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    Home Unlabelled Fire Emblem Finished Golden Deer last night and started my second run when I encountered this gem of a quote.

    Fire Emblem Finished Golden Deer last night and started my second run when I encountered this gem of a quote.

    January 21, 2020

    Fire Emblem Finished Golden Deer last night and started my second run when I encountered this gem of a quote.

    Finished Golden Deer last night and started my second run when I encountered this gem of a quote.

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:49 PM PST

    The next smash character looks great!

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 03:57 AM PST

    fun doodle of flayn

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 01:18 PM PST

    My digital sketch of Cooler Ingrid...I mean Constance :'D

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 04:54 PM PST

    Three Houses but everyone has Lorenz animations

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 10:12 AM PST

    My friend drew Byleth from Three Houses (@Venty_Echo)

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:44 PM PST

    "Friends Since Forever" - Color Sketch, Might Paint This More Later!

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 08:39 AM PST

    Role language - the Blue Lions students' speech patterns in Japanese

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:09 PM PST

    Hello chaps!

    This is the second part of a series I'm doing on Japanese role language in Three Houses. I strongly advise you to read the first part here if you haven't done so as it introduces the topic and provides information you should know before continuing.

    I'll write a quick refresher here before continuing on with more information and an analysis of the students proper.

    What is "role language?"

    Role language, or yakuwarigo, is effectively a fictional character's idiolect - a person's individual and unique use of language. Unlike in real life, however, role language is a way of speaking prescribed to a character by an author that is more concerned with evoking certain mental images rather than trying to stay true to real life.

    This is not to say role language and real life language usage are completely different entities. Masculine and feminine words, common in Japanese, are used in real life as well as in in fiction, but is still role language due to how their usage portray the character. In the most basic sense, it's a tool used to convey and reinforce character traits through speech.

    For example, if you were to imagine a stereotypical middle-aged man from the American south or an upper class British lady, chances are you have a very clear picture in your mind of what they would look like and how they would speak. Here we are going to be looking at the latter.

    Discussion and translation of formal speech in Fire Emblem

    You might have played games or watched an anime where people discuss characters' level of formality. Some characters insist on others speaking less formally while others might insist the opposite. There are in general more remarks about proper speech and conduct in Japanese entertainment than in Western fiction, based on my limited experience.

    This also the case in Three Houses and there is a reason I'll get into later why I bring it up here for the Blue Lions.

    Let's start with the early beginning of the academy phase. You might remember that every class at least mentions formalities when Byleth chooses their class and introduces themselves properly as their teacher for the first time. Claude, for example, says that he should perhaps choose his words more carefully, and then when Byleth says they don't mind, continues on by saying it might not be that important with formalities due to their closeness in age.

    In the Blue Lions' scene they talk about this just for a little longer which makes it a good place to bring it up. Annette apologizes for having spoken casually, "like a friend", to Byleth earlier at the monastery, and like with Claude, Byleth says they don't mind. Annette and Dimitri are hesitant to accept this, but after Sylvain points out they're relatively slack in formality when talking to Dimitri, the latter agrees that it should be okay to be more casual since they are not in Faerghus. Ingrid says it'll be hard for her, and Mercedes tells her she's sure Byleth won't mind so she shouldn't force herself.

    Stuff like this is a nightmare to translate as there are no real equivalents in English and there are no simple guidelines to follow here. If you translate things word for word, it'll come out stiff, unnatural and maybe even confusing, and if you take too many liberties, you lose the significance of the source material. What is a relatively simple scene in Japanese - "should we conjugate words in polite form and use more formal speech or no?" - becomes a real challenge in English or really most other languages without this kind of system.

    This brings us to our last detour before the students, and it's a real blast from the past.

    Wil x Raven, Ashe x Dimitri

    I have mentioned Wil x Raven's support on multiple occasions in the past. It was clear that the translation for Blazing Blade faced many challenges and the localization process was no doubt far less structured back in those days than it is today. Despite the many, many strange translations of Blazing Blade I do respect the localizers for doing their best with what must've been a really tough situation.

    However, Wil and Raven's support conversation is a typical example of how bad a translation featuring discussions of formal speech can get. What is, again, a simple and straightforward conversation in Japanese becomes a real challenge to tackle in English. Basically, what Wil is saying in the Japanese version is that he should use formal speech and address Revan with the honorific 先輩 (senpai), which is used for upperclassmen and seniors who are older and/or have worked/studied longer somewhere and are therefore worthy of respect and expected to help their juniors out. Normally, when talking to your senpai, you use formal speech as a sign of respect.

    What they did in the Blazing Blade localization is have Wil outright call Raven "senior" despite this being incredibly unnatural in English. The support is translated so literally that it becomes stiff and unnatural and therefore alien and distracting to the English reader. Wil does want to be more formal even after finding out Raven is only 19, which in a Western context becomes even weirder as no 17-year-old would worry about how they speak to a normal 19-year-old. I should also point out that them being in the military never factors into the Japanese script, so Wil's concerns have nothing to do with that either.

    The reason I bring this up is because Ashe and Dimitri's support conversation also focuses heavily on the usage of formal speech. Dimitri wants Ashe to stop being so uptight and simply talk to him like a friend, but Ashe says it's hard for a commoner like him due to how different someone like Dimitri is. Regardless, in their B support, Ashe does give it a genuine try; he uses Dimitri's name rather than calling him 殿下 (denka, "your highness") and he stops conjugating his verbs politely, but eventually says it's too hard for him to be casual.

    This conversation has been very well localized into English. While still obviously a very Japanese topic of discussion at heart, Ashe's more stiff speech is conveyed in a much more natural way, choosing words you would actually use in a formal context in English, like "dine". I believe this support conversation alone can show how far localization has gotten since the release of Blazing Blade as they managed to keep the spirit of the original while making it sound as natural as one could expect in English. If they had made Ashe a bit more stiff in the C support too it would've been a home run.

    The Blue Lions

    • Dimitri - Speaks perhaps surprisingly directly to his friends and peers. He uses ore for himself and omae for others and is moderately fond of the masculine (though technically gender neutral) emphatic sentence ending particle zo. Zo is used by pretty much every male lord when they're commanding their armies, like when they're setting out, but only the lords with a more masculine speech pattern tends to use it frequently, like Ephraim and Chrom. Despite being direct, he does not speak sluggishly or vulgarly, and he is very corteous when talking to people older than him.

    • Dedue - A typical quiet giant. Uses ore for himself and omae for others. He shortens many of his words, especially in the negative (for example, dekinai, "can't (do)", becomes dekin), which is another primarily masculine speech pattern. As you might have guessed, however, he speaks very formally to Dimitri, though he keeps using ore, which is an interesting contrast I think is a lot more common in fiction than in real life, though don't quote me on that. Boey does the same when talking to Celica, to give another example of this.

    • Mercedes - Uses watashi for herself and anata for others. Perhaps the character that surprised me the most once I started reading up on this. Like I mentioned in part one, people of the cloth like Yodel and Silque tend to speak formally pretty much all the time (provided they're not remarkably un-priest-like). While Mercedes is not formally a priestess, she's kind, has worked for the church, and is deeply religious, yet she pretty much never uses neither formal speech nor titles. She might be the only one Blue Lion who actually uses Dimitri's name (everyone else calls him "your highness" or some variation of insult if you're Felix) and she does so without any form of honorific. Mercedes fills out the big sister archetype very well, speaking very femininely with the わ (wa) sentence ending particle used frequently together with kashira (I wonder) which is also feminine. More than that though for added big sister energy, it feels like half her lines start with ara ara, which translates to "my my" or "oh dear!" and is often used by older female Japanese characters. Lastly, to mark her ditzy and airheaded nature, many of her sentences end with a ~, extending the last syllable.

    • Felix - Uses ore for himself and omae for others. As you know, he calls Dimitri "boar" or uses the insulting second person pronoun 貴様 (kisama) which is very disrespectful. Like Dedue, he shortens some of his words, and he uses plenty of the sentence ending particle zo. Interestingly, in his one support with someone much older/of higher station aside from Dimitri, that being Seteth, he's remarkably polite, adds the formal 殿 (dono) honorific Seteth's name and uses watashi for himself. An interesting quirk, if you can call it that, is that he keeps the "I" when conjugating in the -te form; where many people would say 何を言ってる？ (nani o itteru?) , "What are you saying/talking about?", Felix says 何を言っている (nani o itteiru). Notice the い. I...don't think this means anything, but there it is. Mind you, you're supposed to keep the い, yet it falls off in most spoken conversations.

    • Annette - Uses the less formalatashi for herself and anata for others. While she uses polite speech for her elders and superiors like Dimitri, she is notably casual and does not use overly feminine speech. For her peers, she does not use any honorifics nor does she use polite speech, and where many people refer to their family members in more formal and traditional ways, like Dimitri calling his father 父上, chichiue, Annette sticks to calling Gustave 父さん, tousan, even though it's common to at least add an "O" at the start, otousan. It fits well for someone as cheerful and friendly as her, though I would've expected her to use the honorifics -kun and -chan for her classmates, though perhaps not using them can be interpreted as her being more friendly and less stiff.

    • Ingrid - Uses watashi for herself and anata for others. She is notably stiff, speaking formally to every single other character besides Sylvain and Felix, probably to emphasize how long they have known each other. When speaking to Sylvain and Felix, she speaks very femininely, like Edelgard, Dorothea, and Mercedes, though less playfully/big sisterly than the latter two respectively, of course. You know the drill by now: the sentence ending particle wa, as well as no even in statements and not questions, and kashira. When speaking to Dimitri, she is perhaps even more formal.

    • Ashe - Uses boku for himself and kimi for others. He's a good boi and speaks politely to everyone except those younger than him and Mercedes (I don't know why, this woman is just full of surprises). He does not use honorifics for his peers but always adds them to those of a higher station/are quite a few years older. When speaking to those younger than him, he has a decidedly boyish tone, often ending his sentences with さ, sa, which is a mildly assertive/emphatic sentence ending particle primarily used by boys/men, but women can use it too, and it is less rough than zo.

    • Sylvain - Probably the hardest one to properly pin down. Uses ore for himself and alternates between omae and kimi depending on who he's talking to (and sometimes swaps mid conversation). In a way he's the opposite of Ferdinand von Aegir; where Ferdie speaks stiffly, Sylvain is very breezy. If you will remember, words written in kanji - Chinese signs - can technically all be written with the other two Japanese alphabets katakana and hiragana. Where Ferdinand would always say the proper 本当 (hontou), Sylvain can say that or ほんっと (hontto). 先生 (sensei, professor/teacher) can become せんせ (sense), etc. Sylvain also frequently uses the masculine, vulgar and emphatic ze sentence ending particle, but unlike Caspar who uses it to mark a rough speech, in Sylvain's case it's more likely to emphasize him being casual and at ease. He sometimes uses the question particle kai as opposed to ka from time to time as well, though I have a hard time finding a lot of information about what this says about his personality, so if someone knows, please tell me. I would've expected him to use -chan when talking to all the women, but he only does it when talking to Dorothea. Despite his casual nature, he's fairly polite when talking to Manuela, Byleth, and Dimitri, even if it's a lot more relaxed than, say, Ashe's speech pattern.

    submitted by /u/Odovakar
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    Corn eating corn

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 11:54 AM PST

    Dimitri - OC Fanart

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 07:55 AM PST

    Unpopular Opinion: I miss legendary weapons having infinite durability.

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:31 PM PST

    I say "unpopular" because I know that I'm on the far more casual end of the community spectrum when it comes to tactics. "Take out Archers first" is about as deep as my strategies get. So I'm sure many of you rather like that Three Houses is back to the original style where even the great relics must be used carefully.

    But personally, I prefer the way it was in Awakening and Fates, where units' personal weapons had infinite durability. Falchion, Parallel Falchion, Yato, you know the ones. And I don't think that was entirely void of strategy, either, because (except the Yato), you could get better weapons with Silver or Glass, especially if you forged them up at a blacksmith. The legendary weapons were just solid pieces of equipment that you could always fall back on- or use 100% of the time if you're a sucker for appearances like I am.

    And besides, if Nemesis can fell entire platoons of soldiers with one swing of the Sword of the Creator, why should it be so brittle that Byleth can only squeeze 20 uses out of it? How does Blutgang survive for centuries in the possession of the Wandering Beast but crumble after a measly 20 swings? What makes these divine dragon bones so fragile? Even if I can understand it as a gameplay mechanic, I certainly can't find any justification lore-wise. Maybe if the durability only went down when being used by someone that didn't bear the right Crest?

    submitted by /u/ComedianEsq
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    Obelisk Blue: Mercedes and Annette.

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 04:38 AM PST

    I drew 80s style Dimitri (Claude and Edelgard will be posted very soon)

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 08:23 AM PST

    A rather jaded Byleth

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 03:57 PM PST

    All this for a LotR joke (and my own take Byleth's relic acquisition)

    Posted: 20 Jan 2020 11:59 PM PST

    I drew Yuri in a maid Outfit

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:43 PM PST

    It's time for Choose Your Legends: Round 4! In this event, players can choose their favorite characters from the #FireEmblem series. The top two male and top two female Heroes will appear in #FEHeroes within the year, wearing special Choose Your Legends outfits

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 07:03 PM PST

    Nearly finished the lineart for this!

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 07:03 PM PST

    Byleth’s voice actress plays “which Fire Emblem character are you”

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 06:05 AM PST

    Would you be interested in a prequel?

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 03:41 PM PST

    The title basically speaks for itself. Would you be interested in seeing a prequel to three houses?

    The way I see it, the game would be split up into two campaigns. One campaign would be Rhea's side and how she teamed up with the eventual leader of the empire while the other campaign would be Nemesis's side of the story.

    Would anyone be interested in seeing that, or do you have any other ideas for a prequel?

    submitted by /u/Trevboi94
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    Bishop Isadora [Sprite Art] + Update

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 11:00 AM PST

    GD IRL

    Posted: 21 Jan 2020 05:36 PM PST
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