There's one problem that is quite large with the 3H story... And that is Crimson Flower.
There can be no denying that the story was magnanimously established that the church was not responsible for the evils of the crests. That was brought on by Nemesis and the Ten Elites. Rhea changed history (a nod to Deghinsea) in order to protect possible future bearers of crests from being slaughtered by folks who might seek their destruction just because they were descendents of the Elites. It shows some courage and forthcoming goodness on the part of Rhea... Of which I wouldn't have done myself. Those Who Slither in The Dark have a name: the Agarthans. I will refer to them as their name. They were behind Nemesis and the Elites decision to slaughter Rhea's brethren and make weapons of their bodies and crests of their hearts.
The problem with Crimson Flower is that Edelgard blames the church for the evils of the crests and claims that those "beasts" Dragonkin and children of the goddess, are to blame for all evils. False. It was man who decided to make the crest bearers nobles. Not Rhea or the church. Or her dead mother who made no such decree of anything. Edelgard at first seemed to make her decisions out of ignorance, which could be understood but never excused. However, later on in the story, it is readily revealed that she knew all along who were the real problem. But not to the fullest extent. Instead of confronting Rhea before declaring war, to find the truth, she just sets ablaze a continent claiming: "For the freedom of Fohdland!" Except... She's uniting them under empirical rule... Which from what I remember... Is not freedom. Stupid. She even openly discovers in Arionrhod that the church was not responsible for the pillars of light that rained from the sky, and even knows who is... And she says to us, the protagonist and Hubert: "Let no one know of this." Then she calls a meeting of the strike force to say: "The church did it." Had I been able to make a choice, I would've chose (as Byleth) to kill her where she stood for that damnable lie.
It's humorous, to say the least. Her entire story can be summed up to a modern expression of hatred of God (Christ) because someone told her she had to. I.e. her father. Pathetic. And to me, she has no redeemable qualities after that story. I have my problems with Dimitri acting a fool, and Claude meddling in Fohdland affairs even though he's an almyran, trying to push that ridiculous open boarders agenda politically in a video game. But Edelgard is the worst bad guy in the series in a long time. Crimson Flower tries to make her seem like the good guy, when in reality, that route cements her evil. I will take solace and pleasure in defeating her in all my future runs. Gladly.
3H is a great FE... But it has its problems and they're big ones at that. I'll still play the game... But I am more looking forward to the possible and hopefully inevitable remakes of FE4 and FE5.
