Jena

Hello! Recently I hacked my 3ds to install the Fates translation patch. I have the digital edition, where you can choose a path after chapter 6. The problem is that in this version, the paths appear as DLC in the archives, so the patcher doesn't work with the base game nor the DLC (with Conquest and Birthright). I don't want to download any rom from internet, so I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to merge the base game and the DLC to make it work, can anyone help me? Also, I was wondering if it would be possible to play the patched rom on Citra, because I don't want to risk the original in my 3ds. Sorry for my English ^^'

Rhea carried the whole game for me. She doesn't appear as much as other characters, but her scenes and the mystery surrounding her was enough to make me quite interested. The answers to all of the questions I had about her lived up to my expectations, so I ended up very satisfied. And knowing her whole story, she was easily the best antagonist (CF) for me in this game. Linhardt is my second favourite because I think he is a good representation of would be a gifted child in real life (at least from my experience, with the people I've met). Characters intended to be like that are always portrayed as very intelligent, but that's it, the writers never explore the behavior and personality these people usually have. Founding some of those characteristics in Linhardt's personality was what made me appreciate and understand him. My third favourite is Felix, because I love his concept and "development" in non-AM routes. "A hightly empathetic person changing because of the death of his brother and the glorification of his culture towards it" was a really good base and the writers used it correctly. His personality and way of thinking portrays pretty well his past. I also adore how, after all, if he leaves his country he is going to be unhappy, no matter the ending. I think they could have given more importance to him in AM when "you know who" dies, but apart from that he was a nice opposition to Dimitri's madness.

@Jotari I agree with you so much. Edelgard's past is not for understanding her, it is just for making us feel bad for her. The way it is treated (she only tells this to us and the scenes make her seem vulnerable) says a lot about it. Like you explained, it doesn't affect the plot, because no matter what happened, she is still working with the people she hates. The worst thing is that the plot of CF doesn't even take TSWID seriously. It could be argued that the past explains her disdain for the nobles but...Well. We are more or less on the same situation, because she is still working, for example, with Lindhardt's father and Caspar's father (both of them took part in the insurrection), and she never comments anything about this.

Thank you both ^^

As I said, the WC just tried to assassinate the Archbishop, it would not be unexpected if they encountered another threat like that while investigating the EC, so that is why the knight could be saying that. That doesn't mean they were there intending to immediately purge anyone because...What reasons do you think they would have to do it? Also, what I said before: this is never brought up again (please, correct me if it is), and I don't think a purge in the EC would go unnoticed. And what? IIRC, the only two times we hear about the Cardinals is in a conversation with Tomas where he says they control the church or something like that (and well...is...Tomas), this is shady, but we don't have any details more. And the other time is when we see they transform into white beasts because of having Rhea's blood. If you ask me, the blood ritual isn't something that strange or shady in FE; in Fates, in Siegbert Japanese voice lines in My room, he says there is a ritual between retainer and lord where the lord gives then their blood (which is also, more or less, dragon blood). Rhea didn't know she would transform, so I think it is merely an act of loyalty. I don't think is mentioned they do secret missions. Or is that what Tomas dialogue said? Also, a little detail, but they aren't immortal. In the "best" case, they would be just like the 10 elites, Nemesis and Jeralt: they can live a long time, but they are still humans and will end up dying, also they can get killed. Another thing to note is that the beasts we found in the SS map have minor crests, unlike Jeralt, which means they haven't got the blood directly from Rhea, so it is even more questionable if they even have the peculiarities of the characters I mentioned.

The conversation with the NPC doesn't tell why are they going there or what are they going to do. And, iirc, is not brought up on something more than that conversation. I mean, they surely went there, but nothing is telling that they traveled to purge the EC, especially when, like you said, they did nothing. Why would the CC attack the EC without motive? It would be stupid an move for Rhea, even if you think she is a tyrant or something like that. After all, they are allies. Imo, the KoS were probably just investigating, which it would be the normal thing after the Archbishop is attacked because of internal tensions, and the comment of the knight about dying was just because they didn't know what they would find there. If there is something more to this, please, tell me where. I don't really recall anything more.

Really? My bad then. Could you tell me the chapter where is the conversation? But still, in the end of the support with Cyril he says "Maybe I don't need to make an enemy of her", after Cyril has explained to him what Rhea does, so I don't think it is so safe to assume so.

Catherine has personal motives to defend Rhea, which explains why she is also so radical. Shamir for example is also a KoS yet she doesn't blindly follow Rhea (and she isn't even a believer). And I think you are just speculating, we don't know what happened those years, and for now, the people they have killed did something (violent) against the Church. Also, Lonato's son was executed because participating in an attempt of assasination against Rhea, not the Tragedy of Duscur. The truth is that we don't know what happened after the war of heroes. Especially how the nobles came to power. We know Rhea changed history, but that's it. How and why would she put in charge the people that are wielding her family's remainings is not known (or even if was her who made them nobles). And about your point of noble houses lacking a crest, returning to my point of the Empire, Jeritza's house wanted a crest because it was disappearing, but like I said, the Church or religious influence there (especially between the noble) is very little. So, I still think that most of the reason the nobles have are related to power and tradition. And for your last point...In most of the endings, especially AM, where she doesn't tell nothing about the religion and could still have returned to power, she gives her position to Byleth, even knowing they aren't Sothis. And what did Sothis wanted that it wasn't the same as Rhea wanted? (excluiding revive her, of course) And no, there would not be a way, but because Fódlan would be in chaos, given that most people are religious (and the reason why Rhea tells the truth in GD isn't Edelgard, is Nemesis)And with the information Edelgard has...Well...How would Rhea not get angry at her? Though I must say that i CF the thing she cares the least is that manifesto.

The only two times in the game (part 1) where we see the KoS kill someone was when they were trying to kill her or using violence against the Church...(inspired by TWSID) People wanted crests for power, not for religion. The empire, the place least influenced by the religion of Fódlan was where most crest experiments were made. And also, where most corruption existed. If I may add to the point before, there was a Southern Church in the Empire that disappeared (probably due to TWSID influence or something like that) and we don't see Rhea trying to restore it by force at all. And there are powerful (by influence) nobles without a crest. For example, Judith or even Arundel, who was the main figure of the insurrection of the 7. Claude doesn't consider Rhea an obstacle for his objectives. He just doesn't care that much about her. And well, looking at the supports with Cyril, he doesn't consider her a direct threat, and he even ends up believing that Rhea might agree with what he thinks. Well, the "experiment" with Byleth is explained in SS. And in the end I think is clear Byleth develops emotions. Also, Rhea literally thought that Byleth was Sothis, so in the case El didn't start the war, she would have probably let them do what they wanted. Because for her (before the ts), Byleth is the Progenitor God and the true leader of religion in Fódlan.

I personally disagree that the church itself is outdated, but it's true that the motive that makes Fódlan so stratified is what Rhea/Seiros did in the past . IIRC, she gave positions and money to Nemesis's allies, whose descendants are the actual nobility of Fódlan. I don't think she did it with that purpose though, just to mantain a relative peace. And you could totally say is corrupt, given the real intentions of it, but it isn't in the way that they are megalomaniac people trying to make people follow them, but more like they are trying to prevent that what happened in the past ocurrs again. The point of radicalism has been brought up many times, and while without context in the situation it's pretty bad (I think all of us started suspecting the Church as the real enemy for that), but when we learn more about the lore it makes sense, not saying it was right ofc. Rhea and Seteth knew about TSWID. We don't have information about what happened in the past with this type of things (apart from the disappearance of many people ), but in the present, the problems are indeed caused by them and Edelgard. I think it's safe to assume that they know who might be behind events like this. It's pretty clear in chapter 5, because a normal person wouldn't know what to do with Seiros's corpse while TSWID yes. Also we know that Lord Lonato and the Occidental Church were manipulated by TWSID, so the suspicions aren't baseless. In chapter 4 there is a very interesting dialogue with Lonato in which he calls Sothis (or Rhea depending on who you ask) "a false goddess", when he was religious before, so the manipulation is clear. My theory here is that while they are totally radical, it isn't because they want everyone to follow the religion (Shamir, Cyril, and I would risk saying that they even know some students aren't religious) but because they fear an attack of those people. Also, the censoring of books and that stuff, relates to not wanting people to know the real past of Fódlan, but not because they might stop believing in Seiros and the Goddess, but to prevent people to know the horrible truth about crests and relics and the consequences, which it could affect them as dragons or Fódlan as a whole. It's very questionable (they are totally fooling people), but knowing what happened in the past it's until certain point "understandable". I mentioned Seteth because he isn't that religious. He serves Rhea just because they are like family and from we see of him it's a pretty sane man. Knowing this, he still collaborates normally with the things Rhea does, apart from the mommy issues things, which it somewhat corroborates my argument that they just fear TWSID. Also, Rhea stepping down in GD and BL routes to give the position to Byleth, might indicate that she isn't interested in have power. I know you are mentioning a hypothetical situation, but I think in the GD route is mentioned that TWSID also want to destroy humanity, they don't only resent the Church. They probably attacked Seiros first because she was the principal obstacle to them and the daughter of Sothis. I don't know what to say about the political part though because, as you might have supposed, I don't see this conflict as totally politic, but this might be because of my view on Edelgard itself. (Also because I know nothing about this stuff) And in the situation you mentioned, I think Rhea's reaction was the normal thing, very emotional, but normal. Edel is not only taking her sibilings's hearts (explains why she is so raged) but the fact that is taking them means that she is collaborating with TWSID and consequently, is a direct threat to Fódlan (Rhea doesn't know that Edel is only collaborating with them for benefit).

I don't think we should bring real politics into this discussion, we are talking about fiction and it isn't even that complex. Not to mention that people have different opinions on historical events and characters. I don't think that Edelgard made crests disappear because they are dragons' blood. Unless you kill everyone who comes from a crest lineage, the crests are going to keep existing. I don't comprehend Edelgard's plan, because from what I understand, even if they end with the church, people are going to still believe that they are blessings of the goddess to the heroes who helped to protect Fódlan and still give their bearer special abilities. Like some people mentioned here, Edelgard says her problems aren't with the religion, but the institution of church itself. Sothis disappearing at the end it's very open to interpretation. Maybe it was because we killed her daughter or because she wanted to give us another chance to live...Or it could be just a plot device to make sure Byleth lives in the end.

I dislike Edelgard a lot after playing the four routes because she just seems to me a person looking for revenge. She is really biased against the church and Rhea (because of the people she collaborates with), and while some of the things she points out are true, in the end she doesn't seem to care that much about them. Also the fact that the is repeating Fódlan's history in her end doesn't help. The "ends justify the means" doesn't bother me as much, in fact, I think we need more female characters like her.