Ivan Tridelan

I see a lot of people say VW > SS, but personally, I find VW to just be an inferior SS. It is driven by Claude's personality, but a lot of things make no sense, from the animated scene with Edelgard ripped straight from SS (because it doesn't make sense on VW at all), to Claude somehow being considered neutral/independent while running around with Byleth despite being the leader of the Alliance, to Nader and Judith never helping despite hanging around the monastery, to Claude just up and leaving at the end. If it actually went and made Claude as ruthless and cunning as he is sometimes implied to be, or it was politics-centric with the Alliance split in two, it would be interesting but in the end it's meh. I see people talk about it being the lore route, but you get most of that lore in SS with more focus on Byleth instead of a Claude that talks about his dreams only to leave, handing you the reigns of Fodlan unlike every other path where the main lord rules (SS's lord is Byleth, with Seteth being adjutant). There's also the fact that hearing Catherine, Seteth and Cyril talk about saving Rhea every damn chapter on the other routes (in particular, AM even when Dmitri is still murder-happy) is really annoying when those routes are about winning the war with saving Rhea a happy side benefit whereas SS is the reverse. You learn more about Byleth instead of Claude and both routes' final bosses basically come out of nowhere. Yeah, Nemesis is unique while Rhea is fought in CF but the way the battle is set up and the mechanics of the fight are completely different. As for AM, it was too annoying, between Dmitri being the way he is for half the part, everyone else following him despite knowing he was a mess, and his redemption feels forced, abrupt and completely overdone. We go half the part with a murder hobo, Rodrigue sacrifices himself, we get a rain scene and then suddenly he's the perfect FE lord triumphantly returning to save his people before invading the enemy nation and taking down the "evil" Emperor. IMO it's the worst route. Everyone talks about how they want to help Dmitri but nobody does anything to help. At least in VW the classmates are blatantly just add-ons instead of "friends" that do nothing but enable their buddy's bad habits. You also never address the Slithers in AM where every other route at least plans to.

Ferdinand: Unlikely Caspar: Surely Lindhart: Unlikely Petra: Unlikely Dorothea: Unlikely Bernadetta: Might (like I said, depends on support level) Felix: Surely Sylvain: Might (depends on gender) Ingrid: Unlikely Annette: Unlikely Mercedes: Unlikely Ashe: Likely (but not quite "Surely") Hilda: Might (depends on which teacher she has) Raphael: Surely Ignatz: Likely (he's a natural follower and you're more commanding than the others) Lorenz: Unlikely Lysithea: Surely (if Hanneman), Likely (if Manuela) Marianne: Surely (if Hanneman), Might (if Manuela, depends on support level) Leonie: Surely

It looks like you're talking story-wise as opposed to mechanics-wise (which is what Barren was looking at). I like to look at it differently (since you're recruiting them at a point where it's still just school) In BE, Hanneman has BL and Manuela has GD. In BL, Manuela has BE and Hanneman has GD. In GD, Manuela has BE and Hanneman has BL. From a strengths and personal interest standpoint: BE: Ferdinand: Not likely in any route. He has too much pride in his status as an Imperial Noble, so he won't leave BE. Caspar: Likely, Manuela doesn't work to his strengths and he doesn't have any particular personal traits to prevent him switching to learn from someone like the Ashen Demon. Lindhart: Too much trouble. Petra: Possible, but her friendship with Edelgard could interfere. Dorothea: Unlikely, she came to Garreg Mach partly because of Manuela, they share a lot of interests. Bernadetta: Depends on support ranks. Her supports show she feels comfortable around you, but without them she'd be put off by your rep and she can barely stand leaving her room. BL: Felix: Absolutely. He repeatedly shows an interest in you, and has no reason to stick with a magic-focused instructor like Hanneman, on top of his issues with Dmitri. Sylvain: Depends on your gender for obvious reasons. He needs Reason ranks to recruit as male, is that a jab at his deep-seated issues and his coping method being illogical? Ingrid: Unlikely, she seems to be intent on being Dmitri's knight. That said, Hanneman doesn't really match her interests (his ability to tutor Riding doesn't make much sense to me) Annette: Hanneman's strengths are right up her alley, and her best friend is in the same class. Unlikely. Mercedes: Magically inclined, even if it's toward Faith instead of Reason and Annie is her buddy. Unlikely. Ashe: Possible. Doesn't have the closeness with the others the rest have (Annette/Mercedes and the rest are long-time friends plus Dedue's fixation on Dmitri) GD: Hilda: If she has Manuela, not likely, too easy to slack off. If Hanneman, possibly. Lorenz: See Ferdinand. Raphael: Absolutely. You're far more muscular and more martially inclined than the other two professors. Ignatz: Possible, but he doesn't seem to really have much reason to even be at the Academy to be honest besides its prestige. Lysithea: Yes. Manuela doesn't fit her strengths and Hanneman loves Crest studying too much. You're far more interesting. Marianne: If Hanneman, definitely, for similar reasons to Lysithea. If Manuela, harder to say, she has the same strengths. Leonie: You're Jeralt's kid. Is this even a question? Random side note: Does being Sothis' host give you some kind of passive aura? Because that would explain a lot XD Side note 2: If you do give off some kind of holy presence (no in-game reason believe you do, though), Mercedes and Marianne would be much more inclined to join. If it's a calming presence, add Bernadetta and Ignatz (both are nervous wrecks)

So with an Iron Man run, you start with your house units of course. You can get the Ashen Wolves at any time. If you're going CF, you don't have to worry about training house units. If you're VW or AM, you have early Catherine. SS don't bother, no Catherine, Seteth isn't a match for Claude or Dmitri, especially since they'll be prepared for Ch 13. Recruitment from other houses allowed, I hope, otherwise things will get very dicey in a hurry, as every house has mediocre units/units who take a long time to get going. If we assume one week of Auxiliary battles (DLC for stat booster), your weapon ranks and levels shouldn't be too bad (especially if you train everyone in Faith at the start so they can get Heal XP, though some would call this grinding; I don't as long as you aren't exploiting it for extra XP). Possible? Yes, though I'd say SS is easily the worst off for it.

IMO the real problem with Edelgard isn't the Slithers OR starting the war, it's her stubbornness and inability to trust leading her to walk a path that basically leaves her the obvious villain for Fodlan. Starting the war isn't a problem for me because it was going to happen anyways. The Slithers are clearly aiming towards this, given their past with Nemesis, and then the Duscur mess, having one of their number in close proximity to the Prince (Cornelia) and one as Regent of the Empire (Arundel) meant they had more than enough pull to start the war regardless. Edelgard really started it on her own terms instead of whatever method they used, but it was going to happen anyways. Likewise, working with the Slithers allows her to keep at least some grasp on what they're doing instead of just knowing they're out there plotting and maneuvering and not being in a position to do anything about it (Rhea). The biggest problem here is actually CF route (because in the other paths she keeps Rhea alive specifically as a countermeasure against the Slithers, as stated by an NPC in Garreg Mach after Enbarr in VW (and presumably SS)), because in this route Rhea dies, and given how focused on the war Edelgard has been (and she let Arundel take Failnaught in Deirdru, among other things to let the Slithers strengthen their side), what countermeasures are in place to make sure she doesn't get assassinated and thus the Slithers take over via Arundel? The main issue for me is her inability to trust others and her stubbornness in believing her way was the ONLY way (while her decisions are somewhat justified in many cases, there's definitely room for improvement). Life isn't a board game where there's only one way to win, after all. Given her past with Dmitri, he could have been an ally against the Slithers, which would also give her a fallback option if the Empire fell into the Slithers' hands. Claude is an outsider who does absolutely nothing to give reason to trust him, but Dmitri and Byleth are both options, and possibly Jeralt. Instead of vague hints about needing to make a choice in BE WC, hints about the Slithers manipulating things might have led to a very different outcome. Instead she is reliant on Hubert and Jeritza, neither of which has much of a moral compass and both are more or less enablers (not to mention Jeritza barely functions as anything other than a weapon).

1) Fair point, though given her relations with Petra and Dorothea in particular it's possible since she was all set to walk her path alone (plus Hubert) 2) Keep in mind a huge part of why they turn is because they witness Rhea going full-blown "Kill everyone in sight" dragon mode. They'll turn because they don't have a choice. Flayn might get a pass in Rhea's mind because she's a Nabatean but the rest are "untrustworthy" hunans. And quite frankly the only similarity my map has to RAD is house units are mandatory. In my map they're all deployed at the beginning, AND you have allies. It's also pre-time skip and you can prepare before going into the Tomb. 3) I already acknowledged that while I'd love to see Edelgard get her due revenge, it doesn't really fit well for reasons others have stated. 4) An interesting alternative, and causus belli would be nice instead of just "we can't leave Claude poised to strike out flank so we're going to take out the Alliance". Side note: The Great Bridge of Myrddin battle makes less sense on CF since Gloucester is supposed to be pro-Empire and they (along with lolAcheron) are the ones in control of the bridge. Unless Judith's troops just swept in, I suppose. As far as Claude is concerned, once the Empire focuses on the Alliance, his little balancing act doesn't matter anymore so he can't worry about whether or not he pisses off Gloucester.

Fair enough, I myself consider it a stretch, for all the reasons you list. I just also feel like leaving it for after Rhea takes away from the feel of the climactic showdown with Rhea and leaving it out entirely denies both Edelgard and the player the satisfaction of putting down Thales after his posturing at Deirdru and Arianrhod.

To start, the biggest change would be a complete overhaul of Chapter 11. After returning from Enbarr you make the choice that currently you make at the end of the Holy tomb fight. Assuming you've chosen CF path, the Tomb plays out very differently. When Edelgard storms in, you make your choice known and Rhea flips out as you'd expect. She goes full Immaculate One, with stats and buffs that make it clear you aren't supposed to beat her. A bunch of imperial mages lock her in a barrier to prevent her from interfering, so she summons the guardians you fight in her paralogue in other routes (mechanical golems and phantom soldiers). You are supposed to steal the Crest Stones (making it the opposite of the other routes' version of this fight) while protecting the mages, being rewarded for how many you steal (instead of how many you protect from being stolen). The fight lasts 12 turns or the mages are slain (in either case, they warn Edelgard that Rhea is breaking out and they can't hold her much longer, so she calls a retreat). You can only use the BE students (pre-deployed), making it similar to the dreaded Ch 13 of other routes, but you do get help from the Imperial soldiers El brought. Flayn is also present as a non-aggressive enemy (in both fights against her in CF she expresses regret at having to fight you) near the back. After the fight, Edelgard reveals her "true history of Fodlan" as well as the unwilling alliance with TWSITD, the fact they'd have started the war anyways so she's doing so on her terms, and her intentions to turn the tables on them later. This gives much better reasoning to side with her for people like Lysithea and Leonie who hate TWSITD and anyone who works with them. She is also convinced not to turn unwilling people into beasts with the Crest Stones, which she agrees to as thanks for siding with her (which is why there are no mentions of their use in CF as opposed to other routes where you fight them frequently). CF proceeds largely according to canon until Arianrhod is destroyed, at which point Hubert pinpoints Shambala and they take the opportunity to destroy TWSITD's main base (simply re-use the map from VW/SS, with some level scaling) before proceeding to the epic clashes at Tailtean Plains and Fhirdiad which I feel are the proper conclusion to CF route. Incidentally, during the Fhirdiad mission, Ashe and Annette are too moral to go along with this, not to mention it's THEIR capital that's burning down, civilians included so they can be persuaded to either abandon the fight (they go to save civilians) or join you; Catherine has stated she'll do anything for Rhea except die, so she'll probably fight, Cyril has nothing for him in Fodlan except Rhea so he fights and Gilbert is consumed by guilt at his failures (which is why he leaves the Kingdom and his family in the first place) so at this point he WANTS to die in battle. Thoughts?

I don't see any "No Grinding" rule there :p With grinding, things are a lot easier since you can get Weight -5 and Armor Knight's 12 Def/Fortress Knight's 17 Def on EVERYONE which makes things massively easier (plus A rank bows on everyone so they can all do Hunter's Volley lol and other such shenanigans). I did it myself on my NG Maddening run because I'm not that hardcore a player lol. All my casters had 19 Strength (Warrior base) and 17 Defense (FK base) at level 20 along with Weight -5. My physical units all had Weight -5 as well (because due to the AS calculations, Weight on weapons/spells is the main reason you get doubled early on; later it's just the absurd Speed stats of FKs and Assassins) and once level 30 hit my males could pick up Quick Riposte. Side note: post timeskip, I'm of the opinion that it's better from gameplay perspective (not time investment) to due the DLC battles all weeks besides the first each month. Gardening only gets you 1 stat booster per week you do it. DLC battles give you 3 per, though they are map-dependent. But having 3 Strength/Magic/Speed boosters in a single week is vastly superior to Gardening. Cooking is debatable since it applies to your whole team and stat boosters don't, but the Stat Boosters are permanent buffs.

Incidentally, despite Sothis fusing with Byleth and theoretically being no more as a separate consciousness, not only does she show up if you decide to S-rank her, but she talks to you at the beginning of post-time-skip, telling you to stop being a lazy dumbass lol. In regards to your question, Timlugia's possibility 1 seems to be what Rhea was aiming for but 2 is what actually wound up happening. There is also the issue that I doubt Rhea expected Sothis to wake up early and not have her memories, leaving her mistrusting of Rhea herself, among others. Rhea seems to be expecting Sothis to take over Byleth's body, manifest in her full glory and solve all of Fodlan's problems.

Metodey and his troops could be unofficially "on loan" to Aelfric simply because his actions are causing the Church (their future enemy) a lot of trouble. Sort of like the Lend-Lease/"Volunteer" troops before America officially involved itself in WW1. If he gets his hands on a few artifacts/useful goodies all the better. It's also possible TWSITD were looking to confirm the existence and possibly the functionality of the buried legend that is the Chalice of Beginnings. The Church has a lot of dirty secrets, and its enemies would love to know them, enough to send some grunts and an expendable officer (Metodey) to check it out.

For me: Marianne > Lysithea >>> Claude > Hilda > Leonie >>> Raphael > Lorenz > Ignatz

It's the whole issue of people on pedestals and friendships/romance. You don't know if someone want to be with you because they like you, or they want your money/fame/prestige/influence/whatever.

I prefer Male avatar/self-inserts (though Robin, Corrin and Byleth all have established characters that don't let them truly qualify as such). I'll probably do a female run just to get Darting Blow but it's not a priority, and playing a Female romancing Males is awkward for me. Gameplay wise, advantages are: Female: Early Sylvain (irrelevant if playing BL), Darting Blow, easier Flying levels since you can start at level 10 and only need a D (as opposed to 20 and needing C) Male: Quick Riposte (though that comes late it's obscenely good to have in Maddening NG+), earlier access to high rank gauntlets, Poison Strike and Lifetaker I guess though both are situational skills I don't count Gremory (Byleth's spell list sucks) or Falcon Knight (WL is overall better or at least interchangeable), and the DLC classes Valkyrie and Dark Flier (for same reason as Gremory) as advantages for females. They give more options but they're functionally inferior unless your Byleth is magic-blessed. Yes, female Byleth can use Gauntlets, she just doesn't get classes related to them which means Male Byleth can rack up Brawling levels faster, though this only really might matter on Maddening where their guaranteed double is very useful.

I like the idea of having White Clouds with Byleth not being attached to a class until after Jeritza is exposed as DK. Then he chooses to oppose Edelgard in the tomb, as he feels she is jumping the gun and being needlessly confrontational (let's be honest, she acts more or less the same in that chapter as she does in other routes despite having a much stronger bond with Byleth and the rest of the BE). HOWEVER! At the beginning of SS, rather than just going their separate ways like they do in canon, Edelgard admits to relying on the Slithers to overthrow the church while also wanting to get rid of them. She also admits to having Rhea imprisoned and 5 years of war has tempered her hatred of the woman now in chains. She agrees to release Rhea if the Church is overhauled and stripped of most political and military power (only enough to defend Garreg Mach and pilgrims/merchants). She departs and Byleth runs into Dmitri, proceeding to Azure Moon route up until Gronder. After Rodrigue's sacrifice and Dmitri's mind starts to heal, Claude comes by to discuss why his group was attacked. Byleth at this point reveals the existence of the Slithers and that Cornelia is one. Proceed to AM Fhirdiad, then to Deirdru as Claude is under attack by Arundel's forces. Arundel retreats, proceed to Fort Merceus. After the missiles, Hubert and Edelgard arrive with the BE and Rhea, as Hubert has located Shambala. Shambala gets wrecked, Nemesis shows up causing the 3 lords to officially cease-fire and team up. Ending: Rhea steps down, admitting her overzealousness derailed the Church from what it was supposed to be, Byleth takes over. Three lords take over their respective nations, hunting the remaining Slithers as they rebuild, Claude bringing Almyrans in to reduce the xenophobia Fodlan shows. There's your golden route, I guess.

Incidentally, this is a point that makes me wonder how receiving a Crest that presumably came from preserved Nemesis or Sothis blood might affect Edelgard's lifespan. Either the blood is too strong and overwhelms her body, leading to it breaking down (due to it being forced upon her instead of willingly given like with Rhea -> Jeralt), or it might counteract the strain of two crests and prolong her life. Huh... Regardless, the discussion is largely pointless since Edelgard has no intentions of living until a quiet retirement lol. She intends to overturn society, build a new one and then turn it over to a worthy successor or die trying. By the way, does the 1st generation Crest lifespan extension apply to ALL crests or just the saintly ones? Because if you consider the vast difference between a willing donation like Rhea -> Jeralt and the Heroes' crests which were created through Dark Magic and Agarthian tech, it makes me wonder. Especially since it should be noted only the Heroes' relics corrupt non-crest bearers, whereas the Saints' relics can be used by anyone. While both crest types come from Nabatean blood, one is pure and one is defiled by magic and technology.

Personally, I don't get the whole fanbase for Ashe. He's overshadowed as a unit and he really isn't "Cinnamon Roll" sweet, though I suppose I don't see any male character as fitting that description. His main development is the whole Lonato thing, and he's hardly the only character that loses someone he's close to. Annette's main themes are being cheerful, an overachiever and her issue with Gilbert. Admittedly, she's got good reason given Gilbert failed as a father and as a knight by running away from the Kingdom and joining the church (originally I'd argue he succeeded as a knight by getting Dmitri back to the kingdom, even if he wasn't able to save the King). A major downer is she only gets her relic in AM due to sharing a paralogue with Gilbert. Dedue is defined as "Dmitri is everything." His supports give some insight into Duscur culture but otherwise he doesn't have much else. Felix is cynical and bitter, and canonically has seen boar Dmitri in action, which is why he has such an attitude towards Dmitri. He despises chivalry and is jaded towards knights by his father's coping methods towards his brother's death. Obsessed with getting stronger and yet beneath all that he can't let go of his friendships. I wouldn't call him tsundere like I've seen some people call him, but he definitely prefers to keep people at arms length, likely in order to avoid being hurt again like that. Sylvain's flirting shtick covers a severely jaded perspective, driven by the nobility's obsession with crests and his brother's disownment. He's a much deeper character than he comes across, though his skirtchasing is too over-the-top and frequent for me to like him despite knowing he's more than that. Mercedes is the big sister of the cast, caring about everyone, but she's had her own hardships. Her desire to dedicate her life to the church conflicts with her family's noble nonsense and it was really nice to see her reconnect with her brother in CF. Ingrid develops from an idealistic knight-aspirant with xenophobic tendencies (particularly towards Duscur for obvious reasons) to a woman ready to forge her own path. That said, she never fully lets go of her desire to be a knight. Still my favorite girl in the BL. Dmitri either sees a lot of development or practically none at all (his issues merely being brought to the surface as opposed to hiding in part 1) depending on the route. The fact Edelgard legit doesn't recognize him clearly hurts him, and his delusions and fixation on a misunderstanding bring him down. Early AM was easily my most hated part of the game because murder hobo Dmitri (even if he had some reason to be that way) was extremely obnoxious to have as the main focus, not to mention everyone followed him anyways. Still, he receives redemption, even if the key point was awfully contrived (where was Byleth when Fleche popped up?) and his redemption arc was quite enjoyable.

From what I understand, the problem with two crests is the strain it puts on the body, something I'm fairly certain either Hanneman or Lindhart mentions in a support conversation. This would be a problem for Edelgard as well, even if she has none of the health issues Lysithea obviously does (which goes with the idea that Lys was the prototype that allowed the "improved/perfected" version that is Edelgard). Edelgard/Lysithea ending: "With careful analysis of ancient techniques, they discovered ways to recover the years of life that had been stolen from them." Like I mentioned previously, having shorter lifespan doesn't necessarily mean you'll have health issues NOW. The Crest of Flames probably plays a part as well. Granted the only people we know with it besides Edelgard are Byleth and Nemesis, but given that it's a Crest taken from the Goddess' own blood, it's probably a lot stronger than the other crests, strengthening the body. Though that's unproven and more headcanon/fanon than anything else.

Lysithea also has health issues, which could easily be explained by your 3 points, plus the fact her crests are Physical/Magical as opposed to Edelgard's Physical/Physical. It would also make more sense that Lys is more worried about dying young because her constitution is so obviously weak compared to Edelgard's. Two people can have short life expectancies, but if one is clearly frail while the other won't have too many issues until a decade down the road, they're going to have vastly different mentalities and lifestyles.

Lysithea is younger and a pure mage type as opposed to Edelgard's axe focus. Furthermore, Edelgard has the Crest of Flames plus a Minor Crest of Seiros while Lysithea has Major Gloucester and Minor Charon which probably has something to do with it as well. Edelgard also implies shortened lifespan with how much she's rushing to get her plans done as opposed to being a bit more cautious and methodical. Lysithea is also more conscious of her age (which only further emphasizes her shortened life expectancy), and her only real goal is to make sure her parents can retire comfortably, which shouldn't be that hard compared to Edelgard's entire life being dedicated to completely overturning Fodlan's culture. Edelgard's personality isn't inclined towards complaining anyways, and her need to appear strong at all times only further reduces the likelihood of her mentioning a shortened life span. Side note: Lysithea's experimentation came first so it's possible the side effects are decidedly less pronounced in Edelgard (especially the health side). IIRC in one of Lysithea's supports with Hanneman (or possibly Lindhart) he mentions that having two crests would undoubtedly have a negative impact on the body. TLDR: There's no reason to conclude the Edelgard does NOT have a shortened lifespan, but the evidence to PROVE that she does is circumstantial at best.

I'm late in saying this, but I'd like to point out that in the Edelgard + Arundel discussion: 1) Edelgard AFAIK only calls him Uncle when in public/in front of others not in the know. 2) If we use the timeline of Arundel stopping his donations as the time he is replaced, note this is upon return to the Empire. The experiments on Edelgard and her siblings presumably starts VERY soon after, the Emperor is basically a puppet now, and TWSITD have more or less free reign at this point. 3) Edelgard has likely spent years in experimentation from a young age (how long is not stated) but considering the image of young Edelgard and Dmitri, she probably only had a few years of full awareness with Arundel before he is replaced, so she likely does not have that much attachment to him. Therefore, she equates "Uncle Arundel" with Thales. 4) All the years in experimentation followed by preparing for war with the Church and taking the throne make her time with Dmitri little more than an afterthought, a childish crush. Edelgard also fully expects to die young even if she accomplishes her goals and therefore has tossed love to the winds anyways. Dmitri on the other hand, has a few more years before Duscur events, has no reason not to expect a full lifespan, can't take the throne until X age anyways, and the closest thing he has to a potential love as far as we know is Ingrid, whose personality screams Lord/Knight relationship and not potential queen. This should help explain the vast disparity between the two in feelings toward the other.

I love the way the game is morally grey, compared to past FEs that were textbook right/wrong. They tried it with Fates but made the MC so Gary Stu/Mary Sue that everyone in-game bends over for them, and on top of that, they copped out by releasing Revelations as a Golden Route. Whereas in 3H, everyone is wrong in some way. Edelgard refuses to trust others, too hurt by her past until Byleth reaches out to her in the Holy Tomb, leading her to start a war to destroy the system she sees as wrong. Dmitri is consumed by guilt and regret to the point he experiences delusions of the dead haunting him, and jumps on the idea that Edelgard is responsible for Duscur despite the conversation they were listening to clearly indicating she disapproved of it. Claude puts on a friendly act, but actually keeps others at arm's length and therefore winds up lacking the allies needed to win, thus relying on Byleth to serve as a beacon of hope. And Rhea is just all-around gray, with her obsession with bringing back Sothis' physical form, her ruthless stamping out any signs of opposition, and her utter belief that only Sothis knows better than her what is best for Fodlan counterbalanced by the fact she really is trying to maintain the peace the continent enjoys.

People seem to love bringing up the "Edelgard lies to her team about Arianrhod's destruction" despite the fact if you think it through, it makes sense. At this point we're into the war, we can't afford to reveal the existence of TWS precisely because they're so deeply embedded in the Empire it would spark paranoia and distrust, possibly even a civil war when we're already at war with the rest of the continent. CF Edelgard and Hubert are clear that dealing with TWS is a post-war thing, when they don't have to worry about the Empire potentially fracturing mid-war effort. Telling ANYONE, even those close to us (classmates) about TWS is a serious risk, especially with personalities like Caspar's or backgrounds like Lysithea's. By the time Arianrhod is destroyed, we're at the cusp of victory, with just Dmitri and Rhea left to defeat. Revealing that we've been working with monsters, no matter how grudgingly, will destroy morale, spark strife and unrest and promote paranoia and distrust in our army's ranks. The entire CF route is basically Edelgard saying "I want to destroy TWS, but they're in every nation, so conquer the whole continent (which some people, nobles especially, are totally on board with anyways because it used to all be Adrestia anyways) so we can hunt them down without international border issues getting in the way, not to mention I'll have people loyal to me everywhere by this point. Rhea is also a tyrant who has stymied human advances, and bound us to a Crest-obsessed system, so to hell with her, not to mention if I conquer the continent she'll get in my way anyways, so take Garreg Mach, then go to war with everyone else."

I'd say Jeritza is the substitute for Catherine and Randolph would be the substitute for Dedue/Hilda, but technicalities. It would be even better if Fleche inherits Flayn's stats and skill ranks (adjusted for tutoring if you don't make her playable from the start of timeskip) so you don't waste any effort you put into her. Fleche repeatedly makes comments about looking after her brother, so having a Faith strength (healing) makes sense, and she has a Flying strength so she can go looking for him if he's in trouble XD Randolph and Ladislava would be separate entities like Jeritza because the people they substitute for don't join you pre-skip. SS could make Indech recruitable and Rhea playable, and you could just swap SS and VW final maps (Rhea isn't romanceable in VW anyways so having to kill her acts as the final blow to the old regime, whereas Rhea vs Nemesis rematch sounds good to me)

That was me, and I specifically stated it was only practical on NG+ or with excessive grinding. Characters like Marianne, Lysithea, and Dorothea benefit greatly from getting buffed to 30 HP, 17 Strength and 17 Defense, not to mention the Weight -3 that comes at C Armor. Even characters like Ingrid and Bernadetta can get mileage out of this. Basically, if I want to raise a weakness for something that's more novel/a major hassle I'll get the character early, buy skill ranks wherever possible to make them combat ready from the start, and then set lectures to the weaknesses for the whole game, letting me start the next playthrough with weaknesses at A or higher.