If Fire Emblem 3 Houses ever got an anime, and could only cover 1 route, which route would it cover?

[Vitezen]

Ideally it would be a golden route. Byleth partners with Claude, Dimitri, and Rhea when Edelgard rebels. Dimitri's insanity is a subplot introduced and resolved much faster. Edelgard still gets plenty of scenes showing her perspective when she's away from the heroes. Every character from every house except Edelgard and Hubert join Byleth, but only the popular ones get significant screentime. Ferdinand also stays with Edelgard, but Byleth defeats him and he admits that Edelgard is wrong and joins them to stop her. When you meet Edelgard, Byleth saves her with the power of friendship and she reveals the existence of the Slitherers and why she was doing this. Edelgard reconciles with everyone. The final episodes focus on the fight against the Slitherers with the whole team. Nobody dies.

If it had to really focus on just the events of one route, I'd have it focus on Dimitri. However, he still manages to save everyone and his insanity is severely downplayed. The Slitherers are written out entirely or Edelgard says she managed to kill them all herself. If there's a season 2, it follows the conclusion of the original plot I wrote above. (Edelgard was tricked; she didn't actually kill the Slitherers.)

Edited November 13, 2019 by Vitezen

[MasterSlayerX]

I could see them taking elements of all 4 routes and create their own version . For exsample I think they may change things so Byleth , Manuela and Hannaman swap between the 3 houses during the year so the first part can easily include all the 3 houses and interact with all the characters . The 2nd part and the 2nd season could have a mixture of the golden deer and the church path mainly the golden deer part being there so the final villain could be nemesis . But since Both are similar anyway it could work and that gives the church characters development 

[CyberNinja]

9 hours ago, MasterSlayerX said:

I could see them taking elements of all 4 routes and create their own version . For exsample I think they may change things so Byleth , Manuela and Hannaman swap between the 3 houses during the year so the first part can easily include all the 3 houses and interact with all the characters . The 2nd part and the 2nd season could have a mixture of the golden deer and the church path mainly the golden deer part being there so the final villain could be nemesis . But since Both are similar anyway it could work and that gives the church characters development 

You don't need to force some contrivance to have Byleth interact with the three houses, they canonically already do that. You could just have houses take part of the main plot points that involve them, I.e. you'll see the blue lions take care of Lonato and Gautier as internal matters and Byleth will accompany in the same manner as Catherine and Gilbert.

Edelgard helps out coincidentally in plots that involve her, the bandits, remire village etc. sometimes members of all three houses, plenty of ways to do it.

claude can be the one to figure the assassination of Rhea is a distraction since he already knows about the sword of the creator, Edelgard has to play along or at the very least isn't directly sabotaging her own forces.

many many ways to do it.

[De Geso]

Silver Snow, no doubt. It has the most drama to it.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Crimson Flower, except all the other Black Eagles students stay with the church, just to piss off as many people as possible.

En serio, though, I'd prefer a hybrid route. Pre-skip, different classes have different missions (Blue Lions fight Miklan, Claude rescues Flayn, Edelgard kills Kostas, etc.). Post-skip, the world state is basically VW/AM. Flayn discovers and wakes up Byleth (she and Seteth are guarding the monastery). BL and GD reunite at the monastery; Claude wants an alliance, but Dimitri refuses. Imperial troops attack the monastery, and Rodrigue dies (as does Randolph). Edelgard takes the chance to attack the Alliance, and Claude returns, but is defeated, fleeing to Almyra. Meanwhile, Dimitri decides to refocus on saving the Kingdom, and defeats Cornelia. Byleth and co research the whereabouts of Rhea, finding that Edelgard took her. But after attempting a rescue operation, they learn that she was transferred to Shambala. Dimitri takes the attack to the Empire, and captures the Bridge, but is unable to take the Fort... until, that is, aid comes from the East. Claude is back, and he's brought the Almyran army at his back. Dimitri heads for the capital (the Almyrans serving to distract other Imperial troops), while Church&co break into Shambala. Edelgard is defeated, Those Who Slither crushed, Rhea rescued and the world at peace? Nope! In a final shot, Byleth, Rhea, Dimitri, and Claude stand face-to-face with Nemesis and his 10 Elites, ready to save Fódlan all over again.

[DefyingFates]

On 11/14/2019 at 12:27 PM, CyberNinja said:

You don't need to force some contrivance to have Byleth interact with the three houses, they canonically already do that. You could just have houses take part of the main plot points that involve them, I.e. you'll see the blue lions take care of Lonato and Gautier as internal matters and Byleth will accompany in the same manner as Catherine and Gilbert.

Edelgard helps out coincidentally in plots that involve her, the bandits, remire village etc. sometimes members of all three houses, plenty of ways to do it.

claude can be the one to figure the assassination of Rhea is a distraction since he already knows about the sword of the creator, Edelgard has to play along or at the very least isn't directly sabotaging her own forces.

many many ways to do it.

I love this idea, very clever! Bonus for having Claude be the one stopping the theft, that makes perfect sense!

18 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Crimson Flower, except all the other Black Eagles students stay with the church, just to piss off as many people as possible.

En serio, though, I'd prefer a hybrid route. Pre-skip, different classes have different missions (Blue Lions fight Miklan, Claude rescues Flayn, Edelgard kills Kostas, etc.). Post-skip, the world state is basically VW/AM. Flayn discovers and wakes up Byleth (she and Seteth are guarding the monastery). BL and GD reunite at the monastery; Claude wants an alliance, but Dimitri refuses. Imperial troops attack the monastery, and Rodrigue dies (as does Randolph). Edelgard takes the chance to attack the Alliance, and Claude returns, but is defeated, fleeing to Almyra. Meanwhile, Dimitri decides to refocus on saving the Kingdom, and defeats Cornelia. Byleth and co research the whereabouts of Rhea, finding that Edelgard took her. But after attempting a rescue operation, they learn that she was transferred to Shambala. Dimitri takes the attack to the Empire, and captures the Bridge, but is unable to take the Fort... until, that is, aid comes from the East. Claude is back, and he's brought the Almyran army at his back. Dimitri heads for the capital (the Almyrans serving to distract other Imperial troops), while Church&co break into Shambala. Edelgard is defeated, Those Who Slither crushed, Rhea rescued and the world at peace? Nope! In a final shot, Byleth, Rhea, Dimitri, and Claude stand face-to-face with Nemesis and his 10 Elites, ready to save Fódlan all over again.

Again, amazing! I would absolutely love to see this and I like how you merged VW/ AM into a single route! If there's one thing I would say it's that Rodrigue needs to die later on; if Dimitri snaps out of his insanity before we see how self-destructive it makes him, it undermines his entire arc. You could instead rewrite the Gronder Field rematch into the first stage of a joint assault (i.e. the Kingdom remnants, the Church and Claude's resistance) against the Empire and have the Fleche/ Rodrigue moment there or have Dimitri walk out on the others for being too slow in attacking the Empire so you get the melee a trois again, only to repent after Rodrigue's death and rejoin the Church afterwards.

Between you two however, I like the idea of Claude being the lead when it comes to helping out the Church directly in Part 1 (the theft and saving Flayn), since he's also the one most interested in uncovering its secrets. Maybe all three Houses go with Byleth to the tomb, only for Edelgard to "be late" for when the Empire arrives?

It's interesting that everyone here near-unanimously believes Nemesis would make the better final boss. I agree that he's the most "epic" of the four, but the others have merit too. For example, Hegemon El would make for a pretty emotional enemy when attacking the Empire, as would SS!Rhea make a tragic one (though I know that particular boss isn't very popular).

[Sentinel07]

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

I love this idea, very clever! Bonus for having Claude be the one stopping the theft, that makes perfect sense!

Again, amazing! I would absolutely love to see this and I like how you merged VW/ AM into a single route! If there's one thing I would say it's that Rodrigue needs to die later on; if Dimitri snaps out of his insanity before we see how self-destructive it makes him, it undermines his entire arc. You could instead rewrite the Gronder Field rematch into the first stage of a joint assault (i.e. the Kingdom remnants, the Church and Claude's resistance) against the Empire and have the Fleche/ Rodrigue moment there or have Dimitri walk out on the others for being too slow in attacking the Empire so you get the melee a trois again, only to repent after Rodrigue's death and rejoin the Church afterwards.

Between you two however, I like the idea of Claude being the lead when it comes to helping out the Church directly in Part 1 (the theft and saving Flayn), since he's also the one most interested in uncovering its secrets. Maybe all three Houses go with Byleth to the tomb, only for Edelgard to "be late" for when the Empire arrives?

It's interesting that everyone here near-unanimously believes Nemesis would make the better final boss. I agree that he's the most "epic" of the four, but the others have merit too. For example, Hegemon El would make for a pretty emotional enemy when attacking the Empire, as would SS!Rhea make a tragic one (though I know that particular boss isn't very popular).

I think it's also because Nemesis just wraps things up better. He, along with the Slithers, started this whole mess.

So yeah, it's not surprising that many equate him as a "true finale" of the game.

[Major]

Black Eagles as it's the one I'm currently playing :)

plus Bernie freakouts would be kinda funny animated

[Nébulya]

Crimson Flower; Edelgard is such an interesting character that it would add so much to the anime. This was my first path, and honestly my canon one. I don't like Edelgard in other path ; but when she has the teacher near her..Dimitri's path is quite interesting aswell, honestly seeing a anime with the two vision of these two characters would be so amazing. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

15 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

I love this idea, very clever! Bonus for having Claude be the one stopping the theft, that makes perfect sense!

Again, amazing! I would absolutely love to see this and I like how you merged VW/ AM into a single route! If there's one thing I would say it's that Rodrigue needs to die later on; if Dimitri snaps out of his insanity before we see how self-destructive it makes him, it undermines his entire arc. You could instead rewrite the Gronder Field rematch into the first stage of a joint assault (i.e. the Kingdom remnants, the Church and Claude's resistance) against the Empire and have the Fleche/ Rodrigue moment there or have Dimitri walk out on the others for being too slow in attacking the Empire so you get the melee a trois again, only to repent after Rodrigue's death and rejoin the Church afterwards.

Between you two however, I like the idea of Claude being the lead when it comes to helping out the Church directly in Part 1 (the theft and saving Flayn), since he's also the one most interested in uncovering its secrets. Maybe all three Houses go with Byleth to the tomb, only for Edelgard to "be late" for when the Empire arrives?

It's interesting that everyone here near-unanimously believes Nemesis would make the better final boss. I agree that he's the most "epic" of the four, but the others have merit too. For example, Hegemon El would make for a pretty emotional enemy when attacking the Empire, as would SS!Rhea make a tragic one (though I know that particular boss isn't very popular).

Thanks for the feedback! For me, the struggle with Rodrigue was, I wanted Dimitri to turn his focus to the Kingdom to coincide with Edelgard going after the Alliance. But I guess the Dimitri-Claude reunion could instead be at Gronder Field, after the Ailell ambush and before Edelgard takes the Bridge.

As for Nemesis, I like him being there as a VW reference (and especially Rhea being part of the fight, bookends nicely with how the game starts). Still, I wouldn't like a huge emphasis on him, since he just kind of... shows up, at the end. Whereas Edelgard, we understand her motives; and Those Who Slither, we've been dealing with throughout the game.

The Tomb idea sounds good, I definitely want Dimitri's reaction included, but I also like how Claude uses it to understand the Church, the Crests, and why Edelgard would oppose them.

[Dark Holy Elf]

18 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

It's interesting that everyone here near-unanimously believes Nemesis would make the better final boss.

I guess I disagree pretty strongly with this, I think Nemesis is a pretty bad final boss. He comes out of nowhere with little buildup, and is extremely un-nuanced as a character: he's evil and that's it. I think some people want the final boss to be tied with the slitherers, which the other two aren't, and I guess that makes sense, but I still find the desire a bit alien because in general I think the writing of this game is best when it's focusing on things besides the slitherers, and I know many others agree with me on this.

If an anime adaptation where to embrace Edelgard as full villain I'd definitely want her to be the final antagonist since she gets so much buildup and there's the emotional resonance with Dimitri (who's going to be the main character, everyone; let's not kid ourselves. Go look at every single character poll for this game). If it goes more golden route then I could see Nemesis, though to be honest I'd want some serious re-writes of the story to be happy with him.

[CyberNinja]

If we discuss how the post time skip situation plays out, its important to consider the political situation of each faction and how to keep the entire thing from becoming too confusing to players unfamiliar with the game. Using Silver Snow as a base is important to create the emotional connection with Edelgard. Using a mix of all three during White Clouds is important to build the world and invest the viewer in the characters for the timeskip.

Claude is in political gridlock and Faerghus in in Civil War. To a degree I'd prefer to maintain the meeting cutscene with Silver Snow Edelgard intact as its likely the last chance most viewers will see Edelgard before her death. It also informs the attack on the Monastery not long after. We can see some of the last human side of Edelgard thanks to her going to the meeting she proposed 5 years ago despite her thinking those bridges are long since burned.

As standard the Knights of Seiros move in not long after and meet with Byleth. The attack happens as usual but the knights are victorious and word spreads rapidly. The news of the professor's revival is enough impetus for Claude to begin working on prepping his nation with open conflcit with the Empire. we can learn from changing perspectives that Claude has been supplying Rodrigue and other members of the Faerghus loyalists with food, weapons, and even soldiers but has had to do so in secret to keep the Empire from justifying an attack on them before they are ready, he also has to deal with the fact that the Alliance is still divided.

Edelgard has, as per rules of war, actually been following it more or less legally (at surface value). She uses the splitting of the empire as justification on the church and has engage Faerghus not as an act of conquest but because Cornelia, the acting ruler of "Faerghus" has asked her to intervene. Thus while the Kingdom is mostly fought as a Civil War between the Empire's puppet and the Loyalists, the Empire works to centralize more control over to themselves and when they do get directly involved, they come out with a complete victory creating a situation where they appear indestructible. The empire otherwise hunts down remnants of the church, who they are at war with.

Essentially, Claude and Edelgard are fighting a proxy war through the Kingdom.

Their defeat by Byleth and the Knights of Seiros sends shockwaves as the Empire begins to rapidly reorganize their spread out troops to engage the new front which has opened within their own borders. More of the Knights of Seiros begin to rally behind Byleth and Dimitri is found by Gilbert and the Blue Lions. 

There is an arc showing Dimitri, in his admittedly more crazed form, fighting against Kingdom forces and there is a political arc as Claude uses the destruction of the Empire's aura of invincibility to gain more influence in the Alliance. Both The Golden Deer and Blue Lions arcs will feature the students from these houses heavily, Leonie working as a mercenary for Rodrigue under Claude's orders, Ignatz playing the merchant to sneak supplies, ect.

Eventually we return to Byleth, who's possibly received forces from either the Alliance, Kingdom, or both (or the plot point could be dropped completely, being given to Claude and Dimitri instead.) They then wrok to take the bridge of Myrrdin which is occupied by the Empire. Taking this is what allows Claude to unite the alliance and coincides with Dimitri having retaken the kingdom though at heavy losses as he executes traitors (still the mad king). The kingdom is united if not stable and the Alliance is prepared for war.

Seteth allows Dimitris forces to cross the bridge but the Knights are too few and taken the bridge weakened their forces completely. The empire is reeling from the losses of their forces in the Kingdom and their influence on the Alliance. Now two armies have emerged on their border and Edelgard takes the helm, both to ensure unity within her own domain and to eliminate the threat once and for all.

Because the focus of both Edelgard and the Slithers had been on Byleth the Fell Star, Dimitri and Claude are better able to integrate their forces forming a tentative alliance. During the battle of Gronder, due to the strategies of Hubert and Edelgard, and thanks to Dimitri charging ahead, the battle quickly devolves into a brawl though the Alliance and Kingdom do not fight one another; Claude is basically forced to just kill as many Empire generals as possible. 

The Kingdom takes the fort from the empire but loses the soldiers sent to take it as it goes up in flames. the Golden deer are able to take down the beasts that Edelgard has employed but is struggling against the bulk of her forces. Dimitri's forces begin an almost suicidal assault against the Empire forces having fallen into a near berserk state not unlike their king as Dimitri forces his way to Edelgard's position. Edelgard and Dimitri duel and Dimitri seriously wounds her, forcing her to flee. The loss of the emperor breaks the morale of the Empire and the remnants of the Golden Deer pull the win. Dimitri chases after Edelgard promising his troops he'll secure the kill and Rodrigue or Dedue follow, desperate to protect him.

Seeing the results of the battle, Claude can't really see any chance of victory or pins his hopes on the Professor to finish the fight and looks to leave Fodlan, Hilda can follow.

Since the topic of who lives or dies here can be contentious for this post I'll list only a few guaranteed deaths and a few guaranteed survivors for now.

Among the Blue Lions the guaranteed deaths would be Gilbert, Dedue, and Rodrigue. If we're being true to silver Snow, these three at least will die and Dimitri is rather vague on whether it is him or his ghost, that could be kept equally vague here. More or less can die depending on if we're going for a darker or lighter story.

Guranteed Survivors

Blue Lions:

Mercedes, Felix

Golden Deer:

Leonie, Lysithea, Ignatz, Lorenz (who is with Byleth)

As mentioned, the battle would be showing the blue Lions taking the majority of the losses, Hilda leaving with Claude if she survived and Claude being confirmed to "disappear" rather than die. Nader and Judith's status could end up going either way, likely having Judith die but possibly Nader could die ensuring Claude survives. Raphael could die ensuring Ignatz survives when the Golden Deer are fighting the beasts, Ignatz promises to care for his sister.

Leonie still has a part to play with the eventual destruction of the Agarthans, same with Lysithea but with the added revelations to be had with Edelgard. Ignatz has a part to play in the assault on Enbarr and Lorenz was with Byleth and plays a part in the ending. Mercedes' plot with her brother still needs to be concluded, Felix's plot point with his father and Dimitri back in White Clouds also needs a conclusion. The Rest of the Blue lions more or less have their stories concluded by this point but I'd be open to more of them surviving.

The Knights of Seiros can rally the remnants of the battle at Gronder field and this will be when the survivors of the three houses rally together. This begins to reinforce the Church and Byleth as the last remaining authority in Fodlan. The empire is in full retreat by this point and the story could go two ways.

It can follow the Standard Fort Merceus path and end with it bombarded by the slithers or the Blue Lions path of it taken with no fuss, since Thales is alive its probably better the former.

Assuming the Former has happened then it will show that effectively almost all resistance has been crushed, the Empire has no real forces to spare but in time will recover, the Alliance and Kingdom have exhausted their resources and while the Alliance can recover, the kingdom is basically a bandit kingdom ravaged by warlords.

The remnants of the Knights of Seiros, the Kingdom loyalists, and the alliance infiltrate Ebarr as refugees with the help of Ignatz's merchant connections and Dorothea's Opera troop. You see Catherine and Shamir hiding away in Enbarr preparing their equipment, same with other students and faculty. Now either enough soldiers infiltrate as refugees or enough do to easily take the gate house to allow the rest of the forces to attack. The Empire is caught off guard and must fight with only the garrison while not knowing where the enemy is. They rapidly begin to lose ground and Ferdinand and Hubert engage one another, resulting in Ferdinand's victory. The war has been harsh on the people and rioting and looting occurs, creating more chaos. Edelgard takes the remnants of her forces into the palace to draw in her attackers and secure victory.

The assault on the palace happens they break into the Throne room, Byleth and Edelgard have words, Lysithea and Edelgard have words, Byleth's forces finish off the rest of her soldiers, Byleth duels Edelgard who loses thanks to the wound inflicted by Dimitri.  Death of the Flame Emperor happens and its revealed where the Slithers are, which is also where Rhea is located. They save Rhea form the Agarthans find out she has been used to create the demonic beasts for Edelgard and that she is weak. She stays with the group revealing Byleth his identity/past and eventually saves them from Thales when he's on his last leg.

Now two things can happen, either this situation is done to HEAVILY foreshadow Rhea's degeneration, giving us the Silver Snow fight, or it could be hinted at for a long while that the Slithers were working to reinstate Nemesis as a weapon and so his revival becomes much more foreshadowed since White Clouds.

Assuming the Former case, I would actually have Rhea fly off almost immediately, Byleth and the Knights would return to the Monastery to organize a search for her and possibly discuss the need for Byleth to succeed her when she would come flying in on the Horizon. Her presence would cause many of the knights to transform or go berserk, she'd be defeated and the Silver Snow ending cutscene would play. Or again we could go the Nemesis route.

Alternatively and ain't this a shocker?

We could end it at Agartha. The games needed a final boss, we really don't. Her death scene in Silver snow really isn't all that different from Verdant wind, merge them.

Basically the story could work by having the second Season (White Clouds is best as one full Season) starting a bit before Byleth awakes, following the politics of the Golden Deer broken up by the emotional thrill ride of Blue Lions, The Black Eagles focuses on the emotional Climax of the Edelgard-Byleth relation while the Golden Deer and Blue Lions react to the sudden revival. So roughly 2/3rds dedicated to Blue Lions and Golden Deer with the Last 1/3rd for the Black Eagles.

After the war, Ferdinand, and Lorenz end up the respective administers of the regions their faction once resided. Pairings would likely need to be kept vague though I wouldn't be opposed to pissing off 80% of the fandom, since I'm already considering character death. 

Like I said you could try to fit in Dimitri's redemption arc or Keep Claude past Gronder, but it'll make the story too chaotic for the general audience and if you wanted to just please the fans you'd be better of faithfully doing each route one at a time.

Less focus on Byleth in this mostly because trying to adapt each map into a anime would be... bad. White clouds more or less fits well into an anime but the timeskip has the hallmarks of the devs trying to make characters go to places they wouldn't necessarily go.