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moltz23 · 11 months

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When the Darkness gets Miscasted - An Essay about Three Houses' "those who slither in the dark"

As someone that joined the FE fandom with Sacred Stones, I gotta say, “Those who slither in the dark” are an interesting experiment as far as antagonistic factions go. In spite of being the most alien-like group featured in the franchise (as of Engage), regardless of the 3H story branch picked, TWSITD in the long-term serves as an villainous third wheel of sorts, going from being very active late into Part 1, to vanishing almost entirely by Part 2, not even getting an proper send-off in half of the routes. So what happened?

Well, after pondering about it for a while, I believe the reason TWSITD fell into this situation is because their unique traits don’t mesh well with the broader purpose the story gave them. In other words, I’m saying “those who slither in the dark” were miscasted.

To explain what exactly I mean by this, a brief recap of the group is in order:

Part 1: The Nitty-Gritty of the Slitherers.

This concept art of Shambhala is so cool.

In Three Houses (and Three Hopes by proxy), “Those who slither in the dark” is an organization that causes strife in Fódlan anonymously:

“In the long history of the Church of Seiros... No, long before even that… There have been an endless number of threats to the peace of Fódlan. Yet, those who oppose us still operate in the shadows, their identities a mystery.” - Rhea in Report: Red Wolf Moon

Their origins can be traced back to remnants of Agartha: an ancient human civilization of Fódlan once that waged war against Sothis and her kids - trying to seize control of the continent from them -, but got themselves wiped out when Sothis retaliated. The remaining survivors then retreated underground, bowing revenge against Sothis, her spawn, and those spared by her wrath. And from then on, this remnant cut contact with the outside world for over a millenia, thus becoming - as far as everyone else is concerned - “those who slither in the dark”.

The ones who call themselves Agarthans want mainly 2 things: Payback against Sothis’ surviving kin ie. Rhea, Seteth, Flayn and Byleth (once they know they’re Sothis reborn); and

obtain what Sothis denied Agartha: dominion over the surface.

“Let no crisis go to waste” is the group’s core motto, as whenever something bad happens in Fodlan, they will likely be there to reap the benefits, usually by:

Acting as benefactors, providing resources (or the means/knowledge) others would normally be never able to gain normally.

Doing Crests experiments once the avenue is open.

And body-snatching, letting them act in the open without giving themselves away, all while opening a new pool of resources and connections to draw from.

As for their Modus Operandi, their general plan is to get involved in a major conflict where they gain something by their chosen side coming out on top (which is known as a proxy war). Given their track record, their MO looks like this:

Find a pawn who could gain enough followers (or already has them) to kickstart a large-scale conflict, and offer your services.

Once the fighting starts, provide support to show your pawn how much of an asset you are to their cause.

If your pawn gets killed or the conflict ends with the opposition alive, then retreat underground, and let the years pass by.

Go back to step 1.

The group’s identity - as in, what differentiates them from other villainous groups - is comprised by the following:

Design-wise, save for one exception, all non-disguised Agarthans have ghastly white skin and dress in black.

Resource-wise, they have access to giant automatons, electric turrets, kinetic orbital missiles (called “javelins of light”), demonic beasts, and more.

Character-wise, regardless of each member’s individual personality, every one of them always showcases hubris and xenophobia. In a related note, every member is also portrayed unsympathetically.

Soundtrack-wise, the group’s heavily associated with dubstep.

Finally, when it comes to TWSITD’s narrative purpose in the main stories:

Their general objective is to serve as the puppeteers behind the scenes, trying to manipulate events behind the scenes and their pawn of choice (ie. the Empire/Edelgard) to achieve their ends.

Meanwhile, as far specific objectives go, they:

Kill Jeralt, and thus, force Byleth to fuse with Sothis before Rhea can have them sit on Sothis’ throne, thus unintentionally foiling the Archbishop’s agenda.

Give Edelgard the means to remove Rhea from the story at the end of Part 1 (used only outside CF) through their Demonic Beasts.

Set up the Final Boss of Part 2 of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow by the story having Byleth’s party reach Shambhala, their HQ.

Help Azure Moon’s story explore the Tragedy of Duscur subplot.

Help Crimson Flower’s story explore the TWSITD alliance subplot.

Part 2: Those Who Experiment In The Dark.

As alluded early, the Slitherers stand out from other major villainous factions in FE due to being the very definition of experimental. I use this term because no major villainous faction in Fire Emblem prior to them has had to contend with the following factors:

1. Access to Modern/Sci-Fi Technology:

While everyone else in the setting - including the Agarthans to an extent - use medieval western-inspired resources, only they get exclusive access to modern/sci-fi weapons like giant robots, turrets, and orbital missiles.

2. Deal with Multiple Handicaps:

I previously covered this in a past-article (that can be found here), but for those unaware: the manner the plot in Three Houses is written ensures the Slitherers' path towards their goal isn’t a straight one:

In spite of initially having Edelgard be just a puppet in someone else’s plans, they end up working for her thanks to some deals both parties make behind the scenes, thus leading TWSITD to backstab their former collaborator once Edelgard makes her move and becomes Emperor. Once that happens-

They take a backseat from the plot midway through the story, relinquishing their spotlight to Edelgard while she drives the story onwards. Meaning-

They rely on Edelgard winning to get anywhere, which would normally not be an issue if it wasn’t for how-

Edelgard plans to get rid of them once they’re no longer needed. Not only that, but she also screws the group over in every route in some form.

And that’s not even going into the other two problems they have to deal with:

A. Their orbital/kinetic missiles being impractical: I also did an analysis on those things, but long story short: two routes imply they can’t abuse the weapon at their leisure; their most desired target (Garreg Mach) is protected by a jamming spell/device; and if we go by the evidence at hand, not only the missiles were crafted back when Agartha was still a thing 1000 years before the main plot, we have no evidence they have the means to replenish their stock due to the javelins being orbital missiles (aka dropped from space).

B. Nemesis being unreliable: So, here an interesting fact about Nemesis: dude never died in the introductory movie (perhaps he just went into sleep, not unlike how most Nabateans & Byleth do when wounded enough?), and had to be sealed because, to indirectly quote Rhea’s words in Verdant Wind, no one really knows how the Crest of Flames works.

The known credit the Slitherers get with Nemesis’ return in Verdant Wind is that they were definitely prepared in case he woke up. After Shambhala has been destroyed, the story shows that not only they held him in a coffin somewhere in their catacombs, multiple flavor texts allude they are the reason Nemesis has the reanimated corpses of his old allies for Verdant Wind’s final battle. Beyond that, no one really knows why Nemesis returns at the very end only in Claude’s route, and how much TWSITD may be behind it. He just… returns.

3. They Lose Their Original Purpose (in 2/4 of the Post-Timeskip).

Quick development trivia for y’all: Silver Snow was the story branch of Three Houses that started it all, laying the foundation of every other route that came after. And in it, plus Verdant Wind - for sharing similar story beats - “those who slither in the dark” fulfill a specific purpose in Part 2’s story: setting up the scenario for the final battle to happen though having the player’s party going to Shambhala (their HQ), whether it’s by: wounding Rhea lethally, thus playing a part in her sudden dragon degeneration (Silver Snow); or by having an army prepared for Nemesis once he wakes up in Shambhala after their defeat (Verdant Wind).

But then, Crimson Flower and Azure Moon changed everything. Because both stories deviate from Silver Snow by using Chapter 11 to set up their own Final Boss in advance (Rhea in CF, Edelgard in AM), the writing team behind those routes was forced to solve the following issue:

“What happens when the story doesn’t need to go to Shambhala? As in, when the story has no need for the Slitherers to set up the final battle?”

The solution found was simple: TWSITD would blend-in with the Empire, and be forced to stick with Edelgard to reach the end of the road they crave. In turn, each path would show how well that situation ends for them.

(As a quick tangent: 3H’s The Cutting Room Floor page having unused unit data for a playable Edelgard and Dimitri in the Shambhala map - and nothing else - does very little to corroborate the idea that both CF and AM ever intended to visit the place in the stories beyond the planning stages).

No major antagonistic group in the series before the Agarthans has been ever given such a mixed bag to work with. And I believe it’s no coincidence either, as it very much appears most of these handicaps were placed to ensure TWSITD doesn’t have enough control of the plot to allow a “Golden Ending” to happen just by defeating them early. Still, this doesn’t change their unique situation as it causes unfortunate problems for them, and it’s precisely this what I want to address to finally explain why this group of antagonists were miscasted in the stories 3H tells.

Part 3: The Bad, Good, and Nasty side of the Agarthan.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first: even though their general objective in the story is to act as the puppeteers behind the scenes, in a twist of irony, the Agarthans are at their weakest when trying to manipulate their way into victory. The reasons are twofold:

A. Their handicaps limit their level of threat and control imposed. And…

B. Due to their anonymity shtick, they straight up don’t appear unless the plot calls for it.

These two details explain why they fall out of relevance by the time the timeskip takes place (and for the Three Hopes spinoff, this too goes for Azure Gleam’s second timeskip), and when they finally reappear, their performance ultimately falls flat despite all the spectacle provided. For all their efforts, the Slitherers unfortunately have a lot going against them that stops them from accomplishing the main objective the writers set out for them (and worse of all, this is by design).

Incidentally, another problem that quickly springs up for TWSITD is that, once they are forced to fight outside the darkness and can no longer count on their surprise/shock factor, they’re

taken care of in a pretty swift fashion (see AM Chapter 19 and VW/SS Chapter 21/20). And this is because, at the end of the day, they are just an organization of people that has historically relied on other nations’ armies to put up a fight vs the Church after the fall of Agartha. As trying to foolishly fight regardless, just exposes them for what they all are, warts included.

“[those who slither in the dark] are looking down on us. They think we cannot touch them. But the closer we get to them, the less true that becomes.” - Hubert, in Darkness Beneath the Water.

But enough negativity! Let's get to what the Slitherers are truly good at. My reasoning behind why TWSITD were miscasted, given a role they would never be able to fill its shoes comfortably, is because Three Houses’s stories not only show them at their worst, but also at their best. And what is what they excel at, you might wonder?

It is Terrorism. Just, flat out terrorism at its finest.

In execution, by the Agarthans using their anonymity shtick as a strength, they are allowed to:

A. Appear out of nowhere to cause havoc and quickly vanish once the job’s done. And-

B. Confuse and worry the hell out of the enemy.

Arguably the stand out examples of this is Part 1 of White Clouds, and Part 2 of Three Hopes’ Scarlet Blaze route. Whether it is to test out and perfect their “experimental assets” intended to be used by the Empire once Edelgard declares war on Garreg Mach in the former’s case, or by providing the perfect stage for Ferdinand’s father, Duke Aegir, to attempt a coup against Edelgard’s Empire in the latter, TWSITD’s surprise appearance completely disrupts the direction the plot was going for, and forces the characters to handle them directly in the hopes of - somehow - foiling their end goal, just for the group to vanish soon after, leaving everyone with a sense of unease, worry, and fear, upon witnessing they are not dealing with just some random group of villains anymore.

Simply put, “those who slither in the dark” are at the top of the game when they are causing terrorism and exploiting their enigmatic aura of theirs. So it’s a shame that Three Houses still ultimately decided to have the organization stick to their “puppeteers” shtick no matter what, even if it is for the sake of deconstructing the idea or in an attempt to try to make them work somehow.

Finally, while I feel the point this article’s been trying to make has already been made, I still wanna wrap things up by addressing the nasty side of TWSITD: their one-dimensional malice.

While Fire Emblem as a franchise is no stranger to cartoonishly evil antagonists, never before the Agarthans have we gotten an entire major faction with not even a trace of nuance. In a series where major villainous factions have done stuff like human sacrifices and child hunts, there has been always someone that either: can display basic decency; can be recruited and allowed work off their bad karma; or had long since defected the group, and might try to help the playable characters in some way. Heck, archetypes like the Camus exist because people have noticed some conventions are used a lot for the sake of giving the enemy-side some nuance, with varying degrees of success and reception.

The Slitherers by comparison, get none of that. And in spite of it… I feel it may be on purpose.

Let me remind everyone for one last time, what the Slitherers' backstory and shared character traits are:

Their background can be summed up as a “millennial legacy of hate which willingly isolates from society as a whole”. Also-

Displaying hubris and xenophobic tendencies appears to be an unwritten rule for every one of its members.

Considering these two facets, I just can’t help but wonder if the 3H writers drew the line with the TWSITD as far as nuance goes simply because, as far they themselves were concerned, those who hurt others due to a sense of entitlement, superiority, and hate, are beyond saving. And I say this because ever since last year, this exchange from Azure Gleam has been in my mind a lot as of late:

Cornelia: As for your loyal knight and the former Duke Fraldarius… They're certainly giving it all they have, but a paltry force that size will hardly buy them any time. And once we've wrung the life from them, you'll be next. How tragic it'll be, facing your beloved citizens for the final time with a noose around your neck. Dimitri: You know, I almost appreciate seeing such bold-faced sadism. There's not a hint of nuance to it. Cornelia: Is that a compliment I hear? You'll make a lady blush if you're not careful. - Event: Behind the Mask

I’ve been figuring out how to complete this whole thing for over a month now and oh man I am so glad I can finally move on from it. Now the only thing that remains is to thank y’all who checked and read this huge wall of text to the end.

To finally close things off, I have a few last questions for everyone: What are your honest thoughts on “those who slither in the dark”? What did you expect of them? Did they surprise you? And would you improve on them if given the chance (and how)?

#fe3h #fire emblem #fire emblem: three houses #crimson flower #azure moon #silver snow #verdant wind #those who slither in the dark #slitherers #twsitd #three hopes #scarlet blaze #fire emblem warriors: three hopes #agarthans

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