History Awesome / FireEmblemThreeHouses

** As of June 30th, almost a year after it came out, the game has sold 2.87 million copies.

** As of December 31st, the game has sold 2.58 million copies.

** Props to Claude, as he still shows his chops as the "master tactician", basically setting up a win-win scenario — if he repels Edelgard, then the Alliance is protected; if he can't repel Edelgard, he set it up so he can surrender the Alliance to her without any infighting, giving her a reason to spare him, and banking on Byleth to be a good influence on her. Secondly, by [[GracefulLoser surrendering]] and hinting he has a certain amount of influence in Almyra to Edelgard, he's able to plant the seeds of a future alliance between Fódlan and Almyra, since Edelgard has expressed a lack of racism in regards to other nations, and desires to open up Fódlan (which would be public knowledge as she printed manifestos in this route) allowing him to achieve his dream of opening up his mother's homeland to the outside world. So even if he loses the war, Claude wins the peace.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_277.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"So the Fell Star consumes even the darkness itself...!"]]

** Props to Claude, as he still shows his chops as the "master tactician", basically setting up a win-win scenario - if he repels Edelgard, then the Alliance is protected; if he can't repel Edelgard, he set it up so he can surrender the Alliance to her without any infighting, giving her a reason to spare him, and banking on Byleth to be a good influence on her. Secondly, by [[GracefulLoser surrendering]] and hinting he has a certain amount of influence in Almyra to Edelgard, he's able to plant the seeds of a future alliance between Fódlan and Almyra, since Edelgard has expressed a lack of racism in regards to other nations, and desires to open up Fódlan (which would be public knowledge as she printed manifestos in this route) allowing him to achieve his dream of opening up his mother's homeland to the outside world. So even if he loses the war, Claude wins the peace.
* Just the fact in this route, ''you'' are fighting for the Empire fully for the first time in this series history, and unlike the other routes where you generally start as the underdog, the Adrestian Empire is relatively in a strong position after 5 years. For fans who have been clamoring for a more morally ambiguous route, this route ''will'' have you play as the AntiHero or AntiVillain for the first time in ''Fire Emblem''. And the writing does not disappoint either, bringing down Seiros, abolishing the crest system, corrupt nobility, and giving the people of Fódlan a true chance to rise on their own merits, will make you feel like a badass.

** And on the subject of Bernadetta, a rather roundabout one comes around if she marries Ferdinand: their A Support reveals that Ferdinand's parents were planning to have the two of them enter an ArrangedMarriage, much to the delight of Bernadetta's father. In their paired ending, Bernadetta renounces her claim to House Varley, meaning that her father gets the marriage he'd wanted in the past...only now, he gains nothing from it. It's a delightfully ironic punishment, considering [[AbusiveParents how badly]] he treated Bernadetta in the past.
** Bernadetta is a walking moment of awesome for anyone who struggles with anxiety and shyness. Sure, her anxiety is PlayedForLaughs a lot of the time (her persecution complex is something ''you weaponize'' to make Bernadetta stronger in a fight, which crosses into BlackComedy) but over the course of Crimson Flower, you slowly see Bernadetta acclimate to her situation as an army officer, reaching a tipping point pre-time skip where, without any prompting, she bravely walks outside in broad daylight to lay flowers on Jeralt's grave. Once you get into Crimson Flower proper, she starts showing up outside more, gets better at holding back her knee-jerk reactions to run and scream when surprised, and eventually starts spending her supports either helping people or getting into conversations with them without overreacting. This all culminates in nearly all her endings; she will almost always become a competent, if quirky, Countess, usually being the one ''in charge'' in most paired endings with a fellow noble (only Ferdinand takes control of managing the house within Crimson Flower, with Bernadetta and Hubert acting as equals), and will be said to have had a happy, fulfilling relationship with anyone she falls in love with.

** It's even more satisfying if Byleth defeats Seiros with brawling. There is something fitting about Byleth defeating Seiros the same way she defeated Nemesis. And since Rhea is a possible instructor in brawling, it allows an opportunity to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard hoist her by her own petard.]]
* Chapter 18 has to be one of the most epic final fights in ''Fire Emblem'' history. Seiros, knowing Fhirdiad would fall to something as simple as a siege (it's the capital of a kingdom in the snowy north, meaning the BESF can easily starve the people inside with their now limitless resources), finally slips past the point of no return as she [[ItsAllAboutMe refuses to flee, putting her obsession over everyone, even those loyal to her]] and orders Catherine to ''set fire to the city'' just to kill Byleth. And Edelgard, showing moral superiority, has ''none of it;'' she is well past such dirty, terrible tactics in this route (thanks to Byleth helping her with her trust issues). She and the rest of the BESF charge into the burning city despite the tactical disadvantage to ensure that Rhea will be stopped from doing even more damage to the rest of Fódlan. This all leads up to an awesome BattleAmongstTheFlames where you slog through the burning city, destroying massive golems, potentially killing the greatest swordsman in Fódlan (Catherine can give ''the Death Knight'' a run for his money), and one of the most faithful knights of Faerghus, and finish by killing a giant dragon.

* Saving the Alliance from the Empire. The moment Claude's messenger arrives, Dimitri sets out for Derdriu. When you get there, everyone quickly notices that Claude has evacuated the city and is making a last stand at the port. This allows the Empire into the city, which at first looks like a stupid move...until Dimitri realizes Claude has actually been very clever. When the Kingdom arrives from behind, the Empire will be trapped in Derdriu, and smashed between the two armies. Being TheCavalry has never felt so good.

* This is also the route where you can recruit almost ''everyone'', with only Claude, Edelgard, Hubert and Jeritza as exceptions. [[note]]Of those four, Claude simply dissolves the Alliance and surrenders its territory to Dimitri after you rescue him, then [[ButNowIMustGo shoves off to Almyra]]. Edelgard, Hubert and Jeritza are the BigBad, TheDragon and TheBrute of this route, respectively, so they are simply impossible to save.[[/note]] Uniting nearly the entire school under your banner can feel amazing, and ensures that [[EveryoneLives all of them have a chance to see the end of the war]], rather than get cut down by your forces. It's a lot of slides to go through during the ending, [[EarnYourHappyEnding but it's worth it]].

** Their duel with Nemesis is extra awesome because it perfectly demonstrates Claude’s overall philosophy. Nemesis refuses to acknowledge Claude or Byleth as [[WorthyOpponent worthy opponents]] on the grounds that they refuse to fight him one-on-one. While some past ''Fire Emblem'' lords [[HonorBeforeReason may have taken such criticism seriously,]] Claude brushes it off with an excellent speech. To Claude, who dreams of a world without prejudices or borders, real courage and strength is in people’s ability to [[ThePowerOfFriendship set aside their differences work with others.]] And Claude is proven absolutely correct as he and Byleth end up completely blindsiding Nemesis, [[ExactlyWhatIAimedAt aiming a perfect shot]] and making him believe Claude's attack missed, only to have it strike Nemesis' sword arm and remove his guard as Byleth's Sword of the Creator slices Nemesis' chest instead of clashing with his blade.

* Claude's dodge animation when he's on foot and using a bow is to do a flip, [[ImprobableAimingSkills and while upside down in midair fire his bow at his attacker]]. He continues it when riding a wyvern, the dragon flying upside down as Claude shoots an arrow at the enemy, showing that there's a ''very'' good reason he's upside down on the cover art.

* In Dimitri and Hapi's supports, Dimitri finally learns about those who slither in the dark and vows to deal with them which he does in their ending. This wraps up any fear that they would become a KarmaHoudini in the Azure Moon route.

* An October Nintendo Dream poll had Dimitri ranked 8th out of the top 10 among readers' favourite Nintendo characters. Bear in mind, this poll featured gaming icons like ''Mario'', ''Link'', ''Pikachu'' and ''Kirby''. All of whom have entire franchises under their belts. Dimitri managed to place alongside them based on his appearance in '''one game'''. If that's not a testament to this game's writing, and the talent of his voice acting, nothing is.

* As of September 30th, ''Three Houses'' has sold 2.29 million copies worldwide, making it either one of the best or THE best selling ''Fire Emblem'' game ever after only 3 months.[[note]] While ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' is reported to have sold 2.8 million, it should be noted that these are combined sales of [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo both versions]]. If treated as if it were one game it would be closer to 1.5 million.[[/note]]
** As of December 31st the game has sold 2.58 million copies.

* In addition to winning Strategy Game of the year at the 2019 Game Awards ([[AwardSnub The only award the voting jury nominated it for]]), the Player's Voice award[[note]] The only award determined 100% by fan votes. [[/note]] ended up going to Fire Emblem due to a mass rallying of the fanbase that allowed it to win by a landslide 44%. It should be noted that for the Player's Voice award, it went up against ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder'', and ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'', and that was only in the final round of voting. The fact that it not only won against all those games, but did so by a landslide speaks volumes as to how much the franchise and its fanbase has grown ever since it was introduced to non-Japanese audiences back in the days of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee''.

* The raid on Shambhala is by far the most unique map in the game, featuring a ''Film/{{TRON}}''-like atmosphere as your units battle mechs and lasers with swords and spears--and you're winning. So what could make this better? How about ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhMGfbv-jk a dubstep remix]]'' as its soundtrack?

* On all routes in the academy phase, Manuela of all characters gets one. Flayn has been abducted, and rest of the faculty are on a wild goose chase of sorts, looking into everyone as much as they can but not finding anything helpful. Manuela? She figures out almost immediately who the kidnapper is, and it is none other than the Death Knight. She of course is not as strong as him and gets herself stabbed- but still holds on long enough to point any other would be rescuers to where Flayn is being kept by him. And she still manages to survive, meaning the Death Knight actually failed to kill her entirely!

** The fight between Nemesis and Seiros. Not just for how cool it is in general, but how Seiros ends it: when Nemesis hooks the Sword of the Creator around her blade, she takes advantage of it and deliberately throws both weapons behind her, dashing toward him immediately afterward and delivering some GoodOldFisticuffs. Then she hits the bandit king with an ArmorPiercingQuestion (revealing herself a survivor of the Zanado massacre) and shanks him to death with a bootknife.

* On the Blue Lions, Golden Deer and Church of Seiros routes where you ally with Rhea, her defense of the monastery is both a terrifying and awesome sight to behold. Things seem hopeless as Edelgard calls in her reserve troops, revealing her forces outnumber Rhea's even more than expected, but Rhea serenely steps forward, telling Byleth to stay back and that she is entrusting everyone young and old to them. Steeling herself to not see a repeat of the Red Canyon, she transforms into [[OneWingedAngel the Immaculate One]] in a blaze of green light and proceeds to start vaporizing and trampling the invading army, wrecking much of the evacuated town in the process. It takes being dogpiled by Demonic Beasts to stop her.

[[caption-width-right:350:" So the Fell Star consumes even the darkness itself. "]]

[[caption-width-right:350:" So the Fell Star consumes even the darkness itself.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d_l04h8x4aecajo.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Goodbye, my Teacher."]]
%%

** The game doesn't pansy around with how much of a strategic walkover it is, either. It's a central point of the other routes that the Empire has a huge material advantage and could barely be kept at a stalemate until Byleth returned to help tip the scales against them. When they do so in the Empire's favour, their strategy plays out almost exactly as they intend, and their enemies can only muster a single do-or-die counterattack that does some nasty damage but is ultimately repelled without the Empire conceding anything. The route is four whole chapters shorter than any other, because the war ends in literally half the time. This is even more impressive when you consider that literally all factions in Fódlan are gunning for the Empire. Unlike on other routes, the Church is fully focused on the war with the backing of Seiros, a warrior and tactical genius with centuries of experience, and only managed to launch a failed counteroffensive; Those Who Slither in the Dark launched a missile that destroyed a vital fort that killed a significant number of Imperial soldiers but it barely slows them down; and the Kingdom and the Alliance spend the whole war on the defensive. It's basically the Adrestian Empire vs. the rest of Fódlan, and they ''win''.

* The Black Eagle Strike Force blindsiding Cornelia with a surprise assault and dealing a severe blow to Those Who Slither in the Dark in the process. While the damage they incurred in retaliation for that assault was significant, there's something deeply cathartic about Edelgard's forces killing Cornelia, a horribly corrupt individual, despite technically being on the same side as her.

* The entire route, since unlike the others, you are fighting just about ''every single faction'' (the Alliance, the Blue Lions, the Empire, and Those Who Slither in the Dark) without support. And you beat them all.

* The assault on Shambhala, the base of Those Who Slither in the Dark, a group with highly advanced {{Magitek}}, consisting of ballistic missiles, giant robot Mechas, and long-range laser weaponry. You defeat them with swords and spears.

* After defeating Edelgard, Claude and Byleth head to the chamber where Rhea is held, and after a brief reunion, Claude asks Rhea for information about "Those Who Slither In The Dark". Initially, Rhea remains silent, hesitating to answer, but then Claude, in one of the few times he gets angry, actually yells at her and demands an explanation. For fans who have waited this long to get an explanation on the real backstory of the game, and those who are tired of Rhea constantly hiding the truth, or telling half-truths, this moment is very cathartic.
* Like as above in the Church of Seiros route, the combined Alliance army, decked out in nothing more than medieval weaponry, heads out to take down Shambhala, the base of Those Who Slither in the Dark, a group with highly advanced {{Magitek}}, consisting of ballistic missiles, giant robot Mechas, and long-range laser weaponry. ''And. They. Win!''

** There's also the battle against Nemesis' army, which has carved a swath of destruction on its path toward Garreg Mach, even defeating Hilda's brother. In addition to the King of Liberation, it also has the resurrected Ten Elites, with replicas of their Relics, as well as many other ancient soldiers and the last remnants of Those Who Slither In The Dark. You fight all of them and win.

* In Dimitri and Hapi's supports, Dimitri finally learns about Those Who Slither In the Dark and vows to deal with them which he does in their ending. This wraps up any fear that they would become a KarmaHoudini in the Azure Moon route.

* After defeating Edelgard, Claude and Byleth head to the chamber where Rhea is held, and after a brief reunion, Claude asks Rhea for information about "Those Who Slither In The Dark". Initially Rhea remains silent, hesitating to answer, but then Claude, in one of the few times he gets angry, actually yells at her and demands an explanation. For fans who have waited this long to get an explanation on the real backstory of the game, and those who are tired of Rhea constantly hiding the truth, or telling half-truths, this moment is very cathartic.

* Along with a dose of TearJerker and NightmareFuel, it is quite remarkable how this route has the biggest body count of the four routes by a mile. If you actively avoid recruiting and stick with the default Black Eagles students, after the time skip, you will be able to kill the entire Blue Lions´ roster and all the Golden Deer students sans three (and only because they don't appear after the time skip), as well as most of the Church of Seiros faction, including all the knights and Rhea herself. So, at the end, you can make Edelgard succeed in her ambitions by killing everyone in her way. Tragic? Yes. But it does show how powerful Byleth and the Black Eagles are in this route with literally all the other factions gunning for them.
** On the flipside of things (which also doubles as Heartwarming): If you play your cards right, you can end the route with only about five main casualties. It's difficult, but you can ignore Hilda altogether in Chapter 14 by going straight for Claude (whom you also have the option of sparing), you can spare Seteth and Flayn in Chapter 15, and you can ignore Catherine, Cyril, Ashe, Annette, and Gilbert come the final battle. The only sympathetic characters you need to kill in order to progress are Judith in Chapter 14, Rodrigue in Chapter 16, Dimitri and Dedue in Chapter 17, and Rhea in Chapter 18. Rather than helping Edelgard by killing everyone in her way, you can instead reduce the significant death counts as much as this route allows.

*** And he's also a BiTheWay option for Byleth, so fans of both sexuality can romance him, no village girl here. His S-support even manages to be this, as they are in a back to back badass position against the ''Agarthans'' in their base. BattleCouple indeed, as Jeritza declares his feelings towards them, while describing the Agarthans as flies. Their paired ending cements both as TheDreaded as both the sword and scythe of the Adrestian Empire.

** Their duel with Nemesis is extra awesome because it perfectly demonstrates Claude’s overall philosophy. Nemesis refuses to acknowledge Claude or Byleth as [[WorthyOpponent worthy opponents]] on the grounds that they refuse to fight him one-on-one. While some past ''Fire Emblem'' lords [[HonorBeforeReason may have taken such criticism seriously,]] Claude brushes it off and replies with the speech written above. To Claude, who dreams of a world without prejudices or borders, real courage and strength is in people’s ability to [[ThePowerOfFriendship set aside their differences work with others.]] And Claude is proven absolutely correct as he and Byleth end up completely blindsiding Nemesis, [[ExactlyWhatIAimedAt aiming a perfect shot]] and making him believe Claude's attack missed, only to have it strike Nemesis' sword arm and remove his guard as Byleth's Sword of the Creator slices Nemesis' chest instead of clashing with his blade.

* When Aefric appears to be held hostage by Metodey, everyone comes up with a plan to stop them and keep the chalice: Hapi using her sighing to attract monsters and scare away some of the Brigands. It's something Metodey didn't expect at all, and to see his [[SmugSnake smug smile]] wiped off at that moment is awesome in of itself.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3hfellstar.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"So the Fell Star consumes even the darkness itself..."]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_9_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"When humanity stands strong and people reach out for each other... there's no need for gods."]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d_l04h8x4aecajo.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Goodbye, my Teacher."]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3hblreturn.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[RightfulKingReturns "We are a Kingdom in need of a king. A hero to save the people from their long oppression."]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/byleth_vs_nemesis_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Yet we have the strength to scale the walls between us... To reach out our hands in friendship so we can open our true hearts to one another! THAT'S HOW WE WIN!!!"]]

[[/folder]]

'''Moments pages are spoilers off. This is your final warning.'''

** Speaking of polls, this year's [[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes ''Choose Your Legends'' poll]] had all 4 winners being from Three Houses, with Lysithea, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude taking the victory. Special mention goes to Edelgard, who took first place for females and has the most votes out of all the winners at 74,617.

* On all routes in the academy phase, Manuela of all characters gets one. Flayn has been abducted, and rest of the faculty are on a wild goose chase of sorts, looking into everyone as much as they can but not finding anything helpful. Manuela? [[spoiler: She figures out almost immediately who the kidnapper is, and it is none other than the Death Knight. She of course is not as strong as him and gets herself stabbed- but still holds on long enough to point any other would be rescuers to where Flayn is being kept by him. And she still manages to survive, meaning the Death Knight actually failed to kill her entirely!]]

* For those disappointed by the game's original [[GayOptions gay male romance options]] ([[BaitAndSwitchLesbians or lack there-of]]), then it should come as good news that the 3rd and 4th waves of DLC adds Jeritza and then-newcomer Yuri as romance options for Male Byleth.

* For those disappointed by the games original gay male romance options (or lack there-of) then it should come as good news that the 3rd wave of DLC adds Jeritza as a romance option for Male Byleth.