#looking into 3H's iteration of Claude only further highlights how little fucks were given to Hopes!Claude

[butwhatifidothis]

Covering their names just in case but

Explain CF then.

Byleth sides with Edelgard before the timeskip. Byleth chooses Edelgard’s violent ways of disposing of Rhea, which are extremely similar to Hopes!Claude’s way of disposing of Rhea (invade the Kingdom that gave her refuge and kill her). So if Byleth is the key factor here in Claude choosing or not choosing to enact violence onto Rhea, then why would Byleth themselves choosing violence not thus influence Claude to enact violence? Why would Claude oppose Edelgard for the entire war, up until she quite literally forces him out of Fodlan altogether?

Byleth would’ve clearly lost Rhea’s approval after siding with the one side of Fodlan trying to murder her, which would mean that Claude would’ve also, by this logic, been influenced to also try to murder her since now there’s no successor to take on Fodlan after Rhea. If his Hopes and 3H versions were genuinely in line with each other, then CF!Claude would’ve joined Edelgard off the rip. If Claude feels that Byleth not being approved by Rhea would make him get rid of her by force... then why does Byleth not getting approved by Rhea NOT make him get rid of her by force?

Like, I can post shit that comes from WC, VW, AM, SS, I can even post shit he mentions that happens well before the game’s plot and story. But the thing that arguably most definitively debunks Hopes!Claude’s existence (past Part 2) is actually CF. Rhea is depicted as the big bad that has to be killed to gain peace, Byleth is opposing Rhea and has this be a known fact since before the five year timeskip, and Edelgard - just like she does in Hopes - doesn’t bother talking with Claude even the slightest until AFTER she’d already invaded his land. But despite that, Claude - despite having no wins against the Empire unlike in Hopes, and despite having far fewer people on his side unlike in Hopes, and despite not having to deal with Almyra unlike in Hopes (and in fact having them be straight up ALLIES here who are NEVER said to have invaded during the timeskip) - does. Not. Side. With. Edelgard. 

Despite “but he was under duress from the Empire!” being MORE TRUE IN 3H than in Hopes, and despite Byleth ACTIVELY APPROVING OF KILLING RHEA unlike in Hopes, he doesn’t side with Edelgard! Even to try and trick her! Almost like that ain’t had SHIT to do with why he did or didn’t side with her, and it was HIS BASE MORALS THAT HE HAS IN HIS BASE CHARACTER THAT NO ONE INSTILLED INTO HIM that influenced him to not side with Edelgard! Crazy idea, but Claude’s his own character with his own internal reasoning for doing things that don’t have to necessarily be tied with Byleth, or Rhea, or the Church, or anything or anyone else for him to have!

And also, Hopes!Edelgard may not have ever been the Flame Emperor to the students of Garreg Mach, but “never did fishy things”? Bruh, did you forget the whole part where she

RANDOMLY WAGED WAR ON EVERYONE???

When she invaded the Alliance and Claude says, quote, “The Central Church is headquartered at Garreg Mach. And the fastest way to get there is straight through Alliance territory. So far, the Empire hasn’t tried to negotiate with us at all. Which means they plan to force their way through here”? That thing that Edelgard literally does, and then literally goes on to lie about? Those things that Hopes!Claude just doesn’t give a shit about for no reason, and then GOES ON TO DO HIMSELF TOWARDS THE KINGDOM? 

And Edelgard’s “compromise” isn’t even that great considering that both Claude and Holst know that once the Kingdom is gone the Empire will likely use their superior might to force over majority/complete reign over the Faerghus region before making Leicester into a vassal state. In Hopes!Claude’s own mind, she still doesn’t genuinely respect Leicester as an independent state - he just... doesn’t give a shit about doing anything about that. He just keeps going on mindlessly attacking the Kingdom anyway because, at this point, Who Fuckin’ Cares Lol. 

Hopes!Claude is intrinsically contradictory and thus can not and does not make sense. To himself or to 3H!Claude. His character’s writing is treated with no respect and only has the purpose of “giving something different” without any care put into making that different thing any kind of sensical. Sorry, but I’m just not gonna bother trying to make sense of a character the writers clearly didn’t give a shit about after a very blatant point in their story