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Fire Emblem Three Houses: The most neurodivergent FE yet?


Corrobin
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I was talking with some discord friends, and one of them noted that a lot of Three Houses' cast could be read as having some neurodivergent disorders.. I'll spoil it, as some of them can be a tad spoileriffic for certain routes or backstories, but here's the list:

Black Eagles characters:

Spoiler

Linhardt: Chronic drowsiness when under stress, fluttering from interest to interest and only being able to focus on whatever fancies him in the moment are all characteristics of some forms of ADHD.

Bernadetta: Her behavior comes across as PTSD stemming from abuse.

Blue Lions: 

Spoiler

Dimitri: Post-timeskip, Dimitri has some quotes and, in a Flayn support, he mentions he's lost his sense of taste, which is a signal of depression. Constantly seeing ghosts implies some PTSD-induced hallucinations, as well.

Felix: His self-admitted dislike of making eye contact, hyperfixation on a single subject (swordfighting/combat), lack of of social tact, difficulty with expressing emotion, and extreme bluntness are all signs of high-functioning autism/Asperger's Syndrome. 

Annette: Annette is known for being scatterbrained and clumsy, with an obsession with learning magic. Combined with an early sidequest being about giving her herbs to help her be "a little calmer and more careful," and she's a practically textbook case of ADHD.

Ashe: An early side quest implies that he suffers from depression, which he takes herbal remedies for.

Golden Deer:

Spoiler

Marianne: Almost everything seems to point to her having suicidal depression-she admits in Byleth supports she prayed to the goddess for her to end her life, lack of focus or concentration, anti-socialness, and a general lack of self-esteem.

Do you have any thoughts on these? Would you like to weigh in on this armchair diagnosis? And how would you feel about more characters with real-world issues like these?

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Hmm. Reading this something else comes to mind.

Spoiler

Manuela has problem with alcohol. There also need to be something going on mentaly. I am not much into making diagnostic analysis FE characters. She also searches love and comfort. Which could maybe hint to her being neglected by her parents? 

But overall, why not bringing real world problems into games makes it a bit more natural I think? And also some relations. Of course we still need to reflect to not take it too much at value. Always a bit tricky for non-professionals to try some analysis here, which just should be kept in mind. 

But maybe Byleth should have taken a different profession. 

Spoiler

Btw, if it wouldn't be for the storyline and changes you could say that Byleth has a brain injury. Lets just say that Byleth is recovering from TBI.

 

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Interesting point: While many point out the similarities between Edelgard and Rhea, I'd like to also point out that both Edelgard and Dmitri share PTSD and Survivor's Guilt, which heavily fuels their actions and the way they turn out (Edelgard's nightmares and Dmitri's hallucinations are clear signs of PTSD and Edelgard's NEED for change, for results brought by HER to ensure her siblings' deaths weren't wasted and Dmitri's NEED for the dead to be avenged are brought about by Survivor's Guilt)

Ignatz feels guilty that Raphael's parents died where his would have (see their paralogue dialogue) but I don't think it'd be an actual diagnosis there

Cyril could have Stockholm's Syndrome XD

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Dimitri, I'd say has Post traumatic embitterment disorder.

Quote

Felix: His self-admitted dislike of making eye contact, hyperfixation on a single subject (swordfighting/combat), lack of of social tact, difficulty with expressing emotion, and extreme bluntness are all signs of high-functioning autism/Asperger's Syndrome. 

I knew there was a reason I loved Sour Puss more than I should. High functioning autistic here!

Edited by Dragoncat
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It's kind of weird for me trying to discuss these  characters and people because I have spent a particularly large amount of my life around someone diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and to this day thinking of him as having a mental anomaly sounds absurd. Sure, he may have some particularly strong areas of interest, but who doesn't these days? I've interpreted Felix in particular as a character with genuinely good goals who struggles to express them due to his extremely jaded perspective on Faerghus culture and values. I think it makes him interesting, and slapping a medical label on him would cheapen his agency in the story because it would lessen our ability to see his behavior as being more than just an effect of some condition. I won't attempt to apply this line of reasoning to any of the other characters at this juncture because my experience with those other conditions is exponentially lesser, but maybe you can find similar conclusions on your own.

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16 minutes ago, Ivan Tridelan said:

Cyril could have Stockholm's Syndrome XD

He might if Rhea had kidnapped him but it was actually house Goneril that captured him and made him a house servant. If anything Rhea's the one who set him free. I suppose if he gets paired with Hilda it might have some Stockholdy vibes. 

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37 minutes ago, PeaceRibbon said:

It's kind of weird for me trying to discuss these  characters and people because I have spent a particularly large amount of my life around someone diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and to this day thinking of him as having a mental anomaly sounds absurd. Sure, he may have some particularly strong areas of interest, but who doesn't these days? I've interpreted Felix in particular as a character with genuinely good goals who struggles to express them due to his extremely jaded perspective on Faerghus culture and values. I think it makes him interesting, and slapping a medical label on him would cheapen his agency in the story because it would lessen our ability to see his behavior as being more than just an effect of some condition. I won't attempt to apply this line of reasoning to any of the other characters at this juncture because my experience with those other conditions is exponentially lesser, but maybe you can find similar conclusions on your own.

I'm not saying I'm 100% right. I can see your point. I'm just saying that Felix fits the bill for most of the signs.

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5 hours ago, Stroud said:

Hmm. Reading this something else comes to mind.

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Manuela has problem with alcohol. There also need to be something going on mentaly. I am not much into making diagnostic analysis FE characters. She also searches love and comfort. Which could maybe hint to her being neglected by her parents? 

 

She drinks because of her relationship problems, namely the fact that she has yet to find someone to be her husband at the age of 36.

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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10 minutes ago, Corrobin said:

I'm not saying I'm 100% right. I can see your point. I'm just saying that Felix fits the bill for most of the signs.

Understandable. I wouldn't think you though yourself totally right based on your opening, I just wanted to provide a different perspective so we can all examine the discussion more thoroughly, plus I just plain had something I felt was worth saying.

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53 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

Dimitri, I'd say has Post traumatic embitterment disorder.

Credit me with realizing this one, because I told Dcat that a lot of how Dimitri acts is like what I did with Geoffrey from Tellius in a fanfic once, where he develops the disorder as well. That idea partly came from my co-author who said what I had in mind sounded like PTED. I'd not even heard of it until he brought it up.

 

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Just now, Anacybele said:

Credit me with realizing this one, because I told Dcat that a lot of how Dimitri acts is like what I did with Geoffrey from Tellius in a fanfic once, where he develops the disorder as well. That idea partly came from my co-author who said what I had in mind sounded like PTED. I'd not even heard of it until he brought it up.

 

Yes, sorry for forgetting to credit.

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While I agree with Dimitri - i'd say his actual lack of taste can stem from Ageusia, not exactly PTSD/PTES. 

for Felix - in his supports it was noted that basically until his brother died he was a different person. everyone noted that Glen (before) is how Felix is (now) so i don't think Felix has needs a diagnosis affixed to him, i think he's just trying to emulate his brother. 

 

 

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3
9 minutes ago, daisy jane said:

for Felix - in his supports it was noted that basically until his brother died he was a different person. everyone noted that Glen (before) is how Felix is (now) so i don't think Felix has needs a diagnosis affixed to him, i think he's just trying to emulate his brother. 

Really? I remember Ingrid saying that Glenn was gentlemanly perfect knight, not a sarcastic jerk.

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Ignatz is basically textbook anxiety. He not only needs herbs for confidence but he has a ton of self doubts about where he's going as a person and whether his family would still accept him. 

Linhardt's sleeping tendencies also could be a sign of depression compared to Caspar's hyperfixation and general loud/hyper personality (I don't have a concise answer for him)

Manuela is basically a textbook case of Freud

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Obviously armchair diagnoses are always a bit of an awkward topic, but I think this thread is onto something - though I agree with @PeaceRibbon that sometimes it's better to take someone and their nuances at face value.

Having said that, I personally didn't see Felix has being autistic; just focused (yet another reason I think PeaceRibbon has a point). Also, you give Ashe his herbs after the Lonato chapter, right? Are there any other hints that he has depression and that he isn't just depressed about what happened to Lonato?

And to answer @Corrobin's question: yes, it would be very interesting to see more people like this in future entries. I would have said yes regardless, but heck: a big part of why everyone loves AM is Dimitri's arc of making peace with his demons!

Edited by DefyingFates
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While I'm not sure if they were intentionally written that way, I can confirm that Linhardt and Annette do have some ADHD traits.

Source: I'm profoundly ADHD and have pretty much every symptom of it you can name.

.... Maybe that's why I like/can relate to them so much.

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Felix is bitter due to how his father reacted to Glenn's death, and he resents Faerghus's emphasis on honor and chivalry. He wasn't always that way, and I think Dimitri also hints in his supports that Glenn wasn't some super idealistic knightly paragon. It's just what everyone wants to remember him being.

Honestly I don't really blame him.

Training and getting stronger is likely something he uses as an outlet, and just as a method to better himself.

Edited by Crysta
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As an autistic person myself I don’t know if I should be thrilled to be compared to Felix because he’s a popular and powerful unit, or a little upset because, let’s be honest, he’s an asshole. Though I can be an asshole sometimes. 

I thought for a moment using my own experience and the person who came to mind as Autistic would be Flayn actually. I know a number of her social issues stem from spoilers, but even so her formal speech and interactions with others give me a few signals. Of course, that may just be a reach on my part. Bernie also gets points for Autism from her using fiction to express herself, and of course, she has major social anxiety. 

Edited by Brimney
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I don't know if I'd go so far as to say anyone necessarily has some sort of mental issue. There are a lot of nuances that can't be picked up just by watching a character on a screen versus talking with a trained psychologist. Also, like @DefyingFates said, there's a difference between being depressed and having depression, or being anxious and having an anxiety disorder. 

I will agree that some characters certainly do show signs. It's pretty obvious that Dimitri had some sort of severe PTSD/depressive breakdown during the time-skip. (Although I haven't read his supports with Flayn, I'm thinking he's referring to a loss of appetite, rather than the actual sense of taste)

And it would be interesting for the series to take a closer look into the the effects war has on the psyche. I mean, FE is loaded with 16-19 year old kids going into battle and killing people, it's a wonder any of them are well-adjusted.

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7 hours ago, Scoot said:

Although I haven't read his supports with Flayn, I'm thinking he's referring to a loss of appetite, rather than the actual sense of taste

No, it is explicitly his sense of taste that he's lost. He says so quite clearly.

7 hours ago, Scoot said:

And it would be interesting for the series to take a closer look into the the effects war has on the psyche. I mean, FE is loaded with 16-19 year old kids going into battle and killing people, it's a wonder any of them are well-adjusted.

Too true! And while it's played for laughs, ProZD did a skit based on this recently:

 

Edited by DefyingFates
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22 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Also, you give Ashe his herbs after the Lonato chapter, right? Are there any other hints that he has depression and that he isn't just depressed about what happened to Lonato?

As far as I know they aren't. In most of his conversations Ashe seems to be very cheerful and enthusiastic about things. Him being depressed about Lonoato struck me more as him being depressed about a very particular depressing situation rather than having depression. 

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29 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

As far as I know they aren't. In most of his conversations Ashe seems to be very cheerful and enthusiastic about things. Him being depressed about Lonoato struck me more as him being depressed about a very particular depressing situation rather than having depression.  

Yeah, that's the impression I got too. Granted he feels bad about his own past and what happened to Cristophe, but he never seemed to have depression.

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As some others have said, I personally wouldn't consider Felix to have some kind of disorder. Much of his jaded personality comes from his resentment of Faerghus glorifying death and honor. Plus we do know that his sword fixation is at least somewhat due to the environment he grew up in as he says crests weren't enough where he came from (given he even claims he was taught swordplay before learning how to write). As for the other stuff, I would chalk that up as just typical social awkwardness on his part.

To respond to another post here, I wouldn't consider Bernadetta's actions being out of autism either as we already know her social anxiety stems from abuse more than anything else and she views stuff like reading, writing, and painting and such as safer ways of self expression since she's afraid of others (again from abuse).

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