#hanneman's morality is just really interesting to me

[fantasyinvader]

One of the things about Celine is how despite her cute appearance she is quite ruthless. This is rather curious to me, as the Houses devs said something to the same effect about Edelgard. Namely how her being the game's would-be conqueror and stuff was meant to take players by surprise, and how this gave the character depth. It also doesn't help that alternate-timeline Celine advocates conquest herself, and in the final map of the DLC talks about how great it is she's free from her responsibilities (and can crush her opponents) while equipped with Emblem Edelgard.

That last one sticks out a bit, since Edelgard had a similar event in FEH where she talked with Lissa about how awful it is that she has responsibilities thrust upon her simply for being born a noble. Hubert and Monica's support also talks about how this is part of Edelgard's plan. Lissa responds that it's not so bad since they can use their power to help people, while the support states that no other lord int he franchise agrees with Edelgard on this. This is a core piece of morality to the franchise since the beginning with Marth's “I'm a prince before I'm a son or brother” line at the end of the first game. The whole concept of Oudou, whereas Edelgard is supposed to represent Hadou.

And we know Celine protects the people. She wiped out bandits who were preying on villagers without mercy, and when she engages with Emblem Celica for the first time she says this. “I feel a great power within... we have united, haven't we? My resolve is strong. I will protect my people. I will protect everyone!”

Edelgard, on the other hand, is willing to sacrifice as many people as it takes in service to her ideals, ideals she shares with the bandit Nemesis. She's guided belief that she's going to make a better future by doing so. Celine helps support her brother Alfred, whose upgraded class is Avenir. Avenir is french for Future, ergo Celine is fighting for the future by supporting Alfred. In addition, Alfred is a blonde who has a talent for lances, horseback riding and will die at a young age due to his illness. Edelgard's step brother Dimitri, the one who is supposed to represent Oudou, is blonde, specializes in lances, has a hidden talent for horseback riding, is mentioned to die to illness before his partner and is stronger than Alfred could ever dream of. Coincidence?

Celine's personal class is Vidame. Now, Vidame was actually a type of French noble associated with the Church. In order to protect the Church's, uhh, earthly interests they would perform acts that weren't considered appropriate for the Church to be involved in. This usually meant violence, even in the event of it being an act of justice or to protect others. So Celine's class does have a religious tint to it, a link to her family's connection to the Divine Dragons...and honestly fits her really well.

But then look at the Empire, founded with the support of the early Church that formed around Seiros. One of the original ideals for the nobility, according to Hanneman, was that they protect their people but that has fallen to the wayside as nobles instead used their positions for their own power. This is partially why the Empire is supposed to represent hadou, the other is Edelgard ruling through military power. Celine's class is closer to what the emperor should have been.

Edelgard's route is named Safflower/Crimson Flower, Firene is the land of flowers.

Houses banks on tea-time, to the point of selling teas IRL, Celine is a tea expert.

I've talked before about Hortensia's connection to Emblem Byleth, how her story parallels Silver Snow and how defecting from the Empire is supposed to be the right thing rather than continuing it's decline by fighting for it. Elusia is also the Kingdom of Knowledge, whereas the Empire's original meritocracy was, in addition to protecting the people, supposed to be about valuing knowledge. But when you look at Celine, it just seems to be that they intentionally made a character that was supposed to be like Edelgard...except one of the good guys, whereas her Fell counterpart is just another Edelgard.

Granted, considering how Fogado is supposed to be just like Celine in the service to his sister, and how Houses likes to say Claude is similar to Edelgard initially, I guess we have all three lords having their Engage counterparts.

[faroreswinds]

Azure Gleam - Chapter 11

Alrighty, here we go, chapter 11!

Story

Sylvain says its a bit scary because they are trusting the Church a lot. Seriously, this weird mistrust in the Church is just dumb.

The Western Church is undergoing reform now. A new bishop will be chosen too.

Petra is not happy with the Empire and has decided that they will not be having a relationship with Brigid during her lifetime. 

Some distrust of the Alliance. Even Shez is like “I don’t know, man.” Doesn’t help that Lorenz also agrees with him, saying that Claude is difficult to trust. So... there’s that.

Apparently Jeralt’s company is working under Randolph. Jeralt really has a poor sense of morality, huh?

Apparently Randolph doesn’t want to be part of the raids they are doing, according to an Imperial solider NPC who escaped. Even “turned a blind eye” to him escaping. Kinda hard to feel pity when the dude was a-ok with conquering before. 

An NPC says that some Adrestian Nobles still care about the Empire’s wellbeing, and wishes there was a way we could work with them. I mean... I guess? But once again, it’s really hard to feel sympathy for people who are so ready to conquer. And they don’t seem to be trying anything to stop the Duke either. 

Dimitri truly loved Patricia, according to Rodrigue, since she was the only mother he ever knew. Then Rodrigue says that this time, they are the invaders to the Empire. Technically true, but like.... it’s not equal, man, come on. 

Felix, in his own way, expresses some concern that his father is running himself ragged. (Then points out that he doesn’t have any room to criticize since he is running ragged himself).

Aw, Hilda sent the Alliance crew a care package. Cute.

Lol, Yuri criticizes Balthus for buddying up with the Empire. Balthus takes it and hits it back, pointing out that Yuri worked for Rowe. Yuri implies he hated it and maybe didn’t have a choice? Oh well.

Annette: “Now we are invading. :(” Shez “They started the fight, what’s wrong with fighting back?” “Hmmm, I’m not sure that reasoning is convincing enough for me.”

Literally why not, what else are we supposed to do, just twiddle our thumbs until the Empire kills itself off?

Some NPCS have changed their minds about the Church, having once believed they were a pile of garbage till they saved their life.

Another NPC admits to siding with the Empire originally since she believed they would win. Now she’s with the Kingdom for the same reason.

Marianne is concerned about Edelgard. Literally why, she started the war. 

Of course, Dorothea is also worried about Edelgard. At least she is actually friends with her. But I’m getting really sick of this game gaslighting me and pushing Edelgard down my throat. 

Oh, Hanneman appears in a side map! Fascinating, fascinating. So is Ladislava. 

And now for the big chapter battle. 

Seems like this is similar to the SB battle where a bunch of houses are together as one, except this time on the Empire’s side instead of the Kingdom one. 

Dimitri reminds everyone that we are the invading force this time, so it makes sense that the houses are banding together to protect their livelihoods. 

“Not after what we have done” Ashe, buddy.... they attacked first. 

Dimitri comments that he knows that if they lost their way, he knows that everyone will help him come back from it. (YES! This is what AM was missing, so nice now). 

Oh, we can recruit Linhardt and Constance this chapter? For some reason, I thought Linhardt would be later. 

Looks like we are killing Duke Gerth. Kinda a shame, really. He’s actually a nice one. 

Oh, Monica is here! Can I kill her?

Linhardt is a Holy Knight? Interesting. Oh also, Hanneman is here. 

Linhardt says he doesn’t have it in him to kill Petra. Petra is way cutthroat though, kek. 

Lol, Linhardt calls us cruel for beating him up first before we actually ask him to switch sides. He does kinda have a point, lol.

So we killed Baron Ochs. But not the other lords. 

Manuela is here too, excellent. 

Wait, we don’t kill Monica?! NOOOO

Ok, maybe we killed two more Empire lord. Still, low death count so far. Manuela just retreats too. Hanneman as well, And Duke Gerth. Not as devastating as the SB version was, which basically killed everyone except Annette, if you wanted to let her go.

At least this route has guilt, not even SB had that. They even recognize that while it sucks, if they just sit back it won’t be good in the long run. 

Whoa, Felix just kinda defended Dimitri, saying not to put everything on him. That’s my boy. 

Lambert also took the throne young (Rodrigue says too young). 

Dimitri and Lambert are nearly identical, except Lambert had a shorter temper. 

Rodrigue had hoped Felix wouldn’t have been like him so much. Both he and Felix can’t live without serving some sort of greater purpose. For Rodrigue, that was living to make sure he kept Lambert’s promise. 

Rodrigue says that Dimitri needs someone to take his hand and pull him in the right direction. He says he needs a friend, not a retainer, to do that. I guess that’s their piss poor reasoning for why it has to be someone besides Felix or Dedue. 

Whoa, Arval gave his stamp of approval of Rodrigue, calling him a wonderful man. And he’s RIGHT, DAMN IT. 

Oh, hi there Randolph. Guess this is his time to die. 

Basically, the Empire army is mostly reduced to scrabble competing to kill the most or whatever. All picked by Duke Aegir. 

Randolph tells Jeralt that if he dies, his contract will be considered terminated and Jeralt will be free to stop supporting the Empire and it’s fall into depravity. If he wasn’t an invading force, I would almost respect him. 

Time to march closer to Enbarr.

Paralogue

Dimitri, Rodrigue, and Sylvain Paralogue....

A Sreng attack is coming. The leader was a previous prisoner of war that Sreng had offered up. Despite the attack having killed Matthias’ first wife, he agreed to take the boy and treat him well. He taught him the language and the ways of Foldan. But the boy eventually ran back home, with all that knowledge to boot. 

Dimitri finds it profound to be on the same battlefield that his father had been one once. Sylvain finds it uncomfortable that it’s still the exact same fight though.

Lol, it’s funny that only Felix is missing here, like the trio of the past (Margrave, Rodrigue, and the late king) versus Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri. 

Matthias’ first wife was a start pupil of the Black Eagle house, and a classmate of Rodrigue and Matthias. Matthias became known as the “Wall of Ice” after she was killed in the Sreng attack. 

The Sreng Commander had been planning this for a while now. Seems to also be using the Margave’s tactics he had taught him years ago.

And he apparently knew Miklan and Sylvain personally as well, so he must have been there for quite a while. 

After his defeat, the commander ran off. But before he did, he and Sylvain joked with each other a bit. 

The Margrave feels upset, that he taught the man how to speak their language and educated them. But Dimitri says that that was how they managed to get through to him in the first place. 

Sylvain wants to bring peace between the Kingdom and Sreng, even if it takes him his whole life. Sreng wants a port and warmer land, but the Kingdom already has little to spare. So Matthias has no idea how this could end in peace. 

Matthias kinda stormed off. Despite calling Sylvain naive, he actually wonders to Rodrigue if he himself is actually the naive one. He agrees with Rodrigue that he will go apologize to Sylvain for what he had said to him. 

Lambert had hoped to forge peace between Duscur and Sreng. He was unsuccessful with Sreng, but had been making strides with Duscur. 

Dimitri hopes this will end in peace, especially since he wants to end the need for Relics. 

And I guess he did because we got the Lance of Ruin! Wish we could actually SEE that scene but... Well, we kinda do in another route-ish? So, whatever. 

While not an exciting battle, I liked the premise of the paralogue and what it had to offer to the story on the whole.

A little extra note here, but this commander is 100% Leif (from the book Military History of Partholon). He is technically a prince, although never named as such. Oleg, the Sreng chief, died when a large beast (likely the Wind Caller pissed that people were in his home, but it could have been another random beast) killed him. Leif is his grandchild, the youngest of Oleg’s son’s children. 

Supports

Now that Rodrigue is back, we can get to his supports. 

Shez and Rodrigue B - Shez wants to have a snowball fight after the war. But apparently, Kingdom snowballs fights are basically snowball wars.....Of course it is. So cute though, thinking about Rodrigue getting ambushed by Lambert. And Matthias is apparently a cunning snowball fighter. Then Ingrid’s dad came out of nowhere (he is much older than the others) and grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks and forced them to end the fight. Stinking cute. 

Rodrigue and Dimitri A - They talk about Lambert’s death a bit. Then, Dimitri asks what would Rodrigue have done if Dimitri had died that day too. Rodrigue urges Dimitri to value his life, if he wants Rodrigue to value his own. Dimitri doesn’t want Rodrigue to die for him, he believes it would destroy him. It would be like losing his father all over again. Touching support.

Yuri and Dimitri B - Dimitri learns that the people aren’t just standing around waiting for handouts. He wants to be a ruler that listens to everyone. Yuri points out that before people can participate in the government, they need stability and food on the table. Stability, food -> no longer worrying about dying -> more willing to go get educated -> get educated -> can understand what they would want or need for their future more -> participate in government intelligently. Yuri offers his services to help Dimitri raise the funds needed for this process, but Dimitri refuses at first (mostly because Yuri is a known underground crime lord) but promises to consider it. Yuri promises that he would never do something underhanded in Dimitri’s name. I’ve wanted this support chain for years, and it has not disappointed.

Shez and Catherine A - Not a particularly exciting support. I don’t really have anything to say about it. Just a “put one foot in front of the other” support.

Sylvain and Ignatz B - That painting is from 200 years ago, around the time when the Officer’s Academy was founded. They think it might be a painting of the archbishop at the time, although wonder why she is painted in plain clothes. Apparently her rule was not long, because she “died” of illness. It is said birds mourned her loss? The woman also looks like Rhea (so it’s probably Rhea). They speculate that maybe the lady (Rhea) wanted to be represented in common clothes on purpose to be free of the trappings of her position, or maybe the painter wanted to represent how she cared about the poor and downtrodden. A sneaky support about Rhea in the end. Has me wondering, though, why Rhea faked her death by illness 200 years ago. 

Ingrid and Marianne B - Ingrid grew up around Pegasi, which are basically horses on wings. Why tf is Ingrid so suddenly incapable of being around her horse properly. And why are they talking still, go fucking save your friend on the battle field! 

Felix and Raphael A - Felix goes hunting for boar. Kinda cool that this support calls back to Petra teaching Raphael hunting techniques. Felix talks about how his house and Dimitri’s house used to go hunting together (Dimitri bagged a shit ton of animals, Felix barely got away with his life against a boar). Raphael goes confused about which boar Felix is talking about (kek). I guess Felix isn’t the best hunter, lol. Raphael helps him take down the boar, learns a lesson along the way... sort of. Helping ain’t a bad thing. Also calls Raphael a friend. Cute. 

Sylvain and Yuri B - Yuri and Sylvain snuffed out some spies. Sylvain had not hesitated to dispatch them, which surprised Yuri. Yuri admits that he is surprised that Sylvain didn’t hunt him down for killing his brother. Sylvain says its water under the bridge if Yuri helps with the war. But warns that he will not hesitate to kill him if Yuri betrays them. Still, they respect each other. Yuri comments that Sylvain is actually a loyalist deep down (except in CF, kek), and then suggests a date might be fun. Like... a date date. Sylvain is into it? Oh mama, oh lord, these boys will be the death of me. 

Annette and Lorenz B - Lorenz compliments Annette for her achievements. Annette is surprised. Their relationship is mended to a degree. 

Annette and Ignatz B - Annette clears up some misunderstandings. Gustave may be the best fighter, but he’s a worrywart, and terrible taking care of himself. So while he may be an outstanding fighter, but knights need more skills than just being the best fighter. So Ignatz still has a lot of strengths that are contributing, even if it’s not Gustave’s level of fighting. 

Yuri and Seteth A - When the plague came through the kingdom, Yuri was saved by an old man. His mother found him, and they took the man in and cared for him. Then Yuri got sick. Yuri doesn’t know how, but the old man saved him. (The old man is dead now). Seteth then tells him that one of the Ten Elites had a terminal illness, but was cured because he got a crest. Yuri concludes that the old man must have given him a Crest, and that he is going to live a very long life as a result. Seteth, quietly, reveals that the old man was likely Aubin. Apparently, Aubin cursed the blood that flowed through his veins, but likely found salvation because he was able to save a child’s life through it. I guess Aubin might have been one of Nemesis followers before he changed sides, and cursed what he had done. Only a guess on my part though.

Shamir and Catherina A - Catherine had wanted to go drag Shamir back after Shamir slipped away. But Rhea stopped her, and that it wasn’t fair to impose the Church on others, especially those from another land (HMMMMM, NO SHIT?!). They both admit that they missed each other, and that they trust each other deeply. If Shamir didn’t switch sides as easily as slipping burgers, I might actually believe her. Sort of. I mean, she’s mot lying here, but despite the romantic undertones Shamir can still kill Catherine and show very little remorse for it. At least Felix goes into states of depression.

Books

Military History of Partholon

Harpstring Moon, Year 892

The Sreng people mounted a large-scale invasion. They crossed the Ruska Mountains in the north and descended south into Faerghus. 

King Banfig built a string of strongholds along the north of his domain, from Blaiddyd to Fraldarius, including Conand Tower. 

Wyvern Moon, Year 895

Sreng was forced to retreat. The Kingdom was poised for a counterattack. 

However, Sreng’s resistance and harsh, snowy conditions caused them to abandon their attack. Thus, hostilities drew to a close. 

After the campaign, a young and fierce general by the name of Laetitia Zoe Gautier, royal knight and descendant of the elite hero Gautier, was widely praised. 

Great Tree Moon, Year 896

Banfig confers the northern part of his territory on Laetitia. She is given the title of margrave and tasked with defending Faerghus’s border. 

She strengthened defenses in the north, constructing strongholds throughout the Ruska Mountains on the border of Sreng, and reclaiming the Lance of Ruin from the Church of Seiros. 

... Verdant Rain Moon, Year 1169 

Having waited for summer, King Lambert joins with northern lords Gautier and Fraldarius to march on Sreng. The Kingdom army sets up camp in a single stronghold within the Ruska Mountains and opens hostilities with the Sreng army. 

While engaging the Sreng chief Oleg and his forces. a gigantic beast suddenly enters the fray. It lays waste to both sides. Lambert sustains grave injuries, and Oleg disappears into a ravine. 

Oleg’s son offers his own youngest child Leif as prisoner to House Gautier to broker peace. 

#Azure Gleam #my-playthrough #Three Hopes

[varley-of-torment]

Hanneman’s Dialogue After Jeralt’s Death Appreciation Post

“You’ve lost someone very dear to you… I’m so… You have my sympathy. Manuela and I can take on some of your workload this month. We can’t do all the teaching, but at least we can lighten the load for you. I’ve always seen strength in your eyes. I know you’ll recover. You’re a very strong person.”

This is just so sweet?? The writers packed so much compassion into this one  dialogue. This is, in my opinion, the most supportive statement any character gives about Jeralt’s death. He acknowledges the weight of the loss, offers external/tangible help and then gives a string of really nice and positive affirmations. 

This is also a side of Hanneman that is almost never seen. Not that he’s never genuine or anything, but his research is almost always his top priority. Almost all conversations in his supports with Seteth, Alois and Byleth are all means to the end of crest and/or magical study. 

Of all people, the crest obsessed mad scientist is the one who says “You shouldn’t need to work so much while grieving. We will help. You will get through this because you are strong.” He even loses his words for a moment, he cares, man. 

I just really like that these heartfelt sentiments came from Hanneman, it really fleshes him out.

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #fe3h #feel free to add on if i missed anything #hanneman's morality is just really interesting to me #he serves his interests first but does have friends #and his interests happen to be of benefit to society #btw this post originally included manuela's dialogue but i didnt have as much to say #but her dialogue is really sweet too in it's own way #the professor trio is unappreciated #may do a post on that later #anyway is there any npc who says something as heartfelt as this?? #MAYBE flayn and gatekeeper #mine #worried someone will think im saying hanneman has no humanization outisde of this im NOT saying that

[fandom-meanderer]

May I please request a fluffy with a side of angst one shot with Sylvain x Fem!Reader? Where Sylvain secretly loves the reader (didn't confess) but he immediately hates her after he found out that she's pretending not knowing she had a crest. They had a fight and they didn't talk for a month nd he tried to talk to her but the invasion happened and it leave Sylvain heartbroken as they can't find her body. They both reunited 5 years later.

Fluff with a side of angst? Oh dear, I’ll see what I can do.

~

“(Name)~” Sylvain sang. You giggle as quietly as you could in your hiding spot, clutching a certain letter to your heart. “Come on, you know it’s nice to share.”

“Nope! Not this one, Sylvain!” You tumble out of your hiding spot and make a mad dash for the dorms.

“Hey! Get back here!” Soon, you heard him catching up.

Well, time for a detour.

You jump down the stairs with a new goal in mind, Sylvain just at your heels.

What to do, what to do? There’s only one answer.

You’d die before Sylvain read this letter. You tried to play it off as a silly love letter you had received but, if anything, it was anything but. Inside this letter was a message written to you from your father. Your older brother had just been killed. Leaving you the sole inheritor of the Crest of Timotheos, a crest thought to be long lost in time. You were able to easily dodge Professor Hanneman’s radar, and you had successfully convinced Catherine not to tell anyone of your secret, which she understood and swore on her sword. Before, you didn’t want anyone to know because you knew how jacked up the Crest System is, and you didn’t want to be a part of it in any way. And now...

Good Goddess, you would die if Sylvain found out.

He liked you because you didn’t have a crest, after all.

The irony, right?

Without thinking, you throw yourself into the fishing pond.

“Miss (Last Name)!” Alois runs up to the dock. You swim to the top, a fish in hand.

“Hello, Alois! Nothing to see here, just some midday swimming!” You smile. You watch Sylvain’s shoulders relax as he falls into a full laugh.

“You look like shit!” He shouts. He pats Alois’ shoulder. “Don’t worry, I got this.” Then he turns, his back facing the water, gives a sloppy salute, and falls right in with you.

“Sylvain!” You slap the back of his head with the fish. “Get outta here!”

“You came in here first!” He laughs. “Please don’t hit me with that fish again.”

“Sylvain? (Name)?” Professor Byleth runs up. “What are you... It’s a bit late for a swim, don’t you think?” You and Sylvain exchange a look.

“Nah,” you both shake your head. Regardless, you still pulled yourselves out of the water and apologize to your worried professor. Still, you’d be lying if you didn’t enjoy the sight of this Sylvain. In fact, you might slightly prefer it. You two smile at each other and quickly look away, pink dusting both of your cheeks. Then, you remembered. You shove your hand in your pocket.

‘Gone. Good.’ You looked back to the pond, glad that the piece of parchment dissolved in its depths, a secret well kept.

~

“Hi, Sylvain!” You run up to him, your usual goofy expression on your face. The two of you stood by the armory, getting ready for a battle. “I know why you’re here, the new Brave collection came out, I’m really interested myself. Which one are you going to get?” Sylvain turns away from you, and after making his purchase, he walks off. You eyebrows furrow and you follow him.

“Sylvain? Hey, Sylvain? Yoohoo,” you dance around him. Finally, you decide to drop the act. “Hey, everything alright?” He stops moving.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He scoffs. You tilt your head. Then, he pulls out a not-so-wet, or dissolved for that matter, letter.

You could’ve sworn that, right then and there, your entire world came crashing down.

“Sylvain... I can explain.”

“You’ve been lying to us. You’ve been lying to me.”

“No, no, it’s not like that! Just, give me a second, okay?”

“How could you explain this?” Sylvain throws the letter at you. “You either know or you don’t, (Name). And from reading that, it’s clear you know.”

“Wait...” You shake your head. “Why are you reading my stuff anyways?! That’s not your place.”

“That’s not the point, (Name), and you know it.” You know Sylvain. You know what he’s like when he’s joking, serious, happy, sad, and more. But right now? You didn’t know what he was feeling. But you had a pretty good feeling. It’s best to just come clean.

“Well, just like you, I couldn’t give a single fuck about the damned crest system. I’d rather distance myself entirely. So I let my brother handle all that Crest bull shit and told everyone I was crestless. There. There’s your explanation. Happy?” You and Sylvain stood in a tense silence. Then, he shook his head and walked away.

This time, you didn’t follow him.

Gods... How he wished he went back to apologize to you.

Just a month later, Empire troops marched on Garreg Mach.

Sylvain, with lance in hand, walked out of the gates of the Monastery and watched the soldiers come in hoards. Just above head, two pegasus fliers. Ingrid looked down, her expression a mix of worry and fear. She knows as well as everyone that this isn’t going to be a close fight. And next to her, there you were. And unlike Ingrid, your expression already told what was going to happen. As the two fliers landed, the class stood together in a unified front for what may be the last time.

“We can do this... right?” Annette tries to bring the morale up. You laugh, you laugh loud, it was almost maniacal actually.

“Don’t kid yourselves,” you say. “This isn’t going to be a fight. This is going to be a fucking massacre.” Right as you said that, the waves of soldiers charged. You and Ingrid hopped on your pegasi and headed straight into battle. Sylvain and Felix moved opposite of you two, trying to cover more ground.

The battle raged on and on and on. The professors weren’t in sight, and neither were the other classmates. Right now, it was just him and Felix, fending off the heavily armed forces side by side. And after forever, the waves stopped. Sylvain didn’t care if they were killed or if they escaped, but after seeing the mass of bodies and uniforms on the field? Only one person mattered.

“(Name)...”

“What?” Felix looks over to him. “Now you care, huh?”

“Not now, Felix, where is she?”

“She went in the opposite direction, remember? She’s with Ingrid, don’t worry.” Sylvain and Felix spot Dimitri and make their way over just as the other blue lions followed.

“Is everyone here?” Mercedes asks. She looks around. Just before she says anything, Ingrid runs over.

“I can’t... I can’t find (Name)...” she huffs. “There was a student, she was cornered so... (Name) flew over, then I lost track of her.”

“A student? But all of the students were already evacuated,” Ashe says. “The only students who stayed behind are the main battle students, right?”

“Yeah, did you see who it was?” Annette asks. Ingrid shakes her head.

“Well she has to be somewhere, right?” Sylvain speaks up. Annette and Mercedes exchange looks, knowing full well what the most likely outcome is. Sylvain turned to Dimitri. “Hey, Dimitri, you don’t... you don’t think she’s dead right?”

“I don’t think Dimitri’s in a good place right now,” Mercedes warns. Dimitri didn’t respond, he held a far off look. Sylvain shakes his head.

“I’m going to go look for her, you guys do whatever you want, I can’t just leave her here,” and with that, Sylvain climbed onto his horse and moved throughout the field, checking everywhere possible for any sign of you.

Felix sighed, he’d might as well help, prove to Sylvain that there’s no hope. Mercedes and Annette, as much as they didn’t want to entertain the idea, decided to help as well. Ingrid, feeling almost the guiltiest of everyone, took Ashe with her and scanned the field from afar. The only two people who stayed stagnant were Dimitri and Dedue.

It shouldn’t have to be said but... they never found the body.

That gave Sylvain a sense of some hope.

You had to be alive, right? If there’s no body, then that means you’re still alive, right?

...

Right?

But that hope was destroyed.

Five years later, he found you again.

But this time, you donned red.

“Oh, Sylvain, it is good to see you again,” you smiled. You twisted your lance in him. “I see these five years treated you well.” Although it took everything in him, he grabbed onto the lance and tried to pull it out of his chest. A futile effort, but one that made you scoff.

“You betrayed us.”

“No. You just don’t understand yet,” you pulled the lance out of him and backed up. “Edelgard’s calling me. Finish this for me, will you, love?”

“Of course,” Hubert stepped forward, readjusting his glove. “I’ll make this fast, Gautier.”

~

Hmm... maybe there’ll be an alternative ending? We’ll see.

(Also I’m so sorry if this isn’t what you had in mind anon!)

#Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Three Houses #feth #fe3h #fe3h x reader #fe3h sylvain #sylvain jose gautier #sylvain x reader #blue lions #ingrid brandl galatea #felix hugo fraldarius #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #dedue molinaro #annette fantine dominic #mercedes von martritz #ashe ubert #some hubert #request

[gascon-en-exil]

im begging you to elaborate more on your hubert is secretly a member of TWSITD theory. is he a traitor to TWSITD? is he just pretending so that TWSITD can get a better grip on the throne after edelgard dies? does ferdinand know? i kinda love this theory, he even has that horribly pale skin that ever other underground dubstepper has and that is enough for me to believe it 100%

It’s not something I’ve thought about too deeply, but it does neatly explain a few things, like his use of dark magic without having been used in Agarthan experimentation or why he’s completely unbothered by their blood magic work (Flayn) and their experiments on civilians. It also fits in continuation with the Genealogy allusion that is the Empire; Hubert and Thales split the role of Manfroy technically speaking, but Hubert’s the one really getting most of it done and Thales is just there for nukes and to be a non-playable antagonist.

I think the most likely scenario is that he wasn’t an Agarthan originally but came upon them in research and ingratiated himself into their ranks in pursuit of power. On a mechanical level it’s worth noting that Hubert has no Crest. Per the Alois/Hanneman supports Crest-less individuals have trouble learning magic, and you can see this show up in gameplay with the other default magic users without Crests: Dorothea and Manuela have lower MAG growths, and their and spell lists aren’t the greatest in one way or another. Not Hubert though - second highest MAG growth in the game after Lysithea and Constance, a full complement of dark spells, and even despite his faith weakness he’s a better healer than Manuela and situationally better than Dorothea. One could draw the conclusion is that Hubert sought out Agarthan (dark) magic to overcome his natural disadvantage, possibly during the time that Edelgard was away in the Kingdom. We know that he had a connection with the Agarthans by the time he suggested that she ally herself with them several years later.

I guess that would make Hubert kind of an Agarthan but kind of not, and explains why Thales still wouldn’t trust him and is contemptuous toward Hubert in his paralogue. I wouldn’t say that Hubert ever really goes off-script in CF except for the attack on Cornelia, and Thales’s response to that is known. We only have ending cards and such to describe the postgame war against the Agarthans where Hubert really does go rogue, but that’s not really that much to go off. It stuck with me that he refers to that upcoming war as House Vestra’s, like it’s entirely his personal thing and Edelgard isn’t going to be involved in any way. You could read that as more of her outsourcing - this time pitting her various evil minions against one another - or as something more sinister on his end, like for example that Hubert could be fighting to depose Thales and replace him as the leader of the Agarthans. That would bring the Manfroy comparisons back in full force and likely lead to an outcome very similar to Genealogy Gen 2, with Hubert grooming Edelgard’s successor from the shadows or being ready to kill and replace them by an Agarthan he can fully control. It’s not like he has any magic tomes containing the souls of evil dark dragons lying around. Probably.

As for Ferdinand, I imagine that Hubert withholds a lot of sensitive information from his lover for everyone’s sake, even if CF Ferdinand is naturally more morally compromised. I think the more interesting question is how long does it take until Hubert is bringing dark magic and blood rituals into the bedroom to satisfy all their kinky whims; if Ferdinand seriously believes that Hubert is attractive enough to sleep with he’s got to be into that kind of thing.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Hubert von Vestra

[retrauxpunk]

sv 6.05

spoiler-filled recap post below the cut as per usual ~~~

i think i’m gonna maybe be starting every single recap post with

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK 

there’s only two episodes LEFT? OF THE SHOW?

also

OH MY GOD

FUCK

part way through this i was like ‘oh this feels like a happy good/nice episode!!’ the way 6.03 (hooli smokes) was!! where there was conflict but it wouldn’t fucking kick you in the teeth (like 6.04 with ethan and jared’s problems etc)

but then I started thinking, oh they’re gonna maybe do the classic sv thing of everything being fine and then in the last 5 minutes or some shit it goes horrifically wrong?

yeah FUCK

FUCK

?????????????????????????

my thoughts are all over the place so this recap won’t be like super chronological necessarily mmm........

how did the episode even start? oh yeah, russfest. god i was laughing out loud to myself during russ’s mad max sequence because it was SO over the top i was just like what is happening

how much of the budget went into russ’s ad!!! jesus

i enjoyed gilfoyle and monica’s camaraderie in the episode.

also during the meeting with those two and tracy, half of all i could think about was just how hot gilfoyle is. that voice. the hair/beard. the unsettling stare. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh

(i listened to Martin Starr’s interview on the Talk Easy podcast and it’s very unsettling at first because his gilfoyle voice is just .........his voice. the same.)

anyway yes gilfoyle is Fine

social engineering!! at first i thought he was just just being some kind of poser but it WAS social engineering! fuck!! nicely done gilf

poor tracy, trying to do her job........ gilfoyle’s such a fucking chaos unit omg

DINESH! poor dinesh. i feel sorry for him because he suffered magnificently bad luck but also............. he was being a dick with the lei hahahha so like. big karmic retribution.

i notice that for so much of this episode, he’s not with the rest of them ... i wonder if that has anything to do with kumail nanjiani’s schedule

..........HOLDEN AND JARED? WHAT THE FUCK?

WHY IS JARED BEING SUCH A CREEPTASTIC MOTHERFUCKER WHAT THE FUCK i ................................don’t........i don’t think i .....like this........ but it is interesting. i hope it goes somewhere. but where exactly it could go, in a satisfying manner, with two episodes left is ...... ehh.

oh well even if this ends up just being an unresolved garbage pile, the show was overall still very good if a bit patchy at times, i mean, i guess i shouldn’t expect it to be perfect (we can’t all be ... breaking bad or bojack horseman ...)

SPEAKING OF UNRESOLVED GARBAGE PILE.

WHAT’S UP WITH THE COMPLETE NON-JARRICH IN THIS EPISODE. THERE WAS SO MUCH OF IT IN THE FIRST FOUR AND IN THIS ONE THEY KIND OF JUST. NEVER SHOWED ANY OF IT?

no time spent on those two’s relationship? (except in the form of jared being a posessive creepy asshole @ holden) ............. no scene in which they address his quitting, his coming back -- what is his role exactly?

i guess they had other stuff to fit into the episode

BUT COME ON THEY SPENT A SIZEABLE CHUNK OF IT ON THE COMEDIC MONICA/GILFOYLE VS TRACY SUBPLOT they clearly didn’t not have the time.

..........................................i swear to god if they completely drop the richard/jared plot and never do anything with their relationship beyond what we’ve seen so far as of 6.05 i’m gonna fucking implode

into a neutron star of impotent rage

holy shit

YOU CAN’T FUCKING HAVE THAT MUCH SETUP AND EMOTION AND THEN HAVE IT GO FUCKING NOWHERE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

ok i’m gonna save the preemptive rage ............ and hope i never have cause to release it again.

two more episoded two more episodes!!

FUCKING gavin belson!!!!!!!!! WHY WON’T HE GO AWAY WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIM FUCK THIS ASSHOLE

thumbass

i swear to god when richard said to jared ‘thumbass’ and jared paused for a bit before laughing obligatorily ...... that pause was the First Moment when he Truly Doubted his devotion/admiration/love for richard

just for a fraction of a second a few neurons in his brain were like ‘this is the guy you think is a genius? ...................ok dude’

anyway back to gavin belson

TETHICS?

this is hilarious for many reasons but also because at one point me and some friends made a joke about jeff bezos doing meth and someone called it ‘jeff meth’ and i then of course called it ‘jeth’

so to me tethics is like a weird surprise cousin of my own joke (sharing with it the traits of: unpleasant silicon valley tech billionaire, horrible awkward portmanteau, the ‘eth’ syllable...)

FUCK gavin belson!!!!!!

?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK

RICHARD!! WHY DID YOU TELL HIM ABOUT YOUR DISCOVERY OF HIS PLAGIARISM

WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST EXPOSE HIM DURING YOUR SPEECH

sure maybe he’d then do his disingenuous confession / call an attorney general investigation thing anyway but ... god idk i guess i imagine that if richard had exposed gavin’s plagiarism publically before telling gavin he was onto him, he might be too thrown to do anything ............... but i suppose maybe the investigation would’ve happened anway ....... okay this makes me feel slightly better

UUUUUUGH POOR RICHARD poor pied piper

*batman voice* i’m richard hendricks

anyway

when richard was talking to ron in his office and slumped down in his desk (right before he says that pied piper’s dead), i feel like in that moment richard could plausibly just for a second have been considering having gavin belson just fucking assassinated

RUSS HANNEMAN

of course he’d come back, they wouldn’t have him in the opening scene just to be irrelevant to the rest of the show/episode

okay i really liked that russ gave richard an out? 

and the scene was comedically good

but part of me just couldn’t stop wondering what on earth those ‘horrible crimes’ were ... that you can have photo evidence of ..... like i’m guessing it’s not going to be something like child sex trafficking or something because i suspect richard would’ve been a lot more ruffled if it were something to that level

and then i’m like, well, what was it then? i guess they’re hinting at a debauched sex thing because, y’know, it’s russ. but now i’m like, what kind of sex thing could it be that it’s 1) illegal, 2) viscerally gross, 3) but not so morally reprehensible that richard is any more disturbed than he was in that scene which was .. not that disturbed

maybe it was some kind of arson or illegal poaching thing

anyway i recognise the point of this device is to never reveal what it is and have our minds go crazy, and it’s succeeded because i’m an obsessive neurotic

yeah i’m gonna headcanon gross poaching or something

the scene in the end of them in the desert .......... makes me think of breaking bad

that’s the second ending scene that was reminiscent of breaking bad (the first being the birds dying at maximo’s window. that was reminiscent in the whole thing, whereas this was only reminiscent aesthetically)

i think 6.02 made me feel actually insanely bugged out what with maximo... and 6.04 made me feel bad because of all the unfortunate shit that was happening for everyone ...

6.01 shocked me with how FUCKING jarrich it was, and 6.03 had me euphoric because it was so fucking thrilling and victorious

and what of this episode, 6.05? how does it make me feel?

it makes me want to watch the next two episodes!!!

i am a bit miffed about the complete lack of any kind of jarrich content given how MUCH of it there was in the first four eps, i am not really liking what they’re doing with jared and holden (though i don’t hate it enough to keep talking about it beyond this sentence), and i ..................... wonder what’s gonna happen next with russfest and pied piper o__o

my hope that jarrich may become canon has just, like, gone down by three quarters lol

it feels very much like the first five seasons now, i.e. it ain’t gonna happen

and that’s OKAY so long as they do SOMETHING GOOD with their relationship!! DON’T JUST NEVER TALK ABOUT IT AGAIN PLEASE

really kinda o_____o about how the series is gonna end.

TWO MORE EPISODES?

#silicon valley #sv s6 #sv s6 spoilers #silicon valley spoilers #spoilers #rain watches sv s6

[theeeveetamer]

You know, a solution to the overlapping AUs could be the Agarthans gave the Empire access to that technology (to "raise morale in the war effort", since before that the Imperials went through omegas quickly, losing them to childbirth or failed abortions). Felix taking that stuff didn't affect him. The herbal tea on the other hand is far less advanced, and he ends up horribly ill from it, but barely survives. He thinks it was worth it, though Sylvain hopefully gets him to talk more about this.

Yes but this also requires me to acknowledge that the Agarthans exist and they annoy me as a concept.

I mean, there’s quite a few ways we could reconcile these two AUs.

It could also just be that the Empire is slightly more advanced that Faerghus or the Alliance. I mean, the only two characters that seem to give a damn about researching anything are Hanneman and Lindhardt, both from the Empire. Most of the Alliance people seem concerned with money/supporting their loved ones and racism, and most of Faerghus is too hung up on chivalry. Plus during the time skip they had five years in relative isolation (I imagine there wasn’t much trade going on between the Empire and everyone else at that time).

Then depending on how things go it’s possible their research is destroyed, partially incomplete, or ignored for quite some time when the Empire is finally invaded. I mean, no one is really paying attention to the people making birth control pills in a lab when there’s a war effort going.

This also introduces the interesting and very fucked up possibility that Felix and Dimitri (and many other Omegas) were unwittingly used as lab rats for their weird new drugs. But that concept also squicks me the hell out and I would prefer not to think about it too hard.

Assuming the research is abandoned or incomplete then Felix could help revolutionize birth control by hunting down the research already done and funding it’s completion/testing/production.

#slavery au #ptsd #non-con #medical experimentation #3h omegaverse #guys these tags are getting really squicky #we should really get something cute in here to balance it all out #Anonymous

[lilium-tenebris]

So this is a long rant about Lillian’s morale code, the Crest of Lovicelle’s secondary functionality, and the nature of Grima in this weakened state and how it colors Lillian’s relationship with it. Under the cut cuz boy am I going to get going long on shit. Yeah, this is really long but it’s also really important so *shrug*.

So the first thing I need to make somewhat clear about Lillian is she is not objectively a morally good character, not even close. In her interactions she has been exceptionally kind and friendly (to the best of HER abilities) in most cases and that is genuine. But a nice person is not always a GOOD person in the morale scale of things. Lillian only obtained a concept of good and bad from the occasional children’s book and what not and so her grasping of it is very vague and her ability to understand the IMPORTANCE of that sort of thing is low.

She isn’t evil though, in a typical 9 alignment system she’s a type of neutral though that can vary which of the 3 from route to route. For example Crimson Flower being the only route she becomes OVERLY zelous about the cause itself she becomes Lawful Neutral with Edelgard as the ‘law’ so to speak. In the school phase and many others she’s chillin more at a True Neutral. With the exception of Crimson Flower, but this still applies in it, Lillian is Loyal to PEOPLE not ideals, concepts, a morale system, anything.

She has striven her whole life to be accepted, you would think being the object of worship of a cult would give that impression but it doesn’t in her case. During her time in the Grimist Cult she was ISOLATED, other than strange dehumanizing worshiping rituals she was denied seeing any of her caretakers for any length of time BECAUSE it would humanize her. They did not want a little girl they wanted a god.

Coming to the Church of Seiros was NOT much better for her, and though it’s objectively a step up because of the way it made her feel she views it as worse. Once her connection to Grima came to light and the nature of it’s energy being restrained by her she was simply dehumanized in a  different way. She became basically treated like an artifact, a fragile urn with an evil spirit in it to be set on a shelf to keep the spirit at bay. Anyone with even an inkling  of who she was or what was going on wound up treating her like the plague in order to avoid being the one to crack or shatter the ‘urn’ in this metaphor.

She was only able to spend time around certain people that way such as Professor Hanneman helping him with his research, yet, even there she felt as though that was because of her crest. She was welcome there only because she was an interesting research subject, once again, not a person, whether that reflects his true opinion isn’t known to me and I’ll handle that on a person by person basis RP wise, yet, in the end it’s how she comes to FEEL about it just the same.

Then this years students come in and she manages to connect with Gabriel ( @sol-chorus ) my other character. That helps, he helps, but, Gabriel has his own problems and struggles that make him biased against other students, the houses, and just the system there under based on his experiences with his own crest. Not to mention he is not AWARE of everything listed above as she has been ordered to keep that ‘burden’ to herself as it is ‘hers’ to carry. So he doesn’t realize when he talks down about her joining a houses when she mentions it he’s pushing her into this cycle of isolation he doesn’t know ANYTHING about it.

So that’s where she winds up by the time she is pulled into the 3h main story and conflict by SOMEONE from one of the houses reaching out a hand. In most cases (minus one AU) the students have no IDEA about who or what she is or where she came from and she’s treated as a classmate, a weird classmate, but she’s not the strangest one certainly. And the more the first half of the game goes on the harder Lillian latches onto her classmates, her house, the Professor etc. she is finally somewhere where she’s considered a person. However, warnings from the church sill put her back remind her ‘what’ she is and that juxtaposition of that still haunting her against her new friends and allies is maddening and it takes her minor bitterness towards the Church and inflates it to a silent boiling rage. To the point that she won’t go in the Chapel, like, if she was implemented int he game during no months of any free time, in the WHOLE game would you find her anywhere near the chapel.

In a route such as the Blue Lions, she at least comes to accept a church that is at least fully under Byleth’s leadership, but, she still has lingering resentment for Rhea (who survives) and the old church for what she was put through.

Of course all of that brings us around tot he source of this, Lillian was born a Grim Witch, she was born this Generations Vessel/Host of the weakened spirit o The Fell Dragon, that has been falling deeper and deeper into weakness over the Millennia between this and anything else I’ve written for this lore. It will be centuries before the dragon’s soul can gain enough energy to even try to exist outside of a host again. This puts LIllian in a different position than previous hosts, it does not wish to destroy her, or rather it could not do so even if it wished because that would leave it right where it started. Instead it pursues a more ‘symbiotic’ appearing relationship with her. Because she has been able to hear the voice since she was a small child even when she was ALONE she was connected to the dragon and could hear it frightening and overwhelming as it was. As the conflict breaks out in 3H the Fell Dragon seizes that and Lillian’s new found attachments as a weakness. It may not be able to regain it’s strength and be rid of her but it can use her to decrease the wait time on it rebuilding it’s strength in the long run.

The Crest of Lovicelle acts as a simple magic attack increasing Crest for mechanics but, it’s secondary feature is to act as a road a channel between the dragon and it’s host allowing the host to borrow some of it’s power. However, Grima being ultimately driven by a desire to break free in centuries hence and destroy the world as it is known will not do something like that for free. In order to use this functionality of the crest and activate it’s ‘Breath of Ruin’ factor. This taps into Grima’s base energy and essentially allows Lillian to disintegrate something, walls, people, anything lacking in the kind of divinity Grima possesses can be destroyed by the dragon’s raw ruin factor. However, in order to open IT’S end of the channel Grima requires one thing in return. For each time it’s power is to be borrowed through the crest this way, it wants a human soul. It does not matter who or from where any soul now is able to help the creature regenerate it’s power faster from it’s current weakened stasis. And the point of everything above is to say this: Lillian in some ways is not OPPOSED to using this power, sparingly.

If these people who have finally made Lillian feel like a human being, people who have accepted her are in enough danger she will cave to this offer of power time and again. If her back hits the wall and she can see no other way to protect her house/side she’ll pay the price, one enemies soul (or if desperate enough a simple stranger’s) ceasing to exist is worth the price of admission if that borrowed power will save those she’s come to love. The only thing that effects this use of it is how OFTEN she uses it, for example in Crimson Flower there is a very ‘ends justify the means’ attitude through that WHOLE route and I could see her using this not nearly constantly but maybe 5-8 times throughout the WHOLE five and a half year war (maybe once in the academy phase it depends). Where as in say an Azure Moon Route where that sort of thing may not be as ‘acceptable’ to her allies she may only use it once or twice.

This is more or less despite her reasons for it objectively evil as an action itself, someones soul CEASES to be, it is GONE, they are something worse than dead. She is WELL aware of this fact, don’t doubt that she  is aware not only of this but, that each time she leans on the dragon like this, it becomes a little stronger and she damns some future generation a little bit more. She knows these things she understands them from an objective concept, she can write them on paper and explain them in words and yet-

She doesn’t FEEL them. At least not int he way most people would, she is not REMORSELESS not even close any time she uses this ability it shakes her and she may even isolate herself for a while to try and cope with the evil she commits. But she has a very ‘it had to be done I had no choice, i couldn’t let something HAPPEN to them’. Her allies are worth it, her friends are worth it, these people who would welcome her are worth any suffering, after all she was BORN a monster that is not going to change just because some people are kind enough not to see her that way.

That is what she believes that is what her ENTIRE rearing as a child has brought her to have resonate from her very core. Lillian is a very nice person, if you become friend or ally she would do anything for you to repay that kindness.

Emphasis on anything.

#❀ The Haze of Mind {Headcanons} #tw neglect #tw child abuse #tw cults