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mimzalot · 1 year

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im a pacifist, but... (Claude von Riegan FE3H)

copied over from twitter - written circa 3H, prior to starting 3Hopes

kinda love that Claude is like "I'm as close as you get to a pacifist route, I like to avoid bloodshed" and his right hand man can kill you six ways from Sunday and left hand lady has a giant axe and can KO u in one hit and his named retainer is a war hero and –

not to get into it but imho this is actually a pretty accurate way of how “pacifism” tends to operate. Claude is the ideological focus but the pragmatic approach demands violence. and there's something to look into re: how Hilda, Lorenz, Judith and Nader carry violence in his stead

I think people get into this when they assess Claude bouncing his ideology off Edelgard's violence because that's essentially it - it doesn't mean Claude facilitates this violence, but of course a pacifist angle doesn't exist without something to oppose. so they work in tandem.

Claude deals in violence too, though I think he manages to avoid too much of it - but the necessary violence doesn't go away, and I'm interested in how it then becomes the responsibility of those in his immediate vicinity. some would call that cowardice. and they do!

on the flipside they could call it a sort of moral integrity that's difficult and must be protected. Claude distancing himself from the violence keeps Claude afloat, and they need Claude to keep his clear leadership. so protecting his integrity by violence is... good, then?

in any case I just love the dynamic of compassionate scheming diplomatic leader sitting at the centre of like five murder machines all willing to throw their lives on the line to protect his vision of peace whew yeah that's the good shit

and the best bit is that Claude is under no illusions, so if you consider that Claude always offers an out, and never wants bloodshed, and sees the inherent value of all people, then you gotta wonder whether he's withering away every time someone dies for his cause. aha! eek!

tis a moral conundrum, no?! he needs to empower people to fight for him even if he's morally opposed to the subsequent fighting. Claude doesn't deal in cognitive dissonance so you can rest assured that the violence he inspires is just as internalised as the violence he commits.

how do you sleep at night when you believe whole-heartedly that violence isn't the answer but have to choose that answer anyway? all the lords say "it's necessary" but the other two seem more inclined to say "and it's right" (whether they believe it fully or not) - Claude doesn't

also interesting to me that Lorenz prefers to avoid bloodshed and Hilda just hasn't really thought about it, because I think both of them need that guidance from Claude to avoid falling into that "necessary righteous violence" angle that war-faring Fodlan has BUT IN DOING SO…

they become frightfully powerful allies for Claude that are capable of all the violence, and also, all the sacrifice. so proximity to Claude's pacifist outlook bolsters your willingness to die for Claude, if you wanna look at it that way. damn LMAO that's rough buddy

Claude inspires you to live! and in doing so inspires you to! uh! die. for him, this time. whew. lucky Claude spent most of his upbringing fortifying himself mentally otherwise this spiritual predicament might just kill a guy's spirit haha hee hoo

and I haven't even started on Byleth, where Claude dumps the task of violence AND leadership. he doesn't feel good about it though. and the cool thing there is that Byleth is arguably not into the idea of needless death either, and is OP enough to handle it... which Claude knows.

I guess this is all surmised by the "yet you participate in society! curious!" comic where just because Claude doesn't like a thing doesn't mean he won't utilise every aspect of that thing because that's the resourceful, productive thing to do when faced with unbelievable odds.

addition: this is coming up a lot in the early chapters of Golden Wildfire where Claude is forced to not only respond with violence but facilitate violence among the unwilling Alliance as retaliation to impending war, which is a little moral paradox that really shows how difficult it is to match up ideals and practice.

similarly, I’m keen to get into the idea that an anti-war outlook is also just tactically sound from where Claude stands in the world, regardless of how he might feel about it. of course an Empire will see war as their tactically sound option, whereas an Alliance cant afford that sort of behaviour. it’s an interesting and ongoing exploration of the strength of moral imperative vs. tactics, and where they intersect, falter, thrive, etc.

really chuffed about this and figure I’ll have more to say about it when we reach the end - but it’s early days! Shez is a fascinating addition to this as the ‘merc that needs violence to thrive’ and I’m primed and ready for more intrigue to come.

#fire emblem three houses #claude von riegan #yet again i am forcing myself not to edit my past threads #mimzameta #i realise i shoulda called this a mimzarchive #fe3h #mimzamine

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tally-kiza · 5 years

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Undyne Headcanons

UNDERTALE

- After Undyne’s parents died when she was young, she became determined to get justice for al monsters who had to die without seeing the surface. She went to Asgore to fight him so she could get into the Royal Guard, but instead Asgore trained her. It wasn’t long before she felt like a daughter to him. It warmed his broken heart. Many years passed before he finally let Undyne into the Guard. As the king expected, she quickly climbed up the ranks into captain.

- Undyne and Papyrus’s friendship is full of sarcasm and weird jokes (like that time in canon where they joked about spider-ducks); a typical offbeat humor. They also get into weird competitions with each other, like who can drink 8 glasses of milk fastest, and who can leave the biggest splatter by smashing tomatoes. Watching their chaos is... an experience.

- Undyne is her students' favorite teacher. Most consider her gym class awesome. Obstacle courses, extreme dodgeball, bench pressing the students. The kiddos, humans and monsters alike, have a blast. (Even thought she's not so good at the whole grading thing.)

- Even on the surface, where Undyne has proper recipes, she's still a terrible cook. At least her house isn't always on fire, though. Unfortunately, Alphys is also a terrible cook. She can only manage noodles and take-out. After a few months of this awful diet, they both agreed to take cooking lessons. It went swimmingly!! ...Yeah, they got kicked out after 3 classes. Undyne only barely managed to reign in her chaotic nature enough to learn how to make a salad and boil water with burning her house down.

- Owns a bunch of giant swords on the surface --- Swears like a sailor --- Hated nerdy stuff as a kid, but now is super supportive about it --- Blushes and gets a dreamy look on her face every time Alphys is mentioned; Even when they’ve been married for 20 years lol

UNDERSWAP

- She’s timid when Chara first meets them, but by the end of their journey, her passionate side really shines through. It just takes a bit for her to come out of her shell. But once she’s herself, it’s very clear how passionate and exuberant Undyne can be! Mostly about science, anime, and Alphys lol.

- Met Alphys at the dump. Undyne was looking for spare parts for her experiments when she spotted Alphys. The dino was staring at the waterfalls, contemplating her decision to be captain of the guard. Alphys never really wanted to hurt humans but she did want to free everyone, so it was a difficult decision for her. Noticing the other’s sadness, Undyne nervously introduced herself to snap Alph out of her reverie. They quickly became fast friends (and fell in love huehuehue)

- Experiments tend to go a little haywire when she’s really excited (and by haywire, i mean... explosion-inducing.) There are permanent burn marks on the walls of her lab. She doesn’t bother to clean them off anymore, not when they appear so often.

- Even more affected by the amalgamates than UT Alphys. Undyne truly thought she had saved everyone; she was so proud! But when she saw what the aftermath, she was devastated. The scientist never thought about her reputation, only how horribly she ruined them, how much pain she caused for them and their families. It was unbearable, knowing she was causing so much suffering. So Undyne hid them, not because she was worried of how people would think of her, but to prevent their families from seeing how devastated their loved ones had become. Chara reminded her, though, that she was just causing more suffering by making those families never know what had occurred.

- Undyne has been friends with Papyrus since they were kids. Shortly before he graduated, she got him an apprenticeship with the royal scientist. And even when he quit, they stayed friends, and often cook up explode-y experiments together. Both of them are still horrible cooks. ‘Dyne also has him join her to watch anime together. Pap isn’t as invested as she is, but he likes it well enough.

- Meme illiterate --- Loves side scroller games --- Can’t cook to save her life --- Plays piano for Chara when they first meet --- Met Napstablook at their cousin’s human fan club meeting. NTT felt guilty when they started distancing themself from her after they got famous, but the more time went on, the more awkward it would be if they returned, so they just.. never did... sorry...

UNDERFELL

- Papyrus is Undyne’s second-in-command and best friend. Neither of them will ever admit it, but they wouldn’t trade each other’s friendship for the world. And more so, they’re just chaotic goofballs a lot of the time. Normally Pap can calm Undyne’s hectic nature, but once she convinces him to join her mischievous plans, they are an unstoppable force of nature.

- Oddly enough, for being so chaotic and destructive, Undyne avoids fighting people as much as possible. She’ll always choose verbally de-escalating a confrontation over physically fighting any day of the week. Not because she’s a weak fighter, (no, if anything Undyne’s the strongest opponent you could ever face, second to Sans) but because she wants to minimize the bloodshed. The captain hates seeing her race at each other’s throats; it’s heartbreaking. So when it comes to monsters, she will always choose the most peaceful option until she has no other choice.

- When it comes to humans, though... ohohoho Undyne is merciless. She doesn’t even give the human the chance to run away. Frisk can’t beat her, all they can do is survive as long as possible. That is, until Pap shows up and distracts undyne while Frisk escapes. (Pap loves protecting helpless creatures, and Frisk was just too cute of a kid to let Undyne slaughter them). From there it proceeded like in canon UT: the human and Pap ran away to Hotland until Undyne passed out from the heat. Frisk stopped and gave her some water before the fish lady was revived, glared at them, and stomped back home.

- From there on, Frisk befriends her the same way as UT, except Papyrus doesn’t insist on hanging out with Undyne. In fact, he urges the human not to, but Frisk decides to go back and talk with her anyway. Pap tags along only to protect frisk! Definitely not to make up with Undyne. The hang out progressed as normal (just with ‘Dyne being a little more destructive and ranting about Paps’ betrayal for a bit), and she and Pap call up Frisk often with their usual snarky banter.

- Probably sets her house on fire on purpose. Why wait for the fire to come to her, when she can get one leg up on the fire!! Oh no... now she’s literally trying to fistfight her burning house. Can someone get a fire extinguisher!? Additionally, everything she cooks ends up on fire. Boils water? Fire. Makes a salad? Fire. Looks at a box of cereal? Fire. She’s like a Sim.

- Always gives the guard dogs pets --- Swears all the time and super crass. She doesn’t even censor herself around Frisk --- Wears her hair in a bun to prevent enemies from grabbing it during battle --- Has a very obvious crush on Alphys. Always gets shy and blushy when she talks about her. Pap teases her about it constantly

SWAPFELL

- Met Papyrus when he applied for an apprenticeship with the other Royal Scientist. The two of them quickly became fast friends: science-y, anime-loving nerds. But when Undyne started the DT experiments, Pap left. He could not in good faith sit back and watch her play god with people’s souls. They had a huge argument before he stormed out and they haven’t talked since.

- Over the course of Chara’s journey, as they have phone calls with Papyrus, and eventually Undyne, the two of them slowly begin talking things out. And by the end of the true pacifist route Pap and ‘Dyne have reconciliated and are friends again. It’s truly heartwarming!

- Rumors claim that Undyne is some kind of horrible mad scientist. Screams and shrieks are often heard emanating from the lab, surely awful and painful experiments are going on. But nobody dares go near the lab to investigate, fearing their lives... but NOPE! it’s just Undyne’s shocked wails at dramatic plot twists in her animes, and the sadness of particularly brutal scenes. Chara was terrified they met her, believing all those rumors. imagine their relief when they found out she’s just a nerd.

- Has the same motivations as US Undyne when it comes to the amalgamates, but SF ‘Dyne also hid them to try and fix them. Do more research, more experiments, anything to undo what happened! But none of it worked, so she just gave up...

- She is very curt when you first meet her, but it’s not long before that stony exterior melts away to reveal Undyne’s true form: a chaotic and excitable nerd with access to highly dangerous chemicals and explosives! ‘Dyne’s not crazy, she’s just really passionate and reckless about the things she loves.

- Loves how strong Alphys is. It’s the coolest! (But they both think they’re each the protector in their relationship lol) --- Created NTT to kill humans, but they just ignored her after she made their body, and left to pursue music instead. How rude! --- Adores vocaloid songs! Her favorite is “Paradichlorobenzene.” She even learned to play it on her piano! --- Addicted to coffee. She is VERY hyper at times. --- Tends to prefer darker animes but she secretly loves Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. No one can find out. Or else.

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togxther-we-ridx-blog · 6 years

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Ephraim’s Meta

In the sea of the blue haired lords of fire emblem, Ephraim is one that definitely took my interest the moment I decided to play his route for myself. There were some things in there that made me do a double take, even, kind of shocking me because I used to see him as simply a parallel to his sister or the other pacifist lords of the series.

This isn’t to say Ephraim is intended to become a bad man, but in the game alone, there’s some very blunt and obvious signs that he’s not your typical do-gooder hero. He has huge flaws in his personality and a sketchy private life, which is honestly what makes him SUCH a well written and interesting character (and I can’t believe most of it goes unnoticed).

He does not want to be a King

This isn’t actually a bad thing, I think this is his best trait even when it’s common among lords to be reluctant.

He says quite often he feels Eirika would be a better ruler than he is, and that he would rather be a mercenary. Similar to Ike, he prefers being on the move and fighting for peace without a noble title, feeling like he could do a lot more for the people’s well-being this way, as well as meeting the needs of his own wanderlust. He does a damn good job of proving he’s capable of leading such a pact when he’s first introduced, storming a castle nearly BY HIMSELF save three other men, then to escape Valter’s ambush later.

Ephraim is a very powerful man, and the idea of wasting his skills by sitting on a throne and running a government is really unsettling.

Still, he has a strong sense of duty to his throne, and nothing will likely actually get him to give it up in my writings of him EXCEPT:

-if he were to go insane

-fall in love with someone he’s not allowed to be with (👀👀👀👀👀👀👀)

He has an intoxicating bloodlust

“Give me more— MORE!”

Ephraim are you high...?

This is more or less my own headcanons, as he says a lot in heroes that he can’t let his power control him and quotes “I might not look it, but I really do hope for peace. I've always got my lance handy, but there's nothing more precious to me than a kingdom at ease.”

But because Victory is an asshole, I’m casually looking over it as something he’d say as a youth that he grows out of later ;y

I think Ephraim’s nature as a skilled tactician and fighter makes it easy for him to get addicted to his own success (and possibly why he adopted a lance as opposed to the swords he and his sister used to use, as well as other lords in the series, as that weapon has the advantage and can obliterate his enemies). He has no chill, so to speak.

No amount of battle can completely sate him, but he knows damn well he’s not going to kill senselessly just to make himself feel accomplished. At least not where he is now...

He has a harem

This recruiting conversation is what REALLY got me thinking. Ephraim has a lot of rumors spread about him, and if Amelia is recruited by Ephraim himself, he dismisses it and leaves as soon as she brings it up. Of course, it’s not enough to warrant the player themselves to assume Ephraim keeps women as his personal palace slaves, but the fact that Franz HESITATES and says “...I think...” is too bold to simply dismiss.

That’s not to say that harems in medieval Europe were uncommon, or even considered bad. Ephraim also likely treats them well, and they certainly have a lot of comforts and wealth, but judging by the reactions of his friend and Amelia, they’re living at a time where it’s not exactly something sweet.

However, Ephraim likely has little to do with them outside his own comfort and pleasure when he’s at home as well as trophies from wartimes. As I’ve stated before, his highest pride is his success and skill in fighting. That being said, women and the idea of making one of them his wife comes after his training and wanderlust.

If he does begin to spiral into insanity and lets himself get away with cruel and inhunane acts, he’d take it out first on his slaves.

I’d also like to add, he doesn’t like women as much in general. Not only because they pale in comparison to his own sister in his eyes, but he also has a preference to men. But what kind of crown prince is allowed to take a man as his partner? He’s also dense enough not to realize it at this time, but he likes Lyon so much that it’s a bit more than a simple friendship don’t you think 👀 If you’re imagining shit like sharing a bath with him, that’s not “BFFS”, Ephraim.

He is in love with Eirika

Yes, it’s backwards, very wrong, and he knows that. I’m not saying much on the subject here because it’s been beaten to death by a lot of people already (and this is Fire Emblem :v), but this Ephraim does fancy his sister. I’m not shy of roleplaying dark themes, and if that makes you really uncomfortable, I don’t mind the follower count. However, it won’t be mentioned often (save for potential dark threads, because oh my god), as it’s been begrudgingly accepted and hidden away in his mind. It’s very likely unrequited.

He is very likely to inherit Dussel’s Cursed Lance

I’m taking a lot from the metas @bloodthirstymoonstone has written, as 1) they match some of my own and they’re good and well thought out headcanons holy CHRIST and 2) this is the Valter that Ephriam inherited the lance from. You can read them here (x) and here (x)

For those who hadn’t seen it yet, at some point in time, Ephraim kills Valter with the general’s own lance. Knowing the nature of Valter’s Cursed Lance, it’s a parasite takes the bad habits and personality of its host and uses it to feed for its own persona gain. This means the perfect host has to be prone to enjoying bloodshed, hence why when Cormag wields the lance in his and Dussel’s support, he doesn’t become effected by the curse simply by touching it. “A weapon is only as good or evil as the man who wields it”.

(I also headcanon that Ephraim hears the lance “speaking” to him in Valter’s voice. Sucks for him because he hates the guy so much, and this fact alone will surely drive him further up a wall)

This got me to think about and pick out the kinds of traits that would strengthen when the lance is in Ephraim’s hands. His own bloodlust has the potential to turn him into a harsh dictator that hungers for war on its own, whether he touches the lance or not. He would most DEFINITELY be a perfect candidate for the parasitic demon hiding within that lance.

#this bitch long YEET #{bloodlust will change that hero; ephraim}#meta post #long post #tw; incest mention #tw; slave mention #the tags do not make this look any lighter oops

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