Moltz23

Well, at the very least we got confirmation in February that the 4 routes were always planned to happen. As to why CF got screwed so badly, that would stricitly fall into speculation territory. (I'm from the camp it as set as a low pritority dev-wise, which explains some things yet it creates more questions such as why it has only one animated cutscene, but that's neither here nor there).

While the Romance of the World's Perdition is obviously heavily biased in the slitherers' favor, it also corroborates and complements many of the info Rhea provides about them in VW: "In the land of Thinis, where the old gods are said to live, the False God has awakened. Its looming, heteromorphic vessel was resurrected to sink the world to the depths of the ocean. It will bring extinction to all children of men, and salvation to all beasts of the land, sky, and sea. For the children of men who spilled too much blood of life, it promises only cruel retribution." The agarthans were fully aware Sothis' human form is not her real one, and only took it after she arrived in Fodlan. The last sentence also heavily implies she started paying attention or showed worry towards them due to how much bloodsheed their shenanigans were causing, which in true agarthan fashion, they never seem to regard as a bad thing to do. They see themselves as the only humans (or "children of men" in this case), while pretty much everyone else is simply a beast, and this mentality continues in the present game as they regard the surface humans beasts as well. What exactly this implies is anyone's guess (are there different human breeds and the molemen are just racist? Or are the humans that came after their people actually Sothis's creations? ) Also Sothis may or may not have called herself a goddess, which didn't go so well with the agarthans who already lived in the land and likely workshipped something else (assiming they actually did have a religion of some sort). At the very least we know Rhea and the other nabateans see her as a god-like being. The False God must be defeated before the world sinks into a watery grave. To this end, the children of men have erected pillars of light upon the land. Thinis, Malum, Septen, and Llium were utterly destroyed. Those lands have vanished from this world. Yet even still, the False God stands. And soon, a flood aptly named Despair will drown this world. Both Rhea and the Agarthan text agree the slitherers made the first strike, and from their own account, they did so as a premeditated strike as they feared Sothis would try to meddle with their affairs. For this purpose, the pillars of light were made and they wasted no time in employing against her and the lands her children lived in. Despite the destruction, Sothis survived and retaliated swiftly with some "flood". The Agarthans also see themselves as the center of the world. The children of men fled to the depths of the earth, beyond sight of the False God, beyond the embrace of the sacred sun, and beyond the reach of the waters of Despair. They swore a fervent oath of revenge against the surface world, ruled by beasts, and against their tormenter, the False God. The survivors hid themselves underground (likely in a glorified bunker that later became Shambhala) and swore revenge against Sothis, and they hate everyone in the surface as a proxy of being protected/workshipped by her.

I agree with the notion but at the same time it would be very hard to pull it off. Unlike the other lords, Edelgard is in the akward situation where those who can prove her wrong have no business whatsoever doing it. From their part, one of the many reasons Rhea, Seteth and Flayn hide their true identity is because they wanna prevent another slaughterfest like the one it happened in Zanado, so confessing the truth against their enemy would be very risky and suicidal thing to do. In Arundel/Thales's case, he wins absolutely nothing by making Edelgard feel anything resembling sympathy against their common enemy, so he has no reasons to correct her either. On a more similar vein, I think the writers did a fantastic job with making a conflict that simply cannot be defused. The whole thing relies on so many clashing factors, ideologies, contrivances and even specific character flaws that only a literal miracle could solve everything without no one actually dying (which is why I also think there's no way for 3Hs to ever have a Golden Route).

It happened in Imperial Year 1174 iirc, the same year Edelgard went back to Adrestia.

I believe that's because (in my humble opinion) Edelgard only works as an antagonist in Dimitri's route, where she's more or less his antithesis. Silver Snow has a really cool premise that sets up a very personal and tragic vendetta with her and it really wastes it by making her vanish up until the end. And Vendant Wind's portrayal of her is hurt by the juxtaposition of lack of personal antagonism coming from Claude (even if it makes sense for his character) and the highly emotional death cutscene the route reuses from Silver Snow.

Why should Edelgard in her situation not believe Rhea is a cartoonish villain maskerading as a saintly pope lady though? Because yeah, her beliefs are indeed based on incomplete info, but it isn't that simple to prove she's wrong with actual evidence when the people that can actually do that have no reason whatsoever to do so.

There's 2 huge problems with that: 1. Edelgard doesn't see it that way, and the only people who can convince her with proof that wouldn't be the case (Rhea and the molemen) have no business ever doing it. 2.It's heavily implied and mentioned by Linhart the main reason she manages to pull off her reforms is because his and Caspar's dad (the dudes in charge of adrestia's finances and army) support her 'cause due to conquest being on the table.

The issue is as far she's concerned, she already fixed Adrestia via the whole "corrupt noble purging" thing she does (sans the molemen issue which is more complex 'cause they have agents in the Kingdom as well). Also, right before the Garreg Mach attack in CF she deliberately omits the empire of the places she'll need to liberate the church's influence of for a reason.

Isn't Edelgard using conquest as a means to liberate humans from the Church/Rhea's influence tho? I recall her stating something like that when you fight her on Embarr in VW/SS.

Does Flayn even count as a loli if datamine says she's biologically 17? (In dragon years?)

The situation Edelgard usually ends up in does reek of self-fulfilling prophecy, but at the same time, you're asking something that any normal and healthy person would do and get over with almost instantly. Edelgard is NOT that sort of person. She's a paranoid and distrustful wreck of a woman who has already dug too deep in shady shenanigans, and her conscience is the main reason she will never back down from her plan, as it would be more or less admitting she killed a ton of people for literally no noble reason. Unlike Dimitri, there's no one left she unconditionally trusts that could tell her "Live for yourself, not for others", while convincing her in the process, so the chances of her getting past her mentality are slim to none (you could argue to have Byleth take that role, but I see that being way too unrealistic). Also, even if she asked help for the agarthan situation Fodlan has, at best it would be only for a temporary truce. Once they were dealt with, she would go back to her original plan of taking down the church and conquering Fodlan by force, which is still gonna end up forcing eveyone to take sides, and I don't see the other actors involved willingly siding with her when it happens.

Edelgard's plans are also similar to Rhea in that sense, as she has no interest in conquering lands outside of Fodlan, and in her eyes, her goal is less expansionism and more trying to reclaim lost imperial territory. At the end of CF Arundel is like "Hey Edelgard. What of you tried to conquer the world after the war?" and she's like "Nah. I'm fine with Fodlan", and in non-CF routes she gives up pretty quickly about Brigid once Hubert is kicked out by Byleth and co.

I got that impression as well. IIRC if you have Lorenz in CF he'll say at some point he was surprised over how many religious nobles he knew about switched to her side so quickly, to the point he wonders if their piety was always an act.

Silver Snow needs to exist because Edelgard is not the kind of lord everyone can get behind. That, and attemping to pull a redemption arc with her is impossible because the game gives you nothing to make it work and Edelgard herself already has a clear idea of how to make peace with her actions which, unlike Dimitri, she can't really backtrack from. That being said, Silver Snow really needs something unique to itself to justify its existance gameplay wise, and that's one of the main reasons in the first place why Claude's route is seen as the superior incarnation of the route. By contrast, Edelgard and Hubert leaving midgame while getting nothing that's not already available in AM/VW does little favors to SS overall.

Thales/Arundel only replaces him outside of CF since there Edelgard strips away everything from him and his family.

We might get one more DLC wave. Or maybe not? It's hard to say honestly.

Interestingly, Edelgard/Wilhelm's claim that Seiros killed then 10 Elites to recover their Heroes' Relics was indeed accurate, as one of the text in the abyss heavily implies (if not outright states) their clans/houses were spared but not the elites themselves.

Looks like BerniexJeritza is a thing now.

Either that or the Alphard we see during the side story is actually a slither goon impersonating him.

Don't you mean more distinct from Silver Snow? If so, that would help both routes a ton. A SS exclusive paralogue focused on Byleth would help as well, since in hindsight that's also the only route with no unique side missions.

Catherine and Hilda are still perfectly viable. The issue exist only with Cyril who never gets reclassed into anything other than a Commoner unlike the students, meaning his base stats are horrendous on SS by the time you get him. Other than that, I actually have the same opinion as Gregster101 and Sid Starkiller. Objetively, there is little reason to do Silver Snow as it is the route with the least amount of actual unique content and actually punishes you gameplay-wise for doing it (mostly by losing the route's exclusive characters mid-game and taking away a deployment slot from you for the main chapters just because), unlike Azure Moon which at least gives you Gilbert in case Dedue dies for real, or GD where both the lord and the retainer stay. Silver Snow being also the default story branch for the Black Eagles is also never not gonna bother me. Considering its the branch that took all the budget, you could think it would have more effort put into it...

The thing is, a golden route by definition is that one story path that gives you both the most content, most rewards and the best ending. Silver Snow, both from a gameplay and story perspective, misses all three of those checklists, as compared to Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, it takes away 2 route exclusive units from you midgame AND one deployment slot for all main story chapters, has no unique paralogues, has one less chapter (leaving a gap which actually creates a slight difficulty spike between Chapter 16 an 17) and it ends up with Fodlan having all of its main 3 lords dead and territories wrecked. In return, the only thing you get is a different final chapter, one exclusive reveal, the Slitherers end up mostly defeated *cough*Cornelia*cough*, and you get the chance to marry a character who never becomes deployable in spite of joining the party plot-wise late in the route. (This is coming from someone who did Silver Snow and everyone recruited btw. Not many reasons to do the route more than once sadly.) IMO, the closes thing 3Hs has to a Golden Route is Azure Moon, and even then, that one is still missing 4 characters, ends up killing one of the lords in the end, leaves the Patricia subplot unresolved, gives Rhea no role whatsoever in Part 2, and the Shady Dubstep Molemen are still around in the end even if their old hierarchy was killed during the war. As for the topic at hand... An actual Golden Route for 3Hs is very hard to pull off without rewriting either Edelgard or Rhea in my opinion, as the conflict hinges on both wanting to impose their ideal world onto everyone some way or another. I do think it's possible though, and the best way to start would be by fleshing out "Those who slither in the dark", and giving them some sort of secret boss who's pulling everyone's strings or something.

The big issue with that is Edelgard simply cannot do that, as it would force her to come to the conclusion that every person she killed or ended up dead due to her actions and cause was for naught, which goes against everything she stands for. Vindicating her mindset is the only way she sees that will let her make peace with her actions, and failing to do so outside of her route is what leads her to reject Dimitri's plea for peace by stabbing him in AM or to demand her execution in GD/SS just so it can stop any future pointless bloodshed coming from the empire after her defeat.

No one reported on this so...here it is.

Is it possible to do Hilda's paralogue without recruiting Cyril?