A quick announcement, so due to the fact I live well below the poverty line for my area, I’m forced to try and monetize my art more than I have been. So I have started a patreon and while I realize not everyone can afford it, I would appreciate any support you can give! Anything helps!
I dunno if I should let it be known here, but Ive been open for commissions a few weeks ago with two slots available. Below is the link to the slots and the commission price. If you’re interested, send me a message!
god. okay. i know i said this before verbatim but. Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries season one episode one introduces this tall gaunt gangly NPC generic White Man so forgettable to me that I assume he is a one-off character, and then three seasons later I am rolling around on the floor wailing over how Jack Robinson is the sexiest, most scorching hot, most amazing man in the world
little list of non-lord FEW3H characters who retreat instead of dying on Classic mode, from everyone who’s playable in the demo (ie, a list of characters who will be plot-relevant):
Hubert
Ferdinand
Monica
Hilda
Lorenz
Dedue
Felix
Rodrigue
pretty unsurprising list; it’s basically each lord’s closest retainers, so you’d expect them to be important regardless, but it’s nice to have confirmation. (my guess is that Holst is the third such character for the Deer, though he’s not playable in the demo.)
some thoughts on the FE leaks (obv do not read if you are not, interested in leaks):
(I’m going to assume the leaks are real at this point, what with the screenshots and people corroborating them)
wow the main character does… not look good, huh.
the artstyle doesn’t look very appealing in general, which is a shame because artstyle is very high up there on the list of “vital things to my enjoyment of an FE game”. the same-y look for the female characters is not promising :(
the “you can summon past lords mechanic” also sounds not great. oh FE. why are you like this. I am disappointed every time I hear things about a new mainline entry (which, admittedly, included 3H, which I ended up loving, so maybe there is some promise yet? maybe I am being too negative? time will tell)
Gust being involved is interesting. apparently they’re mostly handling the art/graphics/design aspects? in which case the character designer may be someone associated with the Atelier series. since it’s obviously not Hidari (bring back hidari please), my guess would be that it might be the Ryza designer, Toridamono (whose art is very much notmy thing so I hope I am wrong)
Koei are also involved! I consider this a good thing because I have much more faith in Koei’s writers than IntSys’
also apparently there is an FE4 remake in the works? I’m not much of an FE4 fan but I’m still mildly interested since FE4 is a game with a bunch of interesting ideas marred by poor execution
(it is also tragically straight, and I doubt a remake could fix that, but, still)
wait, so in ch13 of verdant wind lorenz explicitly states that yes, his father is pro-empire, because they had to consent to become vassals.
CLAUDE:And, as the leader of the Imperial faction of the Alliance, isn’t Count Gloucester, your father, the main cause of that discord?
LORENZ:I… Yes, that is true. It was inevitable. Our house’s territory is close to Imperial land, after all. Had we not consented to vassalage under the Empire, they would have invaded immediately.
CLAUDE:Naturally. And to be clear, I have no problem with your house maintaining its Imperial ties until we’re sufficiently prepared to revolt.
to be clear, vassalage means that gloucester has declared loyalty to the empire and emperor, is likely sending them goods and maybe even men, and has essentially declared that they serve adrestia and not the alliance. on threat of invasion.
what claude is saying here isn’t “you can suck up to the empire if you want to,” what he’s saying is “i know you’re under occupation, and i’m not going to risk harming your people until we’re ready.”
not even sure how i missed that detail, but that is like – the alliance isn’t neutral, the alliance is fending off a coup, the empire has already occupied the largest and one of the most powerful sections of the country. gloucester might be sympathetic to adrestia, but also this means that to defy the empire, he would literally be rebelling and breaking their truce: he would immediatelybe invaded and destroyed.
tl:dr: people saying claude is an opportunist who pretended that the empire was going to invade him in order to declare war are wrong, and this is why!
I meant to write this years ago but never found the motivation, so it’s high time I did a write-up of this, because I consider it key to discussing the authorial intent with regard to Edelgard’s character. Three Houses is, at its heart, a Koei game, and so Edelgard naturally takes a lot of inspiration from certain Koei characters.
First things first, though: why am I so sure?
1. Who wrote Three Houses, anyway?
This is the staff list for Three Houses. You will likely notice that IntSys’ primary involvement is on the producer / director level; that is to say, IntSys were more of the… idea + designer people, for lack of a better word. But the vast majority of the staff are from Koei, and this includes the game’s three writers: Yuki Ikeno (lead writer), Mari Okamoto, and Ryohei Hayashi.
Yuki Ikeno, the lead writer, worked on the scenario for both FE Warriors and Age of Calamity, but has also had a hand in Koei-Tecmo’s flagship series: Dynasty Warriors (as a game designer) and Samurai Warriors (though admittedly only as a writer for a more story-light spinoff game, which was 4: Empires).
Mari Okamoto appears to be the most new writer of the three, and is the only one to not have worked on either DW or SW. As with the other two, she worked on FEW and AoC.
Ryohei Hayashi, however, worked on a whole slew of other Warriors games other than FEW and AoC. Most notably, he was one of the writers for Samurai Warriors 3, 4, 4-2, and the first two Warriors Orochi games (which is primarily a SW / DW crossover series).
Given this, I have good reason to believe Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors influenced the writing for Three Houses in a significant way, which is something Yokota and Kusakihara (both directors) also hint at in this interview:
“We can’t say it was very conscious, but you know, we always talk with Koei Tecmo people - and some of them have been working with Three Kingdoms for a very, very long time,” Yokota says of the similarity between the Chinese classic and the rival countries and their heirs the player must choose between in Three Houses. “In our discussions, maybe it was an unconscious decision. We didn’t say ‘let’s make a homage to Three Kingdoms’ - it didn’t happen like that.”
“Perhaps it was for us a good starting point - to say okay, let’s do our version of three kingdoms with three people, three countries,” Kusakihara adds.
I’d like to argue that these similarities go far beyond surface-level “three kingdoms at war” stuff mentioned in this interview, and this is perhaps most noticeable with Edelgard.
2. Edelgard and Dynasty Warriors’ depiction of Cao Cao
Dynasty Warriors is a historical fiction hack-and-slash video game series based on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Each game in the series is a retelling of the original story (as well as history!), with some also featuring “what if”-scenarios.
Cao Cao, the Chancellor who leads the Wei faction, is one of the most important characters in the games. In the original book, he written as a cruel, scheming villain, but Koei’s portrayal of him is considerably more charitable (particularly in recent games), perhaps due to drawing more from historical accounts of the man, which were more morally grey. He is, of course, playable in all DW games, and the player can experience the story from his point of view.
What makes Koei’s version of Cao Cao similar to Edelgard?
Cao Cao is ruthless and willing to use any means to achieve his goal of ending the chaos in the country, regardless of who he makes an enemy of in the process… much like Edelgard.
Cao Cao is willing to side with his enemies if needed, rather akin to Edelgard’s decision to work with the Slithers out of convenience.
Cao Cao judges people by their merit and skill rather than by their social status, not really caring for tradition (and actively moving away from it, if anything, which was considered highly unusual for the time) – and so does Edelgard. This is a very important quality of both characters and a big part of their fan appeal.
Despite Cao Cao’s reputation for ruthlessness, he is actually very caring toward his subordinates and treats them well, getting to know them on a personal level. Yes, this, too, is a trait he shares with Edelgard.
The DW fandom, for the most part, loves Cao Cao – you’d be hard-pressed to find a discussion about him that does not have a bunch of fans arguing that he is the true hero of the series, not Liu Bei (who is the leader of Shu, the rival faction portrayed as more traditionally heroic, and who often comes under criticism from DW fans). Most fans acknowledge Cao Cao’s moral greyness, but – perhaps ironically – this only seems to serve to make them all the more interested in arguing that he was in the right and that his ruthless approach to the war was justified.
(I’m going to be completely honest here and admit that my area of expertise lies more with SW than DW, so apologies if this is not as in-depth a comparison as it could have been; the broader picture I paint should be accurate, at least!)
3. Edelgard and Samurai Warriors’ depiction of Nobunaga Oda
Samurai Warriors is Dynasty Warriors’ sister-series and is, like DW, a series of historical fiction hack-and-slash games, except this time the setting is feudal Japan (the Sengoku period, to be specific). Again, the games in the series are retellings of history, but with frequent AU-style “what if”-scenarios. One of the most important characters in SW is Nobunaga, who is constantly compared to Cao Cao both by fans and in official material (such as the crossover games).
Historically, Nobunaga was one of Japan’s three unifiers and a rather controversial figure who is often portrayed as an evil overlord-style villain in fiction. Koei, however, typically portray Nobunaga as an anti-villain, making him more of a cold but charismatic “ends justify the means” character. (This is very in line with their interpretation of Cao Cao.) He has playable routes in all SW games, and he’s also, effectively, the company’s mascot character.
Does he share similarities with Edelgard? Yes!
Much like both Edelgard and Cao Cao, he is cruel and ruthless in war, stopping at nothing to achieve his goal of unifying the country and creating a lasting peace.
Also like both, he eschews tradition in favor of modernity; notably, a key theme of his character is valuing the future over the present. Edelgard believes the sacrifices she makes by fanning the flames of war in the present are necessary in order to pave the way to a better future, and so does Nobunaga.
Despite his reputation for being a villain, he’s surrounded by a variety of very loyal subjects (who are mostly kind characters and not particularly villainous themselves), though many of which are rather blindly loyal. The Black Eagles house is similarly mostly comprised of “softer” characters. Not all subjects of either Edelgard or Nobunaga know the true intentions of the leader they follow.
Historically, Nobunaga called himself The Demon King of Sixth Heaven, who is one of the Buddhist Devils. Naturally, Koei reference this frequently in their games, and their portrayal of Nobunaga is explicitly critical of Buddhist values: he believes greatness comes from clinging to and chasing after one’s desires, in stark opposition to the Buddhist goal of overcoming suffering by giving up on said desires. Edelgard is similarly very openly critical of religion, believing that people should rely on their own strength rather than that of a false God.
More a fun fact than anything, but both Edelgard and Nobunaga are bi. :)
Nobunaga has a “rival” character of sorts who opposes him: Mitsuhide. In most SW games, Mitsuhide is a polite and kind-hearted man who starts out as a devoted subject of Nobunaga. Eventually, Mitsuhide’s belief in his lord falters, leading him to betray and – ultimately – kill Nobunaga, as he did historically. Notably, in an AU scenario in SW2 where Nobunaga ends up killing Mitsuhide instead, Nobunaga actually sheds a tear at his death; I would argue this has some similarities to Edelgard’s attachment to Byleth, which is also used as a way to humanize her in the three routes where Byleth sides against Edelgard.
Much as with the DW fandom, SW fans tends to take Nobunaga’s side in discussions, with surprisingly many being critical of Mitsuhide (despite the latter’s portrayal being considerably more heroic and sympathetic).
4. okay, but WHY should I care
This matters because I firmly believe these similarities are intentional. Edelgard is inspired by Cao Cao and Nobunaga, and here are some takeaways I have about her character with this in mind:
- If you’ve ever felt Edelgard’s methods feel a little tooclose to those of historical great men for comfort, well… it’s not just you. FE3H’s writers most certainly had actual historical people and happenings in mind when writing her.
- The Nintendo Dream interview that referred to CF as the “hadou” / “military rule” (覇道) route caused a big stir in the FE3H community and has already been discussed at length, so all I’ll add is that the word is strongly associated with Koei’s portrayals of Cao Cao and occasionally Nobunaga, with Cao Cao in particular using it as an almost-catchphrase. Coincidence? I’m not so sure.
- Edelgard’s goal of uniting Fodlan comes across as wholly imperialistic and seems at odds with her otherwise anti-traditionalist character, but the likely root of this motivation lies in the settings of DW and SW: in DW, peace comes from uniting the three kingdoms; in SW, peace comes from the unification of Japan. (These are also the goals of both Cao Cao and Nobunaga, though they die before achieving them in most routes.) “Unification” is symbolic of “lasting peace” for Koei’s writers.
- Some Edelgard fans will argue that she is actually the hero of the story, and her having a fully playable route that portrays her sympathetically likely serves to further confuse FE-only players; since when does IntSys let you play on the side of the anti-villains? Well – IntSys typically don’t… but Koeialways do. Crimson Flower is roughly equivalent to the Cao Cao / Wei routes in DW games or the Nobunaga / Oda clan routes in SW games in this regard.
- I think there’s not a lot of point in comparing Edelgard to previous FE characters, because they’re not who she’s chiefly inspired by. That said, an FE archetypeEdelgard likely draws from is the Red Emperor, and this comes through clearly in her design. I’d like to also suggest that Edelgard’s post-timeskip design might be intended to evoke a Devil-like image (clad in all red + black horns) as a nod to her opposing the faux-Christian Church of Seiros.
- Some Edelgard detractors make the argument that her popularity and blindly loyal fanbase to a significant extent stem from the fact that she’s a pretty anime woman. Looking at how DW fans and SW fans treat Cao Cao and Nobunaga, though, I have to conclude this is unlikely to be the case; these characters are both older men, yet have loyal fanbases very similar to Edelgard’s. Charismatic anti-villain characters who uproot tradition and forcefully push for change are simply popular.
WHILE A SEXY VAMPIRE WATCHES FROM AFAR AS THEY SUFFER
WHO DIES
WHO LIVES
OHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The beautiful, beautiful aasimar just flew the blood hunter above the dragon. Then the blood hunter drank a vial of tarrasque blood and is falling onto it like a meteor. My players are cooler than yours and its not even close.
I made my players to strong and my dragon is suffering oh no oh shit oh no.
They killed my sweet baby dragon and escaped the crumbling underground fortress to the safety of the desert. Now onto more shenanigans in a city i have yet to flesh out in any meaningful way. Anything and everything can happen. So many ideas.
International dating website but it’s for us non-Americans to find an American to marry and give them citizenship to our country so they can escape whatever the fuck is happening there
Nooo y’all in the comments You guys doing okay over there?? Hmu if you wanna ditch America and come here to marry a dumb cottagewhore and raise ducks together in a little cottage, drinking tea and petting our goats
International dating website but it’s for us non-Americans to find an American to marry and give them citizenship to our country so they can escape whatever the fuck is happening there
Cada dia que passa sinto minha vida se acabando e eu ali sem reação. Cada minuto que passa é uma julgamento, pensamento diferente que passa pela minha cabeça. Mas tudo isso comigo parada no tempo observando tudo quieta como telespectadora da minha própria história.
