “I know you do. You… really, really do. Gods…” He shakes his head. “Anyway, my big secret… I’m Almyran. Half, obviously. The Crest comes from my mom.”

Claude is Almyran? Veery blinks. “…Okay?” He tilts his head, wondering just what exactly the big deal is.

Hilda sighs. “Yeah, I guessed as much. I’m sorry, Claude, I said some really stupid things around you. I’m surprised you trust me at all, considering that.”

“I didn’t, for a while,” Claude admits. “But I noticed your attitude change. You stopped talking about other groups of people thoughtlessly. I did what I could to encourage that change – honestly seeing it for myself is probably why I trust you as much as I do.”

Veery bites his lip. “I think something got lost here,” he says. “What’s the big deal about being Almyran?”

Claude raises his brow. “Oh, right. You wouldn’t care. It’s just the same old story. In Almyra, everyone hates me because I’m half Fódlander. In Fódlan, everyone hates me because I’m half Almyran. I’m surprised you didn’t notice. I call it my secret, but the truth is it’s kind of an open one. I mean, look at me.”

“That’s how I figured it out.” Hilda nods.

“Right,” Claude says. “I honestly thought you’d see me with Cyril and put the pieces together.”

Veery just fixes them both with a flat look. “Really? The agell from Albinea is definitely going to accurately guess that a human is lying about their ethnicity because the single Almyran he knows looks sort of vaguely like him?”

“Ha! Good point. Sorry, Veery. I really should have told you sooner.”

“Why?” Veery asks. “Does it matter at all?”

Claude snickers. “Well, not to you, probably. But Hilda… me being Almyran isn’t all there is to it.”

“Oh?” Hilda leans in, sensing gossip. “What else is there?”

Claude clears his throat, insecurity revealing itself once more, but he quickly pushes it back and says, “I’m Prince Khalid.”

“That… also means nothing to me,” Veery admits. So, Claude is a prince, too? Okay. All Veery takes from that is that Claude is important in both Fódlan and Almyra, which should help him, right? Oh, except people hate him because he’s not a true anything, so that is a difficult situation.

Hilda opens her mouth, shuts it, then repeats that process a few more times before finally settling on. “Oh. Well, that is complicated. You’re still my friend and leader, though, so don’t ever forget that.”

That’s Claude’s cue to let out the breath he’s holding and dive back into a hug, this time with both of them.

Veery can’t begin to guess at Claude’s experiences. The memories that make him who he is, the sneaky, scheming, poison-crafting, silver-tongued, future duke, are out of Veery’s reach. Veery doubts he’ll ever understand fully where Claude comes from, but it’s apparent enough that he’s hurt by prejudice, by the thing that their dream brings an end to, and that he’s trusting even though he doesn’t trust, doing even though he doesn’t believe, and Veery understands that more than anything.

Trust is hard, very hard, for Veery. Still, Claude doesn’t let him down yet. Veery has no intention of letting Claude down, either.

#write #fanfiction #FE Fanfiction #Fire Emblem Three Houses #fe3h

[fellstcr]

ANONYMOUS sent / au where arval and sothis switch places in shez and Byleth, how would arval and byleth's dynamic go?

                                      MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR 3 HOPES AHEAD— !

           ||. oh now THAT is a tricky one! I have two scenarios for that. The first is that Byleth stays the same in that she’s a human-nabatean spawn. Either through Agarthan experimentation, Jeralt leaving very soon after getting the Crest of Seiros, or somehow Sitri ended up in the wrong hands. Not sure. But, I can imagine Arval and Byleth would act on such a disconnect due to that alone.              The dynamic that is expressed with Sothis and Byleth in 3 Hopes would ACTUALLY be applicable in this case. Including the “grant me your worldly flesh”, constant gaslighting of the vessel’s will and opinions, subtle emotional manipulation to get control of the body; the whole nine yards. (which is hilarious, because Arval low-key does all of this already with Shez if you know the True Ending, he’s just doing it completely unintentionally.) There’d be a lot of back and forth. A constant state of “I’m your partner in destiny, therefore you should rely solely on me and my power to get what i -  i mean we want” and Byleth being confused, concerned, and frankly very much NOT here for some head-gremlin constantly trying to take over what rightfully belongs to her. GRANTED, what Arval and Byleth’s goal would be and whether or not Byleth would be granted some kind of connection back to the Church of Seiros is up in the air.

             ALTERNATIVELY, and this one is way more of an alternative universe on Byleth, is the idea that Byleth could have, in this case, been created to some degree by the Agarthans. Basically - the misconstrued plotline of “Rhea created Byleth to revive the Goddess and intended only for Byleth to be a vessel to said deity” but... with that ACTUALLY being the case.  (Because, spoiler alert, that never happened in the first place smh) Just this time with the Agarthans and Arval’s actual identity. And so, Byleth would be a fully fledged agarthan-human.

           Likely, in this case, I’d say that Arval and Byleth would get along rather swimmingly. Similar to Sothis and Byleth in the actual game, but ... not benevolent. Assuming Byleth is raised by the Agarthans (ie: rapunzel style) or even if she wasn’t and she and Jeralt remained roughly the same, I would see no reason for Byleth to grow past her Ashen Demon persona. Of course, she’s Byleth. So she still cares and her empathy and compassion will win out at the end of the day, but it would be a long, hard road for her, given she’d consider Arval a very close and trusted ally who has the best in mind for their shared destiny. (She’d be terrifying as a proper villain, tbh. Sothis and Shez would have a terrible time staying the hell away from her and not because an agarthan could outshine the goddess, but because Byleth’s will is just that strong.)

           She’d either lose entirely to Sothis and Shez, or she would go through a redemption arc befitting of the True Ending.

#⚔️ ooc. / mun. #⚔️ ask. / trade secrets. #non-isola #(gonna tag this one as that bc it's not smthn general and pretty specific to indie-aus) #(honestly how fun would this be for a verse.... she'd be TERRIFYING) #3hopes // #spoilers #spoilers //

[teaveetamer]

Hold up! There are people who actually believe that the clothes in 3H are period accurate? 3H?! How stupid are they?

One look at the uniforms and anyone with passing interest in historical fashion knows that they are a modern design. F!Byleth's outfit is nothing you'd ever see until late in the 20th century!

If 3H is fashion accurate, then all male characters should be in tights and poofy pants while all female characters wear floor lengths skirts, corsets, and crazy updos.

I like the clothing designs in 3H with Edelgard being my favorite. But never will I claim that they are historically accurate or appropriate! Their world and fashion is fantasy! It can take inspiration from history but not fully replicate it. That's just stupidity inviting mockery.

See, if 3H were a better game then I might assume that the anachronisms were actually intentional. We know that a society existed before the current iteration of Fodlan that was extremely advanced in technology, and presumably the humans we have inhabiting Fodlan could have perhaps come across more modern styles of dress that we have now. E.g. a tailor or seamstress in Enbarr digging up an old drawing of a hoodie in a library somewhere while doing research for new designs, so they decide to replicate it and it gets massively popular. Then we find out later that, actually, that's something the Agarthans wore back when they ruled the planet and it's another piece of evidence to show just how significantly they influence Fodlan society.

Except 3H isn't a good game, and so the anachronisms go completely unaddressed and we're just supposed to believe these extremely modern styles of dress are normal in Fodlan because... they just are, I guess. No real reason.

If M!Byleth were a bit more out there in his design I think you could also make the argument for F!Byleth being intentionally very out of place looking, since Byleth is intentionally supposed to be very odd compared to the people they're surrounded by + they have a connection to this past society (because of their link with Sothis). Except that doesn't work either because M!Byleth fits in perfectly with the kind of clothing you see at the monastery, while F!Byleth is a significant outlier.

So I assume I'm not supposed to make anything of her design, because surely anything thematic would have been carried over between both versions? Like could you imagine F!Robin with the clearly Plegian-style clothes and the mark of Grima, but then M!Robin just looks like joe schmoe off the street? Or if F!Corrin had the pointy ears, red eyes, white hair, and bare feet but then M!Corrin was brunette with brown eyes, normal human ears, and wore shoes? Or even if one version of Alear didn't have the split color hair and heterochromia?

[edelegs]

black eagles d&d

- Hubert is the DM and he always tries to make the story ~edgy~

- “Before you lay two paths. The first is decrepit, lined with the bones of charred trees. Dark clouds block your path, and you swear you taste the dying cinders of a life once brimming with vitality in the air.” “Let me guess: the second is lined with blood?” “If you would allow me to finish . . .” “. . .” “. . . the second is a scarlet path--” “WE’RE NOT TAKING THE BLOOD PATH AGAIN” 

- “Well I will take the blood path that Hubert was kind enough to prepare for us!” “EDELGARD NO” 

- Caspar’s character is usually an orc barbarian. He tries to fight everything, even when it’d be counterproductive. 

- “The bartender asks you to pay your dues.” “Oh I’ll make him pay!” Hubert always allows it, but he makes a snide remark every time. 

- Petra (canonically) hates math so she gets incredibly frustrated when trying to understand how much damage she’s dealt/been dealt. Bernie walks her through it. 

- Petra is one of the few who varies her characters every time. She likes to pick different classes, though rogue and ranger are her favourites. 

- Bernie’s character has 50 pages of backstory. She picks homebrew race every time and has an additional 50 pages of notes on it. Last game she played as a half-siren, full-vampire druid. Hubert gives her the most content because she’s the best at the story part. 

- Edelgard’s character is a very obvious self-insert but she refuses to admit it

- “So . . . ‘Adrestiana’ is a human barbarian fighting to free her land from the rule of a corrupt religious order.” “I fail to see your point.” “She has an enchanted axe.”

- Dorothea always plays as a elven bard and she never wants to fight anything she doesn’t have to. Is constantly groaning whenever Caspar initiates another fight. Tries to flirt with everything except Ferdinand’s oc. 

- Ferdinand, while not as blatant in his self-insertion as Edelgard, always plays a nobleman looking to either restore his house’s honour or enter the fight against some blight upon the land. His oc always has a horse that’s arguably more developed than the actual player character. Always a paladin, and always tries to hook up his oc with someone else’s. So far he’s dated Petra’s, Bernie’s, and surprisingly, Linhardt’s. 

- “Fair Leonore, lend me your hand in battle, and I shall fund all your academic endeavours!” “Alright Ferdinand, you got me. Here’s my hand in marriage.” 

- Linhardt acts like he’s not paying attention or didn’t put any effort in, but he always seems to know what’s going on even when he fell asleep. 

- “It’s because you spent 30 minutes deciding on whether to go to the tavern or not. I’m simply skipping through the drudgery of your decision-making.” 

- Byleth comes up with the most batshit, off-colour solutions for every situation. It suddenly occurs to everyone that they’re the one who answers all those advice box questions. 

- “I thought it was Seteth this WHOLE TIME!” “I was knowing it was someone else when I am receiving a note back saying ‘Petra!? You’re doing amazing, sweetie!’” Byleth, gripping her by the shoulders: “because you ARE”

- “So when you told me ‘traditions are meant to be broken’ . . . did you realize what you were encouraging me to do??” “El, an ominous drumbeat started playing when you shared your tragic backstory with me. It wasn’t exactly subtle.” 

- This tangent completely derails the session that night. 

#black eagles #long post #headcanons #edelgard von hresvelg #hubert von vestra #bernadetta von varley #petra macneary #caspar von bergliez #linhardt von hevrig #dorothea arnault #ferdinand von aegir #also this makes it sound like i'm against ferdi//thea but i'm not! I just think their dynamic is one of dorothea bullying ferdie #fe3h

[fromathelastoveritaserum]

PK_Chu’s Fanfiction Masterlist

✨ A quick list of my current fanfictions ✨ ٩(⁎❛ヮ❛⁎)۶ 

[WHEN JOY RETURNED]  AO3 (HERE) Far Cry 5 story involving original Deputy and the Seeds with a childhood twist ~ Story Summary: Born and raised in Hope County, Joy Owens never thought she would return. When she was young, her family moved to the big city, cutting off all ties, and never looking back. ‘It was because of that Seed family,’ the rumor mill whispered. But, that was a long time ago…a time Joy has trouble recalling and has simply let be. Now, she has finally achieved the role of Junior Deputy in the city where the large white signs on the hills spell out ‘Hollywood.’ But, when a U.S. Marshal suddenly arrives at the station to drag her back to Hope County, Joy has no choice but to confront the past. Back to the wilds of Montana, where old wounds had been left to fester, heartache had never healed, and memories once cherished lay forgotten. Joy will soon remember the Seed family; and as she does something reawakens deep within her, a darkness, the reason she had to leave. Can the secrets that lay hidden in her memories save the Seed Family from themselves or will it tear Joy apart, bringing the Resistance crashing down with her? 

[MY BELOVED PROFESSOR]  AO3 (HERE) or Fanfiction.net (HERE) Fire Emblem Three Houses fanfic involving Dimitri x Byleth  ~ Story Summary:  Byleth was never one for emotions; even in the heat of battle her heart is still and her face is stoic like a mask. So, no one could fault Dimitri for his uncertainty when Byleth is offered a position as a professor. But, once he sees her smile, Dimitri's fate is sealed. Fate that would lead him to one day call the Ashen Demon, his beloved. (Spoilers! Currently on Ashen Wolves DLC - More Papa Jeralt and Sassy Sothis too!)

[IN SICKNESS & IN HEALTH]  AO3 (HERE) or Fanfiction.net (HERE) Mass Effect Andromeda fancifc involving Sara Ryder and Evfra de Tershaav. ~ Story Summary: Evfra de Tershaav, the venerate Resistance leader, is stricken with the Angaran flu. Forced to stay at home under quarantine, Evfra would have been taken care of by family and close friends. Without either, he suffers alone, until Sara Ryder, Pathfinder extraordinaire, shows up at his doorstep as his self proclaimed caretaker. Soon long forgotten feelings begin to stir awake for this free spirited little human. // Evfra has accepted the fact that he is smitten for an alien, and not just any alien, but Sara Ryder the Human Pathfinder and leader of her people. However, having been so long out of the dating scene his wooing skills are practically non-existent, and what is worse, he isn’t the only angaran who has set sights on Ryder. Meanwhile, Sara is completely oblivious as to what certain angarans are vying for. The Pathfinder finds herself stumbling through the intricate art of angaran courtship, realizing that only one ever grouchy angaran had her heart all along.

[FALLING FOR YOU]  AO3 (HERE) Mass Effect Andromeda fanfic involving Tiran Kandros and Sara Ryder ~ Story Summary:  A collection of drabbles celebrating the developing relationship between Kandros and Ryder, for which we were bereft of in the game. Adding my own twist and fun side plots. Slightly loose in the timeline sequence in the game 

[OF TACTICS AND KNIGHTHOOD]  AO3 (HERE) or Fanfiction.net (HERE) Fire Emblem Awakening fanfic involving Frederick and Robin with a Pride and Prejudice twist ~ Story Summary: Frederick had no idea he would later be eating his own words and chasing the heart of the very tactician whom he had been ever wary of. Yet Robin, overhearing the slight from Frederick at the Ylisse Harvest Ball, will not be won over so easily. It doesn’t help that the two so easily rile the other up.A Fire Emblem Awakening slight AU with a strong hint of Pride and Prejudice. For if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, one might get away with Fredrick as Mr. Darcy, Chrom as Mr. Bingly, and Robin as Miss Elizabeth Bennett. This idea struck me and Naga help me, I’m running with it!

[THE HERALD’S COMMANDER]  AO3 (HERE) or Fanfiction.net (HERE) Dragon Age Inquisition fanfic involving Cullen and Inquisitor Trevelyan with a twist ~Story Summary: Go to the Chantry conclave they said, it will be fun they said. Oh, how wrong they were! Now, Evelyn Trevelyan finds herself in the thick of the Inquisition with a bizarre glowing mark upon her hand, and hailed as the Herald of Andraste. Follow along as the novice fighter, and ‘menace on two legs’ as Cassandra calls her, tries to patch back up the hole in the sky along with the oddest rag-tag group of companions in all of Thedas. And to make matters more interesting, Evelyn is dealing with conflicting emotions and awkward encounters with Cullen; for his first love, the mage, was Evelyn’s sister…

[THE DRUNKEN TEXT] AO3 (HERE) or Fanfiction.net (HERE) ~ Story Summary: On a drunken dare prompted by a hiccuping Sylvain, a rosy cheeked Dimitri texts his old college professor, asking her out for a cup of coffee. Before he returns to his senses, and recovers from his hangover, the young man is plunged into a series of events as he reconnects with Professor Byleth Eisner.

Dimitri realizes he never stopped loving her...Byleth finally learns how to express her love to him.

...will Sylvain get any credit in the end?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#fanfiction #masterlist #far cry 5 #fire emblem #mass effect #mass effect andromeda #dragon age #dragon age inqusition #Fire Emblem Three Houses #fire emblem awakening #original female deputy #john seed #joseph seed #jacob seed #faith seed #sara ryder #evfra de tershaav #tiran kandros #frederick #robin #commander cullen #inquisitor trevelyan #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #byleth eisner

[butwhatifidothis]

I'm not sure why people want to strip Edelgard of her agency as a character?

Well, let's go over most all of what Edelgard has done in the game:

The literal first thing that happens in the game - what kickstarts the plot - is Kostas and his goons goin' after Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude. That thing that is explicitly revealed to be something that Kostas was ordered to do by the Flame Emperor, aka Edelgard, likely to get Dimitri and Claude out of the way early. In the pre-game events of the Tragedy and the murder of Godfrey (+ Raphael's parents, though they were collateral), we know that TWS - the people working with Edelgard - have already done similar things to the two countries in an attempt to destabilize them for the explicit benefit of Edelgard (in the case for Lambert - Godfrey is implied, given Edelgard specifically mentioning that it was Claude's prescene that brought stabilization to the Alliance after Godfrey's death).

You have the kidnapping of Flayn, where Edelgard has given over the Death Knight to TWS to use as they see fit and where she and Hubert know Flayn was kidnapped, knew where she was being taken, and did nothing to stop it or reveal it. Hubert stands either directly or across from where Flayn is literally being held, and does nothing to indicate that that is where she's being held. Edelgard, in the Flame Emperor disguise and as per the game over screen, will take Flayn away from the rescuing party. Afterwards, she allows in someone she knows to be an agent for TWS into Garreg Mach.

You have Remire, something that Edelgard is heavily implied to have known was going to happen and is, again, something that she does nothing to try and prevent - she waits until the situation is already turned to the worst, despite having pre-existing knowledge. The result of this and the following chapter in the chapel - Demonic Beasts - are something that she will regularly utilize, even on CF (though off-screen, in this route).

You have the Holy Tomb, where Edelgard tries to kill Rhea, Byleth, and whichever class is with them for getting in the way of her graverobbing. She does this by utilizing Demonic Beasts and TWS agents, and she is graverobbing the tomb to gain further power (which is changed to simply getting rid of them in the ENG version; the JPN ver makes her wanting to use them explicitly the case).

Then in CF, she flat out states that her goal is to eliminate the Church as well as Faerghus and Leicester, with her explicitly saying that she wants to bring Fodlan back under complete Imperial control. She lies about the Church blowing up Arianrhod and never reveals the truth. And she lies about giving Garreg Mach time to evacuate in an attempt to make herself look better than Rhea. Along with all the racism against Nabateans that she says through the route (and bleeding to other routes, but mostly CF).

On other routes, you have it revealed (though DLC) that she was keeping Rhea as a hostage to be used as a bargaining chip, and the base game lets it be clear that the conditions Rhea was kept in were terrible. She will set her men on fire to gain a slight edge with no warning. She uses human shields, deliberately keeping her citizens in Enbarr despite knowing that it was going to be a battleground.

This - and more of the obvious "invading neutral nations" bigger stuff - is... quite a lot to take in for one character to be involved with. Admitting that Edelgard did all of this means admitting that Edelgard is a villain - a lot of these aren't "morally gray." Letting someone be kidnapped to have their blood drained is flat out evil. Authorizing cruel human experimentation so that you can get strong meat weapons is flat out evil. Hiding behind your unarmed citizens in a last-ditch attempt at winning is flat out evil. Trying to murder your classmates because they dared to try and stop you from graverobbing a holy site in a bid for power is flat out evil. Edelgard willfully commits flat out evil actions.

Like, they mistake "Edelgard is someone who does these evil acts" and think that this is calling Edelgard pure evil, which she isn't. Like I said, Edelgard has plenty of traits that aren't evil - she longs for romance, she likes animals, she daydreams, she has fears, she loves her family, she likes sweets, she can care for her friends on some level, she does silly impersonations, she's the kid in soccer taking shit a lil' too seriously. Edelgard has traits to her that stop her from being a one-note mustache twirling villain tyin' damsels to train tracks, she wouldn't be nearly as interesting if she didn't. But none of those traits stop her from committing some heinous shit in the name of her ideals and goals.

Giving her a drop of agency, let alone recognizing that she's in control of a lot of shit, means recognizing that she just isn't the innocent, pure, tiny girl they apparently think she is. They see her as this compassionate, empathetic soul who's hurt from how much she cares for everyone (this is Dimitri, and he's actually hurt by this and actually grows as a character to combat this hurt, but whatever, ignore that) when she just isn't. Edelgard is someone capable of doing and justifying some pretty horrible stuff, which conflicts with the Nicey Nice Girl they prop her up as. They'd rather her be someone with literally no agency at all then be a villain

#ask #anon #exqueuese me princess #Anti-edelgard #anti edelgard #just to be safe #basically giving Edelgard any agency stops her from being a poor helpless victim of TWS and the Church and Rhea and the world #and acknowledging that she fucked over a lot of characters' lives #which of course our sweet yet badass girlboss would and could NEVER do anything mean to anyone one PURPOSE no never

[lochnessies]

I disagree. if Edelgard hates them so much to the point of complete extermination...Why be able to spare flayn and seteyh? If the route is about ethnic cleansing you should have to kill them literally no matter what, not be able to let them live. She literally never shows the same animosity to Seteth or Flayn as she does Rhea. Despite her going "children of the goddess.", her focus is almost always on the woman in charge of the church she sees as corrupt: Rhea.

Duscur doesn't make CF have themes of ethnic cleansing, because Duscur wasn't "Oh Yeah Since we hate this ethnicity lets do this horrible thing", It was TWSITD taking advantage of the fact that people were already prejudiced towards the people of Duscur and stoked the flame hot enough to turn things into a fully blown tragedy. It wasn't even really done FOR edelgard so much as it was done for "Whoever lived through the crest experiments".

Like, Edelgard could have died and her made up brother Carl von Hrevelg could have been the one to survive, and theyd still say "all for your benefit." Just before they say that line Edelgard openly threatens to kill them, so Duscur had nothing to do Edelgard's plan and everything to do with TWSITD's plan.

Like, say what you will about Edelgard and being a trash person, but her motivations don't really have anything to do with races or ethnicty except in regards to the fact that Seteth, Flayn, and Rhea are practically immortal and literally aren't humans who are in a position of power of the main (and false) religion of fodlann. They're also only three nabateans she knows and the only ones we get to see her interact with, the first two being loyal to Rhea and therefore also bad since she thinks Rhea's bad. She only ever calls Rhea (the one she saw turn into a dragon) a beast. Her priority for better or worse is always Rhea.

I dunno, maybe you are right. I just think going "Edelgard is definitely racist" is a bit of a stretch. Like it's a reasonable stretch, but still

I disagree. if Edelgard hates them so much to the point of complete extermination...Why be able to spare flayn and seteyh? 

that’s because she doesn’t spare them!!! only byleth can!! throughout the story edelgard refers to them as ‘beasts’ and dehumanizes them again and again. to her, they are subhuman creatures. yes, they are not human but they are sentient and have human feelings and emotions. they are capable of love and hate just like humans are. edelgard admits that she wants to “obliterate” rhea and those around her. in the jp it is even more explicit and she says that she wants to obliterate rhea and the other children of the goddess. the game mechanics even show this by not allowing you to spare seteth and flayn if you play as edelgard - only byleth can. to contrast this, in the mission where you attack the alliance, if you attack claude (a human) with either byleth or edelgard, you can spare him even if edelgard makes her displeasure known. the game is trying to tell you something. byleth can convince edelgard to spare claude’s life, but under no circumstances can you convince her to spare the nabateans. this is also shown in leonie and linhardt’s paralogue. when you choose your units for the battle against the Immovable (who is saint indech) you cannot bring either hubert or edelgard. this also translates over to fire emblem heroes. if you use edelgard to fight a nonhuman enemy she has a guaranteed follow up quote. "beasts hiding in the light. monsters slithering in the dark. i will destroy them all.”

there’s also these totally not racist quotes about rhea AND the other nabateans:

“the monsters that have controlled fodlan in secret for far too long... rhea is their leader.”

“we are the only ones who can stop this indomitable enemy that has plagued our world for ages. we fight for humanity!”

“i will save this world from those creatures and give humanity its freedom back!”

“should the one leading the people of the world be someone with humanity or a creature that can merely masquerade as a human at will?”

“as you know, my goal is to free our world from the control of rhea and the other children of the goddess.”

“we'll head straight for the castle and strike down their leader—rhea, that vile creature called the immaculate one!”

“if the battle becomes a clash of beasts with inhuman strength...”

“the children of the goddess have been defeated at last. the shape of the world will be forever changed. humanity is free now. the world is ours once again.”

Duscur doesn't make CF have themes of ethnic cleansing, because Duscur wasn't "Oh Yeah Since we hate this ethnicity lets do this horrible thing",

so you’re admitting that crimson flower does have themes of ethnic cleansing with the nabateans and that edelgard does hate that specific ethnicity and does horrible things to them?

Like, Edelgard could have died and her made up brother Carl von Hrevelg could have been the one to survive, and theyd still say "all for your benefit."

ok?? but that didn’t happen. if little carl von hresvelg lived then the tragedy would have been for his benefit and not edelgard’s cold corpse. but carl von hresvelg didn’t survive, edie did. and the tragedy of duscur was done for her.

It was TWSITD taking advantage of the fact that people were already prejudiced towards the people of Duscur and stoked the flame hot enough to turn things into a fully blown tragedy.

you do know that duscur and the kingdom were on pretty good terms right? that’s why lambert was going… to solidify that relationship.

It wasn't even really done FOR edelgard so much as it was done for "Whoever lived through the crest experiments".

that’s your hc. show me anything in the game that proves that. the tragedy happens after the experiments so it would have to be specifically her.

Just before they say that line Edelgard openly threatens to kill them, so Duscur had nothing to do Edelgard's plan and everything to do with TWSITD's plan.

what is twsitd’s plan? it’s to cause chaos on the surface and destroy the church and nabeteans. what is edelgard’s plan? to take over the kingdom/alliance and destroy the church and nabateans. and how did twsitd help foster unrest to aid edel’s war of conquest? they helped start the tragedy of duscur.

edel might not have set the fires or had the idea but she still profited heavily from it and knows who the culprits were the whole times. and yet she never reveals their identities to the public and duscur is forever remembered as a nation of cruel and backstabbing people all because edel wants to save face by not letting the public know she willingly works with a death cult.

Like, say what you will about Edelgard and being a trash person, but her motivations don't really have anything to do with races or ethnicty except in regards to the fact that Seteth, Flayn, and Rhea are practically immortal and literally aren't humans who are in a position of power of the main (and false) religion of fodlann.

goddamn that’s a loaded paragraph. and a shitty one at that. once again, you admit that edelgard has prejudice and ill intent towards a specific race. also what power does seteth and flayn have? they’ve only been at the monastery for 20 years (flayn for only one). and also what significant power does the church of seiros wield? the church in adrestia was dissolved 120 years ago at the start of the game. the church in the alliance is ‘toothless’ and is ignored by the nobility. the church in the kingdom is in open revolt with the central and has tried to assassinate rhea multiple times.

also why does it matter that rhea isn’t human when it comes to the church? THE GODDESS IS HER FUCKING MOTHER! THE RELIGION ORIGINATES FROM THE NABATEANS, YOU KNOW, HER RACE!! SHES THE FOUNDER OF THE CHURCH OF SEIROS! SHE WROTE THE DAMN BOOK! does she not have the right to run the religion that she’s literally the child of the god of? the religion that she started? the religion that comes from her race and culture? what sort of backwards ass logic are you on?

that’s like saying that edel and dimitri don’t deserve their thrones even though their parents were also the rulers and they had been trained since they were kids to be leaders.

also the religion isn’t false. sothis is an actual deity with powers over time, earth, and life. sure, some details are fabricated due to the fact that nabateans are in hiding out of fear of genocide but other than that it’s a legit religion. seteth even talks about humans building churches and worshiping sothis before rhea rebranded it during the war of heroes in order to, as the devs say: “seiros and co. meddled with history not in order to rule over humans, but to quell the flames of war and chaos as much as possible, and to also keep a steady balance about humanity.”

They're also only three nabateans she knows and the only ones we get to see her interact with, the first two being loyal to Rhea and therefore also bad since she thinks Rhea's bad. She only ever calls Rhea (the one she saw turn into a dragon) a beast.

she also can’t interact with macuil and indech. so no, it’s not just bc of the fact that they are close to rhea that she knows about. also no, she also calls seteth and flayn beasts and creatures in my examples above. please reread them because i don’t trust you to have any reading comprehension.

Her priority for better or worse is always Rhea.

even if this was true, which lets be clear it’s not, am i supposed to praise her or???

I dunno, maybe you are right.

yeah :)

I just think going "Edelgard is definitely racist" is a bit of a stretch.

i do not stretch. i’m as stiff as a board. literally no flexibility or reach in my body.

Like it's a reasonable stretch, but still

if it’s reasonable then it’s not a stretch. a stretch is an unrealistic claim that someone has to grasp at straws to make. i literally show you quotes from edelgard’s own mouth and a play by play of her direct actions and you still go ‘well she’s not racist :(‘ if anybody is grasping at straws it’s you

i never back away from an argument. if we can both agree that edelgard being a villain is conclusive then why the fuck are you set on her not being racist despite the evidence? aren’t villains supposed to do bad things? have bad agendas? have twisted morality? last i checked that’s what racism is.

#anon you tire me so #you know shits bad when i break out the tiny text to make this better on the dashboards #asks

[dmclemblems]

i think one simple thing that people who insist Hopes!Claude is in character like to ignore is that in the 3H Dream interview, with the original head director Kusakihara, it's said that Claude came out to being a "pure good guy" at the end of his writing and Edel/gard is the villain.

Claude cannot simultaneously have been written as a "pure good guy" while also being willing to let innocent people die for no reason and actively helping the villain get what she wants lmao. i'm sorry that the fanon Claude that is willing to let people die for his own gains is what these people want so badly, but he never existed. "you just want Claude to be a goody two shoes" well yes because that's basically how his OG writers literally described him as being lmao

Yeah, his writing is just really not the same. People can chalk it up to the year at GM all they want and him killing Shahid, but those two aspects wouldn't change his core personality. I agree fully that GM helped him grow and changed his perspective on things, but the core of his character shouldn't change because of it. That being, he wouldn't have a totally wildly different means of doing things just because of it.

As for Shahid, killing his brother, who hated him and wanted him dead on top of calling him horrific things, should not have changed his personality either. He can be sad about it, sure, but evidently it affected him so much that it enabled him to let hundreds if not thousands of others die, and for what? His spiteful, hateful brother who wished nothing but death on him?

I would agree that Claude would prefer to resolve things with Shahid peacefully, but if he was so intent on getting out of that battle alive with Shahid also alive, it's wild to me how he wants peace with a man who wants him very very dead, but he wants to kill Rhea because "nothing personal", he just needs her gone, and this woman has never done a damn thing to him.

Ultimately I'd agree that Claude is a pure, good guy, and that makes sense considering how he grew up. It's not uncommon for people who are hurt growing up to want to be good to people. When you're that hurt, you don't want to inflict that pain or suffering on others because you know what it's like. Claude is a very humane person even if he has trouble expressing those aspects of himself. That's why he's able to pull back when he realizes he's going too far with trying to learn things. That's why if you, as Byleth, try to get him to press Flayn for details and act heartless about it, he's actually kind of shocked and doesn't like it.

Tbh I don't really understand why people want "ebul Claude" so badly. Why is it so bad for him to be a good person? As a fan of AM and Dimitri it's crazy to me because Dimitri fans were very sad when Dimitri was unstable and wanted him to get better. Fans of the route and the character were very much not rooting for him to continue acting like that. One of the reasons I really took to Rodrigue in my first experience with AM is because he was the goddamn only person to scold Dimitri and basically tell him to shut the fuck up and listen (which is ironic because Rodrigue later says he's doesn't have it in him to scold Dimitri, but he just didn't do it in a standard way. He's relatively polite about it, but he still shuts Dimitri up at Ailell, and fast. That's also his first time meeting Dimitri again in literal years, so that says a lot that he was willing to immediately scold him for his behavior).

That said, another thing I hate is how the people around Dimitri don't approve of what he does/says, but with Claude they all just kinda... go with it except Lorenz. People argue with Dimitri and contest his actions/behavior. They argue with him on moral grounds. With Claude there's only one person, again, Lorenz, who continually questions Claude's behavior and doesn't agree with how he's handling things. In AM, it's a lot of people even if they don't tell it to Dimitri's face.

So really, I don't know why people prefer Claude killing people and just going deeper and deeper into that hole. At first he says his hands will never be clean again, but that doesn't mean... make the situation even worse? Generally speaking I don't disagree with what he did in his own Ailell chapter. He didn't personally get too involved in the killing, and his main focus on was on his own people. Firstly, the Empire had been an enemy for a long time and he expected them to be at war again in the not too distant future. Secondly, he wasn't allied with and thus had no obligated to help the Church's people, and those two factions were warring with each other. Letting them fight each other and be decimated... really wasn't his fault, and yet people got on his absolute ass for not uwu helping the Empire who just murdered tons of his people in a war not even that long ago.

Invading the Kingdom is where I'm like... what even is this. If he made a pact with Edelgard to stop his own people from dying, fine, whatever, but he should've told her listen, I'll engage in this pact but I won't help you in your war. You don't attack us, we don't attack you. First he starts killing Kingdom soldiers and then he goes to kill Rhea who... hasn't done anything to him, and he knows and admits that. He just has to kill her simply because people look up to her and follow her. No amount of GM or having to kill Shahid would've changed his whole personality and ideology to such extremes.

Again, I don't really see the appeal in that. I'd rather see him make mistakes and realize how bad they were and turn himself around. I'd rather him come back from starting to be like that. If Claude was like that in Houses I would want the same thing for him, just like everyone wanted for Dimitri.

If people don't like Claude for being a goody two shoes who doesn't wanna kill people, well that's worrying. Why would you want your favorite character to kill a ton of people? Yiker wikers.

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