History Characters / FireEmblemThreeHousesThoseWhoSlitherInTheDark

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:They performed Crest experiments on people in order to create a supersoldier that would help them destroy the Church of Seiros and the Children of the Goddess. They succeeded in that, and the soldier did help them with accomplishing their goal. But they didn't account for the possibility that this soldier would be able to turn against them and use her new powers to better take them down.]]

* MesACrowd: Dolofonos is always flanked by two or more copies.

[-''Main Characters:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesRhea 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]]\\

** At the end of Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, [[spoiler:their last major base is raided and destroyed, all their major figureheads are slain, and the Church rebuilds itself with the land united under more peaceful terms. In the Silver Snow route, not only Rhea can survive if A-ranked with Byleth but the Church ends up becoming the ruling power in Fódlan, making all their work AllForNothing, while on the Verdant Wind route, their trump card, a revived Nemesis, is slain along with their remaning army, with Cornelia being the only known survivor]].

* TheBadGuyWins: Downplayed on the Golden Wildfire route. [[spoiler:In a roundabout way, their actions pave the way for Edelgard to trigger a continent-spanning war that ultimately gets Rhea/Seiros killed. They might not have conquered Fódlan yet, but given that Claude fails to defeat them the Agarthans ultimately come out ahead on this route.]]

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: To [[Franchise/{{Fallout}} The Enclave]]. Both are the remains of once mighty nations that are now all but forgotten [[AfterTheEnd in the aftermath of a war that devastated the world]]. Both factions [[VideoGame/Fallout3 emerge from an underground base]] centuries later to wipe out the new human civilizations that have emerged from the ashes of the old. Both factions also undergo radicalization that stems from their self-imposed isolation and centuries of indoctrination making them believe they are superior and/or more genetically pure than the surface dwellers.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Discussed in Chapter 10 of ''Three Houses''. Those who slither in the dark forgo their usual ''modus operandi'' of laying in the shadows and make their presence known in the Sealed Forest purely because [[spoiler:Kronya going out of her way to kill Jeralt gives the group the perfect chance to lure and kill whom they see is Sothis reborn (AKA "The Fell Star")]]. This move is so blatant that Rhea and the three House Leaders are convinced it has to be a trap, but choose to take the bait as it's the only chance they have to get rid of them.

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:They performed Crest experiments on people in order to create a supersoldier that would help them destroy the Church of Seiros and the Nabateans. They succeeded in that, and the soldier did help them with accomplishing their goal. But they didn't account for the possibility that this soldier would be able to turn against them and use her new powers to better take them down.]]

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: They're turbo-racists who consider individuals outside their own race to be subhuman. Their dominant colour is black, and they have strong influence over and association with [[spoiler:the Adrestian Empire, a nation whose colour is red and whose iconic animal is a double-headed eagle]]. They're really into eugenics and torturous human experimentation on unwilling subjects, and despite their contempt for the Nabateans they're proud of the technology they'd developed from the knowledge the "Fell Star" freely shared with them. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Plus, they have a thing for Indic names.]]

** On Crimson Flower, [[spoiler:they achieve their goals of exterminating the Nabateans and placing the world under human rule thanks to Edelgard. However, they don't live to enjoy their victory - they are soon killed by Edelgard and the Empire through a shadow war]].

* FantasticRacism: As the leader of the Agarthans, he shares the same sentiments towards the Nabateans and the surface-dwelling humans created by Sothis, referring to them as beasts and other derogatory names in a contemptuous manner.

* AssholeVictim: After his role in the tragedy in Remire Village, no one sheds any tears for him after [[spoiler:Byleth kills him after returning from Zahras]].
** Similarly in ''Three Hopes'' on Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire, [[spoiler:after putting a spell over the Hrym and Ordelia territories that made the inhabitants go berserk, you won't feel sorry for him if you've recruited Byleth and Jeralt, where he will be used by Epimenides to open the gates of Zahras.]]

* EvilOldFolks: Having a bent back and needing a walking stick doesn't hinder his ability to be a bastard. Datamining the game even reveals he's 73 years old.

* LongGame: Discussed in his level 40 quote from ''Heroes''. Solon in it expresses the wish to have Kiran team up with the Agarthans, and states how "time is of no concern" for his group should they be unable to (and given TWSITD's usual course of action, he's not bluffing).

* SmallRoleBigImpact: He only shows up in two chapters, but he plays an essential role in [[spoiler:getting Byleth to fuse with Sothis.]]

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: To [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} The Enclave]]. Both are the remains of once mighty nations that are now all but forgotten [[AfterTheEnd in the aftermath of a war that devastated the world]]. Both factions [[VideoGame/Fallout3 emerge from an underground base]] centuries later to wipe out the new human civilizations that have emerged from the ashes of the old. Both factions also undergo radicalization that stems from their self-imposed isolation and centuries of indoctrination making them believe they are superior and/or more genetically pure than the surface dwellers.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: They're clearly human in form, and consider themselves to be the only "true" humans in the setting, but they have ghost-white skin and have access to dark magic otherwise unknown to the rest of the world. A throwaway line in Arval's Paralogue from ''Three Hopes'' also has them namedrop Thales, one of TWSITD's higher-ranking members. [[spoiler:Said paralogue takes place during the War of Heroes, implying they're also very LongLived.]]

[[center: [-[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHouses Main Index]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude 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]] | '''Those who slither in the dark''' | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]

* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:He will always die in some form through the default routes of ''Three Houses''; In the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind routes, he ends up being crushed alive as Shambhala collapses over him, with one shot even focusing on his lifeless body. In Azure Moon, he's killed by Dimitri during the Empire's assault on Derdriu under the appearance of Lord Arundel. Crimson Flower, meanwhile, does not make his final fate clear, but his chances of survival are slim given that Byleth and Jertiza's S-support, as well as Balthus' ending, confirm that the Empire's war with those who slither in the dark is taken all the way to Shambhala]]. As for ''Three Hopes'', [[spoiler:he always ends up dead by the end of Scarlet Blaze and Azure Gleam, either as a result of his final magic spell [[TakingYouWithMe clashing with Seiros' own power]], or by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice being impaled by Dimitri's lance]].]]

** [[spoiler:It's also heavily implied none of them (besides Epimenides himself) is aware of Arval's existence.]]

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: To [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} The Enclave]]. Both are the remains of once mighty nations that are now all but forgotten [[AfterTheEnd in the aftermath of a war that devastated the world]]. Both factions [[VideoGame/Fallout3 emerge from an underground base]] centuries later to wipe out the new human civilizations that have emerged from the ashes of the old. Both factions also undergo radicalized stemming from their self-imposed isolation and centuries of indoctrination making them believe they are superior and/or more genetically pure than the surface dwellers.