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balanceoflightanddark · 5 months

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As requested by @cobra-diamond. I hope this makes you happy.

If you know me, then you probably know that I have a habit of talking about problematic characters like Azula. You know, the ones who have to have an inordinate amount of hatred attached to them that boggles the mind. It's just Azula is one of the most notorious of this...I guess you can say club.

The thing is...she's not the only one out there.

Spoilers for Fire Emblem: Three Houses below.

This is Edelgard von Hresvelg. Crown Princess to the Adrestrian Empire. Leader of the Black Eagles House in Garreg Mach. And quite possibly the most controversial character in the entire Fire Emblem franchise. She's been called a lot of things over the years. A fascist. A tyrant. The old "worse than Hitler" comparison. Needless to say, she's had it rough.

And to be fair, there is a reason for that. Traditionally, she's the "villain" of the story. She's the face of the enemy faction, the one you encounter the most if you don't side with her, and she ends up the final boss on the most traditional of the Fire Emblem routes. Her design is crimson red with devil horns, and she turns into a literal monster at the end of one of her routes. So by all accounts, she's the bad guy.

Except...she isn't. Not really. Let's back up a bit.

Three Houses takes place on the continent of Fodlan, which is broken up into three distinctive factions. We have the Adrestrian Empire that Edelgard is from who used to rule all of Fodlan. We have the Leicester Alliance which is ruled by a class of nobles who are only loosely united. And then we have Faerghus, a proud people with armies of knights and ruled by a king. Above them all are the Knights of Seiros who basically run things in Fodlan, keeping stability and maintaining the balance of power between all three factions from their monastery of Garreg Mach. Here, noble children from all across the continent are enrolled to learn combat and how to be a faithful servant of the Church and its Archbishop, Rhea.

Fodlan also has a strict caste system dictated by Crests. Think of them as bloodlines that grant users special abilities and the power to wield divine weapons. Those who inherit Crests are practically seen as chosen by the Goddess and enforce her will on the earth and are on top. Everyone else essentially gets trampled on, with families doing pretty underhanded things and constantly squabbling in order to make sure their family has Crests.

Enter a mysterious faction lead by their enigmatic leader, the Flame Emperor. For most of the game's first half, they serve as the ultimate bad guy. They're the face of Those Who Slither In The Dark, (TWSITD), they're the ones who hired the mercenaries who attempted to kill the student heads at the beginning of the game, and their identity is one of the driving questions at the start.

Turns out...the Flame Emperor is actually Edelgard.

Before now, Edelgard had been one of the class leaders and one of your students should you choose to teach the Black Eagles. She's...not exactly the most open person, but she's also dutiful and dedicated to succeeding her elderly father, the Emperor of Adrestria. So it comes off as a shock to many that she's revealed to effectively be the bad guy for the first half of the game. An indeed, there are people in-universe who genuinely want her head and blame her for absolutely everything that TWSITD pulled.

The thing is though...Edelgard's position within TWSITD is less of leadership and more of a weapon. You remember those Crests I mentioned earlier? Well it turns out, Edelgard actually possesses TWO which is unnatural in Fodlan. The reason for that is...well, it was the result of torturous experiments that left her in a disgusting prison and was forced to watch the rest of her siblings die. Leaving her the sole survivor. And going back to my Azula comparison, she too was conditioned to effectively serve TWSITD to bring down the Church and tear Fodlan apart.

AKA: she was set up in-universe to be the villain.

The thing is though at the end of the day...she ultimately isn't.

Her trauma isn't brushed away. It's treated with as much respect as it deserves. And she's not treated as some monster either since all of her traits established before the reveal are still present after the timeskip where the war starts if you decide to defend her from being executed by Archbishop Rhea. Mainly, she cares a lot about her allies and forces. Even giving them an out of what is certain to be a bloody path she embarks on.

And it IS a bloody path. Edelgard's ultimate goal is to dismantle the Church which seems villainous...until you realize that the Church was responsible for the oppressive Crest system that resulted in her experimentation and a ton of backstabbing and suffering in Fodlan. As bad as TWSITD are, they wouldn't have gotten as far if the Knights of Seiros practically didn't create every opportunity for them to cause chaos and destruction. She doesn't even like TWSITD too much, and only allies with them cause they're the lesser evil in the grand scheme of things, and she needs their support to stand a chance against the dominant Church. And she already HAS plans to bring them down the moment the war is over. That seen of her in the of the routes where she turns into a monster? That's her choosing to become a monster when her back is to the wall and her last ditch effort to secure a better future for Fodlan.

What's more, she actually shows more clemency and mercy to her enemies than her rivals. Imperial troops are said to be more accommodating to citizens and captured soldiers than Faerghus who have been known to torture their captives. Edelgard is willing to show mercy and is perfectly willing to let Rhea stand down, showing the same mercy that her enemies don't since Rhea was willing to execute heretics over their rebellious attitudes (practically justifying the war). And the less said about Dimitri, the King of Faerghus, the better...

So while Edelgard is coded as a villain...she doesn't really act too villainous. She shows regret over her actions. She isn't as brutal as a lot of people make her out to be. Hell, her ending where she wins the war is arguably the best for Fodlan since the oppressive Crest system is dismantled with the only resistance coming from nobles who their claims to power are challenged. Not to mention she IS willing to let territories like Brigid peacefully secede and is going to step down from her position as Emperor once things are stabilized and she finds a successor.

Sadly like Azula, because she's seen as the villain in-universe a LOT of people think she's some power-hungry monster. Even when a closer examination of her actions and character show that it is NOT the case. Which...honestly makes her special to me and a lot of people. She's the kind of character who would be demonized elsewhere, but is given a chance to tell her side of the story and NOT be the monster everyone makes her out to be. And ultimately if you play your cards right, she does get that happy ending denied to so many characters like her.

It makes it all the sweeter that after so many years of being conditioned to be the villain, presenting herself as the villain, Edelgard gets recognized as the hero and person she actually is.

#edelgard #edelgard positive #edelgard von hresvelg #fire emblem 3 houses #three houses #crimson flower #black eagles #and now you can expect more 3 houses posts in the future #*evil cackling*

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fe-fictions · 1 month

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Happy new year!!! 🥳 could I request a prompt with Dimitri / Claude where they surprise Byleth for the new year? I imagine their post game where Byleth is separated from them for a while bc of their respective duties so a surprise reunion would be super cute 🥹

(This was so much fun to write ;; A ;; )

Claude: Running a country as a new king was no joke, though becoming the religious head of an entire continent (with no experience) wasn’t any easier. It was only natural that when you first started talking about what to do, and what the expectations would be in your new roles, it would mean some distance was required.

What you didn’t realize was that “little distance” thing turned into a long-term absence. Of course, letters were exchanged every day; and the timing of the responses varied depending on the carrier and the weather.

But you were in constant contact, calways wishing to see one another and longing for the separation to reach its end.

It felt more like you were widowed for six months, conversing with a very charming ghost.

“Seteth…what are the possibilities for taking a sabbatical this year?”

You could feel the prime minister’s hackles raise at the very thought.

“It is the same as I told you last autumn, Archbishop; it’s simply not possible with your current position.”

‘But we’ve been working non-stop since the ceremony- surely we can spare a few days' rest.”

“Not with the relations between kingdoms still in such a dire state. If we were to step away now, and they were to find out, the people would become even more upset. They would feel as though we are trivializing their very lives.”

“I don't want that.” You admitted, looking down at the towering mess of papers on your desk. “But...people are allowed to have days of rest.”

“They are, indeed.” Seteth agreed, “However, we must bear in mind that we are not just any ‘people’. Our obligations transcend those whom we serve.”

It did very little to invigorate you or ease your stress. If anything, Seteth was simply piling them on higher and at a much faster pace. He was not the best at rousing speeches.

“Still…we’ve been working non-stop like this for months…surely we’ll have to slow down and rest so as not to falter later?”

“I do see your point, but I believe we are far from in need of such relief. After all, we bear the expectations of all Fodlan on our shoulders; you moreso, as both a queen and the Archbishop. I would argue that it is more necessary that we continue to push without wasting a single moment.”

“I would argue the opposite…” You mumbled, and the dragon-eared man was polite enough not to acknowledge it. After all, there was a particular reason why he was laying on the pressure so thick.

He wouldn’t have agreed to do so without there being a much desired reward waiting for you. You’d been working harder than most to pull Fodlan back from the struggles of war, and the rebuilding was being overseen in as many areas with the greatest detail you could bring to the table.

You hadn’t heard it yet; it would be a few minutes more.

“Milady, I empathize with your argument, but we must make sure not to allow such temptations that follow a ‘slowdown’, so to speak. It may be difficult for you to ever regain your vigor and our work will suffer for it!”

“Seteth, please…” You groaned, your head hitting the stack of paper before you. There was a good chance the ink hadn’t dried yet, but that was the least of your worries.

The minister worked hard to suppress his smile. Instead he continued to prattle on and on about the importance of diligence, duty, discipline, and several other responsible “d” words, until you heard a shift, outside.

As a matter of fact, you heard the sound of people gathering just below your office, towards the front gates.

And following that rabble was…a wyvern’s wingbeat.

You sat up from the papers, eyes narrowed. There weren’t any wyvern riders that were scheduled to be patrolling this time of day.

And the only person who could possibly be riding in and exciting everyone would be-

“Claude?”

Seteth grinned, watching the hope spark in your eyes. You hurried from your desk, pulling the balcony doors back.

The shimmering white scales of his beloved wyvern reflected the sunlight right into your eyes. But you knew that roar, and you could recognize that gorgeous, golden cape from a mile away.

With a sharp gasp you turned on your heel and burst from the room. The stairs were too far-- no, the front gate was-! You had to move as quickly as possible.

That man had been gone for so long. You hadn’t seen each other in ages, but now he was flying right up to the monastery out of the blue!

You wracked your brain, trying to think if he’d referenced coming to visit you in any of his letters. Though perhaps it was easier said than done, as the closer you got to the front doors, the harder it was to think of anything other than him.

Mercifully, you did not have to wait until you were outside. The king of Almyra had already made his way inside the building. He was halfway across the great hall, speaking with Hilda about something completely inconsequential.

Well, inconsequential to you. Because all that mattered was the instant your eyes locked, and you could feel the joy build in your chest.

“Claude!!”

The Archbishop’s voice raising was already surprising, but to see her running towards her husband, decorum be damned, was a stunning sight for any bystander.

Claude’s face lit up at the sight of you, his arms spread wide to accept you.

“Byleth!!” Your name was a laugh on his lips; the very sound of his voice made your heart soar. You closed the distance and all but leapt into his arms.

His mere touch was enough to bring tears to your eyes. His scent, his laughter, his…his everything…it overwhelmed your senses in the best of ways.

“I’m home, By.”

“Welcome back,” Your voice was muffled against his neck, his embrace tight and wanting, with zero intention of letting you go. “I missed you so much…!”

“I missed you too. You have no idea how bad I wanted to see you.” He murmured, peppering kisses into your hair between his breaths of laughter.

“I didn’t have a clue- but when did you say you were coming?? I can’t remember reading a single word about you visiting.” You gathered yourself enough to ask, pulling back to look up at your husband.

He grinned at you, squeezing your waist. “That’s because it was a surprise. I cleared it with Seteth about a month ago; you and I are going to take a nice, long break from all this intercontinental repair.”

It was hard to balance your desire to take in every detail of his face and simply kissing him senseless.

“Really?”

“Of course; I’ve been waiting for ages because I know how badly you’ve wanted to get away. You’ve been talking about it in your letters for the last…three months, I think.”

“I suppose I’m not as subtle when I’m writing to you.” You smiled sheepishly, “I would love to take a vacation with you, my love.”

“Gods, I’ve been waiting to hear that for so long.” He sighed, capturing your lips in a much needed kiss. You held his face in your hands, relishing the scruff along his jaw and the warmth of his skin.

“Hear what?” You whispered against his lips, your hands shifting from his cheeks to the collar of his tunic, tugging him closer. Your bodies were practically pressed against each other; you couldn’t have gotten closer if you wanted to.

“To hear you call me ‘my love’. I haven’t heard it in so long…I’m afraid your written word doesn’t hold a candle to the sweetness of your voice.”

“You flatter me.” You blushed, kissing the beaming smile he wore with warm reverence. “Shall we have a proper reunion upstairs? I’d love to hear all about these plans you have for our vacation, but I think we both have some more pressing matters to attend to.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, darling.” Claude chuckled, and swept you up into his arms, carrying you down the corridor that had mercifully been emptied at some point during your touching reunion.

You were sure the rumors were swirling around the monastery from the bystanders who hadn’t escaped quickly enough, but it was the last thing on your mind.

After all, your sweet husband was back home in your arms…and there was nowhere else you’d rather be. Especially after such a punishing several months’ work without him.

You peeked around the corner, making sure no one was nearby while he strode towards the stairs with a particular skip in his step.

“I’ve been waiting to say this for a while, but…”

“Say whatever’s on your mind; I’ve been dying to hear it for ages.”

You leaned up to his ear, whispering those longing words.

“Welcome home, Khalid.”

He nearly tripped up the stairs and took you tumbling with him. When he steadied himself, he pressed his forehead to yours, his whole face flushed.

“If you’re not gonna fight fair, you’re gonna have to deal with the consequences, Teach.” He grumbled, making you laugh. You kissed his nose, squeezing your arms around his shoulders.

“I haven’t been able to say your name in so long either, you know…I wanted to give you a proper welcome.”

His grin turned mischievous, hoisting you back up and starting up the steps with renewed vigor.

“Don’t you worry about that- we’re about to have the greatest reunion of all time! And an even better vacation after that, might I add.”

You didn’t get a chance to ask him what the plans were until several hours later. But you weren't particularly bothered by it.

Having your Khalid beside you again was everything you could have asked for, and more.

-------------------------

Dimitri: He’d gotten the worried letter from Prime Minister Seteth about three days ago. He was already deeply depressed because he hadn’t seen you in such a long time.

It was incredibly difficult, how you were trying so hard and working to get everything in order for the greater continent of Fodlan.

You were working from the monastery, and had remained there long after the two of you were crowned as the king and queen of Faerghus.

It was deeply upsetting to have spent the first several months of your marriage apart. But it was nothing that heartfelt letters that were practically 300-page journals between each of you.

So when he received a much more brief letter with Seteth’s seal on it instead of the expected loving message from his wife, Dimitri was concerned.

When he read its contents, he was consumed with worry.

“King Dimitri, it is with deep concern that I write to you regarding your wife, the Archbishop of Fodlan. I am afraid she has become obsessed with work to the point that she cannot seem to remove herself from it.

The few times I was able to ascertain the reason behind this change in behavior is due to her separation from her spouse. I believe it would be prudent to schedule a visit to the monastery immediately. I fear she has stopped taking care of herself; her eating and sleeping habits have become practically non-existent.

Please write with ideal dates and times that you would be able to join us. We anticipate a swift response, milord.”

Dimitri had the troops rallied and the Blue Lions en route to the monastery without a second more hesitation. He sent a pegasus knight ahead to relay the information as quickly as possible.

But there was a little more time to waste! His wife was neglecting her well-being, and even though he had no idea how he was supposed to fix it, he knew that he missed her just as terribly and wanted to do anything in his power to make everything better.

He galloped through the forests of Fodlan, not slowing down even in the face of bandits or dangerous weather.

With the help of the Lions and their unwavering support for the royal couple, the valiant group turned what was typically a weeks’ sojourn to the central mountain range into a four day journey, instead.

And as soon as they were there, Dimitri all but ripped the front gates from their ancient, unmoving hinges.

There was no time to waste. His Beloved needed him!

“King Dimitri has arrived!” The gatekeeper managed to squawk out, sending the passersby into a confused frenzy of excitement and panic. What in the world was the Archbishop’s husband doing here, now??

Dimitri did not bother to socialize or engage with anyone outside of the green-haired man hurrying to meet him, opening the massive old doors that led into the main hall.

“Thank Sothis you arrived so quickly. I just received word from the envoy you sent hardly a day ago; it is a miracle you were able to travel with such swiftness!”

“And not a moment too late, I hope. Where is my wife?” Dimitri asked, breathless from his endless onslaught to visit his dearest.

Seteth motioned towards the stairwell. “She is locked in her office, as always. I fear it has been difficult to access her, even as her right hand. She is deeply troubled by your absence, milord. More So than even she realizes.”

“It saddens me to learn this…but I will do everything in my power to help Byleth in any way I can.” He spoke a solemn promise, striding to the steps and making his way to your office.

A swirl of memories, sweet and bitter, filled his mind. It had been so long since he’d seen the monastery, let alone restored to most of its former glory.

It was not his favorite place to be, and in spite of all the good things that happened there, he would not lose any sleep over the thought of leaving it behind permanently.

Especially if his having to rule the kingdom while you languished in the ancient halls could cause such a panic.

He hesitated at the door of your office, finding it was indeed locked when he tried to turn the knob. He knocked on the old oak once, twice, three times…but you did not answer.

So he opted to pound on the door, instead.

“Byleth!! Byleth, my love…are you in there? Can you hear me??” His fist hit the door again, with more urgency. There was an indent starting to form where he struck the wood.

There was no answer. He grit his teeth, hitting the door harder.

“It’s me, Dimitri! Open the door- everyone is worried about you! You must-” His hand went straight through the wood, and not a moment too soon.

The punctured hole, while embarrassing, did provide immediate access to the door knob on the other side.

Dimitri dismissed the damage done and opened the door, swinging it into the wall with another crack that likely destroyed the structural integrity of the poor thing.

The sound of wood splintering was enough to get your attention, however. You had been slumped over your arm at your desk, a quill halfway falling out of your hand when the sudden eruption of noise startled you awake.

Your eyes were wild with exhaustion and confusion, only to find a large, black and blonde blob storming towards you.

“Beloved!!”

You gasped at the sound of Dimitri’s voice. That couldn’t be right, he was far away, back home in Faerghus…his last correspondence with you had been only a week ago.

This was surely a figment of your over exhausted imagination, right?

“D…Dima?”

“Thank goodness, you’re at least conscious.” He exhaled heavily, rushing around the side of the desk so that he might place his hands on your shoulders. “I was knocking at your door and calling for you- did you truly not hear me?”

“Dima…w-what are you doing here?”

“Dammit, your skin is so pale. The shadows under your eyes- and you’re clearly underfed! Byleth, what has happened to you? How could this have happened?”

“I…” You trailed off, looking down at your hands which trembled in your lap. Dimitri followed your gaze, feeling his heart twist in his chest.

“Nevermind. You're in dire need of rest, Beloved. I will take you to our quarters immediately. When you wake up, I will have some food ready and waiting.”

“But…but Dima, how did you-?”

“I received an urgent message from Prime Minister Seteth.” He explained simply, taking you up from your seat and carrying you from the office. “He said that you were neglecting your health, and it is quite clear to me that is the case.”

“W-wait, you don’t have to carry me, Dimitri, I-”

“I will not risk injury because you have not been taking care of yourself. I will see to it that you are well rested and well fed before you’re ready to have a conversation about your health. Am I clear?”

You fell silent, realizing that the firm yet gentle touch was indeed quite real. That your husband had arrived from across the land to come to your aid.

Perhaps you were in worse shape than you first thought.

Dimitri took your silence as a sign that you either conceded defeat, were falling asleep, or both. Regardless, you weren’t far from your bedroom.

The attendants and knights who were anywhere nearby as the king crossed the long corridors were quick to scatter, or politely avert their eyes as he tended to you.

With far greater care than when he’d “opened” your office door, he let himself into the Archbishop’s quarters and made sure to fasten the lock as well.

The world shifted around you, and you were suddenly in the soft embrace of your bed. Gods, how long has it been since you were lying there, of all places?

Dimitri sat on the edge of the bed, taking your ankles up and resting your feet in his lap. He began to undo the laces on your shoes, handling you as though you were glass (a technique ingrained in him since he was little).

“Dima, you don’t have to do all this…”

“You need to rest, Beloved, and I have many, many months of tending to you that I must make up for. Please, allow me to do this much.”

You hummed softly, letting him finish his work on your shoes. Then he prompted you to sit up, slipping the coat from your shoulders and shifting the pillows so that you could recline far more comfortably.

His hand cradled your head, guiding you back down so that you laid fully across the bed.

The covers weren’t drawn over you, though. Instead, Dimitri unclasped his heavy, fur-laden cloak, and draped it over you.

The overwhelming comfort at being surrounded by his scent nearly brought tears to your eyes. This was indeed your Dimitri. Not a figment of your imagination, this time.

You drew the furry cape closer to your face, nuzzling against the fabric with a soft sniffle.

Dimitri’s smile was sad, but the tension that had wracked his body seemed to have eased at the sight of you.

“Please, rest, my dearest. I will have food prepared and waiting for you by the time you are better.”

“Will you stay with me?” You whispered, as if the pull of sleep wasn’t already taking hold.

Dimitri laughed softly, carding a hand through his hair.

“I am still in full regalia, my love. I fear I will be a poor bedfellow.”

“Just until I’m asleep.” You insisted, “I…I missed you so much.”

As if he could say no to that.

Dimitri walked over to his side of the bed, careful in joining you so that he didn’t dip the mattress and jostle you out of your far too comfortable position.

He propped himself up on one elbow, facing you on his side so that you might have full access to him.

And take advantage, you did. Dimitri flushed when you shifted over, burying your face in his chest and curling your fingers into his tunic. The soft clinking of all the metal bits and pieces didn’t seem to bother you. He wasn’t in his armor, but the formal layers of Faerghus’ royal uniform did not make for excellent nightwear.

The queen did not seem to mind, however.

“I’m so happy you’re here…”” You mumbled into his chest, feeling strong arms wrap wholly around you, drawing you in as close as he could.

“I have longed for you, terribly, in the time we have been apart. I could not bear to be away from you any longer when Seteth sent for me.”

“I must remember to thank him for his wisdom…I may very well have wasted away had he not asked you to come. It…felt so hard, going through all this work without you by my side.”

“It was no more joyful in Faerghus, I’m afraid. Ruling as king feels cold and empty without you there, right alongside me.”

You nodded into his heartbeat, melting when his fingers worked through your hair.

There was no way you’d stay up a moment longer.

“But all that matters is we’re together now. And once we have you full and smiling again, I believe we ought to make plans to visit the countryside. The snow is glistening this time of year, up in the northern mountains…I can finally introduce you to the rarer parts of our home.”

“I would…love to…” You yawned, wide and obvious.

Dimitri bit his tongue to keep from fawning. You were too cute when you weren't even trying.

“ Please rest, Beloved. I swear I’ll be right here when you wake. I will not leave your side again.”

“Thank you for this…and…thank you for coming… I'm so happy you love me so much.”

“As am I.” He kissed your forehead, squeezing you gently. “I have been yearning to see you for far too long. To hold you in my arms, even in less ideal circumstances…I could be any happier.”

“I love you, Dima.”

“I love you, too.” He beamed, before gingerly tapping his forehead to yours. “Now rest. Sleep. I beg of you.”

You smiled softly. Perhaps Dimitri was right; you were indeed long overdue for a good nap.

It wouldn’t be until seven hours later, well into the nighttime, that you came back around.

But Dimitri was ready and waiting, a beautiful meal set aside on the nightstand and waiting to be enjoyed by the royal couple.

And of course it was immediately paid for by a mess of urgent kisses from wife to husband, wrapping your arms around him and rolling to lay atop him, your hands happily pressed to his chest.

How you missed that strong, thundering heartbeat.

The food would have to wait, unfortunately; you both had much more pressing matters to tend to.

Especially for the next seven days, as prescribed by the monastery clerics to prevent further burnout.

While you were certain Dimitri had some influence in this decision (ie, nearly all), you couldn’t help but relish every single second you got to spend, alone and warm with your fiercely loyal lion.

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fireemblems24 · 4 months

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Scarlet Blaze Ch 14

So close to completing this.

MAIN STORY

How many chapters is this game? 15, right?

Typical Caspar excited to murder. God, he's awful in this route.

Dorothea breaking the 4th wall. She says she can't deal with any more doubling back lol.

I love how they dress up "kill everyone who resists until the Empire Imperializes Fodlan" as "unite Fodlan" lamo.

Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri discussing strategy. Seteth and Rhea joining it.

They suggest retaking the monastery. Not a bad idea. Rhea also thinks this could flip some Alliance lords.

Haha, the "bad guys" are going to kill Bernadetta's awful father.

They think by doing this, it'll inspire the faithful to unite against Edelgard's war.

Dimitri says to keep quiet to keep Empire defenses down. Dimitri suggests tricking the enemy. It's funny how the only lord that doesn't use tricks and strategy is . . . Edelgard.

Ugh, so many side battles again.

MAP/SIDE QUESTS

See, this is what's so annoying. I talked to Raphael who wants to fight Dimitri because he's so legendarily strong (this game hypes Dimitri so hard, and I am here for it). Anyways, that's not my problem. My problem is that Raphael can't wait to ask Dimitri about his training routine after the war is over. Like, I get it's Rapaheal who isn't the deepest thinker, but this attitude is everywhere - like war is no different than play fighting and like, after going to war against someone, not only will they definitely survive, but will get chatty with you about training - not.

Dorothea, Ashe, and Yuri are the only characters who seem to realize they're about to go kill innocent people, lamo.

Hubert just insulted me. Seems the right time to declare my love for him with the merc whistle, lol. He earned it doing almost all the work this playthrough. (it's even funnier bc an NPC just asked if I had a special person, and Shez picked Hubert).

Add more to Caspar being a complete psychopath in this route - he's happy his brothe failed because now he could potentially rule his family's territory and make Edelgard's vision come to life (oh, yes, how amazing, passing it from one noble male to . . . the male noble's brother, viva la revolution! /s)

Shoutout to the NPC who's pissing himself over the idea of having to fight Dimitri, Dedue, and Felix.

Add Mercedes to the list of people who realize they're going to kill other people.

Claude talking to Byleth and being like, if I had you around, I'd probably be a decent person!

I had to fight Cyril :(

SHEZ & FERDINAND A

Ferdinand is pulling a Dimitri and working until tired. Unlike Dimitri, though, Ferdinand listens.

This support is shipping Ferdibert because it's Hubert who sent Shez, and apparently worried about Ferdinand.

It was kind of short.

EDELGARD & HUBERT A

God, I hope this is better than their final Houses support.

Haha, she's asking about Byleth. Wishing she could've recruited Byleth, lamo. I bet this goes differently if you're a better gamer.

It sucks that, once again, Hubert and Edelgard's relationship is reduced to Edeleth bait rather than being about Hubert.

And so, once again, Hubert's not going to be any credit for being the Eagles' single braincell.

Wait....... did they just confirm the Crest connection between Edelgard and Byleth?

God, I would HATE it if they did that to Dimileth. Idk, there's something about magic influencing people to like each other that takes away from the romance of the relationship.

How did Edeleth fans react to this?

Oh, we're actually talking about Hubert now.

Hubert is happy with the role groomed into him. To Edelgard's credit, she wishes things would reverse sometimes.

I love how different all the lord-retainer relationships are in this game. They made 3 distinct, interesting ones. No points if you guess my favorite of them.

LINHARDT & PETRA B

These two have so little in common. Also, I'm going to need to grind to get their A.

They know what diaphragms are in Fodlan.

Petra needs help with a letter. It's written in archaic language. I forget that poor Petra only gets a language teacher ones, and it's Blue Lions locked. Dedue for the win.

It's a love letter, lamo.

I headcannon it's from Dorothea.

Welp, headcannon squashed. She says she has no knowledge of the writer, and is rife with mistakes.

Linhardt finds the letter sacrilegious, but Petra's impressed.

PETRA & HUBERT A

One of the worst pairings in Houses.

An assassin goes after Hubert, but Petra shoots her.

Hubert's annoyed bc he can't question her, but grateful.

Hubert critiques the tactics that Petra uses to save him. Only Hubert.

He's more surprised that a queen would use a tactic than thinking it's a bad one.

Hubert's hating on chivalry and knights.

Petra doesn't understand their thoughts, and Hubert tries to explain it.

"It's peace we are wishing for." Uh, no. People who start wars don't wish for peace.

Hubert admits it has its uses though. But dislikes it.

Hey, at least this wasn't a support revolving around Hubert gurdingly accepting Petra as an "inferior" Edelgard.

HUBERT & FERDINAND A

Hubert calls Ferdinand the ultimate noble, not sure if that's a compliment or not.

Ferdinand's like don't sneak up on me while I'm training, dumbass.

But then Hubert's like you could just kill me right now if you wanted too! Which, is kind of weird. And Ferdinand's like, stop being weird. agreed.

Ferdinand doesn't see his father as the man who raised him.

Hubert admits that Ferdinand's matured. Ferdinand admires Hubert's obsession with Edelgard.

Ferdinand asks to stand alongside both of them as Edelgard's two jewels of the Empire.

And Hubert laughs at him.

And then it ends.

Ok, so why is this such a big ship again?

DOROTHEA & PETRA A

Bummed they only have 1 support. This is my favorite ship for both of them.

They go on a date in the marketplace and are happy to get away from all the death they're causing.

Petra is surprised to see it so upbeat, considering the war. Dorothea says life goes on for commoners regardless of what nobles are doing, but get upset when family dies.

Petra claims in Brigid, everyone is family. Dorothea says Fodlan's not like that.

In Brigid, they fight over thrones and lovers, but not land, like in Fodlan (like in Scarlet Blaze, lamo). Dorothea wants the tea.

They get accosted by random dudes, but Petra fights them off. Dorothea helps, I think.

Does this mean women get accosted in the market in broad daylight in the Empire???

Hahaha, Dorothea tells Petra that her skin is silky smooth and asks her to feel. Sadly, Dorothea doesn't act on that.

Petra calls Dorothea important to her, and to watch out, that she'll keep Dorothea safe. Dorothea promises the same.

My shipping heart is happy with this, though the random attack was a bit odd.

PETRA & RAPHAEL A

I could have seen this already in GW, though it's unlikely?

Raphael is howling to catch a wolf, but it keeps getting louder, so he's upset. Petra disagrees that he's not getting better.

They've made a team up, where Raphael scares the animals, and Petra hides and kills them all. So they make a good team.

Raphael is acting as a hound, he's upset that he isn't a wolf.

Petra thinks Raphael would fit in in Brigid. He agrees and plans to visit.

I honestly have no idea if I've seen this before.

DOROTHEA & BERNADETTA B

This is their highest support.

Dorothea sees her talking to someone. And the little bit on screen looked a lot like Yuri? Dorothea confirms that it's a man.

Don't Bernadetta and Yuri have a history? Dorothea thinks it's romantic.

Yep, it's Yuri. Bernadetta talks about the commoner friend she had once, which is Yuri.

Dorothea thinks this is the makings of a good opera. Bernie insists it's not love; Dorothea says that's how an opera would work.

Honestly, though, Yuri and Bernie may be one of the least compatible pairings possible in this game.

I've heard about this. Yuri's support retcons Bernie's father's abuse into "protecting." Which is such bullshit. Imagine excusing abuse as "I'm protecting you." It's really gross.

Bernie thankfully gets to set it straight in this game. Saying her father didn't love or protect her, but just a valuable item that he owns. SOOOOO glad Hopes took the opportunity to fix that awful implication the Yuri-Bernie support added.

Dorothea says her father treated her mother like an item too.

So more Empire men treating women like possessions.

Even in the Kingdom and Alliance when characters feels pressured to perform (Slyvain, Ingrid, Hilda, Lorenz, etc . . .) - no one talks about it being so bad they're dehumanized. This really seems like an Empire-exclusive, sexism thing. (also notice that, without thinking, I came up with male and female examples of both the Kingdom and the Alliance).

LINHARDT & BERNADETTA C

I feel like I did a much better job unlocking Blue Lions supports than the other houses and I don't know why since I paid close attention to all of them.

Bernie is messing around and the weeds, and Linhardt asks why.

It's to avoid a man and a woman going on a secret date, according to Bernie at least. She thinks they'll get mad at her for interrupting their date. Linhardt says she's no more significant than a pebble on the road to them.

Honestly, Bernie thinking everyone will blow up at her is a self-centered, isn't it?

Lin's like, they're lost in their own little world. And gets a bit romantic for appreciating them for sharing love when they could die on the battlefield tomorrow. Bernie argues that in fiction, they'd get together. Then Lin's like, that's fiction, not reality. Then Bernie argues fiction that's more realistic. And Lin's like, yeah, those stories exist bc people relate to it. And they go a bit in a circle.

Then Lin just falls asleep right there.

FERDINAND & EDELGARD A

Ferdinand asks for some compassion from Edelgard about killing his father, but then says that's just pity and tells Edelgard to just give him the order she wants.

Edelgard says she's not here bc she wants something, she just wants his typical effort.

Ferdinand can't die here or history won't remember him well.

Edelgard then says imagine what history will say about me if I lose?

Then Ferdinand says he'll gladly die to further Edelgard's goals because her life matters more.

And because he's not from Faerghus, that's a good thing because dying for Edelgard = good, dying for Dimitri = bad. Or Edelgard can't recognize her own hypocrisy (Claude, at least, thinks "dying for Claude = bad" per his "wtf, Hilda" in CF).

I know Edelgard approves of Ferdinand's attitude (which is the EXACT SAME as Sylvain, Ingrid, etc . . .) because she says he's such a great noble she wouldn't have to get rid of them if they were like him.

So, unlike Dimitri, who hates it whenever Ashe or Ingrid or whoever says "I'll die for you in battle bc your life means more!" and tells them not too, Edelgard is like "wow, that's such a great attitude that I wouldn't even need to start a war if they all thought like you." Yet, somehow, this game wants me to think the Faerghus fighting back against this idea is worse than the Empire glorifying it, lamo (since Monica has the same attitude in her Edelgard support, which isn't portrayed as a negative).

Ferdinand argues for the existence of the nobility and the structure they build, that she can't throw it away. She says that's not her plan. (so, has she like, not even told him her plans??? What happens if she dies?? Would anyone have a single clue what her plan was???)

Then it goes back to their CF support, where he argues for education. And this game makes it obvious that it never occurred to her that poor people can't just automatically compete with nobles. That this dodo bird has killed hundreds of thousands without considering the gap between the poor and rich, lamo. Hopes is gold for confirming she never thought of this, only Ferdinand did.

I know Yuri does the same for Dimitri, but Dimitri already had the right idea of knowing the poor needed their basic needs meant before they can advance (and familiarizing himself with how they live unlike her staying in her ivory tower), and he also, you know, didn't go killing everyone who won't bow their heads to him bc he thinks his plans are so brilliant.

SHAMIR & HAPI C

Shamir is in a church. Hapi is confused, until Shamir says she's looking for some peace and quiet.

Hapi's "not the praying type" either. But she also just wanted quiet.

Shamir doesn't seem annoyed with Hapi's nickname, which is why Shamir is never annoying. She's edgy, yeah, but not in an annoying way.

She's talking about some pagan statue in the abyss. I honestly don't remember that.

Ohh, Shamir wound up in the abyss after the war. Then ran into trouble with the church. And Rhea hired her.

That pagan is actually from Dagda. One of their deities. Cool lore. It's apparently their god of fate.

They both wonder why it's there. Good question.

SHEZ & DOROTHEA A

Dorothea is singing for Shez. Who's like, yeah, it's good.

She's disappointed with the lack of response, because Shez isn't very cultural lol.

He says it made him warm, like his mother growing up. So he actually does get it because Dorothea was singing a lullaby.

It's a lost song though, and Dorothea doesn't know the words (only sang lalala, you cowards, give us lyrics like Annette gets!) But the song got researched and her melody is a guess.

Shez tells Dorothea that her voice touches people even if they don't understand high-art, like himself.

Dorothea lost her passion while working while singing, but she's getting her passion back now, thanks in part to Shez.

Shez thinks Dorothea speaks beautifully and can reach people's hearts, and credits her training, so it wasn't worthless. Unlike Shez who can't string a sentence together.

Dorothea says that Shez isn't back with words. And that he was actually pretty smooth and flirty.

Honestly, super cute support at the end.

EDELGARD & BERNADETTA A

Edelgard lists her worries at night; Bernie walks in on her. It's one of the places Bernie goes to be alone.

Bernie asks if Edelgard is alright after hearing the list, and offers to listen, which seems a bit OOC for Bernie.

Edelgard appreciates it, but says Bernie would get tired of it.

Bernie thinks the curse eating away at her is the same as the one eating away at Edelgard. Edelgard is impressed with Bernie's insight because she guesses right.

Edelgard is upset that TWSITD is still around after thinking she's already beaten him.

Edelgard says being kind to people doesn't help people recover from pain. Consistent with her characterization, but I HATE "feminine" things like compassion are weak instead you gotta just man your way through it (bc it's toxic to your mental health) and the game mostly proves her wrong though.

HUBERT & CASPAR B

This is their only support.

Hubert gets a report that Caspar located enemies scouting the base. He attacked, no enemies survived, and he got hurt.

Hubert's questions were all hopeful that at least one survived, but because Caspar's an idiot no one should trust with command of an army, of course they're missing intel now.

Caspar brags about it to Hubert, lamo. What an idiot. Caspar's inability to read people is also not a good thing for a commander.

Hubert is unimpressed. Actually sees it as bad.

Caspar counters that Hubert is impressed with Berligtz does it, but Hubert's like "those were reinforcements, also, he's competent."

This is why Hubert is best boy in the Black Eagles. (he or Dorothea are by far my favorite Eagles)

Caspar is like well my gut said attack, so I went, not caring at all like the smartest guy in the army thinks his plot was stupid.

Hubert keeps lecturing him. Saying he'll get people killed.

Caspar's like "if you wanna make a name for yourself, you gotta risk death!"

So . . . Caspar doesn't care that he hurt the Empire's war efforts by killing spies rather than capturing them, nor that he got his men hurt by his rash actions, because he "proved himself in battle to gain status."

Caspar is just really awful in this game. Hubert, though, is gold in this support, as usual. Even when he's a dick, he's an entertaining dick (and usually supposed to be seen as wrong lol)

Caspar learned exactly 0 things in that support.

LINHARDT & CASPAR A

Caspar wakes Linhardt up, who's slept into midday.

Caspar claims he found something amazing. Linhardt is like usually you're wrong about that.

Caspar wants to show off a huge bear someone took down. Linhardt is grossed out by the gore. Caspar really has 0 ability to see any POV but his own and understand who he's talking too.

Caspar wants to hunt it. Linhardt's like, ok, then go. Lamo.

Caspar wants to fight a bare bare-handed.

Linhardt bring up when Caspar's dad took down a bare when he was younger than Caspar. Caspar still insists he'll do it, and used to drag Lin along while bear hunting. This is how he learned healing.

I think Caspar got really dumbed down in Hopes.

Lin's like, let's focus on the war, not bears, ok? Caspar at least agrees to this.

LINHARDT & EDELGARD B

Their only support.

Edelgard plays with a cat, only after making sure no one can see her. Then Linhardt walks in, and she's thrown off.

Edelgard pretends she doesn't know the cat. Lin calls her out.

Lin likes cats. I don't know why Edelgard is surprised. Lin is basically a human cat.

Edelgard likes cats because of how they help humans (get rid of rodents, etc . . .)

Lin keeps arguing that cats are awesome because they trick people into waiting on them hand and foot.

Edelgard asks if he's owned a cat. Lin's like, seriously, that's too much work.

She's being so difficult because she didn't want Lin to own the cat.

Edelgard made a funny, accusing Lin of aspiring to be a cat.

This gap moe Edelgard stuff works wayyyy better than the stuff in Houses, imo.

SHEZ & CASPAR A

Haha, Shez is like, "Oh Caspar, there you are," and Caspar assumes that he wants to practice, Shez is like, yeah, but with your dad.

This game really dunks on Caspar, everyone just talks about how much better his dad is lamo.

Caspar is like, you're too ordinary to spare with my dad.

Apparently Count Bersraser whatever his name is really hurts people when they train, and Caspar tells Shez to cancel his plans.

After the sparing, Shez is exhausted, but Shez did better than anyone else ever did.

MAIN BATTLE

I don't remember who I'm fighting this chapter.

Why does Claude get a picture in SB? Will I see it in GW too?

Waaaaiiiitttt, is Claude . . . turning against the Empire?

He's like, we only agreed to pair with Edelgard under duress and bc the other option is the Kingdom protecting Rhea - who invented racism, who is the only reason hierarchies exist, and who made Claude stub his toe this morning.

Ok, so siding with the Empire is stupid, but thinking the Alliance can fight the Empire, Kingdom, and Church is maybe the stupidest move yet, lamo.

He thinks Dimitri will "shackle us to their outdated customs" because, you know, Dimitri is all about ruling the Empire and Alliance and not improving the Kingdom at all or anything. Projection much?

This is so funny, and dumb. Not like the writing has ever cared about making Claude look like he has the intelligence to surpass a toddler in this game.

Yep, Claude turned against the Empire, lamo.

Cut scene time! They're just marching and talking about the battle.

Dimitri's here too. And Dedue's right beside him. Of course.

Claude too, and he's like "too bad we can't do something more civilized" - like, my dude, you are part of the problem.

Seteth coming in on a dragon looking badass. He's begging Flayn to retreat. But she won't. Please don't make me kill her :(

Edelgard's like "time to prove the Empire's supremacy!" and "anyone who stands in our way must be cut down!" But see, this is why I like her so much better in SB. It's just more honest and tries less to twist things around to make her into a typical princess type, instead of owning (at least a little more) the red emperor type she is.

Fuck, I have to defeat Flayn. She's healing people, not attacking, but I still have to take her out. If it was a side mission, I'd ignore it. Hubert mocks her like "is this the second coming of Saint Cethleann" - well, about that . . . .

Now Felix appeared :( It's also a main mission I can't ignore. At least it looks like he's retreating.

Only for Sylvain to show up, which isn't any better :( Fuck, he's claiming he's avenging Ingrid :(

OH FUCK. He actually died. Begging for forgiveness from Dimitri. SB is really the most bloody path :(

Dimitri sounded so upset. I really feel the like the villain. It's by far the route with the highest named character count killed (Rodrigue, Ingrid, Annette, Gilbert, Sylvain) AND my main goal is to kill Flayn because she's . . . healing people.

At least Flayn retreats. She makes Seteth promise to do the same :( (If I have to kill Seteth too, I swear to GOD).

Please let Dedue retreat :((((((

I also have to defeat Hilda :( Sad, but not big sad.

THANK FUCK. Dedue retreated. Dimitri sounded near tears.

Now I have to defeat Seteth too :( Thank God, he retreated. I think Hilda did too?

Now I have to defeat Dimitri and Claude. I am considerably more upset about the former. I wonder if they live or die.

I'm letting the other units fight Dimitri. I'm tired of killing him. I'll go kill Claude, which doesn't upset me much.

Lamo, Edelgard was like, go back to your people! Stop protecting the church - like, as if her plan isn't to take over Faerghus regardless? Dimitri smelled her bullshit at least.

If Claude retreated, does that mean Dimitri does too?

Ok, he retreated at least. Still Sylvain :(((

Ohhhhh, Byleth the final boss? Sothis has possessed Byleth though. But he seems along for the ride bc Byleth's pissed we killed Jeralt.

Shez vs Byleth cut scene again, except unlike in AG, Byleth is Sothis possessed and Shez is Shez, but then Shez goes demon mode too.

Shez is worn down, but wins bc Byleth stops glowing, so I think Byleth dies?

NARRATION

Yep, we killed Byleth. Shez feels empty about it though. And talks about this being a horrible mistake and wishes there was another way to solve this.

Funny how he only cares about Byleth and not all the other people who died (Sylvain, and tons and tons of people).

Arval feels freed though, from an old quest, and major relief, and starts crying.

So you have to either choose between Byleth dies, but Shez and Arval are on good terms, or Byleth lives and Arval and Shez aren't happy (I think, since he took Shez over in the special chapter, but I haven't played that in AG yet).

Ok, so this battle took me 26 minutes. AG took me 4, because Dimitri is just that absurd. He kills bosses so fast. Like before the dialogue finishes. It's just so absurd.

Edelgard is worried because Rhea and the knights weren't seen (or most of them), she's also under the impression Rhea would love a battle like this, but Rhea's never seen bloodthirsty? Vengeful, but not battle loving.

The main force will proceed with occupying Galatea :((((( That small bit of dialogue - knife to my heart.

No one even mentioned Sylvain :(

xxx

#fire emblem #scarlet blaze #fire emblem three hopes #three hopes #scarlet blaze spoilers

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mimzalot · 1 year

Text

started streaming Golden Wildfire! gonna reflect on the route as it unfolds, courtesy of your resident Claude enthusiast.

CURRENTLY PLAYING: Chapter 4

[document version]

if Three Houses glossed over the sort of wild situation that Claude has to survive every day in Garreg Mach then this route has started with a bang by opening with conflict at the Fodlan-Almyran border. bold move! and I certainly am endlessly curious about this impending intrigue - in fact I have spent the last four years (four years!) since Three Houses musing about Claude’s relationship to his home nations, and the nations’ relationships to one another, and what that conflict means for Claude and everybody else.

do I trust the writers with it? not really. am I gonna try and play it in good faith anyway? evidently. so let’s get into it~ 🏹

right off the bat I can tell there’s stuff in this route that’s gonna make me uncomfortable, sometimes in the fascinating and deliberate way, and sometimes in the “oh I feel like an accomplice to/victim of a hate-crime” way. this is not really a surprise when it comes to Fire Emblem but it deserves a mention regardless, as I think Golden Wildfire’s going to be a rollercoaster that will frustrate me as much as it intrigues me. I’ll have the additional challenge of having to articulate how I feel about it off the dome, as a biracial POC playing to a mixed-bag stream audience. so, in short: occasional yikes are inevitable.

but such is the price I pay for Claude. ahh Claude, my beloved. when first I played Three Houses I was drawn to the game by him, not expecting him to be everything I enjoyed in a character. other than just being generally *chefs kiss* impeccable, he also conveyed some nuanced mixed-race experiences rarely expressed in a lot of media I’ve engaged with. that he sprouted from a game that frequently overshoots its own political intrigue and bungles character resolutions like FE3H surprised me, but I was happy to pluck the fluff and dirt off my darlings and make the best of what had been provided -- a bizarrely relatable, endlessly complex nice young man having a terrible, no good, very bad time.

I already got a whiff of this from playing Scarlet Blaze first, and it’s vindicating to see Three Hopes elaborate on something I’ve been clawing at walls trying to convey since the first game: Claude is light-hearted, but his situation is not. it always blew my mind to hear people say that Claude was the “good vibes house leader” in 3H only to play the game and find a character that would flippantly laugh about threats on his life, occasionally mention that he exists at the hostile junction of two warring nations, and ultimately find himself in the impossible position of an anti-war leader operating during a war. across two nations. both warring. yes, yes, he’s quite a funny guy, but his circumstances are abysmal, and a big part of that agony comes from the role he occupies -- that which he is saddled with, and that which he takes upon himself.

this was not a position easily occupied, and I was delighted to find that Claude was intelligently portrayed as a character whose ideals had to bend to the demands of leadership, resulting in morally-grey decisiveness, diplomatic juggling, and one of my favourite things to explore in fiction: the pragmatic, sometimes paradoxical pursuit of “non-violence” during war, and as a solution to war.

already in Three Hopes (I played SB first) I sense they’re leaning a little harder on showing Claude’s struggle with this, including some hints at the unbearably high bar he sets for himself. he doesn’t wear accountability like Dimitri or Edelgard in 3H - it’s always a little more cavalier, something you have to read between the lines to spot and understand. but this game is a tad more forthright with it, pulling back the disguise of “Master Tactician” to plainly show Claude in a perpetual state of, well... this:

and nothing exacerbates this like the situation they’ve started the game with. it’s dramatic irony that makes the first three chapters really sting: we know by now that Claude is Almyran, and are placed in an uncomfortable position of puttering around the camp listening to the people Claude calls his friends talking at length about the brutish Almyrans invading at Fodlan’s Throat.

this is technically good set-up. Claude is here to fix a problem, and this is our first experience of the problem -- lacking communication and education means that neither side knows who they’re fighting, or why, just that they have to. with the Church of Seiros already positioned as a questionable but overbearing presence in ch. 2 (“Why are we being sent here to fight? Church school said so.”) it begs to reason that showing the consequences of Fodlan’s intensely insulated culture starts with these uncomfortable scenes. they are, after all, born from the fear of not knowing. Claude as an antithesis to ignorance-based conflict makes a habit of overcoming fear by knowing everything.

so there are some pretty ick conversations happening around camp, and that’d honestly be something I’d be fine to reckon with as a narrative choice -- if not for the visceral discomfort and sharp drop in faith that came in the form of Shahid’s introductory scene.

let’s get this out the way: I did not spend four years mopping my tears about all these Lords and Royals to see Shahid and not immediately think “bratty king? I can fix him, and/or make him worse.” especially as a foil to Claude, it’s interesting to see a foolish heir working towards the throne in a way that Khalid, and perhaps even the King of Almyra, would oppose. I’m bracing myself for his justifications, for his humanity, because he occupies an interesting political position and he’s the first family of Claude’s that we’ve seen on screen. and yes, he could just be shallowly evil, but that wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun as it being complicated and ugly, the way all the other Lords and Leaders are afforded.

alas, it is difficult to have faith that GW is gearing up to say something interesting when they introduce such a caricature of the ‘evil desert guy’ that I feel like I’m watching a Disney movie. especially when a scene shows a narrow-eyed, ashy-but-darker-skinned ‘evil’ sibling in contrast with our bright-eyed, lighter-skinned mixed-Fodlanian Claude. it’s these sort of artistic choices that threaten to undercut the same cross-cultural intrigue that this route is constructing.

the Three Hopes sprites are a bit awkward, proportionally (shout out to Margrave Gautier’s bizarrely wide mouth) but it’s a long and yucky history with depicting MENA people that makes this particularly egregious. I’m Samoan so not personally affected by this, but it is nevertheless going to take an active effort to just try to look past the way his character is drawn. I spare a wince of sympathy for my viewers that are more personally affected: it sucks, and it’s such a simple fix that it becomes even more frustrating.

he does look slightly less like a hate crime in the animated cut scenes though. “the only one who can beat me is me!” type rizz.

I actually like that his features might deviate from the typical proportions of most of our main cast, the way Hubert’ or Lorenz’s do. it is a shame to have it pushed just into the realm of caricature when there is something workable there.

nevertheless, 3H optics have betrayed themselves before (shout out, woman-enjoyers). so again, I’m going to try and brute-force past this icky design choice and try and find my bliss, which is thus: sibling drama, please, I beg. I love the garbage mish-mash of family dysfunction and political drama that happens in royal families, and it was high time that we saw a glimpse at what Claude’s other side is going through. I swear the British monarchy convinced people that wild dysfunction is reserved only for the English, but where there is power there is corruption, and where there is hereditary power struggle, by jove do you get problems -- it’s just a matter of flavour.

all that to say: I am hoping that we will be compensated for that abysmal talk-sprite with enough royal family intrigue to write home about. I would like to see Almyran politics that are just as complex as everywhere else, but culturally diverse and interesting without leaning lazily on the same fear-mongering racist rhetoric that Claude’s entire character exists to debunk. that’s my hope. my three hope. ha ha. look I’m not holding out hope for a diamond, I just kinda want a gem-shaped rock that I can polish up myself.

anyway, new spite-induced meow meow aside, let’s get back to Claude. my god! his life fucking sucks!

thinkin about this scene just before the timeskip where Claude expresses his thanks to House Goneril, and apologises for not being of more assistance. it makes my skin crawl knowing that Claude is not just thanking Holst but saying sorry to him after all the micro-and-macro aggressions he’s been weathering, but it makes a lot of sense; Claude is representing House Riegan and his grandfather, not Khalid of Almyra, and not even Claude himself. and what that shows is an important feature of diplomacy: the ability to make connections, and say what needs to be said in order to maintain good relations with his new allies.

better than that, it shows how damn good Claude is at it, despite having every reason in the world not to be. he is, in this moment, House Riegan. and with foresight, this is an interview, and this humble apology operates twofold as a promise, setting the tone for his eventual leadership and securing House Goneril as an ally.

if Claude were more selfish, more proud, more emotional or less wise, he wouldn’t be able to say things like that. it is the humility that makes people underestimate him, but it’s also what makes him so pivotal in creating and maintaining peaceful circumstances. sometimes, peace-keeping means pacifying the people in power. and especially for Claude operating in the alliance, managing expectations is key for a leader. he’s clever, this is strategic, and I’m excited to see Claude juggle the egos and roles of all the nobles around him.

but it’s tough, right? this is a situation that rewards Claude for not behaving like a human ought to. I like to imagine the way his smile falters when the Almyrans are spoken of like barbarians, agitation ticking along in the back of his mind while he forces himself to speak the niceties that will benefit everyone in the long-run. he’s only seventeen. we hear a lot about noble obligation, but there is no greater pragmatic noble obligation in Leicester than managing the other nobles, and Claude has that skill in spades -- hard won, but effective, with an eventual payoff to make all that juggling worthwhile. sometimes. maybe.

speaking of noble obligations, good lord that bit where Lorenz snaps that they must execute Tomas and Claude has to remind him that dead men don’t talk... I’ll inevitably end up talking plenty about Lorenz as the game goes on because he is a fascinating foil, so remind me later to talk about the things that make Lorenz a good noble, bad leader, and eventual good ally later.

and on the topic of fascinating foils...

man. I was not expecting Shez.

for those unaware, my read of Claude in 3H was that he mostly saw Byleth as a curiosity pre-timeskip, then brought them on as a means to an end post-timeskip. room for interpretation about how they develop after that, but generally most of my Byleth and Claude interactions boiled down to this thinly-veiled hostility and how it evolved into apologetic manipulation and mutual care.

Shez is different, right off the bat. I can see Claude working them over, but there’s something very new about the vibes of Claude approaching a peer he finds suspect. it has the same echo of how he treated Byleth, and even Marianne, but there’s a difference that I can’t quite put my finger on, and I suspect it comes from Shez just being a much more talkative character, plus the dramatic irony of vaguely knowing where Shez’s story might be heading. they’re not harbouring the goddess, nor a cursed beast, but a secret third thing :’l (and god I’m so excited to see what’s up with Shez, they’ve been impressing me as a protag since I started this game, I don’t think I’ve liked a FE avatar this much since Robin)

the way I characterised Shez has him coming off a little arrogant and brash, compared to my previous Shez, who seemed mostly daft and down-to-earth and is currently committing girlboss crimes in Adrestia in an alt timeline. I’m so used to overlooking the avatar character that I hardly realised just how much potential Shez holds in this route, as a sellsword brought onto the squad of the guy that wants to avoid bloodshed. honestly I’m pretty astounded by the raw fire of intrigue it’s set alight in my brain. Shez thrived under Edelgard because they always had work. and now they’re struggling under Claude, and we’re seeing just how vile the war machine is that it will make peace an inconvenience to the merc economy.

just before I finished the stream, I played the opening scene of the timeskip: where Shez is struggling to make ends meet by being a mercenary in a peaceful alliance. therein lies the intrigue of this pair-up. Claude wants peace. Shez needs to fight to live. so how do we reconcile this?

already it seems that Claude mmmiiight have just deliberately forced scarcity on Shez in order to easily manipulate them into a) not moving into a different nation when Claude still doesn’t know what’s up with him and b) taking up his first offer of becoming a commander, which is exactly the morally dubious pragmatism that I love to see in my Alliance leader - but who’s to say? it’s not as if it’s the same method he used to flush out Bergliez’s army in the SB route, forcing their hand by starving their troops with hopes they’d choose surrender...

guess we’ll find out next time, eh? but oh, is my spotlight shining on these funny little guys.

and quickfire round: Nader’s still lookin’ handsome, love that Claude’s opinion of Shez rises every time I side-eye the church, and Arval continues to enthrall my entire brain.

and. yeah. that’s a majority of my first impressions of the GW route. not even all of them but this is like an entire essay and I’m only just past the prologue. tl;dr more of the same Claude goodness, something new and tense in Almyra lore, and then something new and unexpected in Shez. and we’ll see where the rest takes us.

thanks for reading, all the best!

my streams | my twitter | ask to join the discord server

#golden wildfire #three hopes #fire emblem warriors: three hopes #claude von riegan #mimzameta #mimzamine

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fantasyinvader · 10 months

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So, I think it’s time to reevaluate Claude in light of the analysis I’ve been doing. I know I’m going to take some flack for this, but I don’t think Hopes!Claude was meant as a retcon. I think that, due to the “quality” of the writing in Houses, Claude didn’t come out of the oven the way he was supposed to. That the “pure good guy” Claude was a happy accident, while Hopes!Claude is closer to how he was meant to be. The “villain you couldn’t hate.” I think the problems with the execution in Houses amount to two things, that joining Claude would result in a hero path for him due to his own character growth in addition to how people misinterpreted what his issue was.

Most people assumed Claude’s issue was one of ignorance. That he was this guy who comes to Fodlan, knows nothing about it, begins saying that Fodlan needs to change only for his ignorance to be called out in his own route. He learns the truth, reevaluates his positions, and ends up achieving his own form of Enlightenment. He never really does anything too villainous in other routes either, so this must be the problem. Right?

Recently, I’ve been talking about how Claude’s personal classes reveal the truth. He’s a wyvern lord, a guy atop of a lesser dragon. He’s somewhere between dragon and snake. The former represents enlightenment, the latter the poison/flame of hatred or aversion. Claude is also a bow user despite being a flyer, meaning he’s his own worst enemy. And with that in mind, it becomes pretty clear.

Claude dislikes the Church of Seiros, believing it’s the reason Fodlan isn’t so welcoming to foreigners. Specifically, they commissioned a fort to keep the Almyrans out, something that resulted in Almyrans viewing the people of Fodlan as cowards. While Claude has been shown to be able to admit he was wrong when presented with new data, usually through his supports, that is tied to a route where Claude begins working with the Church, becomes more open to the idea of some form of deity, empathizes with Rhea, and ends up believing that Rhea’s work must be carried on. This is presented with the implication that Claude undergoes his own enlightenment during Verdant Wind, resulting in someone who will help reshape Fodlan and Almyra. It is Claude taking up the mantle of the dragon.

I feel if you take this into consideration, Claude’s actions in other routes start taking on a new light. He doesn’t get over his prejudice against the Church in Silver Snow, uses the Church to retake the Great Bridge, causing the Church to suffer casualties that they need a month to recouperate while he then goes off marching to Gronder. He gets his ass kicked, survives according to Word of God only to leave Fodlan and the Alliance behind to rot. When he gets his ass kicked in Flower, he still arranged things so the people of the Alliance would back down and be spared. When he was getting ready to leave in Moon, he set up the Alliance rejoining the Kingdom and handed over his relic. In Silver Snow, he leaves nothing for the Church.

Then there’s his whole neutral stance, Claude is someone who talks a big game about how bad it is people are othered and how we need to accept others and their differences. That, despite Claude’s own aversion to religion. Edelgard declares war on the Church after everything seen in White Clouds, Claude isn’t looking out for a group being persecuted. He just tries to stay out of the fight. And when he does have to fight, he knows so little about Fodlan he assumes that the people his country views as cowards would run away and save themselves, not fight to the bitter end. It doesn’t even matter the fact that Claude outright calls Edelgard’s regime one of “military rule,” or how in Hopes she props up her own Church. He’ll still hand over the Alliance and leave if he can’t win, provided the player doesn’t opt to kill him, but he won’t hand it over to the Church.

youtube

Hopes and White Clouds being stopped in it’s tracks messes with Claude’s development. There is no Remire. No monster experiments. No Lonato, or trying to steal Relics. None of that shit. It’s just Edelgard declares war on the Church, invades the Alliance to take the Great Bridge in order to march on Garreg Mach, then tries to take over the capital. While the invasion of the Alliance can be held against her, and is if Byleth isn’t recruited in Scarlet Blaze, Edelgard is still doing so in order to get rid of a group Claude doesn’t like and wants gone himself. Claude wants the Church gone.

Claude wants a genocide. Not against the Nabateans, but the Church itself. And is willing to work with Edelgard in order to accomplish this, provided the Empire isn’t setting itself on fire under Thales’ control. What’s more, Wildfire represents Claude losing himself further to his hatred after having to kill his brother, something he never wanted to do, because said brother rejected him due to his mixed-race heritage. From there, Darth Claude’s habit of playing dirty comes out more than ever, willing to drag more and more groups into the war just because he wants Rhea and the Church gone.

Claude wants to tell himself he’s the good guy here, but his shadow calls him out on pretending to be the good guy. Likewise, he also talks about how if Rhea is killed Edelgard will lose her justification for the war and unless she wants to be seen as the bad guy will stop. I feel like these both indicate that Claude is aware of how bad his actions actually are, but he wants his own acts to be seen as right. His hatred towards the Church has made him turn away from the truth, just like in his support where Dimitri easily points out flaws in what Claude is planning and how it’ll put him in danger only for Claude to end the discussion.

Least, that’s what I’m getting right now looking at everything. Yet despite this, this only makes me like Claude even more. I mean, it’s the same reason why the Eagles are my favorite class, that without Byleth they become the villains. Really makes Byleth’s impact on their lives be known, in addition to making Verdant Wind stand out more for it’s character growth. Claude goes from someone who wants the Church to be wiped out, in spite of his ideals I might add, to someone who has to face off against the guy who committed a genocide against Rhea’s people. That after Solon tried to manipulate him into fighting against Rhea like TWSITD are implied to have done with Edelgard, Claude rejects their influence and takes out her out alongside Nemesis. That Claude gets Rhea’s side of the story and realizes how she’s been othered herself, how she’s an outsider just like him, and what he wanted to do to her. Claude sees how wrong he was and how his hatred blinded him to the truth, and in the end becomes a better person for letting it go resulting in not only Fodlan changing but Almyra as well.

Claude’s growth is deeper than we realized.

But this is just my attempt at trying to rationalize what Hopes did. Make of it what you will. Cheers.

#Youtube

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ladyniniane · 6 months

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FE OC WEEK DAY 6: Supports

I'm back with another post about Maeve!

I've already explored her most important relationships. So today, I will focus on dynamics that I didn't have the time and space to develop in my fic through supports with Dimitri, Annette and Sylvain!

Like Maeve's story, all supports take place after the time skip.

See also her backstory for more info about her!

And as usual, I hope there aren't too many mistakes!

Maeve & Dimitri

C: Dimitri has a headache and he goes to Maeve, thinking music could help him relax. He wants her to sing a specific song that he heard during his teenage years but only remembers the melody. Maeve convinces him to hum the tune even though he's a bit embarrassed. She recognizes the song and plays it.

The sweet and serene melody moves Dimitri and he thanks her warmly. Maeve tells him that she understands. As she is very sensitive, a song, or a book can make her feel vivid emotions. Dimitri is relieved that she understood what he felt without even needing words.

B: Maeve encounters Dimitri and greets him. Dimitri notes that she looks happy. Maeve says that she is and giggles. She then becomes more serious as she thanks him for saving Dedue during the Tragedy. Dimitri says that he only did what was right, as Dedue was about to be struck down by a Faerghian knight next to his little sister’s corpse. Maeve tells him that he is a good and just monarch and that she’s honored to fight for him.

Dimitri says that he must work harder and that he must have worried her when she joined his army. He apologizes for bringing them all into this quest of revenge. Maeve says that she was indeed very worried, but that she trusts him now. She adds that Gladys would be happy to talk to him. Dimitri blushes a little and leaves Maeve to find Gladys.

A: After the victory at Enbarr, Maeve congratulates Dimitri. He thanks her for her service and her courage in battle. He saw her confrontation with her father and understands why she hid her imperial origins. Maeve answers that what is done is done and that she has no regrets. Dimitri asks about her future projects. Maeve says that she will leave the army and work as a musician. She explains that she dreams of compiling songs from all of Fodlan and beyond.

Dimitri promises her a place in court and says that he will be her patron and asks her to sing during his official coronation. He also promises to cover all the expenses of her wedding ceremony with Dedue. Delighted, Maeve congratulates him on his future wedding with Gladys and promises to sing her best songs.

Maeve & Annette

C: At Garreg Mach, Annette is helping Maeve with her training. Maeve notes that Annette would make a wonderful teacher. Maeve comments on the fact that, unlike Annette who’s a decent healer, she’s very bad at it and worries that something bad could happen. That’s why she learned first aid. Annette tells her that it’s a very good idea and that Maeve is already being very useful on her own. Each magician is unique, with their strengths and weaknesses.

Annette adds that Maeve is furthermore able to do things that others can’t, such as singing. Maeve teases Annette by telling her that she has a lovely singing voice. Annette is a bit embarrassed that Maeve heard everything, but Maeve tells her not to worry.

B: In Fhirdiad, Maeve and Annette explore the School of Sorcery after a productive study session. Both women compare their education and the reasons why they decided to learn magic. Maeve tells her that she would have loved to study there. She admires the school’s founder, queen Maude, and is currently reading Loog and the maiden of wind. Annette says that she loves that book as well. She shows her places such as the classroom where the queen gave the school's first lecture. They talk about the magical prowess of Maude and her daughter Gwendolen.

They stop by the courtyard where a statue of Maude used to be before the war. Annette explains that a legend says that if you had studied well, you could ask for the statue’s blessing before taking your exams. Both agree that they need a blessing before returning to battle since the equations they solved earlier will turn into deadly spells on the field.

A: Maeve and Annette congratulate each other after fighting side by side. They start to talk about their plans for the future. Maeve confesses that she didn’t know what she would do until now, that she was afraid of leaving their friends. In a way, she’s still afraid that she won’t be able to fit into civilian life again with all the violence she has seen and committed. But she’s now determined to try.

She asks Annette if she has ever suffered from being the youngest of her class. Annette admits that she wanted to be taken seriously. They both agree that they are now sure of their worth. Annette says that she’s still unsure about how to act with her father. Maeve advises her to let time decide and to listen to her feelings first. Annette thanks her and they promise to always stay in touch.

Maeve & Sylvain

Important note: in my story, Sylvain isn't a skirt chaser and doesn't make the same comments about women that he does in the game. I love the rest of his character, but this part of him makes me deeply uncomfortable. Besides, there would no way Maeve could be comfortable around him if that was the case.

C: At the School of sorcery, Sylvain studies with Maeve since they both have an affinity for fire magic. Maeve is surprised to see him there since she didn’t think he had a talent for that. Sylvain explains with his usual carefree attitude that he’s a friend of Felix’s cousin, Aoife, and that she dragged him into this. As they both start working, Sylvain impresses Maeve by grasping immediately a complex formula, as he did with Annette. Maeve immediately understands that Sylvain is downplaying his abilities and she wonders why.

Sylvain may have grasped theory but lacks practice. Maeve thus gives him tips to improve his spell casting, especially in a life-and-death situation. They both part happy and satisfied with their progress and congratulate each other. Maeve didn’t think that Sylvain would take the study session seriously but understands that she was wrong. He then tells her that he has maybe decided to stop fooling around and focus on his responsibilities.

B: Maeve and Sylvain meet again in the gardens where Maeve is looking at the flowers she planted with Dedue. Sylvain notes that it’s nice that Dedue has been able to make more friends and find support. He teases her, noting that she is often seen by Dedue’s side these days. Maeve playfully retorts that she and Dedue are planning to plant flowers everywhere they go.

Sylvain says that people are too busy being angry at the Duscurians to think about the truth. Maeve asks him if he too thinks that the people of Duscur are innocent. Sylvain says yes and they both share their conclusions regarding the responsibility of the Faerghian nobles. A newfound respect blossoms between them. Sylvain then tells Maeve that she too is more than she sees and that the people who see just a pretty little red bird in her are bound to regret it later.

A: After the fight at Enbarr, Sylvain tells Maeve that he saw what happened with her father. He understands that she doesn’t want to talk about it, but asks her if she’s okay as it reminds him of the day he had to face Miklan. Maeve tells her that she doesn’t regret what happened since it was the consequence of her father’s actions. She’s happy that justice will be at least served for her mother. Sylvain stays silent, as Maeve’s words help him see his brother’s demise in a new light. Maeve vents a little, saying that she’s disgusted and outraged that her father offered her money and thought that it could make her forget what he did.

To cheer her up, Sylvain says that he wants to start negotiating with Sreng and to have a Sreng embassy come. This could thus be an opportunity for her to hear new songs, though Sreng music sheets must certainly look very different from the ones they are used to. Maeve playfully says that she wants to learn to play the morin khuur and asks what Sreng script looks like. Sylvain explains that it's written in vertical lines and reads from left to right. He finds Sreng epic poetry beautiful. Maeve wishes him luck, trusting his ability to build better relationships with their neighbors.

@fe-oc-week

#fe oc week #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #maeve #fe3h ocs

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misericordel · 6 months

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Mauvier felt some of the tension he'd been carrying dissipate at the sight of Lady Veyle, alive and unharmed and looking none the worse for wear after their time apart. He'd hated letting there be even a relatively short time of separation but he was glad that such time was at an end. He could take his place watching over her once again. A relieved smile put itself on his face and he raised a hand to his heart as he took a bow, down on one knee like he was swearing fresh fealty.

"My Lady...I am glad to see you have been well. Please forgive me for my tardiness."

He didn't want to be apart. He still worried at times that if he blinked and looked away she would be lost to him again, to the other Lady who he would serve with no less devotion but much heavier a heart. His service to her was unconditional but she wanted to be the way she was. Anything he could do to facilitate that he would.

"I will take up my post at your side once again."

"mauvier!" veyle's gaze immediately brightened the moment she saw him again for the first time in many moons. she thought herself stronger when she left for fodlan, that she could do things without him sticking by her side all the time, but there were so many anxiety-inducing things happening at the monastery that she found herself needing him again.

she knows how he is, and so she does not bother to get him to try and stop acting so politely with her all that mattered after all was that she was back to having her knight at her side. her closest friend. "i'm happy that you're back, mauvier." she smiled warmly down at the man that took one knee for her, reaching to wrap her arms around his necks and hug him tightly. "thank you."

#{ ic. }#{ monastery is doing some things to her character development so she needs to depend on him a little again. sniffles }#{ WELCOME TO TOA MAUVIER!!!!!!!!!! }

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emotiandon · 6 months

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Fe oc week Ending @fe-oc-week

Last day somehow made it, though I wish if I had learnt what time management was maybe I could’ve made more time to put in effort, maybe one day

Crowbar endings

Kaguya-

After losing two of the people she cared the cares the most in her life, Kaguya gave up her Nobel title and quickly left House Kamiyama. And was never seen again by the public, though those close would often see her in her Cafe called Cosmic cup. Where the specialty will always be coffee and might be selling many clocks too, many surviving students come to the cafe to catch up and say the cafe is 5 stars. And in her cafe Hubert and Kosuke’s pictures hung proudly for all to see those who sacrificed themselves for Kaguya to live.

Hubert Kaguya-

Once the war ended, the couple were the first to marry, their love after their academy days and a war was stronger than anyone could imagine. At the end of the day after a gruesome work of being the emperor’s right hand man,Hubert will often been seen at night running across hills with his wife as they stargaze, slowly their twin children would be giggling with them as the family stargazed.

Kosuke Kaguya (pure platonic)-

The two twins both stepped down from their noble duties from the house of Kamiyama and quickly made a decision to go across the seas bringing guest along the way to make a cruise called the Celestia cruise. The ship has become so popular that they often had to expand the ship newly every month as lots of people wanted to board. Of course they visited Fodlan to see all their friends and invite them for a free private sail across the sea.

Byleth Kaguya-

After the war, the Professor was sadden to see Kaguya all alone, offered her to stay with them to keep peace across Fodlan. Kaguya agreed and has since been aside the Professor as their right hand just like someone important to Kaguya, and she would often do the paperwork for Byleth and they go onto free front lines of battle as Kaguya out all that behind her. Though they had a purely platonic relationship they were very loyal to each other and helped fill the empty hole.

Venus Kaguya-

Though the two were never close during their academy days, the death of Kosuke effected both of them severely that they found warmth in each other presence and often mounted together and laughed at the memories of Kosuke, glad that his charisma brought them closer.

Marianne Kaguya-

Once Kaguya stepped down from nobility she moved to the Leicester Alliance, she would help Marianne in politics even against her protests. Her adoptive father would grant Kaguya permission to live in the house as well and it was often where she and Marianne would often have walks together to birdwatch or help abandon animals.

Lysithea Kaguya-

Though the two had a large age difference, they became very close friends and both sworn to vanish those who slither in the dark. Though once their lifelong mission to elongate those who took their lives, Lysithea and Kaguya were never seen again though they would often bake sweets in a cottage deep inside a forest where no one can find them.

Ignatz Kaguya-

Though an unlikely duo, once Kaguya was no longer a Nobel the two started to make a business of painting and making clocks, and also sold coffee and paintings. Because of this their business was a success which made the duo happy and wanted to share their work with others do they had numerous classes on painting, making clocks and coffee.

Venus Kosuke-

Kosuke had left house Kamiyama to pursue life on the sea with his one live Venus, and his boat Apollo. Though the two would often travel far, they would come back to Fodlan to visit his sister and her husband. Than they’ll sail across the world again, going across the ocean multiple times and had adopted people to join their crew, young or old who didn’t have a home a new life as they set sail once more.

Kosuke supports are hard okay so not a lot

#oc #fire emblem #ocs #Fe3h oc #fe oc week #oc au

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butwhatifidothis · 1 year

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Ever get tired of talking about cans fic? Wanna talk about the absolute missed opportunity that was making sothis a gremlin child and not a milf or even possibly a gilf instead?

Eh, kinda yeah kinda no regarding getting tired of talking about the fic.

Like, the actual act of reading the actual fic? Genuinely ass. Like, I've actually read up to and fully written out the notes for Chapter 62. I tried reading the first sentence of Chapter 63 right afterwards, saw it was a Rhea POV chapter, and went back to reading my otome isekais. That was around late November, and I've still yet to read any more of Chapter 63. The act of reading through something this horrible requires a lot of long breaks in-between sessions of reading.

But! In doing so I also get to talk about aspects of writing, and about 3H in particular, which I love doing. I like geeking out over aspects of writing like characterization, consistency, logical throughlines, character growth, etc. and being able to do so with such a horrible example of pretty much all of that is kinda fun, ngl.

And I also get to see and tackle so, so many of the asinine, horrendous takes that have made this fandom such a volatile space, such as:

Teacher Theory

Edelgard being some poor hapless maiden waiting for her love to save her from her unfair and unjust fate of being "branded" a villain

Dimitri being so toxic and "gone" that he needs to be killed since he just can't "listen to reason" anymore (and that actually him getting killed would make him happier)

the same essentially being said about Rhea

Lonato being a just man during his rebellion, as well as Christophe being just in his attempt to kill Rhea

Nabateans as a race being to blame for all of humanity's problems and so needing to take accountability for all of humanity's wrongs

Claude not actually caring about Fodlan and just wanting to conquer it so he can do better when he goes back to Almyra

Byleth needing to be completely human and needing to reject their Nabatean heritage in order to become happy

Edelgard being the only one among the lords + Rhea to ever care for Byleth

Everyone's best self being found only on CF

the idea that anyone defending themselves against Edelgard's attempt on their life in the Holy Tomb would be the aggressor instigating war against Edelgard

Edelgard caring so much about the people and being the only lord to care about the people

Sothis wanting Byleth to choose Edelgard over everyone else

Everyone making Edelgard kill them

And so on and so forth; this fic has pretty much all of them. In a way, reading this fic and breaking it down lets me have one, concentrated area where I get to dissect exactly how and why all of these takes are either shitty, genuinely disgusting, stupid as hell, or a mix of some/all of those things. And given the fact that Cap'n and multiple people in the fandom want this fic to be taken as meta/required reading, and with this basically being an amalgamation of all of Cap'n's genuine takes on the game (+ those of other Edelstans), going over exactly why such an influential thing is so wrong feels fitting lol. It's a pain to actually have to read through, especially with the pretentious and self-pitying holier-than-thou prose making things hard to actually physically read, but the result of doing so makes it worth it imo.

Buuuut to get off of that: yes, it was an extremely huge missed opportunity that Sothis was a stupid fuckin' loli instead of her actual self. Or, I guess more accurately, that she didn't physically become her actual self after merging with Byleth, or at least become physically closer to it. Full Mommy Sothis is so beautiful from the little we see of her! And the idea of her looking more like how she used to as she gains more of her memories would've been cool to see! And, uh, also, I feel an adult body would make her garb feel less... unfortunate to look at (ngl I get Nowi vibes looking at Sothis and I Do Not Like Nowi's clothing design that much).

I feel there was a lot missed with Sothis tho, and that that's mostly the case because the game more wants the feeling of a mystery to hang around the game more than it does actually writing a mystery with a conclusion. Sothis was seen regaining bits and pieces of her former life as a god, so if she stayed around long enough she could have revealed things to the player that were meant to be hidden. Same with Rhea - she could talk about a lot of the background knowledge of Fodlan's history that could have fleshed out the world so much more. But doing that would "spoil the fun" so to speak; there wouldn't be a mystery anymore, which the writers seemed to prioritize more than actually making the mystery fulfilling to figure out.

So Sothis gets yeeted out of the story halfway through, and Rhea is either an unavailable damsel in distress or a person pushed past their breaking point and thus unable to talk to. That's why Rhea's lore dumps on SS and VW are so rushed and forced - the writers knew they had to eventually get to the end of the mystery, and so held off as long as possible. At least, that interpretation of the writing can exist, given how they've written everything lol

#ask #anon #o captain my captain #also kinda explains Byleth/Claude's lack of a real reaction to Rhea's words in SS/VW #like they DO react but ngl hearing about the horrific shit Rhea went through warrants more than a O_O from Byleth #and a ''damn that sucks'' from Claude #but guess that's what fanfiction's for lmao #but yeah to TLDR it while reading the fic is very tiring talking about it lets me talk about stuff I like a lot so it's fine lol

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fiction-box · 2 years

Note

Okay, so I just saw the one about the wyvern and I loved it!!!

Hear me out: can you write for the same reader and Claude but she actually does fall? It can be after the time skip when she falls, and then Claude remembers their conversation about it from when they were at the academy together?

I'm not too good at context, so I'll leave exactly how it happens up to you!

I felt quite inspired by this prompt, so you got to jump the queue this week, my lovely. It makes me so happy to see that people are getting their inspiration from others on this blog!

Even just regarding the ask itself, there was so much I could have done with this. There were quite a few areas I wanted to explore, so I decided to do a bit of perspective switching, this fic.

Thanks for sharing, and thank you also for supporting both your own ideas and those of others on this blog! Requests are open!

The story will be continued under the cut.

His mind flooded with nostalgia as he led you, Lysithea, and Lorenz on a charge into the Red Canyon.

What had it been, five years since you all were last here? He and the Golden Deer, reunited once more under the orders of their old teacher. Claude wasn’t exactly sure what their goal was this time, but the demonic beasts in the area told him enough about what needed to happen next.

You four had been assigned to clear the canyon of the monsters Edelgard (now the Emperor of Adrestia) let loose. Once the job was completed, Byleth was to be notified and further instructions were to be given.

The original roster, however, had been modified. It was meant to be you, Ignatz, Raphael, and Lysithea. Plans changed when a stray imperial troop found the monastery, catching Raphael, who was out collecting wood, off guard. Luckily, Leonie was able to hear the ruckus and brought the professor in time to prevent him from getting into any further trouble.

With skilled healers like Marianne and Lysithea around, the injuries weren’t anything to fret over. Since he was brought back and treated quickly, the blond brawler turned out fine. Their main issue was how far back on supplies that put the army. Raphael and Leonie were the only ones capable of gathering any decent amount of firewood, so the professor insisted they stay behind.

That left Lorenz, Ignatz, Marianne, Claude, and Hilda. Marianne qualified for a position as their best healer, so it was definitely a safer bet to keep her at the monastery in case anything went awry. Naturally, Hilda didn’t want to do any work, so Teach sent Lorenz and himself on the Red Canyon mission while Ignatz received a list of items to find in the marketplace. Something about not risking the death or capture of their noble figureheads by imperial ambush.

Nice to know she cared, in her own way.

Not that it mattered to Claude, anyway. The better he could watch over you, the more reassured he would feel. He wasn’t the biggest fan of you heading anywhere too far from him in the hellscape Fodlan had become. Sure, he knew you could handle yourself…

Claude just didn’t know how he would handle himself if anything really did happen to you.

Upon the group’s arrival, the leader of the Golden Deer insisted on doing a small reconnaissance check. He flew up into the clouds, looking across the canyon to spot a bird and a crest beast of notable size. Not bad, but it wasn’t going to be quick, either.

“Alright, it doesn’t look like much. The four of us should do just fine,” he declared.

Lorenz craned his neck to glare at him, “It would be far more helpful if you could actually inform us of our opponents.”

“Yeah,” Lysithea shouted, “how are we meant to form a plan if you keep fooling around up there?”

“Quiet down and be patient, will you? You’ll attract their attention,” Claude hushed. “There are only two. One of them is a bird, which I’m pretty sure I can handle myself.”

“And the other?” you pressed.

“We’re not dealing with a lightweight, I can tell you that much.”

He watched as the three of you looked to the bridge you were meant to approach. Sitting peacefully on it was a crest beast of a slightly larger size than the one you faced here half a decade ago.

“Listen up! Here’s what we’re going to do. Lorenz, you’ll ride onto the bridge and attract its attention. Veer to one side to get it to move towards you.”

“Let me guess,” you started, “you want me on its other side?”

Claude nodded, “Yep. Lysithea, you stay near the entrance of the bridge. It should be wide enough to fit both of the others if you three can keep diverting its attention by varying the timing of your attacks.”

He waited a moment for any objections or complaints. Hearing none, he began to fly towards the canyon mouth.

“Lorenz, make sure you wait until after I attract the other one’s attention. This won’t work if it notices you guys, first.”

Flying out of earshot before Lorenz could retort, the Almyran Prince moved steadily towards his target. It was a careful process, though; he couldn’t risk garnering the attention of the other beast.

“Hey!” he shouted. “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to be here! Now's your chance to leave before things get ugly!”

The avian monster roared at him in response, flapping its wings faster in aggression.

“Suit yourself.”

His task would have been easier if his friends could help, but he knew you needed all the help you could get to fight the creature on that bridge. Honestly, even with three people, you all were still liable to struggle more than he did.

As more and more arrows lodged themselves into his opponent, Claude maneuvered in a way that allowed him to check on your progress. His plan was going flawlessly, it seemed. You were on the side of the bridge closest to him, with Lorenz on the far side of the beast and Lysithea attacking from the bridge’s mouth.

But observing wasn’t helping anyone. It was time to get in there and do some damage, himself.

Claude shifted his gaze from just past the bird to its left wing. There were enough arrows in it already that he knew a clean shot would prevent it from flapping properly. Then, the only thing left would be to watch it descend into the abyss of the canyon.

“Let’s finish this!”

Easily, he nocked an arrow onto his bow and pulled the string taut. The release sent it flying into the bird’s arm, giving him the result he was looking for.

Well…not quite.

Perhaps he should have paid a bit more attention to where he was positioned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claude's plan was working much more effectively than you originally thought it would. The best part was how cooperative everyone was about it. You had never seen Lorenz and Lysithea so focused outside of battle.

Anytime someone would attack, the others would take it upon themselves to shout as loudly as possible. The behemoth became so confused that it could hardly decide on who to fight, let alone who to defend from.

Lysithea’s placement was more fortunate than you had originally realized, what with her blocking off the only visible exit. In the heat of the moment, it seemed your attacker had forgotten about the escape route directly behind it.

Out of sight, out of mind, you supposed.

Once the mage had taken her turn, it was Lorenz’s time to take a stab. The crest beast moved away from you, approaching the violet noble only to freeze at Lysithea’s loud shouts.

But as something slammed into the bridge not two feet away from you, you couldn’t help but omit a scream of your own. Its impact shook the bridge, and you lost your footing.

“AH- WHAT-?!”

Only when you had fallen to your knees did you look to the side, watching as the bird that had fallen next to you was shot in the eye. It was dead now; Claude had done his part.

Lorenz and Lysithea called out your name in concern, and the attention placed onto you seemed to intrigue the beast the three of you were fighting.

You could have sworn Lorenz had shouted some insult toward Claude (something about being careless?) but you didn’t hear. There were more important things you needed to process at the moment. However, your biggest concern was not the crest beast making its way toward you, though you suddenly wished it was.

No, you were more focused on the cracks beginning to form around your knees on the bridge.

It seemed that architecture built thousands of years ago was not built to withstand such a hit. All you wanted was to get off the unstable structure, but each time you tried to get up or move, you could feel the fissures spread.

“Get off the bridge! RIGHT NOW!” you shouted, desperate to at least save your friends, “QUICKLY!”

They followed your orders without much thought, and you were certain it was only thanks to their position that they made it anywhere in time. Lorenz was on a horse and traveled faster while Lysithea was mere steps away from solid ground.

You had no such hope, though. Not with the demonic beast making matters worse with each step in your direction.

What were you meant to do? Shout at it in hopes to confuse or scare it? That would be ridiculous; you weren’t even a tenth of the size of that thing!

Unfortunately, the only thing your voice did was grow smaller. You pleaded with it, knowing well that it was fruitless. The monster couldn’t understand you, and it didn’t know enough to save its own life, either.

You were effectively trapped. If it attacked or came too close, you would fall. Any attempts to escape it by moving on the crumbling bridge would condemn you to the same fate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ever since you yelled at the other Golden Deer, Claude had been paying close attention to your predicament.

The wyvern rider had been trying to come up with some solution to get you out of there, but not all roads lead to Garreg Mach, apparently. Distracting the beast wasn’t an option since he figured out you were on unstable ground (a story told by the fact you weren’t running away). Not only would any approach on his part rile the beast, but he’d inevitably be too far away to help you if something went wrong.

He knew he had no chance of swooping in to pick you up, either. The monster would probably panic if he saw another beast and a rider. It wasn’t as though he could land to let you mount safely, either.

Stress and fear were overtaking his ability to think straight. Claude had no plan, and the worst part was that he knew he was the cause of all this. The best he could think of was to wait for you to fall from a safe distance away, then diving in for the save.

But then he remembered. A conversation from many years ago stored in the back of his mind.

“I can’t. I can’t do it.”

“I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of falling.”

Instantly, he hated himself for it. He knew he was out of time and he hated himself for it. What sort of leader, what kind of friend, would just sit back and watch as someone that would call him such titles faced their greatest fear? A fear that was confessed to him several years ago and likely had not changed, for that matter?

He watched anyway, though. It was all he could do as the beast approached you, damning you with every step.

When his eyes turned to you, though, he knew you hadn’t gotten over your fear. You knew what would come next, and the signs of panic and fear without acceptance were setting into your form.

Your own eyes were looking all around, taking in the beast in front of you, the cracks on the bridge, the end of the bridge that you had no chance of escaping to…

As the wretched thing came ever closer, Claude leaned forward on his wyvern, placing a hand on its neck to warn it of his incoming command.

A claw was raised, and once it came down, you dodged forward past it.

The bridge began to collapse at the impact of the missed attack, bringing the beast down with it.

Not you, though. Not yet. He flew closer with his wyvern as fast as he could as you fought for your life against the collapsing structure, running as fast as you could muster.

But it was clear that your plates were weighing you down, and when you lost your footing and joined the descending rubble, he dove in hopes of saving you.

Your scream would find its way into his nightmares for a long time after.

The catch wasn’t pretty; Claude had to practically slam into you at an angle to safely slow your momentum.

Once he could get enough air back to his lungs to process his surroundings, he registered your arms clinging to him for dear life. Your breaths were coming at a rapid pace, but the Duke of Riegan couldn’t have been more thankful for it.

“I’m so sorry,” Claude managed. He needed you to know; he would never forgive himself if you didn’t. “I’ve got you, now. I promise I will never let you fall again.”

You were alive. You were safe.

You were crying.

“Ah-” for once, he had no idea what to say. He had made a similar promise five years ago, hadn’t he? So really, what were his words worth?

He settled for using his actions, instead. Claude wrapped his arm around you, placing his free hand on your head and holding you to his chest.

It only lasted for a moment, though. That’s all he allowed himself before he returned his arm to where it was, both of you flying high enough to get over the cliff.

The two of you landed, Lorenz abandoning his horse and Lysithea running to you while you both practically fell off the wyvern. Claude felt you let go of him and roll over, attracting his notice as he watched you cough up blood onto the ground.

Apparently, the impact between you two that had stopped your momentum induced its own form of shock into himself. He barely felt Lorenz when the knight practically pulled him off you. Lysithea needed space in order to heal you properly, after all.

She laid you down flat on your back, hovering her hands over different areas but focusing mostly on your upper body.

Your chest and your head. You really were lucky, then.

Once her overall evaluation was done and a bit of magic was used, she announced, “Her body seems fine at a surface level, but I promise she’s much worse than you think. It’s a miracle she's still able to move properly!”

Lorenz released him as Claude regained control of his own body, getting up and moving ever so slightly closer to check on you “Can you hear us alright? How do you feel?”

You coughed once more after you incoherently moved to sit up, “...I…what? This isn’t…”

Claude thought back on the past events in a panic, “Hey, you didn’t actually hit your head, right?”

“No…no…it’s fine,” that wasn’t quite what he wanted to hear. “I just…I think I need a moment.”

As it turned out, a moment was all it took for your form to go limp.

Lysithea rushed forward, checking your pulse and the area in front of your nose and mouth, “She- she’s passed out.”

“Well then,” Lorenz thought, “I believe our next best option would be to head back to the monastery. It would do no good to remain out here.”

The mage knelt beside you, “Can you stand guard for a moment, first? I want to make sure she’s stable before we head back.”

After her quick once-over on you (and on him, as per her insistence), the group finally seemed ready to head back. To return as soon as possible, Lysithea rode on the back of Lorenz’s horse as Claude made sure to secure you in front of him on his wyvern. Altogether, the four of you headed back to Garreg Mach in hopes of getting you some proper rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You couldn’t scream.

You were falling, the rubble of stone far older than your family name joining your descent.

It was terrifying. There was nothing you could do. All that was left for you was to wait for the end. For the surface of whatever waited at the bottom of the canyon.

Maybe you couldn’t scream because, deep down, you knew no one would save you.

Only, you swore you remembered screaming. Your throat hurt.

…hurt…? You didn’t feel anything.

While your thoughts were busy muddling together, you only grew more restless and confused.

It was only when you felt something slam into your chest that you awoke in a panic.

“H-help! I’m falling! I…I don’t-” you panted, your eyes scanning your surroundings for anything that made sense-

“Easy there. You’re alright,” a familiar voice called to you.

Slowly, your body allowed itself to take everything in. This was the old medical ward in the monastery. You were on one of the beds, and from what you could see, you were the only one in the room.

“...what…?” you suddenly felt dizzy, even more disoriented than before.

Arms from behind you coaxed you back down onto the bed. On your way down, you caught a glimpse of a face to which you couldn’t match a name.

“Seriously?” he must have noticed you didn’t recognize him. Or maybe it was the confusion in your blank expression. “After everything you put me through, you’re gonna act like you don’t remember me?”

Act? Was this his idea of a prank?

You watched as his green eyes lost their playful glint, a look of concern slipping into place.

“Hey, come on. You do remember me, right?”

“I know you, but I don’t…” you hesitated, not quite sure how to put it, “...your name…”

“I’d go get Lysithea, but I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone in this state.”

“Lysithea…” some distant parts of your memory resurfaced at the name. “She was with me on the bridge. It was her, me, Lorenz, and…you.”

He nodded, “I still can’t believe you remember Lorenz and not me. Not that it’s any easier to believe how he and I got assigned to help you, in the first place.”

Was this…a test? No matter, you didn’t think your memories from before the incident were tainted.

Well, not that much, anyway. You felt like you would remember a bit more about the person you were talking to if you could recall everything from before.

“Yeah, thank goodness Professor chose the two of you to join us after Raphael got hurt. I don’t think anyone without a horse would have gotten out from the middle of the bridge in time.”

Your friend(?) gave a dry laugh at that, “I suppose it was lucky, in some twisted way. I doubt I could have saved you both.”

“I think your reckless actions were the reason we found ourselves in such a mess.”

“Ouch! Even when you’ve forgotten all about me, you still know how to lecture me.”

“For lack of better term, I remember you ‘fundamentally’. It’s just your name that eludes me.”

He raised a brow in challenge, “Oh yeah? Prove it, then. What am I like?”

A different kind of test, you thought. That was fine, you supposed. It wouldn’t hurt him to know what a friend thought of him.

You just hoped saying these things wouldn’t hurt your future self.

“Well, you aren’t the most loyal, nor are you always honest. At least, not from what I remember seeing of you. Sometimes, you don’t think things through all the way, despite the fact you call yourself a schemer. It’s as though…you’re too busy living in the present to ever truly learn from your past, I think. You become too blinded by the good you might do to see the harm behind your actions.”

You noticed he didn’t really have anything to say to that. Did you mess up?

His expression changed, and he gave what you classified as a “knowing smirk”, but some part of you felt certain he wasn’t as pleasantly amused as he pretended to be.

“Can you give me some examples?”

Enough with the tests, you thought. Haven’t I shown that I know enough?

“Just now, with the bird. I’m certain you thought you were doing a good thing by killing it and rushing over to help us, but you didn’t think it through. You could have positioned yourself better, or you could have trusted us to keep it at bay long enough for you to do your own job properly.”

“That’s why I have you though, right? You’re here to let me know when I mess up, and how to make everything that much better in the initial stages of planning.”

The sheets you were lying on suddenly fascinated you as you twisted them between your fingers, “No, you don’t really need me for those kinds of things. Honestly, I’m certain you could do all those things yourself if you just applied everything a little better. You’re charismatic and cunning; you have no problems recruiting others and getting them to follow you.”

A small laugh left you at that, “It’s easy for people to want to stay when you’re so good at what you do. You’ve succeeded far more than you’ve failed, and that was even before you let me in to help you.”

“Oh? And can you give me some examples of that?”

Now your laughter fell from your lips in a larger amount as you swatted at him, looking up from the sheet, “I can’t stroke your ego too much, Claude! You’d never let me hear the end of it!”

“So you do remember my name!” he teased. “Honestly, you hurt me a little, there. There’s pulling a prank, and then there’s being just plain mean.”

You supposed you did recall, now. It was strange how many memories and emotions were attached to a name, and how much forgetting one could affect you and those around you.

Your expression turned somber as you began to realize the gravity of your previous situation. You could have died, or you could have forgotten everyone you loved. Even just failing to remember Claude was a horrible thought.

“I never meant to forget you. I would apologize, but looking back, I don’t know what I would be apologizing for. That whole time on the bridge…I just did what I thought was right.”

“That’s because it was my fault, as much as I hate admitting it. I should have been more aware of my surroundings. I got the three of you into quite a bit of trouble.” he grimaced ever so minutely, you almost thought you imagined it. Before you could think too hard on it, he continued, “If things went any worse, I probably could have handed my head to the emperor, myself.”

“Well, as much as she might appreciate the thought, I’m not prepared to let you give up, yet,” you smiled.

“Sure,” Claude grinned as he stood, likely to go fetch Lysithea, “but don’t you dare think I’m planning on it. Once you recover, you can help me work toward making sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

You gave a curt nod at that, and Claude waited a moment longer before finally leaving you alone.

It seemed your greatest lessons were learned at the worst times, but with him at your side, you were sure you could manage to stay one step ahead of misfortune. It was better to be taught by crest beasts than by the Emperor or her advisors, you supposed.

So as you shut your eyes on your pillow in the empty room, you assured yourself there wouldn’t be a next time. Lysithea could heal the bruises, but she couldn’t take away the experience and what you gained from it.

That mistake was just another shadow to be eliminated before the new dawn could come. You had no doubt you would get there, but first, you needed to end this war.

#fe claude x reader #fire emblem #fiction #fe x reader #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fe3h x reader #fire emblem x reader #fe3h claude x reader #fe claude #claude x reader #claude von riegan #fe3h claude #claude von riegan x reader

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randomnameless · 22 days

Note

Hi, i have seen you and some other posters talking about how Edelgard father was a puppet or working for the Agarthans and i was wondering do you have links or pictures that shows thos as i dont really have access to my game to check and im not sure where to het that kind of information from.

Sorry for any inconvenience or of i got the worng person.

No pbs anon !

Hubert explains it here :

So per Hubert, Ionius was used as a puppet by Thales'n'pals and Thales'n'pals were the ones who experimented on her siblings!

I believe Her Majesty may have told you some of this herself.

Interestingly, while she told some stuff to Billy, she told them that it wasn't Uncle'n'pals who did the experiments... but Aegir who is canonically (per Ferdie's paralogue) Thales' prefered scapegoat.

Who also blames Aegir for what happened to her? Ionius himself!

When you were stolen away to the Kingdom... When the prime minister did those horrible things... I could only watch in horror.

So, on the one hand, we have Ionius and Supreme Leader blaming Aegir for the experiments and eluding the Agarthans -

On the other hand, we have Hubert blaming the Agarthans for the experiments as he reveals Ionius was their puppet, something Supreme Leader already knows (and apparently should have told Billy!)...

Between those two sources and facts, which one is the most trustworthy?

I'd say Hubert in a heartbeat - given how he has no reason to lie here, Aegir was already put under house arrest, so why "not blaming" him and instead pinning everything on the Agarthans ?

Unless... Aegir had no part in the experiments, only in the Insurrection, and when Arundel was slithere'd upon returning from Faerghus - after Solon got "acceptable results" in Ordelia - and started the experiments on the Hresvelg kids.

What was Ionius doing meanwhile? We don't know.

FE Fodlan refuses to give us more details about the Insurrection and the experiments on the Hresvelg children, we can only suppose things.

Ionius being a puppet of Arun-Thales and foddering children to get a "peerless emperor" is nothing but headcanon, and yet, it somehow fits with Vestra Sr, Hubert's own dad, rebelling against Ionius to protect - it's heavily implied - kid!Hubert himself. Volkhard (the real one!) hid his niece in Faerghus... for reasons? Why hiding her there - if she wasn't at risk in Enbarr? And who would have been targeting her ? The experiments didn't start, and given how the members of the Insurrection were happy to let Ionius alive (albeit as a figurehead), they would have had no interest in killing the Imperial children.

Again, it's all hc created from Hubert's support with Hanneman and this very own line, coming from Hubert himself : the games gives us two different narratives and leave it at that.

Per the Hresvelgs : Aegir led the experiments.

Per Hubert - backed up by Lysithea's background : Agarthans did it, and manipulated Ionius.

Who's right ? Canon says "dunno".

#anon #replies #FE16 #Adrestia stuff #is it the ionius hour?#we don't a thing about johnny #was he only there to salt or did he have power and decided to do some very stupid and disturbing things?#he was in power when Ordelia was Agarthan'd #he was the one in charge when House Martritz disappeared and House Nuvelle was reduced to nothing #we knew he tried to centralise policies on himself #but otherwise? He's just there #was he always manipulated by agarthans?#Thales took possession of Arundel only after the Insurrection #given how nopes wrote Fodlan it's always agarthan influence #but between Hubert and Supreme Leader I'd say the one who is the most honest with Billy #is surprisingly Hubert in Tru Piss

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mt-musings · 4 days

Text

To Inherit the Night - 17

“Sit still, Magpie, or I’m going to send you up Topside with half a face of makeup.”

“You’re poking my eye,” she retorted, squirming away from his eyeliner brush. He grabbed her jaw to hold her still.

“Suck it up. Beauty is pain.”

“That’s bullshit. I’d be the prettiest person in Fodlan if that was true.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “You are pretty.”

“Pretty fucking ugly.”

“Do you want me to finish you makeup or do you want to have a pity fest? It’s one or the other,” he asked, brow raised. She slunk down in her chair, dropping her gaze to the floor.

“Makeup. Please.”

“Ahh, so you do have manners.”

“No thanks to you.”

He laughed at that, eyes glimmering with mischief. It was no secret that she’d inherited his foul mouth and rapid-fire retorts. She had enough sense most of the time to keep it in Topside, but everyone in Abyss knew to be wary of her tongue.

“I still don’t know why you’re putting in so much effort. It’s lame, as far as balls go.”

“But I’ve never been to one. And everyone else is going to be dressed up and there’s going to be dancing and champagne and—I don’t know. They always sound fun in stories.”

He tried to hide his grin, shaking his head.

“What?”

“You’re adorable.”

“I’m not!”

“Yes, you are. Are you going to dance with your Prince Charming tonight?”

“Fuck off.”

“Planning on meeting someone in the Goddess Tower?”

“Planning on cutting holes in your socks.”

Yuri snorted, pinning a stray piece of hair back. He took a step back to admire his work. Her hair streamed down her back in perfect waves, half pulled back into braids that encircled her head like a crown. The white didn’t look so stark with the lilac ends woven through, bringing out color in her face. He hadn’t done much in the way of makeup. She didn’t need it, despite what she thought. He’d merely disguised the scars on her cheek as much as he could and emphasized her eyes with a little eye liner and mascara and the smallest amount of shimmer.

“Do I look stupid?”

“Do you think I would make you look stupid?”

“If you thought it was funny.”

“You don’t look stupid. I, as usual, am a genius. Go on, check in the mirror.”

He watched her expression as she took a deep breath, steadying herself before turning to look at the small mirror on his vanity. He watched as she gasped, turning to stare at how faint her scar had become, almost invisible but for the slight divot of the old wound, at how large and thick-lashed her eyes were. She pressed her lips into a thin line, her eyes welling with tears.

“Don’t go crying off all my hard work.”

“You—I—Yuri!” She stammered incoherently, nearly tumbling from her chair in her haste to throw her arms around him in a hug. He returned it easily, not bothering to hold back his laughter.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Magpie. It’s just a little makeup, I’ve been offering to teach you for forever.”

“You made me pretty,” she mumbled into his chest.

“Made—Cella, do you really hate your scars that much?”

She didn’t answer, just hugged him harder. He sighed, pressing his cheek to the crown of her head. He’d have picked her up her own cosmetics long ago if he’d known seeing herself unscarred would bring her to happy tears. She’d always seemed so indifferent to fashion, to her appearance, he’d simply thought she wasn’t bothered by it. She’d always been more concerned with snooping about, with reading as many books as she could get her hands on, with tinkering and causing problems for a laugh.

She glanced up at him, eyes still shining, grin cemented to her face.

“You’re the best.”

“You’re tolerable.”

She scrunched up her nose at that, smile widening. She stepped back and did a little twirl in her altered skirt, smiling at her reflection in the mirror.

It wasn’t often that Yuri felt like he was truly a good big brother. He ran a gang after all, a gang he’d allowed Cecily to become and integral part of. Sometimes he forgot she was barely sixteen, that she was supposed to still be more of a kid than not. But watching her beam at herself as she did a happy little bounce of a dance made him feel like the best brother in the world.

Blood or not, she’d always be his kid sister, and he’d always do anything it took to do right by her.

~~~

Yuri had been right—the ball was terribly dull.

He’d never been one for such occasions to begin with, but with so little to gain by mingling with his fellow students—it was practically intolerable.

Or it would have been, if Cecily hadn’t been having so much fun.

She’d spent the whole evening dancing, with hardly a break since they’d arrived. He hadn’t the faintest idea where she’d learned—maybe she’d asked Dorothea for lessons. She always went to her for help with classwork.

He’d never seen her smile so much, or laugh. She practically glowed, brimming with joy. It was like watching who she might have been, had she never been kidnapped and tortured, who she would have been had she never gotten mixed up in petty noble disputes.

“Kid’s having a good night.”

Yuri glanced over to find Balthus drop into a seat next to him, propping his boots on the table.

“Looks like it.”

“She’s about the only one. Constance and Hapi already left. What say we follow and continue the night with some proper drinks down at the Wilting Rose?”

“I dunno. Maybe in a bit.”

Balthus followed Yuri’s eye line to where Cecily was dancing with Claude, laughing at something he was whispering in her ear. Balthus laughed, shaking his head.

“You hanging around to scare off any over-eager suitors?”

“Why would I do that? She can take care of herself.”

“I’m not buying that, pal. Worried someone’s going to whisk her off to the Goddess Tower?”

“Terrified,” he retorted, the word dripping with sarcasm.

“Alright then, why stay? You hate these things.”

Yuri just shrugged. “I like seeing her happy.”

“She does look young when she smiles like that. She looks so serious all the time I forget she’s practically a baby.”

“You’re just old.”

“You’re not wrong, especially in this crowd,” he laughed. “Two more songs and you’re coming for a drink with me. You gotta let Little Birdie fly on her own someday.”

“Balthus—“

“Come on! What’s the worst that can happen? It’s a church ball. So she makes out with some kid in the back gardens, it’s a right of passage.”

“This is not a conversation I want to be having.”

“Then you should just agree.”

“I’m not—“

“Hey!” Cecily said, beaming. She came to a halt right in front of the pair of them, beaming, cheeks flushed from dancing.

“Oh, great timing. We’re heading out,” Balthus said, grinning as he glanced sidelong at Yuri. Cecily’s face fell, though she quickly replaced it with a well-practiced smile that never quite met her eyes.

“Oh, okay. I’ll just go say bye to Thea.”

“No, no, no—Yuri and I are leaving. You stay and have fun. Besides, you can’t leave your first ball early, it’s bad luck.”

Her eyes flicked to Yuri, never quite believing Balthus at his word when he used that tone. He sighed, giving her a crooked smile.

“Go have fun. I have to get this geezer back home.”

“Hey!”

“Let me know when you get back, okay? I’ll be up.”

“Okay!” She said and grinned, giving both of them a quick hug before darting back towards Dorothea and a handful of the other Black Eagles lingering on the edge of the dance floor.

“See? No harm no foul. She’ll be fine! Come on.”

Yuri grudgingly followed Balthus from the hall, glancing back to find Cecily back on the dance floor being twirled around by Hubert, who’s usual grim demeanor was replaced with something softer, something almost like a smile. He turned on his heel, ready to abandon Balthus in favor of ensuring it was their last dance of the night together, but Balthus grabbed him by the collar and practically dragged him out.

“Leave her alone, she’s a good kid, she deserves some fun.”

~~~

“You look…very nice tonight,” Hubert said, the words careful and measured. He was wrong, of course—his assessment was severely lacking. She looked particularly beautiful—she’d done something to cover her scars, sure, but it was more in the way that her eyes glimmered with excitement, the soft way her hair had been braided back from her face.

She beamed back at him.

“Yuri did it for me. You look really nice too.”

He ignored the faint heat that rose in his cheeks at her words, her smile. Had he seen her smile, really smile, before? Never this much, he was sure.

“I wouldn’t have expected you to be so fond of balls.”

“It’s my first one. I’d read about them, of course, but they’re much more fun in person!”

“If you like dancing.”

“Well, that’s the best part! Don’t you think?”

Never in his right mind had Hubert ever enjoyed balls, or fancy parties, least of all dancing—especially the stuffy Court kind. But as he swayed with Cecily in his arms he didn’t think it could be all that bad, not if it made her smile like that.

“I—Yes. I daresay it is.”

She rewarded him with her biggest smile yet. “I wish we had more than just the one here at the monastery. I’d like to do it again.”

“There will always be more balls. Goddess knows the Season is bursting with them.”

“The Season?”

“The social Season, when all the balls and parties are set. There’s scarcely a weekend without one.”

“Oh, how lovely,” she replied, though he could see her smile slip, just a bit. It was an idiot thing to say—of course she didn’t know what the Season was, or how commonplace, really, balls such as this were. He’d wondered why she’d scarcely stopped dancing for ten minutes the whole night, why she’d said yes to everyone who had asked her, even those she didn’t particularly get on with, why she hadn’t followed her fellow Housemates back to their quarters.

For her there would be no more balls, no more nights of dancing and laughter, of idle banter and string quartets.

“If you ever find yourself in Enbarr during the summer I would ask you consider accompanying me to one. I could use an accomplished dance partner.”

She giggled, not in the cruel sort of way he’d grown used to girls laughing at him, but in the way that bubbled up with harmless mischief. “I’m afraid you might have to look elsewhere then. Dorothea only started teaching me two weeks ago.”

“I never would have guessed. You’re a wonderful dancer.”

“Perhaps I merely got all my toe-stepping out of the way earlier in the night.”

“Oh?” He asked, amusement creeping into his voice as he raised an eyebrow. She giggled again, the sound as sweet and bright as bells.

“I might have stepped on Lorenz’s toes. On purpose. Because he said I could be mistaken for having a noble air about me when I was dancing, and I couldn’t have that.”

Hubert surprised himself by letting out a genuine bark of laughter. She fought her own smile, though her eyes shone with it.

She opened her mouth to say something else but the song ended and she shut it again, the mirth once more slipping from her face in favor of a practiced smile, shoulders drooping ever so slightly as she took a step back into a shallow, unbalanced curtsey.

“Thank you very much for the dance, Hubert.”

He tumbled out the words before he had a chance to reconsider. “Would it be presumptuous of me to ask for another?”

Her eyes went wide for a moment before she gave him the sweetest, almost shy smile. She answered with mock seriousness, the glimmer of mischief returned.

“Oh, most certainly, but I daresay I could forgive it.”

He smiled back without thinking. “Then I am ever so lucky,” he said, offering her his hand once more. She took it with the same hint of shyness she’d shown at his request, though it was without hesitation—they easily fell back into rhythm, Hubert depending on over a decade of practice while Cecily followed his lead as if it were as easy as breathing. He wondered, idly, when she’d found the time to practice so diligently with Dorothea—he still wasn’t quite sure how she found time to sleep between her late nights studying and her work with Yuri.

He wished then, that his offer to take her to another ball, to have an excuse to spend an entire night at her side, with her in his arms, hadn’t been a functionally empty one. He’d meant it when he’d said it, meant every word—but the world would be a very different place in a few months, and Enbarr wouldn’t be hosting any balls any time soon. He quite doubted there would be many throughout Fodlan in the next few years, at least until Lady Edelgard was able to unite the continent under a new, Crestless society.

Until then there wasn’t time enough to spare for such frivolity, for such pointless, selfish desires. He could simply allow himself these few moments, moments he—

“Are you alright, Hubert?”

“Of course. I apologize, I simply got lost in thought.”

She searched his face for a moment, her own unreadable. “It can be a treacherous endeavor.”

He snorted, shaking his head. “Indeed.”

“Hubert?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“For what.”

“Being kind to me. Even when I know it’s been burdensome.”

He shook his head. “It’s never burdensome. I promise.”

She smiled at him as the song ended, letting the silence ring out a second before stepping out of his hold.

“Thank you for the dances. I hope the rest of the night treats you well.”

“Are you retiring for the night?” He asked, hating the edge of disappointment that laced his words.

She huffed a laugh, ducking her face to hide her blush. “Well, three dances and people would talk.”

“I didn’t know that you cared about what people thought.”

“I don’t,” she said, something sad creeping onto her face. “But you have to. Goodnight, Hubert.”

“Cecily—“ he called after her but she didn’t turn, disappearing from the ballroom without a second glance.

~~~

Hubert surveyed the ring, the sick feeling in his chest rising. It was objectively perfect—a delicate platinum band with a large, marquis-cut center stone of shimmering alexandrite, flanked by a spray of smaller ebony stones on either side. The center stone alone had cost an exorbitant amount, but it resembled the peculiarity of her eyes so well that he hadn’t blinked.

He thought of how under different circumstances he’d be nearly giddy at the thought of giving it to her. How he would have sat and prepared an entire speech, taken her to the rose garden, away from prying eyes, declared to her his ardor and devotion.

He wondered if she might have liked it, had it not been a shackle. He’d never seen her wear any jewelry other than the silver cuff on her ear engraved with a band of foxglove.

He sighed as he set the ring back in the box. He’d have to give it to her tonight—he wouldn’t be allowed to see her before the ceremony tomorrow, some sort of idiot custom he was supposed to adhere to.

He stood stiffly before he could lose has nerve and strode to Cecily’s apartments, nodding at the guard at the door before stepping inside. She was sat on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest, chin propped up on them as she stared blankly at the flickering shadows on the hearth. She didn’t look up or greet him, though her grip tightened as if it were enough to protect her.

“I thought you should have this before tomorrow,” he said, though he didn’t move to hand her the box. It was another moment before she turned her head to look up at him and it was then that he could see her red-rimmed eyes.

She’d been crying.

His heart twisted painfully in his chest at the realization, but he shoved it down. She might have been crying, but her cheeks weren’t as hollow, her bones no longer as sharp under her skin. She was still too thin, but not in the utterly unhealthy way she’d been when she arrived. She was at least better taken care of in the palace, no longer starved and bruised.

He hesitated a moment before sitting next to her on the floor, ignoring the childish indignity of it. He watched her brows furrow in confusion, all the more so when he pulled out the little leather box.

He handed it to her without preamble or explanation, choosing to watch the flames, rather than her face. She didn’t say anything for a long time, long enough that he thought she might not say anything at all.

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s for you. I should have given it to you at the start of our engagement, but I admit that I hadn’t yet gotten it.”

She stared at it for a long moment, absently tracing the stone. Then she handed it back to him.

“I do not need a ring, Hubert, nor am I suited for one such as this.”

“It’s a gift, and it was made specifically to suit your features. You will be the Marquess Vestra tomorrow, and will need things befitting such.”

She didn’t say anything, but he watched as she wrung her hands, as she traced the scars that dotted her knuckles, that cut across the backs of her palms. Scars from fighting, from training and surviving. He thought of his own hands, less scarred, though discolored from years of black magic overuse. She’d never seen him without his gloves, no one had, save Edelgard, but she would, tomorrow. She’d have to, to slip his own black band onto his finger.

Surely, if the faint silver scars on her own disgusted her, his hands would prove a horror.

He pulled the ring from the box and reached for her hand, pausing just shy of taking it.

“May I?” he asked, half expecting her to get up and lock herself in the bedroom, as she was prone to do the moment she became utterly sick of him. Instead she stared at his hand for a long moment before placing her own trembling one lightly in his. He was struck by how small it looked in comparison, how something so unassuming could cause such destruction, should she desire it. He slipped the ring on her finger, glad, at least, that he’d gotten the sizing right. He hated the involuntary rush of warmth at seeing it there, knew it had perhaps more to do with the connotation of such a piece than with his satisfaction with the design.

She didn’t pull her hand from his right away as he’d expected, her face unreadable as she stared at it. He wondered if she’d momentarily forgotten her hand was still in his, though he’d be hard pressed to remind her, not when he could revel in the warmth of her touch for just a little longer. He was surprised by the urge to press his lips to her knuckles, the sweet gesture so absolutely out of character for him.

She pulled her hand back gently, wrapping her arms back around her knees. He couldn’t help but glance at where it glinted in the firelight.

“There is to be dancing tomorrow. I remember—I remember how you enjoyed it, at the Academy. I did—I did promise you another dance, in Enbarr.”

He didn’t know why he said it, why he brought up what had been such a happy memory. Maybe he just wanted to fill the silence. Maybe—maybe he wanted her to know that he still held her in the same regard, even now. Maybe he wanted her to know that he still remembered, that it hadn’t been an empty promise.

He watched in horror as her face crumpled and she let out a choked sob. She buried her face in her lap, her breath coming too fast, her shoulders shaking with ragged tears. He sat frozen, unsure of what to do. He wasn’t the most comforting person at the best of times but he was worried now that he’d only make it worse.

He had a strange, foreign compulsion to pull her into his arms and hold her, but he didn’t, instead forcing himself to stand. He poured her a glass of water and set it carefully next to her before taking one of the blankets off the couch and wrapping it around her shoulders. He didn’t want to leave her side, not while she was crying, but seeing as he was the cause he backed up towards the door, pausing with his hand on the knob.

“I—I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m sorry, Cecily.”

She didn’t respond. He wasn’t even sure she’d heard him, through her tears. He lingered another moment before forcing himself to go, walking quickly to his own chambers to wallow in his own misery.

~~~

Cecily sat on the roof of the ballroom, watching the light from the windows dance across the gardens. She’d cloaked herself in shadow so no one would be able to see her.

She knew she should just go back to Abyss. Yuri said that he’d be waiting up for her, something she’d most definitely want to avoid, especially coming back red-eyed with all the makeup he’d so carefully applied wiped off on her sleeve.

It was her own fault, for being stupid. She’d forgotten that she was just a little Abyssian rat, just another orphaned urchin who’d gotten good enough at stealing and eavesdropping to keep herself in coin.

Hubert would be a Marquis. He was the closest confidant of the next Emperor of Adrestia. He’d probably attended enough balls that the thought alone of this one had bored him stupid, meanwhile she’d made a fool of herself telling him she’d read about them in story books.

She shouldn’t have come. She’d never belong to that world, never fit in the way Yuri so effortlessly could.

It had been fun though, to pretend, just for a few hours. To laugh and talk and dance—by the Goddess she loved dancing. It left her giddy and breathless and she couldn’t think of anything that had made her so happy.

Unless it had been dancing with Hubert.

That had felt so utterly different, like she’d been floating, like it was just the two of them instead of a crowded hall full of their peers. And he’d smiled, and the softness of the expression suited him perhaps more than that devious smile that she favored, a smile that always meant something was about to get interesting.

But he was the son of a Marquis and she—

She had never even met her father. He’d been some sort of scholar, back in Sreng, or whatever passed for a scholar there. He’d been learned enough try to kill her the moment he’d seen her eyes.

If she was lucky she’d return the favor.

Because that’s what she was—a murderous little monster with a penchant for spying and ruining other people’s plans.

She swiped at a tear running down her face, hating herself for being so stupid, for forgetting her place. She was nothing more than a plaything to these noble brats, would never be anything more than a plaything when it came down to it. After all, she wasn’t pretty, like Dorothea, or scholarly, like Linhardt, or a fierce and tenacious fighter, like Petra. She wasn’t inventive like Constance, or strong like Balthus, or brave, like Hapi, or even half as wily and charming as Yuri.

She was still just a silly little girl, a silly girl who still believed there was truth in story books.

She leaned back on the roof, looking up at the stars. Yuri had always told her that heartstrings were what they tired the noose with, that they were made him so very good at what he did. He could make anyone fall for him, pour riches into his hands in the hopes that it would win them his heart. But it was a game—he’d always told her it was a game as long as you weren’t stupid enough to let anyone close enough to take yours.

And she’d been particularly stupid—of all the people at the Academy she’d let herself fall for not only a noble, but for Hubert, who loved nothing and no one but her Majesty, Lady Edelgard. Who was perhaps even more rigid in his adherence to his noble duty than Ferdinand, but had the good sense to mostly shut up about it.

He was kind to her and she was useful.

Because she was useful. And that’s all they’d ever be. All she’d ever be.

Useful.

She didn’t bother wiping the fresh wave of tears, she knew they’d only just be replaced.

She knew Yuri loved her, beyond her use, had loved her before he’d known, when it was only a burden to him. But beyond that—she’d been enveloped into the Ashen Wolves because of Yuri, rather than anything she had to offer. Balthus looked out for her because Yuri’s asked, Hapi would share a meal with her if they were both around, and Constance—Cecily knew Constance had a good heart buried beneath all that pompousness and inbreeding, but she still hadn’t gotten over the time she’d tried to bully her into being a test subject for one of her experiments and she’d had one of the worst panic attacks of her life.

And yet she couldn’t stop thinking about the way Hubert had smiled at her, how it had felt to have his hand on her waist, to hear him laugh, really laugh. The way he’d look at her when they studied together in the library with the same softened brow, how he’d help her even though it served no benefit to him.

Or maybe it did and she was just dense.

She scrubbed at her face until it felt like she’d wiped off the last of the makeup—she’d been stupid to ask Yuri to do it for her. She wouldn’t have, if she’d known just how much nicer some people would have been just because they couldn’t see her scars.

If she’d known she’d have gotten a tiny taste of what her life might have been like if she’d been pretty.

Surely, she’d have been insufferable, not a door unopened to her.

It would have been nice.

#hubert von vestra #hubert von vestra x oc #yuri leclerc #fire emblem three houses x reader #slow burn #friends to enemies to lovers

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fe-fictions · 10 months

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Okay but now we need to see a story of Dimitri and his boys all fretting over the newest addition to the family 😂 i love picturing them all protective over this tiny baby girl who sticks by her mama most of the time

(I am always a supporter of the Fodlan husbands having big families... first Sylvain and now Dima with his little trio!!! ; A ; )

When his firstborn son was brought into the world, he had initially fretted over hurting the baby by accident. Upon holding him the first time when you insisted he try it…he realized all those fears were for nothing.

The first prince was a strong boy, robust even as a newborn baby. His fears were quickly assuaged.

His second son, born a few years alter, was far softer and quieter than his brother, but was still a healthy and happy baby. Dimitri held even less concern over his secondborn, because he had the experience of being a father and knowing how to handle and raise a son, now.

But then came the third baby. A surprise pregnancy, and one that seemed to be different from your first two. It was a harder pregnancy, and an even more difficult birth. The reason for this became clear in an instant; you had given birth to the first Blaiddyd princess in generations

Dimitri didn’t know what the hells he was supposed to do with this information.

He’d been stationed outside the delivery room, tending to his two young sons while waiting anxiously for news about his wife and third child.

He never anticipated Mercedes telling him that you gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

And when he was allowed into the room to see you and the baby?

He was just utterly flummozxed.

“B-Byleth…” he stuttered despite himself, nearly stumbling on his way to see you.

You cradled a bundle to your chest; a familiar sight he’d seen twice before.

But this time, there was an even warmer and softer smile on your lips. This time, you were cooing over a little girl.

The Princess of Fodlan.

The fact that those words had even crossed through his mind had made his heart erupt into thundering palpitations.

“Come, Dima…come meet your daughter.”

“I-I…” He trailed off when he finally made it to your side, drawing up a chair to the bedside so that he could sit beside you. “I cvan’t believe it. IMercedes…she said it was a girl. Is it truly…..do we have a daughter?”

‘See for yourself,’ You smiled at him, dawing the blankets back from the newborn’s round little face. “This is indeed your daughter. And she’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.”

Dimitri was at a loss for words. She was so very tiny- were her brothers that size when they were born? He recalled them being pudgier, and still wailing even after their mother held them.

This one…she was snoozing happily, nuzzled into your chest, and she was the cutest, tiniest creature he’d ever laid his eyes on.

“Oh…oh, Beloved…she is so very beautiful…” He gasped, on instinct his hand extended to brush the baby’ scheek.

But quickly he remembered himself and withdrew, a great fear coming over his face.

“Is she too beautiful to touch, my love?” You joked, but he shook his head, expression quite grave.

“I fear…she is far too small, Byleth. What if I harm her by accident?”

“You sound like you did when our firstborn was introduced to you.”

He nodded, the wariness growing. “T-that is because she is so small! Look at her, Byleth! She’s….she’s so much more petite than her brothers were. I-is she not premature/”

“Mercedes told me she’s just a little bit smaller. But both the boys were closed to this size when they were born. Maybe they were a little bit bigger, but-”

“There! You see? She’s far more delicate than them- we must set up her room and update the nursery to be more safe than we ever prepared it previously. We cannot risk her falling to harm with such a tiny frame!”

“Dima, darling, she’s a newborn. She’s going to be fragile no matter what. There’s no reason to treat her any different than the boys; well, aside from her personality. Hopefully she’ll be an easy baby since the delivery was…difficult.”

“Yes…yes, of course.” He nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. He brought his arm around your shoulders, drawing you to his chest and pressing a kiss to your temple. “I-I was so stunned by the revelation that we have a daughter, I forgot to extend my deepest congratulations to you. You’ve done well, once again. And I am eternally grateful that you came through another delivery.”

“Heh, thank you.” You giggled softly, always amused by his sincerity. He spoke as if you’d completed a mission you could’ve trained for, rather than suffering through a long and hard birth.

“I am so proud of you. Thank you for giving us another beautiful child…and a daughter, no less.” He beamed at you, stroking your hair tenderly. “You never fail to surprise me, even after all these years.”

“Maybe next time I’ll switch it up with twins.”

“Beloved, please,” He laughed nervously, “I do not believe that’s something either of us have control over…nor is it something we should be worrying about when we have a newborn to take care of.”

“Fair enough.” You settled back into the pillows, offering the girl for him to hold. “Do you want to greet your daughter properly?”

“If…if you think it’s all right.” He replied carefully, going rigid when the little bundle was passed into his hands.

She was so tiny, she didn’t even fit in space from the crook of his arm to his wrist.

And his heart was filled with love, overwhelmed with the thought that this delicate, beautiful little girl was his daughter. Her tiny breaths were so sweet,cradled close to her father’s chest.

Dimitri was fighting the desire to cry right there- now was no time to cry. Certainly not while he had two young princes waiting to see their mother.

“Should I fetch the boys? I know they were waiting to see their mother. But if you’d rather enjoy the peace and quiet a little while longer, we don’t have to.”

“No, I think that’s a great idea. I’m sure they’ll be just as surprised to meet their new sister.”

Dimitri nodded, carefully returning the newborn to your arms.

He wasted no tie getting to the doors, informing the nursemaids that the young princes could join them. They needed to meet their new little sibling, after all.

The pair scampered in, eyes sparkling with excitement. Dimitri watched after them when they hurried past, all but racing to their mother’s bedside.

“Mama! You did it!”

“Can we see him? Can I hold him?”

“Certainly, “You chuckled, shifting so that the boys could see the bundle in your ahnds. “MikhaelMikhail, Eisner…meet your new baby sister.”

The boys gasped, eyes wide in shock when they realized that pudgy, pink little thing you were holding wasn’t a new brother at all- but it was their sister.

“Mama…Mama!!!”

“Yes, Eisner?”

Your youngest son gulped, jabbing a finger at his sister’s round face. “She’s a girl!!!”

Dimitri and you both laughed.

“Yes, she is, my love.” You tousled his hair, “Isn’t she cute?”

“She’s real pink,” Mikhail observed, “Is she supposed to be that pink?”

“You and your little brother looked the very same when you were born, you know. Perhaps even rosier.” Dimitri replied, beaming at his adorable sons who were currently obsessing over their sister.

“Were we that tiny, too?” Eisner piped up again, putting a testing hand on the blankets she snoozed in.

“She’s actually a little bit smaller than you two were. She’s the littlest of the three of you, from what I recall.”

“Which means you’ll need to take special care of your sister to make sure she grows up big and strong, like you two.”

“How do we do that, Papa?” Mikhail asked, wriggling his way onto the bed so he could also put a curious hand on the little girl.

“Well, for starters, you can help your mother by holding the baby when she needs to rest. You can play with her, and read to her…and when she’s ready for a bottle, you can also make sure she gets fed.”

“Ooh- if we can play with her, does that mean we get to fight with her too? If we start training her now, she’ll be super strong when she’s our age, right?”

“I’m afraid she won’t be able to pick up a blade for a while, son, let alone a toy dagger. The most she’ll be able to hold is your finger, perhaps.” Dimitri mused, motioning for Mikhail to give it a try.

Carefully, your eldest reached forward, finding the teeny tiny hand that wasn’t bundled away, and pressed his fingers into her palm. Almost instantly hers wrapped around them, eliciting an excited gasp from her big brother.

“Oh!! She did! She’s holding my hand, Papa!!”

“Good job.” You said with a smile that suggested all the happiness in the world was filling your heart right then and there.

After a little more time passed, the visit had to come to an end. The queen and princess did need their rest, and you were in need of a change of dress while the bedsheets and blankets were cleaned and refreshed.

Dimitri took his sons out for a delightful dinner and their favorite desserts, as a treat for being such sweet big brothers.

Of course, in the brief time they were apart from you, they formed a pact, vowing to protect the little princess from any and all harm.

And said pact was extremely effective, until her Crest of Blaiddyd activated and her strength rivaled that of her adult father…at the age of five.

Needless to say, the addition of your little girl was a welcome and ever-exciting surprise for your growing family.

#dimitri #byleth #fe 16 #fe3h #fe three houses #fire emblem three houses #dimileth #dimitri x byleth #fe fictions #fe-fictions #f!byleth #fem!byleth #f!mu #family fluff #newborn fluff #big families are so cute #such a handful but so many adorable lil babies ;;;;

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fireemblems24 · 10 months

Text

Scarlet Blaze Ch 9

Going to admit up front that I'm incredibly unmotivated to play this, but here we go.

STORY

Ok, so calling it now. Edelgard realizes she's a dumbass for thinking her single-supply line 10/10 army strategies couldn't smash all of Fodlan under her fist at the same time. So she's going back to look at options.

Given what the story's said so far, write it down - Edelgard will call a temp truce with Claude to focus on the Kingdom. Then she'll later plan on fighting the Alliance or doing exactly what she accuses Rhea of doing and ruling the Alliance with her soft-power.

Lysithea showing up? Does she if you don't recruit her? She doesn't really add anything to the scene.

Hubert thinks TWSITD wants to recruit Shez. He's getting interrogated by his own allies. Yikes. Deserved. That's what you get for fighting for the Imperialist land-hungry country.

Oh, no side-battles this time, like in GW in ch 8. Good. Means it'll go fast.

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

I keep remembering that Ingrid's dead in this storyline. If Sylvain or Felix are recruitable after this, that's straight-up character assassination.

Monica adds nothing of value. Her personality is literally just "Edelgard."

"Whatever part of me that was a knight is dead." - Ashe 😭 It's like CF!Felix all over again. He's just miserable. At least someone here gives a fuck about Ingrid.

Lysithea not trusting the Empire saga continues.

Least self-aware Imperial soldier "Why, what would happen if instead the Empire itself were suddenly invaded?"

Glad to see Mercedes expressing regrets.

Ok. Who wrote this? "I believe the Church of Serios ought to be protecting the people of Adrestia even now." 🤣

SHEZ & MONICA B SUPPORT

I'm sure this will be a deep, nuanced conversation. 👌

Monica is jealous of Shez because Edelgard is impressed with him. And is in denial.

She claims her relationship with Edelgard is deeper and Shez is just her servant.

Monica literally counts how many times Edelgard says people's names.

Much deep. Such character.

EDELGARD & BALTHUS B SUPPORT

Their final support.

Hubert told Edelgard Balthus was a womanizer. Hubert is really over the top in this game, lamo.

Edelgard isn't Balthus' type. Taste.

"I'm not compassionate - merely hopelessly committed to my ideals." - Some self-awareness this time. Nice.

"I've set out to unite all of Fodlan. I've started a war over it." - Edelgard.

I've seen people say the fandom say we shouldn't assume Hubert's thoughts are Edelgard, fair. But, like, it's right there. Out of her own mouth. Again.

She promises to protect anyone who serves her and her ideals. Tell that to Houses!Bernedetta or Houses!Monica.

In the end she invites him to a war council.

MANUELA & JERITZA B SUPPORT

Their final support.

Manuela notices that Jeritza is getting along better with the soldiers. He compliments her for being perceptive.

Manuela tells him that all he's missing is a smile. Not going to lie, I thought she was going to say "wife" instead.

She's really pulling a "you should smile." She and Claude need to get put in a corner for that. Albeit, Manuela is acting as his teacher, Claude's just being a sexist ass.

Jertiza smiles and seems to like Manuela, but not the way she wants.

HUBERT, PETRA, & JERITZA PARALOGUE

I see Lorenz is in two paralogues available here, so I guess characters sometimes are in more than one?

Anyways, plan is to use Hubert and/or Petra while Jeritza gets carried around.

I think I pissed Hubert off and made Jeritza happy.

They debate how tough the group is. Game is being somewhat self-aware by having people be like "move on already."

Soooo . . . this paralogue is about stopping the Church of Serios from assassinating Count Varley. Fuck that.

So in this paralogue we're rescuing an abusive father who's using faith as propaganda from the people trying to get rid of corrupt leaders in the location of the home we chased them out of on threat of murder if they return. Great.

Man, we had to fight Shamir and Catherine duo :(

Catherine asked if we were really willing to die for Varley. You know it's bad when Catherine is the smartest one in the room.

SHEZ & JERITZA B SUPPORT

Jeritza is looking for someone. He saw them and he ran away.

Shez described Jeritza as having a "murdery aura," accurate.

He says he'll never "capture her." Man, Shez, not sure it's a good idea to help him here.

He denies getting help.

LORENZ, FERDINAND, & CONSTANCE PARALOGUE

They're all having tea together and discussing it and trying to "out noble" each other and kissing each other's ass.

Constance feels inferior to their nobility. It's her sun thing, right?

Constance asks them which one is the most noble. Ferdinand says it's not noble to rank things like that. Constance calls them cowards essentially.

Now they're having a competition and asks Shez to judge. Shez suggests a training battle.

I hope Ferdinand gets a second paralogue that's most interesting than this. The dialogue wasn't even that funny outside the the first part.

It was an extremely mid plot, but fun to play with the time limit on killing all the generals.

If Ferdinand was MVP, does that mean he won?

Shez won. Is that automatic then? I jumped back and forth between Shez and Ferdinand the whole time.

Now they're going to have a tea party.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

Monica is soooo boring.

People are trying to assassinate Edelgard. Hubert suspects Shez.

Shez, Monica, and Hubert rescue Edelgard from Shamir in a cut scene. Hubert also blasted at Shamir and Monica was in the way of his magic. Monica gets mad. No one told her what happened in Houses lamo.

Edelgard just stands there the whole time during the cut scene lol.

Oh, Edelgard's a green unit this time. Weird. Like it made sense for Dimitri but the moment we busted him out, he was playable. Edelgard isn't under threat of Cornelia or anything. Oh well, she's not one of my best units.

Oh, fuck, I can't use Hubert either. That actually does sting.

It's ok. I still have Ferdinand and Shez, Manuela is good too.

Persuade Shamir is an option. Makes sense I guess.

I have to protect Edelgard from getting routed. But what if I just . . . don't? Kinda weird how she's just . . . standing there. Like there's no in-game reason for why she's not fighting and just sitting around letting everyone else save her.

Edelgard left the throne room for like a minute and needed to get warp rescued back lamo.

OMG, Shamir only defects to save Catherine's life. 😭😭😭😭😭 Girlfriends.

I feel so much like the villain right now. After that stuff with Catherine and Shamir.

Ferdinand's father escaped. Hubert's taking it out on Ferdinand.

I think Hubert will use this escape as an excuse to kill Aegir.

They used a secret passage. Rhea probably helped build it lol.

Hubert is apologizing for suspecting Shez.

Wow, Shez only got promoted so Hubert could investigate him. So Edelgard only promoted a commoner because she suspected him of being a spy.

Yikes, poor Shez. Claude leaves him with no work (and not much pay) for years and Edelgard suspect Shez is with the enemy nearly the entire game.

I get to make Shez pissed off though. He's actually calling them out for being two-faced too.

"The great war Edelgard instigated" - narration. Claude, Dimitri - neither of you started this.

Part 1 Fin. Like with GW. I suspect AG will get that after Ch 9 too and GW is just one chapter ahead time-wise than the others right now.

xxxx

#fire emblem #fire emblem three hopes #scarlet blaze #three hopes #scarlet blaze spoilers

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