To be fair CF is just as much about found family than VW

Hi anon! I'm gonna link the post I talked about the Golden Deer here for clarity's sake lol.

I think when discussing themes of found family in different three houses routes, it's important to talk about Byleth. In a game where the single, main variable between possible futures is Byleth's interference, it means the story has to be written in a particular way--I mentioned this before when talking about character supports and endings; each character needs to be able to have a romantic ending with Byleth, which affects how their supports are written. In the case of the Lord's, this means you're given tangible reasons why you should've chosen them.

I mean. Let's be real here. Claude has the highest survivability rate of any character in the base game. He can't die if you're completing Verdant Wind (for obvious reasons), or Blue Lions. He's heavily implied to live to see another day in Silver Snow, and you can spare him in Crimson Flower! Edelgard and Dimitri die without the professor's stabilizing influence--but Claude? What does he lose without the professor.

That's sort of how I determine subtler themes of each route in a way--by comparing what you get with and without Byleth.

So when I argue that Verdant Wind is the most about found family, I mean it thematically; the other routes don't have tangible less found family, but without Byleth members of the Golden Deer just blatantly disappear unrecruited post time skip in several routes!

Without Byleth, the option for found family is removed for Claude in a big way, I personally feel, and not just by full recruitment runs lol. Not completely, of course--even in Crimson Flower a recruited Lorenz laments having to face off against Claude and Hilda is willing to die in defense of him and the city--but enough that it was blatantly shocking to me that if you don't recruit Marianne, she does not appear at all post time skip, no exceptions.

In a narrative sense, perhaps slightly unshocking; but in a practical sense? This leaves Claude without a healer.

Claude can't hold onto all his Deer even if you don't recruit any of them in the Academy phase. Silver Snow, Azure Moon, Crimson Flower--Marianne will always be gone; consistent, non variable. Depending on the route other characters like Lorenz might disappear as well.

The themes of found family are prevalent in all the routes, but since each route is pretty much defined by the Lord who leads it, I feel as though their personal relationship with the found family is most defining, if that makes sense.

People stand by Edelgard, Dimitri, and even Rhea for better, or for worse. Even recruited, characters like Felix make it abundantly clear that switching sides doesn't change the immense emotional attachment they have to their original lord.

This just. Isn't true for Claude.

Without Byleth, he doesn't get to keep everyone together. Without Byleth Hilda is recruitable in two routes. The idea that you could ever do the same with Hubert or Dedue is blatantly laughable.

Byleth's presence is what enables Edelgard, Dimitri, and Rhea to remain the most of themselves, if that makes sense. Edelgard's war strategy in Crimson Flower is a lot less aggressive and scorched earth then it is in the other two routes because she's had the professor as an emotional rock. Similarly for Dimitri, he's able to recover because Byleth is there to keep him alive and safe. And then Rhea will blatantly die in the Verdant Wind route where she doesn't in Silver Snow. Byleth, in every sense of the word, keeps these three characters alive and well.

But without her? They still inspire loyalty and devotion--unquestionable, again, if no recruitment takes place. Dimitri, Edelgard, and Rhea can all face up against you as enemies with the full force of their houses/allies (save for, oddly, Annette).

Claude does not.

Claude's whole route is about learning to trust others in a way that allows them to trust him. The Deer are devoted to Claude in Verdant Wind in a way they just, textually aren't otherwise, and that's due to Byleth's influence, both as a Professor to these individual students, and to Claude.

When I say that Verdant Wind is the most found family thematically to me, I mean it at a very base level. Claude knows he doesn't have what Dimitri and Edelgard seem to take for granted. It seems almost effortless, in Verdant Wind, the loyalty and devotion he inspires in his friends despite how often you, as Byleth, are told that Claude appears to be an untrustworthy and sneaky individual.

But it's easy to see in routes where you don't chose him that without Byleth, that image mantains. Claude is an outsider. And maybe he doesn't need Byleth in the way the other lords do to survive or achieve his dream (after all, there's nothing saying he can't open diplomacy with his former classmates after he goes back to Almyra so long as he lives to do so), but just as Byleth is uniquely able to be a peer to the Golden Deer, so can Claude uniquely trust and gain the trust of his house in full.

It's not as dramatic as the other two houses, and I think it's the point. Edelgard and Dimitri have already built a solid foundation of devotion and loyalty. Ferdinand and Felix (your "rival" characters in those houses) are loyal without Byleth, even if Ferdinand claims it's to guide her or if Felix complains every step of the way. Lorenz isn't. In Verdant Wind, you sort of take it for granted that everyone will be there at the reunion if they survived the Academy phase. Of course they will--they promised, didn't they?

But outside Verdant Wind, it's clear to see that you as the player took it for granted. And that's why I think Verdant Wind is thematically the most found family. It's not because the other routes don't love each other as much or aren't as complex or there isn't devotion. It's because fundamentally Verdant Wind is about Claude, for the first time in his life, having a group of people he can rely on and who will rely on him without hesitation. It's about the formation of found family, and how Claude doesn't need it to achieve his dreams, but man, does it give him something to achieve those dreams for.

ok. my vision

though my touch stains you with blood

Other illustrations I did for @mdimilethzine! Mostly used to promote the zine and are on the web~ I'm happy that I could get to make them for the M!Dimileth zine. I hope that they're all to your liking!

“Here is something to believe in!”

byleth (fe3h) stimboard with religious / gold themes

I want a Fire Emblem: Three Houses movie, but animated in hand-drawn 90s Disney style.

And it has to be a musical.

I was right for having her on my teatime team for TT

I don't really have the energy to draw them LMFAOOOO but I wanted to show what I've got going on here

my fates take is that the decision isn't about corrin's siblings it's about his parents

The Ending of Scarlet Blaze, Humanity, and the War Between the Agarthans and the Nabateans

It took me a few days, but I think I have finally gathered my thoughts about it to the point where I can actually put into words what I found so wonderful about the ending of Scarlet Blaze: the fact that we see time and time again how the Agarthans and the Nabateans are the ones at war with each other and that humanity’s involvement in that war consists mostly of being caught in the middle of it all (the Agarthans trying to make Edelgard into a weapon to use against the Nabateans after having first killed multiple children in House Ordelia and left Lysithea with a severely shortened lifespan to develop the technology, Rhea trying to revive Sothis by making Byleth into a vessel for her, the Church of Seiros banning different kinds of technology, an act seemingly driven by fear that humanity might one day possess the same kind of military might as the Agarthans rather than by the current state of the human military strength, a sign that humans are not currently regarded as being as big of a threat as the Agarthans and that the banning of these kinds of technologies is a consequence of the Church’s fear of the Agarthans more than the humans, et cetera)

In Crimson Flower, this is resolved by humanity becoming an active force in this conflict, with Edelgard and Byleth deciding to fight for humanity rather than the Nabateans and the Agarthans, a choice that leads to them killing Rhea and going on to lead a war against the Agarthans. As such, humanity removes itself from its position of being caught in the middle of a much older war by taking action and opposing both sides of the conflict.

In Scarlet Blaze, however, despite Edelgard still taking action against both sides as in Crimson Flower, what eventually ends the conflict is both sides of the ancient war destroying each other after humanity has removed itself from the crossfire. Despite Edelgard and Shez fighting both Rhea and Thales alongside the rest of the Black Eagles, the final battle ends with Edelgard and Shez being caught between Rhea and Thales only to narrowly avoid Rhea’s attack aimed at Thales, allowing the two to seemingly kill each other, with Shez and Edelgard running from the collapsing bridge to avoid dying alongside them. This shows another way to resolve the issue of humanity being caught in this much larger and ancient war: by seizing the chance to remove themselves from the conflict the moment it arises.

Of course, this might be seen as humanity taking a less active role in the war, with the two antagonists being the one to finally end it all, but given how the status quo in the beginning of both Three Hopes and Three Houses was for humanity to be caught between these two forces, I still believe that choosing to remove themselves from the conflict rather than becoming a pawn for either side is still a choice that requires both strength, courage, and action, making it a fitting one for both the characters as well as the story told in Scarlet Blaze.

i was not expecting to like byleth/hilda/claude so much when i started fe3h

fire emblem engage is good

Chapter 51 jump out!

I posted chapter 51 of my fanfic, On Black Wings, yesterday :)

As the shadow over Remire deepens, the Black Eagles prepare themselves for the trial before them...

I mentioned this in That Ask under other context, but one thing I do love about AM is a more positive context is that the ending reflects the opening theme. I like that it loops everything back around right to the beginning.

Since it’s Edelgard’s “theme” in a sense (and the JP title is more expressive of that than the English version but it still stands), it makes sense that it would be from her point of view. While I know some people prefer to think about it as more than just Edelgard’s theme, I’m personally in between I guess?

But something I love about AM’s ending cutscene is that, if you look at the lyrics from Edelgard’s perspective, you do get the “reach for my hand, I’ll soar away” part of it only in AM. This doesn’t happen in CF, SS or VW for any characters, instead reflecting perfectly on her relationship with Dimitri. After the fighting, he reaches for her hand/reaches out his hand (opening lyrics versus his own words which are extremely similar), something he’s previously mentioned wanting to do.

Instead of reaching back, she knows she’s lost her own war and doesn’t want to live on having lost (which should could consider something like living in disgrace), so she forces Dimitri to kill her by stabbing his shoulder with the dagger and his body instinctively reacts to it and he ends up killing her. In that way, she soars away and can’t reach back.

I think most people see the opening as Edelgard’s perspective to her school days and Byleth, but I feel like if nothing else, if it’s only from her perspective, that it’s more of a mix of her school days, Dimitri and maybe Byleth. I feel like a lot of people talk much more about her relationship to/feelings for Byleth don’t really match that to how important Dimitri was to her. AM is the only route she gets her memories back, and that’s the route where she calls Dimitri her dear forgotten friend.

Nobody else literally reached a hand out to her (i.e. there was no literal/physical symbolism of this) in any of the other routes. Dimitri was the only one. The person who cared for her and wanted to be there for her (shown throughout the first half of the game, such as him checking on her before she goes on a mission just to make sure she’s safe on her mission) is the only one who actually wants to help her up and make peace with her even after the fight is over.

It’s just a nice callback to the theme imo, since it tied the very end of the route right back around to the very, very beginning of the game through the opening song.

the galeem + dharkon boss fight is actual aids hello?? i got so close to beating it too and then i died cause fuck ass galeem spammed that cross attack thing and i was doing that shit for HOURS beo

For ディミレト版ワンドロ・ワンライ/Dimileto one hour draw at twitter~