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    Fire Emblem My name is... I dunno

    August 22, 2021

    Fire Emblem My name is... I dunno

    My name is... I dunno

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 04:20 PM PDT

    I’m not an animator but making this made me respect them a lot [FE3H x The Owl House] [OC]

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:36 AM PDT

    Mari with her hair down edit (You can support my twitter @cozybambii)

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 12:15 PM PDT

    ...sigh

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 06:17 PM PDT

    Edelgard's unresolved emotional distancing through blame-shifting (Or, why she's the biggest victim of 3H's rushed writing)

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:58 AM PDT

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    https://preview.redd.it/hvgwn1m85yi71.png?width=2060&format=png&auto=webp&s=cfa7a484391f284c92925e19340ab51fb7f4f545

    ​

    Yeah yeah, an Edeglard topic. Listen: I've had this thought in my head for years now, and never dared make a topic on it for the obvious reasons. I was hoping there'd be a time when things cooled down and I could post this … lmao. But I watched Faerghast's new Edelgard documentary a few months back and part of what he said resonated with my own opinions, and I can't help but bring this up now.

    In one part of his video, Faerghast spends a decent bit of time talking about how Edelgard doesn't face much in the way of repercussions for her actions – lying to her friends about the church blowing up Arianrhod, her association with Kronya, really just all of TWSITD, etc. Ghast emphasizes that by "repercussions" he doesn't want to see Edelgard whipped and beaten for her actions or anything, just that having the story confront her on these moments in any form would've made for a more compelling narrative and character. I'm paraphrasing a lot here, it's a long video, so hopefully I'm not misrepresenting his viewpoints here. I'll ping him, u/brocopina , to correct me if needed, but that link above is to a timestamp from his video too.

    What I'd like to add onto this idea, is that in addition to never being afforded the chance by Crimson Flower to grow from lying to her allies, Edelgard also has a persistent habit of wording her actions such that they're not really her fault. On the surface, she seems to take the war she's started, the lives she's ended, pretty harshly, but I found there was something … off, about a lot of her phrasing. A lot of shifting of the blame, sometimes more subtle than others:

    "I wish we could settle all of this before the fighting begins. Don't you? I wish it dearly. But few others feel that way. They fight in a bloody battle, take countless lives, and then finally come to understand defeat. They refuse to admit when they're beaten, and they keep it up until they've been utterly defeated. Of course, I understand that sacrifice is inevitable... But if they're going to surrender after being defeated anyway, why raise a weapon in the first place?"

    She expresses a wish to not have to resort to bloodshed. But if you don't recall, these are her words before the storming of Derdriu in the second chapter of Crimson Flower. This is a war of aggression she started the instant she became Emperor, and had planned for at least a year before ascending to the throne. Although the war's been at a stalemate for 5 years, it's never implied, as far as I can find, that there was much in the way of negotiations attempted – they just needed the boost in morale and raw power Byleth provides, apparently. And remember, the nation she's invading doesn't even fully oppose her – the Alliance is split pretty evenly on what to do about this whole war.

    And despite all that, Edelgard puts the onus of a peaceful resolution on others. "They fight a bloody battle (that we started), they take countless lives (of the invading army trying to take theirs)". But not her, she wishes she could settle it before fighting. Which is why she started this war the moment she became emperor.

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/kxswebp91yi71.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=257a45cfc047c7999882f6e07fcafc05e3683e97

    Now, I've talked about this line before, but what I haven't seen discussed is how much of a consistent thing this is for Edelgard. I think most of us remember her infamous banter with Dimitri later in her route:

    ​

    Dimitri: "Must you continue to conquer? Continue to kill?"

    Edelgard: "Must you continue to reconquer? Continue to kill in retaliation? I will not stop. There is nothing I would not sacrifice to cut a path to Fódlan's new dawn!"

    It's pretty much the same deal as above – once again, Edelgard is shifting the blame for her own actions onto the defenders. They should just roll over for her. They're only killing to "reconquer" or out of retaliation. Not because they might have any other beliefs, ideals, or interests that oppose hers, that they're fighting to protect from her invading army.

    This is further supported when she kills Dimitri at the end of the chapter:

    ​

    "Farewell, King of Delusion. If only we were born in a time of peace, you might have lived a joyful life as a benevolent ruler."

    ​

    Once again, she phrases this as if she wasn't the one who started this war. As if whether or not Dimitri was born into a time of peace was just something left to chance, and not a direct result of the continental war she initiated. She's right in that the Tragedy of Duscur largely robbed Dimitri of a chance at a peaceful life. But if we assume that's what she's referencing here, it's still a blatant bit of verbal misdirection away from the fact that Edelgard started the war that lead to this moment. That she is the invader holding the axe, about to cut Dimitri's haed off.

    ​

    Which leads to the question: Who is she saying this for the benefit of ? Dimitri? Obviously not. Byleth? Maybe, but why? No, I posit that Edelgard doesn't shift the blame to make herself look better to others, but in order distance herself from the effects of her own actions. Edelgard's often viewed as someone who has the iron will to do what needs to be done for a better future, costs be damned, but I think these lines reveal someone who's closer to breaking than any student-teacher relationship can solve on its own. And all of this comes to a head with one of her last lines this chapter:

    ​

    "The Edelgard who shed tears died many years ago. Everything that's happened...it's all just part of the ebb and flow of history."

    ​

    Now, obviously that first sentence is a little turn of phrase. But I can't help but think how well this encapsulates a part of Edelgard's character. She seems so often to be unable to accept what she's done, so instead she has to shift the blame. And when she can't do that, she instead takes the long view -she dissociates from herself, and instead views herself in the wide lens of history instead. She can't let herself feel emotions, that's such an old Edelgard thing to do. The new Edelgard is just a tool of history – she has to focus on that idea, to detach herself from the emotions of what she's doing, when she can't blame her enemies deaths on themselves.

    I think it's clear by now, even if you'd never seen my takes on these quotes individually before, that I'm not a fan of Edelgard. At least not as a protagonist. But I've talked about that before, and I didn't wait this long, write this much, and make these memes in MS Paint just to make another "Edelgard bad" post.

    Because taken in totality I find these quotes fascinating. It's kinda infuriating to read them, yes - and yet there's the skeleton of a character here that even I can admit should be really compelling. This utilitarian dissociation from herself explains how she must've felt when turning into a Hegemon husk. Maybe you could also tie it into her alternate identity as the Flame Emperor (although to be honest I've tried and there's just not a lot of compelling stuff there, sometimes a disguise is just a disguise).

    And given what she's been through, it makes perfect sense she'd try to distance herself from her emotions. No doubt her dissociation started, at least in part, a coping response to the torturous experiments she and her siblings underwent as children. This is what the writers want you to see, in scenes where she's drawing Byleth, or afraid of mice (the mice do tie into her past trauma as well, but of all the triggers they could have chosen I have no doubt they chose mice specifically to contrast the grandiose mantle of a historical revolutionary she tales upon herself). They want to show the player a glimpse at the woman under the hard shell of her facade.

    Except these are among the only scenes we get in the main story of Crimson Flower that even vaguely address this aspect of her character, and even then only in a very indirect way. There's nobody who ever pushes back against the way Edelgard frames herself or her enemies – nobody she can't simply behead, anyway. Nobody among the black eagles. Her closest advisor is a total simp, and Ferdinand's soft and entirely one-sided "rivalry" with her doesn't really continue past the time skip. As Faerghast's video mentions, Edelgard is never called out on her working relationship with the people who killed Jeralt, or on how she covered up the fact that her own attack on Arianrhod resulted in a retaliation that wiped out the entire thing.

    And to be clear – I consider issues like lying about Arianrhod separate from how Edelgard will subtly shift the blame of the war to the defenders in other quotes. I do understand that in the moment, she kinda has to lie about Arianrhod – or at least, she thinks she does. Arianrhod is a lie she tells others, while I've come to view the way she phrases the war as more of a lie she tells herself.

    But in both cases, the story refuses to bring these up again, which I think is unforgiveable. Both issues, separate yet similar, combine to create a frustratingly unfinished sketch of a character who accomplishes her goals, but never truly grows as a person despite the dialogue repeatedly calling attention to her flaws.

    ​

    2. Draw the rest of the fucking Edelgard

    This is why people wanted to see more out of Crimson Flower – or at least why I did. It's not about a final boss that's thematic to the story, it's about having Edelgard face something of herself, something related to the choices she made. Dimitri very obviously receives this in several ways, most notably in Rodrigue's death at the hands of the sister of someone he killed. Even Claude, who is by far and away the goodest boi despite his incessant boasts of schemes, has his untrusting and untrustworthy nature challenged by Lorenz, who unlike Ferdinand heads a relevant rival political faction that at least considers opposing Claude well into the timeskip. It amounts to very little in the end, but even that gentlest of friction is missing from Crimson Flower, which just feels like the any% speedrun of conquering Fodlan.

    A lot of people (by which I mean me, I guess) would've likely appreciated Edelgard's character much more if she were given this chance to grow. But I think even people who already like Edelgard might be able to agree – wouldn't it be better if this aspect of her personality was addressed? As it is, Edelgard's just sort of left like this. She's never given the opportunity by the story to reconcile with herself, to truly come to terms with her own history and actions.

    Finding companionship in Byleth is nice, but not at all a substitute for Edelgard becoming comfortable with herself. It's not about having Edelgard broken into changing her mind and admitting she was wrong to start the war or something. It could instead be about her learning to become truly comfortable with what she's done on at least some level, being able to freely admit she's doing what she thinks is right, regardless of the cost. And yes, she DOES say stuff like that – even in one of the quotes I've included – but when this aspect of distancing, dissociation, and blame-shifting is so prevalent in her character throughout her route, from beginning to end, her words come across as hollow and unearned.

    Even in her most intimate moments with Byleth at the end of the game, I always have this nagging feeling that Edelgard's not being entirely honest – not necessarily with others, but with herself. It feels like she'll always have to close parts of herself off, and view other aspects of her own actions and psyche from a historical lens. I'm not saying that any one scene or handful of added chapters would just "cure" Edelgard of these issues, but the fact that it goes so utterly unaddressed makes her feel incomplete, at least to me.

    ​

    It feels almost like the game is unaware of this flaw its created within Edelgard. And that's how I used to feel at launch. But looking at the greater context of how Edelgard repeatedly behaves like this, it is impossible to believe that they wrote this without intending to.

    ​

    Which is why I've said before that I find Edelgard a compelling villain but not a protagonist. An antagonist can still be a very interesting character, but often has one or more fatal flaws that they do not overcome or grow out of during the course of the story. Edelgard, for as much potential as she had, IMO never really outgrows her flaws, even if the game seems to think she did.

    So yeah. An Edelgard topic in 2021. Hopefully I've made clear that the issue at hand isn't whether Edelgard's a good person, but whether or not she's a good, well-written character. My answer is still no, but the obvious intentionality with which the writers have Edelgard side-stepping her own culpability has frustrated me for months. That they never pay this off, even a little, is in my mind the single biggest sin of Three Houses' rushed development and split development focus.

    ​

    And so, despite the memes I've used in this analysis (I've got to trick people into reading my essays somehow - if you're here, I guess it worked) I really do feel some measure of sympathy for Edelgard. Certainly not in the way that the writers intended, but a sympathy for the character she could've been. The character that I think her fans see in her, but who is obscured by far too many unresolved writing issues for my tastes.

    submitted by /u/IAmBLD
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    Happy birthday Shiro!

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 06:04 AM PDT

    [Yuri/Bernadetta] Fouse On.

    Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:24 PM PDT

    Why is FE7 generally considered poorly written nowadays?

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 06:13 AM PDT

    I've heard people say that FE7 may look good at first, but in reality is poorly written. Why is that, and what are the parts that considered so poorly written?

    submitted by /u/CamusZekeSirius
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    I made a shrine to pray for the re-release of PoR

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:59 AM PDT

    Catgirl Fir [commission drawn by @hirutananndesu on Twitter]

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 07:17 AM PDT

    Finally got around to Awakening and this is my experience

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 06:05 PM PDT

    A little analysis of when you're "supposed" to attempt each child paralogue in Awakening (by enemy quality)

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:59 AM PDT

    Unlike Fates, Awakening doesn't scale the difficulty of its child paralogues according to where you are in the story. It doesn't scale their difficulty according to the paralogue number or where you find them on the map, either. People quickly figured out that the difficulty of each paralogue in fact corresponds to how early you recruit the unit you use to unlock said paralogue (although there's one very small exception!). I thought I'd compare the enemy quality of each child paralogue to the enemy quality of the various story maps to find out when you're "supposed" to attempt each paralogue without too big a jump in difficulty between maps. Obviously there's a lot more to a chapter's difficulty than how strong the enemies are! But that's all I'm measuring here.

    Just as a side note, I'm only looking at enemy levels - the quality of enemy weapons (and weapon forges) also increases throughout the story, and looking at those might help me make a more "objective" order... But unfortunately the wiki doesn't list forged weapon stats. I'm also not taking into account how you actually get to each paralogue either.

    Here are the enemy levels for a few of the story chapters, from the chapter that first unlocks child paralogues to the beginning of the Grima arc where all enemies and bosses become much tougher than those in any child paralogues.

    • 13 - Of Sacred Blood - 16 Unpromoted, 2 Promoted, 6 Boss
    • 14 - Flames On The Blue - 18 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 7 Boss
    • 15 - Smouldering Resistance - 19 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 8 Boss
    • 16 - Naga's Voice - 20 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 10 Boss
    • 17 - Inexorable Death - 3 Promoted, 12 Boss
    • 18 - Sibling Blades - 5/7 Promoted, 15 Boss
    • 19 - The Conqueror - 6/8 Promoted, 25* Boss
    • 20 - The Sword Or The Knee - 6/8 Promoted, 10/25* Boss
    • 21 - Five Gemstones - 10 Promoted, 15 Boss

    And here are the levels for all the child paralogues, listed in the order you recruit the parents that unlock them.

    • Scion Of Legend (Lissa/Owain) - 20 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 10 Boss
    • Disowned By Time (Robin/Morgan) - 20 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 10 Boss
    • A Duel Disgraced (Sully/Kjelle) - 19 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 8 Boss
    • Shadow In The Sands (Miriel/Laurent) - 20 Unpromoted, 3 Promoted, 10 Boss
    • Wings Of Justice (Sumia/Cynthia) - 3/5 Promoted, 12 Boss
    • Noble Lineage (Mariabelle/Brady) - 5 Promoted, 12 Boss
    • Rival Bands (Panne/Yarne) - 6 Promoted, 13 Boss
    • Ambivalence (Cordelia/Severa) - 6 Promoted, 13 Boss
    • Daughter To Dragons (Nowi/Nah) - 7 Promoted, 14 Boss
    • A Shot From The Dark (Tharja/Noire) - 7 Promoted, 14 Boss
    • A Man For Flowers (Olivia/Inigo) - 8 Promoted, 15 Boss
    • Twin Wyverns (Cherche/Gerome) - 8 Promoted, 15 Boss

    Interestingly enough, Sully's paralogue has slightly weaker enemies than Robin's or Lissa's, despite Sully joining a single chapter later than both of them. You could argue they did this because her paralogue is made more difficult by Kjelle being in immediate danger and the large number of reinforcements, but the same could be said of Robin's paralogue too. Weird.

    The first 4 child paralogues each have enemy qualities that match up to a certain story chapter, but after that they diverge slightly - there's a noticeable difficulty increase after you beat Chapter 17, and then another after 18. There's also a point where story chapters start having weaker generics but stronger bosses than paralogues, which makes things a bit awkward. Still though, here's my attempt at saying what order you're "supposed" to do each one:

    1. Chapter 13 (Lucina)
    2. Chapter 14
    3. Chapter 15 / Paralogue 8 (Kjelle)
    4. Chapter 16 / Paralogue 5 (Owain) / Paralogue 12 (Morgan) / Paralogue 14 (Laurent)
    5. Chapter 17 / Paralogue 9 (Cynthia)
    6. Paralogue 7 (Brady)
    7. Chapter 18 / Paralogue 10 (Severa) / Paralogue 13 (Yarne)
    8. Paralogue 16 (Nah) / Paralogue 15 (Noire)
    9. Chapter 19
    10. Chapter 20 / Paralogue 6 (Inigo) / Paralogue 11 (Gerome)
    11. All other chapters

    Everything after chapter 17 is a little arbitrary, so maybe other people would draw different conclusions. Although this entire thing is arbitrary, I guess. That's why I put scare quotes around every use of "objective"!!! The point is my uncle works for Intelligent Systems and this is how he says you're meant to play the game.

    submitted by /u/secret_bitch
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    Lady of the Plains

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 12:03 AM PDT

    [FE: Awakening Drama CD Fandub] Vol. 1, Track 1 - The Prince's Wedding

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:32 AM PDT

    A scenario.

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:01 AM PDT

    You wake up, no longer in your bed, but at Garreg Mach, shortly after it has been revealed what house Byleth joined. It has been decided that you are allowed to be a student there, and may choose your house. Also, you may mingle with the other students before making your choice, if you so choose.

    If your physical age is not within the expected range for a student, it will be adjusted to be such. You will not be considered to be of the nobility, for better or for worse. You will be given a modest allowance; you can do a little better than merely live on it, but if you want more than that, you'll have to earn it.

    1. How would you decide which house to join? There are a good number of valid ways... (This is NOT "Which house would you join?", though if you want it to be that simple, you may.)
    2. If you're asked where you're from, what do you say? The truth will be somewhere in this world, but is that what you tell them?
    3. Would you try for romance? If so, with whom would you try first? (Doesn't have to be a specific person; you can say that whoever does thus-and-such is the one I try for, or "the best-looking girl/boy in my house, which is X if BE, Y if BL, or Z if GD" or whatever.)
    4. Where would you hang out a lot?
    submitted by /u/Nyperold
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    Who is your favorite Elibe character?

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 01:01 PM PDT

    Who is your favorite Judgral character?

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 12:29 PM PDT

    Which Chapter would you cut/replace from any Fire Emblem game for story reasons? (If possible)

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 11:28 AM PDT

    What chapter would you cut/replace from a fire emblem game for the story to make more sense?

    submitted by /u/Gamestar02
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    Binding Blade iron man deaths and highlights

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:27 AM PDT

    I tried marrying Leo on my latest Conquest Lunatic run and OMG, how did I not know he was so awesome gameplay and personality wise?

    Posted: 22 Aug 2021 07:41 PM PDT

    I've almost always neglected Leo in my Conquest runs in favor of using Xander, Camilla, and even Elise, but I decided to marry him and feed him my stat boosters this time around.

    I pretty much only gave him the Spirit Dusts and Speedwings you get ingame as well as Midori's Dragon Herbs--no DLC or path bonuses, etc. To force myself to lean on him even more, I made a point of benching Camilla and Xander after their recruit chapters (I still kept Elise and reclassed her to Malig Knight which was amazing, but warrants a different post).

    The results were insane. A Dark Knight Leo with a Master Ninja Corrin pair-up and the Horse Spirit and Calamity Gate scrolls from Ophelia's paralogues completely stomped every chapter I used him in. I made a point of getting replicate on Corrin then passing it down to Forrest and Kana. I also picked up Soleil, Ophelia, Shigure, and Dwyer, but in most cases, just dropping Leo into the enemy range was fine.

    It was like using magical Xander--but with the added option of switching his weapon's triangle advantages between battles and lifetaker to replenish his health whenever it got too low. And unlike Xander, his defenses are very balanced so I never had to worry about physical vs magic units or even being hexed or enfeebled in a lot of cases.

    I know I showed him favoritism, but I'm still shocked at how good he was, with the biggest examples of him breaking the game being Chapter 20's Wind Tribe Ride and the older Hoshidan sibling battles near the end of the campaign. Was he always known to be this good?

    submitted by /u/FoodForOtt
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