Havenāt seen the episode yet, only a singular trailer + opening not much else.
My speculation/Theory below the cut on a possible plot pointĀ
But the brunette we see here
Hear me out:
Why I suddenly thought of Iono looking at the image is the design of the eye lashes and sharp teeth and general hairstyle. Is it a stretch. YeahĀ
But would be amazing if my spitballing speculation was actually right so Iām doing this anyways. Would be interesting to see what Iono looked like before developing her internet personaĀ
Might be a interesting childhood friend storyline as Iāve seen spoilers on Tumblr along the lines of Rika having trouble socializingĀ
Contrast to Iono whoās a streamer and someone with electric and out-of-this-world personality
Maybe itāll be a short moment shared between the two and wonāt amount to much, maybe theyāll share a wholesome moment before going seperate ways I donāt know but looking forward to when the anime gets dubbed
(call me a non anime fan, but Iāll try watch both when it gets dubbed)
I had trouble summarizing my thoughts here as for my first time playing a warriors game didnāt have much to say game play wise. Iāve heard that we got semi-competent AIās this time around although some elements remain lacking, as Iāve seen people have trouble escprting Claude in the chapter you can recuit Byleth and JeraltĀ
I was nervous going in as anything that isnāt turn based and relies on real-time imput I struggle with as I have delayed reaction, have trouble remembering button inputs and the like, and while I did have issues at the start it was easy enough for even a noob like me to grasp with enough practice. Enjoyable experience I donāt even mind playing the same stage over and over to get S ranks
Ignoring the actual plot for now, Iāll touch on the added elements that were expanded upon compared to the base game of three houses. Holst! Iāll try to leave it be that I liked his inclusion, despite feeling although heās taking the spot of retainer from Hilda (I get why he does as heās a brand spankinā new character and cant just be quitely shoved into a corner especially with the hype behind him. I cared more about his inclusion than I did Judith and I really wanted her to be playable this time around)Ā
and although he kind of plays role of Claudeās right hand man in some cases, at least Hilda keeps her retainer postion in others routes from what I saw so itās not a big point of contention for me
Count Glocester: this game is an odd one in that it feels like it really tries to get you to like the dads for some reason lmao. Both him and Bernieās dad I fully expected to hate (I still feel a strong dislike for Bernieās dad as I wonāt forget/forgive him for what he did donāt @ me about it!) but Gloucester was a gray area for me. I didnāt hate him in OG as he did sensible things, joining the empire should they have the power shift and favor them isnāt unwise. Keeping with the alliance should you play VW. His loyalty shifted but we never saw his view on the matter as he didnāt make an appearance and he didnāt disappoint here
Shahid: my greatest fear realized. I to this day think that Golden Wildfire shouldāve just been disconnected from plot. People will always complain that heās either too uninvolved in plot (which I disagree with but opinions so I wonāt argue about this point) in Verdant Wind, or too involved (as in, him being in war changes nothing another point I hate, but weāll just leave it as that and go) there is just no pleasing the entire fanbase as some like his inclusion or just look for ways to hate on him and downplay his role in the story. So why not do whatever the hell you want and have his route completely in Almyra? His route was advertised as dealing with Almyra so why not capitalize on it and just have him in Almyra? (crazy concept I know)Ā
Shahid didnāt really add to Golden wildfire in any meaningful way asides from being apart of Claudeās past and confirming his name is Khalid, something youād know already if you read interviews. He was just a side quest compared to the main mission and was a nuisance more than a threat which is a shame. They finally shown someone from Almyra who stand by their countries view of āFodlan cowards and Almyra betterā mindset and his hatred of Khalid for being half of both couldāve been something. I didnāt want him to be main conflict from what we got from demo, but I was hoping for something :/Ā
Plot: Oh boy. where to start. Iāll start with what I wanted done differently to get it out of the way
There is too many factions working against each other. Empire, kingdom you know what to expect, itās very clear cut on where they stand in this war. Empire wants down with the church and to make Adrestia the base of Fodlan and restore it to itās former glory. Faegust is close with church and is at odds with the empire to put lightly. Alliance is the middleground. Caught between both nations as the main crossing between the two lie with the great bridge. In OG they were very neutral if you didnāt play Golden deer, just doing their own thing and trying to keep itself together. Here not so much
In golden wildfire thereās just to much that it feels veryĀ āthis and onto the next thingā as stuff comes flying at you from every side
Factions: Empire (start), Kingdom (after alliance with Empire), church (endgame) and throughout the entire story is small factions still; Jeralt Mercenaries + Byleth, Flech after Randolphs death, TWSITD, bandits etc., (was it bandits that caused stir in Ordealia? Or was it TWSITD?? Canāt remember, but I feel it was just bandits, which I thought wouldāve been TWSITD. I was hyped since I thought Nemesis came back early as Ordealia was where Nemesis first struck on his trek to Garrag mach if Iām remembering correctly)Ā
The story starts off much like it starts in VW, in that you fight at the bridge: capture essential lands to either A) negotiate with Empire who before made no effort to do so or B) just fight against the empire. And then you just sorta join the empire
I know Claude isnāt pro-church and the game was showing a different side of Claude, but if they were planning on catching his scheming-side I think they failed miserably
the quickest way to end the war while maintaining independence (the stated reason why we joined up with Empire) wouldāve been to just take out Edelgard. Hate to say it, but since half of Fodlan sides with the church. Kingdom, the people of Leicester while not devout, rely on the the goddess, VW Claude states many of the roundtable are believers and Marianne, Leonie and Ignatz of GD believe in the goddess, so while split in their support/opposed stance half of Leicester seem to not denounce the practice of Serios. Even if Claude had hidden agenda to take out Rhea, as a strategist youād think heād put his personal feelings aside and focus on his dream of unification via peace not war as surpression via force wonāt boad well for his dream in the longrun as itās likely to cause agression than acceptanceĀ
Itās why he didnāt join Edelgard in VW, while he doesnāt state he himself personally doesnāt disagree with Edelgards methods, he doesnāt agree with them either as quoteĀ āitās not something the world can get behindā. It works short-term and Claude has always been a long-term sort of guy as he wants to bring about a new dawn to Fodlan
Many Edelgard fans wouldāve been mad had Claude just chose to fight as Edelgard/Hubert were outnumbered from Claude, Holst and Shez and Claude isnāt honorable enough to declare war and give the empire time to prepare. But the best course of action wouldāve been to just end it then and there
But okay, we going to take down church, while not my favorite thing as Claudeās subtle character arc of begrudingly siding with Rhea (I donāt doubt Claude mightāve wanted Rhea dead in OG game, but by the end of VW he does nothing to follow through since he gets questions and answers, when Rhea answers all questions I doubt he still wants her gone) and thatās where the game differs because Claude doesnāt ask questions he doesnāt get answers and remains ignorant of Fodlanās true history and therefor sticks to killing Rhea
I have no issue with Rhea being final boss. It still in a way makes sense and it contrasts nicely with Claudeās duality of Nabateans V Agarthans
Claude has fought against two major species (?) races (?) that control Fodlan in their own way. Nemesis was heiled as a king of liberation for the Agarthans/humans alike against the goddesses, and while Nemesis was human, becomes something of a deity from taking the blood of Sothis (its why he can use SoTC at all, and Rhea when she expo-dumps at end confirms he did)
Rhea, the main head of the church that monopolizes Fodlan. And the last child of the progenator god
For as many gripes as I have with this route as a whole. Thereās no denying the amazing feat of this as nobody else faces off against both legends and come out on top, Edelgard sides with Agarthans, Kingdom unknowingly side with Nabatean (unknowingly since Dimitri doesnāt learn of Nabateans and what the heroes relics are made of) Claude could sway either wayĀ
(yes, I know in this game Empire fights against TWSITD, but this aināt about them and what they do. And I mean, Edelgard doesnāt face off against Nemesis so my point still stands)Ā
Edelgard isnātĀ āgoodā orĀ ābadā sheās morally ambigious as is Rhea. The problem with that is that the game tries to make one seem bad :/ giving the impression that one of them must beĀ ābadā to the player/fanbase. Itās why whenever the two are brought up canāt go without discourse
I try to be unbias and to see things from every angle I can: spoilers and trigger warning for below the cut
Edelgard: As I mentioned before, I felt like she was meant to be more antagonistic then what we got. Probably for a number of reasons it wasnāt followed up on. Wouldnāt want the only female lord of the game to be straight evil
Her affinity to flames: her secret identity the Flame emperor, her gambit beingĀ āraging flamesā and of course Gronder time skip where she sets the middle on fire after taking out Bernie and Petra. I lowkey think she was meant to set the final map ablaze too as it would honestly benefit her more as a means to stop reinforcement (I mean it wouldāve backfired seeing how they kept sending falcon knights lol)Ā
I find her route lacking (not just length wise either) as I always found the choice to not have her deal with TWSITD an odd one as thatās what I joined her for after my GD playthrough, I knew she had beef with the chruch and the crest system from VW, and was interested on how sheād deal with the lurking evil as it was made clear that they were only using her. But then itās a footnote at the end- I know it was likely planned that she would deal with them from datamines, but thatās still not in the game proper. Instead what we got wasĀ āConquer this, conquer that after. War is wearing on me, this difficult path I must walk aloneā before final dragon boss lady :oĀ
Edelgards story is tragic no doubt about that, but the writters clearly didnāt know how to handle it as the 12 dead siblings came out of nowhere in the first support we get. And TWSITD are made more menacing from spoken word than actions as all they really did (in the story we play) was kidnap Flayn, and remire. I guess nuking a fortress is something, but it was more plot convenience for Hubert to detect them that way (but that doesnāt happen in CF from what I remember) I guess in AM Thales tries to kill Claude, and Cornelia messes up Dimitri something fierce and theres hegemon Edelgard (damn TWSITD have a bigger prescence in AM than CF. VW only beats them in that regard in that Claude faces Nemesis and Thales and is the closest we see one of the lords in taking TWSITD down,Ā damn)
And itās a shame, because I wanted to like her character, axe wielding badass? Tragic story that she doesnāt let keep her down? Forging ahead to make her dreams a reality with what little time she has left couldāve been amazing
And then her route felt like they were really trying to get you to sympathise with her as she blushes and hides a painting of you. Like no other route in game is as blatantlyĀ ālike meā than that right? The closest I could think of compared to the two lords is Dimitri, and even that is a stretch as we deal with his suvivors guilt. He doesnāt do something to get the MC to like them like say, plop a wagon of flowers before you using his inhuman strength, he merely learns to accept that he canāt burden things alone etc., Claude doesnāt get focused on in his route much at all, but his supports have him learning to open up and reveals his past but he doesnāt whisk you away on his Wyvern in a grand romantic gesture
I get that Fire emblem is a dating simulation, but I canāt help but feel they try to get you to like her by cramming things like that down your throat, even Byleth as stand in player reflects this as I can recallĀ ācuteā being in every option for the painting cutscene.Ā āThat was a cute shriekā followed byĀ āReally, very cute...ā her shriek is treated as moe moe cute while herĀ deadly fear of rats is ignored as MC notices her painting to which she flusters and statesĀ āleave here at once, Iām changing you must not look!āĀ āForget what you saw thatās an order o////oā
Like nothing wrong with fanservice, just can it not start with a crippling fear to be glossed over ffs, itās not that hard to fit cute things in and have her character be explored some other time
Rhea is a whole can or worms. Sheās as difficult to place as Edelgard for different reasons, as the archbishop sheās seen as ruthless in pre timskip as she kills all those who oppose the church (which is made to be a bad thing but most of thoseĀ ābadā things were prompted by TWSITD. Lonato and the tragedy were caused from them, the western church rose up under Lonato and by extension TWSITD fault) The crest system is said to be fault of Rhea as well, despite Nemesis and TWSITD using the bones of Nabateans to create the heroes relic and therefor the bloodline to use said crests so again, TWSITDās fault :/ sensing a pattern here?
Some may argue about the western church, stating that in the three routes itās stated that the Western church found issue with the main church being centered at Garrag mach, but without TWSITDās influence probably wouldāve been content to leave it be as it needed a nudge to actually go through with it, the Lonato rebellion was the just cause they needed to try grab for power (and they were definitely used by TWSITD because cutscene after every house leader explains the situation we see flamedlegard and Arendel speaking with Arendel statingĀ āI never placed much faith in the swine from the western church)Ā
Without TWSITD, people find no real issue with the church aside from Crest (which wouldnāt be a thing without those who rave in the dark) and you canāt blame Rhea entirely for placing crests above all else, the sacrifice of her breathern was made from it, so why not honor the bloodlines of her kin? it was something that hurt even her as in VW she states that she was never able to forgive those who proudly wielded the relics crafted from the bones of her breathern- it was a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy that made her mad
Mad enough to try get her mother back to fix all that was lost. She did fād up things, on par with TWSITD to get her mother back. But without the context of having to treat the corpses of nabateans as sacred and holy while despising the very concept and having to keep the history secret from even her most trusted allies?
(Seteth and Flayn lived a long time, but they donāt know the true history, pretty sure they came after the heroes relics were already established and treated as sacred and holy as Rhea stated she was the only one to survive the red canyon and was the last child of the progenitor god)
There is noĀ ārightā andĀ āwrongā with them. And I hate that there are sideās to this equation when there really shouldnāt be- Agarthans are the bad guys, plain and simple. People donāt like their inclusion but they are regardless and it baffles me how people forget about them in arguements
Like no offense to you Rhea V Edelgard people, but yall sound mad dumb when you argue because of it
Spoiler for those who havenāt played/avoiding three hopes demo to play completely blind upon release. Golden wildfire thoughts below. And itās short
Those who already knew Claude as Khalid from interviews also know his relation with his half-sibling(s?) isnāt great or that it alludes to a strained relation at the very least
But the fact that Shahid has a similar pose to Lorenz is justĀ
His relations to every Lorenz posing character is interesting. With his most amicable being yuri during the dlc and they have no further connection. A once and doneĀ āYouāre aightāĀ
Lorenz is obviously that of distrust and scepticism that evolves during the GD route
Interested to see where this story takes us. I was hoping for a cooler brother than what we got as he seems to be overcompensating for something with how rash he was in commanding his forces
Even with Almyra being battle-happy Nader at least seems to use tatics (running away is still a strategy) so they arenāt mindlessly brutish Iād imagine. Probably aĀ ālive to fight another dayā sort of deal
but regardless, Iām content as we finally explore a bit of Claudeās backstory and his connection to Almyran royalty
I have a feeling that Edelgard was suppose to be more antagonistic. Hear me out
Remember when Rhea burned the last map in Crimson flower. It always came out of nowhere and made no sense to me. I know Rhea isnāt protrayed as the most stable but this choice was especially odd
Wouldnāt it make more sense for Edelgard to set fire to the place? Edelgardās motivation is to take the church down and get rid of the crest system. She should have no quelms burning the town down if it meant achieving her dream. And she has a tie to flames
Her secret identity: Flame emperor
Her special gambit: Raging flames
You get it, flames and fire. And of course Gronder where she sets fire to the central hill- the girl is a natural arsonist
I feel that she was suppose to be more on the side of the Agarthans. As even her name suggests it
The name Edelgard means "Noble Protector" in German. Edelgard's surname Hresvelg comes from a Norse mythology called HrƦsvelgr (Old Norse "Corpse Swallower"), a giant who takes the form of an eagle. Obviously a stretch but Agathans have corpse-like appearance their skin lacking pigmantation and decrepit looking (also I like the reference of eagle here, nice touch)
Obviously she wasnāt meant to be the villain. She was the main advertising point of this game. I remember launch showcasing her and not Dimitri or Claude. The tutorial guides when you first start the game usually show Edelgard and other black eagle students while showing the other houses as the outsiders for lack of better words (Recuitment tutorial shows Lysithia getting recuited, could be blue lions or black eagles but seeing as mission acceptance is Raphael into Black eagles class itās most likely still black eagles)
I always wondered why dealing with TWSITD wasnāt Edelgards priority as they are the main cause of her suffering. wouldnāt it make sense that she doesnāt want to? if she was meant to be one perhaps?Ā
I donāt know. I just thought of this on a whim- and it has a lot of holes but it does make some sense to me
Iāve seen this way too many times lmao. Everyone usually uses claude which astonishes me. Like Feral dimitri in Verdant wind coming towards us is like
his whole purpose is Edelgardās head and he making a detour now? But honestly itās pretty hilarious to me as itās probably simple game mechanic as if you ignore the central hill completely they lie dormant. Because once you take Bernie down is what triggers the movement /reinforcement and taking down Petra causes the hill to burn
But everyone is always like,Ā āwhy?ā
And whatās even more funny is Iām pretty sure it was suppose to be a fog map that causing them to move towards MC. In Verdant wind Hilda makes a comment like:Ā āGronder field should be around here right?ā something something fog I believe, but was probably scapped as nobody wants to waste a slot on torchesĀ
Iāve like three stories I have just taking up space in my computer. Each pretty unique in concept and like 50 pages long. But Iāve literally done nothing with them because Iām always trying to expand the world, come up with names etc., and then the characters become footnotes that just exsit in this wide world twidling their thumbs
If I were to write a story. Iād be like a million chapters as I move things along at snails pace
For everyone that doesnāt know who Iām talking about:
Like Iām not even a Claude simp. I just like his character. Sure his story wasnāt the best. But he is willing to let his dreams die with him to save as much lives as he can no matter which route you take. For someone as ambitious as he is, thatās very telling. People be sleeping on his A support
Especially the people saying he has the worst S-support
As an Aromantic/Asexual Iām not to hung up on the romance aspect of these S-supports and I can get why people donāt like it. But his drive to accomplish his dreams is a refreshing thing to see (he even comes back after becoming the crowned prince of Almyra)
To me Iād find it so much more unrealistic of him if he dropped everything just to spend his life with you
People cold blooded. I looked at what killing claude would do in Crimson flower for curiosities sake and the second video from the top is a video titled āActually sparing Claude like a WIMP in Fire emblem three housesā like why people hating on this man? He did no wrong smhĀ
And again not hating on Crimson flower route for this. I only mentioned the route because in Azure moon you literally cannot let Claude die, the whole objective is keeping him alive and then he dips
Not hating (hate that I have to clarify that) but I thought Iād make a funny with my thoughts that the one person who reluctantly works with TWSITD doesnāt really do anything about them xD itās like a footnote at the end
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