What are your thoughts on a (byleth) lone wolf route, where the routes we've seen thus far can get a full picture at the start of where the goddess dewells, where all of sothis power is accessable so a true picture can be made without a war, where the verdent wind can trust more, where the flower and the moon can realize that they're both victims of a past from both sides has turned cancerous, where the silver snow storm is stopped before it makes land fall and ITS CORE removed before all freeze to it's brutal winter, where our main is able to protect all he or she has left to care for and can now single handedly put the dagger to the collective jugulars of those who deserve it so no one can slink away from they're crimes, and when all is said and done wether it ends in the death of the Ashen demon or a simple slumber till the day of the millennium festival both sides of time can take solace that they did they're damnedest to protect all they've come to love and played they're part as the mid point of the story.

@sean tobin umm it 4 route not 5 it no lone wolf route blc conclusion and you stll say it

I would like to add somethings you missed about Rhea in the holy tomb. Which is the fact that edelgard came there to steal crest Stones which we learn are the hearts of her people. Might have played a huge part in her actions and rage at edelgard after that point.

@@bekimpedersenali2620 yes but u must remember the assault doesn't commence till after byleth sits on the throne in my theory of what might happen the second he or she does this they go in to physical and mental shock during the info transfer emotionally forcing Rhea, the lords, and lady to they're side, after a disturbing sequence of suffering....oh boy.

@Bekim Pedersen Ali I didn't miss that, I intentionally omitted it. However, in reflection, I probably should’ve been more explicit. I didn't think that it adds much to my points or changes them, and I already mentioned that the relics were made from the bodies of the children of the goddess, so I assumed the connection would be made. But yeah, I should’ve just snuck in a sentence to mention it.

Edelgarld isn't in need of a light either, she also just needs someone who she can trust to break the stalemate situation, because if byleth didn't come she would have still won the war with the help of cornelia and house Gloucester in the alliance, this is made proof in the amount of chapters you have to beat.

@@kijih6298 Yes she can win, but the " with the help of Cornelia" caveat to that statement is the big problem there. Yes if Byleth didn't exist she likely would have been able to win the war, but in order to do so she would have had to sell her soul completely to the devil (TWSITD) and compromise her morals for the sake of victory. Once you start down that slippery slope, it's difficult to pull yourself back. We see this in the Azure moon route where Edelgard becomes so committed to attaining absolute victory, that she's barely even tries to reach an understanding with Dimitri to avoid greater bloodshed. She becomes convinced of the fact that only she knows what is right for Fodlan and is prepared to do anything to win, including using her own people as meat shields and trap bait if need be. She's even willing to quite literally surrender her own humanity in order to increase the odds of her success. Edelgard and Dimitri are both good people who find themselves surrounded by darkness in different forms. They both need Byleth to act as a guiding light of sorts to lead them out of that darkness and into the brighter future that they hope for.

I feel like in that cutscene Claude is in a way serving as Byleth's light which is why they have to walk out to meet Claude in the light. Claude focuses mostly in comforting Byleth, offering food and companionship first and foremost and throughout the story serves more in a guiding or advisor role letting Byleth be the leader/figurehead. This is all the more clear in the final battle where Claude sets up Byleth for victory even at risk of his own well being.

@@kijih6298 nope,edelgard wont win that war,she cant do it "alone",many ppl dont know that a lot of king/leader who win the war and become a great leader "ALWAYS" have a good advisor,guide,or maybe in this game just someone or "friend" with them,which is in this game that role is you,byleth the player

@@fauzanadrian1593 Well, technically, if Byleth doesn't join any faction, Edelgard probably would have won eventually, but at that point she probably would've compromised so many of her moral stances that I'd see it more as TWSITD's victory and not Edelgard's.

I believe that's the point with the story and it would appear to have achieved that well.

Hmmmm debateable

@@hecktor2892 Hmmmm Well one of the points of the game is that Claude is the goodest boy, so debate all you want but the truth stares ya in the face.

@@yousquiddingme How so? By being lazy and napping too much? Look at him at the core of his person. He's a tremendous human being.

Eass Chung I like Claude, but not everyone would like him

Fire puppies accurate

@@dowbailey6033 have the 69th like, you deserve it

lisanna wilfhelm I unliked and liked again, and therefore I am now the 69th like >:)

lisanna wilfhelm thank you

@farrens_ak or would grow tfs reference fit...

Gerald of Riveria I agree! The fact that people have discussions and debates on who is right and who is wrong is a great testament to the game’s writing!

Yes, and in the Blue Lions Route, the only moment where Edelgard remember of her childhood is when Dimitri gave her the dagger near the end of the story. She said that she has totally forgot about it, arguing by the fact that she isn't anymore the little girl she was at the time. (sorry if my English is weird)

She also says that in Azure Moon when she realizes it was Dimitri and calls Dimitri “my forgotten friend”

Honestly i think a more accurate term is repressed memories In El's godess tower scene she says that her first love was a noble from fargus

@@isauldron4337 often times in real life, when a child experiences something traumatic they repress the memories of that time. So you’re probably right in that regard. It comes into question, however, how she remembers what happened to her? Those memories should have been repressed as well. I would have enjoyed seeing an Edelgard who was more confused about her past, perhaps even trusting of thales and the other slithers. That way, in ss, am, and vw her push into darkness would make more sense. Repressed memories only resurface when the child feels safe, or has someone they could trust. We could see Edelguard remember her trauma and find comfort in Byleth, either in cf, or sometime in part one of the black eagles alone. Idk, just thinking about it

@proxima her father also called her El. She may have just been closer with some of her siblings. Im all for trans Dimitri, though. His appearance as a small child was fairly androgynous

No, I am ferdinand von aegir

No, _I_ am Ferdinand von Aegir

He’s Ferdinand von Aegir.

No, I am Ferdinand Von Aegir!

We are Ferdinand Von Aegir

Considering you think this is one of the best games to come out this year, what do you think is so good about it. I think its one of the worst games ive ever played so im interested to hear what people like about the game.

@@luminousvortex630 deep and nuanced story, lovely cast of characters, complex but easy to grasp gameplay, good artstyle, pretty much infinite replayability, the voice acting is amazing, heart-wrenching but also comedic moments. i don't really know how the game can be one of the worst games you've ever played, unless you are just not into tactical rpgs

@@rosastoken Thanks for your reply and i do agree with some things. I enjoyed the characters a lot, they are the best part of the game, especially their interactions with one another when you get their support up. But i just think the permadeath doesnt work in this game when byleth and the house leader cant die. When you lose characters there isnt any consequence because the game is so easy. When you lose a character it just makes the game more boring because you dont get to see their entertaning support cut scenes. Environments are lazy and boring to look at aswell.

@@michaelyu6250 i honestly didnt watch the video because its an hour long. I'm not interested in watching a hour long video on a game i dont like. I saw the video and thought why do people like this game so much so i went to the comments to find out why people like it so much. What do you think are the best and worst parts of the game?

@xikarra i got smash last year and found out what fire emblem was through that game. Since it was so popular i decided to get limited edition fire emblem three houses ( the artbook that came with it was so terrible i couldnt believe what i was looking at) . The start of the game had red flags for one your dialog choices didnt matter( not all of them but some) i hate it when games do that. But i decided to power through since i spent so much on the game. I have 65 hours on the game, i expressed some of my opinions in a previous comment. Read it if you like or not.

If you want to suffer the least amount of deaths, go Blue Lions. As long as you don't kill any alliance members at gronder, all Golden Deer students(except Marriane cause depression) will live. Silver Snow causes the most deaths, as if we assume it so, all but Dedue, Claude, and your students will die.

@@kamdenmadan3289 that's why I feel like a dick in sliver snow I canonically upheld a system that harmed my students was the cause of multiple wars lead to death innocents and then put people for responsible said system on top with no reforms no matter how much I like the church characters I can't side with them it makes me sick to the core .

@@danishsyed1068 you didn´t read the books in the librory, the chruch is critical towords the nobility and how they see crests, but they aren´t in power to stop them from abusing it. It´s not like you might think that the crest system is forced by the chruch, quite the opposite

@@sakutaro3musik486 While I'm not disagreeing necessarily it is made very clear in VW that Seteth removes books from the library that portray the church differently from how they want to be portrayed.

Golden Deer has the best ending imo, except for that they screwed Dimitri over by having him die like a goddamn dog in the middle of the battlefield chasing after El into exhuastion and getting killed by some shitty no-name knight offscreen. I was legitimately angry when that happened, especially with everyone going, "lol he was nuts! XD" when talking about his pathetic demise...

the ultimate Chad quote

LORENZ HELLMAN GLOUCESTER

I hate Lorenz

@@hecktor2892 You are not a man of culture.

@@hecktor2892 Damn, you've got terrible taste looking at all of your comments.

Out of all the lords, he definitely needs Byleth the most. Edelgard will always continue with her revolutionary ways towards the future with or without Byleth (what mostly changes is her methods) and Claude is Claude (even when he struggles he finds a way cause he's a cunning boi), Dimitri on the other hand will always fall, whether it's from war or madness, unless Byleth's there to help guide him forward.

@@chihiro2471 Yea Rhea's route sounds fucked as hell, but she can't find happiness without Byleth either. Actually, none of 4-route characters can. Claude finds a way to continue without Byleth(still deals with it better than the rest), but he is still tortured and has no one he can trust with no Byleth tagteam. Edelgard breaks just the same as Dimitri does without Byleth, but she remains "on-route"(badum-tish) to her goal because she is more capable of withstanding the mental suffering that Dimitri can't shoulder. They both suffer it's just that Edelgard is convinced she is "in the right" while Dimitri cannot accept, nor live with the weight of his self-prescribed sins. And he self-destructs.. But so does Edelgard. Imo, it's Edelgard and Dimitri who literally need Byleth while Rhea and Claude can survive through their hardships.

⁠@@dddmemaybe “You WILL learn resilience, and suffering will be your teacher!” -the writers, probably

You put it that way. But it's actually quite accurate

What is the Church of Seiros? Plot? The list must be completed lol

Black eagles has equally great characters and BL has equally good themes.

@@Sakaki98 I'd say it's lore

Gerald of Riveria 👌

What I love about Azure Moon is that it is distinctly Dimitri’s story, it’s his rise, fall and redemption.

It is apparently a realistic symptom of trauma like Edelgard endured that huge chunks of her life surrounding the trauma would fade from memory. One of the things I liked a lot about 3H was that all four of the leads Byleth can side with are carrying around a lot of trauma but it manifests in very different ways for all of them. Of course, it's a major knife in the heart to realize that if things are consistent between Azure Moon and Crimson Flower, Edelgard's memories of who Dimitri was to her come back into focus when he calls her "El." Which in Azure Moon happens moments after they realize neither of them can back down and they're going to fight to the death for their principles, and in Crimson Flower happens as Dimitri's bleeding out at her feet.

( I know I’m 2 month late but. ) ( also I agree with your point.) I think the reason why she stays separate from Dimitri as much as possible during the school period is that she know what she has done in a sense and she can’t bare to go near him. She know that by her existence she has indirectly caused the tragedy of Duscur with her being the reason behind her mother causing the tragedy. She indirectly cause Dimitri a lot of pain and suffering. As a result she tries to make amend by fixing Fólden. But by doing so. She volunteers to become flame emperor. The idea that Dimitri believes caused the Tragedy of Duscur. Everything Edelgard does will cause or end up cause Dimitri a lot of pain and suffering. And she hates that. Because Dimitri see her as his last family member. While Edelgard just can’t due to what has happened.

In the DLC you get a conversation where Dimitri asks Edelgard if she always had that hair color, and she says "that is a weird question, but no, it wasn't always this color." It's an interesting touch, and I wonder what would've happened if Dimitri had revealed early in their time at Garreg Mach that he was her childhood friend. Would Edelgard have tried to get him to her side like she did with Byleth?

Gry Ranfelt No. Dimitri’s beliefs don’t line up with Edelgard’s at all. That was the point of the conversation outside Enbarr in AM.

@@gryranfelt5473 Probably she would have seek that belonging she desired in Byleth with him also. After all they are both deeply hurt and changed by the same people, and they could actually understand each other better than anyone else, they are related (lost family is a thing for both of them) and Dimitri position is not so far away from a moderate Edelgard's. It is mostly Edelgard alliances and modus operandis what make Dimitri go against her, to a point (5 years later) were their positions have gone to separated to ever come together and they just had to kill the other because they have become nemesis.

Yes, as I mentioned in the pinned comment, my mistake with this video was not doing Rhea justice properly. It’s unfortunate.

@@Aleczandxr Actually I'd say your video got it better than most in the community.

Thanks! I still should’ve elaborated a bit more on her specific frame of mind, though.

@@Aleczandxr Seriously, she doesnt deserve any hate for trying her best for 1000+ years after losing everything, she deserves a long vacation at worst.

Damn I want to see smol Rhea:( I hope we get a DLC about the nabateans and the past.

That scene broken my heart. 😭💔

Yes I cried, AND I FEEL NO SHAME

I just finished replaying that scene and seeing this comment after beating Azure Moon again reassured me that this is definitely one of the best scenes in the game.

@@totallynotafanficreader7850 It's okay there is no shame un crying at all😌

Hard disagree, While good, Three houses leaves a lot of things either poorly explained, or poorly executed (TWISTD, Full explanation of Duscur, and Insurrection of the 7 are some to name) while games like fe4 has a very well told story, or FE9 with it's simple yet fufilling story. Still way better than fates though.

Geenobe Duscur and TWSITD are explained you just need to play more than one route lmao

Geenobe not everything in a story needs to be explained. In fact, the very desire for more means the story was amazing. If a story leaves you fully satisfied then it has no value outside of a fairy tale for children. A good story will always leave you wanting more and always leave with questions. Now just because your criticism is lacking any depth doesn’t mean I disagree with you. The story is engaging, but like all fire emblem games does far too much telling. It does very little showing. That’s a huge problem.

How was Duscur poorly explained? Everything needed to know about it for the narrative was delved into and substantiated. They could have gone into extraneous detail I suppose, but it's not like it was needed. I also don't understand what more you'd want from Those Who Slither. If more depth and characterization is what you're looking for then I get it but disagree due to the vast amount of subtlety and nuance that went into the storytelling basically everywhere else. I agree about the Insurrection though, that deserved a bit more emphasis.

Aleczandxr I actually kinda forgot about the Issurection of the 7

3.14159265358979323846 26433832795028841 The crests are to blame

@@Ana-lj9jb you mad lad you actually typed out that username

@@wyldhorn2277 No that's mobile.

@@Samm815 No its not

3.14159265358979323846 26433832795028841 that’s a meme you dummy.

I think you just summarize why Dimitri is my favorite Lord as a person. He has had a hard life and still tries to be compassionate and fair during the academy phase. Which makes his broken self after the five year time skip (no matter the route) all the more depressing. Sure his idealism is difficult to try live up to both his own world and our world. However, I honest think we need more people like that in this day and age.

Dimitri is my least favorite lord, never got into him and his edgy phase made me wanna quit AM for a bit. But I can still understand and respect his decisions. Cool guy, but not my type of guy

Is this some kind of twisted *JOKE?*

You were supposed to root for him?

@@NeilAumaster yes u root for him because hes the goat duh

@@TricksPodigy i know it was a joke about how murderous he became

Benjamin Rogers Yeah, Marianne is Dimitri’s best support partner if we don’t count F!Byleth.

Emperor, not empress

I think there are two weak moments in not-punished Edelgarde as it was in Crimson Flower but ultimately I agree. The first being is that while yes, you can spare Claude...you can also kill him. The game treats each choice as valid and lets the player choose. I have big problems with this because I really can't see why Edelgarde or Byleth would kill him for the listed reasons above but it is a moment where ruthless Edelgarde who crushes all potential sedition comes back in Crimson Flower. A more damning moment that I think just didn't get enough thought put into it; After Arianhod is destroyed by Those Who Slither, Edelgarde has The Church shoulder the blame for the destruction of the town. She did it for what she thought were good reasons; Hubert and Edelgarde were close to finding the hideout of Those Who Slither and she did not wish for them to know that she was ultimately planning to destroy them in her perfect world. However, the fact remains that she lied and let her enemies take the fall for an action of needless destruction they did not commit all because it benefited her. You want to know why I hate this moment? When Rhea was forming the church, she lied about the origins of Crests and Crest Weapons. She told the people they were blessings from the goddess, gifts when in reality they were the blood and bones of her people. Taken from them by force. She did it for what she thought were good reasons; Telling the truth would make herself and all of her living family targets for the rest of time. As a nice bonus, her recently killed mother would also remain venerated for as long as The Church lived on. However, the fact remains that she lied and the consequences of her lie were both great and terrible. Fodlan would prize the crests and the land would grow strong and united at the cost of the formation of class system build around the blessing of the goddess. If Edelgarde is going to make mistakes in the same vein as Rhea, is her world order really so important to establish at the cost of so many lives? Three Houses ties a bow on each of the endings but especially in a universe where she choose to kill Claude, what does Fodlan look like one hundred years in the future long after both Edelgarde and Byleth are gone?

She still ally with evil incarnate , start a continental war as a first action and kill millions just because the world doesn't spin the way she want it to . Not to mention that her new system is as flawed and suceptible to corruption as the noble system. She shed the blood of millions and fix nothing .

bobby31723 the world of Fodlan is fundamentally broken. People are literally judged on whether or not you have magic blood and the Church condones this through its inaction. Also the nobility in any time or place are shit. Yes meritocracy is a meme but it’s better than feudalism.

@@bobby31723 u watch too much disney dude,she still ally with evil,ally? more like forced to "act" as an ally because she has no choice,now answer the very easy question that will answer everything that can back edelgard up,who is edelgard "friend" from back then in her past? hubert? her "butler"? nope,she has no friend,no one literally on her side,no one help her,no one understand her EXCEPT her father who is basically a "puppet" who cant do anything,just to remind u,its like this,edelgard after get tortured with that experiment>became traumatized and broken>want to get revenge and change the system>get rid of the main enemy "by joining them",yeah,JOINING THEM,why? like i said,after that experiment,who is edelgard friend,who is on her side that help her? her mother? gone,father same,she got nothing literally inside the lion cage,the only way out is to act as their "ally",heck ur role as byleth in her route is basically as her "friend" that want to "understand" her,be with her,help her with her journey,decision etc,thats the whole point of ur role in her route.

"Kinda gameplay"?

@@Bleeperblopper497 probably meant to put "Kinda meh gameplay"

it's definitely one of my favorite FE game!

same here, i'm interested in checking out some other games in the series now, might try awakening next :)

Its also my first FE game

@@abigailsolomon4148 If you prefer story over game play, I'd recommend Geneology of the holy war and thracia 776. If you prefer game play, i'd recommend Awakening and conquest.

@@kamdenmadan3289 thanks! I was actually thinking about checking out genealogy since its the main inspiration for three houses, and while I like a game to be fun to play, I do really appreciate a good storyline and character development in my JRPGs.

The Agarthans. It's just that Hubert doesn't know the ancient name for their civilization.

They do have a name, they are the Agarthians remember? Just like how Voldemort is called "the one who should not be named".

For convenience, I call them the dark slitherers, but for accuracy I call them the agarthans

I usually just call them Agarthans or Slitherers

They're actually called nightcrawlers in the orignial japanese. It is also correctly translated to "Schattenschleicher" in the german version of the game. "Those who slither in the dark" is a strange thing that only happens in the english version. I suspect it's some copyright problem and they had to avoid the original name.

Yeah, this game was emotionally taxing. Once you've done a route once, the routes where you have to kill your babies are so rough.

My only hope is this game will set the bar for future FE titles in terms of story depth and characters, Fates and Awakening were in my opinion leading the series down a terrible and mediocre direction, 3H shows the absolute potential of how amazing FE can actually be and really cleaned up the image the series had garnered over years.

I’m a glutton for tragedy and fictional angst, now I don’t want a Three Houses copycat for the next Fire Emblem. But wish for the series to continue down this path of such humanly tortured, and doomed characters. Ones whose actions have very real weight under them, and all there deaths are triumphant and equal parts sad. It’s epic like Fire Emblem always should be, but so down to earth that no one is right. And sometimes all you can do is put down those you love, knowing they’ve gone to far. I pity Edelgard, Rhea, Dimitri, and Claude- all they wanted was something better for themselves. To make sense of all the cruelty and unfairness in the world. I’m sorry, you four- you all deserved better.

The shear number of mature, difficult topics this game presents (personal trauma, mental health, societal ills, religious fanaticism, abuse, etc.) and STILL manages to convey them all in understandable, human ways is just awe-inspiring to me. Especially when you consider that this is a stinkin' Nintendo game! - I agree that this game and its stories are very life-affirming and I think that's because there is so much death in it. Barring the Agartians, every life is given weight and their death, whether quick like Edelgard's or drawn out to Shakespearean degrees like Jeralt and Rodrigue's, feels like the tragedy it is. That this didn't need to happen. That it likely wouldn't have happened if circumstances had been even a little bit different. It makes you glad when the credit roll and you see that your party was able to make it through, survive, and live... some for the first time. - I'd love for Nintendo to make the next game something as grounded and mature as this

That goes hand-in-hand with perpetuating their dogma, no? I think the game makes it clear that it’s a case of both.

@@Aleczandxr I see your point. But when you followed the statement with the bit about hierarchy created by crests, I got an impression that you were saying she only wanted to further political agenda/religious doctrine to solidify the church's authority when there was a layer of a tragic sentimentality underneath it. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Anyway, this was a great watch. I loved your analysis of Claude the most. Really spot on.

Also, that dogma they perpetuate exists, in part, to protect the people of Fodlan as well. Rhea and the few surviving Children are essentially letting humanity keep the power that was stolen from them, literally letting them wave bits of their dead brother and sisters, so long as they promise to behave and not go against the teachings of the Goddess. There is both generosity and entitlement in their attitude towards humans.

The dogma perpetuated will be the one to prevent another Red Canyon Tragedy.

I agree, it's one of Dimitri's best quotes. It fully parallels real world trauma that people share, and how they aren't the same person afterwards. Is it better to try to cut away the "trauma and pain" or to accept that you're different now and can still be whole again in a new way? And as Dimitri teaches us, you CAN still become whole again even after surviving trauma.

Thanks very much! Their dynamic is extremely interesting and it's nice that you agreed! Glad you enjoyed the video.

Technically Edelgard does try at the end of her route as well. If you kill Dedue, you get a scene of El finally killing Dimitri amd expressing a desire to not kill him. She also opens the fight pleading with him to retreat and save himself.

@@golfer435 I guess so, albeit in different circumstances where it's more of a request to surrender while in a battlefield instead of two leaders meeting to discuss the possibility of a cease fire. She does give him that chance, but given his personality and the knight culture of Faerghus, it was extrememly unlikely to work, especially under the circumstances of a surrender.

It is really depressing. In a world where the crest system didn't exist, maybe things could of been different.

It’s really magnified in Dimitri’s talk with her at the end where she says something to the likes of “The girl you knew long ago is dead.”

I'm of a similar mindset, except I like Rhea instead of disliking her. There seems to be a common misconception behind most people I come across's dislike of her, (including this video) that she created and supports the nobility when in reality if you check out the library the church just perpetuates the use of crests as weapons and is against and critical of the nobility system. However out of the four my mindset lines up with the most with Dimitri and if you mange to recruit everyone from the the Black Eagles and Lorenz from Yellow Deer (Most Yellow Deer members can just be avoided with effort) its the route with the least bloodshed.

She is not a villain, she is an antihero. A hero who does bad things for the right reasons. Either way, point still stands, she is an amazing character

@@golfer435 Edelgard is only a antihero in her own route, everywhere else she is a antivillain.

@@TheSwordsman100 Agreed with you. I do not get the hate for Rhea either. People judge her on actions of other people. She isnt flawless, in fact as years go by she gets more and more flawed because being over a thousand years old, does take its toll. On top of that, using her dragon form slowly drives her insane. All she wanted and whatever she does, she does for the goal of protecting the world her mother loved, protected and died for. This is her role and whether you agree with the social systems put in place, you cant argue that she is successful, Fodlan has been in relative peace for a long time, since she stepped into the role and created the church (1000+ years) only two big wars were fought, thats far better than what we "civilized" people did in real life. Noble system isnt her fault, its a natural evolution that happens in just about every medieval-magical settings, people with money and strength acumulate power, whatever the name of their role, there are always such people. And crests as they are are not evil, nor is their use, this world is ravaged by many conflicts and these the Sacred weapons offer a huge advantage to those who can use it, it makes sense they are highly valued, but once again, its not her fault that noblese assigned them value outside of combat as well, the church outwardly opposes to it, even if inwardly Rhea might not care. She just wants Crests to be venerated, because they are the remains of her dead brethren, she cant do anything for them but at the very least she wants them remembered in this way. She isnt a bad person and Church in this game certainly isnt an evil organization, the church is decidedly a force for good, that is seen everywhere throghout the game, Rhea is just old and set in her ways and regardless of Edelgard's intervention, the coming of Byleth would eventually mean she could retire, her mother would not be coming back in a way she wanted, but her dream would still be at least partially fulfiled. Just imagine it from her point of view for a bit, for over a thousand years she is doing her best to keep the world from falling apart, its a tremendous responsibility for even one monarch to care for her country, but she cares for the entire continent, on nothing less than godesses mission, she has lost all of her people, her mother and her civilization and still has the strength to try and do the right thing by the world her mother loved. She doesnt deserve hatred or scorn, just a really long vacation.

Same here, from the marketing I liked her best, played her route first but even tho I initialy liked her well enough, the moment she was revealed to be the Flame Emperror in the tomb I was going to go against her, had I not decided to do her route already. Even in her route, so little is explained about her involvment with the death of Geralt, why she works with the TWSITD or why would she ever go against church first when she knows TWSITD are literal monster hell bend on killing all people and have freaking bombs.... As much as I tried, I simply couldnt see things from her perspective, even if explanation might have helped, she is well written but flawed. I like the name of this video because it shows exactly what Edelgard is, or lacks anyways, perspective. You cant blame her being how she is, knowing how she grew up, as much as I cant understand her, I can understand why she simply doesnt know any better. In words of Bernie and Byleth: "Why would Edelgard do this?" "She seems to think force is the only way" -paraphrasing.

I guess he would first unify the alliance through his relations with the other nobles in the Golden Deer. He would than focus on easing relations with Almyra and introduce Almyran culture to Leicester. He would than hand the alliance over to Lorenz and go back to Almyra to become king.

Wouldn't it be a hell of a twist if Claude was planning on invading Fodlan with the Almyran army? Then Edelgard does her thing, and he breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, now I can bring in the Almyran army and it's LIBERATING Ft. Merceus, not conquering it! Sweet!"

Thanks man! :)

Now that "boar prince" monicker makes even more sense

Wow that's a very interesting story. I'm gonna have to look into that. I always love stories like that one

Holy shit that was definitely intentional

Except here is why Dimitri isn’t a hero and guts is. They have many similarities I agree. Except guts is rarely fighting for revenge. Throughout the story he is always fighting for others. He fights for Griffith and then fights to save his wife and then fights for his friends and the world. Guts is not a leader. He doesn’t want to be kind. He is a fighter willing to sacrifice himself. Dimitri is not a good leader, he is willing to lead his men to certain death for his own revenge, any kind of rage makes him forget all responsibility, and he only learns his lesson after he lets his followers die for his revenge. Everyone around Dimitri coddles him and forgives him. guys doesn’t have this. Your story of the possible inspiration is interesting, but Guts is a far more complex character and a far more sympathetic one.

@@conradkorbol Guts is no hero either. He's no paragon of virtue. Him fighting with his friends in the Band of the Hawk hardly qualifies as heroic when the reason they're all fighting is just to serve a guy's selfish ambition. They aren't fighting to end an unjust war, or fight for peace or anything. Griffith is just playing the war game to climb the social ladder to marry into the throne. Griffith stacks innumerable bodies for no justifiable reason, and Guts just gets caught up in his charisma. Also he was kinda conscripted into fighting under the threat of death, so there's that. Then there's the abject atrocities he commits as the Black Swordsman, and the horrible things he even does to Casca. Accidentally, but he still does them. Even now, while those things are behind him, and he's a much better guy, he's really just serving his tight nit group of friends to help Casca. Maybe you could argue that he and his party act as Casca's hero(es), but Guts is nothing like my idea of a hero.

What are you talking about? The cutscene was meant for SS and it's just copy pasted onto VW. She even calls you "my teacher" which she only does if you chose the Black Eagles, aka something she'd never say in VW at all. Edelgard also chose the path she did, and she says on the reunion scene in SS that when they next meet, it will be one of their deaths.

Many thanks, Jeffrey. I appreciate it very much.

@@Aleczandxr hey I wanna ask you something what are your plans for when you become big on youtube

@Kyle stacey Uhhh I dunno dude, 150k+ subs is already pretty big. I can't say I can realistically ask for much more.

@@Aleczandxr your videos are great just wanna say and I can't wait to see more of them

Right, I didn’t mean to insinuate any differently.

@@Aleczandxr you probably didn't but it does gives off as such. Also, this is a pretty important aspect as well with Edelgard, that her crusade against the church was built off lies. Despite her family inheriting the empire from Seiros, they passed down boogey man stories about Rhea, which Edelgard took to heart. She even believes that Nemesis was actually a good guy who was covered up by the church.... when it was the opposite as Nemesis was never a king, nor did he liberated anything. He was simply a murdering bandit. Rhea covered up how the crests were obtained (through theft from TWISTED) to prevent further bloodshed as by that point, if the truth got it, it would've been genocide on those who bore the crests.

I’m aware that it came off as such - as I said in the pinned comment, I should’ve done better with the Rhea section. I was just clarifying what my intent was. And I know, I mentioned all of that about Nemesis.

@@takarahayashi4124 I know this comment is a month old but I feel I must correct your comment cause it is trying to excuse reha of her failings of being the pope , edelgards war against the church is not built on lies the crest system is corrupt the game proves this multiple times and the nobility system is also corrupt again proven true multiple times in the game both of those problems where a result of reha and the church not properly keeping those systems in check and just allowing people to suffer under these things so long as it benefits them regardless if they aggre with it or not they had the power to do something and didn't for hundreds of years reha created a false religion parsing a dead God tricking hundreds and thousands of people that the goddess is saving them protecting them and they were fighting For the goddess when they are just being lied to by reha to keep humans in check these are not fallacies these are proven in game and are the main reason edelgard goes to war with them , I suggest you watch that scene again edelgard never said nemesis was a good guy not once at any point did the words nemesis and good guy come out of her words nor did she imply such what she actually said was the the fight between reha and nemesis was a simple dispute between them as there fight was because they didn't agree with eachother and not some grand holy battle between good vs evil like the church plays it off as is she right? No but she's not completely wrong ether regardless nothing about that scene implies edelgard thought nemesis was a good guy

@Sean Austin no. Lol. Hes right. Edelgards reasons for war are 100% legitamate. But TWSINTD have warped the actions to be maliscous instead of neutral. But the actions are all still factual. And you cant blame edelgard fornbelieving in them when thebchurch actively destroys evidence of the past. So how was she supposed to know any better? She isnt evil. Period. She did wjat anybody would do when faced with the fact that inhuman monsters that hate humanity rule the world( her persepctive, not the truth, welllllll, kind of the truth). Hindsight doesnt allow you to judge someones character frombthe future. You can only judge actions from from the context that those actions where made. And when she made that decision to go to war she was absolutely correct to do so.

Now that's an awesome AU lol

indeed it's a re-inventing of three kingdoms

Then engage happened

@@unknownmystery5373 lol yep. I'm now pretty much content with the gameplay going forward, but quite worried for the writing overall.

Yeah, the point is that it's useless. A theme of his redemption arc is him realizing that just becoming a psychopathic Imperial-soldier-murdering-machine is just throwing his life away. So in the other routes, where he doesn't have that realization, he throws his life away, either in Gronder Field in a fit of bloodlust, or at Taltean as the servant to a crazed Saint who doesn't value him as anything more than a meat shield.

@@HollowGolem couldn't have said better!

Bayonetta is a Nintendo game

@@Tetragramix What does that have to do with the conversation?

@@Tetragramix Bayonetta 2 is published by Nintendo, both games and the upcoming Bayonetta 3 are made by Platinum games.

And a bit too close to home

Well thanks very much for the kind words! I'm so glad that you enjoyed. I won't be making any other FE3H videos, but I'm definitely glad I did this one and I did indeed have a great time making it :)

I actually never noticed that before

I read your comment! I liked your quotes about the kindness and evil. It fits both Dimitri and Edelgard in a way. But it also fits Rhea too. I think she's equally tragic as those 2, and most of her bad choices were made between a rock and a hard place. They're all tragic characters.

if Jordan Peterson played this game, he'd say BS to all of them. "You all talk big about changing the world, so idealistic. But have you cleaned your room?"

I find this oddly accurate, because Claude is probably the only one who's hoping for people to benefit from an immediate change in the immediate future, in contrast to Edelgard wanting the future generations to feel the effects of her conquest.

This is the most effective way to describe these characters in such little text. I love this game.

@@aussiepuppet5250 but Dimitri was right, giving the crests no weight is stupid.

Eldlegard is Hitler follow her or die. Cool

honestly I'd swap Edelgard and Claude

I appreciate it, thanks!

Cheers!

Thanks very much! There are little things I’d change about it if I could, but I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Yeah definitely, this is just intended for people who’ve played it all. Wouldn’t want to ruin your experience!

@@Aleczandxr that´s actually an interesting point Aleczandxr , do you truely think a great narrative like this would be destroyed or slightend by spoilers ? Might be an interesting topic for a discussion at another point. That´s just my opinion : I don´t think spoilers ruin ones expierence , most of the time they enhance ones expierence instead.

@@Aleczandxr Or for people who will likely never play the game at all, or would rather know now, and enjoy later with full knowledge of all that's going on. I don't consider that route for all games... but I'd be waiting at least 2 years before playing this if I did plan on getting it.

This is one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the story.

lafon02 Same here.

I hate her, her character is so good

Happy you enjoyed it!

Well that's far more than the video deserves, but thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks.

Just to clarify - none of my personal thoughts or philosophies are present in this video. I’m just interpreting what I think the story is presenting. Independent from my own personal feelings about her, I think the story presents her as the most “wrong” person. But as I said, even then, it is still gray with her for the reasons I stated.

@@Aleczandxr I still have to disagree, in my honest opinion the game puts her on almost the same level as Edelgard. Edelgard is outright villanous in 3 of the 4 paths, and before that she does a lot of stuff in part 1, especialy as the Flame Emperor and in her own, crimson flower, she does a lot of questionable stuff. Which in my honest opinion makes sense, Rhea and Edelgard are the main characters of the story. Dimitri and Claude are casualties of the war between Edelgard and the Church of Seiros (therefore Rhea) they do aren't important outside their own routes, something Edelgard and the church always do. If Rhea seems put in a bad light is because she didn't have her own route where we see her with a substantial amount of screen time, where she can be "at her best" with Byleth guiding her (as happens with the other lords).

@@Andreu0rtin Dimitri absolutely could have stayed neutral but he was too fixated on revenge. If Edelgard made it clear that the Agarthans were the ones responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur, she could have had him as an ally. Even the Church of Seiros would have probably avoided fighting if it meant taking on an ancient enemy.

Cheers!

Thank you very much, and thanks for sharing!

I would agree but I feel like the game is too lenient in allowing you to recruit students. For a game meant to be about how you can't save everyone, you can save 98% of the characters on AM, with only Edelgard, Hubert and Jeritza dying on this route if you just saved everybody else. It kinda goes against the entire tragic message to have few route locked characters.

@Oreo I played AM and then VW, so I was very tempted to do the same. But I decided to make my own cap on recruitments because I didn't want to replace any Golden Deer: I wanted to get the know the new house as much as possible. I tried to do the same for my SS and CF runs: stick mainly to the Black Eagles and get to know them better. However, I definitely think more units should have been route locked to prevent this from the start. It's beyond silly that units can join almost anywhere. And it truly makes routes feel more samey if you're just recruiting the same familiar faces each time around, with a few route locked exceptions, of course. Not to mention that the average 3H map only allows between 9 to 12 units, so you don't even have many options unless you want to replace your old team with brand new units, which is a bad idea on a first run since you should get to know each house.

The fact that she triggered a bigger change in every route is the prove that she is a good person

Thank you.

It probably won't be popular lol, but that's okay. My Harry Potter video blew up to compensate.

Aleczandxr I suppose so. Though having this vid get lots of views wouldn’t be bad either.

Cheers, glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for watching. Your interpretation is very interesting and I agree with some of it, as you mentioned! I particularly like how you said that Byleth is the reason Claude is idealistic, and that he'd be cynical without them. I don't entirely think that it's that cut-and-dry, but overall I agree and it's something that I alluded to in the video but should've mentioned more explicitly. However, overall, I think this comment is a bit unfair and dismissive of the work and thought I put into that section. Apologies for the wall of text, but I felt the need to defend myself a bit here. The implication that he becomes the Almyran King was something that I thought of retrospectively after playing Golden Deer, so I went back and rewatched all of his parting scenes in the other routes. He never explicitly says what specifically he will do, but knowing his goals and the state of things in Fodlan, and understanding the tonal differences between his character journey and the others, I concluded that he went on to become Almyran royalty, or at least attempt to do so. In both BL and BE, he mentions that he has decided to leave Fodlan because he has “dreams he needs to see come to fruition” (BL). We know that his dream is essentially world peace and an end to hierarchy, prejudice and conflict. We know he wants to lead and rule to get to that outcome. We know he is the heir to the throne of Almyra (the strength of his claim may be weaker than insinuated, as you said, but it's a claim nonetheless). He also mentions in the BL route that he views Dimitri as caring, and if spared in both routes he more or less implies that he has faith in the new potential regime. So naturally, that path to is dream that would be most fitting and logical, and the one that would reap the most rewards, is leading Almyra. Why WOULDNT he do that? He has a leadership he believes in in Fodlan, so it is reasonable to think that he would attempt to do what he did in GD, by resolving the problems in Almyra and taking it and Fodlan into the future together. It would also fit in thematically with his world view being more open and flexible than the others, through him not needing a “light” and his mentality being a meta-representation of the type of mindset needed in a setting like this. I explained this in the video - he is a huge thematic tool and personification, and all of that is somewhat undercut if he DOESN’T become Almyran royalty. And yes, he says that his royal connections are insignificant, but I read the tone in that S-Support differently than you did and even regardless from that, I don't think that proves anything. What I mean is that Claude has always thought of royal bloodlines as insignificant due to his ideals, so I viewed him as just reinforcing that with that line. That they don't matter in his eyes, even if they're important in the world. Clearly, his connections ARE significant if he has the chance to rise to royalty in any route at all. Plus, he frames those "insignificant" connections much differently that the inflection you put forth when you mentioned the line; he says that he "has royal connections too, insignificant as they may be. It's time for me to struggle all over again and see what I can do." Those insignificant connections are a foothold that'll actually *help* him - he brings them up as a boon and a method he has for his struggle to the throne in Almyra. That's just how I read the S-Support and I may be wrong, but I don't think it's any less valid than your interpretation. Your interpretation is very well-thought-out, but I don’t think that a bitter, unfulfilled end in the way you describe fits with his character at all, and it is at complete odds with the spirit of his parting scene and his character as a whole, in my opinion. Basically, I just think there is much more evidence to a less sad ending for him if he survives, for all of the reasons I said, logically, characterization-wise and thematically. Just my opinion! Regardless, like I said, I thought about all of this, which takes quite a multitude of things into account, and then I checked online to ensure that I wasn’t just making stuff up or forming connections where there weren’t any. I always do this for things I’m not sure about in videos, and as stated in the beginning, I did a lot of fact-checking for this script. There is obviously no conclusive proof for this, but many read the implication the same way I did, and on two separate wikis (fireemblemwiki.org and fireemblem.fandom.com), it is stated that in every route (as long as he survives), he ultimately returns to Almyra to become king. Now obviously the wiki isn’t objective fact or truth, but I think this is definitely enough to substantiate my idea, and along with my reasoning, justify its inclusion in the video. And I think that is important in disproving your notion that I thought about him and approached his section in a surface-level way, or glossed over some stuff. Because once the idea that he becomes Almyran king is settled, everything else I said falls neatly in line and is backed up by proof from the story. Also, as a sidenote, I don't agree that Claude fears being ostracized. He may have thought so in the past and he thinks that being ostracized is terrible but as shown in his supports with others (the Petra one comes to mind), he no longer fears it, in my opinion. To him, being an outsider is not something he fears because he has learnt how to deal with it, how to rise above it, and he's aware of how ridiculous it is. It was a source of fear for him, but I think during the story he's in a place where he's grown past that fear. Your reading of it is very clever too though! Ultimately it's just a difference of opinion between us, but I don't think it would be fair either way for either of us to say that the other is thinking about it at a surface level. Now, I’m not saying that I’m correct because of all of this, and I’m not saying your interpretation was wrong. If you disagree, that’s obviously totally cool! But hopefully now that you know my process and reasoning, you can agree that this is simply a case of you reading the events different than me and the wiki, rather than me being shallow or glossing over things. As I said, I just think it’s a bit unfair of you to presume that I missed something and/or didn't look deeper and/or didn’t put the effort in for Claude. Thanks for watching again and supporting my videos in the past!

@@Aleczandxr My apologies, I didn't mean to dismiss the effort you put into that section. I admit saying surface level was harsh on my end, but I also don't think it's possible that you witnessed every single piece of optional dialogue this game has. For instance, I first saw one of Claude's advice box questions yesterday while playing through Golden Deer again on Maddening. And I'm sure there's still dialogue I haven't seen before. Some of this optional dialogue will only reinforce characterization, but some of them can add a new perspective. Speaking of the advice box, before addressing your main point, I want to refute your side note on how Claude doesn't fear being ostracized because I disagree with parts of it even with Petra's support as your line of reasoning. One of Claude's advice box questions before the time skip is "I often overhear people commenting about strange I am. I don't really get it. Shouldn't it be expected that everyone has their own unique perspective on life?" The correct answer is "Just follow your own path and don't worry about them." I think this question and answer reinforce my stance. I interpret it as Claude voicing his own insecurities and seeking validation. And this is consistent with his character as he seeks validation multiple times through the game under a guise of confidence. I agree with your interpretation that he'd rose above his fear of being ostracized, but I disagree that he has done so by the start of the game. I think he's growing out of it during the Golden Deer route. It's why he doesn’t reveal his Almyran heritage until after the time skip. He holds this secret close to his chest because he’s afraid of other people judging his heritage. Dedue, Petra, Shamir, and Cyril all face levels of casual to blatant discrimination because their background gives people reason to suspect wrongdoing. And the reason Claude escapes these same condescending statements from characters like Hilda - who was casually racist to Cyril - is because he purposely hid it. He'd rather be judged for being an abnormal noble or mischievous jokester because it doesn't attack the heritage that he holds so close to his heart. And Claude cares a lot about Almyra. He expresses real sadness when Cyril demonstrates no desire to return to his homeland and is upset when pirates posing as the Almyran Navy attack Derdriu in the Sword and Shield of Seiros paralogue with Alois and Shamir. This is one of the optional dialogues that might've been missed, but it adds an important piece of characterization to Claude. He gets visibly upset if you have him attack the boss in that paralogue and this is the dialogue he has with the commander: "How could you commit such crimes in the name of Almyra? It's because of two-bit miscreants like you that Almyrans suffer so much hate!" The fact that that moment is one of two times Claude gets upset in the entire game adds additional weight to its meaning. I think it's very understated how much he loves Almyra, but at the same time, he hides this love for fear of being ostracized and judged. And I believe this holds true until the time skip, where like you said, he rises above it. I don't mean to imply that your interpretation is surface level though! I just feel because most of these details are locked behind optional dialogues, you might've not seen them. I understand your cross-reference of the Fire Emblem Wiki and I understand you're not citing it as objective fact either, but it has been known to host misinformation in the past. At one point, it had Judith and Nader as Claude's parents, which is one of their more baffling conclusions. And you're right, my inflection on his S support wasn't accurate as I didn't have the quote on hand with me. I see your point of view regarding different interpretations of his "insignificant ties" line so I won't use it to qualify or support any statements. But I think the fact that he mentions he'll need to "struggle all over again" means he won't easily get the throne. Without Byleth and the resulting the development he gets because of Byleth in Golden Deer, I'm skeptical that he possesses the qualities - namely a strong commitment - needed to claim it. While I don't fault your logic in why Claude has every reason to pursue the Almyran throne, regardless of how hard it might be to claim it, I think that rationality ignores Claude's insecurity and resignment. As I discussed before, Claude maintains a facade and this facade is rarely dropped in non-Golden Deer routes. It's the reason why the spirit of his parting is positive. He forces it to be by shutting his own negative emotions away. This is probably less obvious in Blue Lions because he willingly gives up the Alliance, but his ominous line that asks Dimitri to not "be too hard on [him]" when they meet again suggests that tensions between Fódlan and Almyra will remain. He says he's off to pursue his dreams so that Dimitri doesn't feel guilty for taking the Alliance, but in actuality, Claude doesn't have much confidence that he'll become the Almyran king. His cynical nature has pretty much erased the idealist in him at this point and it hinders his actions. I don't think Claude suffering an unfulfilled end in non-Golden Deer routes completely invalidates your claim that he's the personification of the game's themes or that it doesn't fit in with the game's themes. I think your conclusion can be amended to encapsulate the Golden Deer route specifically as the route that demonstrates the attitude that one needs to approach the game with and all that can be learnt from being open-minded and flexible. Meanwhile, in other routes, this open-mindedness and flexibility are taken to extremes and become hindrances that prevent action. I think the game just doesn't lean towards anything as being good no matter what - well, besides for the value of human connection - and that's why I reject the idea that Claude's open-mindedness and flexibility are always good things. Understanding another's perspective is important, but if you understand everyone’s perspective then how will you ever take action in good consciousness? And I think this is the conundrum that Claude faces. In non-Golden Deer routes, to prevent further harm to others, he shuts down his own ambitions. In Golden Deer, even if it means hurting others, he has the strength - both physically and mentally - that he needs to pursue his ambitions. Anyway, this is just my opinion as well. I might be a bit pushy with it because I've seen a number of people claiming that Claude's perfect, a Gary Stu, or never fails - statements I heavily disagree with - but I know you're not suggesting that in your analysis. I guess we can just both agree that he's a well-written character with nuance and depth. And again, apologies for my statements. I didn't mean to unfairly judge to your efforts, I could have articulated my point better.

Glad you enjoyed!

I think it's more that Dimitri overheard a conversation between the Flame Emperor and Thales in a scene beforehand. The one where the Flame Emperor throws the famous dagger at Dimitri while escaping. In this scene, which only happened in Blue Lions, Thales said that he created the tragedy of Duscur for the Flame Emperor: so that blood could flow and the Flame Emperor would be reborn amid that chaos as their best weapon. That's probably why Dimitri became obsessed with Edelgard: his former step sister, for whom the entire tragedy was created to give her more power and chaos.

Thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! Glad you liked it.