Most polarising or divisive characters

[Fabulously Olivier]

10 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I dunno. There's hardly much wrong with Bastian, Sigrun, Lucia, or Goffrey. Even the snobby Sanaki's much better than she appears to be. There's a scene midway through where they theorize the Begnion Senate is the true embodiment of nobility and that Elincia and Kurth are different only because she was raised in secret and he's a Laguz, but after meeting Sigrun and Elincia's retainers that line of thinking loses a lot of its ground, yet when RD rolls around Ike and co pretend as if they never met all those decent nobles. 

In Crimea its even a plot point that the upper class are vastly more open minded towards Laguz than the lower classes. The upper classes makes alliance with the laguz, the lower classes try to lynch them for the lulz. 

It's not coincidental that Crimea is the one with a largely virtuous nobility, considering they're the one beorc nation that begins and ends as a monarchy, as opposed to Begnion's constitutional theocracy and Daein's aggressive dictatorial meritocracy. It would be fairly shitty if the story didn't oust an unjust ruling class in the protagonists' own nation, but that is fortunately a non-issue because the current generation happens to be just.

 

However, even in Crimea, we see a noble power struggle sweep up the nation, and almost dethrone the very queen Ike helped reinstate.

[Troykv]

22 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I dunno. There's hardly much wrong with Bastian, Sigrun, Lucia, or Goffrey. Even the snobby Sanaki's much better than she appears to be. There's a scene midway through where they theorize the Begnion Senate is the true embodiment of nobility and that Elincia and Kurth are different only because she was raised in secret and he's a Laguz, but after meeting Sigrun and Elincia's retainers that line of thinking loses a lot of its ground, yet when RD rolls around Ike and co pretend as if they never met all those decent nobles. 

In Crimea its even a plot point that the upper class are vastly more open minded towards Laguz than the lower classes. The upper classes makes alliance with the laguz, the lower classes try to lynch them for the lulz. 

Well, makes sense, the highest of highest class from Crimea (the Royal Family and probably some close families) were friendly with the Laguz from even before Crimea was a thing, it was basically the reason of Crimea's existence as far as I'm aware, like how Daein was created by some nobles that developed a completely antagonistic view of the Laguz instead of the more "loose" one that Begnion has.

I imagine the lower classes in the other hand, have barely changed from the times when their lords were the Senate, they just changed boss.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Troykv

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Aside from Camilla, it's definitely Edelgard. Over anyone else, it's Edelgard. As someone who likes--and criticizes--all three house leaders and Rhea, I've never had anyone come at me harder than Edelgard fans.

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Don't judge people on what characters/fiction they like, that's pure idiocy.

Fiction is fiction and reality is reality.

Not to mention context of the story matters alot as well, and how people view characters is different.

Thaaaaaaaank you, thank you!

[Armchair General]

2 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Her support conversations with Cyril are like 3 years old now.

I never really ran Cyril, that much. But their conversations are kind of mild, when you guys say "racism" I was kind of expecting for something that guy from Path of Radiance would rant about; 3H was more of an cultural misunderstanding than anything else

Edited February 23, 2023 by Armchair General

[Fabulously Olivier]

37 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

I never really ran Cyril, that much. But their conversations are kind of mild, when you guys say "racism" I was kind of expecting for something that guy from Path of Radiance would rant about; 3H was more of an cultural misunderstanding than anything else

There are many degrees of racism, and it's why I used the word unintentional. Hilda is not an inherently hateful person, but she was raised as a beneficiary of pretty egregious injustice, with a skewed perception, and doesn't see it

 

Shinon, on the other hand, is an open and proud racist. He knows what he's doing, and he does it anyway. He's got a very Daein attitude in his treatment of Laguz.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Fabulously Olivier

[ping]

If we stretch the definition a bit - maybe Lyn is a candidate for the older games. Not for her role in the narration, I don't think she's particularly disliked in that regard, but there isn't really a concensus on how good she is in gameplay. Of course, there's also people who think Rebecca is amazing and Marcus is kinda bad, but in general, I think most people will agree on how they perform. For Lyn, on the other hand, you'll find reasonable arguments for both her being quite good and quite bad. Part of that might be Lyn Mode changing her performance in the main campaign quite a lot.

[Fabulously Olivier]

4 hours ago, lenticular said:

Trying to think of specifically male divisive characters, and while @Fabulously Olivier has mentioned Sylvain already, I'll add that most characters who fit into the general "womaniser/flirt/philanderer/lady's man" character archetype tend to be at least somewhat divisive. So Gatrie, Virion, etc. Not anywhere near the level of some of the other names in this thread, but it's there.

The flirts are a bit of a sliding scale. Most, if not all, of them are controversial to a point, but I specifically pointed out Sylvain because he is by far the most mean-spirited of the trope. He isn't just a flirt. He's a cheater, and he does it because he hates women.

 

Sain, Gatrie, Virion, Lorenz, etc. don't really cheat. They're all looking for a relationship, and the worst you could say about them is that they're more aggressively seeking it out. Bastian isn't even that - he's a one woman guy who knows exactly who he wants, and it's just in his personality to flatter everyone.

[Etrurian emperor]

The likes of Sain and Gatrie can be considered charming because they're completely harmless, doomed for failure in Virion's case even. Lorenz is a bit less pleasant since he introduces some classism into the mix but ultimately he's just an annoying guy who means well. Sylvain however is just doing it to be malicious which reflects kinda terrible on him. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

4 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The likes of Sain and Gatrie can be considered charming because they're completely harmless, doomed for failure in Virion's case even. Lorenz is a bit less pleasant since he introduces some classism into the mix but ultimately he's just an annoying guy who means well. Sylvain however is just doing it to be malicious which reflects kinda terrible on him. 

Yes, but it's a little bit ironic to call Virion doomed for failure when the mechanics of the game mean he's bound for success (if you use him, which I always do, since he's a personal favorite).

 

Virion is also a better person than the rest of the lot, my boy Bastian aside. His supports with Olivia in particular show that he's really romantic and supportive in a way that the other flirts aren't. I think there's a better chance than not that the pairing could be "canon," especially given Inigo's canon hair color and personality.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Fabulously Olivier

[Original Alear]

Actually, there was a time when Soren x Ike was kinda divisive. Now I think it's under the radar/gaydar.

A classist against the upper class rather than the lower, but a classist all the same.

I don't think he's anywhere near as classist as say Trails of Cold Steel Machias. He doesn't ever have a problem with Sanaki or Elincia or any of the Laguz royals. Nor does he have any particular issue against knights of Daien being knights. He's an easy (and I do not mean misguided) icon for FE fans who like to highlight criticism of chivalry or the nobility, but Ike himself doesn't seem to have problems with the nobility IMO. It's been a long time though. I'm willing to be reeducated.

I mean, I read some of your more recent posts and it makes me want a Tellius remaster/remake because I really can't remember this stuff anymore 😞

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Niles and Tharja and Rhajat. I thought all three of them were kinda divisive for being kinda bad ppl, not just for same sex relations with Corrin in the cases of Niles and Rhajat. I would mention that girl with the pink and blue hair in Fates but I think she's just kinda disliked?

[Armchair General]

1 hour ago, Original Alear said:

I would mention that girl with the pink and blue hair in Fates but I think she's just kinda disliked?

Peri is what happens when an kid is traumatized and they don't have an means of coping with it. As far as I can tell, she's just the token psycho with an tragic backstory. Niles, on the other hand, has an silver tongue; I found it kind of funny how he got Effie to admit what she's wears under her armor

Edited February 24, 2023 by Armchair General

[Punished Dayni]

14 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Yes, but it's a little bit ironic to call Virion doomed for failure when the mechanics of the game mean he's bound for success (if you use him, which I always do, since he's a personal favorite).

I remember one of my playthroughs I had as much paired as I could and Virion and Libra were the only guys who weren't paired.

That's kind of the thing, any of these guy's success is based on how the player interacts with the game (Sain can have paired endings that don't leave him alone, Forde has similar behaviour and similar fates), if there re chances for them (Another more suitably divisive case would be Saul from BinB imo, considering how he uses his position to do so)

10 hours ago, Original Alear said:

I don't think he's anywhere near as classist as say Trails of Cold Steel Machias. He doesn't ever have a problem with Sanaki or Elincia or any of the Laguz royals. Nor does he have any particular issue against knights of Daien being knights. He's an easy (and I do not mean misguided) icon for FE fans who like to highlight criticism of chivalry or the nobility, but Ike himself doesn't seem to have problems with the nobility IMO. It's been a long time though. I'm willing to be reeducated.

Ike doesn't seem to have much of a class-based disgust at the Senate in PoR, of course tends to hold positive relations with Elincia and at least works with royals like Caineghis and Sanaki.

[Fabulously Olivier]

Just now, Punished Dayni said:

I remember one of my playthroughs I had as much paired as I could and Virion and Libra were the only guys who weren't paired.

That's kind of the thing, any of these guy's success is based on how the player interacts with the game (Sain can have paired endings that don't leave him alone, Forde has similar behaviour and similar fates), if there re chances for them (Another more suitably divisive case would be Saul from BinB imo, considering how he uses his position to do so)

Ike doesn't seem to have much of a class-based disgust at the Senate in PoR, of course tends to hold positive relations with Elincia and at least works with royals like Caineghis and Sanaki.

Gatrie is the only one who if memory serves actually is doomed for failure. Unfortunate because he's not really a bad guy, and it's really funny seeing him get turned down for Makalov of all people. He's certainly a lot funnier than all of the other flirts.

 

Also, Machias' classism is pretty justified, and while he takes it too far and is pretty annoying in half of Cold Steel 1, he does grow out of it and actually becomes one of my favorite Trails characters. He's really well written.

[Magenta Fantasies]

On 2/23/2023 at 7:03 PM, Fabulously Olivier said:

Virion is also a better person than the rest of the lot, my boy Bastian aside. His supports with Olivia in particular show that he's really romantic and supportive in a way that the other flirts aren't. I think there's a better chance than not that the pairing could be "canon," especially given Inigo's canon hair color and personality.

I definitely see Virion as Inigo’s father, and that’s one of the only parent-child combinations I’m adamant about. Speaking of Inigo, he’s one of the nicest “flirts,” especially in Fates as Laslow.

On 2/23/2023 at 11:35 PM, Original Alear said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Niles and Tharja and Rhajat. I thought all three of them were kinda divisive for being kinda bad ppl, not just for same sex relations with Corrin in the cases of Niles and Rhajat. I would mention that girl with the pink and blue hair in Fates but I think she's just kinda disliked?

Peri is pretty divisive. Plenty of people hate her for understandable reasons, but I’ve met many Peri fans and I’m one myself. She does moderately well in Choose Your Legends (she’s consistently in the 180-200th range) despite having been in Heroes since the beginning.

 

Micaiah used to be extremely divisive when Radiant Dawn was released, but that has cooled down far more than I would have ever expected. Now it seems most people have a neutral to positive view of her. Currently I’d say Edelgard is the most divisive character for reasons others have mentioned.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Takumi. I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve seen who have neutral opinions of him. Like Camilla, he’s almost always among people’s favorite or least favorite Fates characters.

Come to think of it, Fates and Three Houses have a lot of characters people tend to have strong feelings about one way or another, like Xander, Soleil, Nina, Charlotte, Reina, Velouria, Ophelia, Niles, Felix, Sylvain, Rhea, Bernadetta, and Lysithea.

[Etrurian emperor]

On 2/25/2023 at 6:55 AM, Magenta Fantasies said:

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Takumi. I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve seen who have neutral opinions of him. Like Camilla, he’s almost always among people’s favorite or least favorite Fates characters.

I think it might have to do with the problems people have Takumi all being very conventional. Tsunderes are by their very nature divisive. Normally how off puttingly aggressive or cutely flustered they are  prompts some discussion, but in Fates its kinda hard to focus on that when many of the things that rub people the wrong way are often so bizarre.