#why is Claude so different when Dimitri and Edelgard aren't different

[dmclemblems]

Just some examples below of characters at camp in GW not being okay with what Claude does (mainly to reiterate past points I’ve made about him/the route):

Mind you, the game forces all characters to cooperate with Claude in GW, even though a lot of them disagree (Marianne adamantly is against everything Claude is doing and expresses it regularly. Her excuse for not leaving or doing anything about is that she hopes the war ends quickly, but she still repeatedly expresses that she doesn’t believe what they’re doing is the right thing to do).

Lorenz repeatedly questions Claude’s decisions, as he should, but due to it being the GW route, all the characters have to follow what he does and just deal with it. There’s no “hey this is bullshit I’m out”, when realistically at this point a good handful of characters would’ve walked out.

This proves the writer’s are totally aware of what they’re writing and know the nuance to it! It’s just that... because Claude is the main character of this route, he’s swept up in the story and has to be adjusted to fit the story accordingly.

There’s no happy ending for the Kingdom and Alliance unless Sylvain (who is a major player in Faerghus politics) can agree to it, which is highly unlikely after he openly expresses his hatred for Claude/the Alliance (as he puts it, the “invaders”, which... were Claude/the Alliance).

Also, I have another post with the camp part of Hapi saying that it’s scummy of the Alliance/Federation that the only reason she and Constance are alive is because they surrendered. In other words, she finds the “surrender or die” thing to be scummy. Then we have Yuri, who notices the same issue:

This point proves that Claude is pretty cold hearted in this route. He not only forces Ashe to surrender (or die, as is implied by his dialogue when he says “Dimitri would be sad if you died” and thus urging him to surrender), but then he even has Ashe fight against his own people.

While this is a recruit mechanic issue and is a problem in all routes generally speaking, it’s not highlighted upon by other characters about other characters. That is to say, Petra for example in AG will express relief that they didn’t have to kill Dorothea, but she doesn’t mention anything about Dimitri forcing them to fight the Empire (which Petra decides to do entirely by her own will). Dorothea expresses some reluctance at first in her own camp dialogue, but it’s never mentioned that Dimitri is forcing anyone to fight against their will.

The fact that other characters are commenting on it means other characters are seeing and understanding what’s going on (which is more than a lot of players can say apparently, like the ones who blindly send hate to people who didn’t enjoy GW/SB lol). They recognize that everything Claude is doing is just shitty and shouldn’t be what they’re doing.

So... why do they keep fighting with him? Because... bad writing. That’s honestly it. Because they’re all forced, by the writing and route’s story, to keep fighting for Claude even though probably a good half of his camp doesn’t agree with his actions. Even though, if this were a better story even somewhat, and if Claude still did what he’s been doing here in this somewhat better story, the story would be made better by the disagreeing characters defecting to the Kingdom. Mind you, three background lords did try to defect to the Kingdom... and were promptly shut down from defecting.

If this were a good story, Claude wouldn’t have had his morals flipped on their head. If this were a decentish story, Claude would have lost a good chunk of his allies who defected after being fed up with his behavior and decisions. If this were a bad and lazily written story, it would look like it does.

ALSO I ran out of tags to explain my last point BUT

the irony of all this is that when he killed Shahid, he was trying not to cry and got drunk over it. This guy who had been trying to kill him and would’ve done so without batting an eye (and probably would’ve told everyone and bragged about it), this guy who has been presumably among his siblings trying to kill him his entire life, and this is who he feels guilty about killing. Then he goes marching to Faerghus, invades them and says he just wants to talk while forcing one of their royal knights to surrender or die.

Apparently Claude would rather feel sad about the brother of his that tried to murder him than the innocent people who never wronged him.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 9

Spoilers for GW up to Ch 9 below.

STORY

Edelgard makes no progress in the war. More news at 6.

Wow, 6 month time-skip. Part 1 finished. Didn't think we were getting another time-skip, but with Edelgard licking her wounds, it makes sense because no one tries to murder anyone when she stays in her own country.

"End of the Alliance" - sounds ominous.

Oh. It's now a Federation. Like Star Trek. But shady as fuck. Because Claude just crowned himself king so he could take more control. Weird how everyone just accepts this. It doesn't really fit the narrative that people don't trust Claude.

So . . . Edelgard's war actually made the Alliance less progressive 😅. Because now the Liecester is just a monarchy.

Claude didn't tell Shez, lamo. It really feels like these two aren't close at all. I feel like Shez is closest to Dimitri -> Edelgard -> Claude.

It would be nice if this was an Alliance focused part and not about Edelgard's nonsense anymore.

There's trouble in Alliance territory with areas that didn't want King Claude and they're rebelling. Honestly, don't blame them. Ohhh, they want to join Faerghus. They like King Dimitri better. Agreed.

This really is heading towards an Edelgard Claude team up, isn't it? With the people who don't want to bow to king Claude wanting to leave and join the Kingdom. Welp, at least it'll be different. And hey, Claude's funeral, not Dimitri's so what do I care? As long as it's interesting and different from VW.

Don't blame Claude for wanting to put down the unrest. Happy not everyone drank the Claude kool-aide. And don't blame anyone for wanting to leave the Alliance. It's kind of a no one is the bad guy here (except Edelgard), unlike with Dimitri with the Western Lords where they are definitely the bad guys.

I don't trust Claude farther than I can throw him though.

MAP/SIDE QUESTS

This "battle suggestions" is interesting, but it makes it seem like Shez is in charge of the whole army lol.

Can someone explain how the "merc whistle" works? It seems like you can take someone's special ability and give it Shez. But you could also equip it on someone else? So I could make someone else invulnerable like Lorenz if I gave it to him? But that person's "ability" goes away? Anyone have a list of what those abilities are exactly?

You can actually tell Claude you don't support his actions (or are unsure). Edelgard routes could never.

NPC says the minor lords now get no say in what happens.

Yep, here it goes. Claude's meeting with Edelgard to ally with her again. At least here Claude's calling out her shit on attacking them for no reason.

Edelgard is so two-faced, denying that her end goal is take over.

"We'll take tangible resources over insincere apologies any day." - Lamo, Claude, if you know she's a two-faced, insincere liar why on earth are you doing this?

I like this version of it better since at least Claude seems like he has two brain cells at least. In SB, he really came across like Edelgard's mindless bitch.

Now he's calling her out for creating her BS southern church lol. Holst called it an "obvious sham."

Arval said Edelgard wouldn't even acknowledge Shez's existence.

Shez is actually not supporting Claude's decisions in cannon.

See, this makes it WAY more interesting. SB/CF cram what you should think down your throat (SB less than CF, but still doing it), but GW is giving it more nuance.

I think I can say GW is by far my 2nd favorite right now.

Oh, another time limit one! I liked that in the paralogue.

Hurt having to fight the Kingdom again.

Judith also calls out Claude, saying he's talking about people's lives like they're just pieces on a chessboard.

Marianne and Ignatz are also upset.

"You let the Empire talk you into buying the whole store." - Judith

Claude claims he's using the Empire right back. I'd like to see how. Like, I think GW is a way more interesting take on this, but I'm honestly super confused why he thinks this is a good idea for the Alliance.

Lorenz also said he's throwing the Kingdom to the wolves for no reason.

Claude drags up ancient history as an excuse. Which is hysterical since recent history the Empire just killed Alliance people.

Seems like Claude just hates the church and that's why he's siding with Edelgard. Even though that leaves it really easy for her to take over and she said she would through non-military means later.

Claude is a complete dumbass here, but at least it's interesting.

Aww, Shez checked on Shamir, making sure she's ok fighting Catherine. This game really ships Shamir x Catherine and I'm here for it.

Shit. I missed Claude x Hilda's B Support. Did I miss something amazing? Does this mean I'll have to play GW again? Not sure I care enough. I like them both well enough and all, but I can really only see myself replaying AG. IDK, maybe one day.

Anyone else find it shady that Claude is killing any noble who doesn't want to follow his new system? I get it, but that's sus as hell. It's esp funny because the Empire is trying to smear Dimitri for taking out the Western lords (who all helped in a genocide), but their allies doing the same to not-evil people is fine.

CLAUDE & SHEZ B SUPPORT

This is going to be funny with how openly Shez isn't trusting Claude right now lol.

They're just talking about him being king and how Shez first suggested that the Alliance had a king.

Claude wants to open up to Shez because she doesn't have any strings attached.

Talking more about Shez's mystery mom who just died of illness. Then she got kicked out by everyone else. Wonder why?

SHEZ & HILDA B SUPPORT

Hilda still lecturing Shez on charging to the front lines, but thinks Shez is skilled enough to handle it.

Hilda compares it to Holst who also leads the charge, unlike most leaders who stay in the back.

Hilda doesn't think her brother is capable of dying because no one is good enough to kill him, and now thinks the same for Shez. No one told the poor woman about arrows.

Hilda now fights more up front but denies it.

Shez can tell Hilda her cheerleading annoys people, lamo.

Welp, that explains why she's ok with attacking innocent people and continuing war because rHeA bAd, because she's convinced herself the people she loves can't die. Ummm. Ok.

SHEZ & LORENZ A SUPPORT

I feel like Lorenz got flanderized a bit in this game. Like, there's not much to any of his supports so far but "I am noble, so I am better." I honestly don't care much about him, but he had more depth in Houses.

Shez expects Lorenz to complain more. But he's just her to brag about why he's grown stronger.

She can assume he did it to get the ladies lol.

But nope, of course not, it's because he's a noble and a noble is better than commoners than he needs to be stronger than her.

He wants Shez to get in trouble so he can rescue her. Ugh.

Shez says that Lorenz fulfilled his oath to get stronger bc Shez only does what she does bc she relies on allies.

That was really one-dimensional, and Lorenz was just unlikeable in it.

HOLST & BALTHUS A SUPPORT

Oh, Hilda's here. So they just squeezed her in his support with Holst to excuse giving her a support with Balthus.

Hilda is worried that Holst is acting weird and thinks Balthus might be behind it because they've been hanging out.

Hilda is convinced that Holst is uncurroptable because he only like things that are just. Balthus seems to hint otherwise.

Seems like Holst is DRUNK. Or just being cringy. Hilda's mad that Balthus set her up so Holst could listen in.

Hilda's embarrassed, understandably.

Holst calls Hilda his "hope." Yeah, I get why she's annoyed.

CLAUDE & LORENZ A SUPPORT

Lorenz points out that his family has always been friendly with the Empire, so this change is no big deal.

He accuses Claude of just copying his father.

He says House Gloucester should rule and not Claude, and says he will be the next king.

Claude accuses Lorenz of his ego being out of control.

Claude suggests letting the people of the Alliance pick the king. Lorenz thinks it's silly until he changes his mind.

Lorenz, rightly, points out that Claude's new position in precarious and its success or failure is on Claude.

Claude is a doo-doo bird though. He thinks that the Empire and King in Adrestia and Faerghus, respectively, are upheld because of "the Goddess's blessing" and not, you know, really complex stuff. Like, both Edelgard and Dimitri face getting thrown out in the two games over things that have NOTHING to do with religion.

That's weird, their support had a picture.

SHEZ & LYSITHEA B SUPPORT

Lysithea feels that their relationship is strained and wants to clear the air. Shez didn't even notice lol.

Shez is a pretty simple character, but I like it.

Oh, wow, Lysithea realized she acted like a brat and apologized. This self-awareness makes me like her a LOT better.

Aw, Shez is helping Lysithea feel mature and older. But then put her foot in her mouth when she referred to people under Lysithea's command as "real adults" lol. Lysithea struggled but kept her head!

Honestly, I like this a lot for Lysithea. Character flaws are great, but they're annoying as shit when they're not acknowledged properly (I still get flashbacks to her awful Ignatz support), but when they're used to show growth, that flaw is suddenly sooo much better.

SHEZ & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Leonie wants mercenary advice.

Lamo, Leonie thinks the bow isn't good enough to be a first-class mercenary. Homegirl's been watching too many movies and not reading enough military history. Mounted archers were unmatched.

So now they're just discussing over specialization vs versatilty.

It's kinda nice seeing Shez in a mentor role.

SHEZ & MARIANNE A SUPPORT

They go out to eat together. Marianne didn't eat her meat and Shez is concerned.

Marianne is now determined to believe she doesn't curse people around her.

Shez encouraged Marianne to just be herself, which Marianne wants but worries about her father.

Marianne accused Shez of talking without thinking and thought it was a good thing lol.

BALTHUS & LORENZ B SUPPORT

Lorenz absolved Balthus of his debts to House Gloucester.

Lorenz credits it to Balthus helping and saving Lorenz on the battlefield.

Lamo, I forgot that Balthus investigated Claude and claimed he found all kinds of dirty laundry.

Lorenz wants him to hold onto it so he can use it later to unseat Claude and take over the Alliance instead.

Balthus is upset Lorenz isn't a lady because he's impressed with him being a scoundrel lol.

MAIN BATTLE

Hahahaha lamo, the Knight of Serios are beating Edelgard's army, which has to be like 5x bigger.

Oh - led by Randolph, THAT explains it. Against Catherine? Pft. Catherine wouldn't even consider that a bout it's so one-sided.

Shez still doesn't understand what Claude's doing. I'm not the only one who thinks these two aren't even remotely close, right? I feel like Shez is way more invested in Edelgard and Dimitri, and like Claude's just some dude who hired her.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Claude legit just left Randolph to die, lamo.

I think we just killed Catherine :(

😂😂😂 Edelgard's forces got wiped out. Randolph is really the punching bag of Fodlan. They should've made it Dorothea or something if they wanted us to give a shit.

Yep, time for Claude to get chewed out. As if Randolph isn't foaming at the mouth to invade the Alliance in SB.

It's funny how offended everyone is. As if this didn't happen in real life all the time. I mean, they'd only be mad a noble died because you can make money taking them as hostage.

Is this evil!Claude, the route? Like because he was such a goody-goody in Houses? I still think it's funny it's always Randolph.

xxxxx

[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...

[butwhatifidothis]

bl stans are sooo much stronger than me bc if someone said something so blatantly and heinously wrong about my faves like this i’d snap. like i’m so serious this would send me straight into my joker arc

(guess you accidentally put it in twice lol rip)

I'm not gonna address any kind of defense for Not Just Kills But Murders OP, we all know that the original tweet was silly. The fastest way to spot a clown is the funny clown nose and wig, but another, more subtle way is to watch if they've ever tried to make NJKBM anything but the accidental joke that it is.

But I kinda wanna actually talk about the Fleche one a bit, because there is such a weird amount of going-to-bat for her and Randolph that's actually kinda baffling.

Fleche and Randolph are bit characters. They barely even are characters. They are devices the writers put into the story so that specifically AM and specifically Dimitri benefit from what they give, which is a solidification of the message that letting vengeance be your one driving force will lead to your end. They are completely irrelevant to all other parts of the game, with Fleche even being completely absent in half of the routes save for one mention of her name as Randolph is literally dying. She loved Randolph so much that she was willing to kill Dimitri to avenge him, but apparently not enough to kill Seteth or Claude for doing literally the same thing.

Except, hey, wait a hingly-dingly minute there, that's not right. Seteth and Claude can only potentially be the ones to kill Randolph in their respective routes, while Dimitri is literally the only one hard-confirmed to not be the one to kill Randolph. Byleth does. They kill him. But Fleche still singles out Dimitri as to one to kill him - not threaten to torture like is the case, but to kill him outright. She calls Dimitri a monster, she hates Dimitri with all she has, she'll never forgive Dimitri, while not giving a single shit about Byleth despite them being the one to kill Randolph. She doesn't give a single shit about the multitude of other people that could have potentially killed Randolph in SS or VW.

Hell, it's not even clear how she knew about Randolph's death, only that she knew that a "monster" (aka Dimitri) was in the ranks of the army in AM, so it looks like she kinda just assumes "the monster" killed her brother without having any actual knowledge on who did what. And even giving the benefit of the doubt in that "well Dimitri MADE Byleth kill Randolph so same difference," that still doesn't explain Fleche's radio silence in the other two routes this can happen in. And still doesn't actually explain why Byleth wouldn't just be lumped in the vengeance quest for, like, still being the one to actually kill her brother outright?

Because we as players aren't meant to really care that much about her - she and Randolph are given no point in the story other than showing off to Dimitri why his quest for revenge is Cringe And Not Based like he thinks it is. They are literally meant to show off why Dimitri's misguided quest for vengeance is dangerous and unfulfilling, which is why when Fleche stabs and kills Rodrigue Dimitri comes to his senses and rejects vengeance as a motivation. That is all Fleche and Randolph do.

(we ignore the "Edelgard did nothing to Dimitri" lie - because at this point they've got to just be outright lying to cope - we know it's not true and we move on from it)

They are given no focus whatsoever on any other route because it is AM where their one, singular purpose is found. Even on CF, the route where you can actually talk to them, at best Randolph is given one cutscene where he dies and makes Edelgard Sadge before she immediately gets over it and moves on never to mention or think about Randolph ever again. And Fleche does literally nothing - she just stands there for the rest of the game as a lump on a log. So seeing multiple people saying "Fleche wasn't allowed vengeance when Dimitri was!" when Dimitri literally isn't allowed vengeance and always dies should he continue to strive for it is just weird. They're, again, trying to go to bat for two bit characters that are solely meant to encapsulate the opposite of what the batters are saying lmao

[fantasyinvader]

I'm going to be frank here guys. After seeing these things in the Japanese script, it just feels like a confirmation of something I've felt for a long time. This game isn't as complex as people like to say it is, and a big reason why there has been so much argument over it isn't because of it's convoluted storytelling. I'd say it's because people don't want it to be that simple.

Case-in-point, the teacher theory. That was made because it's author looked at the events of the prologue and didn't like what it ended up saying about Edelgard. So we end up with this take that tries to say "sure, Edelgard may have hired bandits to kill her classmates but she only wanted to scare the teacher away for reasons" because of one line. One line to try and explain it away regardless of the fact the translation changed "you've done things to gain power" to "everything we've done is to give you power." Like, dude, she still put a hit on her classmates and is an accomplice to the bad guys. Can't wash that away. Ditto with trying to erase Dimitri's arc by misunderstanding Japanese.

But these takes spread because people wanted to believe in them, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. They tried to downplay the reveals of other routes as misinformation only to be slapped with the devs saying that the world supported Silver Snow. That interview was so damning people tried to discredit it, saying that it was simply pandering to Dimitri and Rhea stans before switching gears to argue death of the author. They said the translators made her look bad, citing her voice acting, but then got upset when a retranslation project revealed she's actually worse in the Japanese.

I mean, sure. The game never outright says that Edelgard's version of history was from the Agarthans, but the game does say (in a story cutscene in her own route to boot) that her father, her source, was their puppet. The game gave you a two and a two, you know what to do with them. They game is full of twos waiting to be paired up, and while some of the details were changed in the translation the core of the game is still there.

Edelgard is a villain who is willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill in order to get what she wants. She is still a hypocrite, and titling her through Byleth a "Hegemon" still makes her out to be an autocrat in the english text. Words have meanings after all. I myself was saying "in ignorance, Edelgard is a hero. In truth, a villain," long before I began looking into the game's Buddhist symbolism. That symbolism served to confirm what I was saying, in addition to the devs interview. The game would have needed a far more intensive rewrite to erase it's DNA. For example, the English text makes it out she holds similar ideals to Claude while the Japanese has her say otherwise, but looking through the game we can see the difference between the two. Claude wants a world where people aren't othered and cultural differences are accepted, Edelgard wants everyone to believe what she wants them to. Neither of their ambitions stop at Fodlan, but Claude wouldn't side with Edelgard real ends and is already against her for the means she says those means justified.

People need to accept Edelgard for who she is, as well as Houses for what it is. Her fans need to stop denying her character and actions, instead ask themselves what they are really supporting and if they really want to do so. And even though she is the bad guy, that's not a reason why you shouldn't like her as a character. Just try to like her for who she really is, not what you want her to be.

[olderthannetfic]

heya, this is the anon that salted about edelgard fans who get defensive of their fave to the point of romanticizing imperialism, and kind of replying to the other anon.

you missed the point of what i said.

i never said anything about dimitri and somehow you attacked with the assumption my fav is dimitri (my fav is claude btw). red herring, but go off i guess.

imagine playing crimson flower (or even scarlet haze in 3 hopes) and finding things that could fit in the history of your country. the wars that we never asked all because some powerful country out there decided they were blessing us with their superior culture. imagine hearing edelgard's constant insistence for the greater good, and things will be better. when i live in a country that is still hearing from the still bleeding wounds of colonialism and imperialism.

playing edelgard's routes genuinely upset me, but i had two other routes i could play that would let me enjoy the game. so i did. and i also know people like crimson flower and like edelgard and that's fine. we all have different tastes.

what i don't agree is when people aren't mindful to what they say for the sake of defending their blorbos. imagine, for one second, what it looks like if you talk to a fan who is maybe not british or whatever nationality that doesn't have a history of being colonized (and mayhaps have a history of being the colonizer), and you tell them that edelgard did nothing wrong. you equate her tragic and complex personality to being absolved from all wrongdoings. you dig in that hill, and you will die on it like bernadetta on the flaming platform.

and so you got two fans hurt. one thinks you're a white supremacist, the other assumes you hate edelgard. and so nobody talks. only debates. nothing is shared. only fought.

at this point any fan of the house leader is overly defensive. if someone doesn't like claude, you're racist. if someone doesn't like dimitri, you must be an edelstan. if someone doesn't like edelgard, you just like dimitri to dick you with the areadbhar between his legs.

i don't like yuri because he's too much of a twink for me, but i'm sure there's some morality reason for it in the fandom space. i must be a *throws dart on board* aelfric stan and ship him with *throws another dart* count rowe while also supporting *last dart* aristocracy and rhea's dragon tits.

i wish people stopped being defensive and enjoy their barbie dolls. all their barbie dolls. let people share their barbies without having some goddamn debate happening. exchange clothes. cut the hair. do make believe with funny voices.

i wish dimitri artists weren't harrassed because they like drawing dimitri. i wish dimitri fans wouldn't plot their own harrassment war on edelgard fans because of this ""travesty"" or whatever the fuck. yeah, philosophy and social issues are going to be discussed. it's a game with war and politics. just be mindful and not defensive. talk about things but for god's sake please make sure not to trigger or squick a fan while gushing because you're too focused on showing your barbie is the prettiest.

i wish i could share racist and dark fucked up colonialism headcanons on the world of fe3h because it's a comfort for *me*, a southeast asian who grew up with the colonial mentality of western countries being better and we should thank them for conquering us.

but i can't share these headcanons (besides a few irl friends) because people would think it's an attack on edelgard because how dare i unromanticize crimson flower. or that i hate claude for projecting that and i'm racist. or use it as a "gotcha!" moment to dunk on dimitri because "hey he supports monarchy and the church, and they're components of colonialism! why don't you talk about that? hmph you just like his looks"

so it's exhausting. and i'm okay with playing with my barbie dolls alone or with a group of two. but i wish i didn't have to

--

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

The more I think about it, Edel's whole spheal about the weak being weak because they rely on others instead of themselves kinda fits with her absolutist beliefs. It's kinda similar to her thinking that all Nabateans are bad because they are Nabateans who are the children of the Goddess and all of them have power over the people and control humanity. She sees a lot of things in black and white.

I mean as far as fitting with her character, it does. She does see things very black and white, and her conversation with Dimitri is reflected in various other places. For example...

Her reason for "you can't be in power" is literally just "you're a child of the goddess", despite that Flayn has done absolutely nothing wrong and in fact even got kidnapped by Edelgard's own supposed enemies. Seteth is no tyrant and has never hurt anyone, but just because he's a "child of the goddess", he's automatically evil to Edelgard.

Now, if she only wanted to deal with Rhea and all that, that'd be one thing. If her issues were specifically with Rhea alone, that would be a different story. Her main reason for hating Rhea though is not because of how Rhea ruled, but only because she's a child of the goddess, as proven just from her quotes to Seteth an Flayn here. She has no other reason whatsoever to want to keep them out of "power" (which like, they didn't really rule anything anyway) other than their race.

This is why she never bothered trying to talk things out with Rhea to have Rhea "fix" her rule or any political situations in Fodlan. Rhea wasn't the problem (as proven by Faerghus, as Dimitri is trying to fix a lot of power disparities and various political issues and Rhea hasn't uttered a peep about it because it's not her business what he does within his own country). It's just the fact that Edelgard doesn't like that humans aren't the ones in total power within Fodlan.

Mind you, Edelgard repeatedly refers to Fodlan as "the world", so imo that tells you a whole lot about her. There's a certain haughtiness that comes with that. You may be familiar with how there are some nasty Americans who behave like the US is the top of all things and that anything that happens within the space of the internet is also just "the US". There are literally real people who behave like this and treat the US as "the world", with anything outside of it just being a side piece to "the world".

Why do you think she doesn't care about Almyra, Sreng, Duscur, etc? Those places don't even cross her mind while she's trying to conquer Fodlan, despite that they're a very real threat in her conquest. If she takes over Fodlan, those locations are very much her problem now, but she doesn't even remotely consider that fact not care about it. Dimitri and Claude's stories are extremely focused on both Fodlan and outside of Fodlan, wanting to be friendly with their neighbors and not just working hard to make things right in Fodlan. They're also trying to make things right with their neighbors.

To be specific, too, Edelgard is the only person who refers to Fodlan as "the world". Rhea, Dimitri and Claude all say "Fodlan" when referring to things like the future, the past, the problems at hand and what they want to do for it in the present. She's the only one who consistently, in both games, refers to Fodlan as 'the world" and insist things like "the world" being under Rhea grasp and how "the world" is warped and twisted because a few people from Faerghus are willing to die for their friends and family, as well as die fighting in defense of their literal home.

Her views extend as far as Fodlan's borders and anything outside of it is irrelevant to her. If you're not a human, you're not allowed to rule a location within "the world" (that is, Rhea had power within GM, which was just a piece of land in Fodlan and she didn't involve herself in the other locations unless asked for help by the person in power of that location). She thinks it means Rhea is controlling humanity and abusing her power by not being human, because she, a non-human, is a person with power in a land where, well, there aren't many dragons left period because humans murdered them. To Edelgard, only humans cans rule over humans, and if you're a dragon then you're the root of all evil for trying to have power over humans despite speaking human languages and having human forms, as well as helping humans and being kind to them. She's basically saying if you're a dragon and you live in Fodlan you need to submit to humans, which is... literally what TWS thinks, so... that from that what you will lmao.

If politics were really Edelgard's problem, she would realize the politics plaguing Fodlan are actually only within her country's borders. The Alliance is generally fine and the commonfolk don't really care who is in power or what they're doing as long as they can live their lives.The people at the roundtable argue a lot, but it's because they're trying to prioritize their own land.

For example, you have Erwin who the people within Gloucester territory love as their leader. Erwin tends to argue with Count Ordelia and Duke Riegan, but that doesn't affect the citizens. Obviously the issue where innocent merchants died was a problem, but that was something in Hopes that Lorenz actively looks into and tries to fix, but Raphael doesn't really want him to. Other than that, the Alliance doesn't really have problems.

Faerghus is dealing with some political strife but Dimitri, Rodrigue and Sylvain work hard to manage that. Also, though they have heirs decided by Crests, while Dimitri is trying to solve that, they certainly don't have a problem with women being the head of their house, or Ingrid would not be the next heir to Galatea.

Basically all the issues Edelgard tends to highlight are either only problems within Adrestia or are being worked on in the territory it occurs in or it's not a "problem" (because yes, Crests decide heirs, but the people of the Alliance don't care about that and Dimitri is working on that for Faerghus). Most squabbles are between nobles and other nobles and don't really affect the citizens in the Alliance or in Faerghus. If it does, it's treated as a huge deal (the incident with Raphael's parents is something even ordinary civilians know about, and everyone in Fodlan knows about Duscur. While it was soldiers killed in Duscur and not civilians, soldiers are still citizens).

So... yeah. She views everything completely black and white. What happens in Adrestia, to her, is happening all across Fodlan, Fodlan is "the world" (i.e. anywhere outside of Fodlan is insignificant to her, and her story doesn't once focus on outside of Fodlan like AM and VW do, as well as their Hopes counterparts. It's not an accident that Edelgard, specifically, in both games, has a route confined to Fodlan and repeatedly refers in both games to Fodlan as "the world" when nobody else does), and if you're not human you have no right to be in any kind of power in a "human" land (which was previously a human and dragon land where they both lived at the same time... until the humans murdered the non-human race).

[helloquotemyfoot]

3, 22, and 35 for the FE3H ask list!

3. Favourite Black Eagles student, and why?

The toughest question first 😭 it's so hard because I love them all!! But I do really have to say Edelgard. Her personal story of rediscovering herself after trauma, with the help of her friends, is so heartwarming, and her genuine dedication to improving the lives of ordinary people in Fodlan is so inspiring--so many people after suffering what she suffered would think about revenge, and of course that's understandable, but what is so impressive about Edelgard is that it becomes a transformative moment for her because she sees how this system of suffering and abuse transcends her own personal life and she sees the systemic roots of this obsession with Crests and how it affects everyone. This is such a radical outlook in this kind of setting but so moving when it is so genuinely felt. And the genius of tying this into her own personal experience of trauma as well, that part of the reason she sees this systemically is because she dehumanises herself and distances herself from the girl, "El", who 'died' under torture, means you get the beautiful, beautiful thematic resonance of Edelgard recovering her "humanity", her own personhood as El, at the same time as tearing down these structural barriers on "humanity" as a whole in Fodlan.

On top of all this, she is just so much fun as a person. She's a dramatic dork who has a weird sense of humour and gets disappointed when people don't laugh at her jokes, who wants everyone to be as excited about the Black Eagle Strike Force name as her, who does hilarious impressions of her friends. I could imagine myself being friends with her and talking theory in one moment before sobbing over a picture of some tiny kittens the next. I love her your honour.

22. Unpopular or rare ship/support you really like, and why?

Well, the obvious one here is Edelclaude, lol. For the Three Houses fandom this definitely counts as a rare ship. Firstly, I think on a practical level, these two have goals which are very compatible in a way that Edelgard's goals aren't really compatible with Rhea or Dimitri (without massive character development so that they're very different to in the game, of course in AUs all bets are off), something which is hinted at in the game itself and which the two characters note about each other. Edelgard is focused on Fodlan, but she wants to change it, including by taking down the Church as a political institution, which per Claude is where Fodlan's prejudice against outsiders comes from. Similarly, Claude's focus is on peoples of different cultures coming together and sharing with one another because of his personal experience as a mixed race person, but he also talks about inequality between nobles and commoners at times. Their ideals could very easily work together and enhance each other if either was in a different place and could start that cooperation in the game.

Which brings me to the second part of why I like this ship, and for me the more important one. I think Claude and Edelgard have really compatible personal arcs as well. For both of them, they begin the game distrustful, having suffered trauma which makes them question their own personal worth, both believing that their friends and classmates would not like them if they knew the truth about who they were. Both find self-belief from Byelth's uncomplicated acceptance of them, in Edelgard's case she begins to believe in her own self-worth and rediscover her identity as "El", whilst Claude becomes more open and honest. I think it is a huge thing that both Claude and Edelgard spend the timeskip being certain that Byleth will return. Edelgard sends people out searching; meanwhile, in VW, Claude is waiting for Byleth at Garreg Mach around the time everyone promised to meet and shows no surprise at seeing them there. Over the course of the war, in CF Edelgard continues to show more parts of herself to Byleth, culminating in the A support where she asks Byleth to consider themself one of her family by calling her "El". Claude also continues to reveal more of his plans and identity, the pain he experienced as a child for being mixed race.

Both Edelgard and Claude, subconsciously or not, are looking for someone to trust and believe in. They're both desperately afraid of rejection whilst craving companionship. They both intend to build a better world for others, this desire being born out of terrible pain and trauma they both experienced, and a selfless desire not to see anyone else hurt by the same thing. I don't mean to collapse the differences between them, either--imo Claude's background leads him to believe that his fundamental nature is repulsive to others, whilst Edelgard mainly fears that it is her actions which will drive others away (complicated by her dehumanisation of herself/viewing herself as a tool for her cause).

In my opinion, it's actually Claude who has greater trust issues of the two. Edelgard spends White Clouds making very overt gestures to Byleth as well as to some other Black Eagles (Dorothea, Caspar), whereas Claude is much more secretive and for the most part only obliquely refers to his own ambitions (a big exception is not with Byleth, but with his support with Marianne, which is one of the key occasions where you see Claude's desire to connect with others). He doesn't even dare to open up more to characters like Petra, who might understand his position as an outsider and has no love of Fodlan's xenophobia, either. But these differences as well as their similarities is what could make their relationship so compelling. Edelgard is more optimistic, whilst also in a sense being more practical, not being concerned with things that don't affect her immediate goal such as the ultimate truth of the War of Heroes. Meanwhile, Claude is (imo) more cynical and sceptical, but also more curious and, in a sense, concerned with high-minded ideals, and broader narratives - I don't think it's coincidence that his first idea in Fodlan was to get ahold of the Sword of the Creator, a weapon with massive mythological destructive abilities, yes, but also a heroic symbol which could rival the Church's power as derived from Seiros.

I think Edelgard would push Claude to see others in a better light, whilst Claude would provide an intellectual challenge that Edelgard craves, poking holes in her plans and showing how reform measures could be taken advantage of--so that they can both improve the final product and create a better world together. I think they could both provide the other that acceptance and companionship that they crave. I think they both understand the darkness in humankind, and would accept and understand each other's darker aspects as well, whilst urging each other not to give into them.

Also, by far the most compelling argument, they both deserve to be happy.

35. What are some of your most unpopular opinions about the game/characters/story?

Hmm honestly I'm not completely sure of this one because I've mainly found my little corner of fandom with similar-minded people and stayed out of the rest, lol. But my most unpopular opinion is probably that I don't care for Dimitri very much and I don't really see him as a progressive character. I think he has an innate compassion for others which could certainly LEAD to him becoming more progressive in an AU context, however I don't think he was given the background to develop that in Faerghus and he doesn't develop it in canon. He sees feudalism in an idealistic light which means he ultimately keeps commoners in a subordinate position - not without sympathy, not because he really believes that they're worth less than nobles but just because That's The Way The World Is and, fundamentally imo, he doesn't have the vision to see something beyond the way the world currently works. Hence, he's a more traditionalist character who wants to make minor reforms to the current system, to prevent its worst abuses, but he can't articulate a future without the system in which people can be more equal. For example, his views on Crests are that they're needed for defence and "these views stand the test of time for a reason". This isn't a person who really understands structural issues like classism, racism, sexism, etc. Imo that's part of the real tragedy of his route, because Dimitri himself would be so much happier if he were able to do something like, just be a mercenary who defends people from bandits, or even something totally non-violent like, idk, working in a soup kitchen or nursing the sick. Instead he's steeped so much in these Traditions of kingship, feudalism, the Crest hierarchy, the Church's hegemony, etc, that he feels he *has* to be king and he has to maintain these structures, even whilst they actually bring all the people around him in the Blue Lions house (and himself) suffering.

I don't want to go more into this because in general I prefer to talk more about aspects of the game I enjoy, and I also realise this is already a SUPER LONG post lmao, so I will stop there. But thank you for these questions, I had a really fun time answering them!

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

S Plays Golden Wildfire - Part i'm going to hate this aren't i

Chapter 14 - A Symbol of the Past

Story Content

Oh. Oh boy. I'm about to get the deranged dimiclaude scene aren't i.

NOW WAIT. NOW HOLD ON. DOES NOT LETTING JUDITH DIE TRIGGER CLAUDE TURNING HIS BACK ON MISS CONQUEROR? FUCKFSLGJRLIHT IF I'D KNOWN THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN A LITTLE KINDER TO CLAUDE'S MENTAL STATE

Lorenz suggested they leave Edelgard to fend for herself and let the Empire fall. Claude says the last time he tried to get crafty with the Empire, it resulted in Judith dying, so he won't make the same mistake again.

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuck

though i guess i was trying to go full send on making claude the worst possible version of himself, so this tracks actually.

Count Ordelia thanks Claude for ending the fight with the Kingdom (Lysithea/Claude A support). And, WOW, it's almost like that was a BAD IDEA!

Wait wait waaaiiiit this route is really going to end before we take out the slitherers? Who wrote this CF-esque bullshit

CLAUDE IS COMPARED TO HUBERT LIKE THAT'S EVEN SLIGHTLY A GOOD THING.

Oh? It seems like a storybook here is based on Tiana and the king of Almyra!

Marianne I love you but I'm going to need you to shut up for a second:

"I'm still hesitant to say Lady Rhea is outright evil. But that doesn't mean I approve of her methods, considering how divided each region has become over the faith."

She literally stays out of their business until they make an attempt on either her life or the monastery. They're divided because they've decided they had to become something different! THE SOUTHERN CHURCH WAS LITERALLY EDELGARD'S DOING! But of course, if she'd tried to mediate/guide any more, she would have been labelled some sort of power-hungry monster. I fucking hate this route.

Lots of allusions to the Kingdom falling. I can try and tee-hee this away but if Claude actually topples the Kingdom trying to get to Rhea . . .

IGNATZ>FGLSKFG

He's being straight-up fucking delusional? "I can hardly believe Edelgard is counting on us to save her. I'm honestly happy to hear that. It means she trusts us . . . That she considers us her friends." [i tell him that's not at ALL what is happening here] "Even so, she still believes we'll come to her aid. I was so relieved when Claude said we were going to Garreg Mach."

The Deer's trio (Claude, Hilda, Lorenz) are talking with each other in camp and Claude says he's reluctant to consider them the enemy, even if that makes him naïve; I can only assume he's talking about the Kingdom?

Uuuhhhh i think "unifying fodlan" is the right answer to Lysithea's question about what it would take to drive out the slitherers. which is. Uh. (I say this because I chose the other option, which was simply "bring the war to an end" and Lysithea was like "sure, but that's not enough.)

what is WITH the deer this route. Why were they shafted so hard.

Holst says in his A support with Claude that the plan is to overthrow the kingdom. Was it not to get the kingdom to hand over rhea? So, Claude, because your asinine plot didn't work (again), you're going to ruin the kingdom to get at one woman who he WILL HAND OVER if it means you leave his kingdom alone? (And, mind, even if Claude didn't hear that directly from Dimitri, that's exactly what he was banking on. So now he's willing to work with Her Majesty instead and topple the kingdom . . . ) I can't tell if this guy's dumb or heartless.

Losing actual literal years off my life.

Nader being welcomed among their ranks is something that happened in Houses, not to mention all of the non-Fodlan natives that were kicking around at Garreg Mach that still happened in Hopes, so for Claude to be all "but the Church preaches a very different vision [from a world that would let that happen]" is FUCKING INSANE

Claude is just spouting the same incorrect bullshit I don't have the mental bandwidth to type this out. All I have to say is: I have no sympathy for a war effort mounted on partial, damaging information. I didn't have it for the emperor, and I don't have it for him.

Claude is bending over backwards trying to get Edelgard to turn her ire away from Dimitri and the Kingdom.

His evidence for one theory: Dimitri gave me a certain vibe.

You think I'm joking? > "But that's the impression I got when I saw Dimitri on the battlefield."

Anyway the plan is still for Edelgard to take control of Faerghus so fuck these two actually. Does this woman not know how to leave sovereign countries alone.

Main Battle

OH BOY. all right. time to go . . . fuck up the monastery i guess. (i'm supposedly defending it. doesn't feel like defending it)

I have to escort Edelgard to the front lines but she IS WALKING IN CIRCLESSSSSS QUEEN CAN YOU JUST--CAN YOU RUN PLEASE?

...............I think she's avoiding the ground that's on fire. Are you fuckingggg serious right nowwwwwwww IT'S A LITTLE BIT OF FIRE

Misc.

Dimiclaude counter: 2. Claude says that sparing classmates applies to Dimitri too.

CLAUDE CONFIRMS HE'S JACKED. GOD BLESS. Excursion dialogue, "I bet you think I'm pretty scrawny. Don't worry, I got plenty of muscle under here.")

next one is probably the last chapter!

[iturbide]

You know a read I used to have about Claude in houses that hopes makes really hard to have. Claude because of how he always claimed to be an outsider, is to fodlani to almyrans. While for the fodlan people (so Lorenz Dimitri and Edelgard when they call him out for certain shit that he does) is too almyran in how he handles and deal with things. I've always read Claude like this that he because of how his mother and father raised him took traits from both parent which inadvertently others him from people.

Yet Claude in hopes feels so lacking in that complexity for some reason for me. The way he doesn't seem to want to look into things more, the fact they now have him complaining about work even though in houses we are told/shown he is a hard worker by choice and desire, and the fact he seems to ignore others (Dimitri during the secret route) it just feels off.

I still feel claude in houses reads that way (especially replaying it recently) but I really question why in hopes they had to make his route so unfocused and all over the place to the point Claudes whole character is fundimentally the same sure, but his thought process and actions aren't.

You know, I never really had that read on Claude. To me, Claude is very much a chameleon: he can -- and does -- adapt the way he presents himself based on what's most to his benefit.

For example, he's flippant with Lorenz in their B support, letting him think that he's not paying attention or not invested in matters of the Alliance, only to reveal as Lorenz continues dogging him that he's actually more aware of the minutiae than the man who's so intent on heading up the Round Table. Conversely, with Hilda he's coy in their C Support, assuring her that he's ready to be an open book to her (provided it's not a one-way exchange). And while he often presents himself as lackadaisical, he's an incredibly diligent worker even in the Academy Phase, researching through the night after the fight against Miklan where he becomes a Black Beast. Claude is an actor, which is how he's made it in the Alliance at all, given how limited his training has been: instead he likely adapts on the fly and remains constantly aware of just how he's presenting himself, what he's saying, and what the implications are.

If he wanted to, I have no doubt that Claude could pass for a more stereotypical Alliance nobleman, complete with the airs and even the sense of self-importance that many would assume comes from being the heir to the House of Riegan and eventual leader of the Alliance round table. But he doesn't. Instead, he makes himself approachable, preferring to meet people as equals rather than implying he's someone's better the way other nobles do -- because that's what's going to help him reach his goals: after all, how can he forge understanding with other people if he presents himself as someone who stands above them, rather than alongside them? Yes, it's going to earn him ire from people that are hung up on status and position (Lorenz) or the traditional "proper" way things should be done (Ingrid), but other people embrace it and even praise his down-to-earth demeanor (Leonie).

But most of all, I feel that he purposefully highlights aspects of his Almyran culture and upbringing. He's raises the suggestion of a feast after the reenactment of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion regardless of who won the fight -- and feasts after battles, win or lose, are staples of Almyran culture. In his C support with Annette, he brings up the bonfire festival while talking about her song, never mentioning where the tradition is from and letting her assume it's an Alliance thing. And this, too, is tactical: if he buries all of the culture he was raised in, how is he ever going to build bridges with the people of Fodlan? Yes, Almyran traditions are different, but they're not barbaric as Fodlanis tend to assume. By letting these little things slip out as he makes friends, he introduces them to snatches of another culture, in hopes that when the truth does finally come out, they'll realize that just because he was brought up culturally Almyran doesn't make him a stranger they'll have no hope of understanding. He's just a person, the same way they are, with his own traditions born from his Almyran heritage, just as they have their own cultural nuances from theirs. He's not too Almyran for Fodlan, just as he's not too Fodlan for Almyra: he's just sick of prejudices and careful about where and how he drops hints.

I still haven't played Three Hopes, but it honestly sounds to me like Claude is not fundamentally the same character that he was in Three Houses. If he were, then he would never consider killing his brother when he didn't have a weapon to defend himself; he would never invade a sovereign territory that had not threatened them; and he would not simply accept without evidence or research of his own the words of someone that has threatened to invade (or has actively done so -- my understanding of events is foggy).

That's just my read on him, though.

[faroreswinds]

On the topic of contradicting narrative and lore in Houses/Hopes, that the other anon brought up: I don't wanna offense anyone but suggesting that we should ignore all contradicting information just to accept "Church bad" and not think about it further seems to easy for me. Ofc anyone should enjoy games like they want to and some things are left to interpretation, so it's ok to come to different conclusions on some things. But I think it doesn't hurt to be skeptical, especially when a game [1]

[3] supplies routes from different perspectives of people who don't speak to each other, or at least not in attempt of any diplomacy. Sometimes you stumble upon things in one route that you as a player know aren't true bc you played the other routes and know more about the other's motivation than the cast. And that also applies to the Church and Rhea, who never get even one explicit quote in which she tells us how she really thinks about any change in Fodlan. That's why after all this time [2]

[3] peope still argue about Edelgard, Rhea, Dimitri and now Claude, too. Who is right, who is wrong, bla bla. Maybe none of them are. Maybe it's left contradicting and ambiguous intentionally, so people can come to their own interpretation/conclusion and so that no one has the feeling of rooting for the "wrong" side, wether you love the Church, the Eagles, the Lions or the Deers. And honestly? Not even the narrative in Hopes sold me on "Church bad/needs to go". It still feels like El is waging

[4] her war to conquer all of Fodlan to bring the change she wishes for. The Church is part of what needs to change and also a scapegoat for the bigger unification plan. Claude is using her war for his own gain, oppurtinistic as he is. And Dimitri just tries to protect Faerghus and his people, no matter what. Rhea... exists in this game, that's all you can say lol - so yeah, the Church needs to change, like all of Fodlan. Do we need a continet-wide war and Rhea's death for that? Not so sure.

You bring up a lot of good points, anon.

but suggesting that we should ignore all contradicting information just to accept "Church bad" and not think about it further seems to easy for me

That was exactly my problem. It was just “accepting what you are told despite all the evidence otherwise” that bothers me. Why would I accept what the story is telling me if the supporting evidence just doesn’t work?

Take Rings of Power. The narrative tells me that Galadriel is an awesome, strong female warrior who should be rooted for and well respected. But all the rest of the evidence shows me a whiny, teenage brat who nearly kills her allies and forces everyone to give her what she wants. I cannot stand RoP Galadriel, yet the narrative clearly wants me to love her. It does not recognize that her actions are atrocious. In fact, it celebrates and rewards them. 

Just accepting what something wants you to believe is lazy. That attitude encourages consumption of media without critical thinking. Just consume. Don’t think.

But I think it doesn't hurt to be skeptical, especially when a game [1] supplies routes from different perspectives of people who don't speak to each other, or at least not in attempt of any diplomacy. Sometimes you stumble upon things in one route that you as a player know aren't true bc you played the other routes and know more about the other's motivation than the cast.

Yes! This is called “Dramatic irony”, when the audience knows something the characters don’t. Dramatic irony can be great because it can build suspense, either positively or negative.

You know that character is the murderer. But the guy waltzing around with the murderer doesn’t know. You bite your nails. Will the murderer kill him?

Or you know that the girl has a crush on the other girl. But the other girl doesn’t know. Oh man, will she tell her? How long must I wait? Oh, the suspense! 

Hopes and Houses has dramatic irony and does.... nothing with it. In fact, it acts as if it doesn’t even have it. If I played AG first, then played GW (without Houses context), then I will know that the stuff about Rhea forcing people to follow her religion or trying to keep out foreigners doesn’t make sense! And I’m waiting for the GD crew to figure that out. So suddenly go “Oh shit, we were wrong! Wait, Rhea is a dragon? There is a even bigger threat at hand?!”

But that never happens. The game just pretends that you just don’t know AG’s side, and you are dragged through the mud watching your characters not only be ignorant, but even stupid. 

It still feels like El is waging her war to conquer all of Fodlan to bring the change she wishes for. The Church is part of what needs to change and also a scapegoat for the bigger unification plan. Claude is using her war for his own gain, oppurtinistic as he is. And Dimitri just tries to protect Faerghus and his people, no matter what. Rhea... exists in this game, that's all you can say lol

I mean like... pretty much. Lol

[dmclemblems]

Personally I don't why some people think GW's end is "not bad" for Faerghus/the Lions. Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain etc are now without legitimation, they could go right back into a new civil war (since to avoid that, was one of the reasons to side with the Church). And Dimitri basically let the archbishop of the Church his people are devoted to die right in front of his capital - without sending reinforcements while a enemy army (Federation) was marching on his capital. Doesn't look good for him?

Are there people actually saying it's not a bad ending for them? Between Matthias being dead and the Church being gone (Matthias has way more experience in handling Sreng invasions than Sylvain does and has much more experience as the Margrave. If he retired and Sylvain took over he would've still been around to help Sylvain out and teach him as he went along, but now Sylvain has to handle everything himself and just hope for the best), there's so much potential and likely unrest waiting to happen.

I don't think most people will know that Dimitri didn't send reinforcements or that he "let" them die. Essentially they really just did not have the manpower left to send backup for them. Not only did they have to continue fighting the Empire in the west (meaning keeping an eye on it and make sure if troops were needed to send them), but they had to deal with Sreng (thanks to Clod/Clyde/Clout man y'all got LOTS of names for Hopes Claude lmao). They couldn't risk losing more manpower to another battle when they had ongoing battles in their own territory, because like Dimitri was explaining, he had to prioritize his own people.

At the end of the day, they'll look to him as their king, and the people who will look to him specifically are the ones he needs to protect. In the same way, Rhea is responsible for her people specifically. In AG Dimitri has reinforcements go to the western front from the Knights of Seiros, but he also tells Seteth to make sure Rhea is told that if it becomes too much for them that they are they escape and not die trying to defend the fortress. What he's saying there is that those aren't even his people that might die for his land's battle, so if it's going to cost their lives, don't stick around. They're allies, but he doesn't want them dying for a place that isn't even theirs.

He didn't really let it happen so much as he had the choice of sending aid he couldn't afford (making little difference overall for the Church's battle) or having to leave the Church to their own battle. Most people won't know the details of the war either, and the ones who do know a lot about it are the ones who knew what their situation was. Any citizens won't know whether he sent troops or why he did or didn't.

As far for people saying it's not a bad ending or what have you, it really is a bad ending for them. Not only did they lose a lot of power, but they'd have to curry favor with Claude to be allowed to keep some of their power. Chances were, Edelgard wasn't going to be able to defeat the Kingdom (she was having trouble on her end, and she also had to be rescued by the Alliance on top of that, so... chances were pretty fuckin' good that the Kingdom wasn't about to lose land to the Empire). That leaves Leicester, and Claude wasn't keen on ruling any part of their land. They'd probably be able to keep their land, but there would probably be disputes between Adrestia and Leicester because of Claude not just considering their lands part of Leicester (or giving her any because they were "allies"). Ultimately they would probably lose a lot of their say as an individual power.

Then there's also Petra claiming, for some wild and quite honestly stupid reason (the writers really didn't think the implications of this through), that she believes she's going to be the third big power in Fodlan. In the camp she mentions she believes that because the Kingdom will lose a lot of power, and that because that will leave only two nations in Fodlan, that Brigid (which she is the queen of) will be the mediator between them (because apparently having two powers in one land means they needs a mediator and the Kingdom, by her implication, won't be allowed to do that because they won't mean jack shit anymore after the war... which... also implies she believes Claude is going to strip them of all their political power. Again, I don't see Edelgard getting anything out of this war except a lot of dead soldiers, but that's also another topic about another man and family that you wouldn't want me discussing here lest I go way off topic lol). Though Claude would probably not strip them of their political power entirely, I do imagine he'd expect them to put his rule over theirs, meaning if he tells them to do something, they'd have to do it. The power tier would basically be Citizen -> Regional lords -> Sylvain/Felix/Ingrid/etc -> Dimitri -> Claude.

Imo in Petra's case, that's a pretty haughty and crappy claim, especially to say that in a camp where you're surrounded by people who are openly looking down on Claude's war-related choices (and one of them is one of the biggest powers in Fodlan, i.e. the second most prominent power of Leicester, i.e. Lorenz). Apparently she thinks Fodlan is going to consist of Leicester and Adrestia and that Brigid will have a say in Fodlan's politics while the Kingdom has to rot politically.

Mind you, that means Petra is basically admitting that Brigid is nothing but a vassal state of the Empire and will continue to be long after this war is over. Not sure why she thinks her situation is so much brighter and lovelier than the Kingdom's (which as we're saying here is not good). Considering she also joined Claude's army long before they allied with the Empire, that could put Brigid in quite a bit of political trouble with the Empire.

What I'm saying here is that if Petra thinks she's going to be in a better position with Fodlan as their third power (again, meaning Brigid remains nothing more than a part of Fodlan), despite that she's in a really unimportant position in this route in Fodlan, the Kingdom is going to be hurting for political power if they end up below a non-Fodlan location for power, unless Claude lets them keep it (so Petra may go to him and be like hey how about letting Brigid take their place in the power structure of Fodlan, so Claude would have to make a choice here), which even then the chain of command still ends with Claude above Faerghus. If Claude says they can keep it then they can, but he has to say so.

Claude does want to unify Fodlan in this route too though (so again, Faerghus would be under his say so), and since this route follows what Claude wants and not what Edelgard wants, if Leicester goes to war with Adrestia post GW (which is highly likely re: Edelgard is on a conquest and hasn't conquered anything in this route, and Claude expects her to keep fighting even after Rhea is killed), chances would be good that Claude would mobilize Faerghus' troops to help Leicester fight Adrestia.

Now mind you, this would hurt Faerghus even more. There's also the fact that I can 100 percent see Gautier territory withholding troops and refusing to assist Leicester, which would of course become an issue and cause a manner of strife. If Gautier refuses to send troops, Fraldarius may be and probably would be in the same boat (remember, Leicester killed Matthias and if Rodrigue disagrees with the idea to send their troops because of this, Felix is probably going to disagree with it too. Felix has a support with Rodrigue where he's asking for Rodrigue's advice as the new Duke, which means Felix values his opinion enough that he would want to take his thoughts into consideration. On top of that, if Sylvain said no because Leicester killed his father, Felix would also take Sylvain into account, so it's a no from Fraldarius, too).

So, what am I saying here? I'm saying that either Petra's weird belief somehow happens and Brigid gets more say in politics within Fodlan's borders than the Kingdom does (meaning there would be four powers now for some reason), or the Kingdom is under Leicester's rule even if it's allowed to remain an individual territory. Claude said he didn't want to rule over their lands or take their lands as a result of defeating them in war, but when it comes to a final say so, the Kingdom would be under Claude's power. They'd be allowed to keep their land and rule of their land, but they'd have to answer to him for everything.

So where does this lead us? Into a whole bitch ass mess of fighting again because Claude didn't think things through. Also, if two huge parts of Faerghus told him no, we're not sending you troops, he might try to remove them from power entirely, which... now that would cause a problem with Dimitri, and... yeah. It would just be messy. Either that happens or Claude just doesn't get troops from Faerghus' best fighters. I say this because eventually if Claude had to decide on fighting them for not giving him troops, would he actually do that considering it would cost him more manpower from his war with the Empire, or would he just suck it up and not get the troops (which Sylvain and Felix could also just say hey sorry look we can't afford to send you troops right now because we have basically nothing to spare after our war with you, which I imagine would make enough sense to Claude that he wouldn't press those areas for troops further).

There's also the fact that, again, Leicester killed Matthias and if they tried to mobilize Gautier troops, I'm pretty sure even if any got sent that Sylvain would not send his own brother out to help Leicester. Kind of like, lol you assholes killed my dad and now you want me to send my brother out to help you guys in a war lol you're fucking funny. In other words, now Leicester is down one of Faerghus' most competent commanders.

This is super long winded but what I'm saying is that even if this all ends with Faerghus keeping any power at all, they're still effectively owned by Claude now in a sense. Claude expects to go to war with the Empire after killing Rhea because he believes Edelgard's goal is conquest (and he's correct), thus she wouldn't stop fighting because Rhea was out of the picture. That would mean Claude, having been the victor over Faerghus, can decide what to do with Faerghus' troops (and Edelgard has no say in it nor any power over it because she didn't defeat them). The most likely scenario to post GW is that this is what happens eventually, which is still not good for Faerghus regardless of what happens from there.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire - Ch 5

Spoilers for GW under the cut.

STORY/MAP

Judith!!! Why aren't you playable 😭. Imagine if she and Rodrigue hooked up. Double the sexy.

Claude said "three houses." I'm easily entertained.

Holst is always eating mushrooms and getting sick before meetings.

Shez just fighting this war to get at Jeralt and Byleth, lamo.

At least it's nice Edelgard won a battle not against the church. She actually chased the Alliance back. Though, it's only because of heel-face-turns.

Raphael's eyes are too light-colored. He looks creepy. And, man, Claude is really hard-carrying the Golden Deer for looks for men.

Arval is shitting on Claude for constant retreating lamo.

Still have no idea why he didn't ask Dimitri for help. He's like, oh, shit, the Empire's huge ass army is kicking our ass. They're also fighting the Kingdom. Oh, no, what do we do? Talk to Dimitri? Of course not. Why would we do that?

LINHARDT AND HILDA HAVE SUPPORTS. FUCK YES. It's the lazy duo. OMG, yes. I wanted this soooooo bad. It better be comedic genius.

MAP

Don't worry, Lorenz. Your dad isn't really betraying everyone.

The only place Gatekeeper really makes sense is the Kingdom right now. Why wouldn't he continue guarding the church?

There's a lot of Judith simping going on, and I'm here for it.

Lysithea over here openly hating the Empire. Can't blame her. I feel like all that "honorary Black Eagle" nonsense forget she HATES the Empire.

Why is Claude blaming himself for the Empire's aggression? Did I see this conversation in SB? I don't remember.

Once again, someone is unable to make reforms because Edelgard started a war lol. Both Claude and Dimitri had plans for reform and positive change, but they got halted because of Edelgard.

Is it just me or is Lorenz like really good? He and Dimitri are by far my favorite to play as so far.

SHEZ & LEONIE C SUPPORT

Ready for some mercenary bonding, I'd expect.

Uh oh. I forgot that they may disagree over Jeralt. Surprised she didn't react to Leonie name-dropping Jeralt though.

This is a pretty interesting support for lore potential.

MARIANNE & HILDA C SUPPORT

Judith! I love it when other characters show up in supports.

Is Hilda going to make Marianne do all the work? Oh, thank God. She's not, lol.

Hahah, Marianne sucked at organizing. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Judith does not approve. This is funny so far.

Aww, Hilda is taking the fall. That was sweet.

SHEZ & HILDA C SUPPORT

Lamo at Shez charging head-first into every battle. Very shonen of them.

They have two very different fighting styles lol.

Aww, Hilda is looking out for Shez.

SHEZ & LYSITHEA C SUPPORT

Lysithea is like, I expected you to be more reckless! Meanwhile, that support with Hilda she's too reckless.

I really don't get the vibe that Claude trusts Shez despite what Lysithea said, since he's not telling Shez anything.

Oh, no, Shez called Lysithea the "k" word. She's really prickly.

Love Shez calling Lysithea out for being a hypocrite and saying she's acting like a kid lamo.

That support is everything I hate about Lysithea.

LORENZ & LEONIE C SUPPORT

Bummed they only go to B. They might be my favorite pairings for each other.

Aww, man, that SUCKS for Leonie. I didn't think about that. She had to raise so much money to attend, only for it to last like a month. That hurts. It seems the church gave some back at least.

This is really similar to Shez and Lorenz's support, but I think Lorenz seems like he's coming from a much better place this time. In that one he was so fixated on class. Here he seems more worried he failed to help a commoner out.

LORENZ & MARIANNE C SUPPORT

Marianne got forced into this war 😭 Now I feel so bad for using her. But she's my favorite Golden Deer.

Lorenz offered to speak on her behalf. That's sweet.

I like him encouraging her, but it's still an example of why Dimitri/Marianne is so good. There's no "oh, just cheer up!" that rings so hallow. Raphael/Marianne is pretty good too, because he actually just cheers her up.

HILDA & LEONIE C SUPPORT

"Oh, Hilda, perfect!" - Leonie. "I am, aren't I?" - Hilda 🤣 It's even funnier because Leonie's not even fazed by it.

Leonie asked the wrong person to train lol. Hilda never wants to.

These two are so mismatched. 🤣🤣

Hilda just called Leonie cute lamo.

Did Hilda just invite "cute" Leonie to come to her tent for a bath?

IGNATZ & RAPHAEL C SUPPORT

Wow, they haven't spoken during the whole timeskip?

And Ignatz not bringing up his art at all is super sad.

So Ignatz doesn't want to be a knight and is one, and Raphael wants to be a knight but can't be one. All because of the war.

CLAUDE & RAPHAEL C SUPPORT

I learned absolutely nothing about either character in this support.

At least it brought up how the war is ruining common people's lives because Raphael's family can't travel because it's too dangerous.

I love how Claude's like "those silly eagles and lions always fighting each other" when Dimitri literally just wants to be left alone.

HILDA & LINHARDT C SUPPORT

This is the moment I've been waiting for.

He's like, lamo, you're working. Why?

"And to be clear. I'm not here to help." Linhardt is golden. "Oh, Linhardt, you're on break? Perfect! Then you can help me with this awful whatever that I'm doing!" He continues to be the most quotable.

"Your life seems to be one permanent break." 🤣🤣

Linhardt's even worse than Hilda. As it should be.

MARIANNE & LYSITHEA C SUPPORT

I fully anticipate this to be as awkward and pointless as Claude's and Raphael's support. But it's more Marianne content so . . .

Ohhhh wait, maybe I'm wrong if this is about crest drama.

Fuck that crest scholar. Leave Marianne alone.

Lysithea coming to Marianne's rescue about an annoying crest person is not what I expected, but I'm not upset about it.

Lysithea's really mature here. I like this.

This is the support they deserved in Houses.

NGL, this was actually really cool. REALLY wish it went higher than C.

LEONIE & LINHARDT C SUPPORT

Linhardt is such a mood.

It's refreshing to see Leonie not pressure Linhardt into changing, she just accepts him as his lazy self.

Linhardt's never been hunting, hunh. It's sweet he thought Leonie could use an owl mask for hunting.

And she got him a useless statue. At least he's trying now.

This is kinda cute, ngl. They made each other laugh.

MAIN BATTLE

OK, I was so convinced I accidentally clicked on my SB playthrough that I reset the game, but nope, this really opens with a conversation about why Bernie, a Black Eagle, is fighting . . .

Is this setting up for her recruitment or????

Ok, finally back to Claude and co. Just generic stuff about preparing for Edelgard's invasion though.

Love Judith calling Claude "little Claude." That's what SB is missing, an adult figure like Rodrigue or Judith.

All that talk with Bernie, and only Balthus is recruitable this chapter. Oh, well, I was planning on using him anyways.

Oh, finally! Holst. I was wondering when he's be playable. I should've guessed given I only had 3 units under my control and 4 non-controlled allies running around.

Man, Lorenz is just busted, isn't he?

Claude really doesn't tell his allies anything, does he? I appreciate Lorenz for calling him out on it.

Oh, and Shez can call him out too!

His plan is that Glouster never actually betrayed him, right? That he's a plant to backstab the Empire like in SB?

Balthus and Holst now playable, woot!

Also, it took me like half the battle to figure out that Holst was a sword unit. Like, IDK, he looks like a warrior. I only noticed it when I saw that Ferdinand would blow him away, lamo.

Cool to see Ferdinand leading this stuff though. Seeing him actually get to do something.

Yep, Glouster never wanted anything to do with Edelgard, lamo. Though, why isn't she here?

They really should've told Lorenz this plan. I mean, he's Glouster's kid. I mean, Lysithea knew, so why not Lorenz? Poor Lorenz.

Is it bad I'm more curious about why Glouster didn't tell Lorenz about the plan ahead of time than anything else going on in GW so far? IDK, I just really like more personal drama I guess. Rather than Edelgard tries to kill everyone round, what is it now like 7 routes??

It's better in AG and SB because they're more tied to/involved in the drama. Poor Claude and the Deer seem destined to feel like a third-wheel again so far.

My big hope is that Edelgard realizes she can't take both the Kingdom and the Alliance at the same time, so she decides to focus on the Kingdom only since that's where Rhea is (and, let's face it the country she'll have a WAYYYY harder time bringing to heel under her dominance than the Alliance). So that'll free Claude and co up to do something more interesting than exactly the same thing he did in AM/VW/SS/CF/AG/SB so far. Yikes. I mean, Shahaid or however you spell his name is still there, right? Let Almyra be relevant.

SSS

[ajentmm]

CYL4 Refine Theorycrafting (Part 1)

To start things off, I don't think CYL4 units need to refined right now. They still function when in this current meta, they just aren't top tier units. I would wait a year before refining them just so that power creep can drastically change and these guys can be properly balance. At this point, they would ether stomp the meta or be out dated in two years. That said, I've recently came around to the idea that Edelgard and Dimitri do have some weaknesses and I have been inspired by our new CYL6 heroes. So, for my first public theorycraft, I will ride the hype train.

(Edelgard) - (Claude) - (Lysithea)

Dimitri: King of Faerghus

Dimitri's current kit is as follows:

Moon Gradivus: "Unit can counterattack regardless of foe's range. Grants Special cooldown charge +1 per foe's attack during combat. (Only highest value applied. Does not stack. Special cooldown charge granted even if foe's attack deals 0 damage.)"

Noontime - Atk/Def Unity - Blue Lion Rule - Joint Hone Atk

and as a reminder Blue Lion Rule (his perf skill) reads: "If unit's Def > foe's Def, reduces damage from attacks during combat and from area-of-effect Specials (excluding Røkkr area-of-effect Specials) by percentage=difference between stats × 4 (max 40%), and also if foe initiates combat, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack."

Dimitri's kit is stacked with great tools to make him a enemy phase punisher (I use punisher rather than tank because he's designed slow certain damage and punish poor match-ups, rather than be immune to everything). Distant counter, Breath, debuff reversal, damage reduction, and auto-follow-ups. That damage reduction is Def based so he can just focus on Def.

The down side to is that he has poor Res at 19 and his Spd of 36 is out matched by most mages. If he had follow-up prevention, he might be able to withstand the first hit thanks to the Def difference with mages giving him 40% reduction, and than heal back with Noontime counterattack. His follow-up can be countered by Null Follow-Up or Impact skills. His Spd is only bad because he has no other skills that increase it.

Seeing as every CYL6 unit get +5 to all stats and some way to get follow-ups (either guaranteed or Null-Follow-Up), Dimitri should get something, especially since Blue Lion Rule takes his C slot. You may notice the HP requirement is related to his Royal Lineage + personal skill.

* this asterisk denotes text in brackets that have been omitted for clearer reading. the effects in the brackets are still present.

"Unit can counterattack regardless of foe's range. Grants Special cooldown charge +1 per foe's attack during combat. * If unit's HP≥25%, Grant Atk/Spd/Def/Res +5 and disable foe's effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks."

Oh, Spd+5 and player by passing null-follow-up. I thought you wanted to stop the foe from doubling.

Well, that brings me to his next weakness. Now that everyone has damage reduction these days, even mages (Shout out to B!Blyth), Dimitri double tap isn't killing reliably, unless you swap out noontime. By doing that, you lose that self-sustaining power you want in a enemy phase punisher. So, rather than prevent the foe from making a follow-up, we'll just kill them instead. Yes, I'm thinking increasing this special's damage.

"If unit initiates combat, foe's HP ≥75%, and unit's special is triggered, increase damage = 25% of unit's Atk . . .

That's right, Draconic Arua + Noontime. This maybe over kill, which is why the "Foe's HP ≥75%". Why when initiate combat thou? That's because of his crest. In Three House, his crest doubles combat arts damage and weapon durability. Combat arts occur with units' first attack when initiating combat and than prevent unit from making follow-up. I think just giving him Draconic Arua for his first hit is way to strong, so I just made it so it's combined with Noontime. This way, ranged foes can't get nuked, melee foes has a chance to counter attack which would only trigger his specials in his follow-up attack (if he out speeds, which will happen with tanker foes). If they have Guard, they can prevent this boost from happening, since they can't stop his follow-up.

Then where does the "double durability" draw-back come in?

See, I could give him recoil damage after combat, but he's suppose to be a self sustaining unit, (plus it didn't go well with B!Celica and B!Alm (pre-refine)). Instead I though

" . . . but inflicts Atk/Def - 7 on unit after combat for unit's next action or until the end of the turn."

Oh

Yeah, this is a huge penalty that his Unity skill completely flips into a positive that continues into enemy phase. BECAUSE THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP CAN GET YOU THROUGH YOUR OWN WEAKNESSES, STRONGER THAN EVER!

Of course, if you don't have allies near by or you swap out the skill, this is a downside that restricts his strategy. That's why I made the change to the other base effect, incase the player didn't want it but still wanted the boosted stats.

And in the event that IS doesn't plan on doing remixes to Blue Loin Rule, and his enemy phasing isn't working quite well, there's one last effect.

"If unit's HP≤50% or unit has [Penalties] active, unit counterattacks before foe's first attack."

Yeah, I did just gave him Battalion Vantage, the breath was already Battalion Wrath anyway. With this change to the order, Dimitri gets one attack in before the foe's attack, then Dimitri's follow-up, and then the foe's follow-up, if they are still alive from two +22 Atk hits. This would give him SP count of 3, just like when he initiates combat. This means you can run Sol over Noontime.

To put it together for the TLDR

"Unit can counterattack regardless of foe's range. Grants Special cooldown charge +1 per foe's attack during combat. * If unit's HP≥25%, Grant Atk/Spd/Def/Res +5 and disable foe's effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks. If unit initiates combat, foe's HP ≥75%, and unit's special is triggered, increase damage = 25% of unit's Atk, but inflicts Atk/Def - 7 on unit after combat for unit's next action or until the end of the turn. If unit's HP≤75% or unit has [Penalties] active, unit counterattacks before foe's first attack."

Strengths:

More reward for triggering his specials after getting hit by the foe.

More stats (namely Spd and Res) and null follow-up

Synergy with other skills

Weaknesses:

Mages and Dragons

Units with Desperation, Guard, Tempo, Hardy Baring, Precharged specials, Null-Damage Reduction.

A tank that reduces Atk or follow up damage.

(Edelgard) - (Claude) - (Lysithea)

[butwhatifidothis]

What is your opinion on the TWISTD/the Agarthans?

In general? They're an interesting concept implemented in a terrible way.

Cuz, like, there are ways to make a subsect of humans that have declared themselves above the gods, to the point of viewing fellow humans as lesser for not following their way of life and to the point of instigating genocide against a race of beings that have done nothing wrong. If they were going to be given focus, it would've been interesting to see what's it like just being an Agarthan.

Like, obviously not all of them look as crazy as Solon or Thales, since Kronya looks just like anyone else but grayer, so what makes an Agarthan have drastically different looks? Is it living longer - have Thales and Solon been alive for around a thousand years? They're both magic users while Kronya isn't, does that have something to do with it? Both male while Kronya's female, is that it? And on that front, what about Cornelia? Does her actual appearance have something nutty going on? And what's goin' on with their lore in the library? Do they think Sothis replaced their god, and is that why they hate her and her children? Is this god Arval? But I thought they hated the gods and thought themselves better than them, was it only Sothis they thought they were better than? And so on and so forth; on that front, I'm hoping 3 Hopes can shed some light on them (hopefully without outright demonizing the Nabateans in the process).

But. Like. They aren't given any focus. Like, almost at all. So you have a bunch of people who can freely shape-shift at will, have shown to be capable of extremely convoluted yet successful acts of subterfuge and espionage (like Lambert's murder), and have what are essentially nukes at their disposal... and yet they never feel like a threat, once post-timeskip hits. And when you look back on the game, you realize that TWS had plenty of moments where they could have just killed everyone at once without even needing Edelgard's war - the Battle of Eagle and Lion is the most egregious of them all, having all of Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, Rhea, the future leaders of the large majority of the noble houses from all three nations of Fodlan, and all of the Nabateans (that are still interacting with humans) present and condensed into one easily blowupable area, but if they had been any sort of competent and done that then there'd obviously be no story.

So what they end up being more than anything else is just the fandom scapegoat to alleviate any wrongdoing from, well, mostly Edelgard lmao. Something something "She needed to do this or TWS would do X/She couldn't trust anyone because they could be TWS in disguise/She might be bad but what about TWS tho so is she really that bad." And/or they're used to make Rhea look bad cuz the fandom wants to make undue, shitty comparisons to her and them for no reason.

But story-wise, they're kinda just... a distraction? Like there's a reason AM's story works just fine by taking out all of the main heads of TWS on accident; they're useless in the grand scheme of things, and giving them the half-hearted focus that the other routes do just takes away from time that could've been spent focusing on the character arcs of everyone else. But on the other hand, taking them out completely is tricky because a lot of what happens is because of them; their competency existing but only in pre-game events clashes with their incompetency that exists almost everywhere else.

So I guess TL;DR of this is that TWS/the Agarthans could have been an interesting addition to 3H's lore, but they end up overcomplicating things too much without really feeling like they have much of a presence outside of being a fandom scapegoat to cast all blame on

[fantasyinvader]

I think the issue with Houses is how the storytelling fails it through two different, though interconnected, means. In wanting the players to immerse themselves in Fodlan, the devs made it so that the little details matter as the player connects the dots. For instance, the Disquiet event in Safflower is supposed to call Edelgard's C+ Support, itself the first step in playing Flower, into question if the player picked a certain option during that support and the results of that option tie into the second step of going to the coronation. It's also supposed to be recalled a little later in the route, where Edelgard reveals her own views and where she got them. Hubert's lines are also supported by an earlier scene in White Clouds, A Form of Grief, where Thales reveals the purpose behind the experiments. That one scene with Hubert calls the entire route, especially what Edelgard tells you, into question.

The game is loaded with things like this to the point you practically need to set up a string-board to connect everything. But to ultimately understand what the game is saying, you need to understand the symbols it uses. You need to recognize the symbols, how they are being used and what they say. This becomes a problem when the exist outside of the narrative itself, like calling the scene where the BEs pledge themselves to Edelgard "Path of Thorns." It also becomes a problem when the translation takes liberties with the script, as those symbols can be altered (such as changing Safflower to Crimson Flower, with Edge of Dawn making it out to be a red rose) or even removed (such as Dimitri calling Safflower the path of the beast, the antithesis of Nirvana).

That translation issue can extend also extend into the first point, where if the dots are changed it changes the story. For instance, in the Japanese script Edelgard will tell Claude she doesn't believe their ideals are the same. Up until this point, it was made out that Edelgard and Claude weren't that different except that Edelgard would go to lengths that Claude wouldn't but this reveal makes it so that they weren't alike at all. Sure, they both wanted to get rid of the Church but it was ultimately for different ends. Claude wants to promote cultural exchange where no one is seen as an outsider, whereas Edelgard works towards the conquest of Fodlan and (according to the Japanese script for Caspar's endings) the world. They are ultimately two very different characters, but that is erased by the script instead saying their ideals aren't so different instead while also turning Rhea, arguably the game's true female lead, into a rage monster.

You could argue that the translation could be considered a third point all on it's own, but I think if the narrative was stronger, if it hadn't tried to play these games, the translation wouldn't have been able to do this. But because the game wants the player to figure out it's mysteries themselves, requiring knowledge of other routes or outcomes of decisions despite the devs saying they thought most players would only do a single playthrough, and using symbolism not as a means to enhance the story but to clarify it, everything is left to be inferred. I am genuinely curious if the localization is the result of Treehouse's minunderstanding of the plot, which would explain why Nintendo did player surveys asking them if they understood the plot. Feels like they fell for the trick the devs intended for the players, as ironic as that sounds.

It's okay to have 10k years of lore and backstory, but you need to focus on the main story first and foremost.