Figuring out the Paralogues

[SullyMcGully]

Fire Emblem is infamous for frequently having bogus paralogue requirements, whether it's beating a turn limit in FE6, meeting random EXP requirements in FE7, or needing to kill off your units in FE11. The latest game in the series, Three Houses, has unfortunately continued this trend, and it has made paralogues in this game downright confusing. Multiple sites have information on how paralogues work in this game but a lot of that information is contradictory or inadequate. Therefore, my goal with this thread is to provide a place where we can work together to clear up 3 things about each of this game's paralogues: 1) What are the requirements for each paralogue? 2) On which routes can each paralogue be accessed? And 3) what changes about each paralogue depending on the route you're playing?

Paralogue requirements are tied primarily to two things: having the proper units and being at a certain point in the story. The second of these requirements isn't really such a big deal. Anybody who has played through the game once before can understand why paralogues would have to be completed by the deadlines provided and why certain paralogues are not available until after certain events. However, knowing which units are required for each paralogue requires studying ahead. Before the timeskip, it appears that as long as you have just one of the required units for a paralogue recruited, the paralogue will be available. Other required units will be brought along for the mission, but if they have not been recruited, then they will simply be mission assistance units who don't gain EXP.

However, after the timeskip, you will need to have all of the required units for a paralogue recruited into your ranks. I could go on a diatribe about how annoying it is to have to recruit Caspar (a unit Mercedes doesn't even support with) in order to unlock Mercedes' paralogue on the Blue Lions route but that is not the purpose of this thread. I merely want to avoid any unpleasant surprises where you discover that your unit's paralogue is locked because you didn't recruit a random member of another house. 

I've heard rumors that there are other factors locking certain paralogues, such as having Byleth's support with the required units at a certain level or having protected certain NPCs during missions. I believe these rumors are untrue but if I'm incorrect please let me know.

Certain paralogues seem to be route-locked. In some cases this is obvious. For instance, Annette's paralogue requires both Annette and Gilbert to play and since Gilbert is available on the Blue Lions route only, Annette's paralogue will be unavailable on other routes. Hubert's paralogue will obviously only work on the Black Eagles!Edelgard route because that's the only one where Hubert is available post-timeskip. However, some of these route locks are less self-evident. I've heard reports that any paralogue featuring a unit who did not start as a member of the Black Eagles house will be unavailable on the Black Eagles!Edelgard route EVEN IF you have recruited that unit later yourself. I'm not sure if other anomalies like that exist.

Lastly, paralogues seem to play out differently on different routes. For instance, Ingrid and Dorothea's paralogue seems to have different dialogue at the ending for Blue Lions and Black Eagles playthroughs. If you play as the Blue Lions, you get Luin. If you play as the Black Eagles, you get a Goddess Ring. This raises a lot of questions. Is the ending dialogue and item obtained dependent on which route you are playing or which character you have recruited? If the former, what happens if you play this mission as the Golden Deer? If the latter, what happens if you've recruited both Ingrid and Dorothea? From what I've heard, Petra and Bernadetta's paralogue is available on all routes, even though when I played it on my Black Eagles!Edelgard playthrough, they were very plainly 

Spoiler

fighting against the church. Heck, even Catherine showed up as a boss. 

Does the dialogue and enemy selection of this paralogue change depending on which route you are playing? 

My hope is that by discussing our experiences with the games paralogues, we can firmly establish how they are each unlocked and what changes in each one from one route to another. I look forward to hearing your input below!

EDIT: I'm putting all the information I can confirm in this Google Sheet. I'm drawing a blank for a lot of things post-timeskip though. If there's anything in here you can confirm or that you believe is incorrect, let me know! 

Three Houses Paralogue Sheet

Edited September 2, 2019 by SullyMcGully

[Bartozio]

11 minutes ago, SullyMcGully said:

Lastly, paralogues seem to play out differently on different routes. For instance, Ingrid and Dorothea's paralogue seems to have different dialogue at the ending for Blue Lions and Black Eagles playthroughs. If you play as the Blue Lions, you get Luin. If you play as the Black Eagles, you get a Goddess Ring. This raises a lot of questions. Is the ending dialogue and item obtained dependent on which route you are playing or which character you have recruited? If the former, what happens if you play this mission as the Golden Deer? If the latter, what happens if you've recruited both Ingrid and Dorothea?

I can confirm that on my GD playthrough I got Luin as a reward from this chapter. I had Ingrid recruited and not Dorethea, so I think that was the deciding factor. You'd have to test all the other options to be 100% sure though.

Also, you should probably update the first post with a comprehensive list of all the paralogues and questions and findings we have for them.

[SullyMcGully]

1 minute ago, Bartozio said:

I can confirm that on my GD playthrough I got Luin as a reward from this chapter. I had Ingrid recruited and not Dorethea, so I think that was the deciding factor. You'd have to test all the other options to be 100% sure though.

Also, you should probably update the first post with a comprehensive list of all the paralogues and questions and findings we have for them.

Good idea!

[Dark Kain]

I did play the Ingrid/Dorothea paralogue in a deer playtrough while having recruited both characters, I can confirm that I goth both items (the relic lance + the goddes ring).

[SullyMcGully]

Alright! I added a Google Sheet. Let me know about any blanks I can fill in or any things you can confirm.

[Silent Mercenary]

The Ingrid/Dorothea paralogue (Rumored Nuptials) appeared for me with only Dorothea recruited, but I did it after I recruited Ingrid and got both rewards. My Byleth had B supports with both of them and they had a C support with each other, but not sure if supports affect this paralogue. Having the character as mission assistant does not affect the appearance of the paralogue (ex: Sylvain is my current assistant and his paralogue doesn't appear with Byleth/Sylvain C support), although I'm unsure if the final rewards will for cases like Rumored Nuptials.

For the Hanneman/Manuela paralogue, Oil and Water, it wasn't around when entering month 11 with both having C supports with Byleth, but it appeared after I recruited them. I forgot to check if it popped up after recruiting only 1 of them.

For the google sheet, it might be worth adding another column for other notable rewards from chests and drops, like the Knowledge Gem for Tales of the Red Canyon, or the Healing Staff and Prayer Ring in Rumored Nuptials. Supports being unlocked post-paralogue could be included somewhere too, like the Ashe/Catherine supports and Ashe/Felix B being unlocked after doing Falling Short of Heaven. (Minor mistake in the sheet: Tales of the Red Canyon expires on 1/25 & Dividing the World is until 5/24 (post-timeskip).)

[Cysx]

44 minutes ago, Silent Mercenary said:

For the Hanneman/Manuela paralogue, Oil and Water, it wasn't around when entering month 11 with both having C supports with Byleth, but it appeared after I recruited them. I forgot to check if it popped up after recruiting only 1 of them.

Can confirm that it does. However, it seems you will only get the battalion tied to characters you have recruited, the one exception being Seteth's.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Cysx

[CelestialContrail]

I can confirm that it is possible to do Legend of the Lake on the Crimson Flower route if you have Leonie recruited - I did this on my recently completed Crimson Flower playthrough.  (Amusingly, one of the characters - Lindhart I think - was like, "We probably shouldn't tell Edelgard and Hubert that we're trying to get a Saint's Relic," and Edelgard and Hubert were unavailable during the paralogue.)

I also had Lysithea recruited and the paralogue for her and Ferdinand never became available, so that one does seem to be unable to be done if you're on the Crimson Flower route.

[Seafarer]

This list is mostly accurate. I'm fairly certain that Hilda's Paralogue is treated like a post-skip Paralogue, so you have to have both her and Cyril for it to show up. Nope, only Hilda needed.

Note that Dedue coming back post-skip is a reward for War for the Weak, which you don't have in your sheet. It may also be worth noting that you can get the Lance of Ruin before The Forgotten becomes available, so it's not necessarily gained from that map.

As for when things are available from:

Weathervanes of Fódlan - C14

The Face Beneath, Legend of the Lake, Foreign Land and Sky - C15

Eternal Guardian - C16

Retribution - C17

The Silver Maiden - C19

(I don't know the corresponding months, sorry. Also, I haven't played Verdant Wind or Crimson Flower, so don't have anything on their exclusive Paralogues.)

EDIT: You only get the Aegis Shield from True Chivalry if you save all the villagers. I think some of the rewards from Retribution are also only available if you save all of the blue squares.

EDIT 2: War for the Weak is available in C6, which is Horsebow Moon, or the 9th month.

EDIT 3: Dividing the World goes until 6/28 on Azure Moon. It was definitely 5th month on Silver Snow, though.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Seafarer

[Moonlit Knight]

There was another thread where people were compiling info, but I don't know how buried it is right now.

Anyway, some points:

- Most of the post-skip paralogues have differing start times/deadlines depending on which route you're in. The only one I can confirm right now is Foreign Land and Sky being available starting 02/01 on the Church Route

-Tales of the Red Canyon has a Knowledge Gem chest that seems notable enough to include as a reward

-I don't know what's up with Hilda and Cyril's paralogue, but it is available both pre-skip and post-skip, so maybe it wasn't coded correctly or something? You definitely need Hilda recruited, as it does not show up if you just have Cyril.

- Annette and Gilbert's paralogue requires their C-support and nets you Crusher

-Legend of the Lake gets you The Inexhaustible

-Mercedes and Caspar's paralogue is not available on Crimson Flower. You also get a special CG later on in the Blue Lions Route if you do that paralogue.

-As mentioned above, Ashe x Catherine's paralogue is required for certain supports to proceed

-I don't know for sure, but I believe Marianne's paralogue is available on Crimson Flower. At least, I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't be. It makes perfect sense that Mercedes x Caspar and Ferdinand x Lysithea are not available on Crimson Flower because the story set-ups simply don't make sense at all on Crimson Flower, but there is nothing story-wise that should prevent Marianne's paralogue from being available. 

4 hours ago, SullyMcGully said:

 From what I've heard, Petra and Bernadetta's paralogue is available on all routes, even though when I played it on my Black Eagles!Edelgard playthrough, they were very plainly 

  Reveal hidden contents

fighting against the church. Heck, even Catherine showed up as a boss. 

Does the dialogue and enemy selection of this paralogue change depending on which route you are playing?

Spoiler

You fight Empire troops instead and Hubert (with Meteor) is the surprise boss.

 

[Cysx]

8 minutes ago, Moonlit Knight said:

-I don't know for sure, but I believe Marianne's paralogue is available on Crimson Flower. At least, I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't be.

Yes, it is. Don't remember on which chapter/month, however:x

[Dark Kain]

The Mercedes/Caspar paralogue has several minor effects.

Beyond the forementioned extra CG on Blue Lions route, a few of Mercedes Support (anyone where She mentions her Brother) are also affected. It seems these supports are not added in the 'extras' section and can be seen only directly in game.

Lastly, if Caspar receives the schyte, in any following appaerance of the death knight as a boss he has a different weapon equipped.

[kittykatie]

for bernie and Petra paralogue the enemy that shows up for crimson flower is catherine and is hubert in the other routes