Edelgard fans don’t have to apologize for Adrestia
So something I saw but didn’t really comment on in yesterday’s post was Fewix’s (if anyone’s curious why I keep calling Emblemxeno that, it’s because his Reddit handle is just Felix’s name but spelled all cutesy and I think that’s kinda funny. The only reason I even know Emblemxeno and Fewix are the same person is because his reddit has links to his tumblr right on the front page) efforts to portray the Empire as the real sexists in Fodlan.
This is part of a trend of repurposing arguments from our side that I’ve seen out of Edelgard Critical. A really cute example of this is the Analyzer using the Byleth is a Bodhisattva in Crimson Flower argument (a Bodhisattva is a being that has achieved enlightenment but chooses to remain in the earthly realm to help others achieve enlightenment as well. It’s a refutation of the idiotic “Byleth loses nirvana in CF” claim) to say that ackshually, Byleth’s only REALLY a Bodhisattva in Azure Moon! You know, the route where Byleth embraces their divinity and becomes the archbishop.
Yeah, are you starting to see why my nickname for him is more an insult than anything else?
But I digress. Edelgard Critical is trying to steal our arguments because they haven’t had a cogent new one in about two years.
Technically Mercie wasn’t thrown out but instead ran away, but that’s quibbling. Fewix actually neglected to mention Hanneman’s sister. Also the first point is amusing because Fire Emblem’s long had a trouble spot with not allowing women to inherit positions of authority on their own (even in recent times, with Hinoka being implied to be third in line for the Hoshidan throne behind her younger brother Takumi, and Camilla passing the throne of Nohr to her younger brother Leo) and yet it’s not our side that has to flee to series tradition when stating our case. And it’s not even true given whether or not Edelgard will inherit the Adrestian throne is never in question. Fewix seems to be blowing up the solitary case of Bernadetta to encompass all of the Empire (and Bernadetta does keep her house anyways, so...).
So yeah, you can certainly find some cases of Adrestia’s conduct being shitty in the past. And yet this isn’t the winning argument Fewix thinks it is because, unlike with Faerghus, excuses are never made for Adrestia’s past, the player is never asked to ignore their misdeeds, and Edelgard fixes their problems.
Dorothea’s mysterious father? Never treated as anything but a scumbag who kicked out her mother and condemned Dorothea to her miserable early life (and it’s real cute seeing Edelcrit suddenly becoming Dorothea stans when it suits them).
Bernadetta’s father? Treated as nothing more than a figure of scorn and contempt. He’s put under house arrest by Edelgard in Houses and given a gilded cage in Hopes that he spends almost three years occupying in a state of perpetual mortal terror. Hopes even doubles-down on this, by stating clearly that keeping Yuri from assassinating Bernie when they were younger was not an act of love and Bernie doesn’t forgive him because of it.
Baron Bartels? An unambiguous monster who abused Mercedes and her mother and created the Death Knight, leading to his unmourned death.
Petra’s treatment and the treatment of Brigid? An injustice Edelgard is working to correct, with Three Hopes going much further into detail on it.
See where I’m going with this? Every Adrestian crime is treated as a crime, every Adrestian abuser is treated as an abuser. Edelgard is working to correct the system that enabled these injustices. The Adrestia that did these things is not her Adrestia.
The Faerghan Lords and soldiers that committed the genocide of the people of Duscur? Largely ignored in Three Houses, because Azure Moon is only interested in Duscur insofar as it can serve as window dressing for Dimitri’s personal tragedy, around which all of Faerghus and all of Azure Moon revolves. For fuck’s sake, in Three Houses you even help racist Faerghan jackboots suppress a justified Duscurian rebellion, and if you don’t join in on this crackdown you’re punished by losing Dedue.
The conquest of half of Sreng by Faeghus? What conquest? Three Houses doesn’t give a fuck (because it’s got jack all to do with Dimitri), and Three Hopes just makes Faerghus look even worse!
Matthias Gautier, who joined with King Lambert to beat around the people of Sreng until Macuil knocked the invaders back in their place, and then kept a Srengese prince prisoner for years and in modern times only disparagingly refers to him as an ungrateful “prisoner”? Treated as a troubled man and a bit of an dishonorable schemer, but still a good man at his core.
Dimitri never takes measures to correct the cultural norms that enable Faerghus’s worst behavior because they’re never treated as a problem to be corrected. That’s why Faerghus stans have to defend, ignore, or sidestep Faerghus’s misdeeds. The crimes the Adrestia of the past committed are indeed crimes that Edelgard is working to fix.
Therefor, criticizing Adrestia as a means to criticize Edelgard or defend Faerghus isn’t the strong argument the other side believes it is.
