Cosmic_Dragon

It was even more prime of a chance cause, even though she killed her people's slaughterer, it was clear that it wasn't "it" for her; like, she won the battle but the chapter didn't close, it wasn't the end of her story (and to be honest, her victory over Nemesis kinda has a sort of pyrrhic-like feel based on the cutscene cause there's no inherent sense of finality or joy to it, just a "this isn't over" kinda theme) she's still very much haunted by his memory and that of her past before him, and that would've made for a very good and unique FE plot. But no, let's just sideline her and not do much with her or her remaining family members, they get to be only one more unit in your army. Come on now...

Being fair though, Rhea can be saved if you have Byleth A or S-support her, and her S-support does give a bit of pretty valuable insight into her character...However, I agree that the Nabateans really, REALLY, needed to be explored more, and Rhea also needed more time to shine. As it is, everything about them is too vague and left up to interpretation to make any concrete conclusions, other than what the game tells us. It was especially disappointing that Byleth getting the powers of a deity of light amounted to...a hair and eye color change and being a bit better at magic (which I personally never cared for cause I always made Byleth a physical-oriented unit; War Cleric Byleth ftw). But honestly, after Three Houses, and especially Three Hopes, I'm kinda tired of IS always treating whatever the resident dragon tribe is as an afterthought and never elaborating much of anything on them for the sake of keeping them "mysterious". Like, what's the point of giving that kind of nature to a character if you ain't gonna do anything with it other than them getting some special power-up?

Word of advice, never get hung up on or listen seriously to the things you see people say on Gamefaqs or 4chan (especially 4chan). Actually, just don't get too invested in most arguing on the internet, period.

Does anyone know if there's some way to see the game's paralogues at the moment? Or has that not been leaked?

Honestly, same. I know some folks are all about the morality and different outcomes and what have you, but after 3H, I've seen more than enough anime politics discourse to last me a lifetime. Absolutely nothing wrong with something more campy and straightforward that simply wants to be a fun and clear-cut good vs evil tale (especially nowadays).

Sorry, I said daughter cause she's coming in the same banner as female Alear, so I thought that this Lumera "canonically" had a daughter. Probably still should've said "child" though.

It's definitely weird. Especially when Engage itself doesn't hesitate to have her acknowledge Alear as her daughter. Something's definitely fishy here. I mean, it could also make sense if Lumera having a child was supposed to be some kind of secret affair in-universe (except to a few select people), and this is simply alluding to that, but, I don't know, it's still rather odd...

Can we really count Ephraim as precedent though? Like, one of his duos was a normal hero while the other was child-themed (basically different types of duos). In this case both duos would be seasonal, and has there ever been a hero with two seasonal duos? (Unless that's what Alfonse and Veronica's other duos were cause I only remember them having one each). Also, I'm not sure we can say that Grima counts as actually being Robin (who's the actual avatar of Awakening).

Personally, I don't see why one should be discouraged by that. I mean, even if something is made by Japanese nerds for other Japanese nerds, I don't think that's any reason for why someone out of that audience wouldn't find something they enjoy from that. Like you said, there's always the possibility of things having a deeper meaning, and whether someone finds that deeper meaning on something that seems to be made solely to "pander to otakus", well that's entirely up to people. Everyone can have their own perspective on things they like and things they don't, and whether someone else finds that agreeable or not it doesn't really have to take away validity from your own opinion. I mean, another apparently unpopular opinion from me (or maybe it's not, really don't know how to gauge these things), I like the Byleth/Rhea pair and think it's one of the best endings in Three Houses. That doesn't change the fact that some people find it rather distasteful or think it's just a kink, and well, I can't really go around telling people what to think, I just don't agree with that and have my reasons for liking the pairing (and while I personally think it's one of the best endings, I won't say it should be that for everyone else), but if someone wants to think like that, they're welcome to it. My point is, there's many opinions out there, but something being made "for otakus" by other Japanese nerds doesn't mean someone who isn't that can't find some deeper meaning in said tropes, or that it's wrong to like them even if they don't find anything of the sort. I mean, I don't really ship Corrin/Camilla, but I won't say that it's wrong for someone else to ship them either. Yeah, their interactions were clearly meant to invoke the "mommy kink" trope, but I mean, someone else who does like that pair could also be seeing something that I (or other people) are missing, and that's pretty cool really (at least, I think it is).