#and you want to think this person was alone b4 U billy since zanado?

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The thrilling conclusion of the lizard paralogue!

Rhea reveals the Ochain shield was actually crafted by Indech (Macuil just puts magic in it) for Cichol, but Seiros the Warrior decided to gift it instead to the First Emperor of Adrestia - for some reason 

“Let me tell you how awesome he was.”

“He’s the only “great emperor” in Adrestian History, the others are just losers”

“You’re not going to tell them that nonsense about the covenant of the red blood and white sword, right? Flayn is here!!”

“Blink of an eye? Your chronology says it took him 30 years.”

“Yes, blink of an eye. What, you don’t live up to 6000 years yourself?”

That’s what usually happens when you start a war of unification

Really? What abotu the Dudes who were seen as heroes too??

Barney doesn’t know Fodlan’s official history. Who does nowadays?

I love you.

“defeated”

Jugding by the timeline, if Lycaon was his son, either Willy got him quite late in his life or lycaon was a hybrid explaining why he would be still alive while being Willy’s son and not his grandson or great grandson

It makes me think of the situation between Felix and Rodrigue, Felix is the new Head of House Fraldarius, but Rodrigue is still here to assist him in battle and all.

!

Lycaon died young - Willy really got a kid while he was 80 (with a crest prolonging his life) or Lycaon was really a hybrid?

“And they held their hands a lot during this journey.”

What happened to Nopes!Willy next? We won’t know, but funnily enough, instead of hiding in a pond, Indech returned to his workshop in this verse?

“Right. Even if I returned to the monastery 20 years ago, and someone could have told me where to dig to recover the shield that was initially meant for me.”

Barney, plot related weapons never rust. Don’t you know that?

“Zoltan is an amateur next to him!”

Watch out Flayn, the sword nerds in this kingdom might not be happy to hear you badmouth their idol.

Cyril also looks at Flayn, she has an uncle?

“Haha, I misspoke, I just saw him being called uncle in a novel, like the one where women who are not related to Cichol call him “Daddy” while mating.”

“At least it will be put to good use”

“since someone doesn’t want to give it back to its rightful carrier, right Rhea? Rhea, I’m looking at you.”

“He didn’t defeat jackshit, he sucked ! And you can’t defeat people with a shield! Stop painting that guy as better than he was!!”

Nice use of wayward here lol, Rhea thinks Supreme Leader is lost and doesn’t follow the path of her ancestors.

“... Are you sure you are not forgetting someone? The man for whom that shield was created? Rhea, I am looking at you, stop ignoring me.”

:)

#3 nopes #is it the wilhelm hour? #Lizard family time? #this disregards FE16's canon in several places but #Wilhelm lore lol I never thought I'd see the day #Wilhelm the Holy Knight's weapon is a shield #poor seteth #is it wolf (fe16)'s hour? #He died at a young age for Rhea #she already said 30 years are 'a blink of an eye' but #did Lycaon really die that young? And willy noped the eff out of Adrestia? #Rhea stuff #and you want to think this person was alone b4 U billy since zanado? #we still don't know why she took Cichol's shield to give it to Willy lol

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As im also a big rhea fan i do have to admit i also don’t like “alone b4 u” and at least enjoyed the church moments in hopes. However, i think that can easily be fixed with a few lines of dialogue (instead of the huge revisions ykb needs lmaooo): everything was normal between seteth and rhea and flayn until the eisners arrived, and then rhea started acting strangely; she started pulling away from seteth and flayn, being distant and weird and withdrawn. It can even tie into the diary scene/seteth questioning her, since he and flayn were obviously not privy to her homunculi, until the magic green hair dance happens and they suddenly understand. It can also fix a certain s support by reframing it under “i lost sight of my present and future by focusing on the past” instead of Alone B4 U. It doesn’t even need to change the game’s timeline of events or routes!

As an aside i’m still mighty pleased beach rhealeth is a canon duo and they like spending time together with the sand and the fish. All we need now is duo beach seteth n’ flayn to match them (and cyril but feh is mean to male characters so we’ll have to settle for him being a tempest trial unit i guess) and it’ll be a fun family beach episode 🐉🐠🌴

Oh,

AG is kind of an AU in an AU, but yes, in FE16 proper, I think even with Seteth who returned 20 years ago and Flayn who woke up last year, Rhea's still kind of closed of.

Like, she can goof around them because they are her family and she loves them, but there are still things, imo, she wants to do herself and she doesn't want them to know of, especially the "Rez Sothis" project.

Something like, she's more open with them than with the rest of the world and all, but they have been separated for so long that she and Seteth aren't as close as they were in Zanado, or even, in the War of Heroes.

Also there's something I noted thanks to voice line anon on their transcript of her lines in Nopes, at one point, she says this :

Flayn - "You have been working hard, Flayn. You have my utmost respect." 1,000 Enemies Defeated (same quote for Seteth) "We must strive to build a world where you need not dirty your hands in such a way."

(on pk in the jp version she says this instead "あなた方が手を汚さずに済む平穏な時代を築かなければ……" which more or less means the same thing?)

Coupled with her lines both in Golden Shower or Tru Piss - when she urges them to run away or, in Tru Piss, expected them to run away - this imo tells me Rhea takes her "duty" to protect and guide Fodlan personally.

It's not something Seteth and Flayn should do, and they shouldn't "dirty their hands" to make a better world, her own hands can be "dirtied", but theirs? She doesn't want that.

So yeah, in that sense, Billy's return and existence is somehow tied to her own duty - the one she cannot share with Seteth'n'Flayn - of watching/looking/guiding Fodlan.

And we know Rhea is desperate, because she thinks she's doing a crap job, but instead of complaining about it, she keeps it bottled. A bit like that meme "everything's fine" when the house is on fire, and Rhea has to keep pretening everything is fine, because it's her duty to watch over Fodlan, and Seteth'n'Flayn shouldn't worry about it - she's the one burdened by that, not them. Billy popping up would be her lifeline "it's fine everything is fine look Mother returned and at the end of the month everything will return to the way it was supposed to be, Sothis will fix everything wrong with Fodlan since I'm not able to do so"

and I could see the devs thinking this...

But - and this the biggest "but" - Rhea's lack of supports and ties to characters can't decently be erased by a mere "she ignores them because she hyper focuses on Billy", Rhea's close to her "brother like" figure, dotes on her niece, trains with her knight and protégée, and she'd just ditch them all due to this hyperfixation?

I don't buy it.

As you said, she could be acting weirder and weirder with Billy's signs they're awakening as Sothis's host, or something.

Maybe they could have made supports where Rhea avoids like plague to talk about the "current situation" and big events going on, and just talks about random stuff, like memories, training or picking on Seteth, encouraging Flayn and Cyril to make friends, etc etc...

And with the events of the game happening, her support convos could become more troubling, having supports where she refuses to talk to Seteth about "the demonic beasts" investigations, what's going on in the Empire and all, maybe with the final convo happening just before Jerry kicks the bucket, Seteth would try to grill her one last time, asking her to please let him in, he wants to help, and Rhea considers for a moment (with meaningful "..." points) but she doesn't and say everything's fine, Seteth seemingly abandons, saddened and when he's gone Rhea says she cannot allow him to help her again, it's her burden - (when he discovers the homonculi projet thanks to Jerry's diary he puts 1+1)

And the similar thing with Flayn would be just before the Holy Tomb map - Flayn worries about the "current state of things"and those people who took her blood, but Rhea oddly starts to talk about a celebration for the millenium year festival, how they could celebrate in the Monastery - Flayn could invite her new friends, and then she namedrops Flayn's mother who could also join, to Flayn's surprise, what the fuck is she talking about her mother's dead is she alright?? "yes everything is fine at the end of the month everything will be fine" -

And we know how it ends lol

In the end Rhea's revelation would be something more classical in the lines of her "relatives" pinching her cheeks saying she doesn't need to do everything alone, they can help her too - maybe with them telling her that both back then and now, they help her and Fodlan because it is something they want to do, not because she asks them to.

Maybe they'd tell her to stop feeling bad for what happened during the WoH, sure they lost people dear to them, but they do not regret it at all (with a bonus "Rhea feels like crap because if she never asked for their help during the WoH Cethleann would still have a mom and Cichol a wife and this ate her for 1000 years").

As for Billy -

instead of the "alone b4 u" maybe we could get a Billy centric piece about them feeling kind of bad Rhea apologises for... their existence? No matter the reasons behind their birth or heart transplant, they exist thank to her, right? So they'd tell her thanks, and it breaks her, because everything she thought she did wrong and her biggest sins - creating life - weren't sins since the people who were created were and are grateful to be alive?

I like your idea of "stop being so fixated on the path, look at the present and the future" and it's doubly nice if Billy is the one to say it, because they're Billy, not Sothis!

And it'd make a nice parallel in Nopes - Nopes is supposed to be a kind of bad AU where people don't develop as ideally as they do in FE16 without Billy - because in Nopes Rhea's all on the nostalgia trip, which prompts Seteth to remind her that 1000 years passed since she "borrowed" his shield or since Indech was last here (or since Willy died), they have to focus on the present.

Back to Billy, I'd think they'd be important as the person who tells Rhea that no, she didn't "royally screw up" since they exist thanks to her, and they're grateful + she can rest now, they will take up her job, or even better : since no one can guide the world etc etc alone, will she help them?

Revamped SS without "alone b4u" would still imply slightly tweaking some CGs and cutscenes, instead of having only Billy be present, Seteth and Flayn are here too - when she tells them they're in charge before transforming? Have Seteth with her (maybe saying Flayn already ran away, so what the frick is she doing, they should go, and Rhea nods, talks to Billy, and transforms). The cutscene when she's freed from the prison? Have Seteth pick her up, instead of Billy, maybe Flayn working some sort of magic, and Billy in the scene, visibly relieved as she thanks them and everyone for coming to rescue her. Shambala? More scenes with Cyril and Catherine, asking her if she's alright, if she needs to rest, maybe a CG of Catherine supporting her to walk or something similar with Cyril.

The final scene in the Cathedral ? Seteth enters first with his weapons, because he is the one who said they should kill her (even if i hate this plot mandated fight lol) so he feels like he has to be the one to do it, but Billy catches her and the scene goes as it does in the game.

Anyways - yeah I also like how FeH, Engage (and Cipher to a lesser extent?) represent Billy as liking to be with his lizard family, popping up with them, let it be for a swimsuit alt or for a Halloween alt - sure Gremlin!Sothis ruins the thing - but M!Billy's still on a event with Rhea, just like F!Billy. In canon they need to work a bit on their relationship, but there's no mistake were intended to be on good terms!

(even if in canon you have to be sad to fight against Supreme Leader, so Rhea must be sus, and everyone must tell you Church BaD else Rhea won't be sus, and Supreme Leader might not have a point, and we can't have that + FE16 made Billy the avatar/self-insert so they have to be empty enough to be able to pick each route and support every character)

#2goldensnitches #replies #it's longer than what i first thought lol #rhea stuff #lizard family time? #i reconsidered my earlier opinion on billy lol especially after seeing them outside of FE16 proper #when they can be something else than TV static because they must be able to nod and agree with Supreme Leader #you can't convince me Engage!Billy would just nod when Supreme Leader would be all 'y people are not giving up when i'm invading them?' #'it's their fault if must kill them right mah teacher?' #maybe this reading of Rhea makes her too similar to dimitri but she clearly thinks Fodlan is her burden #she is the one to act as a proxy for Sothis and given how she thinks she's doing a crap job... #before WoH she accepted to share the burden with Willy if the words for Adrestian coronations are anything to go by #But Adrestia became the Adrestia we know lol #And Seteth's priority is Flayn now maybe that's why Rhea thinks she's the one who has to fight alone #She doesn't want them to fight #oh wait it makes their death in Tru Piss worse #FE16 #modern AU : Billy ditches Jerry to hang out with Rhea and Seteth and Flayn #bby!Billy is the kid who hides when their dad comes to pick them up because they don't want to go #Post SS when Rhea is fully recovered they have a Zanado fruit meeting once per month #when they do nothing but eat Zanado fruit and chat about trivial things on the star terrace especially not about work #Seteth found it hard at first but he came to appreciate those meetings