#focusing on Claude yet again because he remains the character The Most Fucked by this game characterization wise

[butwhatifidothis]

I can't even begin to wrap my mind around the fact that they intentionally made Claude OOC. Like why, under any circumstance, would any developer or writer want to do that to their game? How would that in any way shape or form benefit the game to do that? Can they not hear themselves? Even fanfiction writers get flack for writing characters OOC but then you turn to THE SOURCE and they come out and say that they intentionally wrote a character wrong for the lolz?

The full context of that can be found here (near the end), but to sum it up: they basically did it to showcase what the characters would be like without Byleth/Garreg Mach. In essence, it’s them saying that “they only look out of character, but that’s just because it’s a different environment! they’re totally the same!” To quote them:

"In this game, because of the Officer’s Academy was suspended soon, the students have been taken away the time to bond with allies and the opportunity to understand each other across different houses. That fact had impact on how a lot of the students form their personalities, and thus changed the content of support conversations. If you feel “Huh? I don’t remember this character having this kind of personality…” at some point, that’s exactly the difference caused by the situation of this game."

Which... kind of speaks to their mindset regarding the characters of 3H, and I don't mean to say that in a good way. They basically see some characters COUGHCLAUDECOUGH as having such weak and malleable foundations and personalities that they would completely and utterly change the second the devs' favorite child/monastery is taken out of the picture. They even say it themselves - they MEANT to change the characters' characters, because in their mind (at least, if we take this as being their genuine intention) these characters would genuinely be nothing like they are in 3H were it not for specifically and only Byleth/Garreg Mach.

So, for example: Claude. His curiosity which brought him over to Fodlan in the first place? Byleth and Garreg Mach. His want to know the truth about his surroundings and to broaden his perspective regarding the world around him, which were also partly why he came to Fodlan? Byleth and Garreg Mach. His unwillingness to work with Edelgard, even when Byleth sides with her on CF and thus tacitly approves of her actions and even with Claude distrusting the Church and even with Claude supposedly being an amoral opportunist who sides with whoever looks like the winner? Byleth and Garreg Mach. Hopes and its creators say that without Byleth and Garreg Mach Claude would have never had the traits that he is shown to have before he ever met Byleth or set foot in Garreg Mach. Or are otherwise completely unaffected by Byleth or Garreg Mach. 

To say nothing of the fact that that quote I took from the interview is directly contradicted by... Hopes. By the characters constantly whinin' and cryin' and shiddin' and snottin' about having to fight their classmates - so much for them not bonding with those from different houses, because they literally never act like it. Hell, the one time I can think of where that ever happens is during a specific interaction in SB, on its bad end where Claude betrays the Empire. If you have Ignatz fight Claude, he’ll go on about their time as “fellow Golden Deer” and asks Claude why he’s doing this, to which Claude kinda reasonably responds “Were Golden Deer. Now you’re just another one of Count Gloucester’s lousy knights.” Which, you know, makes sense that Claude’s response is so “cold” considering that Claude has known Ignatz in this timeline as a “fellow Golden Deer” for, like a month? Max? A time in which they literally can’t even have supports with each other even on GW, so they were literally disallowed to grow close to each other in any way during that time? But Claude is portrayed as the asshole in the situation because he did not value his time with the Golden Deer in Garreg Mach. Y’know, that thing in this game that the devs are insisting 

LITERALLY DIDN’T EXIST.

It’s such a blatant case of wanting their cake and eating it too. They wanna say that these personality changes happened because “No Byleth, no Garreg Mach,” meanwhile the characters are unrelenting in their boo-hoo’s about fighting people trying to kill them because they were around said people in Garreg Mach for A MONTH MAX. These personality changes are because they’re just so much worse without Byleth around to guide them or their experiences in Garreg Mach, meanwhile Claude is the only main character (and one of the few characters period) to have his character have such a drastic change be as negative as it is - Dimitri and Edelgard are inarguably better off without Byleth, as Dimitri has a support system that’s actually allowed to interact with him in a meaningful way and Edelgard is described by the devs of Hopes to be happy in this game with everything going well for her (essentially, “We didn’t wanna step on 3H’s toes, also fuck CF in its entirety lol SB is way better for Edelgard”). But “No Byleth/Garreg Mach” is supposed to be a bad thing, but only for specifically Claude evidently, despite him being the most independent from Byleth character wise of the three lords. 

And. Like. A bit of a tangent but. You don’t really want your audience to feel that a character’s personality has ever changed, per se. You more want them to feel as though it’s gone through development in some way, not that it’s outright different unless something extreme happened to them. Like, extreme extreme. Take Dimitri, in 3H: he goes from polite if snarky and dry-humored to becoming far more prone to violence and being very distant from others between pre-timeskip and post-timeskip. But 1) that’s something that’s directly a result of his experiences throughout the story, and can be seen as something that is building up to what it becomes as one goes through the story - it’s not just springed on the player out of nowhere, it makes sense as to why Dimitri is acting differently from Point A to Point B. And 2) in both moments in his character arc, he never hurts innocents, he still recognizes people like Dedue as being deeply important to him, he rarely genuinely forces people to do what he wants more than he does nothing to stop others from following his reckless and dangerous tendencies, he’s actually still compassionate to some degree (noted here to still retain some empathy) - these core things stay the same, even if the character is acting radically different. And because of that, you can understand how he can recover, because he never lost those core traits that made him good. 

Very different from Claude in Hopes, who loses many of the things that make him redeemable despite his faults - his avoiding violence unless necessary, his curiosity, his drive for the truth, a lot of his compassion, his intellect, etc. - in favor of Something Different (aka him acting like Edelgard). Some of those traits (namely his curiosity and drive for the truth) are just never to be seen at any point in Hopes, and other traits (namely his intellect) are discarded whenever the plot needs them to be gone more than there’s a genuine attempt to develop them out of him. Claude really encompasses that difference between “this character developed into being different because of the events of the story and how they affect them” and “this character was changed into being different because them needed to Be Different Than Before.” And because he doesn’t retain those good traits that made him redeemable, his actions come across as far more damning - he has nothing within his character that could reasonably lift him from the rock bottom his actions sink him to, unlike 3H!Dimitri. It’s sad when Dimitri is unable to recover in non-AM routes, because we know that he still has it in him to become better; it’s annoying and off-putting when Clyde is able to walk off what he does in GW/SB (the latter only potentially, to be clear), because there’s nothing that shows he can better himself from what he’s done. 

And, like. You can tell that these writers kind of had no idea what the hell they were doing when making Hopes? Because they say that things are “unsatisfactory” so that 3H wouldn’t be stepped on, meanwhile they do shit like what I mentioned earlier with Edelgard where she’s literally happier in SB than she ever was on CF (with her happiness being something the devs literally said they intended to do). Claude’s tale is supposed to be heartwarming, as his character is torn to shreds and he does things that completely go against everything he’s ever stood for. The war’s not supposed to ever be concluded in Hopes, meanwhile Dimitri literally does end the war on AG’s good end (even with how much Hopes tries to gaslight the player into believing otherwise - sorry game, there’s literally no one else to fight so yes the war is in fact over). Like fuckin’ hell if you told me that each sentence in this game was written by a different person I wouldn’t immediately disbelieve you with how completely nonsensical the story is to the supposed intention of the devs, it’s just so fuckin’ bad

[fellhellion]

can you make a rec list of your favorite fe3h fics? if that's alright?

OF COURSE I WOULD LOVE TO <3 always happy to give my fave works a shoutout <33333

Though mind u this is going to be a LOT so ill pop them under a cut

from the heart in exile

TLDR: platonic hubert edelgard fic that haunts me. It’s extremely good with really well written character voices and focuses on these two characters trying to find out who they are beyond the war with their friends refusing to leave them behind

Summary: 

You can’t speak just yet to whether time—and age? experience? not that war or rulership have given you much of the latter, at least in the area of gardening—has made your thumbs any less brown, but the house in the Oghma Mountains is surrounded by so many growing things it hardly seems to matter. It sits at the edge of a forest, on the gentle lower slopes, and the people in the nearest town had all smiled to speak of it when they pointed the way for Hubert, the day you arrived. A number of them were old enough to remember what it had been like, years ago, in the warm and golden before, and to insist that it had not changed in the ways that mattered. It was still full of light. The air still smelled green.

In which Edelgard keeps a garden, Hubert learns to fly, and those they leave behind refuse to be left behind.

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Watchtower

TLDR: platonic fic and amazing sylvain character study. Like genuinely one of the best i’ve ever read. If you’re someone who really wanted a deeper exploration of Sylvain’s feelings about Dimitri this fic is for u. 

Summary: 

When Sylvain is six and a half and climbs to the top of a tower with no one’s hand in his, he realizes that each and every one of the people he loves has been born as a gift to something else. Dimitri was born for Faerghus, and Felix was born for Dimitri. Glenn was born for the royal family, and Ingrid was born for Galatea and for Glenn. He realizes, too, that what they’re for decides their future. Dimitri will lead them into a better world. Felix will guide his path, and Glenn will protect his life, and Ingrid will bind her future to theirs.

And Sylvain, who was born for the border, will stand in a watchtower. He will see the enemy before it comes, and he will keep Dimitri and Felix and Ingrid and Glenn safe.

Dimitri reappears after five years. Sylvain knows it's his role to fix the mess they're in, but he doesn't know how.

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little light

TLDR: really good exploration of flayn and seteth’s relationship (+ with his wife and flayn’s mother) pre canon (also post canon if i remember right) just a really good if heartbreaking family fic 

Summary: 

"She is beautiful, and she is perfect. It is foolish to say so, because the goddess herself says perfect beings cannot exist - but Cichol knows now she must have been wrong, because his daughter is perfect. They name her Cethleann. In the old tongue, it means 'light.'"

Cichol, Cethleann, what they lost, and who they became.

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conjure the wind, ease my mind

TLDR: this author in general writes FANTASTIC work so pls check out their whole repertoire. a platonic fic between holst and claude w an exploration of claude’s past that’s just so good....found brotherhood i am WEEPING 

Summary: 

“I’d like to know what’s wrong. I’d like to help if I can.”

Calculating green eyes lock onto Holst’s own, but this time they’re laced with something a little bit like resignation

Many people call Duke Riegan a liar, but Holst feels like he knows the young man a bit better than that. To call him a liar is wrong, you see, because all Claude has ever really done is master the art of giving up as little of the truth as possible. He keeps truth close, treats it like a valuable commodity.

“I have three brothers,” he says. “Half-brothers.”

***

Claude won’t spar with Holst and Holst wants to know why.

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my fellow passerine

TLDR: same author as before and just...god this fic is so good. a platonic exploration of the relationship between Claude and Cyril. This fic has it all: found brotherhood, worldbuilding about Almyra, Claude character study, CYRIL character study. it’s just fantastic 

Summary:

Then the Alliance delegation shows up, and their offering strolls through the gates of the monastery like he already owns the place.

A reminder, for those who need it: Cyril is not an idiot. He has good eyes and he uses them.

An observation, for those who want it: The Golden Deer house leader is Almyran.

~

Cyril knows a lot more than he lets on, Claude is far less covert than he thinks he is, and messing with the guy your parents told you was a possibly-unkillable demon-prince isn’t usually supposed to earn you a lasting friendship but hey… life is already pretty damn weird.

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Autotomy

TLDR: god this ferdibert fic just fucking...destroys me. i cannot get through it without crying at least twice and usually more. it’s basically a CF canon divergence with a heavy HEAVY exploration of ferdinand and hubert’s perspectives towards usefulness and how abelist thinking affects that in their efforts to find Shambala after Ferdinand loses his sight from one of Hubert’s experimental spells. All while falling in love. this fic is VERY fucking heavy, please mind the tags, it’s amazing but it’s subject matter is something you need to be very aware of. Also i would highly reccomend reading the prequel to this fic as it provides some critical context to Hubert’s actions that you don’t get through Ferdinand’s flawed pov. Basically this author is a master of character perspective.

Summary: 

Ferdinand von Aegir's war record ends in 1182. The war does not.

Or, blind man's bluff.

---------------------------------------------

Coming of Age

TLDR: same author as before and god...just my FAVOURITE ferdinand character study. Takes place within the period Byleth is away. I don’t want to spoil anything but it’s incredible. Mines the fantastic character drama hook between Edelgard and Ferdinand that canon DIDNT rip

Summary: 

Ferdinand was a general. In theory. Edelgard had promised him continued command of his battalion, and a general needed a certain measure of wealth to supply his horses, his servants, his armor and rations and lodgings and, she’d promised.

But his father sat rotting in a cell, or worse, and it could be nothing more than a fable they thought him simple enough to believe. What did promises matter?

When the house of Aegir collapses around him, Ferdinand struggles to forge a path forward. He quickly discovers he can't manage it alone -- and neither, perhaps, can Edelgard.

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Another Life

TLDR: same author AGAIN (can u tell theyre my favourite fjsdhfk). Ferdibert fic, a man loving his partner and trying to figure out the best way to support them as they silently wrestle with questions about their gender identity is something that can be so PERSONAL and make u CRY god. also dark flier hubert my beloved. 

Summary: 

Ferdinand notices things. He cannot say what he notices, precisely, because he has no one to ask, and if he were to ask Hubert it would damn well result in every questioned moment up and vanishing forever behind a new wall of prickly austerity. Ferdinand cannot risk that. The things that he notices stick in his chest, and he thinks only, but.

Hubert wrestles with unasked questions; Ferdinand wrestles with a pegasus.

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Beneath the Sheets of Paper Lies My Truth

TLDR: Dimilix fic in my FAVOURITE fucking format of secondary in game historical sources exploring their relationship in retrospective.

Summary:

It was said that Duke Fraldarius’s grief at King Dimitri’s death was more potent than even the queen’s—but said by whom, and how, and why?

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A Fair Day’s Work

TLDR: Post CF Canon ferdibert where Hubert and Ferdinand’s overworked aides desperately try to get them together so they’ll be too busy being uhhhh AMOUROUS to give them so much work. Very much a romantic comedy with very fun OCs as our protags. 

Summary:

“I may have some coffee in the place for you,” said Prime Minister Aegir. “Let me show you how much better I have become at brewing it to your taste.”

“If you insist,” said Minister Vestra but he sounded pleased. To Delarivier, who had literally made it her profession to attune herself to his tone (usually ranging from sort-of-murder-y to extremely-murder-y), Minister Vestra sounded very pleased indeed.

--

Ferdinand and Hubert's long-suffering aides figure out a way to work fewer hours.

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Roost

TLDR: Dimilix post AM Canon with some pre canon moments. Basically an exploration of the complexity of their relationship with bird symbolism and extra Holy Kingdom lore. Gifting ur lover a vulture is something that can be so personal fksdhfsjkd

Summary:

Dimitri makes an affirmative noise. Then he takes a breath, voice leveling out into what Felix had long ago dubbed his 'future king voice', all steady explanation: “Long ago, the saying fledged right along with the nobles' and royal family's love of hawking, and it has remained a common phrase from one generation to the next. As adviser to the king, the duke is meant to be regal and strong, even deadly when required, from his place at the king's side. To always act as the most piercing, watchful eyes over the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and her sovereign."

He looks over to Felix as soon as his mouth snaps shut on the final word, as always seeking approval on his recitations.

Felix tilts his head, trying to look unimpressed. “I like eagles.”

A hand automatically comes up to cover the lower half of Dimitri's face, muffling the inarticulate sound of a snort of amusement. “That is good, since you are to be mine.”

***

They say an eagle watches over Fhirdiad.

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A faint and faraway sound

TLDR: Ferdibert with an excellent Hubert centric character study....just so good...makes me warm and fuzzy...the mutual pining and ROMANCE of it all

Summary: 

Hubert learns to be a person, with a lot of help and complication along the way.

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In golden light

TLDR: A really REALLY good ferdibert fic with ferdinand centric pov that focuses on him reflecting on his life as he prepares the Aegir house to become a boarding school. Ferdinand sibling exploration is ABOUND here and it’s great

Summary: 

When his family's summer home at Lake Aegir is set to be converted to a boarding academy, Ferdinand pays it one last visit and contemplates his complicated relationship with family, love, and legacy.

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one three four three four zero

TLDR: the fic that actually got me into dimilix. VERY heavy character study and you NEED to mind both the general fic tags and the content warnings the author lists for each chapter but it’s incredible. Takes a very familiar trope and just. slams you in the face with over 60k words of amazing character study. 

Summary: 

“How are you going to get the One-Eyed Demon of Garreg Mach, the Boar Prince of Faerghus, smuggled past Dukedom soldiers? What plan could you possibly have to get a creature that incapable of even pretending it isn’t a bloodthirsty beast into Dominic without getting caught?”

The Professor gives him one of their steady, unreadable stares. They definitely do not and could not possibly have answered him, “You’re going to pretend to be married to him.”

or, How to Pretend to be Married When One of You Can't Stop Hallucinating and the Other One Uses Hostility to Cope

[randomnameless]

Finshed VW!

It was... Honestly, I should have taken a break because I am kind of saturating with Fodlan.

Nevertheless, it was more interesting than CW and SS but not as character driven as AM.

I still... Don't understand Claude. I missed the point of the unification - why should the continent be more tolerant if it's united under a single leader - but apparently it's cool and everyone is okay so, uh... Why not?

Nemesis was focused on Seiros but didn't say a thing against cethleann or Cichol... Lorenz didn't say anything about Gloucester, it's the path to where Maurice paralogue was available so...

Meh point with Hubert though, as always he's complicated for deal with. Kuddos for him to prepare plans to deal with the Agarthians, but cucumber points for, uh, everything else?

Why are we supposed to agree with "wow Hubert is so intelligent he wasn't actually a bad guy the empire was being blackmailed by the aghartians :'(" when giving said letter explicitly confirms that they (the empire - Hubert and Elde at least) knew who they were alying with?? I swear everything and everyone is wearing effing blinders when it comes to the Empire' strike and unification of the world - expressing sympathy for a defeated foe is okayish, but when said defeated fore was using human turned into beasts, the very same thing that made everyone vomit back in the good ol' days at Remire?

Flamey said she didn't condone Thomas experiments, but in VW, she uses the results of his experimentations on her side, so again, what the fuck?

Lysithea is furious at the aghartians for what they did to her, she knows they're siding with the empire, and yet in her battle convo with Edel she expresses regret (maybe Edel suffered what i did?). Which is tlling because she (and everyone) acknowledges that the empire was used, but no hard feelings held against Edel for enrolling aghartians? (idk if lysithea knows that Edel knows (?) that her new friends were the ones who experimented on them - but elde knows what Lysithea went through - Lysithea knows that the aghartians experimented on her)

i maintain that lysithea in CF is in a Felix-tier of despair if she ever knows that she was actually helping the ones who made her life a limited shit - but it's highly suggested that no one save for Hubbie (and Emile??) take part in the aghartian extermination plan so...

I noted how Claude is furious at Rhea's refusal to spill the beans (@ultrakatua : you were right haha i never heard him so furious the jp VA really does his job which is a bit undermined by his sprite - he isn't shown to be Dimitri-tier of furious but he sounds like it!) but he notes himself that she didn't tell him everything about the children of the goddess.

Which made me laugh a little, Claude is used to get the things he wants (the diary incident) but when the nabateans avoid his questions he is pissed (in Rhea's case) or tries to jest around it but is still dead serious (in his flayn support) but in both cases he doesn't get everything he wants...  idk if it was here in the US version, but she says she's happy he turned out to be reliable/a responsible guy... which made me think, was she actually aware he was spying on her? or he was supposed to be the lolcalised memelord during his student days?

Anyways, she face tanks an explosions and she's out for the rest of the month... Given how Nemesis fixates on her, it'd have been awesome if she could join us but sadly it was not meant to happen. So no "we settle this old grudge with the two of us dying Claude (and billy because gfdi) i leave fodlan to you it is up to you to build a new future etc" :'(

I noted how her expodump felt like... an exposition dump and it was meh. Rhea said she was one of the children, said that walked around foldna searching for the remaining children - but Claude never notes on said "remaining children" (even if there's a possibility where Billy could suggest FLayn is a child of the goddess, Claude continues saying it might have been why her blood was used but nothing beyond that).

I didn't caught it the first time, but the ten dudes (+ momo) had their weapons before going to zanado, meaning that nemesis did his thing with Sothis, then his dudes did their things with some random nabateans, and then they made a bro trip to Zanado?

Rhea explicitly states that she could never forgive the ten dudes, so maybe Edel was right on that account, Seiros killed them but didn't kill their descendants (if jeralt is any indication they might have had great grandchildren by the time of their deaths given how their lives were expanded due to ingestion of nabatean blood)? This might be the breaking point that made Birdie cut all of his ties with his sister?

Nemesis dead Claude, now King of Almyra, fell in lovve with Marianne, Lorezn and Hilda married and Billy married the voice in her head because those characters can just eff themselves (which is the point of that support?).

That's it for Verdant Wind.

And I still don't understand Claude haha.

His "the world must be united to end racism" felt very... WTF, as WTF as CF suddenly telling us that we are fighting to unify Fodlan and not to first and foremost end the mad (?) dragon lady that tried to blast us.

Maybe because I've always wanted to see how a merchant republic/an alliance works as opposed to a monarchy, but we stay in the usual tropes "fig the republics". It's sad but this game has an hard-on with hegemony so whatever.

The almyrians angle was interesting (gdi i got the "you're not from fodlan you can't undertand" convo... Claude's problem is that he is from fodlan when the almyrians try to belittle him but he's a dirty foreigner when he tries to research and undertand the mysteries of the land he inherited and lived in/ran when it was under agression for at least 5 years instead of figging away to Almyra...) expect that it felt... shoe-horned? Yes he drops hints here and there, but Nader being his second in house leicester and being best pals with Holst who has been fighting him for decades is glossed over (or relegated to Gilbert's wife tier that is only mentionned but never shown despite its importance)

And poor claude being the Prince of Almyra feels like Aerone, that is being a prince of a country you don't know a thing of - the Cyril issue is glaring, and it's not because i like Cyril, but because hey, you don't know children are being used as meat fodder and captured by fodlanese people? Or just, they are effing used as meat shields on the border for "lol feasts" reasons?

Ultimately (bias talking) i still don't understand why there is this visceral need for Rhea to be gone - when he came to the conclusion that the academy was the most cosmopolitan place in the continent and that the tenets of Seiros don't prone isolationism - opposing Lorezn's dad's pov.

Which actually makes me think about his Edel comment "we had the same goals, not the same means", Edel's goal (well one of...) is to unify the continent, Claude's seems to want the same thing (again, just like Edel, this goal appears out of nowhere in the game script, it's not the official goal we start with (discover secrets/end racism/get rid of the dragon lady because she is mad) but the one we end with. And apparently, Rhea would be opposed to the unification of the country... for some reason?

Maybe i'm not reading enough between the lines - Rhea was here when Fodlan was an unified nation, she was there when it split, maybe she really doesn't want Fodlan to be unified again? Because it would diminish the "power" she has over countries?

idk.

Anyways, I need to wait for the last DLC.