History Characters / FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude

* PointOfDivergence: ''Warriors: Three Hopes'' shows that whether the events of ''Three Houses''' White Clouds — the Academy Arc — get to take place or not determines if Claude will gain interest in uncovering the secrets of Fódlan or not. This change is crucial as it influences [[spoiler:his view of the Church of Seiros and by extension, whether Rhea can become Claude's greatest ally or biggest enemy.]]

* ForWantOfANail: ''Warriors: Three Hopes'' shows that whether the events of ''Three Houses''' White Clouds — the Academy Arc — get to take place or not determines if Claude will gain interest in uncovering the secrets of Fódlan or not. This change is crucial as it influences [[spoiler:his view of the Church of Seiros and by extension, whether Rhea can become Claude's greatest ally or biggest enemy.]]

[[center: [-[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHouses Main Index]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]] | '''Claude''' | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesRhea Rhea]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesShez Shez]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesOtherMainCharacters Other Main Characters]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlackEagles The Black Eagles]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlueLions The Blue Lions]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesGoldenDeer The Golden Deer]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesAshenWolves The Ashen Wolves]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesTheChurchOfSeiros The Church of Seiros]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesOfficersAcademyInstructorsAndStaff Officers Academy Instructors and Staff]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesAdrestianEmpire The Adrestian Empire]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesHolyKingdomOfFaerghus The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesLeicesterAlliance The Leicester Alliance]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesHistoricalFigures Historical Figures]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesTheFlameEmperorArmy The Flame Emperor Army]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesThoseWhoSlitherInTheDark Those who slither in the dark]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]

* InvertedPortrait: Well known for being depicted upside-down on the box art.

* MrFanservice: Claude is a handsome man, which adds nicely to his suave personality, and he becomes even more so after growing a beard during the time-skip. His Summer variant in ''Heroes'' shows that he also has quite a muscular build.

* ElementalMotifs: He has a wind motif. His route is called Verdant Wind, and Marianne directly compares him to the wind. Most of the spells he learns if you level his Reason skill are wind spells. He also gains a flying class after the timeskip, and the unique combat art he unlocks upon mastering his final personal class is called "Wind God". In ''Heroes'', the unique version of the Parthia his Brave variant wields is called the Wind Parthia. In ''Warriors: Three Hopes'', his attacks are infused with wind.

* CoolLoser: He's very charming, funny, smart, and good-looking, but at Garreg Mach he's considered an outsider and complains in an advice box note that many people find him strange.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: {{Discussed|Trope}}. He wonders why [[spoiler:those who slither in the dark haven't just dropped the javelins of light on the monastery. Rhea explains that area is protected by the shielding of Sothis's tomb.]]

* YoungAndInCharge: During the timeskip, his grandfather passes away, and he becomes the leader of the Alliance. He is the youngest of the five lords of the Alliance Roundtable.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: {{Discussed|Trope}}. He wonders why [[spoiler:those who slither in the dark haven't just dropped the javelins of light on the monastery. Rhea explains that the Sothis's tomb's shielding covers the area.]]

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. He wonders why [[spoiler:those who slither in the dark haven't just dropped the javelins of light on the monastery. Rhea explains that the Sothis's tomb's shielding covers the area.]]

* {{Bishonen}}: He could pretty easily pass for a short-haired, brown-skinned woman. It's less so after the timeskip, as he picks up some cool-looking sideburns.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:In the S-rank postgame support blurb, he returns as King of Almyra leading ''the entire Almyran army'' against a resurgence of Empire remnants, saving Fódlan from destruction and apparently marrying Byleth afterwards, uniting the two kingdoms as one.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: It's implied by Nader in ''Three Hopes'' that Claude's father favors him more than [[spoiler:his brother Shahid]]. Nader notes that [[spoiler: the king hasn't been himself since Khalid left which is why he doesn't stop Shahid from disobeying his instructions not to attack Fódlan.]].

* ParentalFavoritism: It's implied by Nader in ''Three Hopes'' that Claude's father favors him more than [[spoiler:his brother Shahid]]. Nader notes that [[spoiler:the King of Almyra only gave Shahid the green light to invade Fódlan due to the political shakeups in Adrestia and Faerghus and that the king hasn't been himself since Khalid left]].

** On every route, if you unlock the secret chapters, [[spoiler:Claude informs Dimitri and Edelgard that he intends to completely dismantle the Church and kill Rhea. Edelgard doesn't believe the latter would be necessary, and Dimitri tells Claude outright that this would force him to retaliate, as it would destabilize the Kingdom as well. Claude follows through on his route, and the repercussions are left to a very uncertain game ending.]]

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Even if you don't side with him, he goes out of his way to protect innocent civilians. In Crimson Flower, his plan ensures that most of the Alliance is spared from the fighting and in Derdriu, he barricades the civilians away from the port where the fighting is taking place. In Azure Moon, he evacuates Derdriu before making his last stand. However, this is not the case in ''Three Hopes'' where some of his schemes do cause risk to civilians, which is something Count Gloucester criticizes him for.

* LonelyTogether: The crux of his B-Support with Byleth, although whether or not Byleth agrees with this sentiment depends on the player.

* ChaoticStupid: When at his worst, his desire to profit off of chaotic situations, and his playing into his image as a schemer, makes things worse for many, sometimes even himself.
** In ''Three Houses'', [[spoiler:while some in the Alliance would desire to side with the Kingdom or Empire, keeping them out of the conflict may have perpetuated the war's stalemate, meaning unnecessary casualties for all other factions. In routes other than his own, it winds up being all for nothing anyway, as he eventually chooses a side, but only when it's too late to help him.]]
** In ''Three Hopes'', [[spoiler:his scheme to encircle Count Bergliez's troops directly leads to perpetuating the war, as Edelgard is forced to pull away from a potential faster conclusion in order to resolve the situation. This also leads to some possible casualties within the alliance. This scheme wasn't even necessary, as the Empire was just looking for efficient passage, Edelgard and Count Bergliez both prefer peaceful retreats, and the Alliance and Empire reach a peace agreement anyway. Later in the game he sets himself up for much more dangerous situations. If Byleth is not recruited on Scarlet Blaze, Claude betrays the peace agreement, resulting in unnecessary renewed hostilities. It's entirely possible for him to put himself at odds with not only the Church, Kingdom, and now Empire, but three of the Five Great Lords of the Alliance, as Houses Gloucester, Ordelia, and Edmund all can side with the Empire. If Byleth is recruited on any route, Claude reveals to Dimitri and Edelgard that he intends to completely eradicate the Central Church and kill Rhea. Edelgard believes that wouldn't be necessary, and Dimitri outright tells Claude such an action would completely destabilize the Kingdom, which would force them into conflict against him. On his route, he does so anyway.]]

** Grabs it again in ''Three Hopes'' on Scarlet Blaze: [[spoiler:if you don't recruit Byleth, they convince Claude to betray his alliance with Edelgard during the battle at Ailell. Edelgard and any recruited Deer question why he would do this, and what little sense it makes. Notably, this can lead to Claude's death in battle and makes him the only house leader capable of dying in the game's story on any route.]]

** ''Three Hopes'' puts his more scheming nature on the forefront, which can result in him betraying his allies depending on the route and player choices. The Alliance's constant infighting and the dual threat of both an Imperial invasion in the South and an Almyran invasion in the East end up putting him under a lot of stress and [[spoiler:he starts to make morally questionable actions like engineering a fake betrayal to corner the Empire or backstabbing his own allies, the latter in particular potentially having fatal consequences on the Scarlet Blaze route. Even his own Phantom will try to prod him into betraying the other leaders to secure his victory.]] On his own route he actually dials down his tendencies to do this after getting a WhatTheHellHero from the rest of the Golden Deer.