What if Kostas was successful in killing the lords?

[CyberController]

Let’s assume Kostas killed Dimitri, Claude , and Edelgard, and then ran away before Byleth could catch him. What would happen with three lords dead?

[Gregster101]

The story would just be over. The End.

[Etrurian emperor]

Pretty gigantic civil war all across Fodlan since it means all royal houses are either instinct or mere moments from going extinct. 

[vanguard333]

Every nation and power in Fodlan would hunt him down:

1. The seven noble leaders of the Empire would either be grateful to them for dealing with the remaining threat to their power or upset that he killed their ultimate weapon, and emperor loyalists would absolutely want him dead.
2. The Regent of Faerghus would absolutely want him dead for killing his nephew and successor. 
3. At least half the Leicester Alliance would genuinely want him dead while the rest would have to publicly want him dead.
4. Meanwhile, Those Who Slither in the Dark would also be upset with him for killing their chosen vanguard for destroying the Church of Seiros while also needing to silence him for his indirect involvement with them
5. The Church of Seiros would want him dead for killing three students and endangering the peace in Fodlan, both for justice and for damage-control after the three heirs to Fodlan all got killed under their watch. 

The real question would be which one would beat the others to putting his head on a stick and displaying it. 

 

But that just reminds me: him being ordered to kill the three students, by one of the three students, is one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard. If his orders were to capture them alive, it would make a lot more sense as capturing Edelgard as well would shift suspicion elsewhere while not harming Edelgard, it would give Edelgard the means of dividing Faerghus and Leicester, and it would make sense if Kostas thought the plan was to hold them for ransom. As it is now, it only makes Edelgard seem like terrible at planning stuff. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by vanguard333

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Apparently Kostas attacked during a training exercise, though that leads me to wonder why the three lords were alone together, without retainers or other students like any other exercise. All we know is one professor was with them and he booked it. Altogether the Church may be in hot water for not properly protecting the next in lines of each nation. They certainly made an effort, Alois and the Knights were well on their way to help. TWSITD would also be set back quite a bit now that the weapon they've been grooming is dead.

War would certainly be avoided, at least for a generation or two as TWSITD reboots their plan to cause one. And if all the nations suddenly shun the Church after this scandal that may be fairly easy. Whether or not Cornelia is body swapped by that point in the story, she would likely be elected to the throne due to her sterling reputation and closeness to the royal family. The Alliance's control would probably be consolidated by leaders who follow Lorenz' dad while the Empire would fall to Ferdinand's dad once Edelgard's father finally bites it.

Edited December 26, 2019 by Glennstavos

[vanguard333]

5 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

War would certainly be avoided, at least for a generation or two as TWSITD reboots their plan to cause one. And if all the nations suddenly shun the Church after this scandal that may be fairly easy. Whether or not Cornelia is body swapped by that point in the story, she would likely be elected to the throne due to her sterling reputation and closeness to the royal family. The Alliance's control would probably be consolidated by leaders who follow Lorenz' dad while the Empire would fall to Ferdinand's dad once Edelgard's father finally bites it.

Considering how old she's supposed to be pre-timeskip, how young she looks post-timsekip, and how TWSITD's disguises supposedly work, odds are she was replaced long before the story began. 

[lenticular]

Meanwhile, Byleth would not have been taken to Gareg Mach and as such wouldn't have been found by Rhea, be immersed in religious history, etc. In these circumstances, it would have taken Byleth and Sothis a whole lot longer to figure out exactly who Sothis is and what that means. However, it's likely that they would have been able to do so without attracting the attention of TWSITD; I don't believe there's anything in the game that indicates that TWSITD knew anything at all about Byleth before prior to their arrival at Gareg Mach. Potentially, this could have given Byleth-Sothis the time to fully grow into their powers and be in a much better position to fight against TWSITD when the conflict did finally arise.

[CyberController]

Hmmm, how would the students react? I think Hubert would likely hunt down the bandits....

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Hubert chooses to end his life, as his purpose and usefulness are gone.

Dedue vows to hunt down Dimitri's killer, even at the cost of his own life.

Hilda is pretty bummed-out for like a month.

[vanguard333]

40 minutes ago, CyberController said:

Hmmm, how would the students react? I think Hubert would likely hunt down the bandits....

I asked which superpower would be first. I have my answer. Enjoy the story:

Everyone gathers: Empire, Kingdom, Alliance, Church and even TWSITD (in disguise of course in case they get spotted) all arrive separately at the site where Kostas has been spotted; each one hoping to beat the others to killing Kostas. As they approach, all of them see before them the corpses of Kostas's bandits: impaled on stone pillars and mangled by dark magic. At the center of this horrific scene, they see what remains of Kostas: obliterated into pieces, all stacked on one lance embedded in the ground. Standing there, his face that of one who has lost everything that had given his life a purpose, is Hubert.

None dare approach him. Many can only stand in terror at the sight of what he accomplished, and the rest don't know how to feel: angry that he took their moment of vengeance from them? Impressed that a mere student accomplished all this? Few there knew Hubert well enough to sympathise; those that did were grateful they did not get to Kostas first. 

As for Hubert himself, though his eyes were fixed on the head of Kostas, his mind was elsewhere; absorbed in every memory he had of Lady Edelgard, from the day they first met, to the three days he spent trying to find her in Faerghus, and ending with their last time together: she had told him to go on ahead to Garreg Mach. He protested; insisting that he be there in case something goes wrong, but she reassured him that she'll be fine. 

Lady Edelgard… Then the memories changed; one of the Flame Emperor soldiers spoke with Hubert outside Garreg Mach; delivering news Hubert could not believe. From then on, there were no thoughts; only all-consuming rage. Now, it was done, and what was left inside him was... nothing. Just the sheer emptiness of a mind completely destroyed. 

Lady Edelgard… What was left? Lady Edelgard was gone now; her dreams of a better Fodlan unfulfilled... Her dreams... He could carry on her dreams. Then he saw him: Arundel; real name Thales, in amongst the crowd. The one that experimented on Lady Edelgard, right there. As was the Church of Seiros, Faerghus, and the Alliance. In that moment, he knew what he could do. He pointed at Thales. 

"Kostas confessed before he died. Arundel hired him!"

All eyes turned to the TWSITD forces that had gathered. He had no need for them to carry out Lady Edelgard's vision. Some of Thales' men were able to teleport away, but the rest, including Thales himself, were struck down in mere moments. 

With that out of the way, Hubert then pointed at Lady Rhea

"And you! They were under your protection, and you failed them! Have you no shame?!" A few more words here and there, and chaos engulfed all around him. He would fulfill Lady Edelgard's vision in her stead, no matter what it took. 

[CyberController]

Just now, vanguard333 said:

I asked which superpower would be first. I have my answer. Enjoy the story:

Everyone gathers: Empire, Kingdom, Alliance, Church and even TWSITD (in disguise of course in case they get spotted) all arrive separately at the site where Kostas has been spotted; each one hoping to beat the others to killing Kostas. As they approach, all of them see before them the corpses of Kostas's bandits: impaled on stone pillars and mangled by dark magic. At the center of this horrific scene, they see what remains of Kostas: obliterated into pieces, all stacked on one lance embedded in the ground. Standing there, his face that of one who has lost everything that had given his life a purpose, is Hubert.

None dare approach him. Many can only stand in terror at the sight of what he accomplished, and the rest don't know how to feel: angry that he took their moment of vengeance from them? Impressed that a mere student accomplished all this? Few there knew Hubert well enough to sympathise; those that did were grateful they did not get to Kostas first. 

As for Hubert himself, though his eyes were fixed on the head of Kostas, his mind was elsewhere; absorbed in every memory he had of Lady Edelgard, from the day they first met, to the three days he spent trying to find her in Faerghus, and ending with their last time together: she had told him to go on ahead to Garreg Mach. He protested; insisting that he be there in case something goes wrong, but she reassured him that she'll be fine. 

Lady Edelgard… Then the memories changed; one of the Flame Emperor soldiers spoke with Hubert outside Garreg Mach; delivering news Hubert could not believe. From then on, there were no thoughts; only all-consuming rage. Now, it was done, and what was left inside him was... nothing. Just the sheer emptiness of a mind completely destroyed. 

Lady Edelgard… What was left? Lady Edelgard was gone now; her dreams of a better Fodlan unfulfilled... Her dreams... He could carry on her dreams. Then he saw him: Arundel; real name Thales, in amongst the crowd. The one that experimented on Lady Edelgard, right there. As was the Church of Seiros, Faerghus, and the Alliance. In that moment, he knew what he could do. He pointed at Thales. 

"Kostas confessed before he died. Arundel hired him!"

All eyes turned to the TWSITD forces that had gathered. He had no need for them to carry out Lady Edelgard's vision. Some of Thales' men were able to teleport away, but the rest, including Thales himself, were struck down in mere moments. 

With that out of the way, Hubert then pointed at Lady Rhea

"And you! They were under your protection, and you failed them! Have you no shame?!" A few more words here and there, and chaos engulfed all around him. He would fulfill Lady Edelgard's vision in her stead, no matter what it took. 

That's beautiful.

 

Now, I want a game starring Hubert.

[vanguard333]

41 minutes ago, CyberController said:

That's beautiful.

 

Now, I want a game starring Hubert.

Thanks. Perhaps that'll be DLC. Extremely unlikely, but technically possible. 

[Flere210]

The situation would be way less chaotic because whitout Edelgard the Slithers can't do their move and neither Dimitri nor Claude can rise any beehive. Basically, after a bit of disorders the status quo would come back, whit the slithers reinforcing their positions. They have a pretty good chance of winning if they wait the next generation to attack.

[Timlugia]

18 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

 

War would certainly be avoided, at least for a generation or two as TWSITD reboots their plan to cause one. And if all the nations suddenly shun the Church after this scandal that may be fairly easy. Whether or not Cornelia is body swapped by that point in the story, she would likely be elected to the throne due to her sterling reputation and closeness to the royal family. The Alliance's control would probably be consolidated by leaders who follow Lorenz' dad while the Empire would fall to Ferdinand's dad once Edelgard's father finally bites it.

Wouldn't Byleth still be recruited by church (since Alois was there), and eventually Byleth would learn his true purpose one way or another (may takes years instead just a few month)

Rhea would eventually hand over her power, and the United Fodlan is still possible depends how Byleth would announce his ascending.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

11 minutes ago, Timlugia said:

Wouldn't Byleth still be recruited by church (since Alois was there), and eventually Byleth would learn his true purpose one way or another (may takes years instead just a few month)

Rhea would eventually hand over her power, and the United Fodlan is still possible depends how Byleth would announce his ascending.

i think it's reasonable to assume the church would run its own investigation of the incident. The training exercise was within fleeing distance of Remire Village, which is where Jeralt's company was staying that night. But, there's no guarantee Alois would encounter them before or instead of Kostas' crew. Also remember the Prologue dialogue with Jeralt where it's clear they were just about to leave for Kingdom territory when the Lords showed up in town. So in this alternate scenario where the Lords are killed, the most likely outcome I see is that Alois would have just missed Jeralt and Byleth.

Guessing how Byleth would live his life is hard, since he's not a character he has no motivations and his time stop ability only came into play when he truly dies to Kostas. And we don't know what Byleth would have really become had he not been forced to "fuse" with Sothis in the interdimensional void.

[Timlugia]

I feel that Sothis' encounter would eventually happen regardless, unless Byleth never encountered dangerous situation ever in his life, which is unlikely due to his career

Also after Jeralt's death, Sothis comments about how her power was growing sometime even before she tried to save Byleth, it's when Byleth began to have dreams and emotion

it seems that eventually she will appear to Byleth even without need to save him.

 

Another thing to consider is that Rhea never bother to search for Byleth or Jeralt after the fire*(despite Jeralt was known to be alive by the public), and that she could sense Byleth as shown in the early cutscene. It's also possible that she knew it's only matter of time before Sothis was awaken thus no need to push the events.

 

* Jeralt must be doing very terrible job hiding his identity, as students immediately recognized him being the legendary mercenary rather than some guy supposedly be dead for 20 years. And mercenary jobs required long standing reputation so he couldn't just use a new alias. It would be hard to imagine some random students know Jeralt is alive but Rhea didn't.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Timlugia

[vanguard333]

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

Hubert chooses to end his life, as his purpose and usefulness are gone.

I don't think he would do so; at least not right away. First, he would get vengeance. Nothing would stop him, and if Dedue tried to beat him to Kostas, Hubert would deal with him (or recruit him and use him to distract Kostas' minions). Then, once it was done, he would either do that, or he would try to carry on her memory and carry out her dreams for a better Fodlan. It would all depend.