#holy kingdom of faerghus

[pathetic-gamer]

Fashion in Fódlan: a very long, non-comprehensive, and entirely unsolicited analysis

The fe3h writers did a pretty solid job of creating three nations with clear social, economic, and political differences. The fashion stands out to me as doing exceptionally well at expressing those differences, and, just like in the real world, it works as a sort of socioeconomic barometer that helps tell Fódlan's story.

In this post, I'll break down the key clothing trends in the three regions and provide some light interpretations, largely related to $$

Please note that I'm NOT using this post to discuss historical inspirations. Also, not everyone from every region is included. In particular, anyone whose outfit is too much of just a riff on a class uniform (like the Ashen Wolves or the various minsters in the empire) is left out.

There's a part 2 now lol (church of seiros time); part 3 as well!

1. Holy Kingdom of Faerghus: function IS fashion, baby!!

Fearghus, beloved land of ice and snow and spooky folktales about watering your fields with blood and ghosts living under the ground - you did not come to fuck around. You're here to protect the commoners and go back home to a stew that may, if you're lucky, actually have some meat in it. In this kingdom, you're going to dress warm and you're going to like it. Oh, you have some extra money? Gonna spend it on something for yourself? Better be using it for something useful, like keeping your plate armor in good condition. (Please note: Catherine, though being Faeghan, is excluded because she wears the uniform of the Knights of Seiros, not her own clothes.)

Trends:

High collars, long skirts - generally as little exposed skin as possible. (There is exactly one pair of bare hands in the entire kingdom. Mercie is getting a little bold 👀)

Fur cloaks/capes/gloves, or just fur around the cuffs and collars if they don't have a full fur cloak.

Armor - every single man is dressed in armor, as is Ingrid. Most of the men have full suits of plate armor, but Felix, Rodrigue, and Ashe are wearing only gambesons (note the quilting in Felix's sleeve - that's what gives it away, imo). The folks in plate armor would have gambesons on as well (you can see Ingrid's underneath her breastplate), acting as padding for the plate armor. I think Gilbert is wearing plate armor with a tunic over it (a realistic historical practice).

Fastening is accomplished with clasps and lacing, and there are relatively few buttons or adornments to be seen on the main garments - Annette is an exception, which will be addressed later.

Brief analysis:

Notice the economical use of fabric - their clothing tends to lie flat, with fabric being layered for warmth rather than pleated, gathered, or puffed. The folks in plate armor may spice it up a little with a sash of some kind if they aren't already wearing a cloak or cape. I'm assuming Gilbert's ~stylish tunic~ is keeping him warm well enough to not need a cloak or larger scarf. (Mercedes has a ruffles and puffier sleeves, plus a fuller skirt, but it's worth noting that she is currently part of a merchant house, and merchants tend to be wealthier and actually occupy a unique social class between nobles and commoners.)

Note the colors, too. Greens, browns, and yellows are the cheapest and easiest dyes to make and use. That bright sort of tawny color that Gilbert, Annette, and Jeralt all have is easy and cheap. Gilbert's grey tunic could feasibly just be undyed wool. A true blue is difficult, but you'll note that the blue the people wear up here leans towards grey and green - could be that the dye is faded, or that it was never very blue to begin with. The only true blue is on Dimitri.

All of this reinforces the idea that Faerghus is not a rich nation, and the nobility don't live too far off from the common folk. The vast majority of the cost we see is actually their armor (worn by Dimitri, Dedue, Sylvain, Gilbert, Jeralt, Matthias, Ingrid, and also if we're getting all the way into it, Gwendal, Miklan, Lonato, and Baron Dominic as well), which is would have been pretty expensive. You'll notice they mostly wear grey armor with very little extra decoration, keeping the costs low. Ingrid, the poorest of the nobles in armor, also has the least actual plate. Felix and Rodrigue both have full cloaks, which most other people don't have (just Dimitri), but they also aren't wearing plate, so clearly that's a calculated choice.

That being said, even within these more economical fashions, we can still see clear differences between classes. Most noticeably, Felix (rich) and Ashe (not rich) have very similar outfits, but Felix's tunic/gambeson is lined with fur, while Ashe's is not.

BTW I'm of the opinion that the Fraldariuses are the richest people in the kingdom other than the royal family, and I believe that specifically of their fancy cloaks lol

so luxurious~

2. Adrestian Empire: look at my money bitch

Ah, the land of beauty and excess! I love to live in the capital and visit the cultural icon that is the opera and pretend that I'm not in Wealth Inequality Central. (Please note: Petra is not included, since she dresses according to Brigid's fashions. Also note: I fuck w these styles so hard, dude.)

Trends:

Short skirts (above the knee - Dorothea has a draped over-skirt thing, but her main skirt is shorter, and Manuela has leg slits instead of a short hem), low or square necklines, open backs. In general, we're looking at a lot of exposed skin. Forgot to include Cornelia in the pics, but she has this too.

Tailored jackets with just SO many buttons. Hanneman fits into the tailored jacket category, but isn't included in the highlights by virtue of Not Enough Buttons. (Some concept art is included here to drive the point home.)

Finally, there's this specific very specific double-breasted neckline thing (baby edelgard is separate bc i forgot to include her when i made the first image shhhh)

Brief analysis:

Adrestian fashion is all about displaying status and wealth, in this case through ornamentation, rich colors, uniforms denoting class/role, and also a fair amount of excess fabric.

Historically, fabric itself was one of the major indicators of wealth - in fact, certain historical styles very explicitly showed off just who was rich enough to afford, for example, a whole gown made from the same length of fabric, or even just an entire skirt panel with no piecing. In the Adrestian Empire, We've got excess fabric galore, tucked away into all those beautiful ruffles and bell sleeves, layered skirts, unnecessary capes, double collars, and puffy pants - and it's all in much more luxurious colors, too. In fact, I'm pretty sure the largest single piece of fabric on anyone in the game is Edelgard's cape, which is then also adorned with dozens of buttons and extra bits of fabric. It's almost definitely fully silk, both the outer layer and the lining. (And it's badass.)

Look at all that fluff! Dimitri's cloak probably rivals hers in the size of the actual fabric itself, but his is likely a heavy wool (unlined, maybe?), plus has a lot of fur.

"Oh, but pg, there are capes in Faerghus, too!" yes, but in Faerghus, they live in the arctic /hj. Note the vast expanses of exposed skin down here in the empire - clearly, cold is not an issue. You'll also note that the cloaks in Faerghus were heavy and lined with fur; that's not the case here. Given the prevalence of tailored jackets and the dual colors on Ferdinand's cape, I'm guessing they're either a comparatively lightweight wool with a silk lining (typical for tailored suit jackets, nothing particularly noteworthy about that), or just fully silk. (Bernie's shawl is just cotton though, prove me wrong...) Hanneman and Manuela are exceptions, since they both have fur, but they live at Garreg Mach, not in Enbarr.

The jackets themselves, by the way, could be silk OR wool. Ferdinand's in particular (especially thropes) reminds me of early 18th c. waistcoats, which would have been full silk.

We also have much richer colors down here in the land of art and song. Red, purple, and black were all very difficult colors to maintain, and very expensive. The most expensive colors, in fact. Not gonna lie, as far as price per yardage goes, I think Hubert's outfit might rival Edelgard’s in expense.

A notable exception to the excess fabric bit is Bernadetta. However, her dress is in what is arguably the most expensive color, and is heavily decorated, so that's a reasonable trade-off, and I don't blame her. I, too, would go for a smaller amount of pretty purple silk embroidered with bright, beautiful gold and yellow instead of a bigger, more impressive-looking option. It's about the little things.

I do want to take look at Caspar, in particular. He's unique in that he's dressed in a full suit of armor. But, given that he's the second son and not set to inherit anything, unlike all his waistcoat-wearing friends, he isn't being held to some particular uniform, and even if he were, it's the ministry of military affairs. Of course they wear real armor. What's interesting is that his armor is a sort of rosy grey/brass, rather than silver, and he has a lot more decoration and flair than the folks with full armor in Faerghus, in both his throuses and thropes outfits.

Worth noting, btw, that we have exactly zero examples of actual commoners in Adrestia, other than generic NPCs. Dorothea belongs to that peculiar niche that is opera and acting, so she is expected to dress and act like a noble, despite not having a title or property of any sort.

Adrestia - and Enbarr in particular - leads the slow march of fashion across Fódlan, given that it's a cultural hub and is so much wealthier, while Fearghus slowly picks things up over time. Thus, we have Annette, who lives closer to the empire and has disposable income, having some decorative buttons and tassels and a mock low neckline.

It's not nearly as much as the actual Adrestians, but she's picking it up!

3. Leicester Alliance: the beeeest of both worlds~

Oh, Alliance, you messy bitch. What we see here is a mix of everything, where some of them are influenced by Faerghus, and others by Adrestia (just like how some of them have kingdom-style names and some have empire-style names), and a few fit neither camp. There are clear reasons for similarities where they exist, though, so let's take a look! (Please note: Claude is not included, since his clothes are heavily influenced by Almyra.)

Hilda and Lysithea have the frills, puffy sleeves/skirt, short hems, low/square necklines, and expensive colors of the empire (plus, Lysithea gets a decorative veil in dark purple. How ~fancy~). This reinforces the idea that Adrestia sets the standards for fashion: Hilda cares about fashion and keeps up with the times. Lysithea lives on the border and was briefly under the control of the empire, and thus is influenced by it. Mostly, though, I think it's about how she tries to seem older and tends to see Hilda as a model of maturity (lol), so she's following that example.

Holst's armor is quite decorative, similar to Caspar's, but what stands out to me is the fringe in particular. We see the exact same fringe on Caspar, Hubert, and Edelgard, but not anywhere else.

Lorenz and Erwin are a bit of a border case, tbh! They both wear practical, full plate armor with little in the way of extra decor (other than Lorenz's rose and Erwin's little cape thing), but Jesus christ how much does it cost to keep it all so purple like that??? That's a blatant display of wealth that would impress any empire noble.

Marianne, on the other hand, would fit right in in Faerghus, with the old fashioned long skirt, high collar, capelet, and lack of extra decoration other than some pretty trim. Makes sense, since her territory is so close to the kingdom and she's clearly not interested in trying to stay fashionable.

Judith is dressed very practically, has some fun puffy sleeves and bright but inexpensive colors, has a short cape and gambeson (a short vest one, though). I want to say leans toward Faerghus, which makes sense since it's on the border and the house did at one point split off, with part going back to the kingdom.

Now we get to the only real, honest-to-god, never-owned-land-or-property, born-as-and-remain-now peasants/commoners: Leonie and Cyril. (Raphael was born into the merchant class and was able to support himself and Maya by selling his estate, so while we can consider him a real commoner at this point, it's not nearly to the same degree.)

Their economic status is obvious from their outfits: both have very practical clothes with no extra decoration, in cheap and easily accessible colors. Leonie's cloak wrapped around her waist is purely functional - she can use it when the weather calls for it, but it's out of the way of her arrows when she doesn't need it - and looks to be pretty soft, so likely is lightweight. She has a hint of some light protective wear (note the quilted sleeve) and the same front clasps as Felix and Ashe, so i think she's also meant to be wearing a gambeson, but it's shorter and less protective. Cyril doesn't seem to have any armor at all except for the shoulder protection - we can tell from the lack of center-front closures on his shirt and the shape of the cuffs of the sleeves that he's actually just wearing a tunic (or rather, two tunics on top of each other).

Raphael also has a very practical outfit, but notice that his is so much more protective, probably because he has a little more money than the other two. He has very limited, sparsely placed plate armor, but he is covered head-to-toe in quilted cloth armor. He's ready to get some punching done, baby!

Our real outlier, however, is Ignatz... But you bet your bottom dollar I've got an explanation for that one, too!!!!! Mans is an artist and he has rich(?) merchant parents, he can do whatever he wants.

Absurdly unnecessary lengths of (probably not very expensive) cloth? Sure. Fancy feathers that literally no one else gets? Why not! A billion buttons, half of which arent even keeping anything closed? Curly and intricate cloak fasteners probably made of some kind of cording? Sashes and tassels and a decorative sword??? Fuck it, we ball. I love this so much, it's easily my favorite outfit in the entire game and I would ABSOLUTELY wear it irl. I already have the right haircut and glasses and boots, I'm ready

4. In conclusion

These designs really are Fódlan in a nutshell. From the quiet wealth and functionality in Felix's fur-lined gambeson to the audacious luxury of Ferdinand's waistcoat to the unrepentant anarchism of Ignatz's entire vibe, we can see the history - and future - of the continent outlined right before our eyes:

Faerghus is cold, practical, focused on survival, and probably has the most even distribution of wealth. Leicester is a mix of remnants of the empire and kingdom, with clear wealth disparity but also a relatively high amount of social mobility and communal support systems. Adrestia has significantly wealth disparity, with nobles very disconnected from their people and instead busy politicking about.

Side note I know I said I wouldn't go into the historical inspirations, BUT I do think it's interesting that the men's clothing in Adrestia - particularly the tailoring - is similar to much later styles than the men's clothing in Faerghus, and the reverse is true of the women's sleeves and necklines.

Okay that's all, thanks for reading!

[mostrandomgallery]

Blue Lions signatures 💙🦁

DO NOT REPOST!!! Also on deviantART

[dmasterxd]

What really makes the Blue Lions such interesting and well-written characters is how they’re bound by trauma. Of course, other houses also have characters who have sad or traumatic backstories, but the Blue Lions is the only one that it applies to the entire house. And it’s always so deeply rooted into the way that these characters act and why they do the things that they do.

Dimitri-Sole survivor of the Tragedy of Duscur. Lost his parents and dear friend. And then developed a severe case of PTSD to the point where he was haunted by illusionary ghosts of his loved ones to get revenge. And constantly fighting against himself to keep his darker tendencies reigned in.

Felix-Lost his older brother in the tragedy. And then growing to hate chivalry and lashing out against it in every way possible, and having to look at chivalrous concepts in the most cynical way to cope with Glenn’s death. Since Glenn himself highly valued chivalry.

Ingrid-Lost her fiancée (and close friend, feel like people forget about this aspect too much tbh) in the tragedy. And since she didn’t see his death and idolized Glenn so much had to force herself to believe that he died in an ideal way and wishing to replicate it herself.

Sylvain-Was already being tormented by his brother on multiple occasions and then lost a close friend and had to watch his other best friends struggle with their grief and trauma to the point of developing self-destructive tendencies. A behavior which he was most likely already exhibiting himself at that point.

Dedue-Lost his parents and sister. Had his race genocided. Has an extreme lack of self-worth due to the prejudice of his people. And accepts all of the hatred thrown at him in spite of him and most of Duscur being innocent because some Duscur people were involved.

Annette-Was abandoned by her father (due to the tragedy) and worked herself to the bone tirelessly for years in pursuit of finding him. To the point where it reaches extremely unhealthy levels. And she has to actively try to take it easy. Because she’s just become so accustomed to it.

Ashe-Lost his birth parents and had to turn to thievery to keep his younger siblings fed. His adoptive older brother was executed for conspiring in the tragedy. And due to Lonato adopting and saving him, Ashe develops an extremely idealistic perspective where he wants to help everyone and believe in the best in everyone, despite how things might seem.

Mercedes-Her father was a terrible person (don’t really want to get into that cause trigger warning stuff). And she and her mother had to escape leaving her little brother behind. Said little brother became a deranged serial killer who was beyond saving. And she has an extremely caring and motherly personality to all of her fellow Lions, probably due to the fact that she wasn’t able to save her brother, which she definitely regrets a lot.

They’re all such extremely broken, traumatized, and flawed individuals. But that’s exactly what makes them so interesting. These characters who’ve already been put through the ringer before the start of the story. And then are challenged even more during the story itself. It’s all the more satisfying when you see them push through together, overcome their flaws, and then end up victorious. The more adversity a character has, the more sweeter it is when they’re finally able to achieve their goals at the end. And that’s why, the Blue Lions are such an interesting and well-rounded house of fantastic characters.

Heck, same thing goes for Rodrigue, Gilbert, and Catherine. But I feel like this post is already too long as it is XD.

TL;DR: The Blue Lions and even Faerghus characters in general are extremely well-written.

[umbralstars]

Idk how much more finished I'm gonna make this, so here's a sktech of Rufus and Lambert's father! His name was Gwynhael and he was...a piece of work :)

[midgardianqueenreturns]

Felix was secretly relieved when he learned Ashe and Annette were younger than him because he spent years being the baby of the Faerghus Four (by like one month but still)

[zomboire]

long time, no post :’) i come back with dimitri fanart. i’m on my 3rd playthrough of FE3H (played verdant wind twice and now azure moon).

[mwezina]

Four of Cups & FE3H

The Four of Cups represents a restless time filled with dissatisfaction and discomfort. We see a figure sitting beneath a tree contemplating past failures represented by the three empty cups before him. This feeling of stagnation pushes the figure to consider other options, as a cloud brings a new cup to his view, encouraging him to see beyond his failures. 

Gilbert Pronislav’s time spent as a Knight of Seiros encapsulates the message of this card quite well. He served as a Knight of Seiros as penance and self-imposed punishment for his failure to protect King Lambert. He is focusing solely on his losses and fails to see new opportunities for relationships and healing coming his way. He refuses help and support from both within the Church of Seiros and his own family (Annette). By focusing on solely what he has lost, he is unable to move forward. 

In a way, I do think the Church of Seiros provided a space for him to do what he needed to do. He was not ready to reflect, nor think about the future, and the Church of Seiros gave him a place to grieve.

Previous: Three of Cups

Next: Five of Cups

[hapigairu]

[the-gabardine-fox]

Completed commission of Felix from Fire Emblem! Commissions are open!

[onyxedskies]

screaming crying i love the lions i love faerghus i love the complexities i love how all of them know their roles and do their best to use them for good while knowing the boundaries of their fragile nation i love the way they interact with each other they’re so fucking special to me

[pathetic-gamer]

hot take when Faerghans say they are guided by chivalry they mean it in the literal definition of the word, aka heavy cavalry and horsemanship. Felix hates chivalry bc he's scared of horses and all manner of large ungodly beafts

[bowbowis]

I May Have Been Wrong About Lambert and Sreng

Previously I've accused Lambert of being responsible for the conquest and ethnic cleansing of southern Sreng. After reviewing the relevant information however, I believe that may have been an erroneous assumption (one which, in my defense, both Fire Emblem wikis also make). Instead it seems the annexation happened no later than 896, during the reign of King Banfig.

From the in-game book Military History of the Partholon, which is found in Chapter 10 of Azure Gleam:

Great Tree Moon, Year 896 Banfig confers the northern part of his territory on Laetita [Gautier]. She is given the title of margrave and tasked with defending Faerghus's border. Laetita sets to work strengthening defenses in the north, constructing strongholds throughout the Ruska Mountains on the border with Sreng, and reclaiming the Lance of Ruin from the Church of Seiros.

It's not clear where the border was before the conflict in which Laetita distinguished herself. The book seems to offer conflicting information

Harpstring Moon, Year 892 The Sreng people launched a large scale invasion. They crossed the Ruska Mountains in the north and descended south into Faerghus. King Banfig built a string of strongholds along the north of his domain, from Blaiddyd to Fraldarius, including Conand Tower.

The first paragraph would seem to imply that the border was already at the Ruska Mountains when Sreng invaded. However, the placement of Conand Tower in the north of Banfig's domain seems to dispute that. The phrasing "along the north of his domain, from Blaiddyd to Fraldarius" seems to imply that "[Banfig's] domain" is referring to the whole Kingdom, not just Blaiddyd territory. Conand Tower is located in the southern part of modern Fraldarius territory, far to the south of the Ruska Mountains, which would seem to imply that Faerghus had not yet annexed most of the peninsula.

Here's a map for reference:

Red: Approximate Location of Conand Tower Green: Ruska Mountains (Modern Faerghus/Sreng Border) Blue: Speculated Former Faerghus/Sreng Border

Of course none of this changes that Lambert launched another invasion of Sreng; nor that Itha, Gautier, and most of Fraldarius territory are sitting on land that once belonged to Sreng and is now devoid of its native inhabitants. It would simply mean that Lambert is not the king who annexed the southern part of the peninsula.

It's also possible that it's explicitly stated somewhere that Lambert is responsible for the annexation. I'm not going to subject myself to Azure Gleam again just to find out. For now I'm agnostic on the matter.

[randomkposts]

Faerghus has a Famine problem, and I think that is related to their treatment of Duscur and Sreng's people.

So Faerghus has a famine problem. We don't deeply examine it in game, but it does show up through characters. Sylvain makes a comment on the meals, and how they couldn't eat like this at home, and Ingrid's Galatea home has severe famine going on. 

I'm going to make some assumptions about Fódlan history. Andrestia is based on the Roman Empire, a conquering nation. It can be assumed that they conquered the continent and appointed the lords whose families appear in the game. The official church line says that the 10 elites were heros who fought against Nemesis, in truth they got their crests through the blood of murder victims. The elites were killed but their families were spared. 

And so the continent was united in conquest. For there to have been conquest, there had to have been people there first. And that is where I think Duscur and Sreng come in. They were probably the original natives of the land, and their smaller sections of the map (and described condition of Sreng, rings some bells to me about residential areas)

(Hmm, I'm Canadian, and have made effort to learn about Native issues. I can't say I'm the most qualified person to talk about, but I attempt to at least have information. )

So the treatment of Duscur is reminiscent of treatment Native Americans have faced. Things like being blamed for crimes, the genocide their culture and people have survived (much was lost in the process), and sectioning them off to specific areas. 

This is a result of colonialism, and in the process important knowledge is lost. It's not new to Japan either, if they had wanted to get a bit more nuance in the portrayal they could have considered Ainu. 

But I am getting distracted. Important knowledge lost would probably include farming practices that sustain the land. 

Or the locals probably have a good reason for doing something you consider crazy. Take for instance Australian Aboriginal burning practices. 

They have knowledge of grass and how well it will burn, and they knew what type of fires to burn for each land,for how long, and how often to do it. 

"Aboriginal techniques are based in part on fire prevention: ridding the land of fuel, like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. The fuel alights easily, which allows for more intense flames that are harder to fight.

The Aboriginal people would set small-scale fires that weren't too intense and clear the land of the extra debris. The smaller intensity fires would lessen the impact on the insects and animals occupying the land, too, as well as protect the trees and the canopy."

It takes skill and knowledge, something that was diminished by colonizers, and while they are trying to recreate it, they do not have the same knowledge as the locals who did it for thousands of years. And global warming escalation is making it worse.

Or, new people have the land, and they don't know how to use it like the locals would, and don't want to ask because they are too busy looking down on the locals.

Sreng has been invading Gautier for over 200 years. The war of heros was over 1,000 years ago. 

Faerghus rebelled in 747 and winning in 751, and Leicester rebelling from Andrestia  in 801 leading to more war. The Kingdom intervened by occupying and annexing Leicester as a protectorate. The Alliance was formed in 901

101 was the formation of the locket. 

1160 was the year of the plague, Dimitris mother died from it 2 years later.  And 1668 was the invasion and Annexing of the southern part of Sreng. 

So from what I can tell, Sreng has been fighting Gautier since the rebellion of Leicester.  But exact timing is iffy. 

Its harder to get a timeline for how long Faerghus has been occupying the lands. Fraldarius is one of the oldest nobel house on record, but I can't confidently say that they have had the land they live on for more than 500 years. Probably less. 

I don't think that Duscur was driven off their land all at once so much as given a smaller and smaller land that is Duscar,as Faerghus annexed it. Or probably got annexed from both Faerghus and Andrestia on both ends as they established borders. 

It's entirely probable that the nobles chased the locals off the lands and claimed it as their post rebellion, and in doing so gained land that they didn't know how to take care of like the locals would. 

It could be they didn't properly balance the acidity in the soil from their crops. Or any number of issues they didn't address because they didn't ask, and assumed they knew what they were doing, and now generations later the descendents are doing as their ancestors did, and getting bad results. 

Like, North America has a worm invasion. North America did not have worms before people came over from Europe (they died off in the global ice age, if there were any) , and decomposition was done by the forest leaves and such. So worms are spreading, and changing things like soil organizations, plant communities, erosion, forests ability to store carbon, and with the newest worm invasion reducing insects. 

Ah, the point is the land is more fragile than you credit it for. Faerghus has a famine problem and I think that the driving out (and Genocide attempt) of its original inhabitants is related to that problem.

[umbralstars]

I'm actually in the beginning stages of making a whole conlang for Faerghus. I've attempted this before but I didn't get very far; however, this time feels really good!

[blaiddydbrokeit]

Siblings in Faerghus Nobility, why Dimitri stands out as an only child and how Lambert and Rufus's siblinghood could have played into it:

Among the Blue Lions, a good majority of the cast have, or have had siblings at some point in their lives. This includes Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, Mercedes, Ashe and Dedue.

However, for the purpose of this discussion we will go over all the Blue Lions characters and explore their sibling relations, and go over some that may be more unique.

Subsequently, we will also discuss Dimitri's status as an only child - the stakes it plays in his position as heir, and how the relationship between Rufus and Lambert may have played into his sibling-less life. (For purposes of timescale consistencies, we will not consider Edelgard since she was only there for a year.)

Felix and Sylvain are simple - they have both had one older sibling each, who canonically predecease both them, and their fathers. Both older siblings for one reason or another were either not intended to inherit, or were deceased before inheritance.

Ingrid has two older brothers. This is presumably a matter of trying for a crested heir, as it was what House Galatea determined its priority at the time, succeeding with Ingrid.

Now, the exceptions:

Mercedes has a sibling in Emile (Jeritza), but while she was formerly Imperial nobility, she is a commoner in Faerghus, and is exempt from many of the noble house priorities such as inheritance, social duty and having a safety net to the seat of the House.

Dedue had a younger sister who was killed in the retaliation from the Kingdom after the assassination of King Lambert. However, he is considered an exception as he is of Duscur, and would not have been expected to conform to the same cultural functions of siblinghood.

Ashe is a doubly special case. He has his younger birth siblings - fellow commoners, and had Christophe - occupying the very lowest rung of nobility due to Lonato's lordship granted for service to Rufus. Christophe predeceasing Lonato and Ashe, and Lonato's own subsequent act of treason would find his lordship posthumously revoked - similar to the Viscounty of Kleiman, and returned to the direct control of House Blaiddyd. As a result, Ashe would not inherit Castle Gaspard. His siblinghood with his birth siblings hence remains exempt from noble activity and culture.

Annette. Annette is a very special case. She is an only child. However, she is the niece of Baron Dominic. She does not belong to the main branch of the family. When one belongs to a side branch of the family, it is rare to expect that they will inherit - in this case, her cousin, only namedropped in Three Hopes as Simon, would be inheriting the title of Baron Dominic. Without the expectation of inheriting, many of the other duties that come with being the governing house of a territory also are lightened, or completely rendered irrelevant. There is no need for a spare heir, if you have no need for an heir to begin with, for example. Especially given that Annette would have been only 12 or 13 at the time that Gustave disappears, it would have been much more difficult on Gustave's conscience to simply leave if there was a second, much younger child that would not ever be able to understand his position.

So, establishing that the nobles of primary lineages in particular had the highest stakes in what a functional siblinghood served, what does this say about Dimitri? Dimitri, the only child. The heir, without any spare should misfortune fall upon him.

It is without question that Lambert could have sired a second child at any point if he wanted to. It could have been with Patricia if he wanted. It could have been with any woman, even. Hence, the distinction here is that he must have in some capacity decided against it. Dimitri has a crest, and that in itself is fortunate, because it means that he already makes for an heir who can wield Areadbhar. He is in line for the throne. All is well. The stake here, should Lambert choose to have a second child as a spare to the throne, is that the two would grow to resent the other, especially if one is without crest or worse, the younger would have a major crest. (On another tangent, maybe he simply just could never love anyone the way he loved his first wife. But that's another topic.)

The stakes of House Blaiddyd is doubly high - it must not only consider the priorities of its house and direct territory, but the entirety of Faerghus. Lambert is not a stranger to such resentment himself - Rufus resents him for his crest, because Rufus was passed over for the throne due to lacking a crest. Rufus could never be king, simply because he lacked the blood signature he couldn't control, while his younger brother won the blood lottery.

Was it a stake worth passing on to the next generation, if the heir already did possess a crest? Or was it worth protecting that heir with everything they had, that even if Lambert fell, he would know that he had Gustave, Rodrigue, and if it came to it, even Matthias, to guide and protect Dimitri until he came of age to become king, and even after? It's very like Lambert, and his many progressive ideas and schemes. There was risk, and there was reward, but on this occasion, that risk did pay off. But would this work on a larger scale in Faerghus? Perhaps not.

Three Hopes told us time and again that the way each noble house of Faerghus inherits is largely independent, picked by themselves based on what they believed was in their best interest for their people at the time. That much is true, and the reason so many of them have multiple children each generation is because it's something that has worked for them, whether it is up in the northeast where the stakes are high for the value of a relic and that trying again and again until a child bore a crest could pay dividends in the long haul, or in the more southerly territories that benefitted from having options to pick for aptitudes and exceptional abilities that would draw glory and award for their House, if not dowry and lineage.

To conclude, I think that it's actually quite apt to say that Faerghus children are really meant to be raised like a bunch of lion cubs. You don't just have a single cub. You need a whole pile of them, from different lions and lionesses, and raise them together. That's what Faerghus kids are made of.

[squeaky-potat]

Thank you @callmeoops for your drawing request of Rodrigue and Matthias!

I am a big fan of the Faerghus dads. ✨

I’m still taking FE3H requests! If you’d like so see a character or set of characters in this style, send me an ask! Please indicate pre time-skip, post time-skip or three hopes outfit(s). I want to thank everyone for their requests and patience as I work through as many as I can. (There have been a lot of requests, so again thanks for your patience!) ✨