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viiinx · 22 days ago

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I think Hilda works well as a retainer- not because she makes a good retainer particularly, but for what she represents to Claude characters:

- Hilda is not particularly loyal to Claude and can be recruited which is the point: Dimitri and to a lesser degree Edelgard have a stable figures to truly rely on. But Claude? Claude is alone, only having himself to count on. Hilda is a wavering figure that can become loyal, but isn't a certainty: she represents in a way the difficult, unstable situation Claude has found himself in. Furthermore, it also show Claude relationship to Fodlan. Claude isn't as bound to Fodlan as other characters, in other route he even abandon the country in a way- Hilda is Fodlan to Claude, a place that can become his home, a person that can really become his retainer, but that he isn't necessarily bound to! This point is hammered by the fact Hilda is a Goneril. Goneril are in a way a symbols of the separation between Almyra and Fodlan. They're the one keeping Fodlan's Locket protected, the litteral physical barrier between the two countries. Claude relationship wirh Hilda, even more than simply showing Claude relationships to Fodlan, also represent Claude whole goal of breaking down the frontier separating the two nations

- Hilda doesn't act like the other retainer. While Hubert, Dedue ( and Seteth if you count him ) are hardworker, serious, loyal, overtly concerned with their responsibilities- But Hilda isn't like that. Just like Claude, the yellow unit, the outsider, the third lord to a conflict that focus more on the two other, Hilda stands out from the rest. Furthermore, Hilda has the strongest facade of the three retainer. Hubert and Dedue are both more complex that they seems, but what we immediately see of them is true: Dedue is a serious and kind guy, Hubert is an untruthful yet deeply loyal guy- But Hilda? Hilda appear as lazy, carefree, superficial, confident girl who doesn't care about other- And she actually isn't all that. She's anxious about not fitting expectations, she is kind and truly care about other, she can actually be loyal even to the point of dying for a cause despite claiming the contrary, she is smart and really good at understanding people... In many ways she mirror Claude. And just like him, the true part of her is hidden behind a mask, a mask that is sometimes at the opposite of what she truly is.

@medicallyfascinating Absolutely, I’d love to elaborate! ☺️ But I will take it over here to a new post since that one is very Hilda-centric and because this will be a long ramble.

Hilda is very out of place as Claude’s “retainer” as a whole. She doesn’t swear herself to him out of loyalty, she isn’t even really shown to have a bond with him that is any more notable than the rest of the GD. Hell, she’s the one ‘retainer’ character that can be recruited at all. She’s kind of just… there. The only argument that can really be made here is that she is a Goneril, and that house is the one that defends Fódlan’s Throat - and personally, I don’t think that requires her to be in the ‘retainer’ position to touch on.

Most people who play FE3H can tell that some routes got more time and attention in the writing room than others, and I think VW and CF are the biggest victims of this. VW is messy, awful in terms of pacing, and infamously a clone of SS (But, in my incredibly biased opinion, better because of Claude). If I had it my way, the story would focus heavily around relations between Fódlan and Almyra, the Leicester Roundtable, Claude’s background as an Almyran prince, etc etc etc. The biggest crime this route commits is having nothing to do with its lord - especially given how interesting the tidbits he drops really are. With that setup, Cyril may have actually made an interesting ‘retainer’ character considering the fresh perspective on these topics that he could bring to the table. Such as the ones expressed in his really interesting supports with Claude. (I know Cyril isn’t GD, but he’s an honorary one in my mind.)

Assuming we’re sticking to the current VW story as closely as possible, however, there’s one particular issue about VW that stands out: A lot of the TWSITD/Nabatean elements are out of place and completely irrelevant to the Golden Deer and Claude especially.

…With the exception of one character: Lysithea.

Lysithea already pops into the actual story sections post-timeskip to provide information on TWSITD… and then is just brushed aside again. Bringing her more into the spotlight as an unofficial ‘retainer’ for Claude could have made a lot of the unfolding events feel a little less out of place.

Imagine with me that, instead of TWSITD coming up at the last second story-wise, it instead came up during the ongoing fight against Adrestia and Edelgard. In this scenario, Lysithea slowly starts to put two and two together: Edelgard has white hair, purple eyes, has clear connections to terrifyingly familiar mages, and is rushing to accomplish her goal swiftly at the cost of many lives. She hesitantly approaches Claude and Byleth in private and explains not only what happened to her, but that she suspects that the same thing happened to Edelgard. Maybe Lysithea brings up the possibility of her being under the direct control of TWSITD.

Claude is, reasonably, riled up and horrified at finding out all of this and realizes that Fódlan’s issues run much deeper than he initially thought. He now sees:

- The Church of Serios and Rhea, who he knows has been hiding deep secrets that he has been trying to get to the bottom of. He’s been reluctantly working with Seteth and the knights because he needs the support, but doesn’t trust them and still has the understanding that they’re hiding shit.

- Emperor Edelgard of Adrestia and TWSITD, who could potentially be coercing her into fighting the Church of Serios for some unknown reason - or, alternatively, are simply helping Edelgard for an equally unknown reason. He doesn’t trust any of them either, pretty obviously.

Claude now knows that, in order to even potentially achieve his dream of equality and peace, he has to get to the root of the clusterfuck that is Fódlan - because Sothis knows it’s not happening in this state of affairs.

On a more personal level, I’m sure he looks at Lysithea and tries to imagine an even younger version of her being strapped down and experimented on - and frankly, he just can’t bring himself to. It wouldn’t surprise me if, as a secondary goal, he also gently promises to do his best to help her find a cure. In turn, a stunned Lysithea devotes herself fully to him as a leader and his cause.

Now, a lot of this is just a lot of speculation and hypotheticals, and a lot of it is opinionated, but I personally believe there is just inherently more overall story potential this way than with the current setup. ☺️

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viiinx · 2 months ago

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If you compare Dorothea Arnault to Sylvain Gautier I will break you like a fucking kit kat

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viiinx · 3 months ago

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- I mean, yes I agree. However the fact that Ferdinand is still supporting the nobility system so vehemently still shows that questioning the very system is by itself very revolutionary! Hence why I think Edelgard can't be said to have barely out her plan... I believe we cannot except fe3h characters to intuitively meet all the idea fitting our modern standards. Just questioning the system by itself is something with such lack of precedence in Fodlan that it requires deep reflexion in itself. And if you look at how Edelgard done it, we can see that she managed to have a wide systemic views including the complex relationship of the Church, nobility and crest which is seriously impressive. Especially considering a lot of other characters tend to tunnel vision on one specfic problem, often trying to fix the effect rather than the cause. For example, you have Ferdinand wainting better for the commoners while still supporting the system that led to the commoners to have so much problems in the first place.

But even going aside from a political discussion, I believe the Game vehemently shows how much thoughts was put into Edelgard plan. Firstly, Edelgard is denoted to be much more concerned than politics than nearly all of the cast with how, for example, she has in her likes "debating historical viewpoints and strategies", how she brings politics in nearly all of her supports or how she is the only character who enjoy the monarch study book gift. Secondly, the game show the results of such concerns with how she wrote a full manifesto or how her ideology is the one who's the most concretely described. If Edelgard ideas are poorly though out, then I have to say I fear for the state of every other characters ideas!

- Even with the distinction between lacking empathy and just it being one of her worst skill, I have to say that I don't understand while you still maintain Edelgard has a limited empathy? To me all her supports shows the contrary, that Edelgard is a very empathical person who works hards to overpass her flaws ( like how she get easily frustrated ) because she genuinely just care so much about other:

• Her Bernadetta support is Edelgard trying to be gentle with Bernadetta despite how frustrated she get with her, and therefore growing more patient and less prone to anger due to her empathy for her

• Her Ferdinand support is Edelgard, despite her initial annoyance towards him, honestly complimenting him and telling him how important he is to her to reassure him when he feels down. Moreover, her Hopes supports is her trying to comfort him about his father despite him being the man who caused her and her siblings torture. Even if she terrible at it, it still comes from a place of empathy.

• Her behavior with Byleth after their father death is her placing herself in Byleth shoes, someone grieving their only family, and trying accordingly to help them. Even if again, it ended up being pretty bad for most people.

• Her behavior with Petra, as much as their relationship is limited by their circumstances, is a mark of empathy. Pragmatism would dictate her to profit of her position of power over Petra in the war. However, as the screenshot in my other reblog indicates, she let her choose her side in the war even if its against her. Don't get me wrong, that's the right thing to do. But in the context of Fodlan, I would say such act is motivated by empathy. I believe that, while we can certainly heavily criticize Three Houses writing on those subject, Petra is showed to feel no resentment over Edelgard and even feel saddened fighting against her for a reason.

• The way she consider all the unamed soldiers is also definitely a huge mark of empathy. You see her adorns the grave of soldiers with flowers, in general mourn the loss of the war, makes repetitive attempt at showing mercy... Those act have no pragmatical purpose and sometime even complicates things. I cannot see another interpretation that Edelgard putting herself in the place of people she don’t and probably never know and feel for them

I'm just repeating myself, but to me it's really a matter of applying this emphaty efficiently. Overall Edelgard flaws to me are just very much more about social skills.

- The debate is getting a bit outside of the interpretation of fe3h, but to me there's a moment where you need to step over people boundaries when those are unhealthy. To give a personal example, I have struggled sometimes with unhealthy diet habit, and if it wasn't for my friend who pressed on the subject despite my clear boundary of not speaking of any weight related matter I would have been in a much worst space today... In general, as someone who's familiar with subject like self-harm, eating disorder or suicididal though, I have to strongly disagree that going over someone unhealthy boundaries is a unempathic act. To get back to Hubert, he is not a mindset where he will ever question by himself that he needs to carry out gruesome act in a solitary path. He needs friends to question this deeply unhealthy mindset where he pretty much view himself as a weapon before than a human, even if he rather have no one press on it. It’s an emphatical act for Edelgard to try to help Hubert and be a real friend he can count on. Someone who struggle with empathy would have very much just used him without any consideration, as Hubert try himself to be seen as just a tool.

Also, I think that even the question of unhealthy boundary aside, the deep involvement of Edelgard in the matter Hubert keep secret is by itself enough of a reason for Edelgard to press on the matter without it being unempathical.

- Oh, I'm sorry for misunderstanding your post! Because then yeah, I would say her making Ferdinand uncomfortable is just a case of Edelgard being bad with people. She empathize with his emotional turmoil, that's why she's coming to him, but she's definitely not equiped to deal with all that ( she's trying at least 😭 ).

Also I only brought up Ferdinand because of my mistake, I wanted to show that Edelgard actions were reasonable and not unempathical for brushing off Ferdinand. I really didn't mean to try to bring the discussions around his flaw!

- I admit I personally don't know much about the subject of empathy vs sympathy and english isn't my first langage so you probably know best ^^" I just read the Wikipedia article on the subject and empathy seems so broad. After reading it I'm even not sure that sympathy might be something distinct from empathy, in the sense that it might actually be part of it??? Since it's your post, we're going with your definitions of the term. Did I understand well that for you, empathy is placing yourself in another shoe while sympathy is caring about someone?

On another matter, I have to disagree on Edelgard shortness for people "not on their side". For example, Edelgard is shown as pretty calm towards Rhea, pretty understanding even if sad towards a SS!Byleth... I do agree with she get frustrated more easily with the persons she dislike though.

And I won't lie, to me you cannot only speak of how Edelgard can be prone to frustration over misunderstanding without speaking of her effort to overcome such misunderstanding. The trend in her support is that she can clash hard with people due to her short fuse, but due to her perseverance on trying to understand them she end up forming a really strong bond with them... What I mean is that Edelgard frustration and anger tend to be most of the time something short-lived, especially in regards to her prolonged effort to overcome it. I would probably not qualify Edelgard frustration along with the term dismissive.

But overall, I also do not believe her frustration comes solely from her not understanding why someone else isn't reacting the way she expected. When you look at her Hanneman or Manuela supports, you see that she's on the contrary curious over their belief or act that she doesn't understand. Or in the Caspar support, Edelgard is only shown as angry when Caspar directly insult her and she otherwise ask a question and starts to reflect when Caspar respond differently than expected... Actually, while I don’t doubt Edelgard get frustrated for not misunderstanding, would it be possible for you to refer to the some specific moments in the games that show what you mean? ( It don’t have to be the exact dialog, I can search it if you give me even a vague description! )

- Oh sorry for the misunderstanding ^^" But if I now understand well your argument, Edelgard is explicitly against the crest as part of a wider system and not just the phenomenon of crest by itself? Her revolution is also just has much against nobility and the Church than about crest?

( Also as a side note, I took your response as you being positive with discussing. However while I personally enjoy having a debate, I know not everyone wants that, especially when they get long. As I am the one who came into your post, please don't hesitate to tell me if you want me to stop interacting with it! I totally understand if you just want to express your own though in peace. )

I lied. Put your clothes back on. We're going to talk about how Edelgard is a product of her environment.

Edelgard's motives for change are purely based on her own experiences and what she does want for the commoners is poorly thought through and has no more depth other than "I want them to be our equals" whilst having no planned out steps to actually do anything about it.

It is Ferdinand who makes her realise that commoners require free education to even attempt to be able to attain the same level that the nobles are given on a silver platter.

But of course Edelgard wouldn't think about that, because she doesn't have to. She had grown up Princess of a kingdom with the promise of Emperor at her feet since she was around 10 years old. Even when she wasn't promised Emperor, she was promised a comfortable life. Her education would have been paid for her. Of course she doesn't understand the struggles of commoners, because she has never had to.

Edelgard has been through hell but she has not been put through inherited disadvantage so why would she ever consider what it is like to be raised a commoner????

And so of course, when Edelgard sees the church exploiting and hurting everybody she immediately blames crests and becomes so tunnel visioned on her own experiences to make her stronger, she becomes blind to the other very real and much more important issues happening around her.

Edelgard lacks basic empathy and whether it is just something about her or it comes from the intense trauma she experienced as a child, it makes it impossible for her to relate to commoners and pretty much anyone who has a different lived experience to her. To the point where she even treads all over Hubert's boundaries, and he's the person who is the closest to her at the start of the game and agrees with her and her ideals the most.

This not to say she lacks sympathy, I believe she has a lot of sympathy for people. But she cannot for the life of her put herself in other people's shoes and think about how they are feeling/would feel.

This partially causes her lack of basic respect towards Petra and her racism towards Brigid, holding their freedom over their heads in exchange for Petra risking her life for FIVE YEARS and if she doesn't. Well then. No freedom for Brigid. However, this is also caused by being raised within the Adrestian Empire, especially within the Imperial nobility.

But her lack of empathy extends to her friends. I've mentioned Hubert already but she repeatedly makes Ferdinand uncomfortable, she gets snappy with Bernadetta whenever she's panicking, she outright calls Byleth pathetic for grieving their dead father DESPITE STILL GRIEIVING HER OWN DEAD FAMILY. There are hundreds of instances where Edelgard just simply cannot understand anything from someone else's point of view.

I don't hate Edelgard. I don't think I'm capable of hating any character but I definitely do not like the way she goes about things and treats other characters. She has many many many flaws but I do believe she is a product of her environment. As well as a victim of shitty writing (but that applies to all the characters).

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viiinx · 3 months ago

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- It's not poorly though out, it's just that just the idea of going against the class divide is revolutionary for Fodlan. Ferdinand cannot even begin to think about education without Edelgard, as outside of his CF he still completely support the idea of nobility.

- Edelgard don't lack empathy, on the contrary. Her whole goal couldn't have happen if it wasn't out of thinking about other lives. As you pointed out, she hasn't been put through inherited disadvantage: the nobility system put her in a position of extreme privilege. If she did not think about other she would have no reasons to dedicate her whole life to destroying it... She might have suffered horrific abuse in the name of the system, but if she was entierely self-centered she would have just focused on fighting her abusers to then enjoy her extremely cushy life. What she did instead is reflect on the terrible trauma she was put through, and realize that because of such system so many other suffered like her. She sacrificed any chance she had at a peaceful life for those people. But to show more direct and personal instance of empathy, you can site the numerous time she is merciful ennemy soldiers or how hard she try to understand Linhardt to the point she finds the absolute perfect position for him for example. Honestly, Edelgard does not struggle with empathy, but rather with social skills. She deeply cares about people but she can pretty terrible at expressing- Basically it’s a matter of execution ( social skills ) not the foundation ( empathy ).

- I agree that Edelgard response to Byleth grief is poor ( however it is to note than a part of the playerbase apparently resonated with her words ). However, it's s not due to a lack of empathy, but rather of just not knowing another way. Edelgard always had to push through despite how horrible was her life was and never had time or someone there to really grieve... Going forward is what helped her, and she's thus trying to help Byleth in the same way since she understandsher grief.

- Edelgard do not disrespect Hubert boundaries. The first part of her support is her explicity respecting one of his boundary:

Edelgard: I see. Then I won't speak of such things again. If it's really what you want, I'll gladly keep you by my side

What she does is the other part of the support is out of concern for Hubert. Hubert tries to bear his countless burdens alone and it isn't healthy at all. Edelgard want Hubert to have her just like she has him. She doesn't want Hubert to face the countless hardships of his life alone.

On a less personal subject, what Hubert is doing is for Edelgard. It's a very normal concern to want to know what is done for your ideal, especially when it's very much implied to be questionable acts. It also happens that those acts can often act directly against Edelgard will, which Ferdinand correctly calls out:

Ferdinand: When you disagree with your leader, you must voice your concerns directly. Otherwise, what is the point? [...] You are sorely misguided! When I believe that Edelgard is making a mistake, I tell her as much. Through discussing the matter, I sometimes find that I was mistaken. To skip that process, to make a decision that is not yours to make...

Some boundaries are healthy and important to have, but it's definitely not the case of all. Edelgard will respect Hubert wish, but she will speak up when there’s some concerns.

- Saying Edelgard is making Ferdinand uncomfortable is just disingenuous. Ferdinand is the one who constantly makes her uncomfortable by making every little thing a competition to an absurd degree when Edelgard is expressively against it... Moreover, despite how disrespectful Ferdinand is ( as you talked about breaking boundaries ), Edelgard take the time to reassure him, praise his qualities and directly tell him just how much she values him.

- Bernadetta support doesn't show a lack of empathy, on the contrary. Even in the first part of the support, she is trying to reassure Bernadetta:

Edelgard: Calm yourself. I have no reason to harm you.

Edelgard: Look, nobody is truly fearless. Even I have things that I'm afraid of.

Is goes as far of sharing one of her own fear despite how scared she is to be vulnerable.

Edelgard being snappy with Bernadetta is a fault, but not one out of lack of empathy. On tge contrary, she even expressively become much better in this regard out of empathy for her. Bernadetta even directly say she is very kind!

Bernadetta: You're really kind. I'm less scared of you than I used to be.

[...]

Edelgard: Before I met you, I was more prone to anger. But now I've changed in that regard. So thank you for that. Oh... I suppose you're not listening.

- [Edit] How are the Church, nobility and crest system minor issues compared to other? Pretty much every characters trauma is linked to it in some way. What are those more important very real issues?

I lied. Put your clothes back on. We're going to talk about how Edelgard is a product of her environment.

It is Ferdinand who makes her realise that commoners require free education to even attempt to be able to attain the same level that the nobles are given on a silver platter.

Edelgard has been through hell but she has not been put through inherited disadvantage so why would she ever consider what it is like to be raised a commoner????

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viiinx · 3 months ago

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I lied. Put your clothes back on. We're going to talk about how Edelgard is a product of her environment.

It is Ferdinand who makes her realise that commoners require free education to even attempt to be able to attain the same level that the nobles are given on a silver platter.

Edelgard has been through hell but she has not been put through inherited disadvantage so why would she ever consider what it is like to be raised a commoner????

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viiinx · 3 months ago

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Leonie barely explore the relationship to gender unlike Ingrid, her character is more focused on other themes. Raphael doesn’t explore food insecurity and the specfic way it touch Faerghus. Ashe doesn't explore the relationship of knighthood and gender, nor does he explore the link between knighthood and sacrifice in the same way ( as well as its link to Duscur Tragedy ). Mercedes fit gender expectations unlike Ingrid which make each of their relationship to sexism unique. Moreover its important to not have just one character standing for sexism, it’s a systemic issue and need to be represented in many characters to show how present it is. Overall, she is an interesting and important character. Speaking of the BL, she complete Felix ( and in a way Dimitri ) as she idealize knighthood in the way they critize it. Her place with Dimitri/Felix/Sylvain is important as she very much represent some crucial aspect of the theme they engage in.

As for the racism Felix calls Dedue a dog, Dimitri believe people from Sreng are demons, Hilda has literals slave and Hubert treatment of Petra is awful... Ingrid is definitely the most in your face, and her racism is most definitely a reason to dislike her. However I struggle to understand such a huge gap in treatment where the hate towards Ingrid is so strong while there doesn’t seem to be any ressentment for the other. I mean, even further than racism, bigoted character are not treated as harshly. For example Sylvain never truly change his misogynist beliefs ( which are not really confronted :/ ), only his player behaviour despite being only the submerged part of the problem... Yet he doesn't really get hated despite it?

ingrid is my least favorite 3H character and it’s not even close lol. my second least favorite is edelgard and i literally like her. i am an ingrid hater for life though it’s not even funny everything she does pisses me off. even when she’s fully correct (like in the sylvain supports) she pisses me off. you will never catch me on ingrid’s side.

because like every other character i don’t really like that much (rhea, lysithea, edelgard) is at least interesting to think abt or has a valuable role in the story. ingrid tho????? she’s boring, uptight, and racist. what is there to like abt her im genuinely confused bro fuck ingrid 💀

she may be the only character in this game i have like legit seething hatred for. i could go on forever abt my ingrid hatred

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viiinx · 4 months ago

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I knew fe3h was for the lesbian when the first cutscene showed us a badass woman stabing a man to death with all the rage in the world

#fe3h #rhea #seiros #Rhea you will forever be famous I love u <3

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viiinx · 4 months ago

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- Isn't imperialism something that all the Lord commit? Beside keeping power over all of Fodlan in every ending, Claude hold power over Fodlan and intervene military with his far superior army as King of Almyra while Dimitri keeps the stolen Sreng territory ( the diplomatic relation does better in some of Sylvain ending, but no mention of relishing the annexed southern half is made ).

And I would say Edelgard is not driven by a desire for imperialism. In hopes, she ally with Claude and it's Dimitri that chose to opt out neutrality to fight the Empire. You cannot attack the Church without attacking the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and in a war of this scale the Alliance necessarily get involved. Otherwise she has no goal of conquest, as shown by her words towards Brigid ( Petra in chapter 18 explore, Petra endings in CF, Petra support especially in Hopes ) and Almyra ( Insurmontable paralogue )

- "An ideal you have no way of uphold" how so? Edelgard is pretty much shown to succeed in CF, it's what stated and indirectly showed in numerous endings?

- I think an important element to consider is that Edelgard is not only here to get rid of crest. She's explicitly here to get rid of the nobility too ( Edelgard support with Ferdinand (A), Caspar (A) Lysithea (A), Hanneman (B), Constance (A), CF event 10 "Facing the Kingdom" and many other, so many CF endings, etc ).

- Do they actually depend that much on Relics for survival? Holst is one if not the strongest soldier in Fodlan despite lacking a Crest and a relics, and even the strongest crest bearer like Dimitri and Rodrigue can fall easily to simple soldier.

- To be fair what Sylvain is suggesting kinda would be present without the Church influence. While it's not exactly his idea of a flame orb, the Church banned oil "Flammable Black Water: A sticky black liquid was discovered in northern Faerghus. It burns fiercely and emits a highly toxic gas." explicitly for its nature as a weapon "The use of this wicked substance was forbidden by decree of the archbishop for the following reasons:

1. Misuse could result in accidental death.

2. It could be used tactically by those lacking magical ability.

3. Competition for it could cause strife.".

- Dimitri and Edelgard AM dialogue is complex. To me they're both not really listening, their discussion was kinda useless. Dimitri says he comes to try to understand her actions but never actually does and Edelgard is already sure in her belief, none of Dimitri points are something she didn't reflect on before. On both side, they are already convinced of their ideal and aren’t there to change their mind.

- To me it's again important to consider Edelgard wants to abolish crest but also nobility which is very tied to it. Correct me if I'm wrong but the Faergus noble don’t show interest on that point, and in the case of Dimitri pretty strongly maintain it. As an example in one of his ending says he "secure their line as a dynasty that lasted for generations to comes". Or in Hopes he directly state he protect the Church because he needs the Church doctrine to legitimate his power.

As for Edelgard not collaborating it's because it's too risky and require information she does not and cannot have easily. You know what the Blue Lions want because you know them well, but Edelgard’s does not. Fhaergus is known as very traditional and seems to value the crest the most so it’s rational to generally assume they won’t be sympathetic toward reform against. It’s especially the case since the Blue Lions don’t really publicy show their disdain towards crest pre-timeskip. Dimitri even defend them with the same argument you're using on their necessity. Furthermore, Edelgard would risk to give her plan away if she were to try to make her intentions clearer to find ally. She's in a situation were she cannot alert the Church or it's ally ( which Faerghus is ), as well as constantly navigate TWSITD watchful gaze. She does make a careful attempt with Claude in pre-timeskip VW but it does not lead to anything sadly.

- Why is the Church not bad? They banned life changing invention ( the shadow library ), they censor book ( VW cutscene and the shadow library ), they lie about Fodlan whole history, they directly lie about the very religion they're propelling, they show hostility towards other religion ( the woman at the altar in the Abyss ) and non-believer ( Claude and Leonie support, "Dare not doubt or deny the power or existence of the goddess." from the book of Seiros ), in the case of the Nabateans they keep the same figure in power for centuries and present themselves as saints, they military intervene in other country to defend their interests ( all of white clouds ) and they maintain power over the nobility of each nation especially Faerghus, their religion is used to legitimate nobility and especially the Emperor/King/Duke through the idea that crest are a gift of the goddess, etc

my evolution as a fe3h fan is rlly funny to me lol. i played the game for the first time when i was 15 and now at 19 im playing through three hopes (yes im super late dont ask) and the fact that there have been times where ive been obsessed with EVERY HOUSE is rlly funny to me

at the start i was a claude and golden deer stan through and through bc funny meme house and also the nemesis fight

then when i was starting to get a little more politically minded i fell into the “edelgard did nothing wrong” camp because. yeah!!!! meritocracy!!!! united!!!! fuck religion!!!

and now as an adult with a lot more awareness and a lot less edgy atheism i came to the conclusion that not only is imperialism and destroying people’s lives for an ideal you have no concrete way of upholding bad, but the entire “let’s get rid of crests” argument is not even a solid one because it centers adrestia and doesn’t take into account the other two regions’ need for heroes relics.

correct me if i’m missing something or if i’m wrong, but no one in adrestia’s nobility actually has a hero’s crest. if they have crests, they’re saint crests, and saint crests have compatibility with sacred weapons, which are different to heroes relics because anyone can use them without turning into a beast.

additionally, adrestia doesn’t have any immediate neighbors that could cause them trouble. it doesn’t directly border a non-fodlan country, and they seem to have taken care of their brigid situation by kidnapping petra. the empire has no immediate threats.

the kingdom and alliance tho????? they border sreng and almyra respectively, which seem to invade at the drop of a hat and force houses gautier and goneril respectively to be in constant combat. those two houses literally DEPEND ON THEIR RELICS FOR SURVIVAL. until someone figures out a better way for them to defend their lands, they NEED crests!!!

obviously this isn’t necessarily a good thing, since we see the path that miklan and rufus as crestless older sons go down, but it’s not like the kingdom is exactly keen on keeping this in place either. in three hopes they talk a ton abt how crest bloodlines are dying out and how something needs to change. hell, sylvain is someone who directly benefits from faerghus’ crest dependency and yet in his supports with shez, he’s going and devising powerful weapons that people without crests can use!!! we see time and time again that the young nobles of faerghus are interested in the same things edelgard is: establishing a more equal society, and decreasing the need for crests. but why doesn’t she just collaborate with them to that end???? why doesn’t she hear dimitri out when he tries to talk her out of continuing on this path????

oh yeah. the church.

i’m probably gonna yap abt the church later lol i’m running out of steam on this ramble. tiktok is banned and so this is what i’ve resolved to do while i sip my morning coffee lol bear with me

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