History Characters / FireEmblemThreeHousesRhea

** [[spoiler:In the opening cinematic itself, she literally beats Nemesis to death with her bare hands in a blood rage, and afterward deludedly speaks to the sword he had as if it were her mother... which yes, was made from her mother's bones, but as if Sothis was present and conscious in the sword, or the Crest Stone powering it? A bit of a stretch there...]]

* CreatingLife: [[spoiler:On the Silver Snow route, Rhea reveals that during her long life, she created [[ArtificialHuman multiple human vessels]] and implanted them her mother Sothis' Crest Stone in an attempt to resurrect her, all of which turned up to be failures as none manifested her consciousness. The last vessel she created was Sitri, Byleth's mother.]]

* DeathOfPersonality: The real reason Rhea in ''Three Houses'' hired Byleth as a professor for the Officers Academy was to [[spoiler:observe and test them to see if they would prove her belief that they are a successful vessel to revive Sothis, her mother]]. Given her words to Seteth about [[spoiler:Byleth's status as a vessel]], and how, in her S-Support with Byleth, admits [[spoiler:she wanted them to "''become'' the progenitor god"]], it's all but stated [[spoiler:Rhea ''possibly'' intended to invoke this trope by having Byleth sit on Sothis' throne in the Holy Tomb under the pretext they would "receive a revelation from the goddess" but instead nothing happened, as Sothis was already gone]].

* GayOption: She can be married by a Byleth of either gender, but [[spoiler:only on the Silver Snow route]]. Though it bears pointing out, [[spoiler:Byleth is, from the right perspective, ''[[IncestIsRelative her grandchild]]'']].

* HiddenBuxom: Her figure is curvy, but well covered by her outfit. This is especially the case [[spoiler:when dressed as Seiros, though this may be due to the armor she's wearing suppressing her chest.]] Then ''Heroes'' puts her in a bikini, and it shows she's got a chest to rival [[ItRunsInTheFamily her granddaughter]] Byleth.

* ImmortalityBisexuality: [[spoiler:Though not really immortal, she's over a thousand years old, and she can be S-Ranked by Byleth of either gender, who is, from the right perspective, [[IncestIsRelative her grandchild]].]]

* IncestIsRelative: [[spoiler:She created Sitri, Byleth's mother, who considered Rhea to be her own mother. From this perspective, Rhea is Byleth's grandmother... and yet you can S-Rank her, which all but confirms they get married.]]

** At the start of Chapter 3, after learning about Lord Lonato's rebellion, she doesn't pursue peaceful options or try to convince him to stand down, instead ordering his where-he-stands execution, and sending her [[YesMan Yes Woman]] Catherine along with the students to make sure nobody tries to spare him.

* LapPillow: After Chapter 10, Rhea holds Byleth gently in her lap and sings to them when the latter regains consciousness. [[spoiler:It's because she thinks the green hair/eyes is a sign that Sothis has taken over Byleth's body.]]

* OneTrueLove: In her centuries of life, Rhea has been completely alone. The only person she is known to have fallen in love with is Byleth (if her S-Support is completed), and she sees them as her fated partner whom she will spend the rest of her life with. [[spoiler:By the way? Byleth is, for all intents and purposes, ''[[IncestIsRelative her grandchild]]''.]]

** In Chapter 3, she goes straight to ordering Lord Lonato's death upon hearing of his rebellion. No negotiations, or any means of getting him to stand down peacefully, no, [[DisproportionateRetribution just for the crime of rebelling]], she sentences him to be slain where he stands, even sending [[MyMasterRightOrWrong Thunder Catherine]] to make sure no effort is made to spare him.

* [[SupernaturallyYoungParent Supernaturally Young Grandmother]]: [[spoiler:She may [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld look like she's a young-enough woman]], but from the right perspective, she's Byleth's ''grandmother'' due to having created Sitri, Byleth's mother, and who considered Rhea her own mother. The "supernatural" part comes from Rhea being the offspring of a space dragon. Did we mention [[IncestIsRelative Byleth can marry her]] on the Silver Snow route?]]

** At the very end of Azure Moon, [[spoiler:Rhea is rescued from Enbarr offscreen and retires immediately after, naming Byleth the new archbishop, with no indication of whether she's SecretlyDying or just choosing to retire to Zanado]].

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:Beyond being found and rescued after Edelgard dies, and later stepping down as archbishop offscreen and naming Byleth her successor, she is completely absent from Azure Moon's ending, which instead focuses on Dimitri's rise as ruler of a united Fódlan under Faerghus' banner, with Byleth supporting him.]]

* ArchEnemy: Ironically enough, despite [[spoiler: Edelgard being the instigator of the conflict, Rhea has a personal level of rage and hatred towards ''Byleth'' should you play the Crimson Flower route and side with Edelgard. All the underlying resentment and hatred Rhea carried over the millennia towards Nemesis for killing her mother and family gets projected over onto Byleth to the extent that, amidst her SanitySlippage, Rhea outright convinces herself Byleth ''is'' Nemesis reborn. As such, she decides to leave Edelgard to Dimitri, while she deals with Byleth herself.]]

** In ''Three Houses'', [[spoiler:on the Crimson Flower route, she takes this role. Removing her influence on Fódlan is Edelgard's primary goal, and the conflict quickly turns personal when Byleth refuses to execute Edelgard, driving Rhea insane from this perceived betrayal.]]
** In ''Warriors: Three Hopes'', [[spoiler:she has a role as a major opponent on two of the three routes, moreso on Golden Wildfire where Claude sees removing her as a necessity for his vision of Fódlan to happen, but downplayed on Scarlet Blaze where Edelgard sees the systems of Fódlan and the Central Church as a bigger issue than Rhea specifically. Another notable difference is that Rhea does not go insane or commit any atrocities during the story of ''Three Hopes''.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:On Crimson Flower and Scarlet Blaze, she serves as one of Edelgard's main enemies alongside Thales. In both paths, while the latter is the far more malevolent character of the two, it's the crusade against Rhea's influence and legacy on Fódlan that claims the bulk of her route]].

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: One of her darker aspects is that she refuses to acknowledge any sympathetic aspect of her enemies. She paints Lonato as a dangerous rebel and unreasonable, when many others testify that he was a good man and a victim of the Church, [[spoiler:and Rhea knows his son was executed for attempted assassination and covered it up herself]]. She considers Miklan to be wholly evil and deserving of his [[spoiler:horrific transformation into a black beast]], despite being disinherited by his family for something outside of his control. And if [[spoiler:Byleth sides with Edelgard in Crimson Flower, Rhea goes totally off the deep end from the idea that the host of her mother's soul would turn against her.]]

* BookEnds: As far as the cinematic scenes go, Rhea's story from the start of the game to the end of Silver Snow features this. [[spoiler:The game's opening cinematic ends with Rhea cradling the Sword of the Creator (what is left of her mother's body) in her arms, blood smeared across her cheek as she says in a daze "he's gone now mother". The game's ending cinematic has her cradled in Byleth's (i.e. the vessel for her mother's heart) arms, blood smeared across her cheek as she looks up in a daze and says "mother, you're here." Narratively, the opening cinematic depicts the start of Rhea's obsession with bringing her mother back, while the ending cinematic is her at last finding some kind of peace regarding her mother as she dies (or, if A or S-ranked, finds the closure and peace to finally move on). This peace is elaborated on in her S-rank where she reveals the reason she thought her mother was there when she looked at Byleth in a daze was because she had been speaking with Sothis during what was essentially a near-death experience.]]
* BreathWeapon: In her [[spoiler:Immaculate One form, she has this. Rather than fire breath, she is able to shoot a blast of hot, destructive energy from her jaws that can outright disintegrate a human in full armor with ease]].

* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler:In ''Three Houses'' outside Crimson Flower, after being rescued from the Imperial Palace in Enbarr where she was imprisoned for 5 years after the fall of Garreg Mach, she comes to accept not just that Byleth is not and never will be Sothis, but also that even so, they are still worthy of leading the Church, or even Fódlan as a whole (depending on route), and willingly steps aside to allow major reforms to take place. On Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, she becomes willing to trust humans with Fódlan's true history, and comes to regret her manipulation of said history (expressed most explicitly in her S rank on Silver Snow). If S-ranked, she at last is able to move past her grief, letting go of the past and her self-imposed solitude, recognizes her actions might have contributed to the war having taken place, and becomes a reformist in her own right, working with Byleth in changing Fódlan for the better in ways that people describe as miraculous. On the Azure Moon route (and, potentially in Silver Snow as well), she steps down and quietly lives her life in Zanado Canyon, implying she finally found peace after years of grief over the massacre.]]

** Her [[spoiler: explanations to Byleth on their status as Sothis's reincarnation are very much this, via omission of information and being [[MetaphoricallyTrue methaphorical]] about it. Her story changes depending on who listens, as with Byleth, Rhea repeatedly implies that they are in some sense an amnesiac Sothis who will soon regain their memories. Meanwhile, when Seteth presses Rhea for answers in private, she explains further and says Byleth is, more specifically, a vessel containing her power, and that once both become one, "the progenitor god" will have finally returned. It's only on VW and SS that she admits she knew the entire time that Sothis's consciousness was awake in Byleth, and that she wanted them to become Sothis.]]
** By her own admission in the Verdant Wind route, Rhea [[spoiler:fostered the Empire's foundation just to build an army strong enough to defeat the man who genocided her race and killed her mother. The fact that Wilhelm I's account of the War of Heroes –Adrestia's first emperor and Rhea's greatest ally of that era– ''completely neglects to mention Seiros's personal vendetta'' in his records and assumes the war happened due to Seiros clashing ideologically with Nemesis over which species deserved to rule mankind, heavily implies she never disclosed him her true intentions. What Wilhelm knew of the Children of the Goddess at the very least involved the knowledge she could transform into a dragon to come to such conclusion, as it is recorded that the Immaculate One was a huge asset [[DecompositeCharacter to Seiros]] against her enemies back in the War of Heroes]].

** Her need to control knowledge of Fódlan's past [[spoiler:and influence the people to accept Sothis as their goddess (preparing for her hoped-for return to power) is part of what drove her to contribute to the absolute mess that became Fódlan's society and lie to everyone about the history of Sothis. Her obsessive need for control is what she has most in common with Edelgard. Their actions born from this trait are likewise part of what brings them into conflict with each other to begin with.]]

* CreateYourOwnHero: On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:her experiments are what led to Byleth becoming Sothis' mortal vessel. Byleth takes all the power she gave them and kills her with it. (She's technically still responsible for creating Byleth in the other routes, but isn't a villain on any other route.)]]

* DeathOfPersonality: The real reason Rhea in ''Three Houses'' hired Byleth as a professor for the Officers Academy was to [[spoiler:observe and test them to see if they would prove her belief that they are a successful vessel to revive Sothis, her mother]]. Given her words to Seteth about [[spoiler:Byleth's status as a vessel]], and how, in her S-Support with Byleth, admits [[spoiler:she wanted them to "''become'' the progenitor god"]], it's all but stated [[spoiler:Rhea ''possibly'' intended to invoke this trope by having Byleth sit on Sothis' throne in the Holy Tomb under the pretext they would "receive a revelation from the goddess"]].
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:In the final chapter of the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard offers to spare her and her soldiers if they surrender, but Rhea doesn't have any of it. She intends to kill your party no matter the cost]].

* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:In the final cutscene of the Scarlet Blaze route Rhea clashes with Thales's last ditch effort attack, resulting in an explosion that causes the bridge they were fighting on to collapse. It's implied they both fell to their death as Edelgard mentions there is no way they could have survived. Notably Rhea was established in the fight prior to no longer be able to maintain her Immaculate One form which would explain why she couldn't simply transform to save herself. Despite this the ending narration only says that they went missing.]]

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Not evil per se, but she has trouble understanding [[spoiler:why her mother ''merely'' gave Byleth her power and vanished, as if implying that she expected Sothis to overtake Byleth in the process without any reservations. ]]

* FallenHero: On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:Byleth's betrayal in the Holy Tomb triggers a psychotic breakdown. By the end of the game, she's degenerated from a BigGood who takes in orphans and tries her best to maintain peace in Fódlan to a deranged and vengeful psychopath who would rather let innocent people die when pushed into a corner, just because she's that desperate to kill Byleth and Edelgard]].
* FalseProphet: Downplayed. [[spoiler:Rhea does not act in accordance with Sothis's will, the latter is nowhere near as omniscient and far-reaching as her Seiros faith claims her to be, and her goals, while benevolent in their intentions, are ultimately based on selfishness and self-preservation. At the end of the Verdant Wind route however, she admits to have once played this trope straight given she gathered followers through her church and "miracles" with the sole intention of raising an army that could let her avenge the Children of the Goddess and kill Nemesis]].

** Her tendency for ruthless retribution on people who attempt violent action against her or support those who do so, making even people who would be devoted wary of her as she does it all with an unhealthy level of DissonantSerenity. Per her English's voice actress' words, this is because Rhea has a HairTriggerTemper, and even if she ''seems'' calm on the surface, she will not be satisfied until whatever angered her is completely destroyed. [[spoiler:Defying her in this state, as Byleth learns, will only make her ''angrier''.]] In ''Three Hopes'', it's hinted that this behavior also manifests for any slights against the land's peace, as such is (in her mind) an insult to Sothis's hard work restoring the land and its people.
** Her inability to trust others, usually manifesting as needing to be MetaphoricallyTrue when others ask for information. As a result, even people personally close like Seteth or loyal like Jeralt have questioned or defied her actions. Consequently, she comes across as shady to those who have reason to distrust the Church, and thus keeps them from getting to know her and possibly the other side of the story better. Her unwillingness to trust and open up to others about her inner torments, keeping even her few remaining family members at a certain distance, leads to some of her questionable decisions. [[spoiler: And the more morally-questionable things her Church has done throughout Fodlan's history are rooted in the betrayal her family and species suffered at humanity's hands and the atrocities she witnessed humanity commit in the pursuit of progress, leaving her struggling to trust humans with self-rule or unfettered scientific and technological advancement. These things make potential and even actual allies wary of her in a way that actively interferes with her own goals and plans, and turn her into an outright obstacle on several routes.]]
** Due to her trauma, Rhea has an unhealthy fixation with Sothis's prior work and values (or rather, what she sees as such) and will do anything to keep them alive in her name, along with treating anyone/anything that goes against them as irredeemable. In ''Three Hopes'', the reason she cannot condone the Empire's war against the Central Church is precisely because her mother worked so hard to bring the continent's land/people back, and disturbing the peace is an affront to those efforts and her memory. When fighting to reclaim Garreg Mach, she fights with the phrase "Return the land you stole from us!", with 'us' all-but-stated to be referring to her mother.

** Her faculty training skills include Swords, Reason, Faith and, oddly enough, Brawling. The latter doesn't make much sense with her as a character, until it's revealed [[spoiler:she is Seiros herself. The opening cutscene of Seiros fighting Nemesis and using her fists shows she ended up not giving that ability up]].

** In the Shambhala map from ''Three Houses''' Verdant Wind/Silver Snow routes, a brief exchange happens between Rhea and Thales if two of the latter's minions (Bias and Pittacus) were defeated, where both recognize each other and Rhea tells everyone to kill Thales as he's the boss of "those who slither in the dark". ''Three Hopes'' reveals [[spoiler:both have been [[ArchEnemy arch-enemies]] ever since the War of Heroes, which not only explains their mutual familiarity, but also why Rhea prioritizes killing him over Edelgard in the final battle of Scarlet Blaze]].
* FreakOut: If you [[spoiler:betray her for Edelgard after she is revealed to be the Flame Emperor, she completely and utterly ''snaps'', and she spends the next five years degenerating into a violent maniac obsessed with killing Byleth]].

* GayOption: She can be married by a Byleth of either gender, but [[spoiler:only on the Silver Snow route]].

** In the case of the [[spoiler:Gharnef archetypes, like Lyon, she practices forbidden magic to attempt to resurrect her dead parent, as she feels her mother was more suited to lead Fódlan, to morally dubious results, and like Sephiran, she's a long-lived religious figure who has watched over humanity for centuries and believes a goddess's divine intervention is needed to save humanity. However, unlike most Gharnef archetypes, the deity she seeks to resurrect is actually benevolent, she never sinks to the depths of other Gharnefs (for example, triggering a war), and if S-supported on Silver Snow, she directly acknowledges that she went a little too far in trying to restore her]].

* HasAType: In her A-Support conversation, she practically swoons upon seeing that Byleth [[spoiler:has the same type of eyes and hair that she does. Played with, however, because in her eyes, it's a sign that Byleth is progressing towards becoming Sothis.]] That cannot be the only reason for her reaction, though, because her interest is explicitly shown to be sexual attraction.
* HereditaryHomosexuality: She is bisexual just like her mother [[spoiler: Sothis]] and her (from a certain point of view) grandchild [[spoiler: Byleth]].

* HiddenBuxom: Her figure is curvy, but well covered by her outfit. This is especially the case [[spoiler:when dressed as Seiros, though this may be due to the armor she's wearing suppressing her chest.]] Then ''Heroes'' puts her in a bikini, and it shows she's got a chest to rival Byleth.

** Assuming the story is true, Rhea has substantial engineering knowledge.[[note]]Before the attack on Enbarr, an NPC in the monastery will relate to Byleth how it is said that the canal that runs through Enbarr "was constructed under the guidance of Saint Seiros before the empire was even formed." Said canal has been a lifeline for the capital's development ever since.[[/note]]

* HoistByHerOwnPetard: The Crimson Flower route is basically all about Rhea's lies and plots coming back to crash everything she's built. [[spoiler:First, Byleth, the one she spent most of the first half preparing to become Sothis's vessel, turns against her in part due to her lying to Jeralt about the full truth of Sitri's death, and partly because they became attached to the students, namely Edelgard, she encouraged them to get connected to. Byleth's prowess and weaponry are thanks to Rhea giving them the sword and crest stone, and now they've turned it against her in this route. The students she indirectly trained for a year? Turned against her. The book of Seiros that states murder and thievery are wrong unless done in the name of the goddess? Whoops, not so hot when Byleth (who has the goddess with them) is on the side of your enemies.]]

* IHaveManyNames: While she is currently known as Rhea, she is also [[spoiler:Saint Seiros and The Immaculate One, as well as presumably many others due to her being implied to serve as all the previous archbishops]]. It is unclear which, if any of these, is her original name.

* ImmortalityBisexuality: [[spoiler:Though not really immortal, she's over a thousand years old, and she can be S-Ranked by Byleth of either gender.]]

** According to the Church, Nemesis was granted power by the Goddess to fend off evil invaders, but then was corrupted by his power and had to be defeated by Seiros. [[spoiler:Rhea is actually Seiros, the Goddess's own daughter, complete with the power to transform into the Immaculate One, and she played a key role in saving Fódlan from Nemesis. Afterwards, Rhea used her authority as Archbishop to cover up the truth about Nemesis, the Crests, and even the true nature of the Goddess. On the Crimson Flower route, she goes mad and is ultimately killed by Byleth and Edelgard, two people who bear the same Crest as Nemesis.]]
** Around a millennia before the events of the story the Adrestian emperor managed to unify Fodlan with the help of Saint Seiros ([[spoiler:who is actually Rhea]]) which means that she was [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom responsible]] for empowering a nation that ends up becoming her [[spoiler:greatest foe]] after [[spoiler: Edelgard's rise to power]] and results in Rhea's [[spoiler:death]] on the Crimson Flower and ([[MultipleEndings potentially]]) Silver Snow routes.
* ItsPersonal: While it would have enraged her regardless, Rhea in ''Three Houses'' notably takes [[spoiler:Edelgard's reveal as the Flame Emperor and her actions in the Holy Tomb very personally, due to having been close to Edelgard's ancestor Wilhelm (noting he saved her and supported her) and taking her actions as an insult to him. Even moreso if Byleth, the one carrying her mother's heart and who she had placed all her hopes for the future on, betrays her as well]].

** If you're a Black Eagle or Golden Deer, [[spoiler:after the Empire's Holy Tomb raid in Chapter 11 is thwarted, Rhea orders Byleth to execute Edelgard on the spot for leading it in the first place. Unfortunately for Rhea, [[VillainExitStageLeft Edelgard always gets to escape before anything can happen]], and if you've met the prerequisites, [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels Byleth can outright turn coat instead]]]].

* LapPillow: After Chapter 10, Rhea holds Byleth gently in her lap and sings to them when the latter regains consciousness.

* LongGame: Deconstructed. [[spoiler:Rhea's plan to save Fódlan from its woes consists of creating vessels carrying Sothis' Crest of Flames in secrecy, and have them grow over the years with the hope one will ''eventually'' manifest her consciousness, thus giving the reborn Sothis the chance to fix everything herself. The deconstruction comes from: 1. The fact Rhea has spent ''almost an entire millenium'' on it without getting results before Byleth came along by mere happenstance; 2. Her desire to revive Sothis heavily stems from Rhea's inability to move on from her past, and from her own insecurities as a leader; and 3. In the eyes of those aware of [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Rhea's long-lasting lifespan]], her inaction towards Fódlan's issues can come off as straight malice at worst, this take being the one Edelgard reaches and leads her to conclude Fódlan would be far better off without Rhea]].
* LoveRedeems: Reaching S-Support with Byleth and marrying them is the only way for Rhea to [[spoiler:actively play a part in reforming the church and Fódlan on the Silver Snow route]], where she also goes on to become the benevolent archbishop. As getting to S-Support is only available on that route, all the other options end with her [[spoiler:either dying or abdicating her position]].

* MissionControl: Together with Seteth for Byleth in Part 1. This stops in Part 2 as she's either [[spoiler: captured by the Empire]] or [[spoiler: becomes Byleth's mortal enemy.]]
* MoralityChain: Downplayed on the Crimson Flower route. [[spoiler:Her presence in Faerghus prevents Dimitri from being overthrown in a coup; as a result, while she doesn't rein in his hatred of Edelgard, her influence does ensure that he doesn't fall into the depths of insanity like he does on Azure Moon and Verdant Wind.]]
* MoralMyopia: Her BlackAndWhiteInsanity causes her to slip into this at times. [[spoiler:She wrote the commandments of the Church to forbid lying, killing, and stealing, unless it is the will of the Goddess, which, as Archbishop, Rhea ultimately gets to dictate. In Crimson Flower, Rhea will rant about humans constantly betraying her and her mother as she burns down Fhirdiad, the human city that had sheltered her for five years.]]

** Given that [[spoiler: Wilhelm's account of the war leaves out Seiros's motive for revenge against Nemesis, Rhea's own secretive nature even among her allies, and that even Nemesis had no idea that she was a Red Canyon survivor, that much like Nemesis not informing his allies of the origins of the Crests and Relics, Seiros never told Wilhelm the truth about Red Canyon. This means that Rhea's secretive nature is partially responsible for Edelgard's version of history that is one of the reasons why Rhea and Edelgard come into conflict.]]

* NostalgiaFilter: Implied. [[spoiler:Rhea's plan to resurrect her mother is partly due to her desire to have her rule Fódlan and set is straight like in the distant past, and her attempts at halting the land's modern-day progress oozes shades of this]].

* OneTrueLove: In her centuries of life, Rhea has been completely alone. The only person she is known to have fallen in love with is Byleth (if her S-Support is completed), and she sees them as her fated partner whom she will spend the rest of her life with.
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:On the Crimson Flower and Golden Wildfire routes, she transforms into her dragon form, the Immaculate One, for the final boss battle]].

** As with the other [[spoiler:Children of the Goddess]], evidently the only thing keeping people from realizing she is [[spoiler:not human is the way she wears her hair]]. [[spoiler:Judging by a remark from Thales, all Children of the Goddess share the same ear shape, eye and hair color (as well as magical blood), making them easy to recognize. Of course, pretty much no one in Fódlan knows this, so the paper thin disguise works fairly well.]]

** In Chapter 4, [[spoiler:she sentences the surviving dissidents from the Western Church to death for defiling the Holy Mausoleum. In Ashe and Catherine's paralogue she executes the Bishop of the Western Church and oversees a purge of the rest of the corrupt leaders. While brutal, the Western Church are shown to be very corrupt and power-hungry, manipulating Lord Lonato and his son into trying to assassinate Rhea, trying to break open the tomb where Sothis's remains are supposedly buried and in general doing everything as part of a power grab, so this isn't unreasonable.]]
** In the backstory, [[spoiler:she also killed Nemesis and the Ten Elites. Given they a) killed her mother, b) massacred her kin at Zanado leaving her the only survivor and c) used the bodies and blood of her kin to steal power and weapons for themselves, [[TheDogBitesBack they more than earned it]].]]

* ThePowerOfLove: The only thing that prevents Rhea from [[spoiler:dying in the Silver Snow route is her Support level with Byleth. After being fought in the final battle, she will either die or somehow survive her wounds thanks to the bond between her and Byleth]].

* PutOnABus: On the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:she makes no physical appearances after the timeskip and is simply mentioned to have been rescued offscreen, retiring in the aftermath of the war]].

** Rhea is the Nyna Archetype in all routes, being the BigGood whose kingdom, in this case the church, is constantly under attack and needs to be defended by the protagonists. Unlike most of the Nyna Archetypes, she can be DemotedToExtra on [[spoiler:the Azure Moon route]] or become [[spoiler:the BigBad and the Medeus Archetype as the inhuman tyrannical dragon type on the Crimson Flower route. Like the original Medeus, Rhea is embittered by injustices inflicted on dragons by humankind, loss of most of their race, but performed heroic actions in spite of that. Medeus was one of the few earth dragons to turn into a Manakete despite most his tribe pridefully refusing to take human form, thus sparing him degeneration and was trusted by Naga to watch the seal over the Earth dragons, while Rhea takes human form to watch over Fódlan and manipulate its politics and beliefs in order to facilitate Sothis's return to power; which creates a socially unequal Fódlan. Both turn malevolent over crimes done by humanity in the present day, the persecution of manaketes by humanity spurs Medeus to create the Dolhr empire, while Edelgard raiding the Holy Tomb and Byleth's refusal to kill her drives Rhea insane and turns her into a bloodthirsty psychopath.]]

* RedemptionEarnsLife: If Byleth S-supports Rhea, [[spoiler:the Silver Snow route ending will have her survive, free of her insanity and grief and allowed to start her proper atonement for the questionable things she's done over the years with the person she now sees as their own individual instead of an extension of/host for her mother. If A-ranked, she will still survive, but instead retire to live quietly in Zanado after giving Byleth authority over the church]].

* RevengeBeforeReason: Once Rhea has been pushed far enough, she'll do ''everything'' in her power to ensure those who have wronged her receive their punishment. This is best shown at the end [[spoiler:of the Crimson Flower route; after being defeated on the Tailtean Plains and having lost Dimitri, Rhea's wrath consumes her and she orders Catherine to set the city of Fhirdiad on fire just so the Imperial Army may end up wiped out in the process should they seize it. Not only does this compromise the people of Faerghus trapped in the city as well, this also happens right after Edelgard offers Rhea the chance to surrender and Catherine suggests she abandon Fódlan for the time being in order to prepare a future counterattack]].

* RouteBoss: In ''Three Houses'', she's a RecurringBoss in Crimson Flower [[spoiler: and Silver Snow's FinalBoss]]. In ''Three Hopes'', she's fought on the Scarlet Blaze route [[spoiler:and on Golden Wildfire]].

** Her blood can be used to [[spoiler:grant the Crest of Seiros to humans. The finale of the Silver Snow route shows that when she loses control of her powers, said power influences her followers who received the blood (along with pieces of her Crest Stone as part of a ritual), turning them into monsters who instinctively protect her]].

** Her opinion of Byleth is noticeable tampered by this, in particular during Part I. [[spoiler:At the end of the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes, Rhea admits she knew Byleth held within them the conscience of Sothis, yet some of her dialogue (in particular, her idea of a failed vessel) and actions during the first half of the game opens the possibility she initially believed they were closer to an amnesiac reincarnation of sorts.]]
** One of the reasons that drove her to [[spoiler:attempt to revive her mother for almost an entire millennium is the belief only ''she and she alone'' can fix Fódlan in its current state, which she states to Seteth and Flayn at the start of Chapter 12 in non-Crimson Flower routes]]. Similarly, it's heavily implied [[spoiler:her attempts at restricting Fódlan's technological progress comes from her knowledge of what became of the [[AbusivePrecursors ancient civilization of]] [[MasterRace Agartha]] after her mother shared her wisdom with them]].

* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:On the Crimson Flower route, Faerghus gives her shelter for five years when she flees from Edelgard, and she and Dimitri appear to sympathize with each other over their desire for revenge. Dimitri dies in the penultimate battle, causing the populace to throw their support behind her instead. As a result, their capital is being invaded because of her. Rhea's response to their loyalty? Setting Fhirdiad on fire and trapping the citizens inside.]]
* UnreliableExpositor: An in-universe example happens at the beginning of chapter 12 in non-Crimson Flower paths. Rhea tells Byleth [[spoiler:she believes them to be Sothis's amnesiac reincarnation, that they will soon recover all their memories, and that's why they should take over the Church in case anything would happen to her in the upcoming fight. Meanwhile, once they leave and Seteth questions her on the matter, Rhea explains to him instead her belief that while Byleth ''is'' in a sense Sothis, at the same time, they're also a vessel hosting her consciousness, and that by helping them, Sothis will eventually awaken and lead Fódlan to salvation.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:All her shady actions -- including manipulations and secretiveness, half-truths and open lies, supporting (half-heartedly) the Crest-based inequality and enforcing MedievalStasis upon Fódlan, ruthless retributions towards enemies and clinging to power -- were not borne for [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans the sake of power in its own]]. Rather, Rhea was driven by the desires to protect herself and her kin from attacks by hostile humans, to maintain peace and harmony (in her understanding) in the land she reigned over, and to keep it for the eventual [[KingInTheMountain return of her mother, Sothis]]. However, it takes over five years of imprisonment for her to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone fully realize the extent to which she misguided herself and Fódlan]]. Moreover, if Byleth sides with Edelgard, Rhea will start to gradually lose the 'well-intentioned' part, will [[ArchEnemy see them as the next Nemesis]] and will fight them to death -- theirs or her own.]]

-->'''Rhea:''' [[spoiler:To flee is futile, wicked girl. The Church of Seiros will raise its entire army against you until you have been captured and punished! You have defiled the Holy Tomb, dishonored the goddess, and humiliated your brethren. That crime will never be erased, even if you burn in the eternal flames and spill all of your blood into the goddess's soil]]!

* MirrorCharacter: Rhea has a lot more in common with Edelgard than she would want to realize. Both girls share the [[BirthmarkOfDestiny Crest of Seiros]], had horrible tragedies in their lives which led them to develop heavy trust issues and lie to their allies, became obsessed with destroying those who had wronged them to the extend they forced themselves to assume leadership positions for the sake of this goal (in Rhea's case, [[spoiler:she founded her own Church and supported the foundation of the [[TheEmpire Adrestian Empire]]]]), ignore the effects their actions have in the present (Rhea being obsessed with going back to the way things once were when [[spoiler:Sothis was still alive]] and Edelgard being obsessed with building a new future for Fodlan) while [[WellIntentionedExtremist being willing to go the extreme to see their goals completed]], and ironically, both have Byleth as their MoralityChain and can be romanced by them [[GayOption regardless of their gender]].

[-''Main Characters:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude]] | '''Rhea''' | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesShez Shez]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesOtherMainCharacters Other Main Characters]] \\
''Secondary Characters:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesHubert Hubert]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesFerdinand Ferdinand]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBernadetta Bernadetta]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesSylvain Sylvain]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesIngrid Ingrid]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesFelix Felix]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesLysithea Lysithea]]\\
''Houses:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlackEagles The Black Eagles]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlueLions The Blue Lions]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesGoldenDeer The Golden Deer]]\\

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Rhea has issues opening up to others due to her past trauma and position as archbishop, yet she shows a great deal of trust in Byleth with areas Seteth openly questions initially. Fittingly, the ''only'' person she can support with is Byleth.

** On the Crimson Flower route, her saving [[spoiler:Byleth from death by implanting a Crest Stone inside their heart when they were a baby]] results in them [[spoiler:siding with Edelgard which eventually results in Rhea's death, the destruction of the Church of Seiros' ability to wield influence on the nations of Fodlan, and Fodlan being forcibly unified under the banner of the Adrestian Empire]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:In the ''Cindered Shadows'' storyline, her act of keeping Sitri's corpse hidden in the Abyss and faking her burial ended up causing Aelfric's discovery of it later, which made way for his plan of sacrificing the Ashen Wolves in an attempt to bring her back to life with the Chalice of Beginnings.]]

* MirrorCharacter: Rhea has a lot more in common with Edelgard than she would want to realize. Both girls share the [[BirthmarkOfDestiny Crest of Seiros]], had horrible tragedies in their lives which led them to develop heavy trust issues and lie to their allies, became obsessed with destroying those who had wronged them to the extend they forced themselves to assume leadership positions for the sake of this goal (in Rhea's case, [[spoiler:she founded her own Church and supported the foundation of the [[TheEmpire Adrestian Empire]]]]), ignore the effects their actions have in the present (Rhea being obsessed with going back to the way things once were when [[spoiler:Sothis was still alive]] and Edelgard being obsessed with building a new future for Fodlan) and [[WellIntentionedExtremist are willing to go the extreme to see their goals completed]], and ironically, both have Byleth as their MoralityChain and can be romanced by them [[GayOption regardless of their gender]].

* MirrorCharacter: Rhea has a lot more in common with Edelgard than she would want to realize. Both girls share the [[BirthmarkOfDestiny Crest of Seiros]], had horrible tragedies in their lives which led them to develop heavy trust issues and lie to their allies, became obsessed with destroying those who had wronged them to the extend they forced themselves to assume leadership positions for the sake of this goal (in Rhea's case, [[spoiler:she founded her own Church and supported the foundation of the [[TheEmpire Adrestian Empire]]]]), [[WellIntentionedExtremist are willing to go the extreme to see their goals completed]], and ironically, both have Byleth as their MoralityChain and can be romanced by them [[GayOption regardless of their gender]].

* MirrorCharacter: Rhea has a lot more in common with Edelgard than she would want to realize. Both girls share the [[BirthmarkOfDestiny Crest of Seiros]], had horrible tragedies in their lives which led them to develop heavy trust issues and lie to their allies, became obsessed with destroying those who had wronged them to the extend they forced themselves to assume leadership positions for the sake of this goal (in Rhea's case, [[spoiler:she founded her own Church and supported the foundation of the [[TheEmpire Adrestian Empire]]]]), [[WellIntentionedExtremist are willing to go the extreme to see their goals completed]], and ironically, both have Byleth as their MoralityChain.

** Her inability to trust others, usually manifesting as needing to be MetaphoricallyTrue when others ask for information. As a result, even people personally close like Seteth or loyal like Jeralt have questioned or defied her actions. Consequently, she comes across as shady to those who have reason to distrust the Church, and thus keeps them from getting to know her and possibly the other side of the story better. Her unwillingness to trust and open up to others about her inner torments, keeping even her few remaining family members at a certain distance, leads to some of her questionable decisions. [[spoiler: And the more morally-questionable things her Church has done throughout Fodlan's history are rooted in the betrayal her family and species suffered at humanity's hands and the atrocities she witnessed humanity commit in the pursuit of progress, leaving her struggling to trust humans with self-rule or unfettered scientific and technological advancement.]]

** Always needing to be MetaphoricallyTrue when others ask for information. As a result, even people personally close like Seteth or loyal like Jeralt have questioned or defied her actions. Consequently, she comes across as shady to those who have reason to distrust the Church, and thus keeps them from getting to know her and possibly the other side of the story better. Her unwillingness to trust and open up to others about her inner torments, keeping even her few remaining family members at a certain distance, leads to some of her questionable decisions.

* AmbiguousSituation: Rhea's plan to [[spoiler:revive her mom in Byleth's body]] ultimately turns out to be this. [[spoiler:While it's eventually revealed she sees Byleth both as their own person and a vessel carrying Sothis' consciousness, and that, per her words in her S-Rank support, she wanted them to ''become'' Sothis, in the long run it's left unclear what this would've implied for Byleth's self had her "experiment" worked as intended (as in, if Sothis was meant to take over their body or simply share it with them)]]. Not helping matters is that her whole ordeal relies overall on a great deal of speculation on her part to begin with, given that [[spoiler:Byleth turning out to be her only ''relatively successful'' attempt so far means she's more or less walking into uncharted waters]]. And in a related vein, it's also ambiguous if [[spoiler:Rhea's view of Byleth's own self remained consistent during the story prior to revealing her intentions (as in, if there was a point where she saw them as an extension of Sothis, or some kind of false identity)]].

** Around a millennia before the events of the story the Adrestian emperor managed to unify Fodlan with the help of Saint Seiros ([[spoiler: who is actually Rhea]]) which means that she was [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom responsible]] for empowering a nation that ends up becoming her [[spoiler:greatest foe]] after [[spoiler: Edelgard's rise to power]] and results in Rhea's [[spoiler:death]] on the Crimson Flower and ([[MultipleEndings potentially]]) Silver Snow routes.

* {{Irony}}: According to the Church, Nemesis was granted power by the Goddess to fend off evil invaders, but then was corrupted by his power and had to be defeated by Seiros. [[spoiler:Rhea is actually Seiros, the Goddess's own daughter, complete with the power to transform into the Immaculate One, and she played a key role in saving Fódlan from Nemesis. Afterwards, Rhea used her authority as Archbishop to cover up the truth about Nemesis, the Crests, and even the true nature of the Goddess. On the Crimson Flower route, she goes mad and is ultimately killed by Byleth and Edelgard, two people who bear the same Crest as Nemesis.]]

* ConsummateLiar: Rhea seems to have an impulsive need to hide the truth from people that prevents her from handling her feelings. Instead of talking to anyone she piles lie after lie on top of each other [[spoiler:for 995 years]] It's so bad that the one time Claude loses his temper in the entire game is when she keeps hiding things when everything she lied about is falling down on their heads. If she had just been able to open up to someone about her pain and loneliness, many issues might have been avoided.

* GenocideSurvivor: [[spoiler:Alongside Seteth, Flayn, Indech, and Macuil, Rhea is one of the only Nabateans who are still alive after Nemesis and the Elites wiped out her race at Zanado]].

** Despite her position and devoted followers, Rhea is incredibly lonely, with several of her advice box questions having her admit she wants to interact and eat meals with the students, enjoy tea parties with people despite her distaste for hot beverages, and finds she has little to no time to relax in peace. [[spoiler:Her loneliness and longing for the past connections she once had plays a major part in her desire to revive her mother, as even amongst her fellow Nabataens she feels isolated from Seteth and Flayn, believing that she can finally find the inner peace she desires by regaining what she lost in the past.]]

** In ''Three Hopes'' on the Scarlet Blaze route she and [[spoiler:Thales vanish in the wake of a giant explosion caused by their clash that also destroys the bridge they are on over a large chasm. While Edelgard invokes NoOneCouldSurviveThat, the ending narration regards Rhea and Thales as "missing." Of note, surviving a magic blast and the drop to the bottom of a huge chasm is something ''Three Houses'' showed a Nabatean (or someone with their abilities) could easily survive via a few years of dormancy to heal, i.e. Byleth's case.]]

[[center: [-[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHouses Main Index]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude]] | '''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]]]]-]

* BeyondRedemption: [[spoiler:On Crimson Flower, Edelgard have given thought to the idea that Rhea might surrender, and even gives her that chance when Rhea's cornered at Fhirdiad. But after Rhea instead orders the city to be set on fire, all of Edelgard's hopes flies out the window and there remains no other alternative than to kill Rhea.]]

* HeroAntagonist: In both the Scarlet Blaze and [[spoiler:Golden Wildfire]] routes of ''Hopes'', she is one of the main antagonistic forces, but she's never shown to commit any atrocities during the war. Compared to Edelgard and [[spoiler:Claude]], who both definitely ''do'' commit war crimes in those routes, Rhea may end up looking more morally upstanding than the player's sides.