Wrt a prequel or sequel. I doubt IS cares and maybe I’m just untrusting of how much they player bait but it feels more like they put threads of either in to get some discussion and discourse since there’s no routes this time. But this time you get to argue over where in 3H did this take place l: Before? After? Pick what you decide after all there’s no ultimate truth in Fodlan either and it’s what you the player want always. Feels to be the general design philosophy of this verse.
It can’t be a prequel realistically unless they fuck off of all their original Nabatean lore and while I wouldn’t put it past them it’s just another example of how this universe has the worst writing in FE and I will stand by that so good for them I guess. It is the most likely option and I bet everyone will ignore the inconsistencies and continue to shit on other games for bad writing when messing with your lore dumps this much is worse.
If it’s a sequel? Okay Edelgard got her wish for Adrestia Its all merged and conquered, but crests are still around you mean to tell me she lied???? And IS would rather probably eat dirt than ever admit their bae is in the wrong now so even if it’s a CF sequel unless they had some major revelations…it’s much less likely though it’s much easier to make work then throwing away everything established. It also would make the look a like make more sense it’s a sin from that family line. Having a look a like battle with sin in the past and then in the future doing *that* leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Also you could go so far in the future whatever happened 3H time doesn’t matter this is how everything ended up right nope sort of like how Awakening is so far into the future what happened in Marth’s time is just a moment in history now.
Which leaves us at Schrödinger’s timeline. IS didn’t think too hard about it why should you it happened at some point. Unless they literally say in game or interviews when it is just ignore it.
But I will say this, if they ever confirm it and it’s 100% a prequel should have let that god Balor? destroy everything so we never got 3H’s plot in the first place, be doing the universe a favor
Exactly! That's the thing, likelihood of it being a prequel is ultimately irrelevant to the entire discussion, because at the end of the day it amounts to writing quality
How are they gonna fit the events of Dagda into the existing verse? the simple answer is that they won't care, because they didn't expect 3H to be such a success and therefore didn't plan in advance how to accomodate other potential entries in the same verse. It doesn't matter how much of a nerd Kusakihara is, two (hell, three if you count Hopes) entire games' worth of content is not feasibly planned within less than a decade.
It ultimately shows that, one way or another, they've boxed themselves into a corner when it comes to making this game connect easily into the existing timeline, or will end up invalidating one or more games' plots through time mumbo jumbo.
It sucks because I wouldn't be so hung up on this if it weren't for the fact that both the creators and the fans of 3H are so attached to their lore boners that they already proved that narrative quality and even respect for character consistency are second to the almighty ~Wurld Billding~ along with a helping of -More Earl Gray Motives-.
So no one actually seems to want to address the hypothetical elephant in the room (too focused on the absolute unit of the elephant rider class), which is that things are gonna get fucky, there'll be retcons galore, and in the grand scheme nothing will matter come 3H because the only relevant part about FW in relation to it is that Seteth was slutting himself out and Shamir was born there.
For the last part of your ask though... underrated hilarious option! Crack theory: Have Sothis pull souls that wronged her from a far-flung future and change the past, the past initially being the Underworld Revival, then Fortuna steps in and is like "we need to go back just a little bit more, k?" and go rescue the Heroes. Time fuckery happens, and while the Nabatean genocide still unfortunately remains locked into the timeline, things are changed enough that the plot of 3H never occurs.
Discourse settled, worst game in the series doesn't happen, we all cheer /half-joke
