#crest of flames

[lelandartist8]

My drawing of Female Byleth from Fire emblem three houses in color with the sword of the creator and her crest of Flames behind her.

[bishounen-jump]

Tiny Crest of Flames tapestry crochet!

[fotocynthese]

Good or evil, her story is sad

[sleepy-bear-tm]

Pretimeskip Edelgard was a true menace.

[eldritchwhoresideshow]

The Arbiter of Every Soul

[mwezina]

The World & FE3H

The World represents completion and fulfilment. The bright blue skies represent a feeling of optimism and triumph. It is arriving at exactly where one is meant to be after a long journey. The laurel in a circular shape shows the cycle of life, and how arriving at the end of one cycle means the beginning of another. The figure is once again surrounded by the four angelic beings, looking on with contented expressions in the Rider-Waite Smith deck. 

This crest has a special place in the world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, as only four people have had this crest before. Sothis, Nemesis, Byleth, and Edelgard. I will focus on all except Edelgard, and try to figure out what their names mean and how they relate to The World card. (I’m excluding Edelgard only because I have already covered her in The Devil card) 

Sothis’ name is a god’s name. It is the personification of Sirius, the Dog Star, in Egyptian mythology. This star rises in the new year, when the plantings are meant to begin, and is a goddess of fertility. 

Considering Sothis in the game can heal lands and her rebirth heralds the start of a new year, we can see how the game took direct inspiration from her namesake. In terms of The World, Sothis looks to be utterly content in her abilities, mirroring the confidence of The World card. I do wish more parallels could be drawn between Sothis and Anna, considering The Fool and The World are sister cards. 

Nemesis is a goddess of revenge (how I wish they had stuck with that, and made the Nemesis in game a woman too). She represents jealousy, envy, and anger. She gave rewards for noble acts and punishment for evil ones, sometimes reserving them for future generations. Strangely, she will also punish those who have undeserved good fortune or those who showed hubris before the gods. 

This makes the name very strange in FE3H, as Nemesis the character does evil acts, and shows hubris before the gods (Sothis). Perhaps this name really should have belonged to Seiros. Or perhaps Nemesis is meant to evoke in us the archnemesis of a character. 

Finally, Byleth’s name is based off of Beleth, a king of Hell. He has legions of demons under his command and likely also helped with maths proofs? (I don’t really understand demons that much). 

Byleth’s connections to The World is the strongest, as at the end of each route, they find where they belong in the world. If they save Rhea and take their rightful place at the helm of the church or a country, they achieve fulfilment and harmony. However, if they choose to follow The Devil card, the ending of the game and their own personal ending is filled with disharmony and a sense of incompleteness -- Byleth goes back to where they started, instead of coming to a new level of understanding. 

Byleth can also connect to both Sothis and Nemesis. In the majority of routes, Byleth becomes a god, and signals the beginning of a new era. They can heal the people and the land through their leadership, just like Sothis. Just like Nemesis, Byleth can enact judgement and revenge upon either Rhea or Edelgard.

So that’s it! That’s all the major arcana and their associated crest & dragon names. I really enjoyed making all these connections, and it brought me closer to the Major Arcana deck as well!

I didn’t originally plan on it, but I will be doing the minor arcana at some point in the future. I think there are actually four factions in FE3H, so I will pair each suit with a faction, then pair each card in the suit with an event, character, or emotion from the faction/route. So if your favourite character hasn’t come up yet, they probably will in the minor arcana discussion!

Previous: Judgement

Next: The Wands

[faytscreations]

Another Byleth wolf this one was a commission and I was asked to use a light shade for the main body so it’s based on their hair on the second half of the game and make the crest of Flames and paw pads pink.

[eldritchfodlan]

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