games like stardew valley or harvest moon that have a fishing minigame typically let you give the fish, dripping wet and extremely raw, as a present to the ones you love - whether they like it or not.
three houses lets you give people presents but does NOT include the fish you catch. i think this is wrong
[images: first, a bunch of drawings of dedue in different clothing, two with his hair down; second, dedue in pink; third, lorenz portrait; fourth, modern ashe in a pink hoodie; fourth, byleth dressed as a noble]
some miscellaneous fire emblem three houses fanart i never posted to tumblr, please enjoy
So I have been kicking around this theory for a while and I think I’ve finally made enough of a breakthrough about it to go on about it.
There’s a device in rhetoric known as the Modes of Persuasion. These are certain modes that are used to help appeal to an audience in order to persuade them to agree with your argument or any other factor that you are looking to achieve. In this case, we’ll be using it in terms of achieving the goal of leadership and change.
The three main modes are - Ethos, Logos & Pathos. Ethos is the appeal to authority/credibility. Example being a dentist’s testimonial about the effectiveness of a toothpaste. Pathos is the appeal to emotions/feelings. Example being basically any of those animal rescue ads with Sarah McLachlan. Logos is the appeal to logic/facts. Example being any sort of charts and figures proving a point. Or just any sort of factual evidence of sorts.
Anyways, so in regards to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, you’re probably wondering what the hell am I talking about? Well here’s the thing - in regards to the three main lords (Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude), they are all lacking in one of these appeals and that is why their methods/paths end up failing without the influence of Byleth for they are the one who helps instill that side of them.
Let’s start off with Edelgard. She has both Ethos and Logos. What she is lacking without Byleth is the Pathos. For her, this is all business. She uses her authority of position to assume power and the facts/figures (church corruption, nobility corruption) to bring forth her own vision. Without Byleth, we see that her path has too much bloodshed as the slaughtering of innocents is seen more as just a part of the war than something that can be avoided. With Byleth, there’s more of a humanity there and the goal is given much more of an emotional impact, especially considering Byleth’s origins.
Now with Dimitri. He’s got Pathos and Ethos. He’s lacking in Logos. He’s got feels for days and the whole being a future king deal is quite a big authority to say the least. His sense of logic, however, has been skewed as we see how he has a serious mental break due to his emotions and goes completely batshit. Without Byleth, he stays in that batshit state and ends up meeting his end in an unfortunate way. With Byleth, he’s able to find the logic necessary (granted it takes time) to become a great leader. He’s able to rein in his emotions for the good of the people.
And finally, onto Claude. As you know how this argument goes, he’s got the Pathos and the Logos. It’s Ethos that he’s missing. He’s known as the Master Tactician and he’s able to come up with schemes and is quite brilliant at it. He’s also got enough of a humanity that when he avoids as much bloodshed as he can (as evidenced by his poison that would only inconvenience someone for a couple days). However, despite being made a legit heir of House Riegan, he does not have enough authority around. People find him deceiving and manipulative. They don’t think he has the credibility and it shows even in the timeskip. With Byleth, he gains that authority and credibility he so seeks to be able to lead. Without Byleth, we see that he ends up pretty much just saying “Peace out” and takes off for his own homeland (or gets killed depending on if you spare him or not in Edelgard’s route)
Of course this does not mean that the lords are lacking in their missing mode. Edelgard does have emotions of sorts, Dimitri does have logic of sorts, and Claude does have authority of sorts. It’s just that without Byleth, those qualities are not able to develop enough to become a viable asset in order for them to succeed in their path.
Maybe this isn’t the most sound theory and maybe I’m just grasping at straws, but I found it very interesting. Feel free to expand upon this if you’d like.
