Oxy_Acetylene Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Edelgard is my favorite character and after thinking about her practically nonstop for 3 years, I decided to write about why. Below is a link to a backloggd page with the full essay. I'd appreciate feedback, thanks for reading! https://www.backloggd.com/u/Oxy_acetylene/review/531514/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenticular Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 I don't really have much to offer in the way of feedback, but to save you from feeling that you're shouting into the void, I can say that I read it. I am generally very reticent to discuss Edelgard (or Rhea) in too much depth, because those discussions have been done to death in the fandom, and have a nasty habit of turning bitter and acrimonious. I can't and don't speak for anyone else, but I suspect that I am far from the only person here who wants nothing to do with that particular discourse. So my first reaction to seeing the title of this thread was "oh no, not another one". That's not your fault, of course, but I figured you might be interested in one reason why you haven't had any other responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Interesting read! I also like Edelgard (although maybe I'm not as much of a fan as you are!) and I think lots of fans of her character will find something to relate to in your reasons for liking her. However, I also intend to sidestep general discussions about Edelgard's methods/'good-ness' etc., not because I dislike them per se (although I've had some rough ones), but because they often get very long, and I end up repeating myself - nobody wants that. I don't know if this is the kind of feedback you are looking for, but I think Edelgard and Jeritza's support is always worth reviewing when you're attempting to assess either of them. I won't bias things by giving my interpretation of it here, but I think it reveals a side of her that the other supports (with maybe the exception of parts of her Hubert support?) don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair General Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 (edited) Well, this essay just reminded me that 3H doesn't have those houses on the battlefield where people occasionally bitch about how miserable they are. Tbf, there's the people within the monastery; but all they complain about is how the war is making their lives miserable or how excited they are over what the Church recently did. It's weird how the game presents an political issue and doesn't really explains why it's such an big deal,outside of an few conversations that someone is likely to miss. At least SoV makes it clear that societal change needed to happen and how is it affecting the public...But this is an remake of an old game, so I guess that this barely holds any weight. At least Awakening went after why those Plegian criminals were exported PERFECTLY RANDOM AND FAMISHED BRIGANDS! were terrorizing Ylisse. As for the rest of the game, it's all an conspiracy theory by an cult of lunatics to revive the insane dragon god who wants to kill everyone. Hooray for doomsday cults! But there's also some exposition on why some Valmeses citizens (and characters) hate Walhart, so there's that. With Fates, it's hard to say. It's implied that Garon ran his country into the gutter because of an certain plot point that I hate; but we've got an few (hopeless) rebellions out of it, so that was fun. As with 3H and your essay, the base game does have some exposition where people are putting Crests over anything else; but it never really touches on "why" Edelgard has an absolute mindset of solving her problems with wholesale violence against the entire continent instead of, you know, declaring war on Team Slither with the help of some more people. The Alliance is hardly an threat to anyone, for one. Edited October 23, 2022 by Armchair General Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Holy Elf Posted October 24, 2022 Share Posted October 24, 2022 Mostly just want to chime in and echo haarhaarhaar. I also think Edelgard is a very well-done character and you definitely touch on the reasons she's compelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar777 Posted October 24, 2022 Share Posted October 24, 2022 (edited) I liked the ideological depth of this game, which was very unusual for Nintendo. It didn't seem like a cheap copy-paste of Marxism or the Protestant Reformation. Human civilization had been mismanaged by a senile space lizard with mommy issues for the last 1100 years (who sporadically started wars just to further divide mankind into smaller and smaller political units beholden to the church) and noblemen/noblewomen everywhere were miserable for being born into the crest system. But IIRC wasn't Claude also planning to eventually rebel against the church had Edelgard done nothing? And Dimitri himself was a supporter of incremental reform from the start. She came of age in an unprecedented time when all of the future political leadership of Fodlan was ready to force change. The true morale of FE3H and Edelgard's war? Lack of communication kills. Literally Edited October 24, 2022 by Hrothgar777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanguard333 Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 23 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said: But IIRC wasn't Claude also planning to eventually rebel against the church had Edelgard done nothing? And Dimitri himself was a supporter of incremental reform from the start. She came of age in an unprecedented time when all of the future political leadership of Fodlan was ready to force change. We don't know exactly what Claude was originally planning; even in his route, we don't really learn what he was going to do if Edelgard hadn't declared war; all we know is that he spends most of his time searching for as much information as he can find, and that he calls Edelgard impatient if the two of them fight in chapter 12 of White Clouds. Dimitri is indeed a supporter of incremental reform; however, he is not in the best mental state even before Edelgard declares war, and he has now idea about the lengths the nobility in Faerghus will go to in order to prevent any internal reform that they see as a threat to Faerghus (i.e. any internal reform that means they have less power, which is any internal reform that would improve people's lives). The zealotry within Faerghus is so great that a bunch of greedy self-centered nobles genuinely believed that they were acting within the best interest of Faerghus when they (with the help of TWSITD, but it's clear from the dialogue when this is revealed that the nobles would've done this anyway without their help) arranged the assassination of Dimitri's dad and framed the people of Duscur for it just because Dimitri's dad wanted to make the very same reforms that Dimitri supports. Granted, Edelgard doesn't know about this either, but the fact remains that any attempt at even incremental reform would be met with utter hostility in Faerghus, and that does give credence to the idea that it would take a war, regardless of who won, for any reform to actually happen in Faerghus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Jorge Posted May 25, 2023 Share Posted May 25, 2023 I have to say, your essay on Edelgard is absolutely outstanding! Your in-depth exploration of her character is both thought-provoking and captivating. It's evident that you've invested a tremendous amount of time and effort into understanding her motivations and the moral dilemmas she faces. Your analysis is well-structured and supported by solid arguments, making it an incredibly engaging read. Thank you for sharing the link to your essay and inviting feedback. It's a commendable contribution to the ongoing discussion, and I'm eager to see how it sparks further dialogue among fellow Edelgard enthusiasts. Keep up the fantastic work, and I look forward to reading more of your insightful analyses in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts