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Why does Edelgard's helmet/crown looks like.... (spoiler)


Timlugia
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I don't know if there is a lore reason behind this, so I put it here instead in "unanswered lore"

Why does Edelgard choosing a headgear based on

Spoiler

Rhea's dragon form?

Consider her whole goal was to overthrown Rhea, why would she use her arch enemy's appearance as her dress? It's like Lucina using Grima's symbol on her dress.

At first I thought this was a historical imperial crown, but turned out her father didn't wear anything like one, nor any description suggested previous emperor wears one, so it's likely Edelgard made one during timeskip. Furthermore, Edelgard's center personality was overthrowing establishment, so it sounds unlikely she would just "follow traditions".

 

Reading some pre-released discussion, it reminds me how many people including myself thought Edelgard was on the church side, partially because her post skip design.

Edited by Timlugia
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4 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

I thought it looked more like ram horns? I think Rhea's horns are different?

Rhea has two sets of horns, one straight one curved. Edelgard's helmet is somewhat based on curved ones

Besides, who else has white horns in the game?

Furthermore, it seems the whole device was locked onto her hairstyle, unless every emperor before her had this hair style, it's likely only fit with her.😋

Edelgard_cutscene.png

I remember pre-release speculation many people even thought Edelgard was the dragon due to the horns.

 

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I think it's more related to Aries, the first astrological sign in the zodiac, which in turn is based on the Chrysomallus whose fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. Ares is also is the Greek god of war, and Mars - which Ares/Aries is strongly associated with - is also associated with red... which is all over Edelgard.

tl;dr she's very emperor-y and war-y

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54 minutes ago, Crysta said:

I think it's more related to Aries, the first astrological sign in the zodiac, which in turn is based on the Chrysomallus whose fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. Ares is also is the Greek god of war, and Mars - which Ares/Aries is strongly associated with - is also associated with red... which is all over Edelgard.

tl;dr she's very emperor-y and war-y

To think this amount of depth was placed inside the game, wow

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3 minutes ago, This boi uses Nino said:

To think this amount of depth was placed inside the game, wow

While I don't necessary agree his explanation due to lack of in game support,

Church characters do use a lot of Greek mythology connections, but lesser so for Imperials who are more based on Holy Roman Empire

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21 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

While I don't necessary agree his explanation due to lack of in game support,

Church characters do use a lot of Greek mythology connections, but lesser so for Imperials who are more based on Holy Roman Empire

It can be based of of many things. 
 

1 hour ago, Timlugia said:

Besides, who else has white horns in the game?

I'm pretty sure those are golden? If you're talking about her hair it's because of the two crests, same thing with Lysithea.

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1 hour ago, Timlugia said:

While I don't necessary agree his explanation due to lack of in game support,

Church characters do use a lot of Greek mythology connections, but lesser so for Imperials who are more based on Holy Roman Empire

I mean it's laid on so thickly, and the real life mythological allusions are all over the place, so I find it more logical than "she's trying to emulate a dragon because of the horns". Particularly because she has a noted dislike of dragons.

Edited by Crysta
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7 hours ago, Timlugia said:

While I don't necessary agree his explanation due to lack of in game support,

Church characters do use a lot of Greek mythology connections, but lesser so for Imperials who are more based on Holy Roman Empire

Huh. You know, it's funny, Dark Magic spells have greek letters in their names.
Foreshadowing, a potential connection, not so different ? Food for thought.

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I always thought the horns were meant to emulate a fiendish creature like a demon, as a symbol of opposition to the authority of the orthodox religion.  Like how the devil Satan is the symbol of opposition to Christianity, and how even those who didn't actually devote themselves to Satan were denounced as Satanists by official religious organizations back in times when believing in anything other than the Christian God was considered unthinkable and evil in Europe.

But I'd say the Greek mythology point is more accurate, especially since the term "Hegemon" is used to describe her, which is a term derivative of "hegemony" which in ancient Greece refers to a city-state's politico-militaristic dominance over other city-states.  I think she's pretty much the very image of an allusion to mythological warmongers and conquering dictators of ancient Greece.

5 hours ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

If I had to guess, since the Adrestia Empire was founded with the help of Seiros, the original emperor must have greatly respected her. Perhaps formal wear for royalty imitating the Immaculate One is tradition in the Empire?

Ionius IX doesn't wear such a crown, and when he passed the Imperial crown down to Edelgard, it isn't the one with horns.

I could see where you were going with this.  Perhaps it'd be more fitting to say they bear a crown imitating the Immaculate One in times of war.  The only time we see Edelgard bearing that horned crown outside of the war is literally just after the war is finished in Crimson Flower - the furthest this gets pushed is if you S-support her.

34 minutes ago, B.Leu said:

Huh. You know, it's funny, Dark Magic spells have greek letters in their names.
Foreshadowing, a potential connection, not so different ? Food for thought.

The dark mages are typically tied to either the Adrestian Empire or the Agarthans.

Only Dark Magic user who isn't aligned to those factions is Lysithea, though even then she still has some connection to both the Adrestian Empire and the Agarthans.  Other potential Dark Magic users (outside of the enemies/NPCs that use it, Edelgard, Hubert, and Lysithea) only learn the Miasma spell.

Speaking of spell names... I still find it funny and strange that "Nosferatu" in the latest couple of games referred to a white magic spell, considering that it's a Romanian word for "vampire".  The last thing I think of when I hear the name of a vampire is "must be holy magic".

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1 minute ago, Ertrick36 said:

Ionius IX doesn't wear such a crown, and when he passed the Imperial crown down to Edelgard, it isn't the one with horns.

I could see where you were going with this.  Perhaps it'd be more fitting to say they bear a crown imitating the Immaculate One in times of war.  The only time we see Edelgard bearing that horned crown outside of the war is literally just after the war is finished in Crimson Flower - the furthest this gets pushed is if you S-support her.

Ionius IX also had short hair, so he couldn't rock that hairstyle anyway. I wasn't suggesting that the crown Edelgard wears is the crown of the emperor, but perhaps something that female royalty in the Empire wore.

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16 hours ago, Timlugia said:

I don't know if there is a lore reason behind this, so I put it here instead in "unanswered lore"

Why does Edelgard choosing a headgear based on

  Hide contents

Rhea's dragon form?

Consider her whole goal was to overthrown Rhea, why would she use her arch enemy's appearance as her dress? It's like Lucina using Grima's symbol on her dress.

At first I thought this was a historical imperial crown, but turned out her father didn't wear anything like one, nor any description suggested previous emperor wears one, so it's likely Edelgard made one during timeskip. Furthermore, Edelgard's center personality was overthrowing establishment, so it sounds unlikely she would just "follow traditions".

 

Reading some pre-released discussion, it reminds me how many people including myself thought Edelgard was on the church side, partially because her post skip design.

Well, I came up with a theory that sustain on nothing, but it is cool, I think. What if the crown is the same crown that the first adrestian emperor Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg used to wear? I mean he could made it with that form to honor Seiros who gave him her crest and made him emperor.... wouldn't it be cool?

Of course that wouldn't explain why the crown ha a pefect shape for a woman hair cut.

Edited by Selzis
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The central conflict in Three Houses is, at its core, a conflict between Law and Chaos . Rhea/The Church represent Law and Edelgard represents Chaos.

Honestly, it seems like the writers straight up used Shin Megami Tensei alignment logic, just look at the descriptions from this page

  • Law: This alignment is associated with God, order and peace. In the game, it is represented by the Messian religion and the colors blue and white. The Law alignment promotes order and safety, but taken to an extreme, it leads to dictatorship and elitism.
  • Chaos: This alignment is associated with Lucifer, freedom and war. In the game it is represented by the Gaean religion and the colors red and black. This alignment promotes freedom of choice, thought, and action above all else in stark contrast to the controlling nature of the Law alignment.

So, let's look at the stuff I've bolded:

God, order and peace: Pretty self-explanatory as to how this represents the Church.

blue and white: Church. Rhea. Blue Lions. Faerghus.

dictatorship and elitism: Edelgard fights to end Rhea's tyrrany and the elitist Crest system

freedom and war: Self-explanatory. Edelgard starts the war, with one of its main goals to free humanity from Rhea's regime.

red and black: Edelgard. Black Eagles. Adrestian Empire.

Lucifer: There's your reason for the horns. Symbolism.

As an added bonus, let's look at the description for the Neutral alignment, again from the alignment page linked above.

  • Neutral: Also known as "Balance", this alignment accepts the need for laws to govern the world but not at the cost of personal freedom. It rejects the concept of relying on Lawful or Chaotic powers to focus instead on personal empowerment, refinement, individuality and the inherent strength of mankind. Although presumed to be the most idealistic alignment by many, it is also the hardest alignment to attain because of its isolationist nature, destroying everything in your way and even standing against former friends.

Read that description and consider what happens in Crimson Flower. It's why I consider it the "Neutral" ending of the game.

Edited by Trollingwood
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21 hours ago, Selzis said:

Well, I came up with a theory that sustain on nothing, but it is cool, I think. What if the crown is the same crown that the first adrestian emperor Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg used to wear? I mean he could made it with that form to honor Seiros who gave him her crest and made him emperor.... wouldn't it be cool?

Of course that wouldn't explain why the crown ha a pefect shape for a woman hair cut.

That's my original believe as well, that the crown was used by previous emperors as the token from Seiros.

But then I was wondering why would Edelgard use it when she considers Rhea her ultimate enemy, she is also the one eager to cast away traditions she didn't agree with.

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19 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

That's my original believe as well, that the crown was used by previous emperors as the token from Seiros.

But then I was wondering why would Edelgard use it when she considers Rhea her ultimate enemy, she is also the one eager to cast away traditions she didn't agree with.

You're absolutly right. It is a cool theory, but it doesn't work. In the end I think that the crown looks that way because it is cool, and mayne there isn't anything in particular behind it's story.

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