Rank the students (pre launch thread)

[Ingrid]

S Tier - House Swaying Characters

Ingrid - See username.

Felix - Cool design, awesome hair, and I've always been one to like "edgy" characters.

Mercedes - Beautiful hair, nice design. She seems to be a bit more subtle of a person and I appreciate that.

Dimitri - You had me at lance lord. I'm looking forward to figuring out what secret's he is hiding.

Edelgard - Axe lord, pretty design, seems like she isn't taking anyone's shit which is a nice change-up for a female lord.

Claude - Bow lord with an awesome design. Another character I'm looking forward to see develop over the story.

A Tier

M!Byleth

Hubert

Petra

Dedue

Annette

Lysithea

B Tier

F!Byleth

Dorothea

Ferdinand

Bernadetta

Caspar

Ashe

Sylvain

Raphael

Marianne

C Tier

Linhardt

Lorenz

Hilda

Leonie

D Tier

Ignace - Sorry buddy.

 

The Blue Lions bias is quite clear here.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Ingrid

[timon]

Let's see

S
Edelgard: axe lord, beautiful girl, strong character, what else?
Ashe: good design, a commoner between the nobles, street smart, love it.
Marianne?: looks beautiful and a bit mysterious, we'll see.
F!Byleth: why don't they design other characters like this? WHY? She's very lovely (and badass). Probably my favourite design in the game, sadly probably won't get to use her (would feel weird playing as female).

A
Claude: when revealed I didn't like him, but he appears to have a serious side and he's the leader of a democratic alliance, which could make for an interesting character.
Petra: very good looking, interesting backstory.
Dorothea: same as above, interesting backstory and good looks.
Sylvain: looks like a fun lad, and one of the very few normal looking guys in this game. Also spear infantry.
Ferdinand: the last normal looking guy, the role of chancellor interests me, but I hope his character is not just based on his rivalry with Edelgard.

B
M!Byleth: I don't dislike him but... the hair is terrible, and I mean really terrible.
Dimitri: a bit bland maybe? But I'm fairly sure he'll grow on me during the game, I have high hopes for him. Also spear lord.
Hubert: he'd be A if it wasn't for the stupid emo hair over the eye.
Ingrid: another that could be A, maybe even S but that fringe is HORRIFYING. That being said, the backstory is very interesting, and she looks good (apart from that abomination on her forehead, my god is that a ruined design)
Hilda: okay I kinda like her, but I'm not a fan of spoiled-child characters, and I'm sure she'll turn out to be sweet inside, and I'm not a fan of that archetype either.
Lysithea: she was up in A/S, I really liked her, but then she's the next Cordelia and I'm honestly tired of humble prodigies (and I loved Cordelia, it's just too much the third game in a row...)
Leonie: looks like a fun lass, we'll see.

C
Mercedes: design is okay-ish, want-to-help-everyone-priest is not my thing, the fact that she's a noble turned commoner is the only thing that intrigues me about her.
Felix: just another edgelord, and he looks a bit stupid.
Dedue: he's just... a bodyguard, for now it's a bit dull to me.
Bernadette: meh, overly shy character and not a great design, but she's not as bad as F tier, for now.
Linhardt?: no idea, design is terrible, we'll see.

F(uck off) tier
Raphael: okay, we got our joke character, let's move on.
Caspar: stupid looking, saving the world justice hero wannabe, boring and cringy, no thanks.
Lorenz: another (very) stupid looking lad, and I never liked the personality archetype, it's just very annoying really.
Ignace: looks absolutely terrible, character seems bland, if the dub in english has at least a testicle maybe he'll be saved.
Annette: the worst design of them all, by a long shot, also bland personality.

Forgot to mention, not a student but above S by a mile
Hanneman tier
Hanneman: I mean the beard, the monocle, the crazy science, this guy is fantastic. Sadly he's 99% going to be a villain, but you know what? He's a hero in my heart.

So yeah, I'm not a fan of the guys this time around, apart from the lord and Ashe, Sylvain and Ferdinand every ohter male looks stupid.
Girls on the other hand are good, save the children-looking ones (I mean we've always had them, I understand it's part of the game, I'm just not a fan).
Also still crying over ruined Ingrid.
Also please let Hanneman be good PLEASE

[Dandy Druid]

No one is S for me yet. It's too early to call them S Tier, imo.

A Tier: (Like a lot)

Dorothea: I like dancers/refreshers usually. She reminds me of Rise from Persona too, so bonus points.

Dimitri: Everyone that's writing him off as grumpy or stoic need to reread his profile and Edelgard's profile. Dimitri was said to have a polite and refreshing personality, so I expect him to have cute moments. Edelgard is the one who's supposed to be aloof, not Dimitri, so don't get it twisted.

Felix: I like sarcastic characters. I think Felix will be pretty important as well considering he has Major Blood. His personal skill will be interesting to see how effective it is as well.

Mercedes: I like her design and her name. Her backstory is cool- I just hope she's more than just a nice girl though.

Claude: I think he will have the most refreshing personality out of the 3 lords, and for the series in general. He doesn't seem like a cookie cutter lord, and he does represent many firsts for this series: first lord of color and first bow lord. The hints that he's secretly cunning and manipulative can be interesting as well. He's the lord I'm most excited for.

B Tier: (Like)

Edelgard: At first I didn't like her too much, but she's been growing on me. Compared to other female lords, she seems to be more cutthroat or taciturn. Most female lords are naive or overly nice, so in comparison, Edelgard will be really interesting.

Caspar: Seems a little gimmicky, but he reminds me of Sanada from Persona. He has another JUSTICE! personality, but his backstory as a second son elevates that. He's all about trying to make a name for himself and make his own way in the world. I think he will be endearing. Also, I wonder if we will face off against his brother.

Petra: She seems like a pretty refreshing character. Although not too different from Athena, Petra seems to have enough backstory going for her to make her a really unique character. Because of her home country's name, I'm really tempted to make her an Archer instead of mymridon like most people probably will. Then again..... I won't spoil anymore. She's definitely wielding swords, axes, or bows for me though.

Dedue: He has an interesting design and backstory. I think he would be very handy in chokepoints too.

Ashe: I like his backstory. I was thinking of making him a thief, but his personal skill may make that useless. So I wonder what I should make him instead.

Hilda: I like her personality as a spoiled princess. For a series with a ton of princesses, we don't have any outright spoiled rotten ones like Hilda. I'm interested in how she interacts with other students.

Lysithea: I really like her design. Personality seems like a cross between Cordelia and Ricken. Appearance seems like a cross between Lute and Micaiah.

Lorenz: I like his schtick. Someone that wants to be popular with girls but isn't. It's kind of humorous, imo. Although it's been done SO MUCH recently (Virion, Inigo) I like how Lorenz is actually unattractive enough to make it work. Virion is ok, but a part of why I never got Laslow/Inigo's character striking out is because he was too handsome to fail that much. Lorenz is purposely ugly, and he has the whole insecurity thing hinted at so it would be interesting to see how his character will be. 

C Tier (Neutral)

Everyone else. They didn't leave a strong impression on me. I don't dislike anyone enough to put them in D or F.

Characters I've left out of consideration are the ones not revealed yet, so (as of now): Linhardt, Sylvain, Ingrid, Leonie, and Marianne. I have a feeling I'd add Linhardt, Sylvain, and Ingrid later.

When the game comes out, I'll probably take the ranking more seriously and properly rank them. But I don't really KNOW them yet, if you know what I mean.

 

[Xandest]

So I know this is a bit of a reach bump-wise, but I thought people might be interested in a summary of what people's thoughts were as of a few weeks ago.  For this summary, I included my own rankings of the characters and any rankings that were posted here that I thought would easily be averaged.  For this summary, I just used the raw order people listed the characters in.  I excluded anyone who either (1) excluded multiple characters (2) left an "everyone else" ranking, or (3) sorted within tiers by house or alphabetical order (didn't want any pro-Black Eagles, anti-Golden Deer bias or Annette and Ashe appearing too high on lists).  I included rankings that excluded or forgot a single character -- at the time, not much was known about Marianne.  I listed excluded characters as 13th out of 24 so they wouldn't be huge outliers in the full list.  All in all, I averaged 21 rankings.  Here they are below:

S Tier:  Average rank between 6 and 7: Claude, Ashe, Felix

A Tier:  Average rank between 7 and 9:  Edelgard, Dimitri, Sylvain, Mercedes

B Tier:  Average rank between 9 and 13:  Ingrid, Petra, Lysithea, Dorothea, Dedue, Ferdinand, Marianne

C tier:  Average rank between 14 and 16:  Bernadetta, Hubert, Leonie, Annette

D Tier:  Average rank between 16 and 18:  Caspar, Hilda, Linhardt

E Tier:  Average rank between 20 and 21:  Raphael, Lorenz

F Tier:  Average rank of 22.8:  Ignace

 

Most Controversial Characters:  Bernadetta, Caspar, Petra

Least Controversial Characters:  Ignace (lol), Raphael, Sylvain

Edited June 20, 2019 by Xandest

[luchinania]

Poor Ignace, and I’m surprised the husbandos ranked higher.

[Kiran_]

On 6/3/2019 at 11:22 AM, Kiran_ said:

Mine is basically based on design since we don't really have all the personality profiles yet and actual supports/gameplay will 100% influence it (duh).

Favorites: Claude, Ashe, Petra, Ingrid, Felix.

Good: Dorothea, Caspar, Sylvain, Hilda (she would be favorite, but her profile knocked her down), Lysithea, Marianne, Edelgard.

Neutral (but vaguely positive): Ferdinand, Annette, Dedue, Dimitri, Mercedes.

Meh: Bernadetta, Leonie.

Blah: Linhardt, Hubert, Raphael, Lorenz, Ignace.

I'm going to redo mine with the wealth of new information and having seen everyone's profile! 

Favorites: Claude, Ashe, Petra, Ingrid, Felix. Marianne. Edelgard.

Good: Dorothea. Caspar. Hilda. Lysithea. Dimitri. Annette.

Neutral (but vaguely positive): Sylvain. Ferdinand. Dedue. Mercedes. Ignace.

Meh: Bernadetta, Leonie. Linhardt.

Blah: Hubert. Raphael. Lorenz.

So a few people moved up, and a few down. Overall though, I like MOST of the characters which is pretty impressive and a win in my book! I'm glad I like most of the cast.

[mrwanton]

Geesh poor Ignace. Yeah, he looks a bit eh but he doesn't seem that bad overall. 

[PrincessAlyson]

Redoing mine now.

S Tier: Dimitri, Edelgard, Claude, Ashe, Linhardt, Mercedes, Sylvain

A Tier: Ingrid, Marianne, Lysithea, Dorothea, Petra

B Tier: Ferdinand, Felix, Annette, Raphael, Hilda

C Tier: Dedue, Leonie, Hubert

D Tier: Bernadetta, Ignace, Caspar

F: Lorenz

[SimplyUnknown]

S-Tier

Petra: Her design is amazing and I like the idea of her being a foreigner in a new country. She sorta reminds me of a more serious Starfire from the original Teen Titans, and I think she'll flourish as a unit and in her supports. Her personal skill is pretty great too. 

Ashe: I've always had a soft spot for thieves and characters who want to prove themselves, and Ashe appears to be both of those. The conflict with his foster father's rebellion has a lot of potential and his design is really cute as well.

Sylvain: One of my favorite designs for this game, Sylvain sorta reminds me of a friendlier Sain. Thankfully, I also really like Sain, so Sylvain ranks very high for me. 

Claude: My favorite lord from the beginning, nothing I've seen about Claude has disappointed me so far. Despite Golden Deer having a lot of lower tier characters for me, Claude's mere presence pulls them back up. 

Leonie: I'm really interested in her bio as a merchant hunter, as well as her connection to our father. Her design is great too, and I think she'll be one of the characters I recruit on a lot of playthroughs. 

Catherine: I am so grateful for Catherine because she made it so much easier to know who I would pair up M!Byleth with. What can I say, I like competent powerful women and her design is also one of my favorites. 

A-Tier

Dorothea: Her backstory and potential as a songstress really interest me a lot, but her spark has faded as we learned more about the other characters. Still a high ranking though.

Dimitri: I wasn't sure how to feel about Dimitri at first, but he's definitely grown on me. The differences between student and war Dimitri just scream potential character development to me, which is always important. Still only A-tier because his design doesn't appeal to me as much as some of the other characters. 

Felix: Felix is another character archetype I like, and his past with Dimitri, Sylvain, and Ingrid definitely boost him up. But he only ranks A because I know just how easy it is to do this archetype wrong, and that pushes him down. 

Mercedes: Another excellent female design and I like the idea of a motherly figure in the story as well as her relationship with Annette. I'm just unsure if she'll have enough depth to hold up in the game, which leaves her at A for me.

Marianne: Marianne is definitely another high rank for me, but is held back by her design. I just look at her eyes and want to tell her to get some sleep already! Still a sweet girl and worthy of A-tier.

M!Byleth: I've never really been fond of the male avatars, but M!Byleth is pretty good. I personally prefer him with the darker hair, but still a very interesting desgin.

F!Byleth: I know F!Byleth has gotten a lot of flack for her outfit, but I honestly don't think it's all that bad. And since she loses it when she changes classes, it's really not that big of a deal to me. She also has a great voice actor, which puts her at A-tier.

B-Tier

Edelgard: Edelgard...I really liked her when she first came out, but the time skip...worries me. I have a feeling she'll be excellent as an antagonistic character, but I'm not sure how well she'll hold up on her own route. Great design and good potential, but still B-Tier for me. 

Hubert: Hubert is a character with a great design and I'm hoping for good things for his supports. But what worries me is the potential of him turning into a Frederick, who was almost more of a joke character at times than a real one in Awakening. That keeps him at B.

Ferdinand: Another character with great support and unit potential, but personally, I'm just not fond of his design. I'm not sure why; maybe it's the shade of his hair? 

Bernadetta: Interesting design and potential for good character development. But she's pushed down by a strength in heavy armor, and I personally am not fond of armored knights. I'm also concerned about her hiding in her room during the video playthroughs; will that make it difficult to get support points with her?

Linhardt: Linhardt has definitely jumped up a couple of tiers since we got his profile. But that doesn't save his design. It just doesn't appeal to me personally, leaving him at B.

Dedue: Dedue has a more interesting design and history than Hubert, but stays on the same tier because of his heavy armor strength and the same potential to be another Frederick. Still hopeful though.

Annette: Annette is cute and I'm hoping for good things thanks to her past with Mercedes. But I don't really know, she seems almost too cutsey? Personal taste, I know, but still only B-tier. 

Ingrid: Ingrid has a great design, but I can't stop thinking of her as an otome heroine. That makes it hard to take her seriously, and leaves her at a B.

Raphael: I think Raphael could be a sweet character and I think his design is interesting. My only concern is that he could easily be turned into a joke character and that pushes him down from A to B for me.

Lysithea: Prodigies are easy to do and easy to mess up. Lysithea appears to be interesting at least, but I do think she needs a more flattering hairstyle.

Manuela: Like Raphael, Manuela could be an interesting character with a cool design. But like Raphael, she could so easily be turned into a joke character. So B it is.

Jerault: I like the idea of being able to fight alongside our dad. But I'm scared of him turning into another Greil or him just being non-playable. Still cool design and hopefully important to the story.

C-Tier

Caspar: I'm pretty sure it's the eyebrows, but Caspar looks a little off to me. His personality also could be hit or miss depending on if he's able to be more serious. So, C tier.

Lorenz: Hate his design, but it might change after the time skip. Potential for good character, but also potential for bad. Too easy for him to go either way.

Hilda: Reminds me a lot of Serra, who I felt pretty Meh towards. So it makes sense she's C.

Ignatz: I really don't get the hate Ignatz gets. I honestly just don't really care about him. He's not excellent, but undeserving of all the hate.

Sothis: Like Lorentz, Sothis could so easily be good or bad. There's too much potential for both right now, so I'll leave her at C. 

D-Tier

Rhea: Rhea worries me. Mostly the idea that she'll be completely underutilized as a character. Her design is pretty enough, but that's only enough to put her in D-tier. 

F-Tier

Hanneman: Oh this character scares me. I really hope he's non-playable and plot-unimportant because I do not like Hanneman at all. He's both a set of tropes I do not like, creepy to look at, and I have a bad feeling that he's going to be experimenting on people and turning them into monsters we'll have to kill. Maybe he'll surprise me, but I doubt it. 

[Three Eyes]

S-tier

Felix: Edgy sword boy with a chip on his shoulder and a man bun. Member of a childhood friend group.Gotta love that. 

Dmitri:  What happened to you? My sweet boy? 

Claude:  He talks like a shonen protagonist and I'm living for it. Also, he looks like Prince and seems like he'll be an interesting character. 

Edelgard:  She looks ruthless and intimidating with her redesign.  I love female characters like her, who are cold and not overly sexualized but ultimately well-intentioned, even though they're morally gray.

Ingrid:  Nice otome protag.

A-tier

Ashe:  Freckles!  Freckles!  Freckles!

Mercedes:  She looks like the kind of person who would pat my back while I cries on her shoulder.

Annette:  Tiny and Nice.  I want to be her friend.

Hilda:  She is so bright and colorful!  I love pink!

Ignatz:  Very small and son-shaped.  I'd jump through whatever legal hoops I needed to adopt him, give him a good home, you know. 

Linhardte:  Too relatable...

B-tier

Marianne:  Girl, me too. 

Hubert:  Edgy goth representation in my Fire Emblem.  I feel like he'll be cute with Edelgard.

Petra:  Her hair!  The little braids!  It's so pretty!  And purple!  But the tattoo makes her look like a custom avatar to me.

Dedue:  Hee hee, funnie name.  Uglier than sin, but he seems like a good guy, though.

C-tier

Leonie:  Cute tomboy daughter who I know nothing about and am not particularly curious to learn.

Raphael:  Someone please get this dummy thicc man a shirt that fits. 

Dorothea:  For the sake of transparency, yes, she would rank higher without the hat.

Sylvain:  Bad hair.  Boring face.  Put your arm down.

Bernadetta: Nothin' in particular.

D-tier

Ferdinand:  Never before have I seen a face so perfectly molded for my fist to collide with it. Perfectly, almost offensively, punchable. Ginger Prince Charming lookin' ass.

Caspar:  His hair is worse than Lorenz's.  Yeah.  I said it.

Lorenz-tier

Lorenz:  All of the women that he has approached and been rejected by deserve awards.

Edited June 20, 2019 by Three Eyes

[timon]

1 hour ago, SimplyUnknown said:

F-Tier

Hanneman: Oh this character scares me. I really hope he's non-playable and plot-unimportant because I do not like Hanneman at all. He's both a set of tropes I do not like, creepy to look at, and I have a bad feeling that he's going to be experimenting on people and turning them into monsters we'll have to kill. Maybe he'll surprise me, but I doubt it. 

[berriicoco]

On 6/3/2019 at 10:05 PM, berriicoco said:

This is my list based on appearances alone. If I judged them according to their personalities then the list would look differently (we don’t even know some characters, so yeah).

S-tier:  Lysithea

A-tier: Edelgard, Ingrid, Mercedes, Claude, Ferdinand, Felix, M!Byleth

B-tier: Marianne, Rhea, Catherine, Bernadetta, Sylvain, Hubert, Linhardt, Dedue, Ashe 

C-tier: Hilda, Anette, Manuela, Raphael, Ignace,  Caspar

D-tier: Petra, Dorothea, Leonie, F!Byleth, Sothis

Lorenz tier: Lorenz ?

Okay, now that I got an idea of how the personalities of these characters are (we even got a glimpse of Leonie) I will update my tier list. This time I'll only include the students. This will be my definitive pre-release tier list which now takes their both personalities and their design into account:

 

S-tier: Lysithea

A-tier: Edelgard, Ingrid, Mercedes, Claude, Dimitri, Ferdinand, Felix, Sylvain, M!Byleth

B-tier: Marianne, Bernadetta, Petra, Hubert, Dedue, Ashe, Ignatz

C-tier: Hilda, Dorothea, Anette, Linhardt, Caspar, Raphael

D-tier: Leonie,  F!Byleth

Lorenz tier: Lorenz

Sylvain, Petra, Ignatz & Dorothea go up, Linhardt goes down. 

Edited June 20, 2019 by berriicoco

[SpiceMan]

27 minutes ago, berriicoco said:

Sylvain, Petra, Ignatz & Dorothea go up, Linhardt goes down. 

And M!Byleth disappears.

[berriicoco]

4 minutes ago, SpiceMan said:

And M!Byleth disappears.

Whoops. I knew I forgot someone. 

[LSM]

I guess it's time for a re-rank now that we have abilities and biographies for everyone. (I'm going to try to ignore the time-skip designs as a ranking criteria until we get all of them.)

S Tier

Claude: The best looking lord in the School-Phase. (Unfortunately I hate his costuming in the War-Phase, so he'll drop in my next rankings.) The cunning rogue is also a very solid personality, and his skin tone suggests foreign ties which are attractive for storytelling. Skill in the Bow and Swords opens up Archer, but he might make a good Thief as well, as funny as that is. The possibility of him being a Flying lord is also very exciting.

Petra: I love Petra's look. The purple, the braids, the tattoo (?). Top tier. She has a great backstory, and attending the Academy as a political consideration creates tons of story. I also like the Gaelic touches. Hunters' Law might be useful against bosses, but generally when an enemy is below 50% HP you don't need a crit that bad. While I thought at first that she'd definitely be a Swordmaster or Pegasus Knight, the strengths she has in Axes and Bows is very interesting. A wyvern mount could see her becoming a real flying fortress.

Sylvain: One of the top tier guys looks wise. Absolutely dashing. Big brother to the other students, and flirty. On the other hand, the fact that his own elder brother was disinherited in favour of him (and turned to thievery) means that he'll have his complexities as well. Ladies' Man is a solid ability, and his skills are solid for a Cavalier. I might make him a brigand instead though.

Ingrid: Love her look, and the hint at her family being in rough straits financially is interesting. Also like that her, Dimitri, Felix, and Sylvain grew up as friends. Lady Knight's boost to Gambits is useful, and while she seems to be the consummate Pegasus Knight. It seems like she might also excel in Faith, suggesting she'll eventually make for a good Falcon Knight, if something like that returns. 

Edelgard: A very striking design - it's easy to see why many people gravitated to her. She also has the theme song, and seems like a driving force behind the plot. It's going to be interesting to see how someone else having her family crest effects things. The hidden talent in Reason is intriguing, while I won't weep for her weaknesses in Bows and Faith (though the latter is ironic, considering she has the crest of Seiros). We know she's neutral in Flying and suspect a strength in Armour, so I'm probably going to try to get her a Wyvern.

A Tier

Lysithea: Cute character, with some mischievousness in her. A modest child prodigy sounds nice, and hopefully the prickliness she has about being treated like a kid isn't off-putting. Prodigy is an amazing Ability for a game where Weapon Proficiency is used for promotion purposes. While she's seems set up to be a mage, she'll have a ton of possibility. 

Ferdinand: While his design is pretty non-descript, his background and personality are huge pluses to me. Being the son of the Adrestrian Prime Minister and suggesting that he should accede to the Imperial Throne himself should contribute to a lot of drama. Confidence is fine, but wow - his skills are nuts. Strong in Swords/Lances/Axes/Riding, hidden talent in Armour, and no weaknesses. Master Knight material right here, and who knows? Maybe one day... Emperor...  

Bernadetta: A character who's design has gone up for me over time. Her shyness seems fun. Paranoia could be very good, and her strengths being Lances/Bows/Armour means she could end up being an effective lure as an Armoured Knight. She'd be capable of taking hits and responding to enemies with big return volleys. Bit of an odd combination, and I'll acknowledge that her War-Phase costume is more suggestive of a Sniper.

B Tier

Ashe: Seems like a nice kid, and has the design to match. The background of being a street rat adopted by an honourable lord whom he tries to emulate is great, and it's going to be fascinating watching him deal with his father's rebellion. Wisdom to Live is an amazing ability, and while the strengths in Bows and Axes make him seem like a good Warrior type, I'm hoping that his hidden talent in Lances signals that he'll make a fair Bow Knight.

Leonie: Her visual design has grown on me a lot - I like the short hair. Her backstory as the only "true" commoner in the cast helps her stand out, and I feel like wanting to live up to her village's (financial) sacrifice makes for a pleasing character. Hates to Lose is a useful skill. And we've seen her using Bows, Lances, and Riding so she should make for a great Bow Knight. She was also used to show off the Fortress class, so she might have Armour too?

Caspar: Looks like a little aqua-coloured ball of energy, with a certain deviousness to him. He's blunt and honest and believes in justice. High five. Quarreler is handy for someone in the thick of the fighting. I'll be interested in what his skills are like beyond Axes and Brawling. As is, I'll be going down the Berzerker line with him, but the Black Eagles do need a Thief.

Felix: The Swordmaster in all aspects. Look, personality, skills. Thumbs up all around. Solitary Wolf synergises well with having a weakness in Authority. I probably won't make much use of the brawling strength, but the one in Bows means I might let him flex into an Assassin once and a while. I'm also intrigues by the hidden talent in Reason. Maybe He's the Blue Lions' secret magic weapon?

C Tier

Dedue: Love his oft-seen in anime dark skin/white hair combo. I'm also fond of the big boys, and the ear-ring is a nice touch that speaks of a common ancestry with Claude's people (I assume that he's like a Fodlan equivalent of the Romani). Seems a bit boring though, personality wise. Leige's Shield is a pretty great ability for an Armoured Knight, which Dedue's skills really push him towards.

Dimitri: Worst looking lord in the School-Phase, but not that bad. (War-Phase ranking will be much higher.) Personality seems to be very interesting, dealing with past and future tragedies. Skills are for a Cav-Lord, which is solid enough, though we don't know about Armour or Flying yet. We also haven't seen a hidden talent yet, and as Edelgard got one I assume he might as well. If he does, I'd imagine it's in Armour, seeing how he's consistently the lord who wears the most of it. 

Linhardt: I like his refined, androgynous, dandy-like appearance. The "incredibly lazy" personality is a little worrisome, but hopefully it's a pampered, lounging-around type of laziness and he's not a slob. It doesn't seem like he is, at least. Doze Off is a poor ability, and I can't imagine too many cases where it wouldn't just be a better idea to use a vulnerary. His skills are pretty wide open - I'm just glad he's not weak in Bows or Riding (because the meme is going to be fulfilled). 

Dorothea: A pretty, trendy young woman. I like the jauntily worn military cap, but don't feel as strongly about it as some do. Background as an idol is... odd. Not bad, but not particularly appealing to me. Songstress is okay - would be better if it were more than a 10% heal. The hidden talent in Faith might be useful, but her skills are a little boring as is. 

Marianne: I like her hair, and she seems nice, but the extreme tiredness of her appearance is not super appealing. Her being very devout is also a knock for me, but her crest being that of Hræsvelgr hints at fascinating story potential. Animal Lover isn't bad, and riders do have the ability to Canto next to her to get use out of it. Haven't seen too much of her proficiencies beyond healing to say how interesting her set up is, but I recall we saw her once with an Axe? That could be neat. 

Mercedes: Pleasant design, and the shawl is a nice touch. Her mellow disposition is neither here-nor-there for me, but I am intrigued by why an Adrestrian noble ended up a Faerghus commoner. Live to Serve is nice for a healer to have, though I'd expect it to be granted by classes as well. Maybe it will stack? We know she doesn't have a strength in Reason, but have seen her wielding Swords and Bows so she has some interesting set ups possible.

Annette: Middle-of-the-road design. Personality is nice, and the whole "works hard but ends up going in circles" is charming enough. Hard Worker could be a good ability, but I tend to under-utilise rallies. Mage skills are needed in Blue Lions, but not overly interesting.

D Tier

Ignatz: Weird hair, but the glasses are a nice touch and being an art lover is a plus. There's some good story potential in both being a second son, and friction between all the nobles and his newer mercantile wealth. His Hit Rate +20 is pretty great for any class, but the only Strengths we know about currently are Bows and Swords. While this pushes him towards being an Archer, he could also make for a learned-assassin.

Raphael: While the shirt-busting muscles are still fun I've come to find something about his eyes to be disturbing. Also not a fan of the thick-as-a-brick personality, but the E3 presenter seems to love him so I won't get too down on it. Scavenge seems somewhat poor. Raphael also seems to be the poster boy for the brawling classes, which... I'm not feeling in general. So that's a negative.

Hilda: Middling design for me (which seems to be very love/hate for others). A love of fashion and the finer things is ingratiating, whininess is not. While Plead is far from great, and her Strengths in Lances and Axes seems weird, as we haven't seen her on horse and I have trouble imagining her armoured. Hard to get a bead on her.

Lorenz: Terrible hair is a big drag on his ranking. (Yes, his War-Phase look will see him rise.) But I like the flair with the rose, and the haughtiness. Far less enamoured by the unwanted advances towards every woman in the Monastery. Prestigious Noble is solid, and while he's so far been presented as the stereotypical Cavalier, that's a solid trope to be.

Hubert: Don't care for the greasy hair and lack of eyebrows. He also seems oddly old. I know Edelgard vouches for him, but... gives off bad vibes. Strategist should help him get the most out of his Battalions. Not sure about his Lances hidden talent and strength in Bows - they don't seem too useful to a sorcerer like himself. I guess one or the other might be good to have on hand, as a physical option.

[Lief]

Honestly, I feel that almost all the student designs are dragged down by the uniform policy. Non-student characters like Byleth, Catherine, Alois, and Jeralt look comparable to Kozaki's designs, allowing us to guess at their class and fighting style from their outfit. 

As for the students, my ranking is just going into my favorite and least favorite students:

Favorites: All of these characters look great. Not ranked in any particular order.

Edelgard: Great design and color scheme, white hair is a plus along with the beautiful lavender eyes, and her uniform is nice as well. I'm scared of her personality though, not helped by her future self dressing like Walhart, Rudolf, and Hardin. Some of her dialogue also suggests a forceful, strict personality...

Dimitri: Yeah he has the fettuccine hair, but I find it easy to look past thanks to certain parts of his design. I like his sharp eyes, and his uniform looks great with all the armor. As for personality, he looks like a character that starts of generally normal, but as the game goes on becomes more vengeful and violent, like 9S from Nier. Whether I like his character arc or not depends on the catalyst for his change.

Claude: Didn't like him that much before, simply because he's really popular, but after the timeskip trailer I began to like him a lot. He just seems like an unambiguously good guy in the war phase. At first, I planned to do Golden Deer first because it was my least favorite house, but now that the leaks are looking more real, I decided to do Black Eagles first, which sucks now that I like Claude more now XD

Ferdinand: The most handsome male character so far, slightly ahead of Byleth. I like his face, his hair, and his personality. I'm tempted to pair him up with Edelgard so he can kinda be emperor, but not really.

Sylvain: Another handsome man, this one with red hair and a big brother attitude. I'm interested in seeing his supports with Ingrid.

Dedue: I like him because he's a MAN, not a twink like Caspar. I also feel that knights will be great in this game thanks to the stride gambit.

Dorothea: Has a great portrait, like she put a bit of charm when posing for it unlike Edelgard and Dimitri. I like her voice as well.

Lysithea: Great design, like Edelgard white hair is a plus. 

Least Favorite: This tier is ordered from least disliked, to most disliked

Linhardt: Kinda boring design, but his personality saves him, as well as his focus on Faith. I liked Clerics and Saints in Echoes, so I expect to like Priests and Bishops in this game as well.

Raphael: This guy, no joke, can pass for a sunburned brigand boss, I don't really like his design. I like his voice acting and general attitude, though I'm ambivalent towards his big eater gimmick, which was stolen from Effie, which was stolen in turn from Ilyanna.

Bernadetta: Meh design, and I don't like her overly shy personality.

Lorenz: Hands down the worst looking portrait in the game by far, a horrid combination of thin bedroom eyes, big mouth, weirdish nose, and ugly hair making him look simultaneously plain and ugly. Oddly, he looks just fine in the anime cutscene. What's worse is that he has a snobbish personality and likes to chase girls, something he should rightfully fail at with that ugly portrait of his. Here's hoping his timeskip portrait is at least bearable to look at.

 

[EarthboundAddict]

They're all S rank in my heart. idk why so many people dislike Ignatz... he's just a sweet boy with a bad haircut who likes art, that's adorable.

[SpiceMan]

1 hour ago, EarthboundAddict said:

They're all S rank in my heart. idk why so many people dislike Ignatz... he's just a sweet boy with a bad haircut who likes art, that's adorable.

His Japanese voice actor gave me terminal Gonorrhoea. I don't mind his personality, and from what I've heard his english VA is a lot better, but his design and the relatively plain backstory compared to other characters *Cough* The whole of Blue Lions *Cough*, just solidifies him as my least favourite. I don't hate him though because I am one of the few people who likes all the characters so far at least somewhat.

Edited July 1, 2019 by SpiceMan

[Fabulously Olivier]

I won't be revising or including my opinions for the time skip (due to us not having complete glimpses at them). Come launch, I will be doing separate categories for pre and post timeskip, and anyone else is free to either do that or combine their overall opinions of each character. You do you.

 

That said, I am digging every post skip design thus far. It's improving my opinion of Lorenz and will hopefully do the same for Ignatz once we see his. (I doubt anything could salvage my opinion of Raphael).

Edited July 1, 2019 by Etheus

[EarthboundAddict]

9 hours ago, SpiceMan said:

His Japanese voice actor gave me terminal Gonorrhoea. I don't mind his personality, and from what I've heard his english VA is a lot better, but his design and the relatively plain backstory compared to other characters *Cough* The whole of Blue Lions *Cough*, just solidifies him as my least favourite. I don't hate him though because I am one of the few people who likes all the characters so far at least somewhat.

I like his Japanese voice, it's cute, like him. and I like simple characters too, I think they're charming!

[nordopolica]

I love all my children equally except Dorothea's hat. 

[Siskan]

5 hours ago, nordopolica said:

I love all my children equally except Dorothea's hat. 

This. There are some I'll probably like more, but in general they're all fine. That hat though.

[Ranulfo]

Black Eagles

1. Dorothea. From the moment I first laid eyes on her I knew she would be one of my favorite characters. From her ever famous hat to her hair, her expression and sassy pose. She cares about her girlfriends like Ingrid. And she's also a mage and a singer! If I were a student in this academy I just know we'd be best friends.

2. Caspar. I gotta be honest, I wasn't completely sold on Caspar at the beginning. He looked kinda weird in the earlier trailers to me. But after we got to see his hi-res portrait, know about his personality and hear his voice I fell in love with him. What a sweetheart. Truly my trash son. He also looks pretty great post-timeskip, although I'll miss him being a shorty. I hope I can pair him up with Linhardt.

3. Edelgard. I was scared she would just be another Lucina blandina but so far she seems really awesome. Bonus points for losing the obviously made-to-be-popular original design and going for that awesome empress look after the timeskip. I love my powerful empress.

4.Linhardt. Just like Caspar, I definitely wasn't sold on him originally besides reciting the obvious meme for the first few days. Look at that hairstyle. Yikes. But after learning he suffers from sleepy bitch disease, his hyperfixation on crests and his bromance with Caspar he quickly rose on the ranks. Here's hoping for a glow up worthy of Lyn's great-grandson.

5. Bernadetta. I'm usually really into shy anime girls (see Marianne) but Bernie didn't really do it for me. I'm not a fan of either her pre or post-timeskip appearance and I'm still kinda worried about her "hobbies" even if it's probably just gonna be cooking or monk-watching. I loved Nina for her better moments but we don't need another one. I'm open to her personality surprising me though!

6. Petra. The echoes to Athena were kinda worrying to me. Foreign for the sake of being foreign is a bit of a pet peeve for me, even if I quite liked Gregor. She's definitely a step-up from those type of characters though, given we actually learn what country she's from and why she's here. Keep learning that language, girl. I lowkey hope she has a similar relationship with Edelgard as Nephenee has with Calill. If after the timeskip she has gained more confidence in her speech and herself she's 100% gonna go up a few ranks.

7. Ferdinand. I actually had Hubert here and spent a good 10 minutes trying to remember who was left from the Black Eagles. So yeah, he's kinda forgettable to me. He's not in last because of that one confession booth note about wanting to overthrow the current emperor and inherit the throne instead of Edelgard... I'm all for post timeskip full rebel leader Ferdinand.

8. Hubert. He ugly. It's like they took Iago and Izuka and had them birth a weird magic child. "Loyal to Lord" is also all we've got for him atm, so unless he gets developed nicely like Soren I don't anticipate me liking him. 

 

Blue Lions

1. Sylvain. "Womanizer" characters have always been hit-or-miss for me, and I was actually a bit disappointed when he turned out to be a member of that archetype, but I still love his design so much (redheads are my weakness), and learning about his backstory with his house and brother as well as being childhood friends with Dimitri, Felix and Ingrid definitely revitalized my interest for him. Hopefully he has more going for him than characters like Alec, Sain, Virion or Inigo.

2. Ashe. Once again, loved his design since day one. I love soft boys with pastel hair. His involvement with the leader of what's probably one of the first rebellions against the church promises to be interesting as well. Can't wait to see how he develops with the story.

3. Mercedes. A big sister character done right after Fates?! Sign me up! Mercedes seems so nice and sweet while also having an intriguing and mysterious backstory. I can't wait to learn more about her and her previous status in Adrestia.

4. Annette. The few images we had of her before her profile reveal definitely didn't do her justice. She's so cute! I love her voice and portrait pose too. I want to learn more about her past in the magic academy and how a niece ended up inheriting the crest of her family... Intriguing.

5. Ingrid. I actually liked Ingrid a bit more before we knew a lot about her. I like her dream to become a knight worthy of respect and I'm really hoping she doesn't end up relegated as the "female childhood friend" to Dimitri, Felix and Sylvain. I want her to be more than just an equalizer for her male friends!

6. Felix. He would probably be lower if it weren't for the fact he's literally the only known playable character with a major crest other than Byleth. He seems a bit like the generic lone edgy swordsman we get in basically every game. Some of them hit it off with me, some don't. Let's see if his involvement is enough to make him part of the bunch I love!

7. Dedue. Another "I'm loyal to my lord" and that's it kinda character. I have more hope for Dedue than I do for Hubert though. He seems like he could be a scary looking giant that's actually a sweetheart, and I'm a sucker for that archetype. He has the potential to rise up. Please don't actually have the averages we saw in the King of Beast videos

8. Dimitri. The Blue Lions is my favorite house, but Dimitri is definitely my least favorite lord. His personality was the only thing he had going for him, given his horrible initial design, and even though they kinda fixed the hair post-timeskip they made him edgy and scary... I don't like that too much. Of course, it can all change once we see what makes him reach those extremes, but right now he's a combination of everything I don't like in a lord.

 

Golden Deer

1. Marianne. Soft color palette, blue hair, shy personality, animal lover, mysterious backstory and crest, possible relationship with the Adrestian Empire... What's not to love? Marianne hits all the right buttons for me. She definitely seems like an important plot character taken straight from Genealogy, and I'm totally down for that. I hope she's worth the hype.

2. Claude. My favorite lord of the three both pre and post timeskip. He's so dapper and he fights for his friends. I hope I'm not forced to kill him since I won't be choosing his house at first, but he'll definitely be my boy for the second playthrough. Let's see how "cunning and untrustworthy" he really is. love the facial fair king

3. Raphael. What an ABSOLUTE UNIT. A good, BIG boy. A nice optimistic soft guy who likes to eat and doesn't like to study and whose shirt is always in danger of bursting open. I love him.

4. Lysithea. She definitely has potential to be a cool character if she doesn't end up being a female Rickeyato. I like a studious, magically inclined woman, so let's see if she can mature out of her appearance and become a respectable warlock.

5. Hilda. The pink-on-pink is a bit much for me, and her post timeskip appearance is hit-or-miss, but I do enjoy a cute, feminine woman wielding a huge ass axe as her main weapon. I'm also very interested in the parallels between her and Sylvain. She also inherited a crest over her older brother, but they don't have a bad relationship and he (seemingly?) hasn't been disowned and banished because of it. I really want to see what becomes of her backstory.

6. Leonie. I like the mercenary background; her, Byleth and Jeralt bring me back to the good old Greil Mercenaries. She looks and acts a bit bland so far but I'm looking forward to see her grow as the war advances.

7. Lorenz. At least he has an interesting hair color? Meme man really needs to pay a better hair stylist, but he does give me hope that he'll be the awful womanizer of the game and Sylvain instead will just be a horny teenager who'll grow out of it. Digging the glow up after the five years though.

8. Ignatz. Personality-wise, I like him! He seems sweet... but not terribly interesting, sadly. That combined with the worst hair in the entire army, big ass nerd glasses and baby voice brought him down here. I anticipate him to be blandy mcbland. But if he proves me wrong, becomes incredibly interesting and gets a Caspar style big boi apperance change post timeskip I'm fully ready to eat my words and love this man.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Ranulfo

[SpiceMan]

1 hour ago, Ranulfo said:

The Blue Lions is my favorite house, but Dimitri is definitely my favorite lord.

Nice. Might want to fix that.

Edited July 2, 2019 by SpiceMan

[Ranulfo]

56 minutes ago, SpiceMan said:

Nice. Might want to fix that.

Whoops. Thanks for noticing haha 😛