Cosmic_Dragon

Thanks! Got a few others, some more wacky than others tbh, but it's fun thinking about them. And whether you accept or not into your own headcanon, it's cool, I'm glad you liked it. EDIT: Also, just one I really wanted to add, and it may or may not be fully headcanon, but Byleth isn't actually emotionless. They're less emotional than most people, and they have trouble emoting much as a result (like female Byleth says during her Forging Bonds conversation in Heroes), but it's not like they have no feelings at all or don't have any personality/conscience of their own or any understanding of emotions whatsoever. Basically, they're a person who's just less emotional than normal, they're not this literal golem with no emotional capacity whatsoever (because if they were, I honestly don't think they'd make any sense in the context of their role in the story).

I see. My mistake then, it's just been so long since I've played Fates that I really couldn't remember well, but I was pretty sure Elise couldn't have kids with Ryoma. Guess I let my mouth run. Tbf to the "technically an adult" line though, while it could indeed be there as a justification for letting someone like Elise marry and have kids with someone, I'm pretty sure that's normally the case for medieval settings. 18 wasn't always the age of majority in our world either, one was considered legally an adult at a younger age way back when, given how medieval settings have different standards and one grows up way faster in that kind of environment; keyword there being "legally", like how in our times, one's considered only "legally" an adult when they hit 18, which I imagine is the case for Elise, only that she got there at a younger age cause of different standards.

Can't really remember if Elise gets kids with Ryoma since it's been a long while since I've played Fates, sorry. But anyway, I wasn't really using Ryoma as an example of an "old man" tbh, simply put him there cause he is still way older than Elise. About the ages, I think I remember seeing someone make an age chart for the Fates characters and they did pretty intricate research for it, and it put Ryoma as being in his late twenties (same for Xander). Then again, it wasn't anything official, so who knows? The point of my past comment was simply that if someone's not comfortable with pairing two characters due to age difference despite the pair being an option, then they don't have to. ... On an unrelated note, here goes another unpopular opinion that may be more on the subjective end of the spectrum, or/and could also just be me seeing things wrong but...: -I don't really like the way the fandom tends to portray Byleth, either in fan arts or fanmade stories. I mean, I get that they don't have much characterization in the first place due to them being an avatar, but I think the way they tend to be portrayed as kinda goes against what is actually established in the game of both their character and background. Byleth's supposed to be an ex-mercenary who's been fighting battles for most of their lives, to the point that they've gained a bit of an infamous reputation as a really fearsome warrior; I really don't think they'd be this ditzy cloudcuckoolander who acts all cutesy (which normally seems to be the case with the female Byleth) or this Isekai Harem anime protagonist who acts like an awkward teenager (which normally seems to be the case with the male Byleth). And okay I mean, tbf, I don't know if people are actually serious when they portray them like that, or if that's actually the regular fan interpretation of Byleth, but from what is actually said/shown about them as well as their role in the game, I think they'd be more like say, Guts (from Berserk) or Claire (from Claymore).

It's always nice to see a fellow Chrom/Olivia supporter tbh. And you're right, everyone's got their own tastes and preferences, nothing wrong with that, every outcome can be a valid one (the game does allow it for a reason). I mean, I've got my own pairings that are not exactly popular or well-regarded, but I like them nonetheless and think they're as valid as any other. Now that you mention, the concept does bear some resemblance doesn't it? Can't believe I never noticed, thanks for pointing out! Tbh though, I really just have this penchant for always tying game mechanics into avatars' personalities, I guess as a means of giving them a bit more casual character; It's something I've been doing since my first Zelda game tbh xD. I mean, there's got to be a reason why they're allowed to do those specific activities they can do in their games after all. Like for example, another headcanon I have about Byleth is that the reason he attends Choir Practice is cause one of his personal likes is music, and it's related to his own artistic hobby; ya know, like how Bernadetta and Ignatz can paint, Seteth writes children's fables or Gilbert likes woodcarving? Well, Byleth's own artistic talent is that he actually writes songs, it's what he does in the rare occasion he gets some time to himself. The thing is though, he actually can't sing very well (he isn't really bad mind you, just pretty average) since he didn't really have time to practice before when he was a mercenary (and whenever he did get time, he ended up practicing more with the Lute instead, which in turn is an instrument he is really good with), and less so now that he's a teacher, so that's why he attends Choir Practice at times, to refine his musical cords.

Nah, I'm pretty used to AA games and the such. As a matter of fact, I think I play more AA than AAA actually, since AAA gaming has kinda gotten a bit stale to me. I just really wish the characters had more dynamic animations to better convey what they wanted to say or do. And the backgrounds also should've been better rendered imo. Then people are welcome to just, you know, not do that? It's not like it even has to be romantic since some characters' paired endings can be platonic instead; case in point, if you pair Lysithea and Hanneman in Three Houses their ending card is completely platonic. I'm pretty sure that in Fates, Elise can't have kids with say, Ryoma. And again, if anyone feels uncomfortable with the sole concept of pairing them, they're welcome to just not go for it and pair the characters with someone else. Maybe cause they were aware that the whole Deeprealms concept was already pretty ridiculous, so they decided to not introduce even more magic shenanigans into the mix? I mean, there's only so many times one can go "it's magic, I ain't gotta explain anything" before it gets completely outlandish (nevermind the fact that magical creation isn't the same as conceiving, unless maybe if some of the 1st gen unit's DNA was somehow involved there I guess). And tbh, I think that if they were to bring back the child units, I'd prefer them to do so in the most logical, non-magic including way possible so that they can legitimately feel like a part of the story and not just something thrown in there for the sake of matchmaking.

-I didn't really like the presentation of 3H's supports tbh. I don't mean the dialogue or the character interactions because those were great (although, there were some blunders tbh), I mean the production values in them. The characters having the same 4 or 5 animations made it kinda awkward when they tried to convey something important at times, and the backgrounds were just... yeah. I honestly hope they improve the supports' (and the story cutscenes as well tbh) presentation for the next game. -I think future games should do away with the multiple route structure. I mean, I get that it's great incentive to replay the game, but after Fates and 3H, it seems IntSys constantly bites more than they can chew with this type of story development. -Honestly, as long as it's possible in the game (and I mean game proper, not spin-offs like Heroes and the such) and the support's a romantic one as opposed to simply platonic, ship whoever you like; we all have our preferences and ways of interpreting stuff, and if the game made it possible then it was cause the devs clearly thought it was a possible/valid outcome for a reason, just don't be a d*** to other people's own preferred pairings. -Now, this might be either a popular opinion or my most controversial take, but... I honestly kinda want the pairings children mechanic to come back. Look, I understand it doesn't make much sense, and it was completely ridiculous in Fates, but I personally thought it was pretty fun, and I really do think they can do something great with them if they use it correctly. They don't even have to include any kind of magic shenanigans for it to work, just do it the same way they did it in Genealogy; pairings the first part, and then the children come after a timeskip in the second part.

Oh right, sorry, forgot about that detail, been a while since I've played the Elibe saga. Still though, I assume they still undergo growth on the other side of the Gate, just that at the pace of a dragon rather than that of a human, which would mean that they have indeed been growing at a consistent slower pace (unless the games said something that disproves this? Again, it's been a while since I've played the Elibe saga) However, we also have Like I said, I simply believe that each draconic race in FE follows it's own set of rules when it comes to biology and development. We never do get a clear view on this cause IS never actually explains it (and I doubt they want us to think about it too hard tbh), but that's my personal belief.

Just gonna throw in my two cents here; It seems that half-manakete, half-human people age somewhere in-between the two races as others have said. However, there's doesn't seem to be much consistency when it comes to the different dragon races across FE. Like for example, you have Nah in Awakening, who seems to age at around the same rate as the other children. But then you have Nils and Ninian in the Blazing Blade, who are also half-dragon and half-human, and have been around since before the Scouring, meaning they've lived for about a thousand years or so, yet Nils is still a kid while Ninian is still a teenager. I personally think that every dragon race in the FE-verse has it's own set of biological rules, and we can't really say for certain which each of them are since IS never really builds up on them (and like someone else said, they probably don't think too much about it aside from Manaketes aging slower than humans), so it's mostly up to interpretation or headcanons.

I'd say there's more to the S-support than that. I mean, that's certainly one of the messages (that I think) it gives, but I think it also gives the message of how even someone like Rhea, who's done her fair share of shady stuff (which she had her reasons to do) and been this omnipotent-like figure for so long can still find someone who is willing to look past all of that and understand and accept her for everything she is, her merits and her flaws. Basically, even how even after so much time there was still someone who came to appreciate her as her own woman and not just as the motherly Archbishop (which is fitting for Byleth as they aren't really her followers or protegees, just her employees/friends); a form of true love/companionship that she hasn't felt for so long, one that's different from the kind she was seeking to regain, but no less fulfilling and comforting. Imo it shows how, even with all our flaws and failings, there's bound to be someone out there that will accept and love us unconditionally, no strings attached, no matter what (at least, that's how I saw it, sorry if I sounded really cheesy or pretentious there). In that case, I think my idea for Silver Snow if Rhea had been it's lord/co-protagonist would be to revolve it around the theme of "the past" and "identity". Why? Cause I think it'd make a good and fitting thematic for not only Rhea's character, but Byleth's as well. As we know, Byleth and Rhea used to be have a different identity in their past days before the monastery. Byleth was the Ashen Demon before he was Professor Byleth, and Rhea was Saint Seiros before she was Archbishop Rhea. I think I'd make it a point for them to still be "haunted" so to say by these personas they used to have because of the war they're currently facing making them face aspects of themselves that come into certain conflict with who they are in the present. And this in turn lead them to try to "find themselves" so to speak. Byleth asks himself questions; is he the Ashen Demon, the fearsome warrior who doesn't let his emotions even be part of him so he can get the job done no matter what? Or is he Professor Byleth/the Enlightened One who tries to be an empathetic and guiding light for the people around him, even if this requires him to make big decisions for everyone? Which one would his father have wanted him to be? Likewise, Rhea asks herself the same questions, is she meant to be Archbishop Rhea who benevolently extends her hands towards those who need it and prevents the land from getting ravaged by conflict, even if that means having to do rather unsavory things at times? Or is she meant to be Saint Seiros, the proud amazon who imparts "justice" upon those who bring despair and chaos to the land her mother created, not matter what reason they might have for it? Which one would her mother have wanted her to be? But this would culminate with the final question that they realize they should've been asking instead... "What do I want to be?". Basically, my thematic for Silver Snow would be "overcome the past by learning who you are now and use that to walk towards the future". Basically a form of theme that ties-in with what Sothis asked of Byleth "remember to carve a path that is your own" (which is something I like to think she also asked of Rhea back in the day).

Yes I understand that, but again, I don't think that Rhea was trying to find him all those years to bring him back, she just left him alone until Alois happened to stumble upon him (so even if she knew where he was or where she could find him, she wouldn't have gone there to drag him back). And when I said he wanted to stay away from the church, I didn't mean he was hiding from them so much as simply trying to stay out of their way/having as little contact with them as possible. And again, it's not really the place where Byleth and Jeralt actually "live in", so much as it's the place where they happen to stay in when they aren't on a mission (which can take from weeks to months, and given how they're supposedly such a esteemed mercenary company (which already would've put a damper on Jeralt if he was actually trying to hide given he was famous as the Blade Breaker), I think the missions would be rather frequent), and it's also not where I think he immediately went to after leaving the monastery.

I don't think Jeralt was actually in hiding though, mostly just trying to stay away from the church (Rhea already knew that he was out there somewhere but just left him alone), and I don't think he'd have told her where he was going anyway. But that's also why I said "main settlement" as in "place he and Byleth stay in many times" but not really the place they "live in" (I also don't think he'd have gone there straight away, maybe he was simply in some other village in the middle of nowhere until he considered going there), as the mercenary band moved around a lot, but Remire Village was the place that they went back to more frequently (than all the other places they visited) throughout the years (Byleth not really understanding why that was so, but not really paying it any mind either way). It also ties into another headcanon I have about why he says that he and Byleth "owe" the people of Remire Village, but that's something I'm still trying to work out.

Here's some other headcanons I didn't put in my previous post: -The reason Jeralt made Remire Village his and Byleth's main settlement is because he and Sitri had been planning to move there once Byleth was born, as Jeralt thought that moving to a more tranquil place would be ideal for that. Sitri also wanted to experience living a life outside the monastery, and Jeralt himself wanted to show her more of the world, not to mention they both thought that it'd be best to raise a baby in a more peaceful environment (and the reason they chose Remire Village specifically is because the place actually holds something of a personal and sentimental connection/value to Sitri, but that's in correlation to another headcanon/theory I have). -Jeralt's mercenary band in the beginning was mainly comprised of former Knights of Seiros who followed him after he left Garreg Mach. As the years went on, more recruits were added onto the company, and their relationship varies. Some look at Jeralt like a father to his men and at Byleth as a comrade in arms, others merely look at them as their boss and another soldier in their ranks respectively, while certain few have something of rivalry going on with Byleth due to how good a fighter he is despite being younger. -Byleth has a liking for music. That's the reason he participates in the church choir from time to time, but it isn't singing what he's attracted to, so much as it is instruments; he's more of a musician than a singer, and he actually practices with the acoustic guitar in his spare time sometimes; however, due to becoming a professor, even his spare time is pretty limited now due to all the responsibilities he has, so he barely gets enough time to play some notes anymore, which is why he turns to choir practices, as singing is the next closest thing he has to music.

That can also work, but I do like to think that Byleth's got at least some experience handling all those subjects (even if it's just a bit more than the basics) if they can still supervise their students' practice to help them get better at them (I mean, them having been mercenaries makes me doubt that they have never worked with any other weapons than swords and/or their fists).

You're right, it doesn't make sense, but like you said, it's classic gameplay-story segregation, nothing actually tied to the story since I heavily doubt the concept of levels or weapon ranks/stats exists in the world of 3H, so I can easily overlook that and believe that in the story proper, Byleth would at a much higher level than that. It's like how when we first fight alongside Catherine (in the Lonato mission), she's only level 7 or so (if you're playing on Hard difficulty) and yet she's supposed to be one of the strongest Knights of Seiros. But again, gameplay-story segregation. Thing is, I couldn't overlook Byleth being able to teach his students how to wield different kinds of weapons because in that case it's Byleth himself outright leveling up his students' stats through his lessons as a game mechanic that carries over into the battles rather than the students only being able to level up their abilities in battles, so I had to come up with a way to explain that.

And truly, I can believe that. But to the point that Byleth wouldn't even know it's name? Or the fact that it's one of the biggest organizations in all of Fodlan? At least I think that's what the game implies based on the beginning, but then again, it could be just an implication, maybe Byleth did know at least that much about the Church, but the game still felt the need to explain it to him (and by extension, the player) because Avatar character. Well, he definitely didn't grow up abroad, but who's to say he hasn't spent any time in other lands? I mean, he and his father were mercenaries, renowned ones at that given how they were apparently famous as the Blade Breaker and the Ashen Demon. I can't imagine they were never contracted by some foreigner from Almyra or Dagda to go help them out with something over there. And hell, given how little background we have on Byleth's past as a mercenary, I can easily headcanon that he and Jeralt did actually spend time in other lands. Like for example, I can imagine Byleth being able to teach magic cause he and his father actually spent some time in Morfis, during which he was trained in the mystic arts by people they met there. Or I can also imagine that they actually spent a few years in Sreng. Sreng is supposed to be a land of warriors right? Byleth spending some time there could explain why he'd be able to teach his students about different types of weapons (even if his main weapon are swords), cause he trained/grew up there for a few years (and that could also be the reason why Byleth is so proficient in Brawling). It actually ties into another headcanon I have about the badge Byleth wears, but that's another thing.

Personally, I never saw Midna as tsundere. I mean, she certainly has a sassy attitude, but she comes across as far too mature to me to see her like a tsundere (I certainly don't think that's the way she'd act if she was to ever get into a relationship with Link or anyone else). But anyway, I'd say that a character that I actually found a good depiction of the Tsundere trope would be Asuka from Evangelion. Why? Because she pretty much shows what would happen if someone actually acted like that with someone they like. Her character isn't played for cutesy stuff or funny things, it's taken seriously, and shows that that kind of attitude most likely wouldn't be appealing. Hmm, sounds interesting. Gonna have to check it out later. Can Digimon be counted as Isekai? If it can then I'd say that's the first "Isekai" anime that I saw.

Thing is, IntSys clearly does that with the intention of keeping true to the concept of the avatar protagonist. The point of an avatar character is that they're essentially meant to be *you*, so since you know nothing about this fantasy world you're exploring, it's only natural that your character wouldn't either, so you get to learn about the world through their eyes, which in turn is supposed to help you "relate" to them (or something of the sort). However, with the kind of backgrounds or overall situations they put their avatars into in their games, it just ends up heavily conflicting with the concept. Like for example, Robin may be a good tactician, but the fact that they're supposed to be an amnesiac who doesn't know/remember anything about their environment makes it kind of odd that they'd be put in charge of commanding an entire army. Corrin likewise is supposed to be a sheltered kid who grew up in confinement most of their life, and as such are supposed to be pretty naive and not very knowledgeable about life or the world, and alright, I can definitely believe that. Yet they can still somehow command an army and turn the tides of a war, even when they also make pretty dumb rookie-like mistakes throughout the story (which never gets pointed out by the other characters or Corrin themselves never get called out on, essentially ensuring that they won't learn from their mistakes). And with Byleth, well you know, I can actually buy them being a military teacher/instructor; I mean, they used to be a mercenary, they most likely have seen many things throughout the years and know their way around a battlefield very well, and I can probably headcanon that they used to teach/mentor kids back in their village as part of their mercenary job or something. However, that's the thing, they were mercenaries who used to move around a lot so I can't believe they'd be so oblivious to many things about their land. Like for example, how do you have that kind of background, yet know absolutely nothing about the biggest religious organization of your land? That's like living in the U.S. your whole life without knowing what the Christian or the Catholic church is (and that's already weird for a normal person). Sometimes it feels like IS doesn't really know whether they want their avatars to be experienced adult protagonists that actually know what they're doing and can actually take matters into their own hands (which are a rare breed in anime RPGs) or they just want them to be the typical JRPG-like protagonist who basically needs everything done for and explained to them (until like the final act of the game), so they try to strike this awkward middle ground between the two and it just... doesn't really work. Again, I understand the reasons they do this (or, at least I think I can, to an extent), but it still doesn't mean that it's something that I agree with.

First of all would be Tsunderes. I just really don't understand the appeal for this kind of character, their whole attitude isn't cute or funny, it's just annoying and gets tiring pretty quickly to me. Why would you want to be with someone who's constantly berating you or calling you "idiot/stupid" for simply showing affection to them? (even if they "don't really mean it"/"are just being shy about it"). Also, the "my girlfriend is a goddess/deity/alien/some kind of special magical girl" trope, especially if it's supposed to be the story's main romance since most of the time it basically guarantees that the romance will never actually feel equal, and it will most likely just end up throwing the protagonist under the shadow of their partner (who by all means and purposes should've been the actual main character, but the story still wants to pretend that it's actually the guy for some reason) looking at you Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I mean, it's not like this trope cannot be handled well actually (look at Robin and Starfire from Teen Titans), but more often than not it's just not. Then there's the Isekai trope. Okay, it's not so much the genre I dislike, more so the way it's handled. I mean, the whole "spirited away to a magical/sci-fi world" has tons of potential and many interesting opportunities for story-telling, so I don't really understand why so many people who write those kinds of stories in Japan tend to waste it by simply making it a pander-y fantasy about all the girls the protagonist meets in this world falling for him in one way or another for some inexplicable reason (especially when the guy's basically just a nerdy average joe with absolutely nothing special or really noteworthy about him).

Don't really see how that would make her more "canon" really, since romance isn't really the point of the story (and the lords can also marry other people besides Byleth), but well, I've never played FE for the romance anyway, and everyone's got their own perspective of things in the end. Mostly going from the marketing perspective. Like for example, how the games' cases' covers each have a Corrin in them (Birthright has the male one while Conquest features the female one). But then again, that's also just my personal interpretation.

Sorry, ignore this comment, messed up with my keyboard presses and ended up quoting something else.

I guess, but she really only says that she wanted to see her mother again, and that can be interpreted in many ways imo, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that she wanted Sothis to possess Byleth (but it can be a possibility). I personally never read it like that tbh until I saw people on the internet saying that. Yeah, but at that point she clearly lost her marbles and was speaking out of rage at Byleth for betraying her; especially since she doesn't act that way or calls them a "failure" in the other routes despite the fact that Sothis still didn't manifest within them; people normally tend to speak out of line when they're extremely angry, and considering she was pretty much exploding there, she was probably letting her anger speak for her (at least, that's the way I saw it). My point in my original post was that that would've happened whether Byleth had been a boy or a girl, by which I mean that I don't think Rhea would've done so without consent (and probably hadn't even considered the idea) until Sitri asked it of her. There's really no way of knowing exactly what Rhea was thinking at that moment anyway as it was never actually shown to us. Also, again, I don't think we were ever told what exactly Rhea expected to happen to Byleth at the Holy Tomb. I mean, it's clear she expected Sothis' spirit to manifest in some way or another in them, but what that way was, we don't know (hell, it's even hinted that Rhea herself might've not known exactly what was going to happen given how she mostly seemed to be running on speculation because of how she believed she "heard her mother's voice" there once, and how at one point she says one thing, and then at another says a different one).

Well yeah I guess, but I'd still rather say a character looks interesting for the right reasons, not just "her outfit is weird but at least it's eye-catching". Even so, I personally always preferred male Byleth's design more, if only cause it actually makes him look like a mercenary and gives him a more professional air. Then again, the way a character looks has never really been a "selling point" to me, so maybe that has something to do with it. Can't fault anyone for liking either Byleth anyway.

Well, I don't see how that has any bearing on Byleth, but either way, you could say the same about male Robin for Awakening. And tbh, I think even Fates itself paints female Corrin as "canon" only for Conquest and male Corrin as canon for Birthright, so not really anything officially confirmed there (as far as I'm aware). But Rhea didn't actually "choose" Byleth to carry Sothis' soul. The whole reason she implanted the crest stone in them was because Sitri asked her to so Byleth's life would be saved, and that was going to happen whether Byleth was a girl OR a boy. Also, I don't think we really know what exactly it is that Rhea expected to happen to Byleth and Sothis (the game never seemed to explain it in detail). Maybe she thought they would be "taken over" by her, or maybe she simply expected Sothis' consciousness to manifest within them and live alongside their own as a companion.

Here comes another (apparently) unpopular opinion: I don't really understand what exactly is so much better about the female Byleth compared to the male one. I mean, aside from the design and the gender, they're the exact same thing. Don't know why exactly she's so popular, or why some people act like she's the "canon" one and pretend the male one doesn't even exist (speaking of which, why are some people hostile like that towards the male Byleth?). I think I've seen some people claim that she's more "emotive", but I've seen her scenes, and compared to the male one, she's just about a tiny bit more emotive (and I'm pretty sure that it only looks that way because of her softer/rounder features), and the emotions on display are still the exact same ones as the male, so it doesn't really change anything about the character. So, am I missing something there? Or is my opinion just a completely strange one? Or is this opinion actually more common than I think it is and I'm just very oblivious? (feel free to be completely honest here if you want).

Tbh, at the expense of sounding like either a massive dumb**s or creep, while the pairing is not one I'm interested in, I... never really understood what exactly is so awful about it. I mean don't get me wrong, I definitely understand why someone would be weirded out by it, but I never saw what exactly is so offensively bad about it. I mean yeah, Micaiah played a big part in Sothe's upbringing and what have you, but it's not like she was actively grooming him to be her husband, I don't think that thought would even cross Micaiah's mind; that she ended up falling in love with the man Sothe became doesn't have to have anything to do with that kind of implication. And it's not like Sothe's affections for her are simply those of a horny kid lusting after his hot babysitter, his feelings always seemed way too genuine for that to me. It's not like they began a relationship when Sothe was a kid either. Overall, I think people in this fandom need to stop mixing "implications" with "facts", cause at the end of the day, implications are just that, implications, it's not actually an indicative of what is going on in the full picture. And I mean, I can't deny the pairing is something unusual, but "unusual" doesn't have to mean "bad" either (I apologize to anyone if I'm coming across as an idiot or a pretentious douchebag, I don't mean to offend you).