So far, what route would you call canon? (OBVIOUS SUPREME SPOILERS)

[MrPerson0]

1 minute ago, bufkus said:

There's a reason 43% of players went BE while the other two routes are split in the 20%'s.

I think that's just due to Edelgard being insanely popular. Waifu power and all that.

[Spectrum]

I honestly see Black Eagles as the canon route. I'm doing BL after finishing BE. After doing supports and seeing how crests controls their lives and ruins their dreams(like Mercedes or Ingrid), relationships(Sylvain's brother), etc. The only route that can free them from the crests is Edelgard's route. Byleth, too, since he regains his mortality.

[Arachnofiend]

16 minutes ago, Spectrum said:

I honestly see Black Eagles as the canon route. I'm doing BL after finishing BE. After doing supports and seeing how crests controls their lives and ruins their dreams(like Mercedes or Ingrid), relationships(Sylvain's brother), etc. The only route that can free them from the crests is Edelgard's route. Byleth, too, since he regains his mortality.

I'll admit I lack full understanding since I haven't played the other routes, but from what I can tell even in the routes where she ends up being a clear villain Edelgard is essentially proven right - Fodlan is unified under a single banner and the church is cut down at its knees. The difference is that Edelgard becomes the scapegoat for the war and the systemic issues that brought us to this conflict in the first place aren't resolved (especially the route where Byleth just straight up becomes the new pope - it'll be better this time guys I swear).

[0 Def Cleric]

1 hour ago, Arachnofiend said:

I'll admit I lack full understanding since I haven't played the other routes, but from what I can tell even in the routes where she ends up being a clear villain Edelgard is essentially proven right - Fodlan is unified under a single banner and the church is cut down at its knees. The difference is that Edelgard becomes the scapegoat for the war and the systemic issues that brought us to this conflict in the first place aren't resolved (especially the route where Byleth just straight up becomes the new pope - it'll be better this time guys I swear).

The game is definitely about Edelgard's ideals, yeah. So although I'm not sure that any route is particularly canon per se, the game does seem to be mostly about her. (It helps that her ending addresses the one loose end that's left, making it essentially the best ending for everyone besides Dimitri and Dedue and the church.) Plus the fact that her route is the hardest to unlock. 

[Moonlit Knight]

22 hours ago, Arachnofiend said:

I'll admit I lack full understanding since I haven't played the other routes, but from what I can tell even in the routes where she ends up being a clear villain Edelgard is essentially proven right - Fodlan is unified under a single banner and the church is cut down at its knees. The difference is that Edelgard becomes the scapegoat for the war and the systemic issues that brought us to this conflict in the first place aren't resolved (especially the route where Byleth just straight up becomes the new pope - it'll be better this time guys I swear).

Superficially, she is proven right in the sense that everyone agrees that the status quo is bad and needs changing. You’re breezing over the nuance that the three lords disagree on the fundamental reason “why” the status quo is bad and needs changing, and each route goes about addressing their perceived issue and making a valid argument to the player as to why their issue lead to where Fodlan is (thus all routes can be said to be addressing the “systemic issues”). 

Spoiler

Edelgard ultimately views the crests as a power that simply can’t be used responsibly by humans and inherently causes corruption. Her main enemy is thus the church and Rhea and the sources of the crest power and seeks to destroy them.

Claude, self-proclaimed “shiftiness incarnate,” views the fundamental problem as that the people and nations of Fodlan simply cannot trust each other and have become too wrapped up in their own isolated little world. The final enemy of the Golden Deer route is thus the Those Who Slither in the Dark (the only route I think where you properly deal with them) and everyone else who goes about preventing the people and leaders from trusting each other (and other countries in the world) enough to come together to solve their problems. To that end, his main beef with Rhea is all the secrets she is keeping about how the system works.

I’m not familiar with the Blue Lions route, but I assume it’s something similar.

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Moonlit Knight

[MrPerson0]

3 hours ago, Spectrum said:

After doing supports and seeing how crests controls their lives and ruins their dreams(like Mercedes or Ingrid), relationships(Sylvain's brother), etc.

To be frank, even if there aren't crests anymore, there would still be nobility and the like (as seen with all FE games). Humans will just shift everything over to money and power. I think Edelgard could have taken a different approach to this since

 

Spoiler

she basically tried to kill Dimitri and Claude with those bandits at the beginning of the game, though her being crazy/detached to basically everything makes sense with her supports revealing what she has gone through as a kid.

 

[Errorik]

BL imo. Hits like a classic FE story, just way better.

[Lord Otto]

Really the best outcome for a sequel though would just be having four separate start points depending on what you choice. 

[Errorik]

23 hours ago, Moonlit Knight said:

Superficially, she is proven right in the sense that everyone agrees that the status quo is bad and needs changing. You’re breezing over the nuance that the three lords disagree on the fundamental reason “why” the status quo is bad and needs changing, and each route goes about addressing their perceived issue and making a valid argument to the player as to why their issue lead to where Fodlan is (thus all routes can be said to be addressing the “systemic issues”). 

  Reveal hidden contents

Edelgard ultimately views the crests as a power that simply can’t be used responsibly by humans and inherently causes corruption. Her main enemy is thus the church and Rhea and the sources of the crest power and seeks to destroy them.

Claude, self-proclaimed “shiftiness incarnate,” views the fundamental problem as that the people and nations of Fodlan simply cannot trust each other and have become too wrapped up in their own isolated little world. The final enemy of the Golden Deer route is thus the Those Who Slither in the Dark (the only route I think where you properly deal with them) and everyone else who goes about preventing the people and leaders from trusting each other (and other countries in the world) enough to come together to solve their problems. To that end, his main beef with Rhea is all the secrets she is keeping about how the system works.

I’m not familiar with the Blue Lions route, but I assume it’s something similar.

 

BL is summed up by a conversation Dimitri and Edelgard have near the end of the route. Dimitri agrees with the basic premise of Edelgard's ideals but thinks the world she wants to create is for strong people. Those who aren't strong will still suffer and all the suffering caused by shifting to her "new system" isn't worth it because it still doesn't fix suffering. Dimitri sees the problem as people not recognizing each other's differences, strengths, and weaknesses. A world that helps the weak, because humans are all weak, and seeking to understand each other is the best world. It's why I see BL as the canon route or at least the best route. It's addressing the root cause of all problems. A lack of empathy, patience, and self awareness leads to pain. Dimitri rules the entire continent at the end. Claude gives him the alliance after he saves them and he takes over the empire once he kills Edelgard (she stabs him when he tries to help her up/forgive her after the last battle). At the end he still questions whether he is fit to be a king and if he is a redeemable person after being in the dark/killing people for so long. He makes a bunch of mistakes, goes insane from loss and self imposed burdens from his dead loved ones, and but learns from everyone around him and strives to be the best person he can be. #BL4lyfe

[Timlugia]

Church route(or should be called Byleth path) since it’s only route you are the true lord leading the people, rather than just a follower/advisor of a lord. You completely destroyed the mastermind behind the war.  You even used Fire Emblem as the symbol of the army, later the new nation.

 

it’s also the only path truly reveals who Byleth really is. It’s final cutscene strongly referring to the opening cutscene. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Timlugia

[Lord Otto]

I don't know, I personally believe that the Edelgard path is canon if we had to pick one. Why? She is the pov in the main theme song, all the trailers focused on her. The true ending is never the default path which is what the church is. The harder to get paths are usually the canon one when there are multiple endings. Plus it would be more interesting to pick up on that path for a sequel if they couldn't fit all four paths in a sequel.

[ChickenBits]

I think they're all "canon" in some way or another. They deal with different aspects of the war and class system. Ultimately, I think Fodlan improves in one way or another but still has some lingering problems. The perfect utopia doesn't exist and I think having one canon/true ending would defeat this. 

[Timlugia]

41 minutes ago, Lord Otto said:

 all the trailers focused on her.

We all know at this point pre-release marketing was a heavily misleading campaign, they depicted Dimitri as mad king, Claude as a conspirator, church as thoroughly evil, and Edelgard was just against unreasonable ideas. And none of these turned out to be true.

[Lord Otto]

3 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

We all know at this point pre-release marketing was a heavily misleading campaign, they depicted Dimitri as mad king, Claude as a conspirator, church as thoroughly evil, and Edelgard was just against unreasonable ideas. And none of these turned out to be true.

True but the fact is it just makes more sense, mind you I would still prefer there to be no canon if there is a sequel and it to just take your choices from Three Houses.

[Timlugia]

9 minutes ago, Lord Otto said:

True but the fact is it just makes more sense, mind you I would still prefer there to be no canon if there is a sequel and it to just take your choices from Three Houses.

I don't know how they can make sequel without a canon path when pretty much each path resulting destruction of the others.

 

Honestly even if they made a sequel, it would be years from now. People would be far less attached or care about if their house was canon.

Like most people today don't care who made final strike in Awakening, or who was the decoy in Shadow Dragon.

 

 

[UNLEASH IT]

I'd hope that BE isn't the Canon route because it's really short

[Altrosa]

I consider the Edelgard route as the bonus villain route, as well. It being so short and having a few extra steps to unlock puts it in an odd place. Edelgard so vehemently believed she was in the right and was just short of being sociopathic enough to not care about her companions that it reframes her actions as being as just as the others despite how brutal the other paths show her to be. 

What we dub the church route is the real Black Eagle route. Edelgard being in so much promo material just feels like the devs wanted more players to complete the BE route first, and they likely knew putting a cute girl up front would appeal to the weebier side of their audience. 

 

That said, I doubt any of the paths will be made “canon” at all. I expect the story DLC to be all prequel content or a few post chapters for all of them. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Altrosa

[Flere210]

I think Edelgard spotlight come from the fact that is a "Villain act, Hero react" kind of story. It's not unherad of that the villain is the most important character. KOTOR 2 comes to mind.

[0 Def Cleric]

20 minutes ago, Flere210 said:

I think Edelgard spotlight come from the fact that is a "Villain act, Hero react" kind of story. It's not unherad of that the villain is the most important character. KOTOR 2 comes to mind.

I don't know, is it really that if she's only a villain when you don't play as her? It's the same thing as Rhea committing war crimes on Edelgard's route- neither of them are villains, they're just misguided people who need your help to stay on the right path. When you're a misguided person with a lot of political and military power, of course that's gonna lead to consequences. 

I feel that a lot of people are interpreting the routes without the idea that Byleth acts as everyone's emotional anchor. Without anchors, everyone goes off the rails to an extent, even Claude. I feel like a major theme of the game is that people need emotional support to deal with trauma, and Byleth is essentially the main emotional support of whatever lord you pick. 

[Timlugia]

One thing I found ironic was if Edelgard didn't start her revolution, Byleth will likely still take over the church from Rhea and carry out his/her reform mentioned in all three other endings, without all the bloodshed.

Since Rhea recognized Byleth being Progenitor God prior to timeskip, that means her plan to eventually step down for him was set in motion with or without the war.

In some quotes she told Byleth that everything was already done in preparation of "their" return.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Timlugia

[Water Mage]

8 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

One thing I found ironic was if Edelgard didn't start her revolution, Byleth will likely still take over the church from Rhea and carry out his/her reform mentioned in all three other endings, without all the bloodshed.

Since Rhea recognized Byleth being Progenitor God prior to timeskip, that means her plan to eventually step down for him was set in motion with or without the war.

In some quotes she told Byleth that everything was already done in preparation of "their" return.

This is more due to Edelgard’s personality. She’s the type of person that who is like “it’s either my way or you die”, so in way she’s not that different from Rhea/Seiros. A good example this is the beginning chapter, where instead of trying to reveal the church’s dark secrets to Dimitri and Claude and try to make an alliance with them, she chose to kill them and take control of the Kingdom and the Alliance for herself, believing that only she could lead them.

 

[0 Def Cleric]

14 minutes ago, Water Mage said:

This is more due to Edelgard’s personality. She’s the type of person that who is like “it’s either my way or you die”, so in way she’s not that different from Rhea/Seiros. A good example this is the beginning chapter, where instead of trying to reveal the church’s dark secrets to Dimitri and Claude and try to make an alliance with them, she chose to kill them and take control of the Kingdom and the Alliance for herself, believing that only she could lead them.

That's definitely a good criticism of her character. She doesn't really consider other outcomes besides "if I do what I believe is right, everything will work out in the end." Which, of course, has definitely worked out for every past Fire Emblem character *cough* Sigurd and Arvis *cough*. I'd expect a lot of that is due to her trauma, which is why she goes for less brutal tactics on the route you help her work through said trauma; she's more willing to consider other people's feelings when she isn't isolating herself from them for fear they'll hurt her. Actually... everyone in this game really needs a therapist, don't they. 

[MyBoyHector]

On 7/31/2019 at 2:47 AM, MrPerson0 said:

I think that's just due to Edelgard being insanely popular. Waifu power and all that.

Believe the term is "Waifu Axe Lord" There was a reason why hector was both OP and popular ^_^

Back on point, I would like if there was a route where the 3 House Lords were together and you could 100% recruit all students, though I would not care if you could not get Rhea, cause screw her and her secrets!

[Tenzen12]

Hey! Women need they secrets

[Humanoid]

1 hour ago, MyBoyHector said:

"Waifu Axe Lord"

Edelgard!
Sweet Edelgard!
You acted cuckoo
'Cause you thought I would leave you
Sweet bird

Edelgard!
Sweet Edelgard!
So knowing!
So trusting!
So love-d!