CyberNinja

So does Edelgard actually know Thales is someone masquerading as Arundel, or does she actually believe Thales is her uncle? She refers to him as uncle even as he is openly acting as Thales as in the siege of Gareg Mach and when she is in private with Byleth and Hubert in Crimson Flower. Is there really a difference to her either way? Normally I wouldn't ask this but since her view of history is warped and incorrect, I actually wonder if she truly thinks her uncle is one of them rather than someone who was replaced by the Agarthan leader. Or, quite possibly, could her uncle and mother have actually been Agarthans who killed some nobles long ago? Doubtful since Dimitri's research has Arundel's behavior change dramatically in a short time but Edelgard's mother still remains an open plot thread, we simply assume she died later on or during Duscur even though she assisted in the planning and her carriage showed no signs of attack.

Appears you are correct. Image for others. Double checked and Caspar's dialogue doesn't change, so there's no gender-dependent change in what is lost.

That would be rather unbecoming of a noble, so I doubt it. Oh... it's gonna be one of these threads then. I'm not, it really isn't. Not a prude thing but already by this point it feels like a flanderization of a character when Fire Emblem has finally begun working on multfaceted characters. Something they haven't done in a long time, so I'm already losing interest in the thread by this point... yea... figured I get this as the "deep reason" explanation. Maybe I'm just jaded from reading a lot of fan fiction in my younger years (can't stomach it now) but this is the sort of thing I'd expect in a really bad fanfiction. No offense but it really feels like the thread will just devolve into a race to absurdity rather than be of much interest. Probably shouldn't even respond but since the 2nd Gen, extended family, and similar threads all became a similar level of cringe... well I just feel a little burnt out since I'd actually like to discuss the sort of lore these threads covered.

I agree, Mortal Savants look like hot garbage without the hat, i.e. like Fortress knights and many other generic classes, they look terrible on anything but generic enemies. I mean, Dark Knights exist, its not THAT unique.

Since she mentions it's a small blue cloth? Don't know if it changes dialogue for F!Byleth but given that and the extreme stoic face Byleth has when Caspar talks about it being good for wiping sweat. Yea, that's exactly what it was. Really don't know where the undershirt thing is coming from, other than it appearing in an earlier trailer build (i.e. an older Tree House translation) thus I can only assume that its been perpetuated by word of mouth from people who haven't actually played the game, or speed readers.

She was asking about books in the library, Claude suggests she'd find books more to her taste in town. I don't remember the specifics but she was basically acting for romance/erotica

Yep, I agree with Seazas. If you can't direct us to a specific monastery conversation or unlocked cutscene in the extras, then there's no point in bringing it up in this debate. Whatever you feel doesn't really matter if you can't back it up with evidence. The only evidence of why any of the black eagles are working with them is because like what Caspar said, they saw the professor with them and followed. As you can see from Sylvain's monastery dialogue (part 4) in Crimson Flower, joining on such flimsy reasons was a mistake but they have little choice but to follow through on that point. (pretty nice, check his videos, he covers all chapters.) @Seazas thanks for posting the write up, it was nice to see an explanation in words for what I experienced (played Crimson Flower -> Golden Deer -> Blue Lions and recruited Felix every time.)

I like all the lords, Dimitri's probably a close second but I do prefer Edelgard. It's why I prefer Silver Snow, oddly enough, I feel it does the Byleth-Edelgard relationship best, better than Crimson Flower and certainly better than Verdant Wind.

Should note that the difference between other routes and black eagles in regard to the flame emperor reveal is that in other routes all the evil shit Edelgard did happened to a different class and a teacher they were fond of but much more distant towards. In Black eagles they were explicitly manipulated and used by Edelgard who acted as the house leader even as she personally put them all in harms way and she never gave away a hint of remorse l. Now she's saying stand aside or die, so they fight against her in the tomb but she escapes. So Edelgard raises an army and sieges gareg mach. In other routes they flee like many other students while in silver snow they stand against her in the siege, they watch numerous friends die as well as other innocents and then their beloved teacher is killed as well. Many of them return to the empire some refuse but Edelgards reaction in the goddess tower is clear, all bridges have been burned. So Edelgard still goes and so do the students each drawn for their own reasons, Edelgard meets Byleth fights them and flees. Bylethbrejoins his students, it's a happy time and Seteth convinces them to stand against the emperor, the students strengthen Byleths will who's actually the one least enthusiastic about fighting Edelgard and an army is formed. Those arguing silver snow is it of character are ignoring the true extant of betrayal the black eagles are feeling coupled with Hubert's smug reveal as well suggesting that their fondness for Edelgard had only ever been one sided. Only in silver snow does this happen.

Weathervane of Fodlan, Silver Maiden, The Face Beneath, and Felix's paralogue were all rather interesting to me. The last one especially since when I first played, I never really had a good read on Felix or if he was just an edgy boy, the paralogue actually gave me the first hint there was more to him than just the edgy fire emblem swordmaster dude.

Because NG+ is easy enough even on hard, you can solo the entire game with just your Lord and Byleth. Actually you can do it with just Byleth, although it'll take you 80+ turns on Silver Snow final boss.

Makes more sense than Golden Deer, has less Charisma since no Claude, basically the same route with differing casts. So pick Golden Deer and assume church is a rip off, or play the church route, realize all the soldiers in shared VW and SS cutscenes use the models for the SS faction soldiers, that Claude is completely missing in the majority of shared cutscenes (Shambala, Enbarr, Merceseus getting nuked) and the the Claude route gives you the sparknotes lore that Silver Snow will give you; that the Edelgard/Byleth relationship in these cutscenes makes no sense unless you had her as your student, slowly come to accept that Verdant Wind recycled all of the Silver Snow route assets and not the other way around, and then deal with arguing with everyone who believes otherwise forever. Makes a nice "book ends" route though, if you save it for last. @Edegard1902 yes, the Black Eagles have as much prominence in this route as they do in Crimson Flower because this was the original route for them with Crimson Flower being added later in development. uniquely, during the reunion, you'll actually get resources (gold) from lindhart after he mentions stealing from his family before coming to the reunion. Small details like that.

The AM route split is cut from the game and thus non-canon, so we don't consider it as part of his character: He hates the Empire more than he hates Dimitri, unless you're doing Crimson Flower. That and his friends are there now, and he's actually less edgy than his pre-time skip. Regardless, he doesn't actually hate Dimitri, but you haven't finished the route so I don't why you're here asking this now, the answer is in the available content if you bother.

Its fine, its why I asked.

Because him and Annette leaving was cut from the game.

But we literally already know what he looks like.Did you play Blue Lions? And he's likely a Great Lord, like his son: And he was literally assassinated for being too progressive.

Why wouldn't they fight for their families against a coup d'etat inflicted on their homeland when in most routes the only people at war are the Empire and Kingdom? That they join up with you when you wake up makes sense since you're the one having the greatest effect on stopping the Empire?

Caspar's Father: I imagine him to be based on the War master class while continuing the Randolph/Alois/Caspar tradition of being a full plate version of the class. The Dragon/wyvern Chest piece would be replaced with an Eagle and the blade like shoulder would be a stylized wing. The coloration would be primarily the colors of the Adrestian empire with some gold elements and he'd wield an axe aligned to whatever crest the Bergliez family has. As for what he'd personally look like, I imagine him looking similar to Dozla or Dad!Hector with Caspar's hair color. Unlike Caspar, he didn't get much taller growing up and is shorter than his son but far brawnier. Holst: I imagine him to be a big man in all ways, unlike the above his perfectly clean shaven with that perfect princely charm to him as he always puts in the maximum effort in maintaining his appearance. He'd have a darker shade of Hilda's hair. He'd be classed as a Wyvern Lord as many of these types of characters (Arundel, Rodrigue, Gwendel) all use mastery classes as the base for their unique appearance and the special Battalions (Holst chosen, Gonereil valkyries) are flying units and it adds the mirroring of Nader/Nardel and Holst. Basically agree with this, probably a swordmaster like his younger brother, could be a Paladin or Hero though.

Can you be a bit more clear what you are asking about?

I find it rather shallow regardless, but by the time I joined the fandom, this was rather set in stone; so there is little point in my complaining about people obsessing over romance options.

Because unlike with every other character, A rank does not denote a paired ending for Byleth, thus S rank was added so that the player could choose their paired ending. It couldn't be A+ because that already exists in supports as an extra support alongside C+ and B+. My problem isn't that these S-ranks are platonic, it's that they're the only platonic S ranks, however that is probably for the best; imagine if people saw some Claude or Dimitri S rank only to find out it was simply a platonic eternal friendship ending? Imagine if Edelgard hadn't been Bysexual. Basically, but you can't deny that there's a strong subset of the Fandom that wants that, no? It seemed to me that the original anger around these two wasn't that married men were supposedly gay options, but that they weren't attractive gay options.

I'd have to go through the cutscenes but I'm pretty sure Hubert mentions that the Knights of Seiros are roughly comparable to another kingdom in terms of military power. Note: Between the centuries old cardinals with crest stones embedded in them; the fanatically loyal best knights and soldiers of the empire, alliance, and kingdom; the Golem war machines; and the expansive armory of sacred weapons in storage; I'm pretty sure he's right.

She's choosing death to ensure the end of the fighting, when she loses she's given up on having her goals accomplished. It's her accepting her failure and bringing an end to things. Living would result in war hawks on both sides calling for war, she'd be the most hated person in the kingdom and alliance territories and conflicts would spring up between the nations, if the empire hadn't been annexed. If it was people would be calling for her head anyway and Dimitri pardoning her would only build resentment.

Anyway, not mine, but I thought it was an interesting piece on crests and their relation to how characters act. Maybe help develop our thoughts on Edelgard's motivations/character.

You know, you could at least quote or mention me if you're going to respond so I can get the alert. I sincerely doubt you take anyone who's disagreed with you in good faith, so why should I place any value in that? Other than the fact I was trying to steer the thread on to topic by reiterating some positions. However you seem to be unwilling to offer even the courtesy to back up any of your claims so how about this: you start posting screenshots backing anything of what you've said and I'll get off your case? Let's start with: who are the corrupt nobles she has placed in power, what evidence do you have to support this? is it caspars father, who dies to save the lives of his soldiers or are you going to make the argument about Ferdinand, who gains his position in all his endings in all routes because he is actually just that good at governing? Does Dimitri undermine his nonexistent democracy in doing so? How about Byleth, I suppose Claude is pretty terrible about creating an equal society if he entrusted ruling Fodlan to his teacher who only put his students in positions of power. lindhart is able to cause an industrial revolution in Brigid in one of his endings, leonie and Felix can become so successful that they make themselves jobless as mercenaries. The end state of Fodlan is so determinate on who was recruited that you'd have to set some sort of parameters for us to judge it. What remains constant is that your students are the most competent, most deserving of merit, around. I get that in the wonderful world of the modern western enforced peace we have this great love for democratic values but are you just going to work under the expectation that anything leading to democracy is an ultimate good thing? Do you really want to bow down to the popular opinion of the very isolationist, fanatically religious, and racist Fodlan? This is a medieval society, any democracy would be run by the wealthiest merchants, the landowners in the old nobility, and the religious demagogues who control the masses. It would at best be a secret oligarchy, a tyranny without a figurehead to throw down, the blame shifted to the people who voted the party into power. It would be ridiculously corrupt there just wouldn't be the possibility of it ever being revealed as such.