#this is no hate towards rhea's character you love who you want

[dragongutsixofficial]

On the topic of Rhea, Byleth, Crimson Flower and abuse

I see a lot of people saying Crimson Flower is a bad route for Byleth, and I'm always a little confused about it, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the matter. This post isn't at all to invalidate their opinions or how they view the game- this is just offering my perspective on things. Please forgive any possible mistakes, as English isn't my first language. Also, I will be criticizing Rhea's treatment of Byleth, so I'll tag this appropriately of course, but I'm still warning any of her fans beforehand in case you just wanna skip. ^^

For a little bit of context, when i first played the game, Rhea creeped me out THE MOMENT she looked at Byleth from the balcony in the cutscene when they arrive at Garreg Mach monastery. So, I was already wary of her-I dunno, I just had a feeling she wasn't as honest as she was pretending to be.

And I mean, this isn't completely wrong. She desperately wants to be able to relax and be truthful, sure, but she also has a great deal of responsibility in putting in place and maintaining a really unfair theocracy based entirely on lies, because she wants to protect her family, the last of her kind. While her behavior is, of course, understandable given the horrible trauma she went through, it still doesn't sit right with me, but that's not really my point here. The thing is, she has problems with not being in control at all times because of her story. Her despair even pushes her to try and bring back her dead mother by crafting her a vessel- something she fails at several times, including Sitri.

And, then, there's Byleth. Byleth, who disappears for twenty long years, along with all her hopes, and when they reappear Rhea immediately sees the possibility for her to achieve her goal is not totally lost. She was desperate and now that she's found them, she wants to keep them.

That's why she places so much trust in Byleth from the start, but also why she grows cold every time they step out of line- like when they refuse to give her Miklan's spear. She allows them to live their life, but only so long as they do not disappoint her in any way or deviate from her ideas- because for the longest time, she struggles to see them as their own person and puts unreasonable expectations on them.

And that, sadly, is when that becomes psychological abuse on her part. This is really obvious to me when Byleth's hair and eyes turn green after fusing with Sothis, and she sings to them and puts their head in their lap while they're asleep- it just makes me want to run far away in the opposite direction every time, and her giving them the prophet outfit after that makes me so sorry for Byleth because what she's essentially doing here (albeit maybe unvoluntarily) is chipping away at their developing self and bodily autonomy by turning them into literally what she physically wants to see-and that isn't them. She wants them to become what she wants of them.

And then, in the Sacred Mausoleum, Byleth chooses Edelgard. All hell breaks loose because Rhea's hopes are shattered- and she also realizes her affection for Byleth is (partly) unrequited which, to me at least, makes sense- I don't really see how they could care as much for her as they do for their students when they spent every day with them for a year, and their actions seem to be made more out of love for their close ones than anything else. Byleth breaks out of the mold and confronts her directly. They make the clear cut decision to deviate from the path she had laid out for them. From that moment on, Rhea considers that all forms of violence against them is allowed (which, fair, they just declared war on her lol) including taking their heart out by force, which is physical abuse obviously (then again, violence is to be expected in a war but you get the idea). She now hates what she's created and sees it as her duty to destroy it.

Now. Byleth choosing to walk down Edelgard's path does not equate cutting themselves from their divine part, and I think that is a very important point. I see a lot of people make that criticism, especially since Byleth loses Sothis' powers at the end of CF. But to me, it's a totally different phenomena that occurs.

In every route, post-timeskip Byleth embraces their divine side. They use the Creator's sword and they go back in time as they wish to protect and further their and their lords' vision for the future of Fodlan. Heck, their main class is literally "Prophet". But something strange and, I think, beautiful happens in Crimson Flower that always made me feel disappointed in the other routes' plots: Byleth has a chance to stand up to their abuser and cut ties with them explicitely and directly. To fight back against them with all they've got.

Now, don't get me wrong. Rhea apologizing for her wrongdoings and bad treatment of Byleth is good, sure, but it just… doesn't seem like enough to me. Sure, that's a nice thought… but it's not like anything can be done about it now: they're stuck with body modifications and a position as an Archbishop reforming the system she helped put in place that they never really asked for in the first place. But what makes it ok is that they embrace those fully and voluntarily, and that's beautiful on its own- however, that resolution leaves me a bit disappointed and honestly feeling like they let Rhea walk all over them.

The thing is, when you get out of an abusive and toxic relationship, you are left changed from the experience. You lose a lot of things, but you also get some things. It's like you're left with a random object your abuser gave to you once. You can either keep it and give it a new story of its own, or discard it if keeping it just doesn't feel right. But in the end, it is your responsibility, your thing, and you're not a bad person for not using it. The metaphor is broken, I know, but I hope you get my idea. You're not a bad person for moving on for that thing- You don't resent the thing, you can thank it and appreciate it for what it brought you while you used it, you don't hate it, hell you might have even learnt from it.

In the other routes, Byleth chooses to keep everything and use it equally. In Crimson Flower, Byleth "regaining their humanity" doesn't in any way, shape or form mean they reject all that Sothis brought to them or their enlightenement. It's just them choosing that they'd rather not use that from now on, or not engage with it to the same degree. They might go back to it later, might help rebuild the church, I don't know-just not in the same way. On new terms that make them more at ease with who they became following that route.

They're still the same loving and caring person who would do anything for their students. They still go to the ends of the Earth to give someone a random thing they lost. They still spend hundreds of coins on their loved ones' favorite teas. But… they do not have to forgive Rhea. They do not have to accept everything that happened to them because of her actions, even if some of it was good. They've made their peace with it and they've let it go of their own volition.

They do not become a lesser version of themselves because they chose to deal with the abuse they went through in a different way than in the other routes.

And I think a lot of people underestimate how powerful CF!Byleth's narrative can be.

#fe3h #byleth eisner #byleth discourse #lady rhea #seiros #rhea discourse #rhea critical #tw abuse #tw mentions of abuse #tw physical abuse #tw psychological abuse #crimson flower #this is no hate towards rhea's character you love who you want #byleth #fe16 #archbishop rhea #fe3h spoilers #edelgard von hresvelg

[omnipotent-scient]

Alicent is a political mastermind whether you like her or not. Her keeping the peace after visits died is why Rhaenyra lived as long as she did

Lol, which part of her character screams political mastermind to you? The part where she was having petty grudges against a pre-teen? Or the part where she spread unnecessary rumours abt the said 12/13 year old? Or the part where she publicly hated the same child? Or the last where she wanted a 5 year old's eye to be put out? Or the part where her 19 and 15 year old sons remained unwed, instead of creating an allegiance?

She is smart and cunning and ambitious but not in the most political way.

Her marriage was the utmost political move on her part. Through this marriage, she became queen, one of the most powerful titles, had four princelings and three to follow after them.

I do think the Rhaenyra & Alicent mostly animosity mostly began after Otto was sent away(109)/Aemond was born(110), which would put Alicent(21/22) displaying public dislike towards Rhaenyra(12/13). Everyone and their mothers in the court knew abt their 'animosity' towards each other even before the tourney of 111 AC, blacks and greens were formed. Alicent was 23 and Rhaenyra was 14.

“Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?” Queen Alicent asked one day at court. Such a political movie on Alicent's part🤦‍♀️

Taking in Lord Commander of the Kingsgaurd Criston, was a power gaining move on her past however. But then again, a man she alleged of being a pedo when she had a silver haired daughter herself. So, again, who knows.

Aegon and Helaena marriage was arranged by Viserys, so it would calm down Aegon a bit (from whoring and drinking). She as a mother did not stop Aegon from whoring or excessive drinking, even though she wanted him to be king. She did not prepare him to rule or have someone do it, just let him sire bastards and destroy his reputation. Just because he was a son, he was the better choice, even with nothing to back it.

Queen Alicent demanded that one of Lucerys Velaryon’s eyes should be put out, for the eye he had cost Aemond. Luke was FIVE when this happened, Alicent was a grown 32 year old woman, a mother to 4 children. Though this can easily be passed as her mother's grief talking. So moving on.

Aemond(19) and Daeron(15) remained unwed. Marriage is the best way of allegiance (ex. Rhaenyra and Velaryons). Aemond could've been easily married by then, maybe to Cassandra Baratheon, where he could've been her consort (ex. Daemon and Rhea). Daeron could've been married too, but even a Betrothal would've been fine, maybe to some Tyrell. Yet it didn't happen.

By (visits=Viserys?) 'Rhaenyra living as long as she did', I think you mean the peace treaty? Even an idiot knows you offer a peace treaty at the beginning of a war, so you can be seen as peaceful and better than the other. It wasn't even just her either, Otto and Helaena both pushed for it. The offer was also a hostageship for Rhaenyra and her whole family.

Also Rhaenyra is the one who kept Alicent alive not the other way around. “for the sake of our father, who loved you once.”

#canon rhaenyra targaryen #canon asoiaf #canon alicent hightower #alicent hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #Rhaenyra vs Aegon #canon aegon ii #aegon ii

[neptune-lover]

Hi, can you write one about reader doing enemies to lovers with priest on the ring but they dating behind the scenes. Also shes on a team with sami, kevin and r*ddle

SECRET

Author:I had so much fun writing this I swear to god I love priest he's awesome so when I got this request I was very excited.

Tag list: @hauntedpostpersona @moxkindagirl @babybatlover @thybulleric

Tonight you had a 8 person mixed tag team match it was you, Sami, Riddle and Kevin vs the judgment day for a few week now the two groups have formed a rivalry but what no one knew was that you and priest were secretly dating. You two had been a happy couple for about 2 months now and no one knew except for the twos families. Within this rivalry was dating back to the Judgement Day coming together when you and Liv had just joined the OC while Rhea had joined Judgement day with Edge and Damian. And ever since you hated judgement day at least in screen you did because in reality all of you were best friends especially you and Rhea and Eve she didn't know about you and priest in risk of it being leaked into public which neither of you wanted to happen yet. Triple H came to you with a storyline they were putting in which was for you to turn on your current group at the end of tonight's match (which was set for your team to lose) and which you take a chair shot to Riddles back and you then join judgment day and start a showmance with Damian. So that's exactly what you did you guys lost after you got your team disqualified for hitting Finn on the side with a chair then while you and your team are starting to walk towards the ramp you hit riddile with a chair shot to the back and run back to the ring where Judgement day was. You ask for a mic so a camera man give you one "listen it's been fun being a part of your guy's team but your just getting on my nerves and whenever I get a chance to fight you turn it down instead of letting me actually fight and I'm sick of it so I'm going to go and join a group who WON'T do that" you said as you drop the mic and kiss Damian in front of EVERYONE. You pick up the mic again and say "So with that being said I'm going to go and join my BOYFRIEND in his group the Judgement day" Damian picks you up from behind hugging you tightly as you celebrate joining your new family and now having a way to be with your boyfriend in public without getting to many people questioning your relationship as they will think your just in character.

I hope you enjoyed this sorry and that I did a good job with the request I'm still working on some more parts of Pregnant? Hopefully they will be good to be posted

#damian priest x reader

[fayesdiary]

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

Rhea

1) how much I like their personality

WTEGDGFSFDYDGFFG

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

2) how much I like their design/aesthetics

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

Also her Seiros outfit is 😳

3) how interesting I think they are

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

4) how well-written I think they are

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

Also fuck everything about the SS endgame.

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

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

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

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

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

Veyle

1) how much I like their personality

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

2) how much I like their design/aesthetics

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

3) how interesting I think they are

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

4) how well-written I think they are

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faye

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

1) how much I like their personality

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

2) how much I like their design/aesthetics

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

3) how interesting I think they are

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

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

4) how well-written I think they are

Hahaha... oh, terribly.

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

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

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

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

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

Just... screams

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

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

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

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

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

[butwhatifidothis]

I could go on about so many things wrong with that chapter, but I want to draw attention to something I think Mercedes said. Cap, through her, brought in the anti-religious "Religious people are only doing good because their religion told them to, therefore they are not actually good people. Only non-religious people can do good because they aren't told to do it" crap. He's basically saying that people with religious belief would choose to do evil if not for their religion, and since Mercedes is going to be "good" she can't actually have religious faith. I'm not sure if this is making any sense, it's quite late, but I had to say something about that because it pissed me off so much. Loving your notes and much appreciation for reading the thing so I don't have to!

Ya see, I was looking for the right phrasing for it, thanks for givin' it nonnie because holy shit is that kinda actually everywhere. Like, Mercedes is the most blatant with it in this chapter, but just take a look at all of the other religious characters. Like, every single one of them:

Woobiegard: good person - has religious trauma, explicitly hates on the religion she used to have faith in, is straight up trying to destroy it, and is depicted as morally right in doing so

Marianne: good person - has fic-only religious trauma, talks bad about her religion all the time, prays because she doesn't know what else to do and not because she actually thinks the Goddess will help anyone (since she's learned The Truth due to Woobiegard)

Manuela: good person, but also completely irrelevant to anything - hell, it's easier to forget she's there than most characters, with a pitiful 94 mentions (including author's notes). You could remove her entirely and lose nothing. And the one, singular time she ever talks about religion, it's a slight tweak of her already ass-sucking Canongard A support

Yuri or Balthus: Respectively - has the implication of his existence through two throwaway lines | doesn't exist

Catherine and Gilbert: crazy zealots who can't be saved from their crazy zealotry

Alois: good person - can only not be a crazy zealot if he sides with Woobiegard

Cyril: not even a believer, but in a future chapter he will be called a fanatic anyway since he won't side with Woobiegard over Rhea

And then we get to Mercedes, who is a good person but feels she must be part of the Church because that is her destiny, and she can only become the best version of herself when she sides with Woobiegard. And while, save for Manuela, none of the listed characters are portrayed accurately regarding their religious believes (or lack thereof, in Cyril's case) (or alternatively, in Yuri and Bathus', they're just removed entirely), it cannot be stressed enough that for Mercedes in particular that is literally the exact opposite belief she holds in canon. She literally says that she thinks destiny is pulling her away from the Church, not towards it.

But that attitude is literally everywhere in this fic. If you are religious and you don't either worship Woobiegard or belittle your religion, you are a bad person. You are hopelessly fanatical, you are a zealot who is unable to be saved because you have been brainwashed and manipulated by Rhea and nothing of you is left. Believers lose themselves if they hold onto their beliefs, they change as people and they always become worse, because religion - according to this fic - is inherently bad for people and it must always be rejected for one to be a good person.

Like, of all of the things in this fic, this is one of the most consistent patterns to be found, holding hands with the "follow/listen to Woobiegard or you're a bad person" pattern. The fic will jump through hoops and circle in loops to make religious characters either turn their backs on their religion or become mindless brainless evil zealots who must be killed because they're basically zombies and nothing can save them.

Again, the most blatant example is Mercedes, who in this chapter basically has her religion hard-confirmed to be almost completely true. Crests, in fact, do come from the Goddess - not in the way the tenets say, but they do still come from an actual being that actually existed. Seiros is real, Cichol is real, Cethleann is real, and Mercedes had seen the Immaculate One in the flesh five years ago. The last of which would especially be validating, considering that the Immaculate One is seen as a creature that descends to Fodlan to save followers of Seiros and Woobiegard was causing a bit of trouble for followers of Seiros at that moment. The Saints really did battle against Nemesis and the Elites - how else would Mercedes immediately interpret Seteth saying "the relic weapons that we once battled against at the Tailtean Plains"? Why would Mercedes side with Seteth and Ficleth over Rhea, when they're clearly and blatantly hypocrites in this moment ("We were bad for using the Relic's powers all these years" Seteth says as he stands next to someone using his mother's corpse as a weapon and works under someone who got a NEW Relic made for her exclusive use)? Like, yeah, some of what Seteth is saying makes the Church look bad, but not as bad as his words make himself and Ficleth look.

But, again, Mercedes is a good person, which means that she will reject her religion at the drop of a hat. It doesn't matter how she gets there so long as she does get there, because Religion Bad. You made perfect sense nonnie lol never you worry

#ask #anon #o captain my captain #I can't imagine reading this fic as someone who actually IS religious because holy shit is the anti-religion rhetoric coated everywhere #''faith can be a sword or a shield'' says the fic as religious faith is strictly and only portrayed as the worst thing ever

[wastedlychee]

CW: DEATH BATTLE SPOILERS, FIRE EMBLEM THREE HOUSES SPOILERS AND SEMI-SPOILERS FOR BERSERK.

For people who don’t know me, I’m a loser who absolutely loves Three Houses and Berserk. I'm going to take time to talk about Dimitri VS Guts, because holy fucking shit I love this Death Battle so goddamn much. I was going to make a prediction blog for this fight but didn’t really see the point as Dimitri stomps being brutally honest.

I want to talk about Guts VS Nightmare first before talking about Guts VS Dimitri, as this is the only time I'm probably ever going to mention it: I genuinely dislike the episode.

When it originally came out, how they portrayed Guts wasn’t right at all; the thing I find

genuinely annoying is how is how after that Death Battle was released, people formed this thought that Guts was this Doom Guy/Doom Slayer-type character who slaughters demons for nothing more than sheer hate, which is true… at least at first. But then later on, Guts became-

much more than that due to his hate making him do nothing more than just become a hollow shell who fights only for his selfish desires to fight Griffith and protect Casca, even letting people into his life again and becoming friends with other people.

The story of Berserk went from being about an angry nihilist who fights just to fight, into a story about broken people helping each other in any way they can. So what did Death Battle do for Guts VS Nightmare? Make him just his angry, nihilistic self and not mention how he has changed.

There was also some research-related stuff that had issues, but to be blunt I don’t personally care about if either Guts or Nightmare should have won. If you want the truth of how I feel, Nightmare is so much stronger that the argument of “Guts beats people stronger than him everyday” isn’t really a good argument - not when unlike everyone Guts has ever fought, he's thousands of times stronger than the strongest person Guts defeated.

But that’s the main reasoning on why I don’t personally like Guts VS Nightmare - despite thinking it was okay animation-wise.

Now let's talk Dimitri VS Guts… well kind of.

I wanted to talk about my attraction towards this matchup; as mentioned before, I love both Fire Emblem and Berserk.

Starting with Dimitri: I got into Fire Emblem around the time the GBA games came out, and while I did fall off the games, I got back into them when Awakening was released.

With Berserk, I got into the manga around middle school after I was talking to a friend that I absolutely loved Hellsing and Black Lagoon. To be blunt I didn’t like Berserk at first because I disliked Guts until the time he changed, and to me changed for the absolute best. (I still wouldn't recommend Berserk tho cause....yeah)

Dimitri himself is a character that I absolutely fell in love with, from his story of mental health problems to his desire to change after the events of the timeskip as the redemption arc of sorts

happens. I’ve been wanting to do a "Who’s My Personal Favorite Characters of All Time" list, but I haven’t found any personal time to do so.

Now onto the actual episode with the analysis of Guts- this time, the episode did Guts legitimate justice as a character, as he is treated to much more than his past. With Dimitri, it also did pretty well as there’s not really anything I personally disagree with.

I know there were some people who took issue with the analysis, starting with the fact Dimitri was stated to have magic; however, they also were factoring in Three Hopes, which in that game he was able to use magic. To briefly touch on the animation, I can understand the issue of Dimitri stomping should have ended the fight with the lightning attack shutting down Guts’ armor, though I dislike that possible ending and you'll see why when I get to the actual ending.

Next, let's talk about those who disagree with the Rhea thing- you need to realize something with Death Battle as it's clear you guys don’t do VS Debating stuff: scaling is important, and Dimitri should get the scaling considering Edelgard and Byleth did kill Rhea in Edelgard's route.

There's also the fact that Dimitri kills Edelgard in his route, and also fights a powered-up version of her anyways. Scaling matters in these match-ups.

But onto the animation itself: I absolutely loved it - the back and forth with them becoming more bloodied and hurt, but neither caring due to how they fight. I especially loved the "voices in their heads" scene before Dimitri and Guts power up again. Plus, holy fuck the music is so good,

Brandon Yates did an amazing job with God's Hand.

Now the ending: if the voices scene didn't happen, this would be my favorite part. Dimitri thinks Guts is dead, then all of a sudden he gets up and breaks his lance, but ends up dying because he fought until every drop of his blood was gone. I also love the touch that the Berserker Armor is the reason why he is still standing despite dying. Dimitri realizes Guts fights for those who lost their lives too, and then decides to fight for Guts. Holy fucking shit man, this may be one of my favorite Death Battles of all time.

Closing thoughts, I absolutely loved this episode of DB and the team did an amazing job with it.

#death battle #fire emblem #fire emblem 3 houses #berserk

[deadmenandthedivine]

Does Daemon actually hate Maetilda? He was awful to her in this latest chapter and I can’t understand why he’d be awful to her but perfectly fine with rhaenyra a children. If anything wouldn’t he want to hold her close given she’s the only child he can claim any lands and titles from? I don’t know… I know the relationship is complicated I just want to understand his reasons and motivation a bit better

Thank you so much for your question!!! I am literally SO EXCITED to talk about this. This is something I have ruminated over extensively. I didn't want Daemon to be the stereotypical ~girl dad~ because he does some dark things within the Dance of Dragons that I [personally] don't think he would be considered a true grey character (as George often refers to him as) if he were a woman. I think his gender benefits him in that sense. Maybe I'm wrong, George did create the character after all, but that is the sort of lens I am approaching this all from. That being said, I don’t know if I would go as far as hate, but I do think their relationship is really complicated for a multitude of reasons!

The first reason being her mother. Daemon hated Rhea; therefore, Maetilda is guilty by association. He’s jealous that she (who he sees as a dumb female extension of himself) has claim to something he probably never will. He’s a man that doesn’t really know how to deal with his jealousy/emotions toward women (ie: when he chokes Rhaenyra, when he kills Rhea, when he tries to use Mysaria and her "unborn child" as his own pawn, etc), and thinks violence and manipulation is the way to control people. Not only is Daemon reminded of what he did to Maetilda’s mother every time he looks at her, he is reminded of what his brother gave his daughter but not him (recognition).

Daemon loves the twins differently from Maetilda mainly because a) he actually liked their mother, b) he never had to raise them as teenagers, c) they don't have more claims to land/titles than he does, and d) the Velaryon family has better standing (more money & power) to call him out if he does something wrong. There’s also something to be said about how toxic/narcissistic parents will treat their kids differently as a way of sewing seeds of division. He doesn't want the girls behaving like the Greens, but he also doesn't want them ganging up on him.

He treats Maetilda differently because he knows he can get away with it, and she soon becomes the person he takes anger out on. In toxic family systems, the children play different roles in the hierarchy. I see the twins as golden children. Baela fills a more mascot-y role while Rhaena fills a more responsible role. They are not as deeply set in their roles as Rhaenys had a hand in raising them in a more healthier setting. Jace is the hero child, and Luke is a mascot through-and-through. Maetilda is the scapegoat and the lost child. The younger children are a bit too young to know what their roles would be, but I suspect Joffrey to be a little enabler in training. Maetilda is confused by this system herself, as any child naturally is. Daemon is her father after all, and she wants to believe that he has her best interests at heart. But Daemon has a past that she does not fully know about or understand.

Hopefully this answered your question, without giving the whole farm away with the cow. Daemon and Maetilda's relationship is just as central to the story as Maetilda's relationship with Aemond is building to be. Again, thank you so much for reaching out. I loved answering this question.

all the love as always,

xoxo messy

#dead men and the divine #dad!daemon #daemon targaryen #house of the dragon #dysfunctional family

[finitefall]

Why do people keep saying Daemon is a bad brother? It's not perfect, of course. But to say that he is a bad brother is an exaggeration. Viserys, on the other hand? Whether in the book or the series, I always found his behavior towards Daemon exaggerated. He is definitely in my eyes the worse of the two, and the one who can be considered the "bad" brother. Your opinion ?

When you say “people”, you mean Greens stans? They all hate Daemon. Now, he’s a morally grey character as all of us who love him keep saying, and is far from being perfect as you say. Naming Rhaenyra his Heir instead of Daemon was absolutely understandable from Viserys, and of course Daemon didn’t take it well at all since he had aspirations to the throne. I also can’t blame Viserys for being livid after hearing about Daemon calling his dead son “heir for a day”, both in the book and the show. That was absolutely awful, and any parent hearing about this would want to beat the crap out of the person who said it, no matter the circumstances. If Viserys had done it at this point, I wouldn’t have blamed him at all, but he didn’t. That’s what bothers me: the worst thing Daemon did to his brother was this, but Viserys acted like a shitty brother for things Daemon did that weren’t wrong.

In the show, he’s beating the crap out of Daemon in the throne room after hearing about him and Rhaenyra at the brothel. But he’s not concerned that he abused her: he knows he wouldn’t, he even tells Alicent later that “whatever transpired, Rhaenyra isn’t innocent” and “Daemon and Rhaenyra share the blood of the dragon. They are restless and chaotic.” No, he’s angry because “What Lord will wed her now? In this condition?” and believes Daemon only wants to marry Rhaenyra to be King consort. In the show, Daemon actually ends up being a good brother with the scene Matt Smith improvised in episode 8, when Viserys struggled to go to his throne, his crown fell, Daemon picked it up, helped him the rest of the way and put his crown back on his head. Even on his brother’s bedside earlier in the same episode, it’s obvious he cared.

As for the worst thing Viserys did in the book:

When he learned that his concubine was pregnant, Prince Daemon presented her with a dragon's egg, but in this he again went too far and woke his brother's wroth. King Viserys commanded him to return the egg, send his whore away, and return to his lawful wife, or else be attainted as a traitor. The prince obeyed, though with ill grace, dispatching Mysaria (eggless) back to Lys, whilst he himself flew to Runestone in the Vale and the unwelcome company of his "bronze bitch". But Mysaria lost her child during a storm on the narrow sea. When word reached Prince Daemon he spoke no syllabe of grief, but his heart hardened against the king, his brother.

How was it treason? He didn’t steal an egg like in the show. He presented Mysaria with a dragon’s egg like any Targaryen would, because his child would have Valyrian blood. He was forced to marry Rhea, he never liked her, and he’s judged because he was happy with someone else. Viserys’ order to send Mysaria away caused her to lose the child, and there’s nothing about him regretting what happened, when he should know the pain of losing a child himself. Of course, since the child would have been a bastard, I guess their life didn’t matter to the King.

I have no reason to like Viserys, either as a husband, a father or a brother.

#HOTD #ASOIAF #Daemon Targaryen #Viserys I Targaryen #answered

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Wrt localization, I can understand wanting to change let's say a joke if the context of the joke would be lost on people due to play on the language. But when someone changes the content of a story and characterization to the point where it's a completely different experience and then they have the audacity to say "have respect for the localizers. You support gg" or some nonsense in response to criticism, it's really disingenuous.

Not sure if you saw when I mentioned it before, but yeah. There are times when they have to make cultural changes (Pokemon did it with food to make more sense to the western audience!), change jokes that won't land in translation, etc. Those are reasonable changes that have to be made or the audience will just be confused/uninterested/disconnected.

Sometimes there are also jokes that in different cultures would be deemed inappropriate (like the sex joke aimed at Edelgard in the middle of the night - that makes sense that it was removed because western culture would've been largely uncomfortable with it). Age differences also account for this, in that what's seen as appropriate to a teen audience in JP is not necessarily considered appropriate in the west.

My viewpoint toward localization is that it should only be that. Everything else should be a faithful translation as much as is able, i.e. doesn't alter the message given in the original script. It doesn't matter if the content is from Japan, if it's a JRPG or what have you. If it was of French origin, I'd still say the same thing: that the messages and narrative of the French originating story should be handled faithfully and should be telling the same story/characterizations/etc to all audiences in any location.

Obviously in translation you can't make everything one to one or the sentences would sound off and/or broken. That's why you reword things to have the sentences structurally accurate in the translated language. Doing that, however, should not involve changing the meaning behind the sentence or trying to sell a different narrative. Doing that becomes a different story, even if only in bits and pieces. When a story nudges really fuckin' hard trying to tell you something that's wrong is right or that something right is wrong, but that narrative is only added into a loc and didn't already exist, it's a disrespect toward the writers and their original intention.

Even if, yes, the writers were very bias toward Edelgard (which they were as that was, again, confirmed in an interview), it didn't come at the cost of other characters. It didn't come at the cost of Rhea being worse, Dimitri being worse, or Claude being worse. It didn't come at the cost of her allies all being disgusted by their enemies that they were invading. They loved Edelgard when they were writing her, but they didn't make that cloud how they treated other characters (and while yes, the Nabateans get largely ignored in favor of focusing on Edelgard and such, it's not at the cost of their characterization or to make them seem worse).

Even if the loc heaps praise upon praise toward Edelgard and that doesn't harm the original intent, it's what they do to other characters that disrespects the original content. It would be like if they took FE10/RD and had Ike (who was actually just and a good person) spouting nonsense about Micaiah that just wasn't true, hyping up his allies to kill her because she Must Die.

Personally, I'm no Micaiah fan. She was one of my most hated characters in the franchise until Edelgard (and Berandetta) showed up. I still am not fond of Micaiah and she's still pretty low on the rung for me. That said, I would not enjoy a narrative where Ike wrongfully labeled her and her allies and provided his people (and the Laguz Alliance by extension) a false narrative about her. If those things about her were true I wouldn't care, but they wouldn't be. Why does that not work for Ike? Because it's not who he is as a character to say those things, and thus if he did, it means something is off.

The original has some ??? points about Edelgard that favor her/lift her up, but again, it's not doing harm to other characters. Yeah, we get the whole "they are the enemy" stuff from her side, but like... that's the point. If you team up with her, you're on her side and are seeing the story through her perspective, which makes her enemies, well, the enemies. They're viewed in a bad light on that one route.

But when you actually come into contact with the characters in question? It's not as bad as she makes it out to be. She, as the protagonist of her own story, makes other named characters and their ways of living sound very bad because she views them negatively, but we don't actually see what she claims if we personally come into contact with those characters.

What the loc does is have her say those things, understandably from her side, but then trash the characters' very characterization and personality to match her and her/her allies' opinions of them. The characters reflect her views with no pushback whatsoever, when it should be that the pushback is how those characters she talks about behave.

There should be a dissonance between her thoughts about them and who they truly are. It should make you question, "is this really right?". You should feel bad when you kill genuinely good people (like Sylvain. You shouldn't feel like he's some trash scumbag, but feel upset about his death and find yourself questioning why he had to die - not cheering for his death).

Point being, the loc changed that stuff because ??? I guess they wanted Edelgard to shine at her very absolute brightest, and the only way to do that was to harp on all the characters who opposed her. I don't understand why they would do that tbh (like I know the intent, i.e. making her look good, but I don't know why they went to such lengths to vilify her enemies and not just say hey, maybe she's wrong about these people but I'm still going to fight for her, if fighting for her is what you decided to do. The one idea I have is the final paragraphs of this post).

It just makes it feel a lot like purist culture, where if you've sided with her than they can't possibly let her be actually bad and do bad things. You've sided with her, so she simply cannot be a villain! It makes the loc team seem afraid of a concept of siding with the villains, feeling the need to change it because it's BaD to play a game/route where you do that. It feels like it's portraying the idea that if you do bad things in a video game, you condone those bad things irl.

Whether that was their thought process or not, that's exactly what it comes off as, and that since they loved Edelgard they couldn't portray her poorly unless there was no other option. In the times they do finally portray her poorly via other characters, there's always pushback in some form, like someone defending her, giving her the benefit of the doubt after everything she'd already done and still intended to do, or being sad about fighting/killing her. In the original that was still there, but the loc just added to it - just by doing a whole lot of damage to other characters in the process.

Meanwhile with Rhea, there's always negative pushback. If she does something good, there's a negative thought following her good actions. Obviously there isn't space for that to happen literally every single time, but when possible it's there. Again, this is another thing the loc amped up, and I can only guess it's because she's the head of the Church (and churches are viewed as the enemy in most JPRGs) and the main person Edelgard opposes (with no acknowledgement from the loc team, about why that is, being a bad thing).

It's like, the one time there's a game where the Church isn't actually the enemy, they... made it so that the loc reflected that the Church is still actually the enemy. Churches being the enemy are so common that it was intentionally used in the original script as a red herring. You think they're gonna be the big bads because they always are in JRPGs.

The point of that was meant to fulfill itself as a red herring, making you focus on them and scrutinize everything they said and did even heavier than you would anyone else. It makes everything Edelgard does get swept under the rug and causes the player not to notice until it's fastballed at you. That's why you end up fighting her and not the Church except if you're specifically on her route.

That was lost in loc, of course, and it got so overwhelmingly popular in the west (which I do believe is a reason they did it to begin with, i.e. made the Church the baddies by western viewpoint because the west apparently eats that shit right up) that Hopes catered most strongly toward the western audience, making the Church the big bads (who... don't even do anything wrong whatsoever in this game and hardly even exist to do so, but I can only guess they got largely ignored because they were so hated, and less positive interaction with them meant less worry of killing innocent people/more not caring about them as the enemy) of two routes out of three; not because that was the original script's intent, but because they just went with what was popular even if it went against their home game's intention. I was pretty unsurprised to find out this went over very badly with JP players.

In other words the loc was so widely understood as the true canon/intent of the story (despite its vast and drastic changes) that Hopes was crafted around the loc more than it was the original script. The loc of Houses altered so much that it changed the perception of the audience consuming it, so whether the JP writers are aware that that's why the game was consumed the way it was or not, they just knew a chunk of the western audience loved Edelgard and hated Rhea.

When I play a game I want the same story and experience that everyone has playing it. I don't want to understand it differently than it's meant to be understood and was understood in the region it was created in. If it's a dark and mature themed game, it should stay that way. It western audiences can't handle that, then the game shouldn't be played by them whether it comes out in the west or not.

If you can't handle the content of a video game, you shouldn't play it, plain and simple. No amount of "oh but I like this portion of it!" changes the overall narrative that you can't handle and/or don't like (and you wouldn't know you like a part of it if you didn't play it at all, which you did play it despite knowing it's largely not for you. If you didn't know but play it and find out, you put it down and move on). The game's messages should not be altered to fit purists or baby the players. If it needs to be edited that strongly to work in the west, my feeling on it is that it should not be released in the west.

If it is released, the story should not be altered to baby its audience. If people do play it despite that and can't handle it, it's their responsibility to stop playing it and not bitch at the people who released it (in any region) or bitch at the loc team for not changing anything (i.e. bitching that the loc team didn't change creative aspects of the story to fulfill another region's agenda).

Why does that happen though? Capitalism, quite frankly. Companies prefer the money added to their coffers than to keep the originality of a creative piece of art. They'll follow any political agenda that's popular, any social media agenda that's popular, etc, even if it means changing creativity.

They want the most people possible to purchase it, so if more people will buy the product, even if it means sullying the creative work of the original writers, they'll do it. That may not be true worldwide, but it absolutely is with many western companies. If the narrative of a game doesn't fit what western culture agrees with, they'll change it to make it so that western culture agrees with it (re: the Church).

Localization shouldn't exist to change a work of art/to change any media form for the sake of just releasing it in another region for the profit, but it does happen; hence why I prefer translation to loc. Over the years I've grown to hate western localization more and more.

If localizers have to work that badly to change what already exists (including changing the intent of the creator(s)), I have zero respect for their "efforts" for trying to alter a story and possibly even pursue a particular agenda (because we play games to have fun and enjoy something, not to have irl agendas thrown back in our faces).

Translators who go through loops upon loops to make sure the story stays as intact as possible with only changes of necessity are the ones I respect. Translating things to keep the meaning of a story is a lot more difficult and trying than just going "well how about we just completely change this and then we don't even have to think about how to work it out".

Also, there's a difference between pursuing an agenda or writing something to fix a glaring issue like racism. If there are aspects of a media that got changed in the west to eliminate racism (which is often, especially in Japan from my understanding based on other media I consume, done because of ignorance and not genuinely harmful intent), that's understandable.

That alone shouldn't alter a whole story though, and if it has to because the racism or whatever it is is that bad, then the work should simply not be released in the west! Simple as that! If it's that bad, why support those things by changing them to sound nicer/better and let the original product still generate revenue?

Now, is all localization this bad? No. Is Houses' localization bad enough that it changed an entire region's perception on the contents of the game? Yes. That's a no no for me.

I respect localization that does its best to keep the same story and change what won't work in another region (including what may be deemed unacceptable in said region or really toes a line of general regional discomfort).

I do not respect localization that sticks in the team's own biases or tries to push any kind of agenda to appeal to certain people. If a piece of creative media is created without the intention to push any kind of agenda, it should remain that way and not suddenly have things added to it for that purpose.

I respect creative media. I don't respect capitalism and changing content to cater to a specific subset of an audience, including the staff's own.

#DCB Ask #my response to this isn't just about Houses (that's a chunk of it) but also about loc itself #if I ever made a book or even just an eBook that got translated #I would NOT want what happened to Houses happening to my writing #personally I'd just straight up ask it to be removed and unavailable in that region unless/until #the people behind translating/localizing it fixed it to fit the narrative I set for my /own/ writing #if there were consumers from another region who got a different story entirely from the region I released it in #there's something wrong that happened between regions and unfortunately most ppl don't realize that #most ppl will assume whatever is in the loc was the author's intent #which means anything that looks bad in that region now reflects on me as the author #and it's even worse if it causes controversy. for example like the stuff we get in Hopes #the amount of underlying racism. I haven't seen the entire JP script but like #at this point I don't know if my concerns should be aimed at the localizers or the original writers #I wouldn't want that for my own writing. I wouldn't want people questioning ME based on loc changes #when I view in depth how I feel abt smth I prefer to put myself in the situation #and figure out how I'd feel about it. that's why with Houses I don't find it acceptable #it's not something I'd want to happen to my own writing. look at how Edelgard is viewed now overall #she's the most controversial character surrounded by negativity that FE has ever seen #despite having a character borderline identical to her in the past in one of the most beloved and acclaimed titles #and most of that is... bc of the loc :(

[dragongutsixofficial]

A modest comparison between Byleth Eisner and Adrien Agreste

While thinking about two of my currrent brainrots, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Miraculous Ladybug, it has occured to me that two of my favorite characters, who seem vastly different at first glance, actually share a lot of characteristics: Byleth Eisner and Adrien Agreste. These similarities stretch from their circumstances to what the vast variety of their interpersonal relationships brings them, including their relationships with Rhea and Gabriel respectively. So, I decided I’d compile them here ! 

Before I start, I'd like to apologize in advance for any mistake, as English is not my first language; also, I will be criticizing Rhea's behavior towards Byleth so I will be tagging this appropriately (not to hate on Rhea !!! she's a really interesting character, keep stanning the cool dragon lady 🐉 these are just my own personal thoughts!). Alrighty, let's go:

Let's start with the obvious here, and with one of the most popular fan theories in the Miraculous fandom: Byleth and Adrien are both made, by Rhea or Gabriel respectively. Sitri was the last of a long list of artificially crafted beings designed to be a vessel for Sothis, powered by  her crest stone which Byleth inherited at birth in order to survive. Meanwhile, Adrien is most likely a sentimonster - and, even if that turned out not to be the case, he is still metaphorically "molded" by his father's expectations. By definition, they are supposed to fulfill a specific goal decided upon by their creator: Adrien has "always wanted to be what [his] parents wanted [him] to be", the model child and straight A student that they could be proud of, while Byleth is supposed to serve as a physical vessel for someone else: as such, their personality matters very little to the people in charge, as long as they are obedient.

Both Rhea and Gabriel have unwillingly and undirectly led to the deaths of Byleth's and Adrien's moms: Rhea by using her mother's crest stone as a heart for Sitri (and thus being forced to retrieve it to save baby Byleth), and Gabriel by gifting Emilie the Peacock Miraculous, which, once broken, caused Emilie's health to decline and ultimately Nathalie to become sick after using it as well. Not to mention they both keep said moms' corpses in their basement because they bring them comfort and they’re unwilling to part from them. XD

Gabriel and Rhea are also motivated by the idea of bringing one of their loved ones back from the dead: in Gabriel’s case, that’s his wife, and in Rhea’s it’s her mother. As a result, they are more than ready to do bad stuff to achieve their goal. But, more alarmingly, they become willing to manipulate and mistreat their creations, whose purpose, as previously stated, is to be obedient, in the process. 

Thus, they become the abusers in their own relationships, and exhibit numerous instances of psychological abuse towards Byleth and Adrien. On that note, it is particularly interesting to see just how similar to parental abuse Rhea’s behavior is: this makes all the more sense when you realize the metaphor is literally there - she is the one who gave life to Byleth, not Sitri. Byleth owes Rhea the life she consented to give them, thus she believes she has a right over their body - it's very similar to the "I gave birth to you" attitude. That is something that is all the more evident when you compare it to Gabriel’s blatant mistreatment of his son.  Such occasions include:

-> The loss of control over their appearance that Byleth and Adrien experience. Byleth being gifted the Prophet outfit by Rhea after their hair turns green is basically her transforming them into what she physically wants to see, and that's not Byleth. That’s a vessel for Sothis, Rhea's dead mom. The second their appearance changes, she thinks her dreams are close to being fulfilled and grows a lot more protective / controlling of Byleth; she longs for her mother, and she wants to cling to them. As Rhea herself puts it when she sings to Byleth after they fainted: “I have heard rumors of what happened to you. Your appearance… you have received power from the Goddess. From the moment you took hold of the sword of the Creator… I prayed that one day the radiant power of Sothis, which bathes Fodlan in its celestial light, might reside within you. But you are so much more than the light. You are my…”. On the same matter, it’s only after they fuse with Sothis that Rhea has prolonged physical contact with them for the first time: and while it is done out of affection, it's also without their explicit consent since she does it when they're unconscious, which puts you on edge when you realize the violation of boundaries and unwanted physical contact is a big sign of helicopter parents who tend to see their children's bodies as their property. This is even more unnerving if, like a lot of people, you read Byleth as neurodivergent - something that Adrien probably is himself, albeit unknowingly. And, sadly, at that point in-game, Rhea struggles to see Byleth as their own person. The same thing is going on between Adrien and his father. His whole modeling career illustrates this pretty blatantly, as he expresses the wish to quit several times throughout the show but remains unable to tell his father or even reach out to his best friend for support until Season 5 - something that Nino stresses out when he refuses to help Marinette stop Adrien from going on a worldwide tour in "Risk". In “Multiplication”, Gabriel goes as far as to digitalize his own son to turn him into a marketable good, which probably doubles as an evil control device.

-> More generally, Adrien and Byleth are being denied control over their own lives. Not being given a choice by the authority figures in charge about what they can or cannot do, even if it ends up being good for them - let's not forget that although Byleth becoming a professor was the starting point of their character development, this decision was made by the archbishop - can be incredibly damaging to someone in the process of developing their own personality. The overwhelming control being exerted over their lives leaves them stifled and unable to express themselves fully. Byleth's lack of emotions as a result of their artificial nature and Gabriel subjecting his child to the pressure of always appearing as perfect and unbothered serve similar narrative functions in that regard.

This is the reason why Adrien goes so overboard as Cat Noir: that incredible rush of freedom also leads to him exhibiting irresponsible behavior and being way too pushy with Ladybug. This hurts all the more in “Kuro Neko”, when he and Plagg are brainstorming ideas for a new feline alter ego together: "You know how to be serious with your father and Nathalie - just be like that !". Our favorite golden boy can't express his personality outside of the limits that have been set for him, and neither can Byleth : any instance of them disagreeing with Rhea angers her, like when they refuse to give her the Lance of Ruin back.

-> Choosing to rebel against their abuser puts them both in serious danger. In Byleth's case, they only do so overtly and explicitly by choosing to side with Edelgard at the Sacred Mausoleum. From that point on, Rhea is more than ready to kill them in order to get back the occasion that she thinks they stole from her. As she states herself, they are "just another failure" and they cease to have any individual value to her eyes. Since they can't be the go-with-the-flow vessel she intended, since she can't use them as a way to achieve her goals anymore, they need to go. Therefore, she justifies any future instance of physical abuse towards them on the grounds that they "deserve" it. 

Gabriel is no better : he akumatizes his own son twice upon discovering his secret identity just so he can get his Miraculous. In the "Chat Blanc" episode, he even hits him in combat on two occasions, after discovering his true identity. Hell, his actions even lead Adrien to cataclysm himself.

All in all, this list of abusive patterns place both kids as victims of some serious parental abuse that hinders their healthy development - and them taking a stand against their abusers is a major point in their respective narratives. They can only grow when they're given the opportunity to get away from their abusers : Adrien by going to school and becoming Cat Noir, Byleth by "growing beyond the abuse" and embracing their divine part in AM, SS and VW or totally cutting ties with Rhea and rejecting what she's inflicted upon them in CF.

Let's get back to the fluff now by talking a little about our babies' character development - and more precisely, what motivates said character development.  Something that is, I believe, crucial to understand is that Adrien and Byleth are, at their core, defined by their ability to love. This manifests in different ways:

-> Their personality first blooms when they're given the opportunity to socialize with other people. Having grown up a sheltered kid and homeschooled for thirteen (13) years, Adrien is clueless as to how to react to most social situations, and ignores a lot of things about the world around him. This is not unlike Byleth, whose life as a mercenary on the roads has prohibited from forming any lasting bound with other people or even truly get a grasp of the world they live in - heck, they don't even know about the biggest institution and overseer of international relationships in Fodlan, the Church of Seiros, until the start of the game. 

An interesting difference between the two of them on that point though, lies in the fact that while Byleth just went along with the flow when they accompanied Jeralt to the monastery and were later tasked with taking care of a class, Adrien had to beg his father to let him go to public school: this can be explained by Byleth’s lack of emotional drive or life goals at the beginning of White Clouds, and by the fact that they do not seek to know themselves as actively as Adrien, who  longs to be part of the world and craves human interaction from people other than his father’s staff from the very beginning of season 1. He, just as much as Byleth, needs people in his own general age range to talk to. Both desperately need to develop strong interpersonal friendships to bring out the best in themselves.

Funnily enough, it’s their abuser that grants them the permission to do so, though both use it as a way to exert control over their victim to some extent - Rhea wants to keep Byleth under her watch, while Gabriel threatens to take Adrien’s only gateway to a semblance of normality away anytime he feels his control slip, and retains control over who his son can see and under what circumstances throughout the show. An instance of this is when he forbids Adrien from going to his friends’ concert, or when Nino literally gets akumatized because he is so mad his best friend isn’t allowed an appropriate birthday celebration. Though he knows it’s his duty to save him, Adrien himself acknowledges he deserves that much and gives in to the temptation to enjoy himself, if only for a short while. In any case, being in contact with their respective classes, either as a student or as a professor, brings out the best in them and shapes the way they come to view the world. This also helps them realize that they deserve good things for themselves, and to be treated with respect.

-> But beyond helping them to get better with people in general, their relationships with others also help them take control of their own lives and grow into responsible individuals. Neither of them have ever been entrusted with any responsibility until being tasked with protecting other people, something that they both love doing and excel at; as @kanohivolitakk brought up in the comments of one of my posts once, one of Byleth’s likes is literally that they love seeing other people smile. This is reiterated during Shez’s expeditions with them in Three Hopes, when they acknowledge that they often find themselves helping people naturally. Byleth being responsible for their students allows them to reveal their full potential and become reliable not only as a blade, but also as a mentor and, later on,  as a friend (and ultimately as a romantic partner if they choose to marry someone). 

In the Black Eagles route, after they fuse with Sothis, Edelgard asks them what they intend to do with their newfound powers: their possible answers (For the people of the world / For my students / For myself) are a testimony to their selflessness as well as their growth. They live for the people they love and want  to protect, but also grow thanks to them. This is the reason they do whatever it takes to protect the people they have come to care for in every route, even picking up the mantle of the Archbishop in three of the routes in the process. And even though I struggle with not feeling like they’re eventually caving into what Rhea wanted of them in the first place, I understand that it’s not supposed to feel that way, and that they choose to do so of their own volition, in order to help. Same goes with Cat Noir, whose role has literally been to help his fellow citizens from day one even if that means putting himself in danger, something that he does on plenty of occasions. A big facet of his job consists in protecting his partner Ladybug, and being a reliable partner no matter the circumstances, something that he struggles with at times: his unreciprocated feelings getting in the way of efficient teamwork as well as hindering the duo’s communication paired with his occasional impulsiveness sometimes prove to be more detrimental to saving the day than anything else. 

Ladybug’s lack of trust in him, which is a touchy subject in Season 4 in particular, is a testament to that, and to the fact that he needs to work on himself to be the hero Paris needs and the loyal partner whose support Ladybug can count on, even if that means putting his own feelings aside. Something that he always ends up doing, even if it takes some time; after all, very early in the show, Adrien is shown putting his fun aside to save everyone from Nino’s akumatized form, the Bubbler, when he realizes the devastating consequences him having fun on his birthday brings those who are threatened into participating. He is shown fully embracing that role in the finale of Season 4, as he becomes the “loyal partner” his Lady  needs in her most desperate moment.

-> Last but not least, and this works both platonically and romantically (though this will especially speak to my Edeleth shippers out there) our lovable protagonists are transformed by their love for a certain lady in red, who helps them understand that they matter just the way they are: that people care about them, that they need them in their lives to make the hard decisions they need to and take a step towards a better future in the face of adversity. 

Interestingly enough, said ladies in red are often criticized for not valuing their partner enough or gaslighting them. For instance, Edelgard is criticized on the grounds of taking all of the credit of Byleth’s accomplishments, especially their military ones; she's also reproached with manipulating them into helping her achieve her geopolitical goals. Similarly, Ladybug is blamed for being too controlling and not trusting her partner enough, her critics often forgetting that she is a teenager who, as all teenagers do, make mistakes and just try to make it to the next day unscathed. While both of these leader figures are undoubtedly flawed, these criticisms often overlook their respective difficult situations.

Edelgard, who has serious problems trusting others and spent one full year lying to her class, still struggles with the feeling that she can't count on her comrades five years after they first decided to fight by her side - one of the reasons why she lies to them about what happened to Arianrhod. However, throughout the game, she does open herself to them and grows more vulnerable around them, and especially around Byleth. Though she is the Emperor, she deeply wants them to be on equal footing with her, as she states in her S-support conversation with them: “To think that I may now call you my partner and equal…”. At the end of Crimson Flower, she gets herself a supportive partner who will help bear her burdens just as much as she theirs, someone she can be totally honest with ; someone with whom she can take off her mask at long last. Edelgard and Byleth become the light that Fodlan needs - together. 

Ladybug doesn't have it any easier, in all honesty; just as Edelgard, she's wary about taking any risk, because she knows she's got everything to lose ; not only the Miraculous, but also Cat Noir. We have to remember that Ladybug has been utterly traumatized by the events of “Chat Blanc”, and doesn't even know why he was akumatized in the first place - all she knows is that if she relies on him too much, he might break. This, unfortunately, turns out to be counterproductive, since she grows ever more secretive and distant from her dejected partner. However, just like Byleth, Cat Noir ends up sticking with his partners in spite of his doubts because he ultimately trusts her and the reasoning behind her actions - something that is best exemplified in "Strikeback". At first unwilling to accept their respective partners’ aid, Ladybug and Edelgard have to struggle with the guilt that doing so entails - was Byleth, who received the powers of the Goddess, supposed to follow the Flame Emperor on her bloody path? Does our favorite superheroine deserve a second chance after her not trusting Cat Noir facilitated her defeat ? But in the end, both have to come to the same conclusion : their partner chose to give them a chance because they love them, and because they both make each other better people.

So, yeah ! Looking back at all these different elements, it  should come as no surprise that I love these two precious and complex characters, who are defined not only by their struggle to win their own agency, but also by their love for others and for themselves.  In fact, writing this comparison might have even furthered my interest and affection for both Byleth and Adrien ! I hope it did for you too - or at the very least, that it was an interesting read. Please feel free to add to this, if you think of anything I might have missed  !!!

#fe3h #miraculous ladybug #byleth eisner #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #lady rhea #archbishop rhea #seiros #rhea fe3h #edelgard von hresvelg #ladybug #cat noir #fe16 #marinette dupain cheng #ladynoir #edelgard x byleth #edeleth #crimson flower #rhea critical #rhea discourse #(then again absolutely no hate to rhea or her stans this is just so they can avoid it if it makes them uneasy) #black eagle house #black eagles #byleth positive #edelgard positive #adrien agreste positive #ladybug positive #tw mentions of abuse #tw psychological abuse #tw physical abuse

[adamantineheart]

my final three hopes thoughts

AG >>>>>> SB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GW

anyway

The Good

AG is basically just dimilix fanfic. like we are either psychics or INTSYS/KT owes us royalties.

The character work in AG was phenomenal. They way they adjusted the characters for their situation but still made them feel like who they are? Fucking ace. SB went a little differently, where certain characters feel much different but I can forgive it because the eagle kiddos were always weird for characterization due to the route split. Which version of these characters you consider canon is up to you.

Whoever wrote the Duscur and Sreng paralogues… I love you. The Duscur paralogue is just so so so emotionally moving and really lets Dedue grieve as he usually isn't allowed and gave Ingrid a lot of closure she desperately needed. Meanwhile Felix gets to just really show what kind of person he is and drive home that what he needs is the present aka Dimitri to feel satisfied (instead of clinging to the past). Sreng was wonderful for the lore, political situation, and all that character work, especially between Sylvain and Matthias.

Monica is the character I didn't know I wanted. I love her…. I've already added background Monigard to two dmlx fics. She's just the perfect amount of unhinged. <3

Playable Rodrigue is one of the best parts of this game. THANK YOU!!!! It also means his optional death is the most impactful of the game, aided by it being centered around dimilix and not Shez.

Voiced Shez is an improvement, as is voiced Byleth. I also appreciate that Shez isn't anyone important and is a student instead of a teacher. Also thank you for only making some characters make romantic overtures toward Shez instead of almost all of them.

There are a lot of excellent paralogues in the game and most of them had a lot of thought put into their setup (which characters were chosen, the premise, the writing, etc).

Making my blorbos uber powerful is a lot of fun 💙Also Felix is such a fun unit (I loved the sword units the most tbf).

Supports are generally amazing. A lot of improvements to some original chains or new versions that add something to the relationship. All new chains altogether that fleshed out relationships we were denied before. Also a lot of ships I hate had reduced supports or had them removed altogether :) No one won as hard as me in the shipping department tbh. 🫡

A great OST again even if nothing hit quite as hard as some of the original final boss themes.

I actually love the setup of the story even if I take issue with individual routes or moments. But it was nice getting out of the academy setting and exploring Fódlan instead. 

Did I mention Dimitri and Felix? His Majesty and Duke Fraldarius? They are perfect and I love them.

The Bad

No fucking snow maps in Faerghus.

Edelgard's reunification scheme is 10x worse here than Three Houses because Rhea is willing to ally with her against TWSITD. As usual, Edelgard is stuck in her assumptions on what she thinks is true and refuses have an open dialogue with the Church and Dimitri, choosing violence because she believes she knows what's best for everyone. I've accepted this about her but it's still a hard pill to swallow that dangled her talking to Rhea and Dimitri above our heads and then took it away.

​​Zahras is badly written independent of route, just like Gronder Field. The desire to make the lords interact even when it’s nonsensical just needs to stop. It sucked every time.

IT’S SO EXPENSIVE TO UPGRADE STUFF (like weapons). LIKE REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Every route had issues, especially toward the end but the worst for me was GW. There was a lot of bad character shit, not just for Claude, though he was the plot instigator of everyone else being out for blood.

Almyra is a joke now I guess. Actually, it flip flops being a joke and completely awful. It’s true they were never great in FE3H but Cyril existed as a contrast. Him not being playable sucked. 🙁

Scarlet Blaze’s convient ending…….. Edelgard’s main enemies just kill each other……….. it just felt like “Why were we even there?” We accomplished nothing.

How dare I not be able to making Dimitri and Felix marry :( WHERE IS THE DIMILIX WEDDING DLC!

#few3h

[yusuke-of-valla]

I feel like the Gustav hate is like the paradox of the more realistic a villain is the more people are going to hate them, especially in regards to things like child and animal abuse. Like Sombron is an absolutely horrible horrible person in both versions of Elyos but Hilda still managed to win the absolute worst parent poll because she actively chose to torture her stepdaughter and would do it again if given the chance. Rhea's parenting and grandparenting to Sitri and Byleth was comically evil but Gilbert was still an absent father and then proceeded to go out of his way ignore Annette when she came to the academy. Zombie Garon was comically bad so most people end up feeling that Margrave Gautier was worse, and even in Heroes you have Hel who killed her daughter over and over and over and over and over again until she only had one life left and Gustav is still worse.

I am absolutely blanking on if Rhea can count as a “parent” in this case but yeah definitely

The more realistic a bad character is, the more fucking *personal* it gets when you hate them. Like Sombron is shitty but most shitty parents don’t openly admit they think of their child as tools you can discard at will, they’ll say they love you and them make you feel like shit if you don’t do what they want.

You can see the same things in other fandoms too, like I’ve seen Miraculous Ladybug people who dislike Alya because she’s a “bad friend” (read: really poorly written) and feel betrayed or reminded of bad friendships so, at least when I stopped really following the show in season 3, the hate towards her was a lot more vitriolic

Or hell even “Phantom Thieves are bad friends people,” there are definitely people I’ve seen who got there because they’ve been the emotional battery in relationships and the one who did anything and that’s more personal than, you know, getting shot in the face or finding out your friend is actually their dead twin

Like things do not have to be “realistic” to be good, nothing in Engage is realistic and it’s amazing, but if something does feel more true to life, either intentionally or unintentionally, then it’s going to get a much more vitriolic reaction.

#alto replies #latenitewaffles #I actually just rewatched Dominic noble’s videos on fifty shades + the mister and I think that’s another case of #this character is worse because they’re truer to life and thus get a worse reaction #abuse tw

[nikibogwater]

Edelgard is just as nice in CF than in SB, just look at her support. Look at the way she deeply care for the BE, how she tries to genuinely help them : how she tries her best for Petra, how she tries to help Bernadetta, how she listens to Ferdinand/Caspar/Linhardt critism, how both her and Dorothea are here for each other, how she fear she's dragging down Hubert, ...

When it comes to the war, she has the flower quest where she put flower on the soldier grave, she mind the population as showed in her battle against the Alliance, she rather remove her ennemies from power than kill them as she lost support point when suggesting trapping Rhea to kill her and she put Aegir in jail, she let enemy soldier flee to save their life as showed in the battle on the bridge.

Her war is not something she want, but rather something she see as the only solution to stop the countless suffering of Fodlan. But I don't want to go into discourse so I'll stop here.

You made a post about "failed heartless bastard"... Hubert and Edelgard would have fitted right here too. Please give her a chance, she has already so much hate towards her :( Sorry for bothering you with all that.

Hey, Non, so it sounds like maybe you've had the misfortune of encountering the Bad Discourse side of the Three Houses fandom, but rest assured I don't hate Edelgard, or anyone who really likes her. I think she's a really great character, and a lot of her appeal comes from the fact that she's a very tragic one. Like you point out above, in her Supports with her fellow students, Edelgard is very loving and concerned for them, as any good friend would be. Her choice to instigate the war in Fodlan is the result of the horrifying abuse and manipulation she suffered at the hands of the Agarthans, and with the possibility of her two Crests shortening her lifespan, I absolutely understand why she feels driven to such an extreme. To see her actually force herself to bury her feelings and ignore the suffering that her war causes is heartbreaking. But I don't think understanding her motivations and character means everyone has to agree that all her choices were morally acceptable, and I also think you can say a character did something wrong without that meaning that you hate that character. I think the whole point of Three Houses is to make you think about these kinds of things, to confront you with how complex human nature really is, to get you to really contemplate morally confusing situations that maybe don't actually have a good solution. In short, if you were to ask me if I think Edelgard is evil, obviously my answer would be an emphatic No. She does a lot of things that I believe are wrong, but she herself is not a bad person in my eyes. She's desperate, broken, and angry, but not full-on malicious. And from what I've seen of the more relaxed, mature side of the fandom, this seems to be a fairly common opinion.

As for the Failed Heartless Bastards post, that was literally just me joking around. I can assure you that leaving any names out of that post wasn't the result of me intentionally excluding certain characters, I just typed up the first four that came to mind.

And one more thing, I would recommend using the block feature to filter out accounts that are stressing you out. Personally, I think it's really stupid for people to actually fight with each other over fictional characters, and if someone's being a little too nasty for you, you don't have any obligation to listen or reply. Just block and move on. Fandoms are supposed to help us relax and have fun, respectful conversations, not just add to the massive piles of stress that we already have to carry in the real world. ✨

#niki answers

[ashley-jones]

Jealousy and Protective are Very Different

Welcome to the after party of Multiverse of Madness, where paparazzi get a little too confident with a wrestlers girlfriend

Warnings: Possessive Behavior, Protective Girlfriend, Fighting, Blood, Harassment, Drinking

Character Name: Celeste Johanson

Characters: Rhea Ripley, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Alexa Bliss, Roman Reigns, Scarlet Johanson

After-party's where always the best way to come down from the high of finishing a high maintenance movie. It allowed the actors to calm down, sit, and just drink away the movie before the premiere. Not only that but you could invite whoever you wanted, and just party.

Celeste was bringing Rhea, and even invited a few other wresters she's gotten to know over the the year of dating the Australian wrestler. But before leaving, Rhea had gotten another match heading into Florida, meaning she'll be gone for at least a month. If Celeste had been told this the day before the after-party, she wouldn't even be going.. A slight argument struck between the two, but ended quickly because she it wasn't the wrestlers fault.

But arguments leave impacts, which is why Celeste was in the upper kitchen on the second floor with Florence, Zendaya, Becky, and Alexa, each downing shots one by one while just talking. Rhea was downstairs with Nikki, Roman, and Scarlet. "Relationships... Are rough, no matter the situation." Alexa slowly spoke. "It's not her fault.." Celeste softly replied. Green eyes staring into the empty shot glass. "I know it's not her fault, but it still hurts to know ahead of time... I mean that's not difficult to put out there right?" she quickly asked.

"of course not! Ugh Rhea's a complicated person, in both person and ring." Becky spoke. Her arms wrapped around the shorter ones shoulders rocking her back and forth, her red hair fanning over her blonde ones. "Relationships.." Zendaya whispered. "Careful Holland's Spidey senses might hear you." Alexa and Florence whispered. "Oh fuck your right!" Zendaya quickly said. The small group laughing at the taller female, who looked downstairs then looked away covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

Becky let the younger girl go, making the other look up towards her watching as she took another shot from one of the waiters. "Keep downing those and they won't let you on the plane tomorrow." Florence teased. The wrestler just shrugged her shoulders, as Alexa also took another shot. "Gotta have the crazy act somehow right?" she giggled.

"Shit ton of paparazzi out tonight.." Florence spoke. "Anything to get one picture to wreck their hard ons." Celeste mumbled. The girls looked at her with amazement, which she shrugged. "I hate paparazzi! I can't even buy a coffee without having a camera in my face! And they follow you everywhere, it's awful." she quickly said. "Knock em out." Becky joked. "That's why I have security." She teased. "Rheaaaa." Alexa whispered while poking the girls side.

"Rhea won't come out much with me because of paparazzi. Every now and then when we're going to gym but that's about it. She doesn't ask, and I don't push her." Celeste softly replied. Lifting the glass to her gloss painted lips and downing the champagne in seconds. She wasn't a heavy drinker, and tried not to get drunk at things like this, but she had a lot on her mind and wanted to wipe it clean with her best ability.

Becky lifted the younger up onto the counter earning a gasp. The two got along really well, despite Rhea hating her. The two could talk for hours of the most random things. Celeste loved hearing about her babygirl Roux, and even enjoyed seeing the pictures of the little one. Then there was Alexa Bliss, the girl was insane on WWE, but a sweetheart out of the ring. Roman was really sweet to her as well, the two knew one another before she started dating Rhea. Nikki was okay, the two didn't really have time to speak to each other due to their busy schedules.

The only two she didn't get along with that are at the party is Charlotte and Shayna. She speak with them every now and then, but not enough to call each other friends. If anything the two always look like they want her slam her into the floor. Which is probably because she's dating Rhea Ripley, their nightmare. But who knows right? Because she sure doesn't..

Florence and Zendaya where dragged away by Holland and Scarlet, Alexa and Becky staying with Celeste. Rhea watched the three from the stares, eying her girlfriend that was sitting on the counter with Becky beside her, arm across the younger ones lap, and Alexa leaning against the counter with a full shot in front of her, each smiling and just talking with one another.

"you know.. I'm kinda offended that you changed your hair." Alexa pouted. Celeste laughed softly pushing her hair back only for the curls to fall back in place. "Yeah.. I hate it, I gotta get it redone. They had to change it to match the style of the movie. Has extensions in it and everything.. Hurt like a bitch." she whispered the last part to the older wrestler who giggled. "I liked your pink and blue, it was cute. Matched your personality." Becky said lifting one of the curls in a teasing tone. "I very much agree." Celeste confidently spoke.

Alexa was engaged and Becky was married with a daughter, but that still didn't stop Rhea's jealousy from flaring. Celeste wasn't blind to the teasing, she just knew how to respond to it without pushing it away.

Her and Becky grew closer than Rhea would have wanted, she didn't the mind the two talking at first but as time went on the two grew into really good friends. Becky was invited to gatherings just as she was, the two hugged and talked like sisters. Celeste would gush over Roux and smile brightly when the older wrestler would hug her. But then against, she reacted the same way when she was with Scarlet.

Just like sisters.

But, her jealousy just gave Rhea an even bigger reason to kick Lynch's ass in the ring. The man has no chance against the nightmare.

"You have security guards with you right?" Scarlet quietly asked. "No.. I wasn't expecting a lot of paparazzi." Celeste whispered. She looked around in search of Rhea, Becky standing beside her with her arms crossed. Celeste stepped away from the door, the flashing lights giving her a headache. Spotting Rhea, she pushed her dress out so she wouldn't trip on it, making her way towards the wrestler.

Placing her forehead against the woman's shoulder, an arm wrapping around her waist holding her close. She was talking to Roman, the flashing not seeming to bother either of them like it did the actress. Her hand traced the actress' back in a soothing motion, stepping forward slightly allowing her body to lean against her stronger frame. She looked like a teenager looking for comfort from their mother.

"They attack you guys at all?" Roman questioned the actress. She looked up placing her head against her girlfriends shoulder. "They'll surround you.. I've personally never been attacked, groped yes... But never fully attacked." she softly answered. "Pigs.." he rasped. She just shrugged her shoulders, having been dealing with it for over 15 years. "I'm gonna start heading to the car.. I wanna take these heels off." she pouted.

She walked away, Scarlet smiling softly and following her baby sister. Becky stood on the staircase watching the two girls closely, along with the paparazzi. Pushing past the men and women, not at all phased. But the moment Celeste's dress was grabbed and pulled, she stumbled, feet already killing her, so when she fell to her knees a Yelp leaving her. Becky was the first to interact, and the moment her Yelp sounded towards Rhea she was out there pushing Scarlet back and away from the scene and interacting immediately.

Becky pushed one of the bigger men back, their camera falling and shattering. "Fucking touch her! I dare you!" she yelled. Celeste was quickly lifted to her feet and removed by security, and placed inside the car which was immediately put on guard. Blonde hair messed up, dress torn around the shoulders. Pulling her heels off and tossing them to the floor, the driver's side opened, Rhea getting in and slamming the door.

Celeste just leaned her head back pushing her fingers through knotted strands. A heavy leather jacket landing on her, covering the fallen straps of her gown. Slowly lifting the jacket so it covered her chest and shoulders fucking her nose into it. "Should have brought security with you." Rhea spoke. "Scarlet has her own.." Celeste whispered. "Yeah well they weren't fucking good enough!" Rhea snapped. Celeste didn't respond, she just placed her head against the seatbelt, nails digging into the skin of her thigh as a distraction. She's never brought security to events like these, the paparazzi is something she's grown use to. Which is awful to say, no one likes them, but they never go away..

"Stop doing that with your leg." Rhea growled. But Celeste couldn't hear her, mind scattered. "Dammit Celeste I said stop doing that!" she growled. She grabbed her hand forcing it against the shift underneath hers. Celeste looked over quickly then at their hands whispering a soft sorry. Rhea didn't reply, instead just watched the road. The Aussie didn't want to come off as mean or harsh, but things like this pissed her off. Celeste allowed these people to walk all over her, which she understood this shit came with the job, but she could stand up for herself better.

But of course.. One wrong move could cost her everything.

#rhea ripley smut #rhea ripley imagine #rhea ripley #rhea ripley x reader #women of wwe #wwe gifs #wwe nxt #wwe smackdown #royal rumble #nxt women's champion #nxt 2.0 #nxt tagteams #nxt takeover #nxt wrestling #wrestlemania #charlotte flair #becky lynch #marvel acting #sebastian stan #scarlet johanson #elizabeth olsen #bendict cumberbatch #dr strange multiverse of madness

[porcelaintoybox23]

I think the funniest thing about fe3h is how much people hate these characters. The game has some serious writing issues, but even ignoring that, I still don’t understand the rage a lot of people have. I like Edelgard and Dimitri even though I side with El’s philosophy. I dislike Rhea the most but don’t hate her, she’s just fucking nuts. People will literally compare Edelgard to hitler, which is very inaccurate and also doing way too much. Seriously, the holocaust isn’t a light comparison to make toward anything. Be accurate at least. It’s not even a tumblr problem it’s everywhere, youtube, Reddit, etc. No side is totally right or wrong, but people will jump through hoops to bash/support someone.

Edelgard did some morally dubious things and better writing would’ve had someone call her out. Like I understand why, but the people she has around her are seriously messed up, though I understand that she has to play the field. People think that El should be able to enact continent wide change without war, but peaceful means have rarely worked throughout history. Maybe it could’ve been nice for the three house leaders to join up and strong arm Rhea into retiring and takedown TWSITD, but that’s a writing flaw. Like slavery didn’t end peacefully. Also, TWSITD has nukes. I don’t think El had that much power over them, clearly. A real discussion on Remire village would have been a great support.

Dimitri is a mass murderer who killed indiscriminately. Like everyone is, but I really didn’t want to kill those thieves. Still love him, but he was creeping me out. The blue lions are my babies the way the black eagles are, but it’s weird that Dimitri is okay with a lie being told to the populace. Sothis hasn’t been doing anything for like a millennia. That whole convo pre Enbarr was so bad. El could have been forthcoming with something, anything. Dimitri just seemed to be on the opposite side because.

The church is shady and built on multiple lies. Rhea has gone through some serious stuff but she has done and enabled a lot of harm. I understand her grief, but I don’t think it warrants a fake religion, upholding or at least not stopping the crest system, being able to execute people instead of the local rulers doing it, child soldiers, experimentation with the end goal of replacing the person with Sothis, and revising history. I don’t think Rhea is evil, she just doesn’t change anything? Or really just upholds crappy systems instead of grieving.

Edelgard is an imperialist, it’s the 12th century

I don’t know what hate has been thrown toward Dimitri, but the boy has schizophrenia and psychology doesn’t exist.

Haven’t played verdant wind yet, but I think “it’s the 12th century” is still a pretty good catch all excuse.

I admit bias here, I have nothing good to say about Rhea. Woman is creepy. I do like Cyril, Flayn, and Seteth though.

If these characters were perfect, there would be no story. They all have flaws and make mistakes. Each have a valid perspective, well maybe not Rhea

The only characters I can see people justifiably hating are Sylvain and Ingrid. A sexist, womanizing creep, whose depth doesn’t negate that, and a racist. (Okay, that’s just pure bias) Ingrid was really justifying genocide and basically called Dedue, “one of the good black people”

At the end of the day, this game is great for discussion, but these characters aren’t real. Like some heated debate is fun, but a lot of you seem to take this personally.

Edit: if you are replying to this post arguing for something, I do not care. None of these characters are uwu babies and it’s fine to disagree. That is the point of this post. I don’t care if you hate Edelgard and want Rhea to curb stomp you, or vice-versa, just stop insulting each other and making weird arguments.

#fe3h spoilers #fe3h #fire emblem: three houses #edelgard von hresvelg #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #byleth eisner #jeralt eisner #rhea fire emblem #seteth #fe3h flayn #black eagles #blue lions #fe3h discourse #edelgard discourse #claude von riegan #golden deer

[fireemblems24]

Why I Never Really Talk About Claude

Because there's nothing to say. As much as I hate to say it.

NOTE: I love Claude, and this is in no way meant to say anything bad about him, but Verdant Wind and how it handles him. I didn't tag him, but I want Claude fans to give me their amazing meta analysis and help me indulge in his character. So if you see this - no hate. Please send love.

Gronder Field was obviously a huge turning point for AM and Dimitri - and trust me, I'll definitely get to that - but ironically it was also an eye-opener for VW.

This game is four routes, and at first I tried to give all four their dues, but lately I've talked almost exclusively about CF and AM. With CF on hold until the other routes are also at their final chapter(s), it's become more apparent how little I mention SS and VW.

SS is obvious. It lacks a strong central figure. Rhea is MIA. Edelgard has no presence. Claude and Dimitri weren't supposed to be big characters here, and they aren't. Byleth is too much of a non-character (by design) to pull the weight of a route on his own (my SS is M!Byleth).

But what about VW? What happened?

Initial Impressions of Claude

Claude's writing, before any other character, got my attention. Edelgard I was already biased towards before even opening the game, fueled by her stark difference in design/unit type than other FE leading ladies and knowledge that her route had a split. Hilariously, Dimitri's the one I paid little attention too. But once I actually started the game and heard the characters talk and such, it was Claude who stood out the most.

Claude was witty, promising, and mysterious in a natural way and not the "yeah, sure" way I felt towards Dimitri's "darkness." 😅Edelgard turned out exactly how I expected (and not in a bad way); it was Claude who proved unexpected. It was his prologue dialogue I enjoyed the best, his class introductions that made me laugh.

But sadly that interest burned out.

Edelgard continued to demand my attention throughout part 1. I didn't always agree with her, but I did stay invested in figuring out what her deal was, what she'd do next, etc . . . She surprised me, intrigued me, made me want to discuss her ideas.

Dimitri blindsided me. He tore at my heartstrings without even trying. Ever since the Lonato rebellion, Dimitri got my attention and never let it go. His empathy and stark contrast with his revenge, the truth about his darkness, and so, so much more took him from "there's a third guy" to hands down favorite.

But what did Claude have going for him? Looks? Sure. A fun personality? Definitely. But what about plot, conflict, growth? Throughout part 1, I wanted to know more about what Edelgard planned behind the scenes and her ideals. And during that time, my heart ached for Dimitri as I watched a battle he kept losing and felt so conflicted about his desire for revenge.

What did Claude feel? What did he want? I still kind of don't know. Lack of prejudice between borders? Me too! But what does that have to do at all with what's happening in the game? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Gronder Field

Gronder Field made it just how apparent Claude and VW feels like an awkward third wheel.

During the cut scene, Dimitri and Edelgard had parts that made me (or would've made me) desperate to know what on earth was going on with them. Why is Edelgard invading everyone and, once again, trying to kill her classmates? If she's sad about it, why did she start this war? WTF happened to Dimitri? WTF is going on in the Kingdom? If I wasn't in the middle of it, I'd plan to get to CF and AM asap.

Claude says nothing interesting. Nothing intriguing. It's a throwaway line any character could've said about how this is such a bad class reunion. Honestly, it feels like he got dumped with the lines they needed for advertising because the other two were too caught up in having an actual storyline.

Throughout the game, there's moments that would've made me desperate to play CF and AM, but Claude really hasn't gotten the same treatment.

Claude Deserves Better

The thing is, I like Claude. Writing this reminded me what a fantastic impression he made initially. I love his drive for knowledge, the almost idealistic world he lives to create despite his world-weary character, and how he seemed far more mysterious than the other two (and still is frankly), and didn't get used as a tool to pander to the player self-insert nearly as much either.

But he's been given nothing to work with. Rhea, Edelgard, and Dimitri all have desperate stakes in what happens. Claude doesn't. Or it feels like he doesn't. Even more of the students and faculty have more going on than poor Claude. Things are desperate, emotional, full of conflict, growth, and action. This is what makes someone connect to a story, but Claude feels so disconnected that it's hard to invest.

VW feels less like a cohesive story that could stand on its own and more like a series of battles strung together. Claude has neither Edelgard's strong motivations and active presence nor Dimitri's strong motivations and dynamic development.

It's in the details too. In CF, people are fighting for Edelgard and the Empire. In AM, people are fighting for Dimitri and the Kingdom. In SS, people are fighting for Byleth, Rhea, and the Church of Serios. In VW, people are fighting for . . . Byleth.

I mean, even in FEH Claude doesn't get special treatment. It seems Legendary Edelgard got a giant advertisement video for her release, and Legendary Dimitri got his own mini-foreging bonds with full voice acting. Legendary Claude got nothing. Maybe he's not as popular are the other two (I've stayed out of the fandom outside of my blog for obvious reasons - so I don't really know), but maybe the reason he's less popular (I'm assuming) is because there's a lack of emotional resonance compared to the others.

Honestly, it makes me irritated. Claude has so much potential as a lead character. There's so much to work with, but the game just doesn't play to his strengths, doesn't connect his desires and goals to the plot, ignores Almyra, and has him remain distant from everyone - including the plot. He deserves better.

Claude Fans, I Need Your Help

That said, I know, for fact, I am overlooking parts of his character. Claude fans, please help! Send me your analysis of his characters, what you admire, what his faults are etc . . . (please just no spoilers post Gronder, if you let me know I need to read it later, I'll like it go back to it).

I'm playing all 4 routes at the same time, which means I'm doing monastery weeks back-to-back-to-back-to-back - which means lots and lots of supports all at once. It's impossible for me to retain all that information. There are definitely Claude moments I've overlooked and forgotten.

I also know, for fact, that when you love a character, you can write an entire essay off of one line of dialogue/scene (yes, I've done it 😅). Please send me those essays. I want more Claude love on here, because I'm quickly remembering how much I loved Claude.

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #fe16 #not tagging him because I don't want anyone to see this and think it's hate #it's not #I really like Claude #but I don't want anyone to see the title and get upset #after the game I'm going to ask everyone to send their opinions and meta and essays on all 3 leads plus rhea anyways #and I'll def tag there because it'll be a totally neutral post