#fodlan ramblings and analysis

[rorah]

Dimitriverse here. And I'll use it as pretext to talk about Hopes. 'In this essay I will ☝️...'/j I must be one of the few - if not, the only one- (who's not on board with the anti-church propaganda |Just in case: I grew up in an atheist house| and not a Byleth hater either) who actually liked hopes because it supports and enhances houses narrative view (contrary to the common belief that it's the opposite).

Hopes shows a constant comparison between both games. And we know that this universe plays a lot with the parallels between different characters, and relationships. Both similarities and contrasts. Hopes is a contrast, seen from Shez's perspective.

It is established from the beginning that they only see the superficial positive qualities of the leaders, just like general tone presented of this game.

Here I'm going to focus mostly on AM's goal and its contrast in AG.

In AM Dimitri achieves redemption and benevolence through forgiveness and acceptance. These lessons he learns from Byleth - the teacher/ the guide/ the enlightened one (the class enlightened one is mea to alude that who have more knowledge and greater understanding of something, who also aludes to the original aspect of the game. Nirvana. The JP Byleth class) in an indirect way. Byleth in turn gets it from the goddess herself but also their life lessons/experience from GM, and the people surrounding them. WC is an important and crucial stage in Byleth's development, as is the interaction they have with the diverse students they tutor.

The role of Byleth goes beyond a mundane "self-insertion" of the player. Byleth is meant to be a bridge between that goddess and humans: the path to Nirvana.

Both forgiveness and acceptance are mentioned in the game but can go unnoticed due to the level of subtlety they are mentioned, but they are core elements in Buddhism such as compassion and wisdom that serve as a path to inner peace and freedom (specially for the leaders who rule over big factions of people), and breaks the chain/cycle of suffering, anger, revenge, resentment, among others.

And that reminds me of Arval's constant words: "the cycle of this world". What does Arval mean? The cycle of this world… said by an Agarthan "deity", whose only role in the game has been to generate constant conflicts between the inhabitants of Fodlan and beyond perhaps? so that they kill each other. I don't know Joe, something here smells weird -wink wink- (Not to mention it also emphasizes the qualities achieved through Nirvana)

It's Important to understand the importance of Forgiveness and everything involved in the act. Understanding forgiveness, as a spiritual practice, goes beyond simply letting go of resentment. It involves cultivating mindfulness and compassion towards oneself and others. Since the game has heavily references and basis from Buddhism you can grasp it from there (more than Christianity, I'm sure different faits have somewhat different or similar approach to some concepts). But need to mention the act is also applied from a physiological and neurological perspective (in case you're not much of a "fait" person like me. I still like the Buddhism take tho, from a philosophical standpoint💖).

Anyway, Dimitri AM manages to learn those lessons and is not just "to learn to live for himself", which is also important, but it is only possible to achieve it through the through the acts already mentioned: forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, etc. Acts that acts that are practiced externally towards others but which are mostly an act towards oneself. Compared to Dimitri AG where the path chosen is revenge.

Misfortune always dogs the steps of one who gives way to the desire for revenge.

Does he get the answers he thinks he wanted? Yes Did it satisfy him? A Dimitri fan knows it didn't. Can Dimitri's friends help him? No, because they're in a similar situation or under similar believes, and this game displayed it.

Sopilers: No, they won't get anything from getting revenge and certainly doesn't help to move on. Much less Dimitri, who's mental health has only been addressed at the end of a couple of supports. Is Shez a bad person? No! but they help no one and just goes along with whatever the leader says. Is Arval/Epimenides a bad entity? This is where I think, the original concept of the game is applied, the one mentioning. There's no good or bad, only a matter of perspective. But of course, that's something arguable and extense that deserves its own analysis.

At the end of all 3 routes, the war continues (despite having finished off Thales in AG) because the cycle continues. The cycle of anger, of suffering, of revenge, of prejudice, etc. And in my opinion, I think that's beautiful (the comparison, I mean). Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

[rorah]

Do you have any thoughts on Claude’s route in 3hopes? Your analysis of Dimitri’s run was so awesome and I share similar criticisms. I’m personally not a fan of Claude’s characterization in 3hopes, and I’m a diehard Claude fan lol, so I’d love to hear your thoughts (positive or negative! your rant was just really well written and interesting!) have a good day/night :-)

My thoughts on Claude? Sure.

Well I have to be honest and start with the fact that I still haven't finished his route lol rip but I've been spoiled enough to know that this is the route where most of the characters/deers seem a little to too much OOC (for what I have read. Tbh I can't be sure about ALL DEERS but Claude is mostly the point here). And I am a defender of "characters in Hopes are still substantially the same as the one presented in Houses" argument, just different circumstances bring different outcomes. But also seems like the writers in charge of giving nuance to the characters don't know how to do it properly without taking some neurons and mental capabilities away from said characters, aka: make them look dumb.

GW and SB are the routes where I am hesitant to look for arguments that can backup such outcome or it's just a matter of "the devs forgot about that part in the original game" issue, as it's planted in some interview that I don't have the source at hand, sadly.

But I am quite convinced of one thing. Hopes is presenting us the opposite resolution of Houses with a subtlety masked by sweet fanservice (just a certain percent of fans, I must say). What I mean by that is, Cloud in Houses is the one discovering the truth behind the mystery of Fodlan and kills Nemesis for some reason at the end of his route. And in Hopes, he is the most notable affected by this change by not discovering much about Agarthans and also kills Serios instead of Nemesis at the end of his route.

In Azure Gleam Dimitri gets his revenge and that does nothing for his personal journey. Actually, it's the opposite because he learned in houses that revenge will get him nothing but more collateral damage.

In Scarlet Blaze well… I am not entirely sure tbh.

Back to Claude. I think the main problem with his characterization is that it was not quite clear what type of person he is. I remember doing his route with the idea that he was the most relaxed, "meme" fun lord, and all positive of the three because the fandom painted him as such, and I feel utterly confused and betrayed because that wasn't what I perceived of him in his route. He has a little arc about open up and trusting others, while getting rid of his own prejudices about the lands he isn't well versed. But that's in houses. In Hopes, that part of his character is taken away because once again: No Byleth.

Let me remark that I haven't played his full route yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt. So tl;dr, we can say that his characterization in Hopes is bad because it was meant to be bad. You can see it as a mirror universe without the person who functions as guidance. And once again that brings us to another conflict when we recruit Byleth, but that's another issue to tackle on its own separately because it has tints of "devs fcked up and ran out of time/resources to properly do anything with it or give coherent resolution" issues. --- Edited because I accidentally type Azure Moon instead of Gleam lol But anyway, Claude fans, let me know your personal interpretation of Claude ~

[rorah]

The sheltered part is a bit nuanced. Jeralt kept Byleth in the dark and actively avoid things related to the CoS, but also left Byleth alone in a village or somewhere all by herself (or under someone else supervision but that's HC land) while he was doing mercenary job (for seemingly prolonged periods of time). Not to mention that every time there's celebration Byleth is left apart of such celebration (Leonie's paralogue in Hopes), this reads negative but If Byleth wanted to be part of the celebration, a protest should be shown (that part is also questionable tho). Sure, Jeralt is not a great dad but also let Bylet be and do whatever is on her interests.

In Fodlan knowledge regard, my brain is foggy and can't remember properly how that part plays out, but if my experience is worth anything(lol), a certain information may not be relevant (even if It IS ACTUALLY relevant) if it's not part of the special interest or of some use in daily life. I suppose as a mercenary, such info it's not really significant, mostly when you're not in command. Thing that changes when she's put in a teaching position of one of the nations, then that info becomes important and worth remembering.

Bringing Hopes back, it's shown that Byleth is aware of the church exist, but not really interested in it, and also brings a negative reaction from Jeralt (which also avoids talking about her own mom for the same reason). Since Byleth doesn't like that reaction from Jeralt, she also doesn't dig much into it. Basic logic is applied here:

Certain topic upsets Jeralt, hence topic bad. Jeralt is more important.

Considering ASD is known for its strong logical nature, it could be attributed to it (Note: Not saying that every logic person is ASD just to clarify) ... Come to think of it, I should have added the Logic nature to the chart. Wellp, it's part of the pattern recognition anyways.

Either case. I would say the same, you can apply a bit of both. But there are traits that aren't strongly related to emotions that she presents and also reads into an ASD interpretation.

However, at the end of the day, everyone is free to interpret it as they please 🤷‍♀️

Byleth: 5% dragon, 5% goddess reincarnation/vessel, 20% homunculi, 30% human and 40% autistic (more or less).

The perfect creature 🫶 Anyone who says otherwise is jealous

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I read a book about autism because of her and, in the process, i found out i am autistic lol. Then went hard and deep into the research, only to solve the mysteries of my life ✨. Thank you Byleth. This chart could've been better but it's all i could do in my brain state :'D. Did this to commemorate I finally got my official diagnosis. And my self-diagnose was right (Except Maybe the Adhd Part bc They Think I'm Depressed, which it's a possibility but i am mostly in an autistic burnout :1). Wanna tank the ppl who helped me to get such diagnosis 🙏, I am still a lil bit dysfunctional and need more therapy to have significant improvement, but i am doing my part in the self-care department

[rorah]

No, I don't mind. Actually, I encourage people to go and post your thoughts and vent about this game. What the game did to you? How it made you feel??? (tag me if you do so. Or reply to me. I wanna know lol) ---

I think a lot of fans who live in modern societies without rigid class hierarchies don't truly appreciate the fact that Dedue and Felix are NOT Dimitri's equals. Hell, Shez isn't Dimitri's equal.

This⬆️⬆️⬆️ This is something important, but I would like to approach from a dif perspective.

Firstly, establish that societies where hierarchies and rigid protocols predominate, such as several Asian countries (Japan, South Korea among many others, and not only Asian ones, I must say) have certain limitations, whether those established by those protocols or in a case of internalization. For this reason alone, people who are much more capable of helping Dimitri like Rodrígue or Gustave are limited in doing anything for him. I also don't consider that they have all the answers because they also have their own problems that, given their current age, they have not been able to resolve efficiently either.

In the case of internalization, there is a bias in people that makes them more susceptible to listening to the advice of a superior than the words of someone who does not have credible support behind their argument, even though it may be the same advice. This may be due to the choice of words themselves, how the message is delivered, or the aforementioned bias.

In Houses it's evident that Felix's argument is quite valid when he confronts a feral Dimitri, but his rant is certainly not the kind of words that reach Dimitri's system. In SS, Dimitri's ghost appears before Byleth to say that although Rodrigue and Gustave told him similar things, he was never able to grasp it. Only Byleth's words in AM (which, due to the nature of the game and the "silent protagonist" we are not able to know) are the ones that resonate in his head. Why tho?

This may be due to various factors. The first is what I had already mentioned about hierarchies. Byleth, being the teacher, is in a role of mentor and guide, someone whose knowledge is taken into account by the nature of their position and the previous experience that their words have given positive results before, therefore giving backup to whatever they say. Someone on youtube mentioned the same but for Edelgard, his bias didn't allow him to do the same for Dimitri but it's still a valid case.

Byleth may not have all the answers and make mistakes like everyone else. The nature of their character as "the enlightened one", the one who carries the essence of the goddess whose function is to guide, not solve, and at the same time is a silent character, leaves us with a void that is difficult to fill unless you have the necessary knowledge and a good amount of curiosity. As someone who has been in a position trying to help and also be helped, how you deliver the message is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, but also TIMING. WHEN and HOW. This is where Felix fails. The constant overbearing from his part but also the lack of sensitivity to the situation does not contribute to a safe place for susceptibility. Apart from leaving Dimitri in a defensive position which prevents him from opening up completely because Felix is constantly judging him due to the nature of his character (things that he himself has to work on). Contrary to Felix, the professor shines in this area. Byleth, canonically is a good listener, doesn't judge, and does not impose their experience or pov (because just like anyone else, doesn't have much experience). Instead, questions and encourage the individual to figure out things by themself, somehow, they look for something to give compliment (we can appreciate it explicitly during Shez support) which helps to take the person out of their mental rabbit hole. And also, they search for the right words by observing who they're speaking to (this is canonically true, if you take into account the conversations they have in heroes).

Curiously, teachers are people who constantly use Soft Skills, and this applies more heavily in Houses, since by being assigned as a teacher, Byleth develops those skills in a better way.

Unfortunately, Byleth does not go through that learning in Hopes nor have the authority. However, the ability to develop such skills is still there, since they are still a good listener, and they like helping people.

One problem to face is that Dimitri is so closed off and distant that he doesn't even pay much attention to the only interaction he has with Byleth.

But well, I think I got carried away and I should leave the rest of the analysis for later lol.

The mentally stable Dimitri Fire emblem 3 hopes.

It surprises me that there's still ppl claiming so, but then I remember we're talking about 3h interpretations and I have to make peace with it.

But that doesn't stop me from venting a little bit in this little space I have lol. Actually, it dries me and makes me feel bad to bring this up because I will have to talk bad about Dedue, and I don't want to talk Bad about Dedue. He's a genuinely good boy. But "Human" nonetheless, which means Flaws. I like Felix too but he's become some sort of a clown that doesn't make me feel too bad. I like Felix tho, In a different way.

Mostly talking about these two because the take that "Dimitri has better support system" baffles me because, technically, these two are his support system in HopesVerse. The persons who Dimitri relays on and seek solace/advice/support. The rest doesn't really tackle any of his personal struggles (aside from the Mage!Mitri frustrated dream, but that's out of the bad equation in our 'mentally unwell' set of pixels, and Shez only has a glimpse). Contrary, to Houses verse where the whole blue lions cast knew about his shit, didn't know what to do, but didn't leave either.

I tackled this topic with other person on Twitter who was (or still is) on board with this take and the phrase they used was They contained him better, which of course I agree and remarked that was exactly the problem. Contain him is gonna be contra productive. I used a water dam analogy, where the structure of such dam is damaged, and the pressure of water keeps accumulating. Causing a foreseeable damage for the dam itself and the surroundings. You don't need to be a genius to understand it, you need experience or knowledge for mental ill topics tho.

I really don't want to extend so much on here because it's mostly just, rant format more than a proper analysis so I just want to point out these two things in their support conversations.

First, Dedue. Encourage him to keep on the vengeful path. Which we know was the final goal of Azure Moon and if you payed attention to 3 houses message. The whole Vengeful argument was something Bad, to keep it simple. Despite Dimitri actively looking for answers/guidance for something that, in a rational state he can see clearly like vengeance will consume his life (also Shez and Felix called out this behavior). Dedue answer only encourage him to keep on that path, because he would do that 💔. Presenting 2 oposite views is a great formula for confusion and disorientation. Now, Dedue's role is primary SUPPORT, not guidance nor orientation. He will support his shit no matter what, and we are quite aware of that if played Houses.

Second, Felix. Felix is a special case. He is smart but also an idiot lacks A LOT of soft skills to actually be of help. He's the only one who knows in this verse about Dimitri having a mental issue. In their A support to say the least, so they don't close or solve anything. What makes it more worrisome is the fact that Felix conceals the issue as a secret.

"So try to keep that whole "removing their heads" thing in check, yeah? We can just call it our little secret."

this extract here makes me feel so unwell 😭help

The whole burden falls over him and his lack of skills and wisdom on the matter will be too much for him later on. He at least, will be able to recognize that the problem is beyond of his capabilities and will look for help. Felix himself has his own issues and journey where he needs to learn. He's forced to get pass beyond some of his angry teen behavior but hasn't completely get over it.

There is a lot more to tackle, but that requires more work and time. What are the topics some of you think is important to cover around understanding the Hopes verse resolution? Dimitri's route? something? Do you think the route without Byleth is better? With that being said, I would like to delve deeper into character analysis, and the role each played for the Lords too. That also requires to talk about the Byleth and needs a whole analysis on their own, which requires time (which i don't have much lol) To end this vent, I would like to encourage people to do a little research for the terminology they're using like "Support System". Who makes it up and how it operates successfully. The fact that ppl saying "he has better support system" only because he didn't go feral on the run alone is not entirely valid. A reminder that people can feel alone with or without people around them. And containing the issue within doesn't solve any problem. At best, it's presented later. At worse, it gets worse.