#same for Edelgard and Flame Emperor

[p3ta]

hope my eight followers notice the trend that i am obsessed with two guys (gender neutral) who are one guy

[cherrypikkins]

Here is my contribution to the final prompt from @fe-oc-week! Oct 15 - Endings

With some fake game ending cgs for Kitt :3

No extra lore write-up today! Instead, I've included some sample battle dialogue below the cut. Do enjoy :3

Background generously provided by @damnilovefaerghus

vs transformed Miklan (Conand Tower, White Clouds):

Kitt: "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this… But that's why I'm here."

Kitt: "Listen, Professor. If you can crack its armor, I'll make quick work of it."

Kitt: "But if you want to give your students an impromptu lesson on how to fell a Demonic Beast… I won't object."

If ordered to attack transformed Miklan: Kitt: "Fine, then. Allow me to show you how it's done."

vs Edelgard:

(Battle of Garreg Mach, pre-time skip)

Edelgard: "You and I are not so different, Kitt. I know you wish to be free of the Church's machinations. We might have walked this path together, had you trusted me."

Kitt: "This is rich, coming from the Flame Emperor herself. Your entire reign is built on lies and secrets. I can't trust you any more than I can trust the Church."

Kitt: "And as they say, better the devil you know…"

(Battle at Enbarr, Silver Snow/Verdant Wind)

Kitt: "Edelgard. Let Rhea go. I don't know what you have planned for her, but she and I have a score to settle."

Edelgard: "I am not concerned with vendettas of the ancient past, nor will they have a place in Fodlan's new dawn."

Edelgard: "You of all people should understand what it's like to be powerless, to have all control over your own fate wrested away by the likes of Rhea and her ilk."

Edelgard: "Knowing that, how can you truly wish for her to walk free?"

Kitt: "Because no one deserves to be buried underground, sealed away from the rest of the world and forgotten, left to the mercy of their jailers."

Kitt: "Believe me, I do understand."

(Battle at Enbarr, Azure Moon)

Kitt: "That's quite the transformation, Edelgard. Well done. You've already mastered what I've had to practice in secret for years."

Kitt: "But surely you must know what happens to monsters like you and me. I'll cut you down, same as all the rest.

Hegemon Edelgard: "You are welcome to try."

vs Seteth:

(Battle at Garreg Mach, pre time-skip, Crimson Flower)

Seteth: "Of all people, I thought you would have learned not to repeat the mistakes of the past."

Seteth: "Stand down, lest I be forced to repeat some mistakes of my own."

Kitt: "Seteth. Didn't you promise long ago that the people of Annwen would suffer no harm under your protection?"

Kitt: "I've been meaning to talk to you about that. But for now, it looks like we'll have to fight each other instead."

(Battle at Garreg Mach, post time-skip, Crimson Flower)

Kitt: "Hello, Seteth. You've quite the nerve to show your face around here."

Seteth: "You took the words out of my mouth."

Seteth: "To think, after everything we've tried to do for you, you would once again betray our trust and bear teeth against your own family."

Kitt: "Ha. You're one to talk about trust or family. Even that kid you called 'sister' was getting tired of your never-ending charade."

Seteth: "You will not drag Flayn into this! No matter who you are, know that I will destroy you to safeguard her if I must!"

Kitt: "Then you should have thought about that before bringing her here."

(If Kitt defeats Seteth)

Kitt: "Take Flayn and leave Garreg Mach - now - before I end your life. This is the only chance I'm giving you. I suggest you take it."

Seteth: "I… I understand. We will not meet again."

Seteth: "Regardless of everything else… I am grateful for your mercy. It is certainly more than we have shown you, and more than either of us deserve."

Kitt: "Don't come back."

vs Flayn:

(Battle at Garreg Mach, pre time-skip, Crimson Flower)

Flayn: "Kitt, what are you doing? You cannot truly mean to fight us! We're your family!"

Kitt: "You and I seem to have wildly different ideas about how this 'family' is supposed to work."

Kitt: "For example, if you get to call Seteth 'brother'… where does that leave me?"

Flayn: "I… That's not…"

Kitt: "Not what? Not fair?"

Kitt: "I'll tell you what else isn't fair - being treated like some lost broken toy you can fix and heal until I'm good as new. Better than new. Until there's nothing left of the old me."

Kitt: "Why couldn't you just let me stay asleep forever?"

(Battle at Garreg Mach, post time-skip, Crimson Flower)

Flayn: "Why are you doing this, Kitt?"

Kitt: "Not one step closer, Flayn."

Flayn: "Tell me, I beg of you! I wish only to understand! In what way have I done you wrong? What must I do to make amends?"

Kitt: "Enough! I know you only have the best wishes at heart, but I won't serve as a vessel for your good intentions."

Kitt: "And unlike you, I refuse to spend the rest of my life hiding behind a web of lies and secrets."

Flayn: "Kitt… I know not what to say. To think that it should come to this…"

(If Kitt defeats Flayn)

Kitt: "Find your father and go. Leave this place and never come back."

Flayn: "I… Yes. I will do as you say."

Flayn: "I wish you nothing but happiness for the rest of your days. Good-bye, Kitt."

Kitt: "…Good-bye, Flayn."

vs Rhea:

(Final Battle, Silver Snow)

Kitt: "This is just like what happened at Annwen… and the day I was struck down."

Kitt: "Rhea. This disaster is of your own making. But to suffer like this is too much for anyone to bear - even you."

Kitt: "Like all the beasts I've felled before, I'll put an end to your pain."

(Battle at Garreg Mach, pre-time skip, Crimson Flower)

Rhea: "I see you are determined stand against me here once more, after all the mercy I've shown you, after every second chance I've given. You truly are the capricious one, aren't you?"

Kitt: "I discarded that name long ago. It's just Kitt now."

(Battle at Tailtean, Crimson Flower)

Seiros: "You. I know what you are. I've seen your true face, for it has haunted me since that day I struck you down."

Seiros: "I did everything in my power to make amends, to restore you to full glory, just like she bade me. And yet once more, I must destroy you where you stand."

Kitt: "You still haven't figured it out, have you? She set you up with an impossible task. It was never in your power to reverse the deeds of the past."

Kitt: "No matter how hard you try, some things can never be fixed, nor healed, nor restored to what they once were. She was trying to teach you a lesson."

Kitt: "But it's fine. I've moved on from that. And so can you."

Seiros: "You know I cannot. I was never as quick to change as you are. Nor will I stop trying to bring her back, even if you are determined to betray her memory time and time again."

(Battle of Fhirdiad, Crimson Flower)

The Immaculate One: "You! Miserable, conniving serpent who dares hide itself among the flock!"

The Immaculate One: "You are not worthy of her blessing! Not worthy of her blood! I should have sealed you in your own grave while I had the chance!"

Kitt: "Yes, you should have. But don't be sad. The moment you're gone from this world, I won't be far behind."

As enemy, if not recruited:

(Battle at Garreg Mach, post-time skip, Crimson Flower, if Kitt not recruited)

Kitt: "It's a shame we can't catch up, for old time's sake. Too bad I must ask you to move."

Kitt: "…Or by all means, keep on testing me. You're not going to like what happens next, and neither am I."

If defeated:

Kitt: "Into the dark, once more. Maybe this time…forever."

vs Byleth:

(Battle at Garreg Mach, post-time skip, Crimson Flower, if Kitt not recruited)

Kitt: "Professor. Did I ever tell you? How much you remind me of someone I once knew?"

Kitt: "Long ago, she told me that the moment I've decided who my people are, I must fight to protect them with everything I have. Even if it means defying the Goddess herself."

Kitt: "…I suppose you don't know or remember, do you? Yet here you are, following in her example, just as I am doing now."

TWISTD Members:

vs Solon

(Remire Village)

Kitt: "I should have known it was you. You're the one who started all this. First my village, and now…Remire."

Solon: "So now you know who I am, Ghost of Annwen. But if you think I'm but simple prey for you to hunt down, you are gravely mistaken!"

(Sealed Forest)

Solon: "Take not one step closer, Demon of Annwen! Lest your weakness for these beasts prove your undoing!"

Kitt: "What's the matter, Tomas? I thought you always dreamed of finding out how the story ends."

vs Kronya

Kronya: "You don't scare me. You're nothing but a stupid ghost story! I'll send you back to the filthy grave you crawled up from, you little freak!"

Kitt: "So you've heard of me from your darling bedtime stories. I guess I won't have to explain what happens to you next."

vs Cornelia

Cornelia: "Well now. This really won't do. I'll have to put an end to you quickly."

Kitt: "And I'll be sure to end you slowly."

vs Thales

Thales: "You insatiable wretch! That you would choose to menace me now, here, of all places!"

Kitt: "Don't look so shocked. I did promise I'd be back for the rest of you, didn't I?"

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking "Fire Emblem: 3 Houses"

(Spoilers ahead, obviously)

The time has come for another rewrite! I'm an amateur (re)writer, and I KNOW people are gonna be picky about this rewrite since many consider this entry the Holy Grail of the "Fire Emblem" series, but I hope you'll still be open to my changes, anyway! This is purely subjective and not something that reflects the fandom's opinion or me saying how to make the game objectively "better" (even though the term itself is subjective). I don't remember every single aspect of the game, so if I mention something that I wanted from the game that they actually DID do, be sure to mention it!

General

DON'T RUSH US!--From the get-go, you're on a fixed schedule. Once you become a professor, you've got one day out of the week to explore the grounds, fight battles/do paralogues/xenologues, or another activity. Every Monday, you've gotta do instruction for your student, and the other days literally breeze by until you get to your next story arc. Letting us go at our own leisure would be awesome, particularly since it'd give us more time to get to know our characters via more missions and xenologues. Between school and war, it can get a bit monotonous.

2. Give us impactful dialogue options instead of the illusion of choices--I have the same issue with "Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon." Throughout the game, we're given dialogue options, but most of the time the choices are identical or offer no affect other than a character's approval/disapproval. It felt annoying to have the option to tell the Flame Emperor that you'd join them, only for them to say they could tell you were lying. It's annoying stuff like that that makes it feel like you don't really need dialogue options at all, just cutscenes with Byleth speaking for themselves.

3. Those Who Slither in the Dark being keeping us in the loop--It's wild to me that the people who did the most damage are the most underused in the game. Someone said that making their deeds more pronounced/known would ruin the point, but I disagree. In Crimson Flower, their role in the Tragedy of Duscur is revealed, but Edelgard defeats them offscreen before restoring peace. Dimitri never learns the full truth of this in Azure Moon, and if I recall, the organization does get more attention in Silver Snow (for like 2-3 chapters) and Verdant Wind, but I can't recall for certain. Either way, I feel like each route should feel complete, given that you're playing completely different stories, rather than it feeling like you're missing some information depending on the route you play. Not to mention, Kronya deserves better, even if I'm retconning her actions (more on that in a second)...

4. Don't make us forget about marriage--having to find a ring sucks. After Jeralt dies, you have a certain amount of time in order to find his marriage ring (which I completely forgot about in my first playthrough) that you NEED if you want to reach S-supports with anyone. I'd prefer if Jeralt just gave it to Byleth rather than us having to go to his office and find it.

5. Change the confusing Byleth bloodline--I'm fine with Sitri being either Rhea's daughter or (if you wanna romance Rhea and Sothis without ethical concerns) simply working at the church where she met Jeralt. The family tree above makes things a lot more confusing than what it needs to be.

6. Marriage to (mostly) whoever, whenever--In the game, you have to wait until after the war is over to be married, and out of them, you only have 5 romantic same-sex options for female Byleth--2 of which are route-exclusive--and 3 options for male Byleth--2 of which are either DLC or route-exclusive. I'd rather make it a free-for-all, save for Gilbert and Alois, who are married, and should've never prevented you from a romantic relationship with another character.

7. Keep Jeralt alive--I'm just...I'm just TIRED of the "dead parent/evil parent" storyline that "Awakening," "Fates," and "Engage" have done, along with "3 Houses." I'd enjoy having Jeralt kept alive, in this version. Nevermind, this is probably the longest a protagonist has gotten to keep their parent in one of the recent FE games. Having him stand by Byleth similar to "3 Hopes" would be awesome.

8. Let us have Child units--As someone who got into the series via "Fates" and "Awakening," it disappointed me greatly that child units were removed. While I prefer "Fates" using the Deeprealms, I think an "Awakening" approach fits best here. Perhaps Sothis' time manipulation is more powerful than she knows, having sent the child units from the future to avoid their dark fates. Since it's story-related, perhaps it's Byleth's child who comes from the future first, referencing Chrom's daughter Lucina coming to save him and Emmeryn in "Awakening," only the child comes to save Byleth and Jeralt. Personally I made a lsit of fanmade child units almost a year ago.

9. Recruit Jeritzia outside of Crimson Flower--"3 Hopes" allowed us to do so as long as we had Mercedes in one of our routes, and I'm confused on why that couldn't be done here. Recruiting Mercedes would be the wakeup call Jeritzia needs to join our side, rather than being the opposition.

10. Keep Byleth's hair color--This is a nitpick, but I'd like being able to change Byleth's hair color back to the way it was before becoming one with Sothis. I'm fine with keeping the hair color, though.

11. A 3 Houses United Route--I mentioned in another post about a route where Jeralt survived, TWSITD as the main antagonists. What'd make this route unique (since I'd want the other two changes to be changed in all routes) is that the almost-death of Jeralt would inspire Byleth to leave the church and become a mercenary again, only getting involved years later once they see how the war has affected their students, and they can still recruit others based on their stats, and since they're not tied to a particular "side" in this concflict, they could recruit the house leaders and their aides rather than having to kill them.

12. Fix Dimitri's turnaround (Azure Moon)--It's probably just me, but it felt like Dimitri's vengence and sudden change of heart following Rodrigue's death felt...too quick? I know this is a hot take, but I'd have thought Rodrigue's death would've fueled Dimitri's anger. Plus I didn't feel like Dimitri's redemption (so to speak) was earned. It was just kinda "sorry for being a jerk, guys" even though the whole team seemed to back him. I'd have enjoyed seeing more moments of his sanity and morality kick in amidst the chaos rather than being one-track-minded. I feel like a lot of poorly done villain arcs do this (even if he isn't the villain of this route, per se). Since in my rewrite we learn about TWSITD, it's quite possible that Dimitri's anger is focused elsewhere in any case. Maybe Rodrigue didn't even have to die...

13. Utilize 3 Hopes designs--This may not be a popular opinion, but I think some of the characters looked better halfway in 3 Hopes than in 3 Houses. It would be nice to have the option to switch their costumes to their 3 Hopes looks instead (even though I know they're older in the 3 Houses timeskip than they are in 3 Hopes).

14. NO IGNORANT BYLETH--Instead of other installments that use the amnesia subplots, Byleth is simply kept in the dark about their parents' pasts, the world, and the church (which is kinda the same thing). I'd alleviate this entirely so we can have a mature and well-learned protagonist rather than a teacher who's just learning how the world works and about the tension in the land.

Hope you're not too upset with my version of the game! Lemme know what you think and if you have any questions. The next FE rewrite I do (whenever I get around to it) will be "Engage," which is the last FE game I've played.

[randomnameless]

Not counting “must you continue to conquer in retaliation?”, what's your favorite Supreme Reply from Edelgard?

:)

I swear if I have the time, before the end of the year, I'll make a poll about it!

Anyways!

Supreme Replies are replies that demonstrate a several lack of awareness and thus, are utterly ridiculous (like the "no u" you've mentionned) and ultimately don't make any sense.

I found some in SB !

From SB's last chapter we have those :

Thales: Foolish harridan! This land you seek dominion over is drenched in the blood of beasts! Supreme Leader : Fool I may be, but I have plenty of company— my allies and I stand ready to trample you into the dust!

"wuzzat? Beasts ? Nah, I'll come back with a witty one-liner. "

Thales just revealed the plot/the secrets of Fodlan, but she dgaf.

Rhea You boast blood of the Hresvelgs and the heart of a traitor. Your sins run deeper than all others. Supreme Leader: I wear my sins proudly, for they are the reason I fight to free Fódlan from the goddess's so- called "judgment"!

"why is she always talking about Willy damn it. Let's give another witty comeback : I wear my sins proudly (wait does it means I'm proud to have slaughtered people to come here? Oh, I'll let Hubert deal with those details) for they are the reason i fight to free Fodlan from the Goddess's so called jugdment (wait does it make sense? I slaughter people because this slaughter is the reason why I fight? to free Fodlan from your ilk? Couldn't I have said I kill people to free Fodlan from you kin? Oh! I know, I could have said I kill people to liberate Fodlan, like my idol Nemesis! I'll have Hubert give a revamped script to Dorothea to add this line in the opera she's going to play in depicting this scene.)"

SB's chapter 4 :

Rhea : Explain yourself! Why do you betray the teachings of the goddess and seek to shatter Fódlan's fragile peace? Supreme Leader : Seeing as I have no idea what you speak of, this is going to be a short discussion. Now either stand aside or face me!

"Peace? What is that? Can I let Labrunda do the talking instead?"

(That's all for Nopes, but if you found some other replies, let me know!)

From FE16:

So you're another of the goddess's vanguard. You don't have even a shred of self-awareness, do you?

Okay, in itself, this isn't a Supreme Reply - but you realise that in the same map Petra calls herself "the will of the Emperor" forgetting her allegiance to Brigid and the current situation... who lacks self-awareness?

A special one that doesn't come from a Battle :

Claude There's only one goal for grave robbers like these. Right, Flame Emperor? You're here to steal the treasure that rests within the Holy Tomb. Flamey For a fool, you catch on quickly. Those Crest Stones will be ours. That infernal power, which is masquerading as a medicine but is truly a poison, will plague this world no longer.

She insults Claude who only asks a question, and the mumbo-jumbo about medicine and poison - but I want to disqualify it, because the mumbo-jumbo that would qualify as a Supreme Reply is a lolcalisation goof to avoid sheding more light as how Flamey actually wants to use those stones laying uselessly there "neither medicine or poison" aka who could either be used to do good things, or bad things.

of course when we know what they are, we know they are not "uselessly" laying there :)

-

Edit thanks to @ezralahm!

The barbarian : Do you not believe in the power of the people to join together and rise up? Humans are weak creatures. But they are also creatures who help each other, support each other, and together, find the right path. I have learned that humans are capable of all that from the professor...and from everyone in my life. Supreme Leader : I doubt a highborn person like yourself could know how the poor feel or what motivates them.

"Do you believe in the power of friendship? If everyone works together, we're able to support each other and find a path to happiness!"

"As if highborn person like you can know what the illiterate masses - I mean, the poor, feel. But I obviously know what they feel and want, because I am not a highbor- wait let me rephrase that - Oh, alright, shut it, agree to disagree and etc etc, let me get away with my dignity intact, thank you".

And :

Random Peon : Here...you can have this! Just please don't attack the city! Supreme Leader : I never planned to touch the city. Our target is the Alliance and their leader, Claude.

"Hubert, why can't they understand? I don't want to raze their city, I want to destroy their country and get rid of their Leader! It's not the same!

"Maybe that lowlife thinks we are going to destroy Derdriu just like we destroyed Garreg Mach when we invaded it?"

"Silly Hubert, why would that useless man think so?"

-

But we all know CF is where the majority of the Supreme Replies come from !

Here :

Rhea : You must know what a fool you are. The greatest of sins is to make an enemy of the goddess herself! Supreme Leader : I have only made an enemy of the church, not of the faith.

"Wait- did she call me a fool?"

Besides, we all know what Supreme Leader thinks of the faith (she even apparently changes her pov only after talking to Manu), so this is basically... talking to say nothing.

I prefer the SB version, tbh!

Then this (it doesn't really count though, since it's not a "reply"!)

Lysithea. How unfortunate that a talented woman like you should throw her life away on a pointless battle.

"I hope she won't hold it against me when I tell her defending her home and country is pointless."

That chapter we all know and love (i know, no "no u"!)

Rhea : An ancestor of the Hresvelgs, who became Adrestia's first emperor… He saved me. Supported me. Gave his all to the cause of defeating Nemesis. That I should find myself here at Tailtean, striking down his scion… Supreme Leader : I don't advise presumptions, Rhea. I will not die by your hand.

"Why the fuck is she still raving about Willy. I know, he was stupid and dumb and saved it instead of letting it die. I know all of that! Stupid Willy. Anyways, I'll just cut her saying something cool."

In itself, that line isn't material prime to be a Supreme Reply. However, by the time you reach this penultimate chapter, Supreme Leader's feelings about Nabateans have been made clear (either in her sekrit history talk, or in both of her and Hubert's supports), they are creatures incapable of having human feelings, and later on, she textually says they are beasts who don't give a fig about human lives.

So here, Rhea angsting about Willy contradicts what she thinks, a Nabatean can have "human" feelings like sadness and regrets. But instead on focusing on those, or even saying some stuff like "yeah sure you miss my stupid ancestor because he was a pawn you manipulated, beast!", she only focuses on the witty "i will not die here" part.

Supreme Leader : So it's true. You don't value human life at all. Isn't that right, Immaculate One? Rhea : Nonsense! Fools who do not accept their own sins are undeserving of salvation! You humans are the ones who betrayed! You betrayed me, and you betrayed my mother! Supreme Leader : I did not betray you or her. I never believed in you from the beginning.

(the never believed in "you" is a lolcalisation change? In the JP version, it feels like she is more general, and says she never believed in the beginning)

"Rhea : you betrayed me and my mother the goddess"

"Supreme Leader : your mother isn't real"

Again, when the opportunity presents itself to discover more about Fodlan and what Rhea means by betrayal - but more important is Supreme Leader's "I never believed from the beginning", like, what is even the link with the betrayal Rhea's raving about? When you betray someone, it's because that someone put their trust in you, right? So Rhea is saying she trusted humanity - Supreme Leader says in reply that she never believed in Rhea, but that's like trying to fit a circle in a square - where's the link?

"You betrayed me" "I never trusted you" "uh.. yes but I did? This is why I'm calling you a traitor? Because you spat on my trust?"

----

To be honest, I'd say I prefer the last one !

She centers the conversation on herself, dodges the implications of what her foe is saying, the line is nonsensical and wants to feel cool and we have the bonus "retcon" : she never believed in the CoS and its faith to begin with (when apparently she did in her support, she prayed when she was Solon'd?).

So I'd say, for the podium :

1 "Your mother isn't real"

2 "What is peace?"

3 "No U" / "I'm stupid but I have allies!"

What are yours anon?

[moltz23]

Did a Potential Overhaul in the Post-Timeskip Cutscenes mess up with 3H's Development? - Development Mystery/Theory

Back in 2021, Nintendo released a video called Fire Emblem : Vol 1 to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary. And around 30:35, the video shows the 3H Movie "Rematch", used for Chapter 17 of the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes.

With a catch.

It's not the same one that ended up on the final game:

A glimpse into an alternate reality?

People went wild back when they noticed Edelgard and Claude in this version are using the outfits of their Emperor & Barbsrossa classes rather than the Armored Lord and Wyvern Master ones seen in the game we got, leading to much speculation surrounding what this meant for Three Houses. And it goes without saying that, while unseen, fans suspect that Dimitri uses his Great Lord outfit rather than the High Lord's in this version. So... The heck is up with this movie???

Well, as uncovered by VincentASM from sereneforest.net, it's highly likely this take of the movie shown in the promotional Nintendo/FE video is from an early build of the game. A build so early, that Edelgard skin and eyes were more saturated, and characters still didn't use unique palettes when using generic classes (which was incidentally used in February's JP Nintendo Direct of 2019).

Your call as for which version looks better.

It doesn't just end there though; if Three Houses' datamine is anything to go by - namely, the internal order the classes have in the code - we can find evidence that can answer why the endgame lord classes were used in this variation rather than the "middle ones" early on: simply put, Armored Lord, High Lord, and Wyvern Master did not exist during most of 3H' development. In turn, this explains why the Flame Emperor Class - Edelgard's enemy-only class for Part 1 - is internally, a model swap of her Emperor class rather than Armored Lord's: the latter didn't exist during development of Part 1, so Emperor was used as a base instead.

With this evidence uncovered and the answer giving resolution to the promotional footage shown, hopes waned down for the future of 3H, and everyone moved on.

This raises two questions I haven’t seen anyone point out before, though.

How much (if any) did this change mess up the post-timeskip movies? Is it the reason why the Silver Snow Theorem happened?

To explain these inquiries further, I'll go into greater detail about each one:

1. Two Types of Animated Movies.

Corporate needs you to find the differences between these two pictures.

Three Houses uses 2 types of animated movies for important scenes. The first one (see the one on the left), was done in-house by KT through pre-rendering shenanigans with the 3H engine. Meanwhile, the second one (on the right) was outsourced to SANZIGEN.

The distinction between both is relevant because the movie showcased in the FE Castle Conversations video - as well its final version - belong to the former category. Meaning that, should the character designs get tweaked during development, in the best case scenario, as far IS & KT were concerned, swapping models should be enough to keep things up to date, which might as well be what happened with the "Rematch" movie once the House Leader's main post-timeskip designs were swapped.

But what about tweaking the other type of movies, though? The ones commissioned to the animation studio? I can't imagine the whole process being cheap in their case, more so given that 8 out of the 11 movies commissioned to SANZIGEN feature the 3H lords post-timeskip:

What's important here is that ☆ = Doesn't feature any 3H lord in any capacity.

Granted, the smartest course of action in this instance would've been to simply commission the post-timeskip movies near the end of development to avoid consistency/revision issues, for which there is a plausible chance that’s the case. After all, in the E3 2018 trailer for the game - which was the first instance we ever saw footage of it - the only animated movie outsourced seen was the one from the intro.

But... What if that’s not the case?

Call me paranoid if you want, but I raise this worry for a reason-

2. "The Theorem of What?????"

Love this banner so much.

A few months ago I did a breakdown on how 3H distributes it's movies across routes, and if there's anything that stood up a ton besides the predictable stuff, is that the game followed a clear pattern which determined which routes would get the most movies, versus which ones would get screwed instead. In my breakdown, I coined this pattern "The Silver Snow Theorem" which proposes the following:

"The amount of movies and fullscreen CGs present in a route’s main story by Part 2, is directly and inversely proportional respectively, to how much the narrative follows Silver Snow’s story beats."

And as a refresher, Silver Snow matters to the development of Three Houses because: A. That's the first route the developers worked on; and B. was used as the basis for the other 3:

Which route specifically did you create in the beginning to establish the world-building? Kusakihara: It was one of the two paths in the Empire route—the one fans refer to as the “church route”: “Silver Snow” [...] afterwards, we had Koei Tecmo’s scripting team start work on the nitty-gritty of the other house leaders and the story of their respective routes.

While Silver Snow having this much influence over the Part 2 movies is noticeable in hindsight, truth be told, I did initially brush it off as just a side effect of being used as a template for development. Looking back now though, a part of me now wonders if the Part 2 movies were first commissioned once Silver Snow was late into development and AM and VW had been already decided to borrow a ton from the route’s first half. Because if that’s the case, then there might have been cutscenes outsourced to SANZIGEN that did feature Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude with their second post-timeskip lord classes rather than one ones fans are most familiar with.

But then, it was decided during development that the house leaders would rather use different outfits instead. And this might have caused problems with budget since changing those outsourced cutscenes ain’t an easy task compared to the ones KT made in-house.

Like, seriously.

Goes without saying that all this is merely conjecture. But I feel it’s worth making the question because, to reiterate, the Silver Snow Theorem highlights that the more a route follows Silver Snow’s story beats to a tee, the more animated cutscenes (and less CGs) it gets. And given evidence points out the lord’s main post-timeskip classes fans are familiar with were a late addition… I guess y’all know where I’m going by now.

I usually don’t make threads focusing on fan theories and stuff, but this has been in my mind for a long while so I wanted to see what you guys think about it. Do you think more movies with the lord’s 2nd classes got made before the outfit swap was made? Or perhaps the issue the devs ran with that caused the Silver Snow Threorem might be due to something else entirely…? Also, what's y'all's opinion on SANZIGEN's movies compared to the ones done by KT?

[fantasyinvader]

Adding on to Azure Moon's “humans can do horrible things while still trying to claim they're the good guys and/or the victims,” the parley has a deeper meaning.

Edelgard has a bit of a habit of... not giving a shit about those she's sacrificing. There was no hint about her past relationship with Monica in the base game, she put a hit on her classmates right at the start of the year, she says she'll do the same as Lonato, tries to claim Duscur had nothing to do with her while in the Japanese says she doesn't care about it instead, you get the idea.

In the parley scene, Edelgard tries to claim that her sacrificing people is necessary because otherwise the state of the world will claim more victims. She's trying to use the “I killed millions to save billions” argument. But the parley reveals more to it than that. Edelgard claims she's doing this for the weak and silent, with her belief that by forcing people to rely on themselves people will become strong. Dimitri, on the other hand, points out that some people need to rely on others in order to survive, using himself as an example. His argument is that by forcing people to rely on only themselves, there are people who are going to die as they won't be able to survive in Edelgard's ideal world. Her world will claim it's own victims as it's a world for those who don't need others, which Edelgard defines as the strong. And it's those she says are strong that are the only ones who will get a voice in Edelgard's system. Edelgard's response is that the weak are to blame for that.

Edelgard claims she's doing this to prevent future victims, but is currently creating and will continue to create more victims herself. She says she does this for the weak and the silent, but the weak won't have a voice in her system. Moreover, Edelgard blames the weak if they fail to become strong rather than acknowledge her system failed them. And that's not even touching how Edelgard removes anyone from power, making them weak and silent, for opposing her.

And all of this so Edelgard can push her ideals onto everyone, an act Dimitri sees as selfish. And it's those same ideals Dimitri (as well as Cipher) say are embodied Edelgard's Hegemon Husk form. Edelgard has possibly sent Dorothea and Petra, her last two remaining Black Eagles if not recruited, to fight alongside Hubert while she turns herself into a monster. She throws away her humanity in pursuit of power. Edelgard served those ideals, and that's how she turned up.

There's also the fact those ideals were informed by the history her father, a puppet of Thales, told her. AM has scenes talking about the little girl Dimitri once knew, before Thales got his hands on her. The Hegemon Husk can therefore be seen not just as emblematic of Edelgard's ideals and her service to them, but also the influence Thales has had on her.

At the end of Azure Moon, Edelgard and her ideals are defeated and Dimitri offers Edelgard his support. She responds trying to kill him. Dimitri then goes on to allow the weak and the silent to speak up for themselves in politics, but even in their end cards there's a difference between the two. Edelgard stands above everyone else in hers, trampling over their flags with weapon at the ready. Dimitri lowers himself, sitting on a stump interacting with children while his relic is sheathed while soldiers are handing out food. Edelgard remains a hegemon and the Flame Emperor as her ideals are served in the end titles, Dimitri is given the messianic title of Savior King by the people he served. Edelgard's path leads to hadou despite her saying she'll quit that in her Japanese S support, Dimitri's the benevolent oudou.

The only way to stop the suffering of the people is to stop Edelgard, Azure Moon shows it's for the good of the people. The parley is the moment where players are supposed to understand this, realizing that she is full of shit. Just because Dimitri lets her explain herself and why she thinks she's right doesn't make the story grey, it in effect was her being given a piece of rope and ended up hanging herself in the process.

[balanceoflightanddark]

"And the less said about Dimitri, the King of Faerghus, the better."

What exactly do you mean by that? Not asking in an angry way, I'm just genuinely curious. Your Edelgard analysis was really well done. This line just stuck out to me is all.

...sighs...

I'll be perfectly honest, I am the last person qualified to be talking about Dimitri. See...I'm not exactly his biggest fan. At all. In fact in a lot of ways, I sort of see him the same way I see Zuko from the comics which I have talked about at length before.

But, I will attempt to be as civil as I can. Just letting everyone know ahead of time so we all know what to expect.

Alright.

Dimitri is in many ways the opposite of Edelgard. Whereas Edelgard is extremely controversial within the fandom, Dimitri is lionized (heh) by large parts of the fandom. Mainly, since he's Edelgard's rival (for lack of better terms), he's seen as the "hero".

And he is certainly presented that way. His story and route are the most classical narrative possible. A crown prince disgraced from his kingdom returns to take back his thrown from usurpers and bring peace to his land. He even gets to kill a monster (Hegemon Edelgard) at the end of his route. It's a familiar story which a lot of people can latch onto.

...the problem is that Dimitri acts as a sort of deconstruction of this kind of character. If Edelgard is the villain who is virtuous, then Dimitri is the hero who is morally bankrupt.

Now he doesn't begin this way, of course. He starts out as the head of the Blue Lions class in Garreg Mach, one of the classes you could end up teaching. He starts out as the classical prince. You know, caring about taking the throne. Wanting to restore honor to Faerghus. That sort of thing.

Well like Edelgard, he has a very dark past.

Dimitri is the sole survivor of an incident known as the Tragedy of Duscur, which resulted in the deaths of the entire Royal Family aside from him. Needless to say, he has a lot of baggage. Particularly against the Flame Emperor who masterminded the whole thing.

So when he finds out that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor well...

It's not too pretty.

When the war breaks out, he gives sanctuary to the Archbishop and the Knights and is basically all hellbent on putting Edelgard's head on a pike to avenge his family's deaths. Alright fair enough.

...there's just one problem. Edelgard wasn't responsible for the massacre since she was just a child at the time. It was her uncle who was the Flame Emperor at the time and masterminded the whole thing. Further complicating things is that Edelgard doesn't even have much beef with Dimitri to begin with. She's after the Church. So when Dimitri allies with the Church, he just dragged Faerghus and his whole people into the war for a chance at vengeance.

And he's pretty much driven by this need for vengeance during his phase as "the Boar King". It's here when...uh...he becomes pretty reprehensible. He tortures his prisoners, he goes on and on about butchering his enemies, and he treats his troops like absolute garbage. One of his most notable quotes is when he basically says he's going to use his people until the flesh falls right off their bones.

While it could be argued that this was before his redemption during AM or AG in Hopes and he does become a bit better before his route ends...he's still not the king that his people needs at the end of his story. For one, he upholds the Crest System in his ending, which I've delved into and basically said was downright abusive and encourages instability. The Church who enforced this system is still in power. We don't even see him dealing with TWSITD, since he lets them go during the last battle so he can deal with Edelgard. Mind you, Edelgard DID have a plan to deal with TWSITD once the war was over. Effectively, this whole mess can easily start again. Something that's reflected in a lot of the AM endings since there's a lot of widespread rebellion and fighting once he takes the throne.

What's worse, he enforces the traditions of Faerghus because "they're all they have left"...even though Faerghus's traditions emphasize warriors and militarism to the point it resembles Sparta in terms of brutality. Hell, it's part of the reason why Dimitri's so violent since he's a product of his environment. Doesn't justify a damn thing he did, but you at least understand where he came from. Which makes it galling that he lays the seeds for another Boar King to happen.

The only thing I can say about Dimitri is...I'm pretty sure his character was deliberate. In any other route he gets killed off swearing vengeance against his enemies and trying to continue to cut a bloody swathe through Fodlan. In many ways, he works as a deconstruction of that classical hero. Avenging his family becomes a rampage of revenge where more families suffer. He retakes the throne, but does not ensure peace. And his "villain" turns out to be the wrong person in the grand scheme of things. I feel Dimitri works best as a hero gone horribly wrong. Something that I feel that a lot of people overlook and are willing to whitewash him into being the true "hero" who brought democracy to Fodlan.

Which...he didn't.

[boomgun]

Edelgard and Faith

Edelgard's role in the story is really funny. Because it is somewhat at odds with who she is. Okay, yes, I know, we all know The Edge Of Dawn is from Edelgard's POV, so we all kind of know this is a core aspect of the plot, but I am talking about an aspect of the character that is at odds with a role many thinks she takes to completely naturally. Edelgard's role as someone who rejects the creed of the dominant institution of the setting while being someone who cannot stop believing in things greater than herself.

First things first, let's interrogate a thing in Edelgard's backstory that I think people overlook too much or take for granted too much. In Azure Moon we have that scene where Dimitri attempts to negotiate an end to the war with Edelgard. In that scene, Dimitri argues that Edelgard seeking to abolish the Church of Seiros is wrong because many rely on faith in the Goddess, to which Edelgard retorts that she prayed to the Goddess once and received no salvation in her darkest moment. This is obviously in reference to Edelgard's backstory of being tortured and experimented upon to give her the Crest of Flames, to which many conclude that Edelgard must have been devout before the experience and lost that afterward. Thing is, a lot of people in the setting of 3 Houses are devout to varying degrees and, to be blunt, who would not try prayer in a situation like that. Not saying this undermines what Edelgard is trying to say, but you could argue she was not exactly a devout believer she just prayed in desperation, and it did not work. It could be why Edelgard thinks faith is a weakness in her Manuela supports, she only resorted to prayer in a moment of stress and vulnerability and it did her no good. It is a scene that I think people take the wrong point in, Edelgard is saying that the Church does not actually provide any support or protection to the vulnerable, she is not exactly talking about her own loss of faith.

However! I do agree that Edelgard was likely a devout person before The Horrible Incident. I just do not think the evidence comes solely from that scene. This calls for Even More Edelgard Backstory. In the Goddess Tower, Edelgard can reveal that her mother, Anselma, had been exiled from Enbarr, where Edelgard lived most of her childhood, for as long as Edelgard can remember (her own words). Moreover, in the same scene, we also learn that Anselma was not even Ionius's legal wife, that the Adrestian Emperors' have multiple spouses to produce as many children as possible. So, Edelgard has a father who for a bevy of reasons likely cannot give her the full attention a child may want and her mother is exiled. This leaves Edelgard's uncle, Volkard Arundel, the brother of Anselma, to rear Edelgard. We do not know much of Volkard, because by the time we meet the dude he has already been killed and replaced by a shapeshifter for several years and counting. What does this have to do with Edelgard being invested in the Church of Seiros? Back to the Blue Lions, Dimitri in 3 Houses and 3 Hopes uncovers that Volkhard had been replaced by an imposter, because suddenly Volkard stopped giving incredibly generous donations to the Church of Seiros after the Tragedy of Duscur (that thing Volkhard's imposter helped orchestrate). To simplify this paragraph, Edelgard's childhood ward was her uncle Volkhard who was a huge supporter of the Church of Seiros. Being brought up like that does not guarantee Edelgard would be as devout as Volkard, lots of kids do grow up to not share their guardians' religion, but it is certainly much more evidence when in tandem to Edelgard's later statement to Dimitri in Azure Moon.

Okay, with this lore dump out of the way to establish that Edelgard was *likely* a true believer in the Church of Seiros, how does that relate to the thesis statement of this post? Let's repeat: Edelgard rejects the setting's dominant religion, even tells Manuela that she thinks faith is a weakness, but this is in contrast to a core part of who she herself is. Because what does Edelgard do? Become a cynic, not believe in anything, doubt the idea of higher causes? No! She does quite the opposite, look at her! She decides that the Church must be toppled, that the continent must be freed from its influence and social structures, that she has carte blanche to trample over anyone who gets between her and her goals. Edelgard wants people to believe in her and her dream as much as she herself believes in it. She started believing in things more, not less! Edelgard does have a tendency to buy into cynicism, to be sure, her alliance with Adrestian nobles and her own tormentors shows that she is not beyond dirty and pragmatic deals that run contrary to her own beliefs if said actions can give her more power to enforce her will. That is some cynical stuff right there! But, it is all underpinned in a faith that her ideals will win out in the end. Edelgard's virtues, her desire to build a better world and belief in the strength of people, and her vices, her tendency to bulldoze people in her way without second thought and to seize power however she has to; all come from her sense of conviction, her sense of faith.

You can argue this is the core of the Character shift between Edelgard in CF and Edelgard in other routes; the dividing line between her more heroic and more villainous self (we can debate on how well CF executed this another day). In a lot of the non-CF routes, Edelgard talks about ideals of justice, of strength, and of freedom; abstract things that, while noble, make her somewhat cold and inhumane. In CF, the story ends with Edelgard making a statement on the importance of human connection, and she also has a bunch of scenes where she simps for Byleth that is supposed to prove her growing sense of connection with others (I AM TRYING TO NOT BE SALTY ABOUT THE EXECUTION, I REALLY AM). Edelgard as a Hero or Villain simply rests on how much her beliefs are high in the sky or walking on the earth among the people she wants to help. But, neither her damnation or salvation can take away Edelgard's belief in something greater, be it the Goddess or Humanity.

Which is interesting, right? Edelgard does not challenge the preconceived notions of her setting because she is someone who naturally questions, that's Claude who does that. Rather, Edelgard is someone who deeply and strongly believes in things, and when that belief is proven to be hollow, she just tosses it aside and picks up a new one with all the same passion as the previous one. She's a weird combination of pragmatically flexible and zealously stubborn. That's neat, right? It's contradictory, nonsensical, kind of silly, but so human to be at odds with oneself and yet not at all.

Edelgard takes the role of the one who most strongly doubts the most influential institution in the story, but she herself could never be called a doubter or skeptical person; Edelgard is arguably the biggest believer of abstract and incorporeal things in the story and that is what drives her to doubt. I think that's neat.

I could also talk about how neat this is in contrast to her other traits like her ruthlessness or arrogance, but this would take this insane ramble off the rails. So, I will save those takes for later. Thank you for your patience to read through all of this insanity.

[raxistaicho]

Fantasy Invader: Master of all five elements!

Wake up losers, Fantasy Invader is analyzing symbolism again!

So to give a bit of backstory, this all began with Ezralahm making a joking post comparing the four saints to the Four Holy Beasts.

I wouldn't at all be surprised if IS drew from them for Macuil and Indech - Eastern media LOVES using the four beats for symbolism - but it just kinda crumbles to pieces with anything more than a basic examination.

For instance, the Black Tortoise is associated with the cardinal direction of north, but Indech is to the west, and the Vermillion Bird is associated with the south but Macuil is to the north. All the Nabateans are dragons so they're all kinda the Azure Dragon, and none of them have tiger-like traits so who is the White Tiger? But she was mostly just joking around with how Flayn's latest Heroes skin (at least at the time) had her dressing as a cat, so I'm not gonna fuss.

But then Fantasy Invader took a crack at analyzing it more seriously. And I can't pass up the opportunity to demonstrate why his analytical ability is both underdeveloped and extremely motivated.

Another thing is the Yellow Dragon connects to the story of the Yellow Emperor as when he died, the Yellow Emperor is said to have transformed into the yellow dragon and ascended to the heavens (which, in turn, is why dragons are a symbol of enlightenment). Now, why is this important? Because the Yellow Emperor was the one who defeated the FLAME EMPEROR.

The problem, because of course there is one, is that the Yellow Emperor was associated with water, in contrast to the Yan Emperor being associated with fire. Byleth is associated with fire, not water.

Byleth doesn't have any water imagery associated with them at all.

Also, as Ezralahm pointed out, the Yellow Dragon would be Rhea, not Byleth, but the issue there is that the Yellow Dragon is associated with earth, and... well.

The Nabatean Earth Dragon is not Rhea, but Seteth. Rhea was a Sky Dragon.

Also, bringing in further issues, the Vermillion Bird is associated with Fire, but Macuil was a Wind Dragon, and the White Tiger and the Azure Dragon were Metal and Wood, respectively, but Seteth and Flayn are Earth and Light, respectively.

Like I said, there are relations to the four beasts, but they're very very surface-level.

Anyways, moving on,

Not only that, but the Yellow Dragon is tied to the element of earth as well as the Chinese version of quintessence (ergo, heaven and Earth), and changing of the seasons (as well as late summer). Changing of the seasons, in a game with each route tied on one season.

Okay, but the problem is Byleth and Sothis are associated with fire and the stars, not earth. And Byleth's route, Silver Snow, is associated with winter, not all four seasons.

The Chinese element of fire begets the earth Element, as fire reduces everything to ashes where they become part of the earth again. While fire can be positive, in excess it is said to represent hatred, impatience and impulsive behavior. Or, in other words, this can also be tied to how Edelgard brings about Byleth being the leader of Fodlan as Byleth succeeds Rhea as the leader of the Church in the center of Fodlan.

Then who's the wood person that got Edelgard to where she was? Wood begets Fire, as Fire begets Earth. You can't just stop partway with your symbolism, FI.

Hmm, the Eastern Church is in the Alliance. The direction of East is represented by the Azure Dragon, which would make it appear as though it's blue. But the ancient Chinese treated blue and green as simply different shades of the same color, much like how pink used to be just a very light red. Green is also used in relation to Almrya and Claude's route is Verdant (read Green) Wind.

And the Azure Dragon is associated with wood. Okay, so Claude got Edelgard to where she is? Well, no. In Verdant Wind, Claude doesn't create but defeats Edelgard, which reverses the wheel.

And, obviously, Claude is not ever associated with wood. He's associated with the wind, which doesn't fit any of the five elements.

Oh, and also, while he was right that blue and green are kinda confusingly synonymous in eastern cultures, Claude is associated with yellow. Not green.

Does this mean Ignatz is the true Azure Dragon!?

Considering it uses the banner of victory symbolism as Silver Snow does

The banner which looks nothing like the Buddhist banner of victory, mind you. And it uses that scene because VW is SS with Claude clumsily inserted.

the route is not just Byleth having obtained Enlightenment but Claude obtaining it as well. Claude doesn't give into his poison and remain a snake, he gets on the same level as a motherfucking dragon.

Which is changing the story as he so often says you do when you play CF over SS. In the "normal" story, SS, Claude does not join with the church and tries to go his own way.

So really, Golden Wildfire Claude really is more in line with his "canon" 3H self. At least, if you follow FI's logic and be consistent with it, which he never ever is.

And yes, he does call SS the "canon" route in this very post.

It would also put his route as the true Spring route, as that's what the Azure Dragon is tied to, tying in to how he accomplishes what Edelgard said she would except through proper means.

What blooms in spring, FI?

The fact the azure Dragon is tied to the Element of wood ties into how Byleth is supposed to be “a great tree that kindly embraces (the Golden Deer) and watches over (them) as (they) perch on its branches.”

But that's Byleth being the tree, not Claude. I thought Byleth was supposed to be earth, not wood? In that very quote FI grabbed, Marianne compares Claude to the wind, not the tree.

And Claude is like the wind, pushing us forward as we soar across the open sky…

Claude is associated with the wind, FI. Both games are very consistent about this.

While there is no Northern Church yet, the North is linked to the Black Tortoise (sometimes called the Black Warrior) intertwined with a snake (TWSITD and the damage they've done to his life and his country). It represents Winter. It wouldn't be hard to think of this as Dimitri in his black armor.

And winter, as I mentioned earlier, is Byleth's route. Snow. Autumn is Dimitri's.

But the Kingdom does have the Western Church,

The Western Church are Dimitri's enemies. Consistently.

linking it to the White Tiger. Dimitri ditches his black outfit for a white one as he becomes the good king, leader of the Blue Lions.

Heheh, NOPE. Dimitri unlocks the Great Lord class at the start of chapter 16, a full two chapters before he snaps out of Boar Mode.

So while Dimitri starts in Winter, he ends up in Autumn which corresponds to the Moon part of the game's Japanese title. This could also mean that Dimitri represents both the elements of water (which is tied to the moon, hence Azure Moon) and metal.

Except that Dimitri's not really associated with any element. Three Hopes made him associated with lightning, but eh, typical Fire Emblem trio with Edelgard and Claude had no remaining things to use but lightning. In any case, he's definitely not associated with water.

Metal can be beaten by flame (Edelgard) but water can beat fire, hinting at how the battle between the two can go either way. Earth though gives rise to metal (hence Byleth helping Dimitri succeed) while Metal beats wood (Claude, who hands over the Alliance)

So the good Dimitri will lose to Edelgard while Boar Dimitri won't? But that's not how it goes. Also, Water begets Wood and Wood begets Fire. So Dimitri created Claude created Edelgard created Byleth created Dimitri?

(Chinese, how does Metal beget Water? That doesn't make any sense!)

Also, how does metal beat wood? Metal's not adjacent to it, and your previous line of reasoning was that the earlier element in the wheel begets the next one. If metal coming before wood "beats" it, then wouldn't Edelgard beat Byleth? And also also, Dimitri doesn't kick Claude's ass and take his lands, Edelgard almost does!

If you're getting confused trying to follow along, I am too lol. This whole Pokemon-esque type advantage symbolism is a gigantic mess.

South is the Vermilion Bird, linking it to Edelgard (who wears red), her many bird-themed elements and her Southern Church. It's also linked to fire, indicating she's the Flame Emperor, as well as the season of summer.

Except Crimson Flower and Scarlet Blaze are the seasons of spring, not summer. Flowers bloom in spring.

Fire is also very, very destructive. Fire can melt metal or be defeated by water (again, how Dimitri can either defeat her or lose to her),

Except, again, he's got which Dimitri beats her reversed. By his own logic, Boar Dimitri is water, while Savior King Dimitri is metal, but SK Dimitri is the only time he can win against her.

it uses wood as a fuel (her invading the Alliance to fix her totalling the Empire's economy with the war)

FI just pulled that one completely out of his ass.

but creates earth in turn (Byleth ending up as Fodlan's ruler after defeating her in VW/SS).

But I thought Byleth was the tree!?

That's the end of that post (more or less, he rambles a bit but it's nothing important), and while I'd like to just stop here because following along with FI's train of thought is giving me a headache, but he had another post! Luckily this'll be a lot shorter.

Houses tries to link Claude to wind, but wind isn't one of the Chinese elements. Those are fire, water, earth, metal and wood unlike the western elements of earth, wind, fire, and water (no heart though). Ergo, Claude being wind makes him an outsider to this.

Well shoot, it seems like you analysis doesn't really work, does it?

Again with the blue-green stuff, this would also make Byleth a blue-haired lord/player character (the only real outliers in this regard are Corrin. Eliwood, Leif and Roy) But this would also denote that Rhea, Seteth and Flayn are trustworthy by hinting at the connection. Meanwhile, Edelgard's associated with red and black, villainous colors.

Red sure is an evil color in this series!

Edelgard's not associated with black herself. The Empire uses black for its armor, but the Black Eagles, aside from Hubert, are not associated with black. Edelgard herself wears mostly red, white, and gold in her Armored Lord and Emperor clothes.

And meanwhile,

If anyone's associated with black, it's Dimitri.

(Also fuck you for forgetting Celica and Micaiah, sexist asshole)

When you think about the game's usage of flowers, Edelgard's intendedred flower being the safflower would indicate it's a route of attraction (only revealed post-timeskip and altered to a rose in the English text),

Safflowers symbolize good luck and attracting love and marriage.

whereas the white lily Rhea wears would symbolize purity.

Very pure. Bountifully, bouncily pure.

Also wait, does this mean Rhea is a lesbian?

Whatever you have with Edelgard is meant to be superficial,

Love and marriage are superficial? Man, and I thought I was jaded.

whereas Byleth's real connection is meant to be with Rhea. That's the pure relationship.

You sound like a damn conservative, lol. Yeah, nothing purer than dating the woman who delivered you, tried to indoctrinate you, tried to eliminate your personality to get her mom back, and then called you by her mother's name during a tender moment.

Well,that's enough for now. There's only so much Fantasy Invader a man can stand. So, as usual, his symbolic analysis isn't consistent or well-researched, and it crumbles like a shitty jenga tower under the slightest scrutiny.

[kyogre-blue]

OK, up to the coronation (aka route split), but I couldn't include the coronation notes without hitting char limit.

I don't actually have too much to say here, since it's just the Kronya stuff, which... doesn't really reveal much. I'll just note that Kronya's sword has her as "Disciple Kronya" which I guess is interesting.

Since there's nothing else, I guess there's the point regarding what people know about each other going into the big part one finale:

Solon referred to Byleth as "Fell Star" already when casting Zahras, so the Agarthans had cottoned on about Byleth's situation at least in part, likely due to the Sword of the Creator.

As mentioned before, Edelgard and Hubert know that Demonic Beasts can be created artificially, and I would even say that some artificial ones already exist.

It is mentioned by several characters that Byleth's minty green color is "familiar" or "like someone else" and Flayn even directly says they match now. This is a super easy connection to make.

Seteth seems to not know that Agarthans can shapeshift, which works with Thales not wanting Kronya's body to be taken so that the specifics of their shapeshifting aren't discovered. iirc Seteth does obliquely refer to the Agarthans as being the likely culprits.

The Flame Emperor and the Death Knight being antagonists is at least known to Dimitri even though he theoretically wasn't around for the missions when we see them. Monica being an imposter is common knowledge after the fact. You doing a ceremony to receive a revelation from the goddess is common knowledge.

Anyway, the most interesting part starts after this.

Live blogging notes:

The Blue Sea star is not visible in winter. I kind of headcanon it as a planet in the same solar system, not an actual star in a different star system, but it being visible Jul to Dec and then invisible the rest of the year matches more with actual stars.

Alois doesn't like it when you blush at him lol

Alois has a wife and daughter???

Linhardt: I hate blood and killing :( (is friends with Hubert somehow)

Manuela: you need 13 charm to win; Sylvain: has 21 (albeit after the +5)

Full names: Alois Rangeld, Manuela Casagranda, Shamir Nevrand

The contestants are Sylvain (from me, because I think he's cute), Dimitri (who forced him into this?? he's so desperate NOT to get picked and yet??), and Raphael (Claude apparently showing his sense of humor).

I do not understand why the "dance competition" is doing waltz movements... alone. Especially when the dancer outfit is like that...? That's not a waltz outfit. And why are they dancing alone?! Listen, I've only seen AMVs of dancing animes but, it was definitely way cooler.

Shamir votes for Dimitri lol

You know, when GD made the promise to meet in 5 years, it was kind of cute. Not terribly meaningful, since their relationships were quite casual on the whole, but cute. Having Edelgard suggest it, knowing what she's planning barely months from now, is...... it's pretty messed up. It doesn't help that the Eagles don't really have a sense of camaraderie either.

Same cinematic for the ball. It was kind of one thing when Claude takes you by the hand and pulls you onto the dance floor (?) in GD, though the focus on Edelgard and Dimitri was pretty pointless, but here, it's just weird.

It's vaguely annoying that you can't choose who you meet at the Goddess Tower. I got Marianne on GD, and I got Ashe here... presumably because I recruited him by getting his B rank.

The chapel is within the monastery's walls.

OK, poking at the Demonic Beasts in the chapel, they are "Experimental Demonic Beasts" with "A shard from a shattered Crest Stone" embedded in their foreheads. They are a "more resilient variation." Although this won't be unique to them, they're also labelled as both "monsters" (unnatural beings wielding magic) and "dragons" (born or descended from the goddess herself).

There are 4 beasts and 3 students in trouble.

Jeralt suggests that the students being turned into beasts has "something to do with Remire," but I have come to doubt that Remire was a test run or directly related to the same research. The timeline is just too tight, and the Sothis paralogue won't make sense.

Bye, Jeralt (again).

Thales tells Kronya she must survive because there's a role he needs her to fulfil, but then Solon will kill her in like a month. In a scene later, he says that his only aim was actually to keep the mystery of their bodies from being revealed, which would happen if Kronya died (her body could be taken by the Church, I guess).

Worth noting that Seteth is very confused about Tomas and clearly does not know that Agarthans can shapeshift.

The explanation for why Byleth accepts Jeralt's death is still so weak. "It's fate," says Sothis. OK, but like, why. Because Thales said so??

Guardian Moon (January) is named after Seiros, who first appeared during this month.

The scene with Edelgard after Jeralt's death is a bit... She starts with a very tough love "have you lost the will to act" approach and discusses how no one can understand your sadness. Others can only offer the tears of an outsider. So she won't cry for you or stand still with you, she can only promise to offer her hand when the time comes for HER to move forward. Which is such a weird direction to take? What does this promise have to do with Byleth grieving?

Thales describes the Flame Emperor as their greatest creation, powerful enough to "burn even the gods." So it seems like they experimented on Edelgard specifically to create a powerful soldier who could face Rhea.

Based on this, it does seem like Edelgard targeting the church is a combination of needing to keep the Agarthans cooperating with her by going along with their aims and getting rid of the Knights in case their interfere (since the Knights supported Loog's separation from the empire). Very impersonal, despite how she sometimes frames it.

Edelgard directly tells Thales that there will be no salvation for their kind and blames them for Duscur (and the shit they caused in Enbarr, presumably the Insurrection of the Seven?).

Sylvain says that most noble children are tested at birth to see if they have a crest. Of course, he also says you can't be the heir without one, but like... Ingrid's family wants to marry her out and she's specifically the only one with the crest, so...

The dancer animation is killing me. It's so stupid.

Hubert suggests that the real aim behind Jeralt's murder was to provoke the Knights into spreading themselves thin hunting his killer.

Manuela says the dagger that killed Jeralt wasn't made of iron or steel and the wound it caused wasn't ordinary.

A lot of the named Church people are out of the monastery this month. Which means you can't train with them, which is annoying...

Dorothea casually drops how she had to survive kidnappings, attempted murders, and who knows what while at the opera. Girl, what??

Linhardt mentions, as we're entering the Sealed Forest, that we have no official mission this month. I guess things were too chaotic to assign us anything.

Kronya is using a sword called Athame, which is described as being crafted with archaic methods. Kronya herself is referred to as "Disciple Kronya." She also has a passive called "Agarthan technology" which makes adjacent foes deal 3 less damage. Is this the weird tentacles she has behind her?

Regarding the Sealed Forest itself, there's some ruins, the platform Kronya waits on (where Solon casts Zahras, which uses the pillars on the edges), a glowing red stone embedded in a sigil on a ruin wall, and the remains of mechanical weapon (I think the kind Rhea keeps in the Tomb in her paralogue?).

It snows on the Locket, I guess because the Throat is a mountain range.

The Holy Mausoleum vs Holy Tomb thing is SO confusing that Rhea has a dialogue line that uses the wrong one lmao

Everyone at the monastery knows we're going to receive a revelation, but Manuela mentions that this is the first time she's heard of the Holy Tomb.

One of the Knights at the monastery mentions that he noticed more people in town than usual. Edelgard's hidden troops are on the move...

Dimitri mentions "this month's mission," so it seems Blue Lions have one, which should NOT be going down into the Tomb with Byleth... I would say this, but Felix's dialogue expects you to do something about Dimitri and like... he's not in my class, dude...

[heyitsresonate]

It’s 11 in the morning, I haven’t slept, and I’m thinking about fe3h fanfic “what if” ideas

Like, Jeralt and Byleth were mercenaries. So naturally, when the Dagda and Brigid War in 1175 broke out, Jeralts mercenaries probably were located within the Adrestian Empire- after all, war is profitable for Mercs.

Sure, the conflict mainly targeted House Nuvelle and Barony Ochs territory. But considering the Adrestian capital of Enbarr is coastal, there would’ve been some level of concern to its safety.

So say that Jeralts Mercenaries are hired to patrol Enbarr- or better yet, the outside perimeter of the Imperial Palace.

What if Byleth, through happenstance, found one of the secret entrances to the Palace that led to the dungeons that Edelgard and her siblings were experimented on? Like one of the entrances the Prime Minister Aegir escapes out of jail from in three hopes.

We know Edelgard got out of her experimentations with the crest of flames somewhere around 1175-1176. So this would be the later end of the experiments- most her siblings would be gone, and those that remain would’ve likely be quite unwell. However, she wouldn’t have the crest of flames, and likely wouldn’t have the white hair either- I’m of the mind that it’s the second crest that turns the hair white, and so if the second crest isn’t there, then.. yeah.

Also, if the focus of experiments went by age, Edelgard and her two younger siblings would be alive. Fucked up, far from unscathed, but alive.

What if, upon finding these captive children, Byleth helps them escape? What if the three Hresvelgs go into hiding, by following Jeralts Mercenaries under different names?

And if events played out about the same past that point, what happens when Byleth and Jeralt gets summoned to Garreg Mach? There’s so many ways things would deviate.

Edelgard, at that point, wouldn’t be the flame emperor. Nor would her siblings. She wouldn’t have as heavy of a distrust in others, if she had family and friends in the form of her siblings and Jeralt/Byleth.

The Black Eagles would likely be led by Ferdinand. I think he’d still be a good person, but different focused as his mind would be to prepare to take over the Empire after graduating from Garreg Mach, rather than being a superior to Edelgard like he’s focused on in three houses.

Edelgard, driven not by a desire to destroy the church but to take back her nation from TSLITD, could possibly confide her identity with and ally with Rhea- considering her fondness for Wilhelm Hresvelg, and the whole ‘blood of my blood’ thing with the crest of Seiros. Though I believe she’d still have her strong anti- crest sentiment, she wouldn’t have the resources, the strength, or as much desperation to war with Rhea, and would as such have to find friendlier ways to find change on that front.

Monica wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped and killed- the only reason for that was to pave the way for Edelgard as the flame emperor. Without Edelgard, there would be no Kronya, at least no Kronya as Monica. Perhaps she’d be a library assistant to work under Solon.

There’s a possibility that the death knight, Jeritza, wouldn’t even be a factor. After all, it’s Edelgard that saved Jeritza and took him in.

Especially with the lack of hair change, there’s a good chance Dimitri would immediately recognize Edelgard- which he would’ve thought was a long dead step sister. Perhaps him refinding family could help the poor lad be a bit less traumatized. Dimitri would probably support Edelgards attempt at retaking the imperial throne, as well.

As for Byleth, she gets more emotional as the game goes forward- likely because she’s surrounded by people she deems family or friends. Having the three Hresvelgs in her Mercenary group could mean she finds her emotions sooner.

All that to say I’m *very* unwell, and will not be well until i get this out of my brain and into writing.

[mousegard]

in the latest aria chapter, we find out what happens when you teach fucked up unethical spells to a magical girl's girlfriend!

also edelgard gets a smartphone and picks up a new hobby

Episode 3: Mirror Darkly

Hibiki and Miku adjust to new circumstances. Millaarc worries for her family. Edelgard picks up a new hobby. Kronya seeks revenge.

That was Dorothea’s cue to laugh. “Please, Hubie, you’re not still embarrassed, are you? Edie thinks your songs are delightful.” “Oh, please.” “No, she does! I asked her the other day. She even says they’re ‘cool.’” “Hmph.” “Anyway, doesn’t Bikky sound a lot like Edie?” “Their voices couldn’t be more different.” “I mean besides that, and you know it. I just wonder if… maybe Edie looks at her and wonders.” “Wonders what?” “What she might’ve been like if not for…” Dorothea made an aimless gesture with her hand. “The war, the Flame Emperor, Those Who Slither in the Dark.” “Who knows? It’s futile to dwell on such things as lives that could have been. What would Lady Edelgard’s life be like if she had grown up like Miss Tachibana? One might as well wonder what my life would have been like had I been born a daughter of House Vestra.” “Oh… if you had, you might’ve ended up something like poor Miku.” Heidrun couldn’t help but chuckle at least a little at the mental image of Tachibana Hibiki as Edelgard and Kohinata Miku as herself—she had certainly seen the same on that night the girl had come up to her and meekly asked her for magic lessons. They both had their suns, radiant and scorching, and the burdens of their own powerlessness weighing heavy on their shoulders. She crossed her arms over her chest. “And what do you mean by that, pray tell? Ah, I believe I recall your exact words—‘Just another servant suffering from unrequited love for their mistress?’” “And I don’t think Bikky even realizes it,” Dorothea sighed, craning her neck and lifting her gaze skyward. “Well?” she asked. “Well, what?” “Bikky’s your comrade! Aren’t you going to come to her poor friend’s defense? Say something like, ‘ah, how dare you imply I would think of her as nothing but a drooling simpleton plagued with unrequited love?’” “Why would I?” Heidrun asked. “You’re slipping, Dorothea. Your insults are becoming less coherent. I fear it might be something in this world’s atmosphere—lead, or asbestos, or microplastics.”

[megaphonegirlk]

give me rheagard (001) for the ask game!

when I started shipping it if I did: It's a little complicated! Probably...oh geeze. 2020? I kind of always did like it, in it's way, since the game came out...but personal exotrauma reasons kept me from admitting it out loud until we came to terms with it >_> my thoughts: They are...PERFECT, your honor! They have so much in common , but are each convinced the other's the representation of everything they hate despite them being in the exact same boat. They've got the torrid enemies to lovers angle going...two women who waged world-shattering war against one another out of a presumed hate finding out that they're far more similar than either would have ever admitted. The Flame Emperor and the War Saint Seiros clashing together, and falling in love...not to mention, the synchronicity with Edelgard's ancestor, implied to have been Seiros' lover. What makes me happy about them: They can find what they thought forever lost in one another **SOBS** , they're such perfect mirrors, and when they finally open up they're so cute together!!!. Those moments before Rhea knows Edelgard's the Flame Emperor, too...the attempts to be gentle and almost motherly, they're fantastic. What makes me sad about them: They've each lost so many people, and are only going to lose more as long as the war rages. They both fight desperately so it'll never happen again, while not understanding that it will as long as they remain locked in combat. things done in fanfic that annoys me: When they demonize Hubert or members of the holy family just to get a convenient enemy for the fic, honestly. things I look for in fanfic: Pining from opposite sides of the war, finally having to fucking talk, swordfights/battle, and i am attached to the 'dragon/Nabatean Edelgard' idea i've seen a few times. I think it'd be cute Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Edelgard: Byleth, Hubert, Jeritza, Any of the Black Eagles, Claude Rhea: Byleth, Manuela...a few other smaller ships. My happily ever after for them: The war is resolved, be it through Byleth's use of time loops or simply intervention at the right moment. The two women finally have to look one another in the eyes and see beyond the masks they'd put up. After years of reform and work fixing Fodlan's many problems, the two retire to the woods together to a cottage known to all their friends and loved ones, where they spend their days together. Rhea teaches Edelgard to properly handle the mutagenic power of the blood in her veins, and perhaps even helps her to fly. who is the big spoon/little spoon: Rhea is the big spoon on account of how tall she is, but Edelgard keeps trying to reassert herself as Big Spoon because she may love her but hell if she's going to _Yield_ what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Growing their own tea, and gossiping over teatime, I'd say!. Or... flying together

[azure-clockwork]

To be fair, and I say this with a lot of love, Edelgard is terrible at hiding her secret identity too. Like, she always on the verge on spiling everything because this girl can't stop commenting on the flaws of the system at every moment she got... She's such a dramatic theater girl at heart who deeply long to be truthful, even lying by omission is hard for her.

Also her cool OC that she probably made when she was 12 who's all in red, use heavy armor + axe, has the emperor tittle, and is curiously never in the same place as her is just way too obvious.

I didn’t say anywhere that our dear Edie was good at secret keeping. She also spends the entirety of the CF reunion borderline tackling her classmates to keep them from mentioning just how often she talks about Byleth and then proceeds to be Massively Obvious about her feelings. The only reason she doesn’t win a trophy for worst liar is because she doesn’t tell people her favorite tea is ‘Flame Emperor Juice’. That said, I’ve taught college students who have done dumber, so I’d say this is all just accurate characterization lol

[randomnameless]

I did Crimson Flower first in my Three Houses run and... honestly, Edelgard wasn't even remotely as convincing to me to join her as the fact I'd get to fuck Jeritza.

Beresu I've chosen for the job grew up in Ardesian Empire and I've definitely leaned into Ashen Demon idea as much as possible, so what I've got was a merciless butcher, not a revolutionary firebrand. I expected Edelgard to be this scary red emperor with the grand ideas that justify the means, I expected the vibe of Nine Inch Nails' Survivalism, but instead she's an absolute dork and Hubert does everything morally dubious for her. It reminded me of Corrin in Fates on Nohr path and it definitely did not endear me to her.

Generally speaking the only interesting bits were Jeritza (love this man, best girl) and... maybe Hubert. Honestly speaking, with the way Hubert acts I expected him to be a Flame Emperor after seeing Edelgard. I just genuinely don't get how Crimson Flower Edelgard can be even remotely convincing - she's scary in White Clouds at times, but then it's nothing but dork, dork, dork, Beresu I hate rats, Beresu my path is stained in blood despite the fact I can barely reach any enemy in my automatic promotes and Hubert, Jeritza and you kill most of the enemies instead.

She's idealistic, but it's never really shown how much she's willing to mow down people for her ideals - we don't see destruction, we don't see any particular drama. The only bits closest to it were me deliberately not recruiting any non-BE students aside from Mercedes, Anette, Marianne and Lorenz. Killing these students felt like something, but it isn't really enough and it's entirely optional.

she's scary in White Clouds at times, but then it's nothing but dork, dork, dork, Beresu I hate rats, Beresu my path is stained in blood despite the fact I can barely reach any enemy in my automatic promotes and Hubert, Jeritza and you kill most of the enemies instead

LOL

I don't remember having the same movement issues with Hector when he was promoted, but damn if Supreme Leader's prf class was a nightmare, she was behind people and didn't have enough def to act as a suitable tank - she's supposed to be a player phase unit, but she doesn't have the mov stat to do so...

Granted, it was my first run too, so I missed on the heron festival event and didn't get a dancer :( but I played it before Emile was patched in, and, in a way, I thought it was on purpose - Supreme Leader says she'll explain everything to Billy later on, when they see Emile fighting with them when the BESF attacks the Monastery, and nothing is ever explained post TS - much like how the war was supposed to get rid of Rhea because she has scales, but come the post TS and we're not embarking on the MAGA ride, to conquer Fodlan!

Corn at least, in Conquest, spent more time angsting at the casualties and blood shed - to the point some players found it uncomfortable - Corn notable tried to save people or reacts strongly when Scarlet is Hans'd (just like Sakura's army? I don't remember that well).

It's less artificial than Supreme Leader who only says this in some support lines, or when she's alone with you - her lines feels more like a compulsory thing to say, a box to tick, than a regular reaction. There's nothing similar to Corn's distress or at least gambit to try to spare the defeated soldiers, instead, we have a round of hypocrisy because Rhea BaD when she doesn't let people evacuate the city before turning it in a giant bbq - when we have Emile on our side and when other routes reveal the battle of the Monastery happens so fast after her declaration of war that the CoS doesn't have time to evacuate all of its residents (+Emile saying the grounds around the monastery are battlefields too) in the other routes.

Hubert is still the best part of CF, even if I sort of grew somehow interested at the students insulting Billy when they chop them off - sure my interest later died, but Judith's JP VA lit screaming and crying when Ignatz and Leonie died, Inoue!Rhea's lines delivery, everything bar the BESF itself managed to make the "we must kille people we knew sad uwus" hit closer to the mark than the onion scene, aka the one where Supreme Leader cries after beheading a defeated, and on his knees, Dimitri.

But I agree, it's almost if all the pathos that was supposed to be triggered by the "kill your students :'(" from the game went to the CF enemies, rather than to the other routes casualties.

"We killed Ferdie professor :("

Watch as I gave a fig, Ferdie dies in a map where he is fielded with a Demonic Beast iirc, aka a Feral One. If Ferdie doesn't see anything wrong fighting side by side with a Feral One and doesn't have the same circumstances Lorenz does (granted, even those circumstances are mushy) - especially since it's possible for Ferdie to defect since that's what he does in SS - I legit feel less figs that when we had to kill a retreating Judith, or an Ignatz or Leonie who were defending their homes - hell, even Hilda who, against all of her words and previous behaviour - finally puts her life on the line to protect someone.

[lunawish]

HEADCANON: FIGHTING STYLE, & POWERS 

this blog follows edelgard’s exclusive battle class route (with minor changes of course). so the progression would look something like: 

noble → fighter → lord → warrior → armoured lord → emperor

in terms of game statistics for some perspective, these are her proficiencies:

sword: b+,  lance: e, axe: s+, bow: e, brawl: b, reason: a+, faith: e, authority: s+, heavy armour: s+,  riding: c, flying: e

the bolded at the ones i want to touch on a little more than the rest. anyways, let’s proceed! 

first things first, edelgard can fight dirty. it’s seen a bunch of times in the game where she would devise strategies that would put her enemies at a clear disadvantage, versus the chivalrous attitude of an honourable duel. whilst she isn’t renowned for her schemes the same way that claude is, but it by no means mean that she is doesn’t use tricks. 

“i will create such chaotic warfare that they won’t be able to tell who is friend and who is foe.” – edelgard, blood of the eagle and lion. 

it is less about false chivalry, or the notion of honourable fighting but rather it is about getting results for her. she isn’t above using magic, fireballs, you name it. so how does this fit into her fighting style? well, with her proficiencies in brawl and reason, expect her to throw a few surprise attacks here and there – a punch, a wall of flames to surprise the enemies? you name it, she would probably do it. 

now i know canonically none of her exclusive classes allows her to use magic, so this is where my portrayal deviates. her armoured lord & emperor class can, in fact, use magic. she has proficiency in reason magic, and her pool consists of: fire, bolganone, luna Λ, and hades Ω. as luna and hades are both dark magic spells, there is something to be said about that. 

to quote canas from fe7:  

“magic comes from darkness and that one must invite the darkness into oneself to use it …. one must not allow the darkness full control.”

this means edelgard uses dark magic very sparingly and very carefully. however, with the right situation she will use it and given her stance, she doesn’t mind a little darkness. she doesn’t believe in complete purity, complete nobility, complete chivalry – which is why she is willing to work with those who slither in the dark, even if she resents it because she simply needs to get her tasks done, even if it is by unsavoury means. 

she will use her magic when people least expect it. she will throw an aggressive punch when it is least expected. just because she is of royalty doesn’t mean she minds getting her hand a little bruised or having burn marks (because lets be real, she already have scars so whats a little bit of burn marks on top of that right?) 

now, how can i get through a combat headcanon post without talking about her crests? remember, she is not a force to be reckoned with. edelgard has TWO crests – major crest of flames, minor crest of seiros. let’s examine the effects of her crests! 

crest of flames: the crest of the goddess who governs the world. occasionally restores HP equal to 30% of damage dealt. rarely raises Mt and stops counterattacks.

crest of seiros: legend has it that saint seiros bore this crest and passed it down through house hresvelg. occasionally raises Mt when using combat arts.

this is similar to how holy blood functions in fe4. both of the crests have the potential to raise might in combat. this does translate to edelgard being incredibly strong physically. the game talks about how dimitri has super human strength, but remember, in terms of strength cap, edelgard is the second highest. this means she does have the ability to brute force herself, and one man army an entire battle but she chooses not to because even if the crest of flames help her recover, helps her regenerate, her body is still weakened by having two crests in her body. thus, she is very strategic with how she expends her energy. this is why she will throw in magic pretty frequently or why she would rely on plans that involve her enemies weakening each other before she goes in for the kill.  

speaking of her fighting style, despite being in an armoured class, she is fairly agile in comparison. edelgard has mentioned that armour doesn’t weigh her down as much and part of having an s+ proficiency in heavy armour, does mean she could acquire the “weight -5″ skill, which is important. her enhanced strength from her crests allow her to wear heavy armour, and her proficiency in it helps make it easier for her body to wear it whilst maintaining her desired agility. 

anyways, the main take away from this is that edelgard will throw in punches, will use magic when needed. however, her preferred method of combat is with the axe.