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kyogre-blue · 11 months

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This awful nightmare month had FOUR paralogues. So tiring. And they don't even let me kill Flayn or Seteth! Or let me see Rhea murdering those two NPC imperial suckups. Disappointing all around.

To get my notes under the char limit, I'll put the part about the first paralogue here.

Immediately after Claude's death/deportation, we get invaded by Almyra. Holst "fell ill" but big doubt.jpg, since he does not show his face to either Hubert or Edelgard (Hubert can only comment that "it's said" that Holst looks and smells awful). The Alliance supposedly can't cooperate enough to muster forces to support the Locket, even though we just spent lots of time playing up how Claude maneuvered everything to go down with the least amount of damage possible and how the Alliance has been extremely peaceful and cooperative to our occupation and invasion. The Goneril soldiers book it immediately when we arrive, no green units for us. And at the end, Holst politely passes the duty of guarding the Locket to the Empire. Which is another way of saying he refused to do it anymore, possibly on account of the dead little sister. You know, just maybe.

This is hilarious in general, and you can read all kinds of funny things into it, especially since this is the route where the game lies to you all the time with a straight face, so you are free to interpret practically all things you're told as complete bullshit (and you'll be provably right at least half the time).

Personally, I think it's very funny to assume everyone who says the Alliance occupation is going oh so well is either wrong or lying. I mean, sure, Claude supposedly arranged it so things would go peacefully whether he won or lost, BUT he was wrong at least twice about his allies surrendering peaceably and his dying words are about how he misread the entire situation. Yeah, logically this is all structured to contrast how the Kingdom and the Church won't go down as peacefully, but it's funnier if the Alliance is also not peaceful about this at all.

Almyra certainly is not looking like a future friendly neighbor, despite Edie's optimistic outlook.

Live blogging:

Hubert reports that Thales has started collecting the Relics from the Alliance (cool! definitely not a problem! Hilda wasn't casually able to oneshot everyone with that awful axe!)

He also suggests that we have one of our Lions recruits pretend to be a hostage to force their family to betray the Kingdom. Lovely man, so practical.

Byleth: you're using too many Proper Nouns, I can't keep tracks :( Edelgard: don't worry about it, kitten

Nader's in good spirits, at least. The Almyran forces have a lot of wyverns, mounted archers and also giant birds.

Edelgard thinks we can befriend Almyra, she would even consider a treaty. It's not a land ruled by blind fealty to the goddess (lol), so as long as communicate openly and respect the differences between our cultures... OK. We're not gonna mention Claude at all, which is funny.

Next paralogue! Hubie is investigating Solon, Kronya and Arundel. He wants to know their identities, their origins, their numbers, their base of operations, their plans, and where they acquired their dark powers, how they disguise themselves. He calls them "those who slither in the dark."

Now, working backwards from this, it means that he doesn't know these things in early war phase (where we are now), unless we assume he got further in his investigations in other routes.

Also, as has been pointed out, although this is a descriptive name that Hubert came up with, it's also used by Rhea for some reason.

It's a shame that Arundel is just Thales, he has a pretty nice design.

Hubert calls Arundel "Regent" even now. Weird!

We're sent to help some Agarthans who were experimenting in the Sealed Forest but their demonic beast subjects ran wild. Hubert later suggests that this was all a setup to make Edie's faction feel powerless in the face of the Agarthans' experiment (because they are aware Hubert is investigating them), but it backfired because Hubie isn't intimidated at all. He's looking forward to when Edelgard finished uniting Fodlan, and then House Vestra will fight the Agarthans in the shadows. (Hilarious from a narrative standpoint.)

Incidentally, you only need to save more than half the mages to get Arrow of Indra. The "Mysterious Mages" that you save also do not have Agarthan Technology abilities unlike the shapeshifters. Ladislava is popular with the citizens of the empire. She doesn't put up airs, is talented and also beautiful. She's known as the Scarlet Warrior.

There isn't much unrest in the former Alliance territories, perhaps thanks to Caspar's dad's strength (aka keeping them in line by force).

Riegan was once a branch family of Blaiddyd, which is very mysterious given their different crests.

Ladislava's troops depart at the end of the month (February) to the western front. They have high mobility. iirc she's a wyvern rider.

It's a bit funny to get the quest for the Almyran merchant same month as the Almyra invasion paralogue.

Claude told Lysithea roughly that she shouldn't focus too much on whether they win. Unlike Judith and Hilda, she listened lol.

Hubert hanging out in the Deer classroom, thinking about Claude. Relatable. He says that Claude has a compassionate exterior, but underneath is cold and calculating. Harsh! Also, not really in line with Claude's behavior toward his allies.

Linhardt says that there's a passage from the Holy Mausoleum to the Holy Tomb, but he can't figure out the mechanism. It's not really clear where the Holy Tomb is, and I've seen the speculation that it's under the amiibo gazebo... but the Holy Mausoleum is in the cathedral, so the two being connected... it's possible both are true, but kinda weird if so.

Dorothea: They'll write operas about this... I'm sure a pretty actress will play you :) And Edie :)) Maybe they'll throw in a love story :)))) hahaha (extremely awkward laugh)

Just realized you steal Zoltan's idol from the advisory room in the cathedral. Nice.

Hubert and Edie A: He emphasizes again that he's devoted to her due to personal feelings but also that he's not loyal in the sense of following her orders. He does what he thinks is best and if Edie disagrees, or doesn't like it, or is kept in the dark for her own good, well, that's how it is. He also mentions that his devotion became personal after Edie returned from the Kingdom, which calls back to how he and Ionius treat it as some kind of malicious kidnapping.

Petra paralogue: Church is threatening Brigid :( Well, per the Empire's perspective. Catherine is here <3

Jokes aside, Petra's perspective is interesting. Brigid is trapped between the Empire and Dagda, and they don't have the ability to stand against either one. They were dragged into war with the Empire by Dagda, which they then lost, and Petra's father was even killed. So they became a vassal state of the Empire, but given the whole racism issue, they probably were not in a good position. So Petra is focused on basically proving that Brigid is a useful and valuable ally for the Empire. Which is a rather practical approach.

Leonie paralogue... Interesting details that you need recommendations to get into Officers Academy. In the Alliance this means paying nobles to get them. Raphael mentions that his family sold their business to pay for him, iirc, since he wasn't up to running it anyway. Ignatz's parents are more successful, so perhaps they could just afford it. Leonie's entire village had to chip in to buy her way in. Presumably Ashe was sent by Lonato directly (though interesting choice given that the uprising happens very early in the year, so he must have already been planning it). I think the only other commoner is Dorothea, who... well.

Linhardt brings up the crests perpetuate the nobility angle and says to take it up with the Goddess for handing them out like that. But given where Leicester crests actually came from... sigh

Linhardt read about the legend of Saint Indech, so it's free real estate for any other character to read in an AU. Very nice.

Lake Teutates... Indech is a giant turtle. Man, these "dragons" are all kinds of shapes lmao. He attacks with water spikes.

Leonie calls the Immovable One a "magic beast" which we haven't seen so far, only wild beasts and demonic beasts.

Linhardt immediately caught on that the Immovable One is Saint Indech.

Petra has been in Fodlan for 9 years as of the war phase, so she came 3 years before the Academy.

Garreg Mach can be entered from the north by following Aillel, the Valley of Torment.

The map this time is a modified version of the monastery defense map from end of Academy Phase and second battle of the other routes. Previously, I didn't realize that the right hand third is gone. Presumably, this is the gorge that Byleth fell into...

We're fighting an expeditionary force led by Alois, while Rhea and Catherine hold off the rest of our army at the Sealed Forest. Aaah, they're so cool <3 They're also set up an ambush.

OK, so the situation with Flayn and Seteth is that they just retreat when defeated, regardless of who fights them. I thought there would be some scene about specifically sparing them, but nah. They just leave on their own. You don't even have any unique dialogue with Seteth, and Flayn just talks about how she won't kill you since she owes you her life.

Rhea murdered the heck out of Ladislava and Randolph off-screen. Shame, I would have loved to see it.

We killed Alois tho! He felt that, since we betrayed Rhea, Jeralt would not have approved.

#playing fire emblem

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panthera-dei · 3 months

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Whumperless Whump Event Day 3

Prompt: "Vertigo" / "Struggling to stand"

Fandom: n/a... All OCs this time.

Story Title: "Maggie and Macaw"

Story Info:

Characters: OFC, creature OC

Rating: G

No warnings apply

Cw: dinosaur / dragon creatures

Some background information: a dear friend of mine introduced me to the Story Engine, a deck of cards that are a lovely brainstorming tool for writers. These are the prompts I used to create this one: A genius wants to unravel the mystery of a portal but they must let go of something precious they are holding onto.

Story text beneath the cut!

@whumperless-whump-event

Maggie knew she was in a dream, but it didn't feel like it. The pale yellow grass tickled her elbows and crunched beneath her feet as she pushed her way through the endless prairie. Blue and yellow flowers in colors too vivid swayed in a breeze that carried a sweet and unfamiliar scent. The sky above her was an emerald green, and while she was no expert in constellations, she didn't recognize a single star.

The dream was the same every time: she would fight her way through grass almost as tall as she was, and then she would stop when she heard the singing.

The voices were clear and harmonious, cutting through the atmosphere. They were reminiscent of bells or chimes, a song with no words, and yet the voices sounded human, or close to it. She never could see where they were coming from.

The same dream, every night for the past three weeks. One would assume that she'd be having nightmares about her upcoming first day of work, but no - instead, the 20-year-old college graduate was dreaming about a song on a distant planet.

She adjusted her faded cap - fortunately, she wasn't wearing anything weird in this dream - and stepped forward into a clearing where the grass was short. Three weeks of this dream, and tonight she was finally going to get to the bottom of it.

“Hello?” she called out, started by the way her voice echoed across the prairie.

All at once, the entire atmosphere fell silent, the song stilled. And then, everything erupted into sound again, as thousands of leathery wings beat the air in flight.

Maggie stumbled backwards in shock. Creatures in every color shot into the air out of the grass, squawking and screeching. Though they were mostly a colorful blur, they looked to Maggie almost like miniature pterodactyls, or maybe -

“Dragon!” Maggie squeaked in fear as one of the creatures landed less than two feet away from her sneakers.

It was about three feet tall and four feet wide, and it was a lot like a pterodactyl, with a skinny body that was mostly wings and leathery skin in an odd pastel yellow hue. Like a wyvern from a folklore book, it had two back legs and a long tail, and wings with talons rather than front legs. In the face, though, it looked like a fairy tale dragon.

Maggie scrambled backwards until she realized that the creature, rather than attacking, tilted its head in curiosity. It sniffed the air, and its beady eyes lit up upon seeing a blue flower that Maggie, in her attempt to escape, had crushed. It snapped up the flower in its jaws and swallowed it whole with an almost comical gulp.

“You're - you’re an herbivore? … Oh, what am I saying, there's no way you understand me.”

The dragon let out a chirp, and then it began to sing.

Following its lead, the other creatures settled themselves into the grass and joined the song.

“It's you,” Maggie whispered. “You're the ones who are singing in this dream.”

She still didn't know if the creature could understand her, but it did fall silent again and it looked at her.

Maggie woke up with a jolt, gasping for air. She bolted upright, and the entire room was spinning. She took a second to feel what was around her - she was in bed, in her pajamas, and her silver locket was still around her neck. She tried to get to her feet, fumbling for the lamp, but she was too dizzy, and she fell flat on her back, feeling her head collide with the hardwood floor.

Just before she blacked out, she thought she saw a yellow reptilian face with beady eyes looking down at her.

#whumperless whump event #whumperless whump event day 3 #original character #original story #science fiction #fantasy

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omgkalyppso · 2 years

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I found my Shahid rant from 28/06/2022!

I've spent all night and morning thinking of Shahid fire emblem and a more effective Leicester campaign from Almyra. Lots of oc nonsense and vague GW spoilers and some character deaths:

Claude taking his mother's surname is the same vibe as Obi-wan Kenobi going into hiding as Ben Kenobi. Literally people who knew him will not be fooled.

Edmund and Enbarr are established in the lore books in few3h as having trading ports with Dagda and other countries, and Edmund is described as being harassed by Almyran pirates. There is a 0% chance that news of a new von Riegan heir of the missing daughter of Oswald von Riegan doesn't make its way back to Almyra.

So Shahid, having previously thought the bullying and assassination attempts had finally chased his little brother into hiding, now fears that Claude is using his namesake to offer the long coveted Leicester mountain range and fertile lands beyond as offering in his petition for the Almyran crown. Claude always came across as shrewd and silver tongued, he should have expected it, and surely their father would take great pride in this achievement of his (perceived?) favorite son.

And by now Shahid has sacrificed too much to see any other way forward than with blind ambition. He ruined his relationship to his sister Sara, having scarred her face when she dared to suggest that he only hated Claude so much because they were so similar. He had the knife at the ready because he'd intended to use it upon Claude, and they both knew she'd interrupted that too. Sara held that knife to Shahid's throat afterwards, warning that she'd never been so well-trained nor so strongly strategic as he to guarantee that she would not slit his throat. She ended the interaction by forcing him to heal her face with his pathetic magic, knowing that it would scar and force this reminder between them, even as she retreated to the territory she'd inherited with the suddenly-suspect, premature death of her first husband. Sajad, whom Shahid had been so close in age as children, and who had followed his every taunt and instigation to beat and bully Claude in their youth, had also listened to Shahid's lies about how Sajad could have one day been king if only things had been just so - if only, together, close as they were, they overcame their siblings and demonstrated their resilience. Sajad killed Asmaa at Shahid's indirect assertions of ambition, and then a letter from Shahid to their eldest brother, Sarim, alerted him to Sajad's crimes and plots, had ensured Sarim sent an effective band of assassins to silence the truth in Sajad forever.

Rumaisa was never going to rule, she was a warrior and would likely never even be a general, ill-adept at strategy as she was. This left Claude and Sarim as Shahid's rivals to the crown.

He would deliver Leicester to his father, by war if not by birthright.

Almyra didn't need to invade to overtake Edmund, Derdriu and Ordelia, because Leicester has no navy, and so while Faerghus and Adrestia dealt with their own internal politics, Shahid needed only to be either an annoyance or a crippling presence by cutting them off. An occasional circle of wyverns sent across the roads and farmlands from these boats, to surround their major cities should pester even the local lords with no investment in trade by sea into distress. Even if Leicester had their own aerial forces, Almyra had strong archers, and thirty (or whatever) per ship should secure their barricades. Which leaves Fodlan's Locket, and the riches contained within the Throat, and beyond. If he could force either of his sisters to the front line, he suspects he could lure Claude's forces beyond the security of the Locket to face them directly; but perhaps not, and this would be risky and time consuming and could destroy the morale of his army, to see an Almyran princess so distressed; nor, likely, would such a victory seem honorable to their father.

He would need a decisive battle, as there would be no starving out Goneril territory, even with the stress on Leicester to distribute their own bounty to the territories affected by the Almyran blockades.

With Nader the Undefeated as his council, Claude as his enemy, and the crown on the line, Shahid would simply have to review what had been effective in previous breaches of the Throat, by bandits and kings all the same, and pray that the Gods favored him as they had always seemed to, even as the people had found their own reasons to prefer little Khalid.

In all this, Sarim would be focused on unifying southern Almyra or otherwise would be fighting a conflict with whatever I want to put on their southern border.

#long post #fire emblem #three hopes #shahid few3h #claude von riegan #khalid von riegan #oc tag: sarim #oc tag: sara #oc tag: asmaa #oc tag: sajad #oc tag: rumaisa #but i prefer different au's #looking at few3h: there's a lot to unpack here but let's just throw out the whole suitcase #character death cw

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bayalexison · 1 year

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WIP Wednesday, Dimileth Goggles Ch 4 preview

Hi hi it’s WIP Wednesday! Today I have a sneak peek for Chapter 4 of my Dimileth Goggles! Byleth and Seteth have a heart to heart talk

Byleth enjoyed flying as much as riding. She loved how much of Middle Fódlan she could see down below, and how her hair swayed through the air like a silky curtain in the breeze.

It would take her and the group a few days to reach Fódlan’s Locket. So far throughout this trip, everyone wore quiet, distant stares. Over halfway through the trip, Seteth broke the silence.

"We should be able to find a good place to camp for the night soon and then resume our destination tomorrow."

"I agree." After Byleth said that, her wyvern Cormac shrieked and she chuckled. "I think Cormac is hungry."

"I'm certain it's time for my wyvern to be fed as well." Seteth gazed up at the night sky and his face softened. "Do you recall the story of how Flayn's mother and I had first met?"

Byleth smiled. "I have. You two met at a church in Adrestian Empire territory. Later that evening, you and her went to a tavern together and danced the whole night."

"That is correct. Every night I think fondly of that memory." Seteth's smile faded. "I must admit, seeing you and Dimitri together reminded me of our courtship."

Byleth's mouth fell. She was not expecting to hear that from Seteth. She frowned and asked, "Do you still have reservations about Dimitri?"

"A part of me still does, yes. Upon finding out Rhea's vision of you and Dimitri with children, I reflected on my behavior towards him. I was being too harsh on him and judged him unfairly because of his ancestor's mistake."

After considering Seteth's words for a moment, Byleth said, "I agree that you were harsh on him, though I don't blame you for being cautious."

At that instant, another wave of dizziness hit Byleth like a whirlpool. She made a small noise and placed her palm on her forehead. Seteth's face turned to worry.

"Are you alright, Byleth?" he asked with great concern.

Once that uneasiness passed, Byleth nodded. "I'm fine."

Seteth raised a brow, clearly not convinced. "Do let me know if you aren't feeling well anymore. I won't mind taking things from here."

Byleth acknowledged him with a hum and stared ahead to the distant horizon. She was growing weaker by the minute, but she was too stubborn to turn back from the path to help her beloved. The group continued on until they found a spot to rest for the night.

#fire emblem #fe3h #byleth eisner #dimileth #fic post

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meggannn · 1 year

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I put this on twitter but thought I'd write up my Golden Wildfire thoughts here too (have not played Scarlet Blaze or Azure Gleam yet)

short version: I didn't hate it. I actually really enjoyed several parts of it. I had to turn my brain off for certain plot events—it got exhausting watching them have Claude invade a neighboring nation on a whim and then immediately retreat after one victory due to an exceptionally vague threat back home, and I can't justify that as anything but bad writing—but it was kind of fun seeing Claude go off the rails.

for the whole thing to work, though, i had to look at Claude in a very particular way, a way I've come around to after thinking about it, and no it's not because I see him as Edelgard Lite. it really only worked because I've been long curious about this supposed "darker" side that didn't appear in Houses, but I fully acknowledge and dislike the premise that the brown guy from the east was set up to be the scheming, untrustworthy lord. I did like that the twist in Houses was that he wasn't actually super devious at all, he just wanted broader open boarders policies and to eat well with his friends. to me though, Golden Wildfire was Claude's struggle city, and his behavior matches: I think the context of what he had in Houses vs Hopes is what makes all the difference. more Claude thoughts are way at the bottom of this.

anyway the GW #vibes were fun, but it's possibly just because I played it first and was captivated by shiny new content. these are the rest of my thoughts that slipped through, because there was, as expected, a lot I didn't like as well

ALMYRA

I was really excited for Shahid and what his presence could mean (seeing his and Khalid's dad? Tiana? or Almyra at all?), yet all that amounted to was two chapters fighting wyvern riders in Fódlan’s Locket and a few tense conversations between brothers. I’m sure killing Shahid affected Khalid more than I can properly grasp right now—I certainly think it made him feel more alone, misunderstood, and isolated in Leicester, and maybe more inclined to make a big play like becoming king, which happens immediately after—but Shahid was barely mentioned after his death.

so I was kinda disappointed. sparing him the first time didn’t even really matter despite Claude going “I won’t make that mistake again”—Shahid didn’t betray his trust or injure him or affect his goals or friends, he just kept throwing himself at the Locket, so the necessity of killing him felt oddly justified.

Almyra in general has such a weird treatment where they keep telling us “Almyrans are good guys just like Fódlani!” yet the “representation” consists of:

a lord the writers keep insisting is manipulative and untrustworthy

his power-hungry brother who spends his entire screen time trying to invade a foreign nation

a kid who doesn’t want anything to do with his homeland

a pretty cool guy admittedly who keeps throwing himself against the brick wall that is Holst Goneril

interestingly, Claude never mentions or brings up his return to Almyra in Hopes like he achieves in Houses. was it a consequence of the game not ending on a finished note, or did killing Shahid harm his chances at returning home and claiming the throne? (I don’t think it would, because judging by his history, deaths in the name of power struggles are probably common and it wouldn’t be too hard to say “sorry dad, Shahid died in a border skirmish.”) anyway if killing him HAD hurt his chances, that could’ve been much more interesting I think—it could’ve made Claude more desperate in that he feels he had to resolve things in Fódlan before returning home, in a way he didn’t in SS/CF/AM Houses, leading him to make more ambitious plays. but all of that is conjecture.

LEICESTER FEDERATION

the logical part of me gets it: Claude is in a tough spot and forced to make tough decisions, and he doesn’t have the patience, curiosity, and knowledge that Houses!Claude developed over the year at Garreg Mach by investigating Byleth, Rhea, Seteth, etc. turning the Alliance into a Federation is definitely an interesting development and helped the route feel unique from Houses, and it stressed that Claude was spiraling down a difficult path. but the emotional part of me was disappointed because, well:

it felt very sudden and… oddly foreshadowed. looking back, I see what they were trying to do, but having a few characters go “these roundtable meetings are taking too long” was a weird way to stress that Leicester needed a new government. why not have the slow meetings actually affect Leicester’s ability to respond to a sudden threat? as it is, not much actually changes after the rebranding, because Claude (and Holst and Judith) are still around all the time to make decisions/lead their troops anyway. which makes the whole thing just feel like Claude painted the bus with a new coat of paint just for fun.

making Claude king gives all the nations kind of a… “samey” feel, idk how to describe it. I would joke Claude was feeling self-conscious he was going to be just a duke instead of an emperor or king, so he quickly made this reform happen so he could fit in at the Garreg Mach class reunion, but he is also literally a prince of another nation, so. as it is, it's like, really? being royalty in one nation wasn't enough for you?

Leicester certainly wasn’t democratic pre-Federation, yet the development feels like a weird step backwards, and the only indication Claude was considering its future progress was a single line in his support with Lorenz that maaayybe the position be voted by the people the next time? like. Claude. I don't think you're describing a monarchy. (that said, I would love to see Lorenz handing out LORENZ 4 PREZ campaign buttons)

NABATEANS & AGARTHANS

well, it sucks that one of my favorite parts of VW!Claude didn’t exist in GW, which was his sense of curiosity and nosy attitude. part of that is ofc due to Byleth—since he didn’t see them wield the Sword of the Creator, tear open a hole in the sky, or rise from the dead, he never grew to question his “faith”—yet he never really seems to have the same curiosity for Shez despite them… both being mysterious mercenaries with odd powers. and since he spent so little time at Garreg Mach, he didn’t have as much of a drive to uncover the church’s secrets, which, to be fair, I dunno if that would’ve made a difference in his decision to ally with the Empire, but I think his lingering questions did contribute to his Houses legacy as a lord who was concerned with the truth. I appreciated that a lot in VW so it was a shame to see it gone.

the fact that he never destroys Shambhala and uncovers the truth about the Agarthans+Nemesis kinda sucks, but I hope that plot point will be left for Scarlet Blaze, maybe? if there was only one route I would give Shambhala to in Hopes, it would be SB, so the jury's still out on my judgment there.

that said, it was disorienting as hell that they kept running into Solon and TWS and yet Claude’s sense of curiosity/frustration at not having answers never seemed to trigger the way it did in Houses. he was mostly just irritated that they took his attention away from the war. like I get they’re busy and all but damn.

“MY BLORBO WOULDN’T DO THAT”

Claude got his Discourse route here and I have to admit when I heard spoilers for this game a year ago, I wasn’t very happy with what I was hearing. Claude invades the Kingdom? he dissolves the Alliance and becomes king? but now that some of the shock is out of the way, I’m less opposed to it, or maybe most of my disappointment has just dissipated and I’m trying to see it as Claude not being at his best, rather than the writers trying to pose GW as his ideal route or him showing his “true colors.”

I have to give credit to some other folks I’ve seen online and even in fanfic exploring Houses!Claude’s darker side, because without them setting the stage, I don’t know if I still would’ve accepted some of his actions in Hopes. like, it’s one thing to retroactively piece together in Houses that this guy is foreign royalty, and another one to see it in Hopes when he comes to a new land and crowns himself Leicester’s first king within four years. it was a reminder that oh yeah, this probably isn’t meant to be a good thing. this is what happens when a stressed, paranoid young man is thrust into a role he’s not ready for and still feels like he can’t trust his friends despite putting on a brave face for everyone. with that in mind, things make a lot more sense to me.

as for Rhea and the Kingdom, I once joked (pre-Hopes) that I saw Claude as a centrist, cause like after all, he does try to play a lot of sides and “hear Rhea out” etc in VW etc. in retrospect with Hopes, I do think this is consistent with his characterization if I shift my view of his perspective from “I’m on the church’s side now just cause they’re not Empire” to “I’m on MY side”—or rather, “I’ll side with whoever I think has the strongest chance of winning and turn that into my advantage.”

I think his goals, as he discusses, necessitate Rhea being out of power, but whether that’s through disposing over her, having Edelgard take over, or putting Byleth in charge—doesn't matter if the church is still around or not, any version of Claude would spin these possibilities to his needs, but he just doesn't want Rhea at the head of it anymore.

In VW, Byleth is the biggest factor as an outsider who wields the SOTC, who people trust and will rally around, and most importantly, is open to Claude’s goals. Rhea's missing and they've appeared to lead (and change) the faithful? sure! it makes sense to keep the church, then. plenty of people have noted that in VW he approves of Byleth theorizing that Rhea might be dead, so I never thought he was particularly attached to Rhea herself. but with Byleth prepared to take over as archbishop and agreeing to his new dawn, that’s a big mark in favor of making use of the system already in place; having Rhea alive would just net him answers to all the conspiracy questions he never resolved during the academy, which was a plus but not critical to his understanding—until TWS attacked with the javelins of light and Hubert's warning about Shambhala, when he then gets frustrated at Rhea keeping secrets.

to summarize: Houses!Claude has spent months being suspicious of Flayn and trying to break into Seteth’s office for confiscated documents. he saw Byleth come out of a hole in the sky with Sothis’s blessing and started questioning his beliefs. he’s open to hearing Rhea's story, but he mostly appropriates Church dogma to achieve his goals in Part 2, but he never fully commits to it himself.

In GW Pt2, he has no allegiance to the church, doesn’t know or care about the Nabateans/the truth of the relics, the Empire is a few shoves away from toppling Faerghus, and he sees an opportunity to get what he’s wanted by removing Rhea from power. to Hopes!Claude, knocking a few pieces over in eastern Faerghus will end this war as quickly as possible and achieve what he wants, instead of watching Edelgard and Dimitri drag it out for years. why should he just sit by and watch more people die when he thinks he can 1. end it quickly and 2. get what he wants? a few people die now by his actions as opposed to watching lots more people dying over several years by others'. it isn't that dissimilar from Edelgard's philosophy, so it doesn't surprise me they teamed up.

so with all that context, I get it. it’s difficult to watch him having such a hard time and flip-flopping between sides! it certainly won’t help Leicester’s or his own reputation. but it IS kind of fun to watch Claude when he’s the controlling the train and tracks both with very few checks and balances to rein him in.

TLDR I’m putting GW!Claude in my pocket and then under a microscope

SHEZ/ARVAL v BYLETH/SOTHIS

literally what is going on here. this was the biggest disappointment for me, cause I was expecting, idk, lore drops? how does Shez have these powers? who was their mom? who tf is Arval again and why does it matter? why does Epimenides even exist when Arval was one floating white weirdo enough? why stress a big rivalry with Byleth/Sothis when it amounted to a confrontation in Zaharas that neither of them were even a part of?

I get why people like Shez but their actual presence as a protagonist felt odd. I didn’t really feel like they made a dent in the events of the GW; Claude just made decisions around them and occasionally thanked them for listening. the only thing Shez seemed to affect was Byleth’s recruitment, so again… all roads appear to lead back to Byleth and Sothis, which makes it even weirder that the mystery of Sothis v Arval was never addressed.

you could argue Houses!Byleth also let plot events happen around them, which is fair because they are relatively passive when it came to Part 2 politics, and I have my own criticisms about their Houses writing. but I think I’m more accepting about Byleth because we at least see them making decisions around the monastery, helping students conquer their demons, deciding to go after TWS, etc. there’s also a lore reason they’re the Houses protagonist. if there is a lore reason Shez and Arval are important, we never learn it, cause Epimenides popped in for like two scenes, spouted some nonsense, then left.

I do like protagonists who have personalities outside the player (Hawke and Shepard are my favorite Bioware protagonists for a reason). that said, I HATE it when that personality is joker/“memelord.” it is so boring to me when the designated Funny Character is also the protagonist who has to have the last word, or get in one last joke, and it's the reason I couldn't get into GTN lol. Shez is more than that, and I have seen worse examples, but I am a little bitter that people seem to think Shez is better written or whatever just cause they talk more than Byleth. (I think they’re both written weirdly, for the record.) Byleth was quiet but at least I understood why they were important. I got to the end of Hopes and still didn’t understand why or how Shez was the main character. they were SO CLOSE to telling us and then just. didn’t.

that's all folks

#few3h #claude von riegan

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the-suns-beloved · 1 year

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9 & 12 for the teatime questions!! i love these questions a lot apparently and need the percy lore for them

🍰 @resident-cake-anon

9) Perseus doesn't still own anything from his life in Centoleau--he'd left without much thought of packing or planning. Just as well, since his leaving had been on rough terms, and thinking about his fight with his father was mostly like pressing on a sore wound for a while. But he keeps a locket he'd purchased on his travels that winds up to play a melody (same lost item as previously mentioned in 32). It's a delicately crafted thing, and its melody vaguely reminds him of a song his family used to sing. In a way, he likes it better that he has this to remind him of home rather than anything he could've salvaged that would still carry the more stinging memories. History doesn't repeat itself; it merely rhymes.

12) Percie hasn't thought much about pets but likes animals of all kinds--cats, dogs, horses, wyverns. I could see him keeping a cat or perhaps something smaller, like mice. Although my brother has mentioned that he thinks Perseus' partner pokémon would be a Suicune so I have been OBSESSED with that. a boy needs a dog frank

#percieposting

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mittysins · 10 months

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EGGS EGGS EGGS EGGS EGGS EGGS

EGGS EGGS EGGS EGGS EGGS

#m draws #Goth streamer girl gotta love her #Wyvern’s Locket

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upsettispaghettivulture · 2 years

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Humans are confounding creatures aren’t they?

#Locket #wyvern #dragon #original character #rain

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velkynkarma · 3 years

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Summary:

Claude knows the restoration of Fódlan and breaking open Fódlan's Locket will be difficult, but he's not the type to give up on his dream so close to realizing it. He's got plans upon plans, and contingencies for all of them. He's prepared for anything his new life can throw at him.

Except his wyvern laying eggs, anyway.

But Claude's not one to back down from a challenge, no matter how unexpected. He can definitely raise baby wyverns on top of all of his other duties.

Right?

Warnings: Mostly fluff, but there are some hatching complications in part 2 with a couple eggs that don’t develop fully, if that makes you uncomfortable.

Excerpt:

Because of Claude’s status as the head of House Riegan, his wyvern has her own special larger than average stall in the aviary. He makes his way to it with long familiarity, heaving open one of the large reinforced double doors and peeking in on his mount.

He smiles when he catches sight of her. Most of the bedding hay has been scraped into a large nest in the center, and Sania is curled up in the middle of it. She’s crouched defensively on her massive back claws, with her wing-forelegs swept forward for balance and to act as a shield. Her long tail and its wicked venom-coated tip is wrapped forward around her wings and legs, ready to lash protectively against would-be predators. She’s certainly hunkered down for the long haul.

“Well, now,” he drawls, stepping into the room slowly and putting his hands on his hips. “I hear you’ve been sleeping around on me. What’ve you got to say for yourself, huh?”

He gives her enough time to warn him off, if she really doesn’t want him there. But she doesn’t hiss or show her teeth or rattle her tail warningly. Instead, she greets him with a crooning rumble deep in her chest, and the moment he’s close enough, she stretches out her head and licks his face with her rough tongue.

He laughs, and obligingly rubs under her jaw when she pushes her angular head into his arms. “Alright, alright, pretty lady! I forgive you. I wish you’d told me earlier, though. And just where did you find a boyfriend anyway?”

Read it on AO3!

#Velkynkarma writes #fire emblem 3 houses #claude von riegan #FE3H

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iturbide · 2 years

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Well, to get into the gritty details of Shahid’s death; Shahid had been cornered against a cliff (his wyvern had been slain) and Claude was asking him to surrender (with the implication that Claude just wanted to send Shahid back home), but then Shahid takes advantage of Claude lowering his guard and throws his sword at Claude. Shez deflects the blade before it hits Claude and says “if you don’t do it, I will” (LikeIy peeved Shahid almost killed their friend while he was offering mercy).

Thank you for getting into the gritty details because at this point based on my answers you've probably realized that I'm a little obsessed with them if the devil's in the details I guess I'm hunting down the devil

(Golden Wildfire spoilers under the cut)

So the situation surrounding this definitely clears things up: Shahid hadn't been disarmed yet specifically because he had only just been cornered and pushed toward surrender. It sounds like the physical situation was also pretty fraught -- Claude probably wasn't interested in going in hard when Shahid's back was to the cliff edge, for fear that his brother might fall. Even if their relationship isn't good, Claude probably doesn't want to see him dead.

...but this is where I start to really struggle. Sure, it's completely reasonable for Shez to be pissed off on behalf of his friend -- but why does Claude kill his brother when Shahid had already been disarmed? At that point he can pose no further threat except to himself, since he's in a position where he could fall on his own, and under the circumstances there's every reason to let him live and have him dealt with in Almyra. Claude more than anyone should be aware of the diplomatic nightmare that is likely to ensue when word gets back to the king that one of his kids has been killed in what amounts to cold blood: it would have been one thing if Shahid had fallen in the battle, but by that point the fight was over and he no longer had a weapon, making that act the equivalent of murder. Favorite child or not, I don't think the king of Almyra will be able to overlook that, and it gives Almyra strong grounds to attack with an even larger force in retaliation for the death of a prince.

Irredeemable or not, Shahid was still in a position where he could pose no direct threat. He had no weapon, and his army had already been fractured since we know for a fact that Nader and his men turned to Claude's side. The fact that it's known that he's power-hungry and would have made a bad king just makes the whole thing even weirder to me: unless I'm misremembering, Shahid states outright in the Prologue that he's launching an attack on the Locket against orders to hold his position because he thinks it will prove his merit and push him up in the line of succession. With his defeat in Chapter 8, how does anyone expect him to become king at that point? Doing it by murdering the king probably isn't going to cut it -- and how would he even pull that off if they sent him back in disgrace, disarmed and likely bound for both going against the king's orders and the attempted murder of his brother and the king's favorite son (which the Fodlani contingent might not know, but which Nader certainly would and be able to report)? I can't think of any justifiable reason why Shahid's death was necessary given the context provided within Three Hopes.

This doesn't feel like Claude. Claude should know better.

To give them due credit, I do appreciate that they make it pretty clear that Almyrans aren't inherently evil: while the king of Almyra isn't shown directly, it's made apparent that he's not angling for immediate war, and Nader is generally shown to be a good man both in Three Houses and Three Hopes. But at the same time, they really did have to pile on every single negative stereotype onto Shahid, didn't they? Just playing through the Prologue my thoughts were that people like Shahid are undoubtedly a part of why Fodlan has a bad impression of Almyra. He's terrible and cruel and he has such a vendetta against his younger half-brother that he's willing to target anyone who even looks like him (gods forbid he actually realizes that it is the brother he hates) -- but the thing about Claude, even early on in Three Houses, was that he didn't resort to an eye for an eye. He rolled with it when people treated him with suspicion, he smiled at the rumors, he didn't fight back when Lorenz went on about how unfit he was for leadership. He didn't retaliate in kind, because he knew that wasn't going to get him anywhere, and he had more important things to work toward. If his goal really is peace and understanding and overcoming borders between people, he should know that killing his brother -- no matter how bad their relationship is, no matter how bad a person Shahid is -- is going to work directly against his goal.

That murder is the death knell of his ambition.

#answered #anonymous #fire emblem warriors: three hopes #fewth spoilers #fire emblem: three houses #again it's entirely possible that i'm missing something #but from the context i have now it #it really sounds like this was an unnecessary killing #there are so many reasons why claude should not do this #reasons he should know intimately #since diplomacy has always been his game #increasingly sure now that claude's been bodyswapped #and it happens before chapter 8 apparently

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