#but does this apply to Rhea; Seteth; and Flayn too?

[i-am-a-meat-popcicle]

Honestly the only thing Hanneman had to say to me was "Lore" and suddenly I was all over that old man.

[yanderefairyangel]

I feel like what's making Lumera, and the Divine & Fell Dragons work for me is that they're essentially Sothis, Rhea, and the Nabateans if the writing allowed them to TRULY haunt the narrative in terms of what they went through and lost.

Like, so much from Lumera feels like a realised Rhea & Sothis combo, which is wilder when you realise she's dead for most of Engage's story, but IS lets her (again) HAUNT THE NARRATIVE extensively.

Enough of her influence and death fleshes out Alear's existence and motivation in the story, and the people who surrounding them.

That even applies to how Rafal and Nel from the Fell Xenologue adds that extra love for Fell Dragons that Veyle already had beforehand.

plus there's just how Engage in general treats and explores its dragon and divine cast, kinda fills the void that both 3H titles just didn't commit to filling with the Nabateans outside of Heroes giving Rhea and Sothis more love than said 3H titles.

I genuinely can't stop thinking how much Engage really makes up for how little Fodlan's setting DEPENDED on not doing much with one of Fire Emblem's core aspects, its dragons.

Yep my thoughts exactly !

The issue with 3H is that it refuses to explore the Nabateans even though the whole Nabatean/Agarthans conflict is literaly at the heart of everything that happens in Foldan !

This weakens greatly the Nabateans, especially characters like Sothis who just straight up doesn't do anything in the mid game anymore even thought the early game gave you the impression there would be a greater role for her (but nope)

So while everyone complains that Lumera "dies too early so we don't have the time to get attached" what they misses is that : IT. IS. THE POINT. When Alear meets Lumera, they don't remember anything, the point is specfically that when you lost Lumera you don't realize the loss right away but with her haunting the narrative you grow to care about her only to discover WHY Alear cares about her, I have talked about it but

Ludo- narrative dissonance CAN be used to enhance the narrative and since Alear's amnesia is heavily implied to be dissociative in nature it makes sense that the player and the character are put in states where they aren't in harmony : because Alear themselves aren't in harmony when Lumera dies. They forgot everything when in comes to episodic memories but they still retain subsoncious memories, which is why they still fear the Corrupted at the begining of the game, but the player doesn't know why they dislike the corrupted yet, it's only later they do. This is the same reasoning here, Alear cries because they still love Lumera subconsiously, but at the same time they like episodic memory they don't have the full context, it's as I explained, their past selves manifesting when seeing the only person who cared for them dying, but we the audience, we don't know anything when this scene happens. But later moments allows us to look at this scene differently, and by the time we reach chapter 25, we have grown to care enough about Lumera to feel in harmony with Alear when she dies this time, meant to also reflect how by this point, Alear made the peace with their past, and when replaying the story this recontextuallization only makes it better !

Engage doesn't simply let Lumera haunt the narrative, it plays a game of sprinkling elements here and there which makes the re-experiencing the story even better, because every bit becomes recontextualized and shows the amount of care but into every of Lumera's lines. Each one of them reflect what happens to the story later on and set the outline for chapter 25.

Meanwhile 3H gives us dragons but does nothing with it. I know people complain about Alear and Veyle but I never thought they would argue that Seteth and Flayn conviniently losing their power to turn into dragons is somehow a better diegetic excuse than Veyle getting rid of her stone because of her trauma and complicated self acceptances issues and Alear losing theirs because they gave it to Veyle and then the stone breaking when it serves as yet another element liking Alear to the notion of hope (since Veyle search for them and that their stone being intact means they are still alive so she can still hope)

Flayn and Seteth's relationship is cute and all but is that all there is ? If the Nabateans weren't ... idk KINDA IMPORTANT DUE TO HOW THEIR HISTORY AND THE AGARTHANS WANT TO TAKE REVENAGE ON THEM CAUSED 99% OF THE CURRENT SITUATION IN FOLDAN that wouldn't be such a problem

This is very frustrating when you take into consideration how many games that have dragon as an important lore but actualy dont shy away from exploring everything about them, and for game where they are more minor like Sacred Stones, they still got their moment and it's at least justifiable

But the Nabateans are way to important to just be left like that yet 3H just doesn't want to use them

[deathbirby]

Brainstorming new Hero's Relic designs

Trigger warning here! This post gets quite graphic.

These posts come from my Reddit account! I'm reposting them here. However, I'm also editing these posts with newer information. You can consider these to be the "final" versions.

This is based on a post I came across on Reddit, where the OP ponders what Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn would look like as Hero's Relics. I have quite the active imagination, as you'll soon find out, so I decided to turn my answer into a post. I'll also be looking at Macuil and Indech because, well, why not?

Let's unpack!

Hero's Relics

Before we start, I'll need to make clear what Heroes Relics are. Rhea explains it quite clearly in her exposition dump at the end of Verdant Wind.

"I was never able to forgive those who proudly wielded weapons crafted from the corpses of my brethren."

Corpses! They're all corpses.

"From the blood of the progenitor god, Sothis, he acquired the Crest of Flames. From her bones and heart, he crafted the Sword of the Creator."

More specificially, the Crest comes from the blood of the slaughtered Nabatean, the relics are made out of their bones, and the Crest Stone is their heart.

That begs the question, though. Are the bones taken from the human form or the dragon form? Well, judging by this book in the Shadow Library, probably the dragon form.

"...Based on the composition of___it can be surmised that______likely a massive creature akin to a wyvern. However___strength is beyond compare to that of wyvern bones."

Alright, we got the information on the required ingredients:

Crest: Nabatean blood

Relic: Nabatean bone

Stone: Nabatean heart

Oh, and people often say that the Sword of the Creator is made out of Sothis's spine, which is a completely valid take, but it's just as likely that it's made out of her tail!

The SOTC also gives us one more bit of interesting information about the Heroes Relics.

Sword of the Creator - Concept Art

The sword is pretty big, but it doesn't look like it would be a very long whip. There are only a finite amount of vertebrae on that blade, after all-

Okay, so the orange line is the sword extending. How does that work? Well, we know that the Relics are made out of dragon bones. Their bones would be too big to turn into a weapon made for a human.

It looks like the bones get compressed into a smaller size, and because of this, the SOTC is able to extend.

(Or maybe Sothis is an Eastern Dragon. Noodle dragon Sothis, anyone?)

Oh, and this could also be applied to the other Heroes Relics.

Areadbhar is a hand, but it's far too small for a giant dragon.

It's also entirely possible that it's a stylistic choice or just magic. Moving on.

Weapon type

We still have one more question we need to answer: Are the Heroes Relics based on the type of weapon the Nabatean wields? Fortunately, we have a bunch of Sacred Weapons that belong to dead dragons.

Sword of Begalta - Riegan (Bow)

Sword of Moralta - Fraldarius (Shield)

Tathlum Bow - Lamine (Rafail Gem)

Axe of Ukonvasara - Gloucester (Staff)

Scroll of Talos - Noa (...?)

The answer is no, the Heroes Relics can be anything you want them to be.

NOW we can start cooking up some relics!

Rhea/Seiros - The Immaculate One

Since the relics are made out of dragon bones, we'll need to take a look at Rhea's dragon form.

II - The High Priestess

Perfect. Let's start brainstorming.

Sword

A sword seems like the obvious pick. Rhea already wields the Sword of Seiros, and it would mimic the Sword of The Creator. Its design depends entirely on what body part we use, and I think that the best option here is the spine.

More specifically, the part that acts as a sail.

Take a good look at it. It would work quite well as a serrated blade, wouldn't it? The large sail at the end could work as the crossguard, and it already has a hole for the Crest Stone. The rest of the hilt could be made with the last few pieces of the spine. It's possible that it could also function as a whip. You could make it look nearly identical to the SOTC if you want.

Like mother, like daughter.

It's made out of the spine, so I doubt it could move much. If you want it to work like a whip, it could try to stretch out every now and then.

Axe

Don't worry, we're not making another Aymr. Labraunda is a Sacred Weapon attuned to the Crest of Seiros. It seems fitting to make a mockery out of it. Plus, Rhea hates thieves, and we know that brigands love using axes. Another humiliation to add to, well, being dead.

Consider using the lower jawbone.

It's already quite sharp, what with all those spikes protruding out of it. It could work as the blade, with the shoulderblades securing it to the axe base, which could be made out of a strong bone like the femur. Tendons could be used to further secure it. It's also possible to split the lower jawbone in two and use it as two seperate blades for each side of the axe. The Crest Stone could be in the pommel, or in the center of the axe head. Whatever suits you best.

The axe head is made out of the shoulderblade and jawbone, so I can see it trying to raise its shoulders.

Gauntlets

Some people suggested gauntlets because of Rhea's proficiency in brawling. A very fun idea! Let's look at the body. What body part could be used as a gauntlet? Well, we could choose between the talons or the upper part of the skull.

The bones of the hand would be the base of the gauntlet, with the three claws serving as the deadly blades. The bones could also be bended in a way that puts the claw on the back more where the thumb would be. Or maybe the bones can be hollowed out in a way that would let you slide your hand right in without issue.

Every now and then it tries to form a fist and tighten its grip around the wearer's hand. People believe it's the Goddess trying to protect you with her blessings.

Then there is the upper part of the skull.

The eye sockets can work as holes for the wearer's hand to fit through if necessary, but I believe it could work without that. You just need to hollow out the skull and add straps on the inside. The snout could be sharpened, with the fangs being kept in their current position. The wearer could bring their hand down to slap an opponent and the fangs would sink right in. I believe that the Crest Stone could work right in the middle, where the horns meet the head. It could also be placed more towards the back.

The skull gauntlet would be a bit difficult because it's the upper part of the skull. That stuff stays fixed.

Of course, the horns. You could leave them out, if you so wish, but there is potential there.

The horns that go back could go up the wearers arm and act as a bit of extra protection. And the curved horns could be angled in a way so that if you miss a hit, you'll likely still catch them with the horn.

And yes, I know that some people would say to use the vagina bones pelvis. I suppose you could turn it into knuckle dusters. Drill a few holes for the fingers, polish it, and you'll have yourself a fine weapon.

Seteth/Cichol - The Hammer of Judgement

Unfortunately, we don't have a dragon design sheet for Seteth, nor Flayn. That's why we'll be using theories.

At first glance, it looks like the 5 Nabatean's dragon forms are based on the Five Guardians in Chinese mythology. Black Tortoise for Indech, Vermillion Bird for Macuil, and the Yellow Dragon for Rhea. That leaves us with the Azure Dragon and White Tiger.

Seteth is an Earth Dragon, so one could say that a tiger fits him best, as it feels more 'earthly' than a dragon. The Ochain Shield, which was made specifically for Seteth, has a feline design.

The other theory is that his dragon form is the dragon of the Church's coat of arms. It does not resemble the Immaculate One at all, and considering that there are accurate depictions of the Immaculate One around, it's unlikely that the Church would get it wrong.

The mural also gives us some insight

The two dragons on the left could be Flayn and Seteth. The one all the way in the back would be Seteth, while the muppet is Flayn.

I'm going to make Seteth a mix of all of these to make things easier for myself.

XI - Justice

Hammer

Well, we can't pass up the opportunity to turn him into a literal hammer! There are many parts of the body that could work as a hammer. I would personally go for the heel bone.

A tiger's bones

The tibia and fibula could be melted together to form the shaft, and the last part of the tailbone could be used as a small spike on the top or even a chain. The Crest Stone could rest in its pommel or right in the center of the hammer.

The chain made out of the tailbone could slither around it on its own.

Spear

He likes to use spears? Then he can become one. The femur is quite strong. You can sharpen one point of it and place the Crest Stone on the other side.

Femur isn't gonna move on its own. Sucks.

Gauntlets

Járngreipr is a Sacred Weapon attuned with the crest of Cichol. Why not show him what real gauntlets look like? Use the shoulder blades as the base, claws/teeth/horns/spikes as the blades, and the clavicula/rib as the handle.

The shoulder blades try to move, with the clavicula/rib handle twitching every now and then.

Shield

Think of the Ochain shield, but with an actual dragon head in the middle. The Earth Dragon's skull is surely strong enough to act as a shield, no? It could be even be holding the Crest Stone in its jaws.

I can see it trying to bite into the Crest Stone, but then stop before anything bad could happen. Survival instincts, even when you're dead.

Flayn/Cethleann - The Benevolent One

Flayn is left with the Azure Dragon. She is a light dragon, so a more traditional dragon look would fit her. The other theory says that the banner with a dragon in Seteth's office is Flayn's dragon form. Seteth could have a picture of his daughter in his office as a "do it for her!" motivational poster. The picture below is the most likely her, so I'll be using that.

VI - The Lovers

Staff

She can continue healing people long after she's dead. Let's see.. The radius and ulna can be used as the top shaft. You could curl them around each other like two tight strands of DNA. Yes, I know that will be difficult, but we have nukes, so what's bending a few bones? The Crest Stone can be placed at the top, with the hands cradling it. The humerus can be the lower shaft. There can be soft padding in the middle to act as the grip.

The fingers sometimes move around the Crest Stone, with the ulna and radius slightly rattling against each other.

Tome

She's a healer, but... See those two tiny little horns on the side of her head? They can act as a sort of lock for the tome. The upper part of her body seems to be covered in scales of some sort. Use that as the book covering, with the wing's membranes acting as the pages. The Crest Stone can be where you want it to be.

Maybe the pages try to turn on their own?

Indech - The Immovable

XIV: Temperance

We can crack this turtle open and create some weapons out of it.

Shield

That shell on its back is practically begging to be used as a shield. Those sharp spikes would also make it effective for bashing it against people. The straps could be made out of the tendons, and the Crest Stone could be placed in the top part where there are no spikes.

That shell isn't moving.

Bow

It loves to use a bow, so why not turn it into one? Take a look at the horns on the side of its head. They could be fused together to create the bow, with the Crest Stone right in the middle of it. Tendons and muscle fibers could act as the bowstring, and the spikes on the back of its shell would make for perfect arrows.

The tendons and muscle fibers that act as the bowstring could try to straighten/relax every now and then.

Macuil - The Wind Caller

I - The Magician

Huh. Surprisingly fluffy. What kind of weapons can we make out of it?

Tome

Turning the magician into a tome, eh? The scales on its belly would work as the covering, with a small hole in the side for the Crest Stone. The pages.. Hm. There should be more than enough soft cartilage to use for that.

The covering tries shift every now and then. It's like it's trying to breathe, except there are no lungs, so it's just a pale imitation.

Sword

Hey, if it likes to use a sword, why not turn it into one? Flatten the skull, split it vertically, and you'll have yourself a lovely blade to use! The crest stone? Eh, place it in the crossguard. A horn could work as the hilt. Why, you could make daggers out of it.

It twitches every now and then because it wants to return to its original state.

Bow

Using a flying beast to take down other flying beasts. It's poetry.

"With wings that control the very wind, the Wind Caller possesses vast intelligence and exalted strength."

The "wings that control the very wind" would be perfect for this. Pluck the feathers and cut away all the meat, and you'll have two bow limbs. The shoulderblades would work as the grip, though they would need to be edited a bit to make them easier to grasp. We'll use tendons and muscle fibers to act as the bowstring, and the arrows could be made out of the ribs.

This thing is going to be twitching like hell. The wings can try to make flapping motions, like it's trying to get away from its wielder.

Closing thoughts

These are the Heroes Relics designs I have come up with for the remaining Nabateans. Which one do you like best? Will you pick the one you think works best as a functional weapon, or will you pick the one that looks the coolest? It's good that the Heroes Relics never decay, so they'll always work well, and look awesome at the same time.

You know, the Heroes Relics don't decay because Nabateans just.. don't do that. They go into a deep slumber to recover from near-death experiences. It's even questionable whether or not they die from old age.

I wonder if they're still aware. The relics twitch. Why? Are they experiencing everything as a nightmare? A nightmare that doesn't seem to end? Or do they know what has happened? Are they furious? Was Miklan turning into a demonic beast an act of revenge?

Or was it an act of desperation? A way to return to what they once were?

[thatwildnya]

✨Request Rules!✨

☑️Open☑️

Fandoms: Fire Emblem Awakening/3 Houses/Engage, Bungou Stray Dogs, Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact

These apply to headcanons and drabbles

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As there are two people on this blog you can ask for a specific one to write your request. We have different writing styles so don’t be shy to ask for one or the other to fulfill your request!

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Suggestive content ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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note: anyone 15 and under is automatically platonic. the 3 exceptions are Kenji and Kyouka. They will be aged up to 16 if your request is romantic. However I will only write wholesome romantic, nothing suggestive for them.

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Racism (it’s not cash money)

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Green light Characters (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)

confident in writing for these guys!

all FE Awakening and Engage characters that don’t appear under red/yellow list

Armed Detective Agency

Port Mafia

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The Guild (check red light squad)

All Blue Lions

All Golden Deer

All Black Eagles

All Ashen Wolves

Seteth, Flayn, Byleth, Rhea, Catherine

Red Light Characters ಠ_ಠ

nope not gonna even attempt

fukuchi or however you spell his name i don’t care bleh

all hunting dogs (don’t have a grasp on ’em yet oof)

Hermann whatshisface

fe villains

all BSD characters in novels and stuff (excluding Shibusawa)

alois

Gregor, Tharja, Say’ri, Basilio, Flavia, Anna, Cordelia, Sumia, Cherche

time skip kids: Brady, Kjelle, Cynthia, Noire, Severa, Laurent

all side quest wait didn’t you die peeps

all the emblems and primary antagonists (check yellow light for info on Griss)

all time travel characters (check yellow light for Lilia) in Diasomnia chapter 7 and Neige’s dwarf buddies

Yellow Light Characters (￣◇￣;)

there is an attempt- 🗿

Shimr, Gilbert, Jeralt

Shibusawa (finally looked up his name apr 6 at 11:48 PM 2025-)

Nah, batman Gerome

Vander, Etie, Boucheron, Jade (FE & HSR), Lapis, Citrinne, Goldmary, Panette, Mauvier

twst specific: General Lilia from the past in the Diasomnia time travel dream thingy, Najma Viper, Mozus Trein, Ernesto Foulworth, Gino, Rollo Flamme, Skull J. Graves

i am only willing to write hardcore bdsm smut for Griss so if you want something for him skedaddle over to the nsfw blog

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Here’s system for character limit. If you’re having a hard time understanding don’t worry just send an ask or pop into our dms~

You can only mix Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact characters.

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Here are some groups consisting of multiple characters from all fandoms with a specific theme! Keep in mind your request will most likely be broken up into multiple parts. Make your request off anon to have a better chance of seeing when a part has been posted! (These are not available for requesting Nya or Wild specifically to answer.)

Dragon Hoard Poly: a harem featuring Malleus Draconia, Neuvillette, Zhongli, Dan Feng, Dan Heng! (DISCLAIMER: This is an all in one you get them all or none.)

Kiddo Special, smol edition: have some fun playing with munchkins of the groups! Q, Klee, Diona, Qiqi, Hook, Bailu, Jean(fe engage) are ready for fun! (DISCLAIMER: This is only for fluff platonic love there will be no child touching in our goddamn lobby. You can ask to have kids from fandoms you aren’t in/you don’t know removed.)

Kiddo Special, double digits edition: have a good time hanging out with the older kids of the groups! Kyouka, Kenji, Collie, Clara, Misha, Lynx, Pela, Ortho, Morgan (fe awakening), and all pre time skip underage kids from FE 3 Houses are looking forward to hanging out with ya! Here’s your options (DISCLAIMER: All of them are available for aging up to be available for romantic requests (excluding Ortho). This does NOT include anything suggestive.)

Mihoyo yo yo! Genshin and HSR

what is a Fire Emblem!? Morgan + FE students

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Honkai is Fire! FE + HSR

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Let us pet the Dogs Genshin! FE + Genshin

Peppy is the cutest a Dog! BSD + HSR

Forgive me Daddy I’ve been naughty: for certified dlifs, adoptive dads, and daddy vibes lovers~ Fukuzawa, Fitzgerald, Zhongli, Baizhu, Arlecchino (no this is not a mistake madam father deserves to be here), Welt, Gallagher, Jing Yuan

Mommy, sorry, mommy, sorry, mommy, sorry: for the ones who lacked a mother figure growing up. Kouyou, Yosano, Lisa, Ningguang, Arlecchino, Himeko, Kafka, Yukong, Black Swan

Twisted Wonderland

max of 5 for characters that are spread out! please note that these characters will be given the bby no romo only plato treatment if requested: Ortho, Cheka, Najma, Gino. Grim can be added for a silly crack headcanon if the request is romantic based. and don’t forget, if you want you can send in multiple requests for the same prompt in different asks if you go over the request limit!

but we’ve got special offers too~

CHOOSE ONE: all dorm leaders, all vice dorm leaders (+Ruggie and Ortho), or all staff (+Grim)

Choose 2: Savanaclaw, Octsvinelle, Pomefiore

Diasomnia or Heartslabyul plus Scarabia or Ignihyde

these extras: Neige, Skully, Che’Nya, Rollo, Ernesto, Gino

the happy singing bundle of happiness! Malleus, Silver, Shroud bros, tweels, Ernesto, Gino, Grim

Onii-chan deus uwu: pick 5 characters then add either the tweels or shrouds to the mix

FE Three Houses

you can request either all girls or all boys from 1 house, this does not include Ashen Wolves

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if you request the Ashen Wolves you may add 1 more character to be included

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specify which gender you want for any characters that come in multiple sex options (ie. Byleth or Honkai mc’s) otherwise we will choose for you

FE Awakening

meh 5 character limit just specify which gender you want Robin/Morgan to be. if you want you can group all the non humans together (Tiki, Nowi, Panne, Yarne, Nah) since there’s just 5

FE Engage

honestly just tell us which ones you want 5 limit still applies and specify Alear gender

Bungou Stray Dogs

same as above lol

Honkai Star Rail

Astral Express: everyone (including Pom Pom)

Stelleron Hunters: mommy Kafka, Blade, Silver Wolf, Firefly

Herta Space Station: everyone (including Peppy)

Jarilo VI: Gepard, Serval, Lynx, Pela, Clara, Sampo, Hook, Natasha, Luka

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Penacony: Sunday, Robin, Misha, Gallagher

IPC: Topaz, Adventurine, Jade, Scott (but only for crack and bullying him)

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That’s all!

Masterlists

Twisted Wonderland

Centaur AU

Bungou Stray Dogs

Honkai Star Rail

Fire Emblem

Genshin Impact

[mittelfrank-divas]

Since you’ve been looking into how Tarots factor into the Crest meanings, I wonder what you think about the Tarot meanings behind the Crest of Cichol and what that means for Ferdinand and Seteth.

Its such a shame they didnt establish more of a link between those two considering their shared crests (and not even a support?? Wtf Intsys?? If yall really wanted me to play SSnow at least have a Ferdinand and Seteth support to hold my interest instead of Ferdinand/Flayn)

Also with the Cichol crest, there seems to be a confusion between it and Dimitri’s crest on whether its Tarot correlation is Strength or Justice so u can look into either or both

Okay, so I looked into the confusion over the tarot associated with the crests of Blaiddyd and Cichol, and it's actually very interesting!

See, the reason we know which crests correspond to which tarot cards is because of the order the crests are listed in the game. There are 22 major arcana cards, numbered 0-21, and 22 crests that are always listed in the same order, indicating where they fall on the arcana list. However, some tarot decks swap the places of the Strength and Justice cards, so they could both be either the 8th or 11th card, making it possible for either of them to line up with Blaiddyd and Cichol.

I thought, when I first read about this, that I knew for sure which card was supposed to correspond with Cichol. But honestly? The more I think about it, the more I think that either of them has the potential to work.

Let's look at Cichol and Justice. Upright, Justice means cause and effect, clarity, truth, law. Reversed, it means dishonesty, unaccountability, unfairness.

It's easy to see how this applies to Seteth. His role within the Church of Seiros is that of an enforcer. He constantly reminds Byleth of their role and responsibility. He commands the Knights of Seiros, deploying them to maintain order and enforce the law. He is strongly implied in the Shadow Library to have personally written many of the church's rules. He even questions Rhea on some of her actions, attempting to offer some measure of accountability from her.

But by the same token, Seteth is actively involved in keeping the church's secrets. He stops Claude from reading a book that connects crests to Nabateans and censors materials in the library. He writes fictional stories about the saints, portraying them as very different from the Nabateans they were based on. Dishonesty is an unfortunate constant with Seteth's character.

Likewise, it is easy to see how Justice suits Ferdinand. Ferdinand sees his role as a future prime minister as a means of holding the emperor accountable to the people. He speaks about the importance of guiding leaders on the right path, of preventing leaders from becoming too emotional to lead. He also often thinks like a lawyer: suggesting that Petra use a legal technicality to return home to Brigid, or seeking out documents to prove that Mercedes was not adopted legitimately.

And yet Ferdinand's desire for justice and accountability is at odds with his position as the son of a notoriously corrupt nobleman. Duke Aegir is the very opposite of accountability, using his position to accumulate more power for himself, conspiring with the Slithers and neglecting the people of the territories he controls. Ferdinand's attempt to uphold nobility as an ideal ignores the inherent unfairness of the class system.

Now let's look at the Strength card. Upright, it means inner strength, bravery, compassion, focus. Reversed, it means self doubt, weakness, insecurity.

Again, it is easy to see how this suits Seteth. As one of the original Nabatean saints, Seteth is clearly strong. He has an unwavering focus on protecting his family and maintaining Fodlan as it is. He does also demonstrate a lot of compassion in his supports, such as when he reaches out to Felix about how much he isolates himself from people.

But by the same token, Seteth's paranoia about protecting Flayn is a tremendous weakness, making him insecure and irrational whenever he perceives a threat.

Likewise, nobody could argue that Ferdinand von Aegir is not strong, brave, or compassionate. Literally, mechanically, he has no weaknesses. And his compassion is visible even when he makes his greatest support blunders. He tries incredibly hard to understand other people and goes to great lengths to help them when he can.

Less visible, however, are Ferdinand's insecurities. His constant boasting covers up his desperation to prove himself. His constant challenging of Edelgard demonstrates his need for validation, and it is only through his supports with both her and Byleth that he begins to accept that he has value as a person whether or not he achieves fame and victory over his rival.

All that said, it really is a shame that Seteth and Ferdinand don't have supports! Imagine, for instance, if they had a talk about what the law and justice mean to them. This could have been especially insightful in the context of Silver Snow.

[butwhatifidothis]

Shortened Lifespan: Edelgard vs Lysithea

Now, technically, I’ve already made a post like this before, but I wanted it to be it’s own thing (brought about by a mutual tagging a post of mine and me wanting to go more into depth with it lol).

It’s been very widely accepted by the fandom that Edelgard and Lysithea both go through the expectation of living a shortened life due to the blood experiments done to them, with this partly being used as part of the defense/reasoning for Edelgard going to war instead of doing something more peaceful. She thinks she’s on a timer, like Lysithea, so she hard-starts change to work around her short-lived clock. Makes sense, on the surface. 

But like I’ve mentioned on here before, I personally just can’t buy it. Nothing besides the immediate connection of “Edelgard and Lysithea both went through experimentation” suggests that Edelgard has the same shortened lifespan that Lysithea is suffering through. 

More under the cut

One thing that immediately stands out, to me, are the differences between their stat spreads and growths (focusing on stats on this post). 

Here are Edelgard’s (note: Statues not applied - add five to the stats if you want the true max values):

They are extremely good, especially for a default armor unit.  Str and especially Mag are very high, average Dex and Spd (though notably good for an armor unit), good Def, amazing Charm. Her Luck and Res are the only things that are even kinda bad - it’d more accurate to say they’re below average, tho again, 47 Res on an armor unit is fairly high. In fact, of the units that lean towards armor, Edelgard has the highest Res, and even beats out some units that aren’t armor-leaning such as Claude and Felix. Even her seemingly low HP (for an armor) is mitigated by the fact that it’s still some of the highest for a female unit overall (the fifth highest, beat out by Petra, Rhea, Manuela, and Hilda)

What are Lysithea’s, in contrast? (blacked out everyone above her for easier reading):

...Uh. Yeah. In contrast to Edelgard’s far more even spread, Lysithea’s are skewed to fuck. The best Mag in the game and the second highest Dex (losing only to Claude’s 89), and some nice Spd, sure, but everything else takes an extremely large hit. 48 HP is the lowest in the game, pitiful Str and Def, and mediocre Luck, Res, and Charm. This girl is held together by toothpicks, Elmer’s glue, and God’s mercy.

So right off the bat, there’s a huge difference between the two of them in this regard, but I decided to go even further; just how off are Lysithea’s stats, actually? Some things make sense, like low Str and Def, so how different is she compared to others in her class type (magic users).

The magic users of the following factions have the Str stat underlined. First, BE:

BL:

GD:

CoS:

From what we can see, 30 Str isn’t actually out of the norm for a female magic user. The outliers are Rhea and Manuela with their Str in the low 50′s being not just the highest of the women, but of all the main magic users period, though part of that could be contributed to their age (vs Hanneman who is both older - in terms of physical age at least - and who does not focus on physical strength like someone like Gilbert) (Rhea being an older Nabatean could also attribute to this - notice Seteth’s stat spread which also has notably high Mag for a Wyvern Rider unit and Flayn’s, who is younger and who also had only recently woken from a centuries long sleep that she fell into after nearly dying, more odd spread). Following them for the women is Annette, who as we know lugs around a giant axe (Crusher’s weight is 11, making it heavier than most swords and bows and a good few lances - fun fact, it’s heavier than Areadbhar!) which likely lends to her having above average Str for her gender and unit type combination

Now, here’s the fun part: let’s look at the same unit’s Res stats

BE:

BL:

GD:

CoS:

Here’s where an interesting pattern shows up that’s fairly consistent: if a magic unit has bad Str, they have good/great Res to compensate, and vice versa. Annette’s above average Str (remember, for what she is) coincides with her bad Res, same as Manuela’s, and all the magic units with their ass Str have at least a respectable Res to go along with it. The only ones who break this rule are Rhea, due to her Str and Mag being fairly even with a lean towards magic (and also not being playable lol)... and Lysithea. Who has both a shit Str and shit Res stat. Even amongst her magical peers, Lysithea still stands out as particularly fragile and physically weak.

HOWEVER

Do note, for all of the above in terms of going over stats, that they aren’t necessarily the best indicator of anything in particular when it comes to a character; there is no version of me in the multiverse that will ever believe Manuela is stronger than Rhea or that Lorenz has the same amount of stamina as Dimitri, for example. But it is something to note when looking at Edelgard and Lysithea, due to them going through the same experiments and yet one is very clearly doing better in terms of damn near everything and the other very clearly lagging behind in damn near everything

Moving on, we have their Banes and Boons. Edelgard’s Boons are Axes, Swords, Heavy Armor, and Authority, with Banes in Faith and Bows. Of note, Edelgard will say in a Study Request that she believes it is her specifically having two Crests that allows her to be able to shrug on armor like it’s nothing, and her defaulting to an armor class with an axe as her default weapon makes her the literal heaviest she could theoretically be. On top of that, her Banes point to nothing about her physical health hindering her ability to do physically laborious feats.

Lysithea, on the other hand, has Boons in Faith, Reason, and Authority, with Banes in Swords, Lances, Axes, Heavy Armor, as well as Clearing Rubble as a Group Task activity. She has a budding talent in Swords - the lightest of the weapons she’s bad at and some of the lightest weapons in the game - that gives her access to a Combat Art that lets her use something other than Str to give Mt to her sword-based attack. Lysithea, in terms of Banes and Boons when compared to Edelgard (or anyone, really), is very clearly unable to do physically demanding things very well - it’s something she’s actively bad at doing and is a consistent fact about her that crops up in not just her stats and Banes and Boons, but also her supports. Edelgard’s situation is the same.

Edelgard has her supports with Ferdinand, as well as Ferdinand’s supports with Byleth, that showcase her being exceptionally good at combat in terms of physical fighting (as in, no magic, and having a talent in doing feats that would require a good amount of stamina). She beats Ferdinand in combat with one strike, and she is able to take on a Demonic Beast by herself while still fresh in the academy. There are no mentions of her being winded or tired from fighting, and she is more than once praised for her battle prowess.

Lysithea, meanwhile, has at least three supports (Byleth, Lorenz, Cyril) that indicate less than stellar stamina, health, and strength (she straight up faints in Byleth’s supports). While characters looking out for her health can maybe be somewhat attributed to her being one of the youngest students in the cast, the difference between and, say, Cyril, who’s even younger than her, is that she genuinely shows signs of ill health when she pushes herself too far, vs Cyril who is fine even with how much he works. When talking about her prowess in battle it is only ever in regards to her magical capabilities, not anything else, and she is seen constantly working on those capabilities.

And then lastly, there are their endings.

Edelgard has no endings that mention needing to be rid of her Crests - save one, which will be looked at in a bit. In particular, she has an ending with Hubert that indicates she lives on to her “later years,” which is usually attributed to a fairly old age. It is not, in this case, referring to Edelgard’s specific later years (for example, a person who lives to 30 can say their mid-twenties was the later years of their life), because it specifically says that she and Hubert live to their later years, which more likely points towards a longer life.

Lysithea in contrast has multiple endings that either has her and/or her lover actively looking for means to get rid of Lysithea’s Crests, or explicitly say that she dies young. There’s... not much more to add to that lmao

But! There is one ending with Edelgard that mentions her getting rid of her Crests, and it even says they restore her lost time! That’s proof positive, isn’t it?

Well, funnily enough, this is her ending with Lysithea that mentions this, and it... appears to be straight up incorrectly translated. As has been pointed out by others, the JPN ending doesn’t specifically mention restoring their lifespans, it simply says Edelgard and Lysithea “discovered a way to exchange the crest’s power for the restoration of a lost lifespan.” While, if we look at the surface level “Edelgard and Lysithea both had Crests implanted into them” similarity, it makes sense to attribute this restoration to the both of them, looking at everything else leans towards this statement mostly being for Lysithea. Which, given that this is the only ending - or really, the only place period - Edelgard has that even mentions her wanting to be rid of her Crest, let alone actively working towards it, it makes sense that this isn’t for her. 

Now, all of the above isn’t directly pointing towards anything - it’s a lot of speculation, since nothing about Edelgard herself having a short life is ever explicitly said in the game. But when looking at all of the differences between Lysithea and Edelgard, when looking at how badly Lysithea stacks against everyone else vs how amazing Edelgard stacks, at how often dying young is mentioned with Lysithea vs Edelgard, at how much Lysithea focuses on her lifespan vs Edelgard, I personally just can’t believe that they’re similarly afflicted with a shortened life. 

There’s almost nothing in the game to suggest that other than the one thing they have in common, which is the experiments themselves - if they do, then Edelgard simply doesn’t care as much about it as Lysithea, and/or it isn’t nearly to the extent of Lysithea, to the point where she feels no need to mention it anywhere. And this is the same character that brings up her ten dead siblings in the first support with the player character, so something as big as “oh yeah and I’m going to die relatively soon and young” feels like something she would similarly mention as something one should know about her, which she doesn’t. This seems, to me, to be just a popular fan theory that isn’t really all that supported in the game itself.

[gascon-en-exil]

I woke up to a bunch of religion discourse on my dash. It's...a lot, although typical of what I've come to expect from Three Houses wank.

I have just one addition to make, one that I've made in bits and pieces here and there before.

So much of the rhetoric condemning Rhea for making "a false religion" and the insistence that Edelgard is attacking the church but not believers (even when that isn't always held up by the script) reads like anti-Catholicism albeit from a specifically Protestant standpoint. I get the impression that many of the people who start (pseudo-)progressive discourse in fandom spaces bill themselves as anti-Christian but primarily go after the Catholic Church in doing so, in part because it's a bigger and easier target than the dozens (hundreds?) of Protestant churches but also because the English-speaking world is majority Protestant and anti-Catholic rhetoric comes baked into that culture. Calvinist Protestants in particular seem to genuinely believe that Catholicism is based on a series of lies and compromises around the time of the late Roman Empire, which they use to justify their historically revisionist claim that Catholicism isn't "real" Christianity. This is just one of several misconceptions about the Church that's suspiciously easy to apply to FE16 wank, ex:

The Church was tainted by Greco-Roman paganism and needs to be purged of those elements -> The church of Seiros was tainted by Rhea's lies and must be purged of those elements, including Rhea herself

Christianity is good, but ecclesiastical hierarchy is bad unless we're in charge of it -> the religion of Sothis is good, but ecclesiastical hierarchy is bad unless Edelgard is in charge of it

The medieval Church wielded hard political power allowing it to control everyone, and this kept European civilization stuck in the so-called Dark Ages for centuries -> Rhea wields hard political power allowing her to control everyone, and this (and not longstanding series convention) keeps Fódlan society stuck in pseudo-medieval stasis

Because Catholicism has a single leader, Catholics are a hive mind beholden to support and obey the pope in all things -> Because Faerghus is called "the Holy Kingdom" like the Holy Roman Empire but don't think about that, its people are a hive mind of religious fanatics beholden to support and obey Rhea in all things

Also, nationalistic devotion to a secular ruler (who might also be the head of your church, as is the case for some Protestant European countries) is inherently better than being a part of a religion with an international scope -> same thing, but Edelgard is definitely the head of the re-formed church post-CF, and her scope is only not international in the sense that she's conquered the continent and made it all part of her Empire

Catholicism is racist/sexist/homophobic/intolerant of other religions, any complications or nuance here be damned, and because Catholics are a hive mind (see above) this either directly informs their politics or else leaves them consumed by guilt -> the church of Seiros is also all of those things, any in-game evidence be damned, and any character who aligns themselves with the church is either a conservative reactionary dedicated to upholding the status quo or else consumed by guilt (basically only Marianne gets read as this one).

Catholics are alright as long as Protestants Christians don't have to live with them, otherwise they're fair game for persecution (although admittedly the feeling is often mutual there) -> the Nabateans are alright as long as they're not living among humans, so Seteth and Flayn having to spend their lives in exile is good, actually...and that parenthetical does not apply when we're talking about just two people who can't even turn into dragons anymore

I don't know if it would be too much to ask for the people who push these ideas in fandom to have a bit more awareness of the fact that they didn't arise in a vacuum. It's not impossible, of course; I'm fully aware that my perspective of religion as a cultural element that can be used when practical and discarded when not is directly informed by my experiences as a French Catholic in a majority Catholic cultural enclave surrounded by some of the loudest and most judgmental Protestants in the world. That's a very different environment even from many Catholics in the US and Commonwealth countries (including CaptainFlash, I believe? I recall reading something about him calling himself a former Catholic), to say nothing of anyone else.

The nature of arguing on the internet doesn't exactly lend itself to that kind of introspection, though.

[kumeko]

A/N: For the @setlethzine Courage, My Love zine! I wanted to give the Seteth the rom-com he Flayn deserves.

…

…

…

…

In his many, many centuries of living, there were a few things that Seteth knew to be true: Flayn was adorable and needed to be protected, Rhea was far more secretive than she ought to be, and he definitely wasn’t developing feelings for the new teacher. Well, new might not be the right word to apply considering everything, but the point still stood. No matter how much Rhea teased and Flayn blushed, he didn’t have one of those so-called ‘crushes’.

The only reason he had even started watching her was because Rhea had been so adamantly quiet about why she was even here, and someone had to protect Rhea and Flayn. The world was dangerous. Their foes were hidden in every corner. Fortunately, his extensive research proved that Byleth wasn’t evil. Strange and mysterious, certainly, but not evil.

And if his eye was still drawn to her, it was only because he was used to watching her. His ears strained for her every word out of habit. He was so used to his role as investigator that he hadn’t adjusted to co-worker. That was all, honestly.

That was also the reason he was sitting right now in the courtyard, strumming his fingers impatiently on the metal table as he glanced around for Byleth. At this point, she was five minutes late for their meeting. Tardiness was a terrible attribute for a professor. Seteth brushed a finger against the teapot; the ceramic still felt warm. That was a relief. After acquiring one of Manuela’s finer teas and a spread of snacks from the kitchen, he would be rather put out if Byleth didn’t get to enjoy them. It took a lot of effort to ensure the meal complimented the tea.

A shadow fell on him and Seteth looked up as Byleth slid into her seat. Frowning, he crossed his arms. “You are late.”

“My students had questions,” Byleth explained simply, straight to the fact. It was one of the few traits he admired her for. When one worked with the long-winded Hanneman, the boisterous Alois, and the dramatic Manuela, he was grateful that Byleth was the exact opposite of that. Very few words escaped her mouth, each one carefully picked, and Seteth only hoped that she would be a good influence on the others.

“That is the mark of a good teacher. It is your duty to ensure your students get the best help possible. Do not apologize for it,” Seteth praised, giving her an appreciative smile. This was definitely better than certain teachers’ propensity to arrive late due to alcohol or obsessive experimenting. “Would you like some tea?”

Byleth shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” She shook her head once more and he felt a little disappointed at that, but it couldn’t be helped if she wasn’t interested. Still, tea wasn’t the only item he’d prepared. “Perhaps a biscuit or a cookie?”

Once more, Byleth shook her head. “What did you call me here for?”

“Well, that is…” Seteth trailed off. There wasn’t really any particular reason he called her here, he just wanted to get to know her better. He smiled reassuringly. “I was hoping to spend time with you.”

Somehow, she didn’t look the least bit reassured. If anything, her back straightened slightly and she was as tense as she was on the battlefield. Perched on the edge of her seat, she wore a determined expression and asked, “Have I done something wrong?”

“What?” Well, now he knew what her enemies must have seen before she defeated them. Perhaps he had said something erroneous. Clearing his throat, he clarified, “No, nothing of the sort. As I previously stated, I merely desire to spend time with you. You have had tea parties with the students; think of this as one of those.”

Byleth nodded slowly. She clasped her hands on her lap, looking at him expectantly. “Then I made a mistake with the tea party.”

“No, that is not what I intended…” Seteth trailed off, recalling the few times he had spotted (not spied) Byleth in the courtyard. Actually, now that he considered it, there had been a few things that had bothered him. This might be the chance to rectify all that. “Very well then, since you have mentioned it, your hosting etiquette does have a few flaws. We will go over the appropriate manners expected of a professor of your status.”

-x-

Seteth rubbed his brow as he climbed the stairs to Rhea’s chambers. How did everything he did turn into a lecture? That was supposed to be a casual, cheerful meeting. Instead, it had become a two-hour lesson on the art of tea parties. No wonder Manuela tensed up whenever he passed her. If anything, it was a miracle that he was even able to have normal conversations.

He would have to repent and correct his ways. Later, though, for now he stood in front of Rhea’s doors. Rapping firmly, he waited for Rhea to call him in before entering the massive chamber. The afternoon sunlight flooded through her ceiling to floor windows, casting a warm glow in the room. As expected, the archbishop was out on the terrace. She liked to tend to her flowers at this time, claiming it was a form of meditation.

“Seteth.” Crouched next to a flower, she gently lifted its bloom and admired it as she greeted him. “As punctual as ever. I do not know what I would do without you.”

“Many things, I imagine,” Seteth responded succinctly, coming to a stop next to her.

Without her headpiece on, she looked younger. It was only when they were alone, away from prying eyes, that he could see the woman he had met all those centuries ago and not the archbishop she’d become. Her eyes crinkled as she stood up and she laughed. “Seteth, are you still sore over Byleth?”

“There is nothing to be sore about.” He crossed his arms, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. “While I still think you should have at least informed me first, if not consulted, I do not mind that anymore.”

“You do not mind?” Rhea’s lips quirked as she studied him. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for, only she had found it when she smiled teasingly, “I thought I noticed a change in your demeanor.”

He stopped cold at that. Giving her a bemused look, he asked, “What do you mean?”

“I heard about your date with the professor,” she replied easily, mirth colouring her tone. “You are moving faster than I expected.”

“A d-date?” Seteth sputtered, his neck burning at the very suggestion. “Preposterous! Of all the things to suggest—we were not on a date or anything of the sort.”

“Really?” A finely shaped brow rose and she pressed, “Even though you had tea together in the garden?”

“That was merely a formality to know her better!” Seteth tried to keep his cool and not hiss. This was clearly a mistake. After all, Rhea had lived a long time and most of it alone. Perhaps she had forgotten about courtship entirely. “After all this time spent distrusting her, I wanted to improve our relationship.”

“Is that so?” Rhea answered, in a tone that suggested she did not believe a word of it.

“It is,” he replied firmly.

Rhea squeezed his shoulder before heading back to her bedroom. “It is cute to see you smitten so. Now come, we have to get through those reports.”

It was childish to continue the argument. It was childish and that was the only reason he wasn’t retorting as he followed her in.

-x-

“That is a date!”

Of all the responses he expected his daughter to utter, those hadn’t been on the list. Seteth stared at Flayn, jaw slightly open as he struggled to understand just what was happening. How did both Rhea and Flayn get such a simple thing wrong? “It is not.”

Flayn wasn’t listening to him. Hands clasped, a faraway look in her eyes, and a dreamy tone in her voice, she continued to ramble as though he hadn’t spoken. “Oh, this is the most delightful of news! I did not think the professor had caught your eye.”

Well, he couldn’t entirely argue that. “That was only to ensure your safety.”

“Love blooming from adversity—it is like one of my favourite books.” Flayn turned to him, a gentle smile on her face. “If you are concerned about Mother, do not fret. I am sure she would approve of this too.”

“That wasn’t—I wasn’t…” Seteth trailed off, not sure how he had ended up in this mess. Flayn must have been reading too many romance books recently; it was eating away at her brain and casting everything in a similar light. “While that is reassuring, that is simply not the case here. I was only trying to create a sense of camaraderie between Byleth and myself.”

“The best romances are a slow burn.” Flayn nodded her agreement. He had a feeling she hadn’t heard a word he said. “For your next step, might I suggest a gift? It is always heartwarming to receive one.”

“Why would I—” Seteth paused. Actually, now that he thought about it, a gift was a great suggestion. A well-picked one could deepen their bond and show Byleth how he intended to change their relationship. It could even serve as an apology for all the mistrust he had shown her. “A gift is perfect. Thank you, Flayn.”

“No problem.” She smiled brightly at him. “I will root for you!”

It would be a headache to correct her, so he didn’t bother.

-x-

“A gift?” Standing near the docks, Byleth looked at the long, thin package in Seteth’s hands and then back at him. Her brow furrowed as she tried to understand. “For me?”

“Yes.” Seteth held the package uncertainly. It had been hard to pick something for Byleth. The more he had thought about it, the more he had realized that he knew very little about her despite his watchful gaze. Certainly, he knew her habits in the school—how hard she worked to teach her students, the skill she showed with a weapon, the soft way she would look at the students sometimes. Yet those were habits, nothing more, and one couldn’t buy a gift based on that. While he had finally figured out what to do, it was still mostly guesswork. He hated this level of ambiguity.

“What is it for?” She still didn’t take the gift. Instead, her frown deepened.

This really wasn’t going how he had planned. Seteth held out the package insistently. “There is no particular reason. I merely thought it would suit you. Now please, accept it.”

Byleth quietly studied his face for a long moment before nodding and taking it. “Thank you.” Without another word, she tore through his meticulously folded wrapping paper.

“You could unwrap it late—” Seteth sighed, giving up when she showed no signs of stopping. Well, this was embarrassing. His cheeks warmed and he clasped his hands behind his back.

It took her a total of two minutes to remove the wrapping paper. He hoped that eagerness meant she was warming up to him. Now holding a fishing rod in her hands, Byleth gave him a puzzled look. “A fishing rod?”

The very situation he had been dreading: explaining himself. Clearing his throat, he resisted the urge to mutter. “You won the fishing tournament, a feat of skill that indicated you spend a lot of time fishing. I had inspected your rod earlier and noticed it was a little worn. It would be terrible if a fish escaped due to your gear breaking at the wrong time.” He tried to smile again. “I thought you could use this. It is a good model. I have used its like before.”

Still looking bemused, she nodded. “Thank you.”

Well, it wasn’t the joyous response he had hoped for, but it wasn’t the scared reaction she had given at the tea party either. A step forward, at least. “If you need any help with it, just ask.”

She didn’t reply, her focus already on the rod. Byleth wasn’t quite smiling, but her lips turned up as she examined the hook keeper. That was a good sign, right? That had to mean she was pleased.

Maybe.

Hopefully she wasn’t laughing at him.

-x-

“A fishing rod?” Flayn glared at him, her hands balling into fists as she paced in his bedroom. “Fa—Brother, that is not a romantic gift at all! It does not tell your loved one that you are thinking of them!”

Seteth crossed his arms defensively. “We have gone through this already, Flayn. There is nothing between the professor and I.”

“A fishing rod is too practical for a courtship gift!” Once again, she wasn’t listening to him. Maybe he should block her access to the library for a while, or sneak in some proper books into her reading. At this rate, she was going to think his every interaction with another was a sign of love. “No wonder she looked confused!”

Byleth hadn’t only looked confused. He was certain he hadn’t imagined it, the curve of her lips, the amused look on her face. It was an expression entirely unlike her usual ones, and he would know, having watched her as he had. Even her students hadn’t provoked such a reaction. The thought sent a rush through him. Perhaps he was the only one so far who had seen it.

“There is only one way to correct this mistake.” Flayn was in his face now, an earnest expression in her face as she grabbed his hands. “You must give her an even bigger gift. I have heard that serenading a lover at dawn is the purest form of love.”

“Serenading?” It was an idea he ought to reject immediately and in its entirety. Yet Flayn’s last suggestion had given him the gift of Byleth’s almost-smile. Perhaps this one could generate another smile. What would she look like, radiant and glowing, unable to hide her happiness?

He didn’t hesitate before nodding.

-x-

Standing in front of Byleth’s door, a lute in hand, Seteth silently cursed himself. This was a terrible idea. An utterly terrible idea. Not only was a serenade a romantic thing, he was also disturbing someone in the middle of the night. Just because he often rose at dawn to attend to his duties didn’t that mean Byleth did.

What had he been thinking, agreeing to this? Seteth knew the answer to that. He hadn’t been thinking at all, distracted as he had been by Byleth’s expression. Instead of smiling now, the moment she laid eyes on him, she would glare. Their relationship would go back to what it had been. This was a mistake. The only good thing was that he had come to his senses before he started playing. There was still time to turn around and leave.

There was still time—the door in front of him slowly opened and Seteth froze.

A very drunk Manuela stepped out, her hair disheveled, her dress crumpled. She stared at him for a long minute, then at the lute in his hands. “My, I must be drunker than I thought,” she mumbled, shaking her head and stumbling back into her room. “That’s it, I am not drinking for a week.”

Not only had this been a mistake, but he had gotten the wrong room. Seteth walked (not ran; he was definitely not running) away in an undignified manner.

[emblemxeno]

After seeing several translations of the original japanese script and confirmation in out of game materials like Heroes that Edelgard has a really awful attitude about non-humans, I see a lot of her stans get really aggressive and completely deny it when its brought up and I dont get why. Out of all the things she does or is complicit to (warmongering, kidnapping, assassination attempts, human experimentation, etc.) why is her hatred of non-humans the thing the stans refuse to admit is a thing?

Not to get too accusatory, but it’s probably because it’s one less thing that they can deny and one less thing they can’t use against Rhea. Since now that Edelgard’s hatred of non-humans doesn’t just apply to Rhea, people can’t just separate the latter from Seteth and Flayn on the basis of how much they influenced Fodlan (or like how the stans believe, ‘controlled’ Fodlan).

The fact that Edelgard singled on the fact that Seteth and Flayn were children of the goddess in the localization should’ve been a good enough clue, but the stans were particular stubborn about claiming that things were mistranslated to make Edelgard look worse when it was actually kind of the opposite.

[queenlua]

002| Ferdinand and Seteth for the character ask meme!

huh!  what an cool & interesting pair of dudes to ask about, anon; i don’t think anyone’s ever asked me to wax poetic about them before.

here goes:

Ferdinand

How I feel about this character: Mega-dorky overeager knight with an over-the-top commitment to DUTY and JUSTICE and NOBILITY?  Sign me up; this archetype is my shit.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Mercedes and Dorothea are both plenty cute.  With Hubert isn’t exactly cute, but often very fun.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: same as above

My unpopular opinion about this character: As with most moderately-goofy characters, I suspect fandom plays up his goofy elements a little too much.  I think I also read some fanfic which tried to turn his dad into like, a Super Bad Guy?  Not sure if that’s popular or if I was just reading offbeat stuff, but that doesn’t really work for me—his dad getting ganked is one of the saddest damn moments in the game.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish he’d been able to push back on Edelgard in a more meaningful way than just rivalrous feelings... but I suspect that recruiting Ferdinand on Silver Snow would give me this, so uh, I guess I should play the Silver Snow route someday, shouldn’t I

my OTP: is... is Ferdinand/honor a ship?  can that be what i pick

my cross over ship: dude would be buddies MY BOY, Crimean Royal Knight Fifth Platoon Captain Kieran :D (from FE9/10)

a headcanon fact: so, you know how one of his missing items is an agricultural survey, right?  the nerd.  the absolute nerd.  basically i suspect he does the very Freshman In College Thing, where the second he takes his first class in a subject, he gets VERY EXCITED about all the AMAZING REFORMS that could be done based on this subject, and starts writing EXCITED LETTERS home and starts suggesting all these AWESOME IDEAS that he got from the in-universe equivalent of like, y’know, the Stanford Prison Experiment.  but applied to agriculture, army formations, trade policies, etc.  (luckily, Ferdinand’s eagerness always draws the attention of at least a few actual experts, and he’s happy to take their ideas when it comes time to Actually Do Stuff.)

Seteth

How I feel about this character: Generally warmly.  I like him best in his supports where he gets to have a father-y mentor-y role—dude is keen and very sweet when he’s, i.e., reaching out to a prickly Felix, or Catholic-guilt-ing Hilda, or chillin’ out and fishing with Leonie.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Gosh, I am... struggling to think of anyone.  Any ship would only be a really downer-ish/temporary/filling-a-void thing, right?  I think the dude still has a big hangup about his dead wife, and honestly it’s a lil’ hard for me to imagine trusting a human in quite that way.  (And yes yes I know he has like, canon endings.  They just mostly don’t work for me.)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Leonie.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Not sure what the consensus is on him, but if I were to fic/obsess/whatever over him, I think there’s rich soil in just how deferential and unagenic he is in some respects.  Like, yeah, he’s a stick-in-the-mud and a stickler when it comes to day-to-day running-the-monastery business.  But I get a weird sense of resignedness from him when it comes to the big things.  Rhea engineered the whole soft-power controlling-the-country thing as a way to prevent another massacre, and also engineered the whole bring-mom-back-to-life thing.  Seteth I think is fine with the former goal, but isn’t invested in it for its own sake—it feels like he’s there because Rhea’s there and that’s what he’s got left.  Macuil just said fuck society and went to hide in the desert.  Seteth’s not quite committed to either path—is it just that he’s decided to focus solely on protecting Flayn? or is there a deeper wound/psychology going on there?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: ...honestly I just wish he were a better unit.  His stats don’t look awful on paper, but he’s never worked out for me (despite being a damn flying unit!!!), and his stats are absolutely worse than the other lords.

my OTP: nah

my cross over ship:  ...might be interesting to have him chat with Rafiel (FE10), actually, sorry i’m boring and only think about herons

a headcanon fact:  definitely stealing this headcanon from something i saw on my dash, but—Seteth chose to get skilled at wyvern-riding because flying along almost feels like being a dragon again is just, oonf, that good sad shit

[charmergirl2468]

Past Life AU! Part 4

Misc. characters

Just for future reference, none of the teachers will remember anything except for Byleth.

Manuela

She’s a choir teacher at the local high school.

She tries so hard but she can tell a majority of the kids who signed up were just looking for an easy A.

Her favorite students are the ones who she knows signed up to actually sing. Even if they are just Musical nerds :P

She’s really proud of Dorothea since the two actually went to state when Thea was in her choir.

She’s confused on the whole “my past life is hitting me like a truck” situation the kids are going through, but she’s trying to help as best she can.

Hanneman

He’s a history teacher at a university. Like, high end rich bitch university

He mostly does research papers on crests because even about 900 years later there’s still a lot to find out

He’s the only one who actually studies crests. Everyone else is content thinking crests powers were an exasperation of the real history. Think King Arthur and all the Celtic shit that’s in those stories

When he hears about the kids getting their past lives memories back, he morally knows he’s suppose to help but at the same time he wants that crest info. Needless to say, Seteth smacks some sense into him

Seteth

So because of support spoilers, this Seteth is the great-grandson of the OG man

He’s a guidance counselor at the high school and he’s the best one they’ve had in fucking years. He actually listens to the fucking kids and applies their strengths and weaknesses to their studies accordingly

He’s also one of the main designated adults when these kids get their memories back. He may not understand the situation fully, but PTSD is PTSD even if it’s from dreams and flashbacks

He does have a Flayn but he’s also got his wife. #letSetethbefuckinghappy

Flayn

She’s a middle schooler. Her school is near the high school so that’s the worlds best commute

She still acts like Winne the Pooh and does stuff like talk to herself and just generally say weird things. It’s because of high functioning Autism

She doesn’t get any memories back, but I’d like to think she gets more premonitions of what the other kids need? Like “Ingrid, Glenn would not want you to hold him so tightly as you live. He’d wish for you to live happily for both him and yourself” “how tf do you know that?” “I don’t! Yay! :D”

Basically she fills in the gaps of advice that Seteth can’t fill because of obvious reasons

Catherine

Give it up for the schools gym coach!

Even if some kids like Ashe, Felix, and Raphael aren’t in high school anymore, she still checks up on them and makes sure they’re ok.

Now everyone assumes that she’ll act like a Karen, but she’s very much progressive lesbian and is married to Shamir.

After the Bombing event, she kinda drifted but then found Sothism. Then promptly dropped it when people started saying she couldn’t be a lesbian because of Sothism.

Shamir

She does freelance security work for just about anyone in the country. She’s protected celebrities, foreign dignitaries, even drops by the school every once and a while

She also keeps up with the kids in her own Shamir way. Like she’ll subtly tell Ashe to rest his voice when it gets tired and reminds Leo to take off his binder if he’s complaining about pain.

She Married Catherine at first because she thought it was a good tax break. There were dating but a tax break can be hella tempting

She’s hilariously not the other designated adult. She tries to help but she, like a lot of other adults, has no fucking idea how to help kids getting PTSD from a life they lived nearly an eon ago

Byleth

They’re the other designated adult for these poor traumatized kids

They not only remember the war, but every single past life they’ve had since then. They essentially get reborn constantly because of the crest stone inside them.

They’re nonbinary. Y’all can die mad about it

They’re perfect at comforting the kids because they have a little over 900 years of experience to work with

Everyone respects them not only because they’re the wisest person they’ve talk to in years, but also because they all low key have a crush on Byleth

They still have Jeralt, who didn’t die because fuck that let Byleth be happy too!

Cyril

Still Almyrian

He’s a child immigrant who tries to support himself with a self employed house keeping service.

He tries Sothism but finds a lot of the morals Karens try to use the religion for to be… contradictory. Like Sothism is about trying to be better people, not excusing mild racism ya cunt bucket

He’s still an adult trapped in a child’s body mostly. He’s as blunt as a brick to the face

He doesn’t get all his memories but he does remember his past life’s devotion to Rhea and just thinks “past me needed to ducking chill”

Alois

He’s still got his wife and daughter who he’s endlessly proud of

He helps Shamir with freelance security work when they’re close enough together. He may be as subtle as a giraffe but he can still pin a bitch

He’s mostly emotional support for the kids as they get traumatized by the flashbacks. He can’t give advice but he’s a hell of a shoulder to cry on and sometimes that’s all you need

He actually weightlifts with Raphael and a lot of the more athletic kids! He’ll act as their spotter when they do reps and junk.

The next parts probably going to be the world building post and where I’ll explain why these kids are getting their past memories back

[randomnameless]

Thinking about magic in FE16, thanks to a SF post :

The TC in that post went by the basis that Archanea/Jugdral/Valentia mechanics about magic applied to Fodlan, which I personally don’t believe.

In the Naga verse, magic is tied to spirits/faeries living in the land.

However, in FE16, I think it is tied to Sothis and Nabateans.

Macuil’s bio hails him as a pioneering figure for and master of the magical arts. Does it mean that before Macuil, no one knew how to use magic in Fodlan ? Or they might have known some stuff, but Macuil theorised it.

Still, Morfis is known around as being that “metropolis of magic”. Did they learn their own way to perform magic, using another source? And yet, the Morfis squad we can recruit wears the traditional agarthian get-up (iirc?) so Agarthians went there to build their city or, the devs forgot about coding a specific get up for some battalions (kuddos for the mittelfrank one though i love it). 

Or maybe their knowledge of magic predates the Nemesis era, and one random Nabatean, just like Aubin who went in Dagda, decided to form a colony in Morfis and teach humans about magic. Maybe that random who went in Morfis was Macuil, idk.

Bar Morfis, we do not know if any other places outside of Fodlan developped magical arts, and if they developped it on their own or were helped, at the foundation, by a Nabatean.

Back to magic, the SF topic went on a recurrent take, saying that people who sucked in the Faith branch of magic didn’t have any attachment to the Church or didn’t believe in Sothis.

However, while I don’t know and can’t say why this branch of magic is called “Faith”, Linhardt, in his Flayn support, actually calls is “white magic” (idk how it is called in the jp script though!)

Linhardt: You are quite skilled in white magic, yes? My understanding is that you have a very high affinity for the art. Flayn: Yes, I do. I am confident in my abilities. I am glad of my abilities, for it is a way in which I am able to help others.

White magic is, per Flayn, a magic able to help others, or to support them. I know we have offensive white magic spells, but they kind of suck compared to “reason/black magic” ones. Maybe because the basis of white magic is to support, so using it to attack is a sort of failed hybridization of white and black magic.

It is also interesting because Linhardt, nerd as he is, knows that “Faith magic” is the same thing as “White Magic” and calls it by its name “white magic”.

So while “white magic” was turned into “faith magic”, someone’s proficiency to “white magic” isn’t really based on “Faith” or if you really love the Church and believe in the Goddess - else you’d have to make a case that Seteth doesn’t really believe in his mom because he doesn’t have “Faith” proficiency while Flayn does.

In Annette and Sylvain’s support chain, we see how Annette learns magic through formulas, and when someone uses magic (white and dark), we can see a weird vertical (?) circle, with I suppose, those formulas, being cast. When someone uses dark magic, the circle appears too, but on the ground, circling the caster, not in the air. 

Dark Magic being associated with Agarthians, it might be a remnant of the good’ol days where Nabateans and humans worked together, they taught Agarthians how to use magic, and those guys customized it (to use the more powerful dark magic).

(Funny how one can suppose that if FE16 mages don’t use tomes, maybe in the other verses the formulas are inscribed on tomes?)

Agartha uses of magi-tech (some sort of magic + technology) is also shown in the Titanus who, despite attacking on physical defense unlike their Nabatean counterparts, also have an Aegis shield to reduce ranged damages (a more practical version of the anti-magic armor the Nabateans equipped their golems with). With magical basic teachings provided by Nabateans, humans managed to develop their own brand of magic.

Following this, it means that without Nabateans/Sothis and her lizards, there’d be no magic in FE16 (or in the Fodlan world)?

As I pointed out above, Morfis is a big question mark, and given how Nabateans scattered around the world per the devs, I cannot affirm that humans managed to discover/find/use magic on their own or not.

Still, we have two instances where it is suggered that Nabateans have a special relation to magic and/or are pure magical being.

First, in CF’s last chapter, again with one of Linhardt’s comments:

Linhardt: What? Her howl as unadulterated magic. I didn't know such a display of power was possible.

Rhea’s roar is “unadultered magic” meaning 1) Linhardt thinks magic exist in both forms, adultered and unadultered, the adultered version is the one humans use? He thought it was impossible to “display” this power, unadultered magic + 2) if a roar can covey “pure” magic to golems, either Nabateans can master magic very well and this was the only way Rhea found to power up far away golems, or, most plausible, a Nabatean is a magical being, its roars are pure magic and its blood is a catalyst to enable people to use magic?

Which brings me to the second point, Hanneman (Linhardt’s teacher!) and Alois’ support convo:

Hanneman: Well, if I'm completely honest, you're less of a student and more of an experiment. You have no Crest, but you might be able to learn magic... despite our early results. And the potential magical ability of those who lack a Crest is precisely what I hope to research. Alois: That's a surprise. A Crest scholar researching people without Crests? Hanneman: When studying Crests, it is also important to understand the effects of their absence. After all, the very reason for all of my research is to grant the power of a Crest to anyone who desires it. If it is in fact possible to increase the magical potential of people lacking a Crest, then I find myself one step closer to my goal. Hence my experiments with you are quite valuable to my research. Alois: Ah, that's wonderful! What a great man you are, Professor Hanneman. Truly, a man among men! Why, if I could prove it's possible to use magic without a Crest, what an honor that would be! Please, use me as you see fit! I won't let you down, I promise!

Crestless people have more difficulties to learn magic to the point where Alois claims that he’d be honoured to demonstrate that it’s possible to use magic without a crest.

It’d go with Macuil and the Nabateans’ motto of helping humans to use magic - for every humans, not for the few ones they blood-bonded with (I don’t think they were expectig a Nemesis and his Dudes to happen). 

And yet, after the Nemesis incident, people with crests became a common-ish occurence in the world, so the paradigm shifted - magic wasn’t thought as something everyone could use, but something only crested people could use because it’s easier for them to do so because they have Nabatean DNA/blood. 

Meaning that being part Nabatean, Full-blooded Nabatean or even having a drop of their blood impacts one’s ability to use magic - it’s usage isn’t exclusively granted to crested people, but damn if it isn’t easier to use it with lizard genes. I can only hope Morfis’ people were badass normals who mastered magic without using some kind of shortcut like the people of Fodlan did.

Do we know what is the source of magic in Fodlan? Nope. I can only suppose it is tied with Nabateans, and Sothis herself.

We don’t have any clues or evidences of magic existing in Fodlan before Sothis’ fall, but we don’t know a thing about that time. Magic is used in “foreign” countries, Morfis is an exemple, but it might have been influenced by a Nabatean.

Still, given how Nabateans are “magical” beings of blood and flesh, having been created from Sothis’ own blood, Sothis herself might have been “full” of magic and magic is implicitely tied, in the continent of Fodlan, to Nabateans.

Tl;Dr : In FE16, magic comes from space.

[irandrura]

And reading Verdant Wind too:

(same disclaimer applies, reading is not the same as playing, take these as impressions rather than as considered thoughts)

That seemed pretty solid. It’s not as character-focused as AM or CF, which seems like a bit of a weakness, but for the most part it seemed like SS only better. If I do a second playthrough, I’m probably picking VW, because I want to fight the Slitherers and Nemesis seems like a pretty fun final boss.

I didn’t see as much about Almyra as I would have wanted. Indeed, one of the things that stood out to me was... hm, how to put this...

I feel like Claude and VW are mismatched? What Claude is interested in is very different to what the VW story is interested in.

In AM, Dimitri is interested in vengeance and atonement, and so the entire story is about revenge, trauma, pain, moving on, and so on. That’s a good fit. In CF, Edelgard is interested in conquest/liberation and remaking the continent, so that’s basically what you do. What the character wants to do and what the plot asks you do are in alignment.

Whereas it looks like, in VW, what Claude really wants to do is open up Fódlan and make a big harmonious multicultural world - but there’s no room for that in the actual story. The story is about fighting Edelgard and the Slitherers and uncovering the Church of Seiros’ dirty laundry. Thus while I was reading about Claude fighting Edelgard, it was hard to escape the sense that Claude didn’t really care about fighting Edelgard. It was an important and necessary thing to do, but he didn’t have the sort of personal investment in it that Dimitri did. Similarly, in the assault on Shambhala, I couldn’t stop thinking, “Wouldn’t this be better if it was led by Edelgard?” The last few chapters seem they should actually be led by Rhea, or failing that Seteth and Flayn, because they’re the ones with a personal connection.

(In theory Byleth has that strong personal connection, what with having the spirit of the goddess, the Crest of Flames, and the Sword of the Creator. He is the product of Rhea’s schemes just as Nemesis is the product of the Slitherers’ schemes, so there’s an interesting parallelism going on there. However, Byleth cannot hold up a story by himself. He just can’t. Not without being substantially rewritten and given more of a personality. Maybe in an alternate universe, SS would have been a ‘Byleth route’ that gives Byleth the same amount of characterisation as the three house leaders...)

So, anyway, it was hard to escape the feeling that VW’s protagonist and story were just bad fits for each other. Claude wants to be the hero of a different story. This story wants a different hero. That dissonance was hard to resolve.

I wonder if this is encouraging for fan writers? Claude needs a different story to this one. Go write it?

Anyway, the other thing that stood out to me in VW was just how gonzo bananas the Slitherer plot is.

I mean, I’d read a summary of Fódlan’s ancient history, but actually seeing the javelin cutscenes and listening to Rhea’s explanation put a much more sci-fi gloss on it all than I expected. I was still thinking in terms of ancient deities and dragons and mystic powers, and then the javelins were just cruise missiles, the Slitherers had these mad science cloning pods for Nemesis to burst out of, and so on. They talk about Sothis as the Fell Star (Sirius?), and Rhea’s description of ‘the progenitor god’ coming from far away makes Sothis sound much less like a deity and much more like an alien.

So where AM, CF, and SS seemed to stay relatively high fantasy, now I’m thinking, “Wait a minute, is this like Dragonriders of Pern or something? Like, a long time ago ancient aliens came to the planet, uplifted some humans, the humans misused the supertech, something something genetic manipulation crests something cloning...” The inclusion of science fiction elements in fantasy isn’t new, but I didn’t expect it here.

(Heck, Final Fantasy does it a lot. After finding how crests come from slaughtered dragons, I was already comparing Nemesis and the Ten Elites to Thordan and the Knights Twelve in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, but then reframing Sothis, Seiros, and the Four Saints as alien dragons from another star is just... really similar to Midgardsormr and the First Brood. I am shocked at how similar the plot is. Fortunately Three Houses does it with less vore. It keeps the same amount of people toting around bloody dragon eyes for power, though!)

[butwhatifidothis]

I know it takes a backseat to El's well-deserved criticism, but I greatly appreciate the love you've shown Rhea on this blog. She's one of my favorites and the fandom's treatment of her is nothing short of heartbreaking. Going into 3H mostly blind I expected her to basically be a sociopathic, overzealous Tomas de Torquemada stand-in, but she was really likable and understandable. Probably helps that I started with the Deer tho 'cause CF Rhea feels like a completely different character.

Thank you!

Ngl, when I was first playing 3H I hated Rhea because WC genuinely does a good job at making it seem like Rhea is suspicious to a first time player who likely isn't looking too deeply into the events going on. But as I was playing through more and more of the story I was like "whoa, wait, Rhea's A DRAGON?! And she's savin' the little chickadees? Oh shit she got 'NAPPED?" and so even with the narrative trying to continue to bonk me with "wait Rhea still bad" I wasn't buying it as hard anymore, I wanted to give her a chance... and then the info dump happened (since I played GD first too)!

And ngl, even for a first time player I was like "wow that's a lot to take in wish they coulda sprinkled this over a bit more naturally" BUT I DID take it in. And I really appreciated Rhea so much more now that I got to finally hear her story and got to hear what motivated her to do everything she did. I don't think she was completely in the right in her actions, but there's also... no real right answer? Like what was she supposed to do? Reveal herself as a Nabatean from the get go a thousand years ago and risk being fuckin' harvested for her parts like an abandoned car in an apocalypse by scrappers that outnumber her incalculable number-to-1 (maybe 4 if she dragged Seteth Macuil and Indech along for the ride - can't drag Flayn cuz she's too busy sleeping off death that was caused by humans!)? Actually rule over Fodlan and force the humans to progress how she wanted them to? Let humans have access to the shit that caused Ailiel to stay ass for a thousand years because of humans? Getting to know that context really opened me up to her, to the point where I can see the parallels she has with all the lords and actively wish she could build some kind of genuine rapport with all of them (yes, even Edelgard somewhat, though that'd have to be for an AU fic than actual canon. I really wanted her to bond more with Claude tho!! Dimitri's route tho could at least harbor the chance of that happening post-credits so I take solace in that lol).

And. Like. Seeing the fandom's reaction to her? Bruh. You have no idea how fucking disappointed I was. Like, I plan on making a post on how my experience with the 3H's fandom eerily mirrors my experience with the Bleach fandom (in all the worse ways), but a part of that is how fucking slammed a character I happen to personally like gets by their respective media. And like?? You hear the ass-backwards arguments from people that don't like them and your head fucking spins because my guy my buddy my good pal o' mine what in the fuck are you actually saying. Shit that never happened, shit the character grows out of, shit other characters are just as guilty of doing but are beloved by the fanbase, all to come together to form a hate mob for a character that exists almost exclusively on shit that either doesn't apply to the character (whether ever or by the end of their development) or should apply to others, that makes the fans of said hated character genuinely uncomfortable with coming out and saying they like that character? Yeah, no, the exact same shit. Like. Literally. Even down to the ableism! The victim-blaming! The excusing of a perpetrator's - who happens to be the main antagonist for the majority of the series' runtime/playtime - horrid actions because "oh they're just misunderstood and lonely" and they were only doing what they did to rule over the land the right way! THEY LITERALLY BOTH USE THE "THEY WERE LONELY" EXCUSE! THE "JUST RULER" EXCUSE!

Like. I get it. CF!Rhea and the rest of the routes!Rhea are two totally different depictions of her. You come in from CF, where the narrative never lets go of the Rhea Bad red herring due to Edelgard's own biases, and you see this crazy lady calling you trash and garbage and that your ass stank and you're doo doo and all that, and she's cackling like a Crazy Person™, and you think "wow. Rhea bad." But, like. The entire game is all about subversion. Dimitri isn't quite the pure hearted fairytale prince. Claude isn't a cold, devious schemer. Edelgard isn't the honest and forward person who cares for her people, just coldly. These are the first impressions you get from the lords, and they're all wrong. But nah, Rhea should be treated like the Agarthans and there's nothing subversive about her. She's Just Evil, because the beginning of the game says so just ignore all the shit that makes her not evil, and thus should be treated as such. Imma be mean for a hot second... you have to genuinely lack reading comprehension to believe the overall narrative of 3H makes Rhea to be a morally black bad guy. You can't hide behind the "only played one route" excuse... ever, really? The fuck are you doing contributing to discussions of the game when you... haven't finished it?

But, like, anyway lol got a bit sidetracked. Rhea deserves so much more love in this fandom than she gets, and I might not be able to really change that much... but I can wait for my Rhea zine to finally come in at least lmao

[gascon-en-exil]

do you think rhea is responsible for fodlan's caste system in any way?

No. Fòdlan operates under the same vague system of quasi-feudalism but with a merchant class and some upward mobility that all FE settings do, only now there are also Crests. Crests don’t even seem to come into play much in social stratification in the Empire or Alliance; there are multiple high-ranking Imperial noble families without Crests, whereas membership on the Alliance council does not seem to be connected with them at all (Margrave Edmund hides his adoptive daughter’s Crest, House Ordelia has no Crest of its own unless Lysithea was born with Gloucester in which case it’s just an offshoot of that house). Based on Caspar’s situation Imperial nobility appears to operate under absolute primogeniture - the firstborn child inherits everything - which is also unrelated to Crests. Only in Faerghus do they matter for social standing, but only to an extent when Gilbert becomes a high-ranking knight in the royal household without a Crest and Miklan was disowned not for lacking a Crest but because he tried to murder his brother repeatedly. Almost everywhere there’s also the abstract sense that the patriarchy ensures that it sucks to be a woman in this setting, but as with every other FE setting it’s unevenly applied and therefore hard to critique. Bernadetta, Ingrid, Mercedes, and Hanneman’s sister may have relatives trading them on the marriage market for their Crests, but Hilda and possibly Annette face nothing of the sort while Marianne and Lysithea’s troubles with Crests are completely separate from their social standing.

On the flip side - and ignoring that this would go against Edelgard’s accusations of the church being too controlling and secretly ruling Fòdlan - one could say that Rhea had a responsibility to step in and fix all this social inequality once it had gotten out of hand. I’m not sure that she could realistically have done so however, when the church is shown to have very limited jurisdiction over secular governments and fixing it with better education or even honesty about the true origin of Crests and Relics wouldn’t do much when there are all the usual mundane factors at play as well, Anyway, telling everyone the truth behind Crests and Relics would only put a big target on Rhea’s back (not to mention Seteth and Flayn), as now people would get it into their heads to kill them and carve up their bodies to make new Crests and Relics and gain wealth and power that way. The Agarthans would have a field day with that becoming common knowledge too, and would gladly help out anyone determined to kill the remaining Nabateans.