Also, one more for the night, but also 3 Hopes most impressive thing is how they recontextualize so much in 3 Houses with one character. Monica is literally “What if Hubert gushed even more unhealthily about Edelgard.” In the Black Eagles route, it is revealed that Jeritza leading the class to Monica was no accident, it was a plan to save her. Monica has been a friend and ally of Edelgard’s for a while before the events of the game.

Okay so in all fairness, I've been really curious about Monica and her role in this whole thing so I'm fascinated to hear more about this (if somewhat confused about it because it kind of raises questions about Three Houses for me)

(spoilers for Monica below)

As something of an intro note, I found Monica's familiarity with Jeritza to be really jarring in the demo: my understanding from Three Houses had been that Jeritza was only put into position at Garreg Mach as the weapons instructor shortly before Edelgard's term, so he wouldn't have been there for Monica's at all and she therefore shouldn't be familiar with him. I don't think there's an actual, official timeline for the whole chain of events taking us through the fall of the House of Bartels to Jeritza entering Edelgard's service to his coming to Garreg Mach, so I'm really hazy on it...but if he actually was at Garreg Mach during Monica's term, and therefore familiar with her as a close friend of Edelgard's...well, given his general loyalty to the Black Eagles house and his physical strength and fitness compared to other plants like Solon, who is an archetypal mage, it makes him the most likely suspect for Monica's abduction -- meaning the Death Knight is potentially responsible for the likely death of one of Edelgard's friends in Three Houses.

The idea that Monica and Edelgard were actually close also strikes me as really weird given that Edelgard has been so isolated for so long thanks to first the Insurrection of the Seven that took her to Faerghus, then Agarthan experiments that she was dragged into immediately upon her return. Her one true ally (Hubert, sworn into her service when she was very young) presents himself as being ostensibly on the Agarthan side with her; and even Jeritza, who swears his fealty to Edelgard, is entrenched in the Agarthan organization through his role as the Death Knight. Monica somehow being able to attach herself to Edelgard more obsessively than even Hubert without having any awareness of the Agarthans...really stretches my suspension of disbelief.

Now I will admit that Kronya specifically taking Monica's form to torment and spite Edelgard is absolutely chilling and really paints the Agarthans (and Kronya especially) as deeply cruel beings. But there's one major continuity issue here: in Three Houses, people who remember Monica explicitly state that her personality has undergone a massive change when she returns with Flayn. They write it off as her means of coping with the kidnapping, but we know following the events of Chapter 9/10 that it's because she's actually been replaced by an Agarthan. So I guess herein lies the question: is Monica's personality and behavior demonstrably different in Three Hopes compared to Kronya's impersonation of her in Three Houses?