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** Claude and Ashe: Both Claude and Ashe are bow focused units with a focus on Dexterity and Speed. However, Claude starts off as a Wyvern Rider, which makes him a GlassCannon who focuses on dealing powerful bow damage, and can use axes if need be, but his range is very limited. Ashe by contrast starts as a Sniper, giving him superior range ontop of having several different ranged Combat Arts to compensate for his weaker offensive power. Additionally, Claude can reclass into a Sniper, allowing him to gain more range at the cost of his offensive potential, whereas Ashe has Hero, which gives him more offensive potential at the cost of him losing his range.
** Edelgard and Hilda: Both Edelgard and Hilda are axe focused units with high offensive power. However, Edelgard starts off as a Fortress Knight, making her more tanky at the cost of her offensive growths being weakened thanks to the penalty to Speed. Hilda by contrast starts as a Warrior, giving her more raw offensive power, but making her a GlassCannon who is very fragile. Additionally, Edelgard can be reclassed into a Warrior, giving her the extra buff to her offensive power but losing her durability, while Hilda can become a Pegasus Flier, giving her a tremendous boost in Speed and the ability to fly, but makes her even more fragile.
** Edelgard and Hilda: Both Edelgard and Hilda are axe focused units with high offensive power. However, Edelgard starts off as a Fortress Knight, making her more tanky at the cost of her offensive growths being weakened thanks to the penalty to Speed. Hilda by contrast starts as a Warrior, giving her more raw offensive power, but making her a GlassCannon who is very fragile. Additionally, Edelgard can be reclassed into a Warrior, giving her the extra buff to her offensive power but losing her durability, while Hilda can become a Pegasus Flier, giving her a tremendous boost in Speed and the ability to fly, but makes her even more fragile.
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** Claude and Ashe: Both Claude and Ashe are bow focused units with a focus on Dexterity and Speed. However, Claude starts off as a Wyvern Rider, which makes him a GlassCannon who focuses on dealing powerful bow damage, and can use axes if need be, but his attacking range is very limited. Ashe by contrast starts as a Sniper, giving him superior range ontop of having several different ranged Combat Arts to compensate for his weaker offensive power. Additionally, Claude can reclass into a Sniper, allowing him to gain more range at the cost of his offensive potential, overall mobility, whereas Ashe has Hero, Assassin, which gives him more offensive potential security (as one of the class's skills prevents them from being targeted so long as an ally is also in rang) and speed at the cost of him losing his range.
offensive power.
** Edelgard and Hilda: Both Edelgard and Hilda are axe focused units with high offensive power. However, Edelgard starts off as a Fortress Knight, making her more tanky at the cost of her offensive growths being weakened thanks to the penalty to Speed. Hilda by contrast starts as a Warrior, giving her more raw offensive power, but making her a GlassCannon who is very fragile. Additionally, Edelgard can be reclassed into a Warrior, giving her the extra buff to her offensive power but losing her durability, while Hilda can become a PegasusFlier, Knight, giving her a tremendous boost in Speed and the ability to fly, but makes making her even more fragile.fragile (and losing her battalion unless the player reclasses Claude and takes his battalion).
** Edelgard and Hilda: Both Edelgard and Hilda are axe focused units with high offensive power. However, Edelgard starts off as a Fortress Knight, making her more tanky at the cost of her offensive growths being weakened thanks to the penalty to Speed. Hilda by contrast starts as a Warrior, giving her more raw offensive power, but making her a GlassCannon who is very fragile. Additionally, Edelgard can be reclassed into a Warrior, giving her the extra buff to her offensive power but losing her durability, while Hilda can become a Pegasus
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* DivergentCharacterEvolution: The ''Cindered Shadows'' DLC only allows the player to use six units from the normal houses available, so the developers made sure that all of the characters who shared similar combat uses were made different to justify why you would use them. Specific examples include:
** Claude and Ashe: Both Claude and Ashe are bow focused units with a focus on Dexterity and Speed. However, Claude starts off as a Wyvern Rider, which makes him a GlassCannon who focuses on dealing powerful bow damage, and can use axes if need be, but his range is very limited. Ashe by contrast starts as a Sniper, giving him superior range ontop of having several different ranged Combat Arts to compensate for his weaker offensive power. Additionally, Claude can reclass into a Sniper, allowing him to gain more range at the cost of his offensive potential, whereas Ashe has Hero, which gives him more offensive potential at the cost of him losing his range.
** Edelgard and Hilda: Both Edelgard and Hilda are axe focused units with high offensive power. However, Edelgard starts off as a Fortress Knight, making her more tanky at the cost of her offensive growths being weakened thanks to the penalty to Speed. Hilda by contrast starts as a Warrior, giving her more raw offensive power, but making her a GlassCannon who is very fragile. Additionally, Edelgard can be reclassed into a Warrior, giving her the extra buff to her offensive power but losing her durability, while Hilda can become a Pegasus Flier, giving her a tremendous boost in Speed and the ability to fly, but makes her even more fragile.
** Claude and Ashe: Both Claude and Ashe are bow focused units with a focus on Dexterity and Speed. However, Claude starts off as a Wyvern Rider, which makes him a GlassCannon who focuses on dealing powerful bow damage, and can use axes if need be, but his range is very limited. Ashe by contrast starts as a Sniper, giving him superior range ontop of having several different ranged Combat Arts to compensate for his weaker offensive power. Additionally, Claude can reclass into a Sniper, allowing him to gain more range at the cost of his offensive potential, whereas Ashe has Hero, which gives him more offensive potential at the cost of him losing his range.
** Edelgard and Hilda: Both Edelgard and Hilda are axe focused units with high offensive power. However, Edelgard starts off as a Fortress Knight, making her more tanky at the cost of her offensive growths being weakened thanks to the penalty to Speed. Hilda by contrast starts as a Warrior, giving her more raw offensive power, but making her a GlassCannon who is very fragile. Additionally, Edelgard can be reclassed into a Warrior, giving her the extra buff to her offensive power but losing her durability, while Hilda can become a Pegasus Flier, giving her a tremendous boost in Speed and the ability to fly, but makes her even more fragile.
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** If playing as the Black Eagles, Edelgard becomes necessary during the beggining, as she's one of the few characters other than Byleth that can sponge hits reliably due to the other students being quite squishy for having low defense bases and growths. [[note]][[spoiler:Things can get even more complicated if the player plans on doing the Silver Snow route, as the player can't afford giving her too much experience since [[LostForever she leaves the party permanently in Chapter 11]]]][[/note]]
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** If playing as the Black Eagles, Edelgard becomes necessary during the beggining, as she's one of the few characters other than Byleth that can sponge hits reliably due to the other students being quite squishy for having low defense bases and growths. [[note]][[spoiler:Things can get even more complicated if the player plans on doing the Silver Snow route, as the player can't afford giving her too much experience since [[LostForever she leaves the party permanently in Chapter 11]]]][[/note]]
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* AbsurdlyDividedSchool: Students are divided into the titular [[TitleDrop three houses]] depending upon their region of origin: the Black Eagles for the Adrestrian Empire, the Blue Lions for the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Golden Deer for the Leicester Alliance, with each house specialising in certain weapons. You can recruit students to your house if you meet their requirements or your [[RelationshipValues Support Points]] are high enough. Once the TimeSkip occurs, everyone is united under your chosen house (or the Church of Seiros depending on your route).
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** Various elements including GreyAndGrayMorality, GambitPileUp among various factions, [[DarkAndTroubledPast dark backstories]] such as with [[spoiler:Edelgard, Dimitri, Lysithea, and Bernadetta's]], and [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier cutscenes]] make for a very dark game, especially when comparing this to ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'', and even the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn games]]. Put simply, this is very much the darkest ''Fire Emblem'' game since ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', which is fitting since that game was the inspiration for ''Three Houses''.
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** Various elements including GreyAndGrayMorality, GambitPileUp among various factions, [[DarkAndTroubledPast dark backstories]] such as with [[spoiler:Edelgard, Dimitri, Lysithea, Bernadetta, Hapi, and Bernadetta's]], Jeritza's]], and [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier cutscenes]] make for a very dark game, especially when comparing this to ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'', and even the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn games]]. Put simply, this is very much the darkest ''Fire Emblem'' game since ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', which is fitting since that game was the inspiration for ''Three Houses''.
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* BirthmarkOfDestiny: While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdral]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 games]], said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], potentially leading to [[CainAndAbel violent internal power struggles]]. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier, either, as aside from being targets in the aforementioned family power struggles or for assassins sent by rival houses, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. Meanwhile, the Crests of the Four Apostles were lost to history due to the Apostles going into exile after a horribly botched ritual to resurrect the Goddess, with the intent of making the Crests eventually go extinct to prevent the ritual from being performed again and the only record of their history being Rhea [[spoiler:(being Seiros herself)]]. However, the Apostles' descendants were relatively isolated from the rest of Fódlan even when they were nobles, which sometimes left them with no outside allies if threatened (and this was a factor in the near-extinction of House Nuvelle, Noa's descendants). [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have shortened lifespans to varying degrees. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros, the Saints and the Four Apostles (the history of the Crest of Ernest is a mystery) were actually gifts shared to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade as part of the cover-up) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]
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* BirthmarkOfDestiny: While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdral]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 games]], said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], potentially leading to [[CainAndAbel violent internal power struggles]]. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier, either, as aside from being targets in the aforementioned family power struggles or for assassins sent by rival houses, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. Meanwhile, the Crests of the Four Apostles were lost to history due to the Apostles going into exile after a horribly botched ritual to resurrect the Goddess, with the intent of making the Crests eventually go extinct all but disappear to prevent the ritual from being performed again again, and the only record no public records of their history being besides Rhea [[spoiler:(being Seiros herself)]]. herself)]] and becoming ShroudedInMyth. However, the Apostles' descendants were very dedicated to making sure that their Crests are as rare as possible to ridiculous extremes (such as the implication that Noa's descendants in House Nuvelle resorted to RoyalInbreeding to keep her Crest out of circulation while preserving her bloodline), making themselves relatively isolated from the rest of Fódlan even when they were nobles, and experiencing all sorts of hardships regardless of social status, which sometimes left them with no outside allies if threatened (and this was a factor in the near-extinction of House Nuvelle, Noa's descendants).Nuvelle). [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have shortened lifespans to varying degrees. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros, the Saints and the Four Apostles (the history of the Crest of Ernest is a mystery) were actually gifts shared to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade as part of the cover-up) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]
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* BossOnlyLevel: The final chapter of "Cindered Shadows" is this, since it consist mostly of [[spoiler:Byleth, the Ashen Wolves, and the other students fighting on a small arena (the monastery's cathedral) against the [[FinalBoss Umbral Beast]]]].
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* BossOnlyLevel: The final chapter of "Cindered Shadows" is this, since it consist mostly consists of [[spoiler:Byleth, the Ashen Wolves, and the other students fighting on in a small arena (the monastery's cathedral) against the [[FinalBoss Umbral Beast]]]].Beast]] and the Phantoms it summons]].
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* BloodMagic: The power of Crests in general is heavily tied to one's blood [[spoiler:as it came from Nabatean blood transfusions in the first place]]. More specifically, the forbidden Rite of Rising introduced in Cindered Shadows is the straightest example in the game: a ritual using the Crested blood of the Four Apostles in order to bring the dead back to life, originally created in a desperate attempt to resurrect the Goddess.
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* CostumeEvolution: During the first half of the game, your students will wear Officers' Academy uniforms. After the TimeSkip going into Part 2, your students (save for Flayn) will wear new clothes.
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* BirthmarkOfDestiny: While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdral]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 games]], said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], potentially leading to [[CainAndAbel violent internal power struggles]]. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier, either, as aside from being targets in the aforementioned power struggles, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have a varyingly shortened lifespan. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros and the Saints were actually gifts shared to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade as part of the cover-up) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]
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* BirthmarkOfDestiny: While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdral]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 games]], said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], potentially leading to [[CainAndAbel violent internal power struggles]]. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier, either, as aside from being targets in the aforementioned family power struggles, struggles or for assassins sent by rival houses, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. Meanwhile, the Crests of the Four Apostles were lost to history due to the Apostles going into exile after a horribly botched ritual to resurrect the Goddess, with the intent of making the Crests eventually go extinct to prevent the ritual from being performed again and the only record of their history being Rhea [[spoiler:(being Seiros herself)]]. However, the Apostles' descendants were relatively isolated from the rest of Fódlan even when they were nobles, which sometimes left them with no outside allies if threatened (and this was a factor in the near-extinction of House Nuvelle, Noa's descendants). [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have a varyingly shortened lifespan.lifespans to varying degrees. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros and Seiros, the Saints and the Four Apostles (the history of the Crest of Ernest is a mystery) were actually gifts shared to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade as part of the cover-up) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]
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* BossOnlyLevel: The final chapter of "Cindered Shadows" is this, since it consist mostly of [[spoiler:Byleth, the Ashen Wolfes and the other students fighting on a small arena (the monastery's cathedral) against the [[FinalBoss Umbral Beast]]]].
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* BossOnlyLevel: The final chapter of "Cindered Shadows" is this, since it consist mostly of [[spoiler:Byleth, the Ashen Wolfes Wolves, and the other students fighting on a small arena (the monastery's cathedral) against the [[FinalBoss Umbral Beast]]]].
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* BossOnlyLevel: The final chapter of "Cindered Shadows" is this, since it consist mostly of [[spoiler:Byleth, the Ashen Wolfes and the other students fighting on a small arena (the monastery's cathedral) against the [[FinalBoss Umbral Beast]]]].
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** Another one is how much the Church is enforcing MedievalStasis. With the release of Wave 4 DLC, information found in the Abyss Library mentions that [[spoiler:the Church is responsible for banning many important items, specifically oil, the telescope and the printing press (as opposed to the woodblock printing that is accepted), as well as rendering autopsies taboo, effectively ''crippling'' Fodlan's ability to advance.]] However this isn't reflected in-game. [[spoiler: Hilda shrugs off losing a library book like she lost a hair tie with no apparent consiquences, something that would ''never'' happen if books were being hand written. Seteth publishes children's books with no one acting like it's a rare feat. Manuela clearly has an anatomic mannequin in her office and inspected Jeralt's body after his death. Annette calculates tragicomic distances at one point. Fhirdiad go up in flames easily at the end of Crimson Flower, and one of the battalions uses gunpowder.]]
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** Another one is how much the Church is enforcing MedievalStasis. With the release of Wave 4 DLC, information found in the Abyss Library mentions that [[spoiler:the Church is responsible for banning many important items, specifically oil, the telescope and the printing press (as opposed to the woodblock printing that is accepted), as well as rendering autopsies taboo, effectively ''crippling'' Fodlan's ability to advance.]] However this isn't reflected in-game. [[spoiler: Hilda shrugs off losing a library book like she lost a hair tie with no apparent consiquences, consequences, something that would ''never'' happen if books were being hand written. Seteth publishes children's books with no one acting like it's a rare feat. Manuela clearly has an anatomic mannequin in her office and inspected Jeralt's body after his death. Annette calculates tragicomic distances at one point. Fhirdiad go goes up in flames easily at the end of Crimson Flower, and one some of the battalions uses gunpowder.use gunpowder. So the information may indeed be inaccurate (as Linhardt cautions). It may also be the case that these technologies were indeed banned when that book was written, but the prohibitions were later relaxed or undone.]]
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* BiTheWay: Linhardt, Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, [[spoiler:Jeritza, Rhea, and Sothis]] can be romanced by a Byleth of either gender. Reaching A-rank support between certain characters of the same gender alludes to romance that can then be confirmed if you get the paired endings for those characters, with Petra and Dorothea explicitly falling in love despite Petra being unavailable for female Byleth. However, Alois and Gilbert are not romancable for a male Byleth despite both having S-rank supports, and in the former's paired ending, Byleth marries an unnamed woman.
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* BiTheWay: Linhardt, Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, [[spoiler:Jeritza, Yuri, Rhea, and Sothis]] can be romanced by a Byleth of either gender. Reaching A-rank support between certain characters of the same gender alludes to romance that can then be confirmed if you get the paired endings for those characters, with Petra and Dorothea explicitly falling in love despite Petra being unavailable for female Byleth. However, Alois and Gilbert are not romancable for a male Byleth despite both having S-rank supports, and in the former's paired ending, Byleth marries an unnamed woman.
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* AmbiguousSituation: Several of Edelgard's claims when she [[spoiler:declares war before the timeskip]] run off of ambiguity as the game doesn't confirm or deny her statements.
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* AmbiguousSituation: AmbiguousSituation:
** Several of Edelgard's claims when she [[spoiler:declares war before the timeskip]] run off of ambiguity as the game doesn't confirm or deny her statements.
** Several of Edelgard's claims when she [[spoiler:declares war before the timeskip]] run off of ambiguity as the game doesn't confirm or deny her statements.
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** Another one is how much the Church is enforcing MedievalStasis. With the release of Wave 4 DLC, information found in the Abyss Library mentions that [[spoiler:the Church is responsible for banning many important items, specifically oil, the telescope and the printing press (as opposed to the woodblock printing that is accepted), as well as rendering autopsies taboo, effectively ''crippling'' Fodlan's ability to advance.]] However this isn't reflected in-game. [[spoiler: Hilda shrugs off losing a library book like she lost a hair tie with no apparent consiquences, something that would ''never'' happen if books were being hand written. Seteth publishes children's books with no one acting like it's a rare feat. Manuela clearly has an anatomic mannequin in her office and inspected Jeralt's body after his death. Annette calculates tragicomic distances at one point. Fhirdiad go up in flames easily at the end of Crimson Flower, and one of the battalions uses gunpowder.]]
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[[folder:Tropes A]]
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[[folder:Tropes B]]
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[[folder:Tropes C]]
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[[folder:Tropes D]]
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* BloodierAndGorier: This is the first game in the franchise with fully animated cutscenes to have blood, such as the opening cutscene.
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* BloodierAndGorier: This is the first game in the franchise with fully animated cutscenes to have blood, such as the opening cutscene. The Final Boss of the Ashen Wolves DLC also counts.
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** Unlike ''Fates'', there is no GoldenEnding. [[spoiler:No matter what you do, at least one of the Three Lords will die and Edelgard and Dimitri die in every path except their own. Also, none of the story paths completely resolves all the lurking problems or issues.]]
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** Unlike ''Fates'', there is no GoldenEnding. [[spoiler:No matter what you do, at least one of the Three Lords three lords will die and Edelgard and Dimitri die in every path except their own. Also, none of the story paths completely resolves all the lurking problems or issues.]]
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*** Dimitri's endings are generally bittersweet. His S Support scene with a female Byleth has him express that he will likely hear the voices of the dead for the rest of his life... which may not be all that long, since some of his support partners end up outliving him([[spoiler:Felix, Marianne, Dedue and Flayn]]). On the bright side, he does manage to become a better person, and [[spoiler:rules over Fodlan as the beloved Savior King]].
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*** Dimitri's endings are generally bittersweet. His S Support scene with a female Byleth has him express that he will likely hear the voices of the dead for the rest of his life... which may not be all that long, since some of his support partners end up outliving him([[spoiler:Felix, him ([[spoiler:Felix, Marianne, Dedue and Flayn]]). On the bright side, he does manage to become a better person, and [[spoiler:rules over Fodlan Fódlan as the beloved Savior King]].
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The Abyss Library reveals Those Who Slither in the Dark were behind the Kingdom and implied to be behind Alliance.
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** One is that [[spoiler:the Church of Seiros chose to split the Empire to form the Kingdom, and that they did so with the intention to create discord in Fódlan and weaken opposition to them. Not only is Rhea complacent as a ruler unless violence is used, she values peace over anything else, to the point of refusing to challenge the power of the countries themselves. The debunked theory from Manuela can easily be explained as the church adapting to events out of their complete control in a way that would allow them to remain relevant (i.e. giving legitimacy to the successful rebellion that created the Kingdom, and in so doing being given leeway to make sure the new borders met at Garreg Mach). Plus the Kingdom is without question the nation most loyal to the church (due to gratitude over their independence being endorsed by the church), so them intentionally splitting it to form the less loyal Alliance would be counterproductive. The history books even confirm lack of Church involvement, where the previous King split Faerghus into three nations between his three sons is what lead to the Alliance territory to rebel after their Archdukes death.]]
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** Constance of the Ashen Wolves [[MoodSwinger switches personalites depending on if shes in the light or in darkness]]. Her portraits and dialogue during battles, tea-time, and other events will change depending on the situation.
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** There are full combat quotes for being selected, crit dialogue, and leveling up for Jeralt, Rhea, and Sothis, despite the former two not being able to level up under normal circumstances and Sothis not being even usable in battle. In Rhea's case, there's even existing data for Tea Time despite being unable to be invited in the final game.
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** There are full combat quotes for being selected, crit dialogue, and leveling up for Jeralt, Rhea, and Sothis, despite the former two not being able to level up under normal circumstances and Sothis not being even usable in battle. In Rhea's case, there's even existing data for Tea Time despite being unable to be invited in Party for her which went unused up intil version 1.2.0 of the final game.game where the option to invite her was properly added for free.
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*** Dimitri's endings are generally bittersweet. His S Support scene with a female Byleth has him express that he will likely hear the voices of the dead for the rest of his life... which may not be all that long, since some of his support partners end up outliving him([[spoiler:Felix, Marianne, Dedue and Flayn]]). On the bright side, he does manage to become a better person, and [[spoiler:rules over Fodlan as the beloved Savior King]].
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* AnachronismStew: In Verdant Wind [[spoiler: and Silver Snow, after you finish off the Adrestian Empire, Byleth’s company receives a letter enclosed with the location of Those Who Slither in the Dark’s base posthumously from Hubert, and they march for it in the following chapter. Once Byleth and co. arrive at Shambala, they are greeted with a TronLine-ridden ultra-futuristic stronghold with electric turrets and HumongousMecha... defended by Agarthan soldiers with the same medieval armor and weaponry seen all game]].
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* AnachronismStew: In Verdant Wind [[spoiler: and Silver Snow, after you finish off the Adrestian Empire, Byleth’s company receives a letter enclosed with the location of Those Who Slither in the Dark’s base posthumously from Hubert, and they march for it in the following chapter. Once Byleth and co. arrive at Shambala, they are greeted with a TronLine-ridden [[TronLines tron line]]-ridden ultra-futuristic stronghold with electric turrets and HumongousMecha... defended by Agarthan soldiers with the same medieval armor and weaponry seen all game]].game. Not to mention their pegasi, wyverns, and treasure chests]].
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* AnachronismStew: In Verdant Wind [[spoiler: and Silver Snow, after you finish off the Adrestian Empire, Byleth’s company receives a letter enclosed with the location of Those Who Slither in the Dark’s base posthumously from Hubert, and they march for it in the following chapter. Once Byleth and co. arrive at Shambala, they are greeted with a TronLine-ridden ultra-futuristic stronghold with electric turrets and HumongousMecha... defended by Agarthan soldiers with the same medieval armor and weaponry seen all game]].
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** If playing as the Black Eagles, Edelgard becomes necessary during the beggining, as she's one of the few characters other than Byleth that can sponge hits reliably due to the other students having low defense bases and growths. [[spoiler:This complicates things further if the player plans on doing the Silver Snow route, as the player can't afford giving her too much experience since [[LostForever she leaves the party permanently after Chapter 11]]]].
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** If playing as the Black Eagles, Edelgard becomes necessary during the beggining, as she's one of the few characters other than Byleth that can sponge hits reliably due to the other students being quite squishy for having low defense bases and growths. [[spoiler:This complicates things further [[note]][[spoiler:Things can get even more complicated if the player plans on doing the Silver Snow route, as the player can't afford giving her too much experience since [[LostForever she leaves the party permanently after in Chapter 11]]]].11]]]][[/note]]
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** Flayn deserts you and Seteth won't join if you choose to [[spoiler:side with Edelgard after choosing the Black Eagles in chapter 12]]. To offset that, their Paralogue's rewards are not exclusively tied to their own Crests, ensuring that you ''will'' be able to use them. And two characters native to [[spoiler:the Black Eagles, Linhardt and Ferdinand]], have matching Crests to maximize their effectiveness.
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** Flayn deserts you and Seteth won't join if you choose to [[spoiler:side with Edelgard after choosing the Black Eagles in chapter 12]]. To offset that, their Paralogue's rewards are not exclusively tied to their own Crests, ensuring that you ''will'' be able to use them. And two characters native to [[spoiler:the them, and without any drop in utility--[[spoiler:two Black Eagles, Linhardt and Ferdinand]], have matching Crests to maximize their effectiveness.and specialize in those weapon types.
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** During Part I, the last time you will see the Lords all together while they're still students at the Officer's Academy is at Gronder Field. At that point, they're still on amicable terms with each other. On non-Black Eagles routes, the second and last time the three lords are together is also at Gronder Field, and by that point at least one is calling for the other's head.
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** During Part I, the last time you will see the Lords all together while they're still students at the Officer's Academy is at Gronder Field. At that point, they're still on amicable terms with each other. On non-Black Eagles non-Crimson Flower routes, the second and last time the three lords are together is also at Gronder Field, and by that point at least one is calling for the other's head.
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--->'''Jeralt''': I used to think the world of Lady Rhea. Now she terrifies me.
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** If playing as the Black Eagles, Edelgard becomes necessary during the beggining, as she's one of the few characters other than Byleth that can sponge hits reliably due to the other students having low defense bases and growths. [[spoiler:This complicates things further if the player plans on doing the Silver Snow route, as the player can't afford giving her too much experience since [[LostForever she leaves the party permanently after Chapter 11]]]].
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** Out of the S Supports, Claude's is one of the more bittersweet ones. He decides to [[spoiler:leave Fódlan to unite it with Almyra and Dagda into a new kingdom]], though he fully intends to return and seals the promise with Byleth with a proposal ring. [[spoiler:The epilogue reveals that the Almyran army, led by Claude, pulls a BigDamnHeroes when Fódlan is about to be defeated and the aftermath of the war brought a new age of unity, averting the trope gradually.]]
** The only way to have Felix get a happy ending outside of the Blue Lions route are in his paired endings with female Byleth, Ingrid and Annette. Otherwise, guilt will weigh on him for the rest of his life, even if he can find some small happiness in a spouse, or in [[spoiler:Mercedes or Flayn helping him realize what he's done.]] His ending with Sylvain outside of the Blue Lions route even goes straight into a DownerEnding.
** The only way to have Felix get a happy ending outside of the Blue Lions route are in his paired endings with female Byleth, Ingrid and Annette. Otherwise, guilt will weigh on him for the rest of his life, even if he can find some small happiness in a spouse, or in [[spoiler:Mercedes or Flayn helping him realize what he's done.]] His ending with Sylvain outside of the Blue Lions route even goes straight into a DownerEnding.
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** While many of the character epilogues are upbeat, others can have a more bittersweet tone.
*** Out of the S Supports, Claude's is one of the more bittersweet ones. He decides to [[spoiler:leave Fódlan to unite it with Almyra and Dagda into a new kingdom]], though he fully intends to return and seals the promise with Byleth with a proposal ring. [[spoiler:The epilogue reveals that the Almyran army, led by Claude, pulls a BigDamnHeroes when Fódlan is about to be defeated and the aftermath of the war brought a new age of unity, averting the trope gradually.]]
** *** The only way to have Felix get a happy ending outside of the Blue Lions route are in his paired endings with female Byleth, Ingrid and Annette. Otherwise, guilt will weigh on him for the rest of his life, even if he can find some small happiness in a spouse, or in [[spoiler:Mercedes or Flayn helping him realize what he's done.]] His ending with Sylvain outside of the Blue Lions route even goes straight into a DownerEnding.
*** Out of the S Supports, Claude's is one of the more bittersweet ones. He decides to [[spoiler:leave Fódlan to unite it with Almyra and Dagda into a new kingdom]], though he fully intends to return and seals the promise with Byleth with a proposal ring. [[spoiler:The epilogue reveals that the Almyran army, led by Claude, pulls a BigDamnHeroes when Fódlan is about to be defeated and the aftermath of the war brought a new age of unity, averting the trope gradually.]]
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* BossInMookClothing: Once the routes diverge, if you've managed to poach a character that should appear as an enemy, they'll be replaced by a generic enemy with an equivalent loadout. For instance, [[spoiler:if you recruit Shamir and/or Alois before going down the Black Eagles path, they'll be replaced by a generic Sniper and Warrior during the defence of Garreg Mach. In particular, not-Shamir retains her blatantly illegal skill combination which gives her ridiculous range]]. There are three signs that a {{Mook}} is a replacement. Firstly, their name states that they’re a general instead of a soldier, secondly, they often have the commander's medal next to their health bar, and lastly, they share the same batallion with their enemy counterpart [[spoiler:(Seiros's Archers in Shamir's case)]].
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* BossInMookClothing: Once the routes diverge, if you've managed to poach a character that should appear as an enemy, they'll be replaced by a generic enemy with an equivalent loadout. For instance, [[spoiler:if you recruit Shamir and/or Alois before going down the Black Eagles path, they'll be replaced by a generic Sniper and Warrior during the defence of Garreg Mach. In particular, not-Shamir retains her blatantly illegal skill combination which gives her ridiculous range]]. There are three two signs that a {{Mook}} is a replacement. Firstly, their name states that they’re a general instead of a soldier, and secondly, they often have the commander's medal next to their health bar, and lastly, they share the same batallion with their enemy counterpart [[spoiler:(Seiros's Archers in Shamir's case)]].bar.
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* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Unlike the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer routes, if you’re leading the Black Eagle house and end up on the Silver Snow path, their house leader, Edelgard [[UndyingLoyalty (and Hubert, her retainer)]] will abandon you character roster permanently after Chapter 11. Because of this, Byleth becomes the main character and the main lord for the rest of the story]].
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* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Unlike the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer routes, if you’re leading the a Black Eagle Eagle, your house and end up on the Silver Snow path, their house leader, leader Edelgard [[UndyingLoyalty (and Hubert, her retainer)]] will abandon you character roster permanently after Chapter 11.11 if the route follows the default story branch (Silver Snow). Because of this, Byleth becomes the main character and the main lord for the rest of the story]].
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** Annette and Felix have unused voiced lines as enemies for Chapter 18 of the Azure Moon route. In the final product, it is impossible for both to pull a FaceHeelTurn.
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** Annette and Felix have unused voiced lines as enemies for Chapter 18 of the Azure Moon route. In the final product, it is impossible for both to pull a FaceHeelTurn. Leftovers of this can be seen in the chapter itself, as there are two generic Kingdom Generals (a swordmaster and a warlock) who could've been replaced by them under unknown circumstances.
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'''Tropes A to D''' | FireEmblemThreeHouses/TropesEToM | FireEmblemThreeHouses/TropesNToR | FireEmblemThreeHouses/TropesSToZ | [[YMMV/FireEmblemThreeHouses YMMV]] | [[Trivia/FireEmblemThreeHouses Trivia]]
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!!''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Tropes A]]
* AbortedArc: Played with. Depending on the route you’re on, some [[PlotPoint plot points]] that pop up during Part I can potentially get dropped by the time Part II starts, the best example of this being Byleth’s origins which are eventually revealed only [[spoiler:on the Silver Snow route]] (while you do get to learn some hints of it on the Verdant Wind route, the exposition given lacks some key details that are told in that path so you don't get the full picture). That being said, there are some paths where this trope is played straight:
** On the Crimson Flower route, it is said multiple times by Edelgard and Hubert that the collaboration with [[spoiler:“those who slither in the dark”]] is merely temporary and that they’ll be eventually dealt with once the war is finally over, which is brought to even more attention after [[spoiler:the organization destroys Arianrhod with a "javelin of light" as retaliation for Cornelia's death]]. Not only that, after [[spoiler:the fall of the Leicester Alliance]], Hubert mentions that Lord Arundel has started collecting the Heroes’ Relics found in the territory, which would indicate he’s up to something. Due to the storyline ending [[spoiler:after the Battle at Fhirdiad and the group being mentioned to have been defeated during the credits]], this plot thread ends up being cut short and resolved offscreen.
** On the Azure Moon route, later in the story Dimitri starts once again seeking answers for the Tragedy of Duscur, which lead him to learn that [[spoiler:his stepmother Patricia may have not only had a hand in what happened, but that she actually went missing instead of being killed like everyone in the Kingdom had previously assumed, and could potentially be still alive somewhere]]. After this discovery, this plotline never ends up being brought up again and the storyline ends instead [[spoiler:after Edelgard's defeat]] (granted, part of this is due to Dimitri choosing to stop dwelling on the past, but still).
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: A character's level caps at ''99'', when your party will be around level 40-45 at the end of a standard playthrough, and you will likely cap most stats long before this point. Also, due to the restraints on your time, it is nearly impossible to get anywhere near the cap unless you abuse the free maps on Normal difficulty, in which some auxiliary battles do not require you to spend activity points.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Lockpicking and regular keys work just fine on the [[spoiler:ultra-modern metal sliding doors of Shambala.]]
* AdultFear:
** Seteth has one in Chapter 6 [[spoiler:when his younger sister Flayn goes missing]]. It gets even worse when you find out that [[spoiler:she was abducted by Jeritza, a teacher at the academy and somebody Seteth and Flayn would have trusted]].
** For Jeralt, [[spoiler:his wife dies in childbirth, and there seems to be something wrong with the baby that he cannot find an explanation for]].
* AerithAndBob:
** Among the four main characters, there's names like Byleth and Edelgard, but there's also more regular-sounding names like Claude and Dimitri. You've also got names like Dedue and Sylvain next to names like Hilda and Ashe.
** Applies to the Hero's Relic weapons, as you have fancy names like Aymr, Areadbhar, and Failnaught alongside more regular-sounding names like Crusher, the Sword of the Creator, and the Lance of Ruin.
* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler:Picking the Golden Deer reveals that the continent of Fódlan went through this. Thousands of years ago, it was home to an extremely advanced and prosperous civilization called Agartha that was built with the help of Sothis and the Nabateans. However, after a series of wars among the Agarthans, they eventually turned their weapons on Sothis herself, and this led to an even bigger war that left much of Fódlan looking like the modern Valley of Torment and killed most of the humans on the continent. The destructiveness of the weapons used is why none of the ancient technology remains above ground. Sothis eventually restored the continent to a livable state, but it took an immensely long time, and when she was done, the exhausted goddess fell into a sleep she would never have the chance to wake up from while she was still alive.]]
* AlasPoorVillain:
** On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:Edelgard feels sorry for Dimitri after she kills him. She laments that her uncle's machinations twisted him into a person obsessed with revenge on her, as he believed that she was complicit in the Tragedy of Duscur, and that he could have become a good king during times of peace]].
** On the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:if Mercedes and Casper's paralogue was completed before the final battle against the Death Knight, when he dies, Mercedes cradles him and calls him by his true identity, Emile, as she tearfully apologizes for being a lousy older sister for not rescuing him in time from House Bartels]].
** On the Verdant Wind [[spoiler:and Silver Snow routes, Edelgard's death is portrayed sympathetically: she talks about her regrets and how she had wished that Byleth had chosen the same path she did. She also asks her professor to kill her, since if she's left alive, the fighting and bloodshed will continue (and it's implied that thanks to her body bearing two Crests, she is not likely to live a long life regardless). Byleth wordlessly listens to her, spurred on from their hesitation by her words, and then swiftly kills her the moment she finishes.]]
* AllTheOtherReindeer: The people of Duscur, Almyra, and the Abyssians.
** The people of Duscur are treated with suspicion and animosity due to the people believing they are responsible for the death of King Lambert and countless others.
** Almyra is constantly attacking Fódlan's borders, and Fódlan natives have reservations when it comes to foreigners.
** The Abyssians, meanwhile, are treated with hostility and suspicion by some of the officers within the Church of Seiros for unexplained reasons as of yet. According to Balthus in the DLC Wave 4 Trailer, the people of the Abyss are comprised of merchants who were "chewed and spit out" by the nobility, along with orphans, lost souls, the elderly and the infirm; basically anyone who didn't belong.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Played with in the Crimson Flower storyline, [[spoiler:as Garreg Mach was your base of operations during the school portion of the game, but upon siding with Edelgard in the Holy Tomb and making an enemy of Rhea and the Church of Seiros, the opening battle of the war is the Adrestian army seizing the monastery and forcing the Church to flee to Faerghus so it can be used as their base of operations. After the timeskip, the monastery is noticeably more run-down, and Edelgard can even admit that some areas are still unusable even five years after the battle. Also notable is that the statue of Seiros in the monastery chapel is pulled down (though chapel-related services like choir practice carry on as usual). The Knights of Seiros make an attempt to reclaim the monastery after the fall of Leicester, making this a straight example of the trope, but the Black Eagle Strike Force is able to hold them off.]]
* AlternativeCalendar: The game uses a variant of the real-life Gregorian Calendar, with the months being named after Moons, and the February equivalent month (Pegasus Moon) having 29 days instead of 28. In-story, the first day of spring and the first day of the year (April 1 in the real life equivalent) is the day the Adrestian Empire was founded.
* AmbiguousSituation: Several of Edelgard's claims when she [[spoiler:declares war before the timeskip]] run off of ambiguity as the game doesn't confirm or deny her statements.
** One is that [[spoiler:the Church of Seiros chose to split the Empire to form the Kingdom, and that they did so with the intention to create discord in Fódlan and weaken opposition to them. Not only is Rhea complacent as a ruler unless violence is used, she values peace over anything else, to the point of refusing to challenge the power of the countries themselves. The debunked theory from Manuela can easily be explained as the church adapting to events out of their complete control in a way that would allow them to remain relevant (i.e. giving legitimacy to the successful rebellion that created the Kingdom, and in so doing being given leeway to make sure the new borders met at Garreg Mach). Plus the Kingdom is without question the nation most loyal to the church (due to gratitude over their independence being endorsed by the church), so them intentionally splitting it to form the less loyal Alliance would be counterproductive. The history books even confirm lack of Church involvement, where the previous King split Faerghus into three nations between his three sons is what lead to the Alliance territory to rebel after their Archdukes death.]]
** Another is that the church is hoarding wealth for itself. On one hand, the Church would naturally have some amount of treasure or wealth stored up from years of activity, and they obviously have the funds to pay for soldiers, teachers, and for basic needs, especially since, as shown with Leonie, many students had to pay to get in. Near the graveyard is a room that an NPC outside mentions is the treasury, containing several different weapons and armaments, so the Church logically would have some amount of hidden wealth stored away, which is supported by Pallardó in non-Crimson Flower routes, where he and his bandits have items and money taken from the [[spoiler:ruined monastery]]. On the other hand, said NPC specifically clarifies that said treasury is only filled with weapons (the NPC could be lying of course but there's no evidence to say otherwise), the Church accepts donations (which was how some students like Dorothea got in), and rarely is money or wealth ever brought up by any of the staff, even on Crimson Flower when Edelgard [[spoiler:takes control of the monastery]]. It's possible the Church ''does'' have a hidden stash of wealth that they hoarded for usage that was plundered by the empire and thieves (the NPC by the treasury notes they wouldn't store the truly valuable items in a building out in the open, even one under guard). Then there's the actual logistics of supplying, feeding, and sustaining both a clergy and a academy to train warriors, something that by its very nature would not be cheap, but the game doesn't go much into this claim beyond Edelgard's statements.
* AncestralWeapon: The Heroes’ Relics, weapons wielded by the 10 Elites during the conflict against Nemesis in the distant past. The weapons were passed down to their descendants, though [[spoiler:only descendants bearing Crests can wield them safely, as otherwise, the person wielding it is harmed or even turned into a monster]]. Each of the main lords gains one during the story, as do a few of the other characters.
* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: In Claude and Ingrid's C support, when Claude claims to get up at sunrise every day to meditate, Ingrid responds, "Uh-huh, sure. And I've decided to quit my pursuit of knighthood."
* AndIMustScream: It’s implied that this happens to those who are transformed into [[spoiler:Black Beasts by Crest Stones or misuse of Heroes' Relics. The process is incredibly painful and the transformation is said to be akin to being swallowed whole by the Crest Stone. With the exception of a select few, after being transformed, people lose their ability to speak, and all they can do is make inhuman screams. Furthermore, it’s implied that their human bodies are essentially trapped underneath the flesh of their beastly state, as whenever a Black Beast is killed, their monstrous form dissipates into ashes, leaving nothing but their human corpse. It's also shown in Marianne’s paralogue that those who are transformed into Black Beasts can end up wandering the world for over a thousand years trapped in their monstrous state.]]
* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: In Claude and Marianne's support chain, Marianne explains her low self-esteem and neuroticism by alluding to burdens she's had to bear since she was born. Claude responds by telling a story about a boy who was also born with burdens: [[spoiler:his mother and father were from different nations whose people hated each other, and thus, no matter where he was, he was looked down upon]]. Claude doesn't outright tell Marianne that the story is about himself, but he tries to drop hints during the rest of the A support that he's the boy in the story.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: One of the things unlocked in NewGamePlus is alternate costumes/appearances for the three house leaders. Part of the DownloadableContent is also clothing: a NonUniformUniform for Byleth and loungewear for all the students.
* AnimalLover: Marianne talks to squirrels and birds and is good at riding. She also fits the "better with animals than people" stereotype because hardly anyone in her class knows what she sounds like.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** Divine Pulse allows the player to rewind actions up to three times per battle (though the amount is eventually increased to up to ''13''), even in the middle of the enemy phase, letting the player fix mistakes without starting the whole map over. This doesn't change the RNG, so you need to perform different actions so it can be used to rewind an unfortunate CriticalHit and hope for a different result. In addition, it automatically triggers if you enter a GameOver state while you have charges left (for example, if [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou Byleth or the main lord bites it]], or if you fail the mission objective).
** Almost all of the social sim, time management, and character customization can be opted out of. Skipping ahead on the calendar will automate these aspects, and will spit out reasonably usable unit builds in the process provided you set your characters' goals at some point.
** The marketplace is fully available from the battle preparation screen, so there's no need to withdraw through several loading screens because you forgot something. The marketplace is also available from the calendar menu, thus preventing the need to waste a free day Exploring just to access the basic shops. The market always restocks its weapons at the start of the month as well.
** Quests, Lost Items, random items, and conversations found by exploring during free time update monthly, so the player isn't missing anything by using Sundays on other activities provided they Explore once a month.
** Battalions cost a hefty price to hire, but they are generally very cheap to refill. This allows the player to refill their Battalions frequently if they desire.
** After the timeskip, all of the gear your units were wearing pre-timeskip will be repaired to full durability, including all of your expensive to repair Relic weapons. On Normal mode, all of your units that are below level 20 will be boosted up to 20, though this does not occur on Hard mode.
** The first mission with an allied NPC, Catherine, does not allow her to attack the boss (and if he attacks her, she won't be able to lower him below 1 health), meaning you can't lose experience from killing him. Although it is dropped in later missions, by that time, you either have sufficiently developed characters to easily kill the enemy on your own or the boss is hard enough that an ally's help is welcome.
** If you're playing on Normal Mode, one repeatable Auxiliary battle costs no activity points each week, allowing for as much grinding as you like. You can't take promotion exams between battles, though, so use those wisely.
** After using Divine Pulse, level-up gains aren't re-rolled, meaning that the soft reset of winding back time after a mistake won't come at the cost of a good level-up. (Though conversely, it also means you can't just keep resetting until a bad level-up turns good either.)
** Each class has minimum stats to start with. If you have a character whose stats are poorer than the minimum stats for a class, upon taking that class, their stats will permanently be upgraded to that minimum. For an example, if you had particularly bad luck with Lysithea's level-ups and her Defense is about 6 when you upgrade her into a Warlock, she will automatically gain 6 points to Defense upon classing into warlock, as Warlock has 12 Defense minimum.
** While characters do need to invest in the proficiency that the class uses, they don't need to have them at the exact grade; all that the grade requirement does is make the chance of passing the exam certain. As such, as long as a character is within striking distance, they can still take the exam and have a chance to pass, even if it's less than 50%.
** NewGamePlus carries plenty of these. Among them, you're able to adjust Byleth's supports (to recruit your favourite characters you've invested time into easily on other routes), retain your professor level, retain class mastery and skill points, and will ''show'' you the skill ranks you need from the start, so you can more easily plan your character progression.
** During the Red Wolf Moon ball before the timeskip, you can have a scene at the Goddess Tower with one of your possible romantic supports, using the one with the highest support level reached. If you have multiple possibilities, however, it's randomized amongst them. However, you can speak to the Gatekeeper on any free day that month and be given the option to choose who you want to appear at the tower on the night of the ball.
** After the timeskip, Faculty Training is replaced with Advanced Drills, allowing you to learn from any unit with a higher skill level than you. This means you can't increase your skill if you don't have anyone stronger than you; however, the professors and knights can always train you in their specialized skills no matter how high your skill is, ensuring that you'll always be able to improve.
** Enemy attack ranges will automatically update after you move but before you hit the "wait" button, allowing you to check to make sure you aren't exposing someone squishy to unwanted danger before you commit.
** Flayn deserts you and Seteth won't join if you choose to [[spoiler:side with Edelgard after choosing the Black Eagles in chapter 12]]. To offset that, their Paralogue's rewards are not exclusively tied to their own Crests, ensuring that you ''will'' be able to use them. And two characters native to [[spoiler:the Black Eagles, Linhardt and Ferdinand]], have matching Crests to maximize their effectiveness.
** When you view a support between two characters, the support log automatically records the support for all the routes you've played as well as options to view the support before or after the TimeSkip if applicable. This means you don't have to farm every possible support for every character.
** Right after Byleth first becomes a professor at Garreg Mach, you're immediately thrown into a mock battle against both of the houses you didn't choose. That may seem like too difficult a mission for the beginning of the story, but to make it easier, the other house leaders are scripted to make some unwise tactical decisions during this battle (like sending long-range fighters like Ashe or Dorothea to the front lines, or having a heavy hitter like Hilda start from behind a barricade).
** Despite the fact that it makes no sense, you can still lockpick [[spoiler:all the sliding doors in Shambhala using door keys and lockpicks]]. On the same stage, they will also drop a lot of door keys.
** When you have to open a lot of doors or a lot of chests are on the stage, a lot of enemies will drop chest keys and door keys.
** If a temporary ally (such as a guest for a Part I paralogue or someone you grabbed for mission assistance) kills an enemy with an item drop, the item is automatically sent to the convoy.
** The first chapter of all routes other than Crimson Flower post-timeskip immediately drops the player into a battle featuring only Byleth and Dimitri/Claude/[[spoiler:Seteth]] going up against [[spoiler: the bandits that have taken over the ruins of Garreg Mach]], without the ability to use the rest of the player's students [[spoiler:until midway through the battle when they charge in together]]. Unless the player decided to invest in Faith skills for Byleth [[spoiler:or Seteth]] (as Dimitri and Claude are automatically reclassed to classes that can't use magic), the player will be without a dedicated healer. Fortunately, almost all of the enemies that are close to the player's spawn location are not only weak but also drop Concoctions, healing items that heal 20 HP for three uses, after they are defeated.
** Enemy commanders cannot be killed by NPC allies, meaning you don't have to worry about the level finishing on its own until you have accomplished everything you want.
** Byleth, Cyril, Flayn, and the twenty-four student characters have their level-ups rigged to ensure they get at least two stats per level, meaning they are less likely to fall off. This is especially helpful for [[CantDropTheHero Byleth, Edelgard, Dimiri, and Claude]], as Byleth is force-deployed on every story and paralogue mission, the chosen lord is required for most maps, and either one dying is a GameOver.
** If you’re a Black Eagle, you can’t normally recruit Hilda until Chapter 12 as long [[spoiler:you’re siding with the Church]], past the point where nearly all Part I paralogues have their completion deadline. Fortunately, the paralogue that requires Hilda's presence is the only one that has its deadline extend past Chapter 11 and into Part II.
* AnyoneCanDie: Once Part II begins, ''any character not recruited before the timeskip'' that shows up as an enemy can ''potentially'' die, with the exceptions of [[spoiler:Petra, Hilda and Dedue on non-Crimson Flower routes, who [[VillainExitStageLeft will retreat if defeated]] only to reappear later in the story as an enemy once again [[note]]Petra[[/note]] or as an ally NPC [[note]]Dedue and Hilda[[/note]]]]. Depending on the player's choices however, some can be spared and recruited into your army, such as [[spoiler:Lysithea on the Crimson Flower route, Ashe on the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes, and Lorenz on the Azure Moon and Silver Snow routes (for the last two however, you have to have recruited them during Part I in order to get them to rejoin your party)]]. As for the house leaders themselves, [[spoiler:Edelgard and Dimitri will survive only in their own routes, while Claude can potentially die only in the Crimson Flower route]].
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: You are limited to between 10 and 12 units on the field, depending on the mission, and some may have an even lower limit. However, up to 3 of those who aren't deployed can accompany deployed units as adjutants and earn experience and support points.
* ArtificialAtmosphericActions: In order to make the monastery seem more alive (especially in Part I), random unnamed [=NPCs=] will walk around the monastery. However, the player is able to get into their path and block them, causing them to get stuck - making things seem very artificial. Byleth doesn't even ''need'' to do this - sometimes [=NPCs=] might even get stuck trying to walk through each other.
* ArtificialStupidity:
** Annette's paralogue features several enemies that will only target her. If your units block access to Annette, the enemies will get as close as they can to her but won't try to kill anyone standing between them. Because of their short range, they can become target practice for anyone with ranged attacks.
** Invoked in the mock battle in the second mandatory fight in the game — the opponents will make very bad decisions, from a single unit charging into your entire force alone, to fragile ranged-attacking characters running unguarded into melee. Averted during the second MeleeATrois battle, where they will make much smarter decisions - which actually makes a ''lot'' of sense thinking about it.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Petra's personal skill significantly increases her critical hit rate against enemies with less than half health. This is a powerful benefit, but in many cases, you're likely to kill any enemy that's weakened this much with a normal attack (with the exception of monsters, and there are special ways to inflict bonus damage on them).
** Astra, the combat art gained by mastering the Swordmaster class. While it hits five times, each hit is very weak, which generally doesn't justify spending the extra durability to use it. By comparison, the ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'' version of Astra was only reduced to half damage, randomly triggered, and each hit had a chance to crit, making it especially devastating in Ryoma's hands.
** The Crest of Blaiddyd (Dimitri's Crest) doubles the Might of Combat Arts when triggered. However, it also doubles the durability cost of said Combat Arts, making you burn through Dimitri's weapons that much faster. This is particularly a problem in the late-game, when Dimitri will usually be wielding pricier, lower-durability weapons.
** The "Defiant" abilities significantly buff one stat when the unit is below 25% of their health. The stat boost is nice, but not only is it difficult to get down that low without your unit being killed, but staying that low can be dangerous.
** You can zoom the camera all the way in on your units so that you control them like you would in a regular third-person adventure game. This allows full 360-degree freedom within the character's movement range and lets you see their battalions moving along with them. While a neat and visually appealing feature, it offers almost no tactical benefit whatsoever since it significantly reduces your field of vision with the zoomed-in camera. A mini map is displayed to help alleviate this, but it is still much less useful than sticking to the traditional, zoomed-out camera angle of the grid.
** Recruiting all the students on a file without NewGamePlus benefits. While this gives you a wide variety of characters to use, it's also immensely difficult to actually accomplish without SaveScumming, and it can lead to experience being spread too thin.
** The rare Crescent Sickle lance has immense durability (especially if forged) and decent accuracy, but is heavier than even the Steel Lance. The forging material is also rare, only being obtainable by breaking the armor of the Crawlers and Titanus. [[NotCompletelyUseless That being said, their durability makes them great for Combat Arts.]]
** Most of the Relic-related combat arts, with the exceptions of the Crusher's Dust and Aymr's Raging Storm. The Lance of Ruin's Ruined Sky and Areadbhar's Atrocity especially stick out; Sylvain can use Swift Strikes with any lance for more damage overall (including with the Lance of Ruin!), and Dimitri's great Strength means that Areadbhar will do more than enough damage with normal attacks, not to mention his Crest means he can very well break the weapon.
** The Saint's Relics. Unlike the Heroes' Relics, which are essentially more powerful regular weapons with Unique Combat Arts, these Relics have abilities of more unique weapons, possessing a [[HealingFactor Renewal effect]] along with the abilities of weapons like the Horseslayer, Brave Bow or the Hammers respectively, and unlike the Hero's Relics they can be used by anyone, with corresponding Crests only increasing the healing effects they have. However, the material needed to repair them, Mythril, is quite possibly the rarest material in the game along with [[spoiler: Agarthium]] and, when combined with forging the Rusted legendary weapons which cost 10 to Forge and Repair, have very limited uses, especially in comparison to Heroes' Relics that require the comparatively less rare Umbral Steel. This gets alleviated slightly with the third DLC where feeding the animals around the Monastery can get you forging materials, including Mythril, but it can still be an issue.
** The Rusted Legendary weapons. Like the Heroes' Relics, they are more powerful than the base weapons and have insane benefits, such as Parthia's low weight and Hauteclere's unusually high hit rate. That being said, forging them from their rusted forms costs 10 Mythril and another 10 to repair them, meaning that if you were to somehow get your hands on all of them, you would need ''over 40 mythril''. Needless to say, this often subjects them to TooAwesomeToUse.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes B]]
* BackFromTheBrink:
** On all routes other than Crimson Flower, this is played straight. [[spoiler:Byleth awakens from their coma to discover that the Kingdom has been reduced to a puppet state, only a couple of stray Kingdom nobles are continuing to put up a fight, and Dimitri has gone completely AxCrazy and is in no fit condition to lead a resistance by himself. The Alliance is only slightly better off, as Claude is only barely able to maintain a facade of neutrality and keep the country together due to civil strife between the pro-Imperial and pro-Church factions. The Knights of Seiros have been scattered to the four winds in a forlorn effort to find Byleth and Rhea. It's up to Byleth to turn things around, defeat the Empire, and stop Edelgard.]]
** On Crimson Flower, this is turned on its head. [[spoiler:The Kingdom and Church have fought the Empire to a stalemate, but when Byleth awakens, their objective is to help the Empire crush the resistance against them.]]
* BackstabBackfire: On the Azure Moon route, after [[spoiler:Edelgard's defeat, when Dimitri tries to reconcile with her, she throws the dagger he had given her at his shoulder and is met with the end of his spear; it is implied she did this not as an attempt to kill him but to force him to kill ''her'', as she believed there was [[IHaveComeTooFar no turning back]] on the path she had chosen]].
* BadassCape: The House Leaders, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude, all bear a cape bearing their [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience house's respective color.]]
* BadBadActing: In their B support interaction, Claude and Ingrid challenge each other to be more pleasant — less slovenly on Claude's end and more cheerful on Ingrid's end. What plays out in their next interaction is a forced, painfully polite conversation between the two. Claude is first to drop the act when Ingrid [[BrokenRecord runs out of lines]].
* BadWithTheBone: The Hero's Relics, including the Sword of the Creator, have a bony appearance with noticeable cracks and yellowish tint. [[spoiler:It's because they ''are'' bones made into weapons as Nemesis murdered the progenitor goddess, Sothis, and created the Sword of the Creator from her bones and heart (which are made into Crest Stones). Nemesis and the Ten Elites also did the same to many of the Nabateans.]]
* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The final battle of the Crimson Flower storyline, [[spoiler:the Battle of Fhirdiad, is fought after Rhea orders the Knights of Seiros to set fire to the city simply to slow the Adrestian advance. The Black Eagles Strike Force faces off against the remnant of Faerghus' army, the Knights of Seiros, and Rhea in her full dragon form in the burning capital]].
* BattleInTheRain: The Battle of the Tailtean Plains [[spoiler:against King Dimitri and the Church forces]] near the end of the Crimson Flower storyline is fought in the middle of the pouring rain. It adds to the somber tone of the battle.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: One boss fight has the party go up against Miklan, Sylvain's brother, who has stolen the Lance of Ruin in hopes of being special and important like Sylvain is with his Crest of Gautier. [[spoiler:Miklan does get to be important, but as a ''warning'', as once he tries to use the Lance of Ruin without possessing the necessary Crest, he's turned into a Demonic Beast, the first such creature the player has to fight.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: The story has multiple antagonist factions with goals that conflict with one another, and depending on the route, one faction takes center stage during part II:
** Part I: [[MalevolentMaskedMen The Flame Emperor]], "[[MoleMen those who slither in the dark]]" [[spoiler:and [[OrderIsNotGood Rhea]]]][[note]][[spoiler:Only if you picked the Black Eagles and side with Edelgard during the moment of fate.]][[/note]]
** Part II:
*** Crimson Flower: [[spoiler:[[FallenHero Rhea]], [[HeroAntagonist Dimitri]] and [[TheUnfought Arundel]]]]
*** Azure Moon: [[spoiler:[[VisionaryVillain Edelgard]], [[LadyOfBlackMagic Cornelia]] and [[TheDragon Hubert]]]]
*** Verdant Wind: [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Nemesis]], [[ManipulativeBastard Thales]], and [[IronLady Edelgard]]]]
*** [[spoiler:Silver Snow: [[DecoyProtagonist Edelgard]], [[FantasticRacism Thales]], and [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Seiros' emotional baggage]]]]
* BigDamnHeroes: If Byleth S supports Claude, he [[spoiler:[[ButNowIMustGo gives her a ring at the Goddess Tower and then leaves to take care of business in his homeland]]. Some months later, the Imperial Army and those who slither in the dark ally and invade Derdriu, and the new kingdom of Fódlan is unable to take them on. When defeat seems imminent, Claude, now King of Almyra, enters with Almyran forces and defeats the enemies easily.]]
* BigFirstChoice: Early on, the protagonist has to decide which House they will personally teach. While the first half of the game is roughly the same for all three Houses, this changes after the TimeSkip [[spoiler:where the protagonist fights for the nation their students of the chosen House are from against the other nations, unless the Black Eagles house is picked, where there is a possibility of choosing to side with the Church instead of the Empire]].
* BigScrewedUpFamily: Many of the students, especially those from noble families, have more than a few family problems, from rivalries with their siblings over who gets to inherit the family to family members trying to marry them off for personal gain.
* BirthmarkOfDestiny: While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdral]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 games]], said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], potentially leading to [[CainAndAbel violent internal power struggles]]. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier, either, as aside from being targets in the aforementioned power struggles, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have a varyingly shortened lifespan. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros and the Saints were actually gifts shared to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade as part of the cover-up) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]
* BiTheWay: Linhardt, Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, [[spoiler:Jeritza, Rhea, and Sothis]] can be romanced by a Byleth of either gender. Reaching A-rank support between certain characters of the same gender alludes to romance that can then be confirmed if you get the paired endings for those characters, with Petra and Dorothea explicitly falling in love despite Petra being unavailable for female Byleth. However, Alois and Gilbert are not romancable for a male Byleth despite both having S-rank supports, and in the former's paired ending, Byleth marries an unnamed woman.
* BittersweetEnding:
** Unlike ''Fates'', there is no GoldenEnding. [[spoiler:No matter what you do, at least one of the Three Lords will die and Edelgard and Dimitri die in every path except their own. Also, none of the story paths completely resolves all the lurking problems or issues.]]
** Out of the S Supports, Claude's is one of the more bittersweet ones. He decides to [[spoiler:leave Fódlan to unite it with Almyra and Dagda into a new kingdom]], though he fully intends to return and seals the promise with Byleth with a proposal ring. [[spoiler:The epilogue reveals that the Almyran army, led by Claude, pulls a BigDamnHeroes when Fódlan is about to be defeated and the aftermath of the war brought a new age of unity, averting the trope gradually.]]
** The only way to have Felix get a happy ending outside of the Blue Lions route are in his paired endings with female Byleth, Ingrid and Annette. Otherwise, guilt will weigh on him for the rest of his life, even if he can find some small happiness in a spouse, or in [[spoiler:Mercedes or Flayn helping him realize what he's done.]] His ending with Sylvain outside of the Blue Lions route even goes straight into a DownerEnding.
* BlackKnight: The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Death Knight]] is a strong and enigmatic knight clad in black armor with a skeleton mask that serves one of the game’s main antagonists.
* BladeLock: Post-timeskip, when [[spoiler:Byleth and Edelgard first meet again in Garreg Mach as enemies on the Silver Snow route, they briefly clash blades. Edelgard manages to lock her rapier (the Sword of Seiros she took from Rhea) with Byleth's Sword of the Creator]], after which both attempt to strike each other's throats.
* BlessedWithSuck:
** What having a Crest can amount to. Congratulations, you’re descended from one of the great heroes of Fódlan's past. That gives you a special ability and possibly even physical abilities beyond that of normal people! It's also all many will ever care about in regards to you; you as a person are less valuable than the Crest you carry. Expect your family to marry you off into what is likely to be a loveless marriage, especially if you happen to have a particularly valuable Crest, or for people to try to use you simply so any children you might have with them will inherit your Crest and improve their standing. The tactics noble parents will sometimes use to ensure that you will be attractive for marriage may be abusive and downright cruel, especially for women. The worst part is, even experiencing all this themselves, people with Crests will simply continue the cycle with their own children rather than work to change it because of how valued Crests are in Fódlan culture and national defense.
** While it is possible to [[spoiler:forcibly implant a second Crest onto someone — like Edelgard and Lysithea — the procedure has a high risk of failure, resulting in crippling madness and/or death, which is precisely what happened with all of Edelgard's siblings. Even success will leave you [[DiseaseBleach permanently marked with white or silver hair]], and your lifespan will be dramatically reduced as a result, as long as you carry the implanted Crest. This entire state of affairs (along with some misunderstandings about how Crests came about and what role the Church plays), and the torture she and her siblings went through, is what drives Edelgard to make war on the Church of Seiros so Fódlan can be remade into a meritocracy and the idea of Crests as a social construct can be done away with forever.]] [[GameplayAndStorySeparation This is only from an in-universe view, as units with Crests often tend to be very useful gameplay-wise.]]
** The Crest of Maurice, also known as the Crest of the Beast. People who are born with such a Crest are believed to [[TheJinx bring bad luck]] and turn into horrible monsters with the passing of time. It has such a bad reputation that Maurice himself was the only [[spoiler:ally of Nemesis who did not receive an in-universe HistoricalHeroUpgrade]].
* BloodierAndGorier: This is the first game in the franchise with fully animated cutscenes to have blood, such as the opening cutscene.
* BloodKnight:
** Almyra is a warrior culture that instigate small skirmishes to enjoy the thrill of fighting. Despite putting themselves in a life-or-death situation, they use the battle to honor the dead, then head back home to enjoy big feasts and party after the battle, regardless of whether they win or lose.
** Dimitri and Felix are also fond of battle, but the two have drifted apart over this, as [[EveryoneHasStandards even Felix]] finds the nightmarish glee Dimitri takes in slaughtering his foes unnerving.
** The Death Knight is entirely motivated by his desire for fighting and killing only, which occasionally harms the goals of his boss, the Flame Emperor.
* BlueBlood: The Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Leicester Alliance host several noble families, of which several characters are heirs, and many of which are descended from the 10 Elites and Four Saints of the distant past. The Leicester Alliance goes further, being a coalition of noble families who refuse to swear fealty to any royal.
* BondOneLiner: Every character has one of several lines to say after killing an enemy, usually complimenting themselves ("No one makes it past me!") or putting down their fallen enemy ("You are nothing").
* BookEnds:
** During Part I, the last time you will see the Lords all together while they're still students at the Officer's Academy is at Gronder Field. At that point, they're still on amicable terms with each other. On non-Black Eagles routes, the second and last time the three lords are together is also at Gronder Field, and by that point at least one is calling for the other's head.
** On the Crimson Flower route:
*** The last king of Faerghus [[spoiler:dies on the same plains where the first king of Faerghus forged the kingdom, and his defeat heralds the fall of the church and demigod who previously bested Nemesis on those very same plains to unite Fódlan under her guidance]].
*** House Hresvelg's bloodline and claim to fame began by receiving the Crest of Seiros, and Seiros was responsible for [[spoiler:setting in motion the Crest system as a part of Fódlan society]]. The last Hresvelg heir, [[spoiler:Edelgard]], is the one who [[spoiler:wishes to eradicate said Crest system]] and may even end up [[spoiler:killing Seiros herself]].
*** The opening cinematic shows Seiros cradling the Sword of the Creator against her cheek, staining it with blood. At the end of the route, [[spoiler:that same sword is one of two weapons that kills Seiros as the Immaculate One (the other being Edelgard's Relic axe, Aymr) by destroying her Crest Stone, causing it to leak massive amounts of green blood over her as she dies]].
** A couple on the Azure Moon route:
*** [[spoiler:Edelgard]] is [[GuestStarPartyMember one of your first allies]], and your [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss last foe]]]].
*** The second half of the Azure Moon route begins and ends with [[spoiler:one person collapsed on the ground, another offering them a hand, and the first person rejecting it]].
** On the Verdant Wind route, [[spoiler:the first and final boss is a leader of a group of bandits]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler:said final boss is one of the first characters who appears onscreen, Nemesis]].
** [[spoiler: On the Silver Snow route, the final battle of Part II [[FinalDungeonPreview is fought in the same place as the final battle of Part I: the outer wall of Garreg Mach Monastery]]]].
* BoringButPractical:
** The fishing minigame. The game itself can be quite tedious in the long run, but it is a quick and easy way to improve your professor level, since it does not reduce your action points.
** Training weapons lack the raw damage and crit chance of the other weapons, but they make up for it with low weapon weight, rank, and cost, plus they can be upgraded easily. The only real downside they have is their low attack means you have to rely on your unit's raw stats to compensate, but as enemies become harder to hit, the training weapons remain viable for just about the entire game.
** Dimitri's High Lord and Great Lord classes are vanilla compared to Edelgard's Armored Lord and Emperor [[note]]A hard stop to physical attacks while maintaining good magical bulk and having an additional point of movement over normal armored classes.[[/note]] and especially Claude's Wyvern Master and Barbarossa. [[note]]Effectively the Wyvern Rider and Wyvern Lord with a preference for bows.[[/note]] However, the classes require zero investment on Dimitri's end to obtain, allowing him to focus on other skills if so desired, and the stats provided by the classes are more than enough to carry Dimitri through the rest of the game.
** The stat-boosting skills and movement-related combat arts learned by mastering beginner classes. The stat boosts are always on, and the arts allow a unit's movement to be artificially extended. While Death/Fiendish Blow provide large boosts on player phase, Strength/Magic +2 is active on both phases.
** Ignatz's personal skill, Watchful Eye, provides a flat +20 to his hit rate at all times. While his attack power is low, he can consistently land attacks even from a long distance with bows, and land Break Shot (and possibly Seal Strength) from a safe distance.
** In the earlygame, especially on Maddening, Sylvain and Leonie's personal skills, Philanderer and Rivalry, respectively. For simply standing next to a character of the opposite sex, both characters will deal 2 more damage and take 2 less damage from enemy attacks. And yes, they can trigger their personal skills by standing next to each other.
** Hubert and Ingrid's personal skills give flat bonuses to gambits. [[note]]+5 damage for Hubert, +3 damage and +5 hit for Ingrid.[[/note]] This lessens the need for Authority skills on them, allowing them to equip another skill instead, such as Fiendish or Death Blow, respectively.
* BossInMookClothing: Once the routes diverge, if you've managed to poach a character that should appear as an enemy, they'll be replaced by a generic enemy with an equivalent loadout. For instance, [[spoiler:if you recruit Shamir and/or Alois before going down the Black Eagles path, they'll be replaced by a generic Sniper and Warrior during the defence of Garreg Mach. In particular, not-Shamir retains her blatantly illegal skill combination which gives her ridiculous range]]. There are three signs that a {{Mook}} is a replacement. Firstly, their name states that they’re a general instead of a soldier, secondly, they often have the commander's medal next to their health bar, and lastly, they share the same batallion with their enemy counterpart [[spoiler:(Seiros's Archers in Shamir's case)]].
* {{Bowdlerise}}:
** In Ingrid's and Sylvain's C-Support, Ingrid mentions how Sylvain once flirted with her grandmother, and later on, with a ''scarecrow''. Except that, in Japanese, Sylvain flirted not with a scarecrow, but with a [[DisguisedInDrag boy who was disguised as a girl for a performance]].
** [[InvertedTrope Turned on its head]] in the Black Eagles Route, at least if you're playing Female Byleth. At some point, Dorothea wonders if someone will make the story into an opera, and if so, whether Edelgard or Byleth will be played by the current Diva. In the translation, however, Dorothea wonders whether Byleth and Edelgard will have a secret love affair…
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: On the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route, when Rhea suddenly turns into her Immaculate One form and begins a mindless rampage, the high ranking members of the church who happen to bear her blood end up becoming crazy as well, with the ones with the highest amount of blood even [[FaceMonsterTurn transforming into White Beasts]]]].
* BreakableWeapons: Returns after being missing in ''Fates'' and ''Shadows of Valentia'', with a similar system to the one in ''Genealogy''. Instead of being gone for good, broken weapons are a detriment to the user due to their weakened state. However, weapons can be repaired at the forge. Weapon durability extends to those in enemy hands as well, which can help with grinding Support Bond points: tank an enemy with a strong character enough times to break their weapon, then have someone weaker tank the enemy while standing next to the people you want to bond with. Combat Arts give access to more damaging attacks with special perks, at the cost of damaging the weapon as much as several normal attacks.
* BreatherEpisode:
** The ball during the Red Wolf Moon is smack-dab between [[spoiler:"Tomas" revealing himself to be a villain by forcing villagers to slaughter each other and burning down the town in the process]] and [[spoiler:"Monica" stabbing Jeralt]].
** Following [[spoiler:Flayn's abduction]], Chapter 7 focuses primarily on the Battle of the Eagle and the Lion, and even features a fishing tournament. In many ways, it serves as the last moment of respite, as each of the following chapters features some sort of WhamEpisode [[note]][[spoiler:the aforementioned Tomas reveal, Jeralt's death, Sothis merging with Byleth, Edelgard being revealed as the Flame Emperor, and the Empire's assault on the monastery]][[/note]] leading into the TimeSkip.
* BrokenPedestal:
** The Verdant Wind route reveals that [[spoiler:the Ten Elites, supposedly the heroic yet fallen founders of the continent's most prominent bloodlines, were actually vicious, murderous bandits that were allies of Nemesis from the start]].
** Reading Jeralt’s diary reveals he once held Lady Rhea in high esteem, and it wasn’t until [[spoiler:his wife’s mysterious death during childbirth and Rhea’s refusal to explain Byleth’s situation after being born (namely, that they wouldn’t cry nor have a heartbeat)]] that he became distrustful of her.
* BrokenSmile: One of the NPC soldiers sports this in a cutscene upon witnessing what the [[spoiler:"javelins of light" can do to a fortress]].
* BusCrash:
** If a character is defeated in classic mode in part I, most of them [[https://imgur.com/a/AIbFwFT will either vanish or unceremoniously die during the timeskip]].
** Heavily implied to be the case for [[spoiler:almost ''every student not recruited during Part I'']] on the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route]] after the second Battle at Gronder [[note]][[spoiler:Sans Ashe and Lorenz, who are fought during the story, and Annette, who's implied to be forced to live with her pro-imperial uncle, Baron Dominic, if not recruited outside of the Blue Lions route]][[/note]]. [[spoiler:Characters describe the event to have been such a bloodbath the only confirmed survivors are Edelgard and Hubert, while Dimitri is mentioned to have perished and Claude is considered M.I.A. after the battle. However, Dedue showing up alive later in Enbarr to carry out Dimitri's will, despite being also declared dead, [[AmbiguousSituation leave the final fate of the other characters involved in the battle up in the air]])]].
* BusmansHoliday: The optional side missions often go this way. The characters will be investigating something irrelevant to the main story, only for the situation to escalate into a full-scale battle for survival.
* ButThouMust:
** In your first conversation with Sothis, the game will not allow you to proceed until you tell her you're a mortal.
** At the beginning of the Golden Deer house's version of Chapter 10, the game will not allow you to proceed until you permit Claude to borrow [[spoiler:Jeralt's diary]].
** Many dialogue options, especially in Byleth's supports, are almost identical to another, making them examples of the variant in which "there is no 'wrong' answer to choose." For example, after Raphael and Ignatz's Paralogue, you can say that Raphael's "a [[NiceGuy nice guy]]" or "a good man."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes C]]
* CallARabbitASmeerp: Characters refer to [[spoiler:ballistic missiles as "javelins of light"]], since they have no idea what those things are. Though as they are surrounded by glowing rings of light when deployed, they fit the description, [[spoiler:as even the Children of the Goddess don't fully understand the technology ancient Agarthans had]].
* CantDropTheHero: Zigzagged. While Byleth can’t be dropped in any story related missions and paralogues, there are some chapters where the house leader doesn’t need to be deployed.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: This is why, on the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:"those who slither in the dark" are fought after the war is ended]], and why on the Verdant Wind and [[spoiler:Silver Snow]] routes, [[spoiler:Hubert makes sure to leave a letter to Byleth and their faction telling them to go after "those who slither in the dark"]]. Despite that they are ObviouslyEvil and have caused many of the game's conflicts in recent history, [[spoiler:the Empire still uses them simply because they can't afford to waste resources on dealing with them until ''after'' their goal is accomplished]].
* CastFromHitPoints: In gameplay, whoever uses a Hero's Relic without the proper Crest or the Devil's Axe will suffer 10 damage after combat.
* CastFullOfRichPeople: The game is set in a MilitarySchool for royals and nobles, so the majority of the cast are the offspring of rich landed nobility, with one imperial and one royal heir in the mix. There ''are'' fair number of commoners (though still a minority) accepted into the academy on their combat/academic merits, recommendations by nobles, pooled funds from their allies or families, etc. as well as a handful of {{Impoverished Patrician}}s, but they could be seen as the exceptions confirming the rule.
* CastingGag: Japanese-wise in two ways:
** Lysithea is voiced by Creator/AoiYuuki, a prodigy in her field (magic) who [[spoiler:suffers a case of YourDaysAreNumbered and will expire if she doesn't get a paired ending with certain characters]]. The voice actress also did work on ''Franchise/FireEmblem''[='=]s [[DuelingGames rival game]] in the gacha department, ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', as a prodigy in her own field (swordsmanship) [[spoiler:and short-lived due to her own sickness history-wise]], [[GenderFlip Okita Souji]]. Furthering the gag, Lysithea also has hidden talent in Swords, and changing her class into Mortal Savant evokes a close image of a Samurai/Oriental Swordsman like Okita.
** Cornelia's voice actress is Creator/AkemiOkamura and previously within the franchise, she voiced [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Emmeryn]], the definition of [[TheHighQueen serene High Queen.]] Cornelia is a person of authority, nearing queen levels, but [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil and manipulative]], so you can say that the casting invokes 'evil Emmeryn'.
* CelibateHero: Unlike previous games, with only a few exceptions[[note]][[ChivalrousPervert Sylvain]], [[BlueBlood Lorenz]], [[ChristmasCake Manuela]], and [[GoldDigger Dorothea]], and even Lorenz reassesses his priorities in his A-support with Byleth[[/note]], every playable character is not actively looking for romance. Either they haven't had enough time to truly get to know someone for a romantic relationship (Part I) or they're in the middle of an active war and have no time to think about romance (Part II). It becomes {{subverted}} in various paired endings, though platonic paired endings also exist.
* CentralTheme: The four routes have a core theme they follow:
** Crimson Flower: Challenging corrupt institutions and seeing one's ambitions and ideals realized.
** Azure Moon: Finding light even in the darkness and learning and growing from tragedy.
** Verdant Wind: Uncovering hidden mysteries kept secret from all and breaking down cultural barriers.
** [[spoiler:Silver Snow: Confronting the past and learning who you truly are.]]
* ChainOfDeals: One sidequest has both Shamir and Catherine asking for a two-toned whetstone. In order to obtain said whetstone, you'll need to pick up the tone of Crestological Mysteries and give it to Hanneman, who will give you the Tome of Comely Saints, which Manuela needs. Several exchanges later, you get the whetstone.
* CharacterSelectForcing: On [[HarderThanHard Maddening]], expect certain characters to become essential.
** If playing as the Blue Lions, Dedue is basically required for the earlygame, as his high Defense allows him to tank hits that his squishier teammates will fold to, despite his CrutchCharacter status. Felix is similar as he has effectively the highest attack power on the team, although unlike Dedue, he remains strong throughout the game barring bad luck with level-ups.
** If playing as the Golden Deer, Ignatz and Raphael's early Rally skills (Speed and Strength, respectively) can enable kills that were otherwise out of reach, or at least allow an ally to avoid being killed. Leonie's high base stats and immediate access to Tempest Lance also make her a required pick.
** Regardless of house chosen, that house's archer (Bernadetta, Ashe, or Ignatz) is required for chip damage due to their immediate access to Curved Shot, which notably allows them to attack enemy mages without fear of retaliation.
** Lategame, at least one of Sylvain, Ferdinand, or Seteth is required to deal with enemy Swordmasters and Assassins, as their access to [[ActionInitiative Swift Strikes]] allows them to bypass their Speed and one-round.
* ChekhovsGift: When they were both little kids, [[spoiler:Dimitri gave Edelgard a dagger as a parting gift — symbolic of cutting one's own path in life. While uncomfortable about the gesture at the time, she's kept the weapon. When the Flame Emperor leaves the same dagger behind, this clues Dimitri in to who they are. On the Azure Moon route, Dimitri gifts her back the dagger after failing to reconcile with Edelgard before the assault on the imperial capital, only for her to try to kill him with the weapon after being defeated in her Hegemon form]].
* ChekhovsGun: A relatively minor one. One innocuous quest in Chapter 4 has you looking for information on a band of thieves on Seteth's behalf, eventually learning that they are holed up on Conand Tower. Chapter 5's mission is to wipe out these bandits.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
** Dimitri reveals that [[spoiler:while Edelgard and her uncle sought asylum in Faerghus, they became friends and she even taught him how to dance. However, [[ForgottenFirstMeeting Edelgard apparently doesn't remember this]], though she does say that her first love was a nobleman, and Byleth can tease Dimitri over supposed romantic feelings for her, though he tends to laugh it off. Nothing of the romantic nature results (for both story reasons[[note]]they end up locked in a bitter war against one another in their respective routes post-timeskip[[/note]] and gameplay reasons[[note]]neither can be recruited into the other’s class and support with one another during any route playthrough[[/note]]), [[WeUsedToBeFriends much less of the platonic nature]].]]
** Ingrid, Dimitri, Sylvain, and Felix grew up together, and she can be paired up with any of them.
* TheChurch: The Church of Seiros is one of the most powerful institutions on the continent of Fódlan, responsible for running the Officers Academy and keeping the peace between the three nations of the continent. It also happens to have [[ChurchMilitant an army of its own]], usually deployed to suppress bandit attacks and provide military support to nearby territories.
* ColonCancer: The narration of each chapter reads this way.
-->'''Jeralt:''' Part I: White Clouds: Horsebow Moon: Rumors of a Reaper.
* ColorAnimalCodename: The eponymous three houses of are all named in accordance to this trope: Black Eagles, Golden Deer, and Blue Lions.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The three nations of Fódlan (and thus, the three houses) are associated with a color: red for the Adrestian Empire, blue for the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and yellow for the Leicester Alliance. The main color is present in the nations' banners and their soldiers' uniforms, and their future leaders are clad in that color. After the timeskip, the majority of former students of the Black Eagles and Blue Lions also have red and blue in their clothing, respectively.
* CombatStilettos: Every female character in their default costume wear high heels while in battle, be them students, teachers or knights. This also extends to most female class costumes, with a handful of aversions (notably Armored Knight / Fortress Knight).
** Gender-inverted by Felix after the timeskip, as his outfit includes tall boots with noticeable heels, despite not being a riding class.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** In Byleth and Flayn's S support, Flayn, intrigued that [[TwoBeingsOneBody Sothis dwells within Byleth]], asks if he considers himself male or female and if it's possible for a male goddess to exist. When he presents a ring to her, the proposal goes over her head. She finds it beautiful and remarks that Byleth walks around with a women's ring, which surely must mean he thinks himself female.
** In Byleth and Cyril's S support, Byleth gives Cyril her mother's ring and asks him to try it on. He doesn't know its purpose, and when [[TheGadfly Byleth tells him, "There's no running away now"]], he assumes that means the ring is cursed and he cannot leave Garreg Mach.
* CommonTacticalGameplayElements:
** FogOfWar (only on maps with a literal fog cover)
** [[GeoEffects Movement Modifiers]] (different terrain types, like forest and sand, cost more movement points to some unit types, while flying units can cross some terrain impassable for everyone else)
** Viewing Range (only of maps with fog: a unit carrying a lit torch dispels the fog much further than normal)
** Movement Speed (armored units and mages have fewer movement points than light skirmishers, and mounted and flying units are much faster than either)
** [[CompetitiveBalance Unit Specialization]] (each class and even character has special abilities and stat bonuses that make them more suited for different combat roles)
** [[TheLeader Leader Unit]] (Byleth has an ability that boosts XP gain of adjacent allies, while the Lord class boosts adjacent allies' attack; and of course, Byleth or a house leader permanently dying is an immediate GameOver for story reasons)
** Attack Range (different weapons have different attack ranges, which can be further extended with special abilities and combat arts)
** SplashDamage (all Gambits affect multiple squares, with enemies further away from the attacker taking less damage)
** [[TakeCover Taking Cover]] (non-flier units standing in forests or bushes get evasion bonuses[[note]]on the other hand, standing on the other side of an entire house has no effect on the attacker's precision for some reason[[/note]])
** Called Shots (several combat arts disadvantage their targets in various ways), KnockBack (several Gambits push the target back a square or two)
** [[CombinationAttack Pincer Attack]] (Gambit attacks are boosted by nearby allies with high support levels)
** Crowd Control (several basic Gambits "rattle" the enemy, preventing them from moving on their next turn)
** Guard (kinda: assigning a defensive-type adjutant to a unit causes them to sometimes block an incoming attack)
** Concealment (enemies in the fog get to sneak up on Byleth's troops, though [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard not the other way around]])
** Context Action (instead of attacking or using magic, a unit can occasionally spend their turn opening a chest or a door, talking with an ally, or using a stationary weapon like a ballista)
** Rule Breaker (usually tied to class or character special abilities, such as the mounted units' Canto ability that lets them use their unspent movement points ''after'' attacking, which unmounted troops cannot do).
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard:
** Sometimes, enemy named characters will have skillsets player-controlled units can't access. For example, [[spoiler:an enemy Shamir on the Crimson Flower route will have Bowrange+1 from being a Sniper as well as Bowrange+2, a skill usually only usable by Bow Knights and one that normally doesn't stack with Bowrange+1]].
** If Hilda is recruited on the Azure Moon route, she is replaced in Chapter 19 by a generic female War Master, a normally male-only class.
* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: In Petra and Bernadetta's Paralogue, the win condition is allegedly to get Petra to the goal in the southeast corner of the map or rout all enemy units. [[spoiler:''The game is lying''. Approaching the highlighted goal point or routing all enemies currently on the map triggers a wave of enemy reinforcements, accompanied by Hubert (or Catherine in Crimson Flower), in the middle of your turn no less, and the win condition changes so that you're required to wipe out all of the enemy units before they reach the goal square]].
* ContinuityNod: The [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Archanea]] regalia once again make an appearance, albeit as a chance to be obtained from rare monsters as [[ExcaliburInTheRust rusted weapons]].
* ContractualBossImmunity: Major enemy bosses have either the General skill (immune to instant death effects and half damage from enemy gambits) or the Commander skill (immune to instant death, movement effects, and status ailments, and severely reduced damage from enemy gambits). Major magic-wielding bosses also tend to have Unsealable Magic, which renders them immune to Silence. Finally, enemies who normally have weaknesses to effective damage often have the appropriate skills or shields to nullify said weaknesses, with the notable exception of the Death Knight.
* ContrivedCoincidence: In Byleth and Caspar's C-support scene, Caspar goes after a suspicious man with a scorpion tattoo, who [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled kills himself when he sees Caspar approaching]]. A knight scolds Caspar for his rash behavior, since he may have been part of an underground group. After the timeskip, Caspar approaches Byleth, saying he was thinking about what happened five years ago, when he's interrupted by a knight (who also knows of Caspar's actions) informing them that knights on patrol were attacked by brigands, all wearing scorpion tattoos, and while the knights prevailed, there were casualties. Caspar remarks what a coincidence it is that he should mention the suspicious man and then receive news of his comrades' attack.
* {{Corpsing}}: In their B support, Claude tells Lysithea about a graveyard that she should avoid due to her fear of ghosts. His voice actor cracks up toward the end of the line.
-->See, there's a graveyard over here. Might run into some of those gho-o-osts you hate so mu-ha-ha-ha-ch.
* CosmeticAward: The reward for beating the game for the first time is NewGamePlus and a title screen showing Sothis sleeping on the throne. The reward for beating the game on [[HarderThanHard Maddening difficulty]] without starting a New Game+ is [[spoiler:a title screen showing Sothis sleeping on the throne, under yellow light]].
* CoupDeGraceCutscene: Every enemy must have their health lowered to 0 to defeat them. However, for major bosses such as the ones at the end of the Verdant Wind, Azure Moon, and Crimson Flower routes, the defeat is followed by a movie where Byleth and/or the chosen faction leader deal the finishing blows.
* CrapsackWorld: Mixed in with CrapsaccharineWorld. Sure, Fódlan is in relative peace (it having been centuries since the last large-scale war in the continent), but the keyword is "relative," as each nation has its own problems that have gotten much worse in recent years.
** In the Empire, the corrupt nobles conducted a coup after the Emperor tried to centralize power and stopped an insurrection in Hrym territory due to this. Afterwards, once the empire's regent got involved with the coup, [[spoiler:the emperor's children were captured and experimented upon with the intention of implanting crests in them in order to create a "perfect Emperor", from which only one heir survived the process "relatively unscathed"]]. Said nobility also commits several other abuses to get Crests in their bloodline, like marrying women with crests and making them bear children non-stop at the expense of their health. Also, the Empire was invaded by Dagda and Brigid just 5 years before the events of the story, which led to the extinction of some noble houses like House Nuvelle.
** The Kingdom suffered a horrific regicide several years before the story began which led to great unrest and violence within the Kingdom as people rioted and certain nobles attempted to seize greater power. In retaliation, the Kingdom army committed a genocide on the innocent natives of the Duscur region who were framed for the regicide, despite the protests of the Kingdom's own prince, and the Duscur survivors face intense discrimination in addition to having lost their homeland. Not to mention food shortages, brutal winters, and a barren land make life hard for the people the Kingdom, and the nobles are also obsessed with Crests in their bloodlines in order to defend themselves against invaders from Sreng, but this has lead to a tendency (or in rare cases a requirement) for the first born to lose their inheritance if they lack a Crest and a younger sibling doesn't (such as in the case of Miklan).
** The Alliance looks relatively stable, but their leading nobles are constantly squabbling, and the common people can suffer the consequences of their infighting, such as Raphael's parents who were collateral damage in what amounted to a political assassination. House Ordelia was also implicated with the empire's insurrection due to providing aid to the Hrym territory, which led to most of their key people killed and replaced with imperial staff, as well [[spoiler: their children getting experimented upon by implanting them crests, from which only one heir made it out alive at the expense of her health and life expectancy]].
** The Church contributes in some ways to Fódlan's stagnant status quo. Despite their good intentions of keeping the continent in harmony and preaching against many of the abuses of power the nobles practice (as well as attempting to teach acceptance and equality in the monastery), the fact their teachings claim the Crests were originally gifts from the goddess [[spoiler:due to Rhea's manipulation of her followers and distortion of history]] effectively promotes the various versions of the Crest caste system and abuses mentioned above. The tenets of the Church preaching against interactions with outside nations has also led to widespread isolationism and prejudice, and other branches of the Church like the Southern and Western Churches have enacted rebellions and instigated chaos.
** Last but not least is [[spoiler: "those who slither in the dark" deliberately taking advantage of these events or outright causing them in some cases, with the intention to destabilize and eventually genocide all the people of Fódlan so they may rule the continent as they once did in the ancient past]].
** There is also the fact that there are so many small scale conflicts such as with noble rebellions and bandit attacks that most armies are stretched thin, and the Monastery is forced to [[ChildSoldiers send each class on monthly military expeditions]] (it's noted by [=NPCs=] that the amount and severity of fighting the students are having to do during the year Byleth teaches is unheard of and showcases how precarious a state Fódlan is in presently). It's clear that [[ExactWords the narration really did mean]] ''[[ExactWords relative]]'' [[ExactWords harmony]].
* CripplingOverspecialization: The biggest drawback of using many of the teachers and knights. While very useful in their own class, they usually have a disadvantage getting a master class due to lacking any talent in a field not their own. Even after training them, characters usually have, at best, neutral proficiency or possibly even a negative to skills in the desired master class.
* CrossPoppingVeins: When characters speak to each other, when someone is angered, a red cross-popping veins symbol will appear beside their head for a moment.
* CurbStompBattle: What the Crimson Flower route basically amounts to. [[spoiler:In the other routes, the other factions of Fódlan can only barely keep Adrestia at bay for five years until Byleth comes back and turns the tide against it. In the route where Byleth ''joins'' the Empire instead of opposing it, however, when they return, Edelgard is able to muster the full might of her forces and steamrolls the rest of Fódlan so badly that her route is the shortest by a good ''four maps''. Even the occasional unforeseen hiccups like Claude summoning Almyran reinforcements to defend Deirdru or the Knights of Seiros launching a surprise assault on Garreg Mach are handled without much fuss and don't ultimately make a difference anyway.]]
* CurtainsMatchTheWindows: Around half of more of the cast have hair and eyes that are the exact same or very similar color.
* CustomUniform: Varies from character to character during the school half. You’ll have characters like Hubert or Dedue wearing the uniform as they should. But then you have characters like Raphael or Mercedes, who add personal touches to it.
* CycleOfRevenge: This is a major theme in the game, particularly on the Azure Moon route. [[spoiler:In the backstory, Sothis massacred the Agarthans for attacking her in their hubris. This caused "those who slither in the dark," the last vestiges of Agartha, to take their own revenge through Nemesis by having him kill Sothis in her sleep and using the remains of Sothis to forge the Sword of the Creator. They then massacred Seiros' brethren, which resulted in her going to war with them and killing Nemesis. "Those who slither in the dark" retreated but continued to plot their revenge against Seiros and her church. To this end, they forge weapons and Crests, and much later, they experiment on Edelgard with Crests and convince her to seek revenge on the Church for promoting the Crest system (though she also intends to take revenge on ''them'' afterwards for their experiments and she no longer needs them). Dimitri becomes obsessed with revenge against ''her'' for her involvement with the people who murdered his family as a part of that goal. Dimitri only breaks the cycle on the Azure Moon route when the sister of an imperial general who died fighting Dimitri's army ends up killing Rodrigue while trying to avenge her brother, prompting Dimitri's HeelRealization.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes D]]
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique:
** Regardless of how many Crest bloodlines are in their ancestry, humans can only naturally be born with one Crest power active in their bodies. This seems to be for safety, as while it is possible to [[spoiler:artificially implant a second Crest, the surgical process is traumatic and usually fails, killing the subject in horrifying ways. Even when it succeeds the subject will be left with a vastly shortened life expectancy in exchange for their heightened powers, the strain of two Crests being simply too much for the body to bear.]]
** Those without Crests can [[spoiler:use Crest stones to gain power, but always at the cost of their minds and bodies, transforming into raging deformed hybrids of man and reptile called Demonic Beasts. Simply holding a Crest stone for long enough will cause the transformation in anyone who doesn't have their own Crest.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** Various elements including GreyAndGrayMorality, GambitPileUp among various factions, [[DarkAndTroubledPast dark backstories]] such as with [[spoiler:Edelgard, Dimitri, Lysithea, and Bernadetta's]], and [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier cutscenes]] make for a very dark game, especially when comparing this to ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'', and even the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn games]]. Put simply, this is very much the darkest ''Fire Emblem'' game since ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', which is fitting since that game was the inspiration for ''Three Houses''.
** The game's particular brand of darkness avoids the gratuity and over-the-top nature of a typical DarkFantasy setting, instead opting for a disturbingly grounded and subtle kind of darkness, rooted firmly in its love of GreyAndGrayMorality and real-world subtext. Previous games such as ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' tackled themes like FantasticRacism and religion, but in the end, much of the blame still lay firmly with HateSink characters such as the [[spoiler:Begnion Senate]]. In ''Three Houses'', almost all evil is man-made, with the entirely sympathetic main cast with its flaws, mistakes, and miscommunications to be held responsible. The existence of human-on-human racism and xenophobia is acknowledged in all routes and made one of the central themes of Golden Deer. The Crimson Flower and [[spoiler:Silver Snow routes]] deal heavily with questions of religion, classism, and political extremism in a rather ambivalent way, avoiding one-dimensional CorruptChurch and KnightTemplar stereotypes. Several characters, such as Dimitri and Bernadetta, suffer from realistic mental illnesses which are not magically cured through EpiphanyTherapy, don’t turn them into cackling villains, and are not treated as a mere quirk for ComicRelief. The series's traditionally idealized depiction of aristocracy is scaled back; not only do many of the noble characters have the dysfunctional, troubled, and/or violent family backgrounds that historically were common among the nobility, but the very validity of a hereditary nobility is called into question, particularly on the Crimson Flower route. Even the one definitively evil group responsible for much of the conflict, [[spoiler:"those who slither in the dark,"]] are motivated by the same ideals, such as revenge and independence from the divine, that motivate the rest of the factions; their primary distinguishing quirk (aside from their {{Magitek}}) is their [[MadScientist complete lack of ethical boundaries]], [[LackOfEmpathy empathy]], or compunction — something the game [[HateSink doesn't even pretend to try to rationalize or make sympathetic.]]
** At its core, the conflict between [[spoiler:Edelgard and Dimitri]] is that of a warmongering emperor and the young noble who wants to stop them… except the emperor has suffered through devastating trauma and has very good reasons to want to upend the status quo, and the young noble has ''also'' suffered devastating trauma, takes the emperor's betrayal very personally, and almost completely snaps from the pressure to become a bloodthirsty butcher. [[spoiler:Depending on which route you pick, one of them may lighten up and become more heroic, but ''only'' one.]]
* DarkReprise: "Blue Skies and a Battle", the theme that plays out during the mock three-way battle of Chapter 7, has a sweeping orchestra that permeates the scale of the fight, but is held in check with dubstep beats that mellow out the tone. Chapter 17 on some routes features a three-way battle similar to Chapter 7, [[spoiler:but because it comes after a five-year timeskip in which the three playable factions have been locked into a war, there is no mock battle; every conflict is now real, and casualties are no longer excused by a retreat. "Between Heaven and Earth", which has a similar melody to "Blue Skies and a Battle", replaces the dubstep beats with a solemn chorus, making the overall song darker. Claude even makes a point of referencing the drastic drop in the mood, calling the "class reunion" the worst in history.]]
* ADayInTheLimelight: This game's paralogue missions put your regular units in the spotlight for one map and often have them handle personal issues.
* DeadlyDeferredConversation: During the Guardian Moon, Jeralt tells Byleth that he has something important to share with them, but he's interrupted both times during their conversations. [[spoiler:He's killed by Kronya before he has a chance to tell them, and they figure it out by reading his diary.]]
* DeadPersonConversation: On the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route, a few days after your army takes the Great Bridge of Myrddin and allows the Faerghus army to pass freely on their way into the Empire, Dimitri is reported to have died in battle at Gronder Field. That evening, he shows up at the monastery to speak with Byleth, who is incredulous that he's alive and senses something is amiss. Just as Dimitri appears to open up and say what's on his mind, Seteth wakes Byleth from sleep, and when they ask where the person they were talking to went, Seteth reports that he only saw Byleth asleep. Byleth tells him they were talking to someone, and Seteth remarks that it was probably someone who desired their guidance.]]
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: ''Three Houses''[='=] DarkerAndEdgier setting gives the opportunity to deconstruct a lot of the [[RecurringElement long-running archetypes]] present in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series. See the [[Characters/FireEmblemHeroicArchetypes character]] [[Characters/FireEmblemAntagonistArchetypes archetype]] pages for details.
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Unlike the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer routes, if you’re leading the Black Eagle house and end up on the Silver Snow path, their house leader, Edelgard [[UndyingLoyalty (and Hubert, her retainer)]] will abandon you character roster permanently after Chapter 11. Because of this, Byleth becomes the main character and the main lord for the rest of the story]].
* DefeatMeansFriendship:
** In several quests, Byleth's class is tasked with beating down a group of rebels, defectors, or bandits causing trouble. After the chapter's cleared, they'll be added to the player's available battalions with the explanation that the fight was enough to impress them into coming to work at the monastery. In other cases, it will be a training exercise against various military units to prove the worth of the player's house.
** Certain characters not native to the player's chosen faction post-timeskip will [[spoiler:defect from their class even if they had been previously recruited, like Lorenz on the Azure Moon route, Ashe on the Verdant Wind route, or both on the Silver Snow route. If they're defeated with Byleth when they're encountered, they'll be able to rejoin Byleth and their allies]].
** On the Crimson Flower route, this is played straight with [[spoiler:Lysithea]]. If she's not recruited before the timeskip, the player is given the option to spare and recruit her on the spot should she be defeated in combat.
** Averted hard in the case of the [[spoiler:Black Eagles]], as none of them can be recruited after the timeskip when fought on routes that aren't their own.
* DelayedReaction:
** Bernadetta, due to her low self-esteem and anxiety, is prone to making assumptions about someone without really registering what the other person has said to her until a few seconds later, leading her to stop herself and verbally backpedal.
** In Ferdinand and Hubert's A+ support, both assume that the coffee beans/tea leaves each bought for the other is for someone else.
--->'''Hubert:''' Is it a gift? Perhaps for someone you fancy?\\
'''Ferdinand:''' A gift, yes. For you.\\
'''Hubert:''' Hm. Who is the unlucky— Did you say for me?! This coffee is a gift for me? Have I heard you correctly?\\
[...]\\
'''Ferdinand:''' For me? Are you certain? I would hate to deprive the intended recipient of such a fine tea.\\
'''Hubert:''' That would be difficult to do, since I bought it with you in mind.\\
'''Ferdinand:''' Oh, in that case, thank— What? You were planning to give this to me all along?
* DevelopersForesight:
** Group Tasks and meals together will often have unique interactions between characters, namely those with supports with each other. These can range from friends motivating each other, to some characters flat-out questioning why you would pair them up together (such as Edelgard and Ferdinand). As they go through support interactions, some of their lines change during mealtimes and group tasks to account for the support conversation. For example, after Annette and Mercedes's B-rank support, which ends with them arguing, if you eat a meal with them together, they are both uncomfortable in their dialogue. After their A support, though, they're back on good terms with each other.
** Students poached from the other two houses in the first half will have unique dialogue after the timeskip to justify why they've remained with you, [[spoiler:fighting against their country of birth, including their families and former friends]], or in the case of the Crimson Flower path, [[spoiler:why the more devout students like Mercedes or Marianne would turn against the Church of Seiros]]. They'll also comment on events in the storyline when talked to in the months between battles. Sometimes there will also be battle dialogue when they're forced [[spoiler:to fight against a former friend or family member,]] like a Crimson Flower path Felix having to fight [[spoiler:his father Rodrigue during the siege of Arianrhod,]] which wouldn't happen on a playthrough of their native house.
*** The game will even ''acknowledge'' several things you did, such as [[spoiler:Dimitri calling out Felix for killing Rodrigue]]. This also extends to the knights and professors on Crimson Flower who may sometimes have choice words against each other, [[spoiler:most notably Catherine and Shamir]].
** During the second to last fight of the Crimson Flower route, Dedue will [[spoiler:turn himself into a Beast enemy once one of your units enters within movement space of him. However, if you manage to kill him in one of your units' attack turns, he will not transform into a Beast, and instead die. Doing so will result in different dialogue as he dies, and Dimitri having a different reaction]].
** Characters that reach [[{{Cap}} level 99]] will say a unique line upon leveling up. Typically, by the end of a playthrough, units will be around their mid-40s; 99 is impossible to reach unless one grinds on the auxiliary maps on Normal.
** When doing Alois and Shamir's Paralogue, Sword and Shield of Seiros, the pirate will claim to be Almyran. Normally, Alois is the only one to comment on this fact, but if you are on a Golden Deer playthrough, Claude actually comments that while they are Almyran, they are still pirates. After you win, Claude will also comment that they aren't actually Almyran, something that doesn't appear in any other route save the Golden Deer.
** Completing paralogues often changes dialogue when necessary in the main story. For example, if you complete the "Silver Maiden" paralogue, then at one point in the main plot, Dimitri will reference how you liberated Arianrhod. Additionally, [[spoiler:completing Mercedes' paralogue on the Azure Moon route before the Death Knight's final defeat unlocks a route-specific cutscene of her cradling her dying brother's body]].
** Doing Catherine and Ashe's Paralogue has you executing the bishop of the Western Church. After, if you do Seteth's and Flayn's Paralogue, where the Western Church occupies a shrine to St. Cichol, Seteth comments that this group was separate from that Bishop. If you do them in the opposite order, Catherine will bring up the incident from Seteth and Flayn's paralogue.
** On the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard will reveal in her support her past and the fact she has [[spoiler:two Crests]]. If the player does not have a high enough support with Edelgard to learn this fact, Hubert and Edelgard will reveal it to the player post-timeskip while discussing Edelgard's uncle. However, if you have already gotten her support that far, they will acknowledge that you are aware of it instead.
** When checking a character's profile, it will display the house or faction they belong to. Byleth's will default to the Church of Seiros, as they are an instructor, and will only change when you reach the timeskip. During the first level of the game, however, since Byleth and Jeralt are not part of any faction, their faction will instead say Mercenaries.
** Some of the support conversations will have altered dialogue depending on if you got them pre- or post-timeskip, as well as the route. For instance, Linhardt pre-timeskip in his C Support with Caspar will have him wonder why their fathers hate each other so much, but if achieved post-timeskip, Linhardt will instead muse they are likely bickering in the Empire. Some even go a step further and actually make sure to account for time differences [[note]]such as Seteth and Hanneman's C Support where Seteth adjusts the amount of time they've known each other from 16 years to 21[[/note]], or whether or not you've unlocked certain other Supports yet or not [[note]]In Byleth's A Support with Catherine, she'll talk about how Lady Rhea saved her when she was a student. Normally she doesn't remember exactly what happened, save for a few details, but if her C Support with Seteth is achieved beforehand (where he jogs her memory of that event), she'll recall exactly what happened[[/note]].
** Several paired endings will be different depending on the route and who are being paired together. For example, a paired ending for Ingrid and Felix always states that [[spoiler:they got married]] regardless of the route, but on the Azure Moon route, Felix [[spoiler:gets injured protecting her and gives up fighting after]], something that doesn't happen in the other routes. Byleth's S supports also are all different depending on the route; male Byleth romancing Lysithea, for example, will all be different due to each route having Byleth in different positions after the war.
** On the night of the ball, the player can meet a prospective LoveInterest at the Goddess Tower. On the Azure Moon route, there's a scene right before that where you and Dimitri talk privately; if you pick him, at the end of the scene, you'll walk to the tower together instead.
** If a character is on low health and scores a CriticalHit, they will wince and look pained instead of looking triumphant like they do when critting on full health.
** Some of the students have hidden quotes that activate when they achieve a CriticalHit against an enemy playable unit. For example:
--->'''Lysithea''': I don't want to do this!\\
'''Mercedes''': You may want to move!
** Several support conversations change context in accordance to which support was done before it. For example, in Ferdinand and Edelgard's A-Rank support, [[spoiler:the support conversation opens with Ferdinand drinking and complimenting on the taste of the tea he drank, but if you open up Ferdinand and Hubert's A+ support beforehand, this opening changes to Ferdinand drinking coffee]]. Another example is Marianne and Ashe's B Support, if the player has completed her support with Sylvain, she mentions the outcome of it, and Ashe will comment on it as well.
** Weapon animations will change to match the specific subtype of weapon you're wielding — for example, if you give a [[SinisterScythe Crescent Sickle]] (considered a lance type of weapon) to someone, rather than stab with it, they will swing or chop with it.
** In Dedue's paralogue, the player fights soldiers of Duscur. For the only time in the game, the enemy models have darker skin, appropriately reflecting their ethnicity.
** The final map of Crimson Flower has [[spoiler:Gilbert]] as an enemy. If [[spoiler:his daughter Annette]] is not recruited, then she will also be on the map. Should you decide to [[spoiler:kill one of the two before the other]], the game will acknowledge that you have pushed them past the DespairEventHorizon and they will break AI patterns and [[UnstoppableRage charge straight for your army]].
** Several support conversations can change context or be unlocked differently in different routes. For example, Lysithea's A-Rank support with Byleth won't be opened [[spoiler:until the second battle of Gronder field is cleared]] in the Golden Deer route. And if you unlocked Seteth's A-Rank support late into the game in the Golden Deer route, [[spoiler:specifically, after the opening of chapter 22, where Rhea told Claude and Byleth about Byleth's own origins, you have the option to mention that you have already known it from Rhea]].
** If you chose the Golden Deer house, Claude has a special comment when facing the bosses in certain paralogues if he is brought. Namely, the "Tales of The Red Canyon", "The Forgotten Hero", and "Legend of the Lake" paralogues. This fits the fact that the Verdant Wind route is one of the routes where the characters are not LockedOutOfTheLoop. [[labelnote:note]]Dimitri does not have any special dialogue in those paralogues when he faces the bosses, while [[spoiler:Edelgard]] is not available for the "Legend of the Lake" paralogue.[[/labelnote]]
** If you poached Lorenz into one of the other houses, he will remark on this for his paralogue, citing that even though he's no longer a part of the Golden Deer house, he will still eventually have a leadership role in the Alliance.
** Should a character die in battle pre-timeskip, the epilogue accounts for this by stating they either perished during the battle at [[spoiler:Garreg Mach]], or gives them an excuse to justify why they are not playable, such as Marianne flat-out leaving. If they die post-timeskip, they instead are listed as killed in battle.
** Seminars will adjust their flavor text to account for the character teaching it and what they are teaching. Characters like Petra will usually say she teaches a lesson about Brigid tactics, while others will use the characters personality as the basis for their lesson, such as Caspar.
** If Felix and Dorothea's B-support is obtained after the timeskip on any route besides Azure Moon, he dismisses her by saying [[spoiler:that as he abandoned his family]], she won't gain anything by marrying him.
** If the player chooses the Black Eagles, [[spoiler:sides with the church]] and their birthday falls between 3/14 and 3/31, [[spoiler:Flayn will write the birthday letter instead of Edelgard,]] and instead of receiving the [[spoiler:Black Eagle Pendant]], they will receive the [[spoiler:White Dragon Scarf]], a one of a kind item. Similarly, if the player chooses the Blue Lions and their birthday falls between 1/1 and 4/30, post-timeskip, [[spoiler:Gilbert]] will write the birthday letter instead of [[spoiler:Dimitri]].
* DiabolusExMachina:
** When [[spoiler:Jeralt is killed by Kronya]], Byleth turns back time using Divine Pulse so they could [[spoiler:stop her. As they prepare to strike Kronya with the Sword of the Creator, Thales teleports right at that moment and blocks the attack, leading to Jeralt getting stabbed and killed again. Sothis remarks that if even Divine Pulse couldn't save Jeralt, his death must've been willed by fate]].
** At the end of the [[spoiler:Silver Snow]] and Verdant Wind routes, it seems like you've saved the day; [[spoiler:Edelgard is dead, the Empire is finished, Thales is dead, Shambhala is nothing but rubble]], and peace has returned to Fódlan. Then either [[spoiler:Rhea suddenly goes insane and has to be put down on Silver Snow]], or [[spoiler:Nemesis comes back from the dead and goes on a rampage on Verdant Wind]]. Neither has any sort of foreshadowing whatsoever, the former only makes sense if [[spoiler:you've read up on past games' lore and know about dragons degenerating into madness because of things outside of their control]], and the latter [[spoiler:relies on the fully unexplained mechanics of the Crest of Flames]].
* DirtyCoward: Before Byleth became a professor at Garreg Mach, there was another professor who was just starting, but fled during the bandit attack, leaving Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude behind. Lampshaded when Alois remarks that they "Can't entrust students to someone who's abandoned them once before, huh?"
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: More like Disc 2 Final Dungeon, but on the Verdant Wind/[[spoiler:Silver Snow]] routes, the invasion of the [[spoiler:Adrestian Empire’s capital, Enbarr,]] is set up as the final mission of the route, only for the story to continue as a new threat needs to be taken care of right after. This is [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the case of the Azure Moon route, because [[spoiler:Edelgard]] is the FinalBoss.
* DiscOneNuke:
** You can get the Lance of Ruin at the end of Chapter 5 if you have Sylvain in the party, and he's effortless to recruit if Byleth is female or the player chose the Blue Lions house. This thing has 22 might, 9 weight, and a unique combat art, and is pretty much the strongest weapon you're going to get until Thunderbrand (and you can't even get Thunderbrand on the Crimson Flower route until the very last mission).
** The Knights of Seiros, who can be recruited when Byleth is around level 12, have Advanced classes (normally requiring a level 20 unit) and a A-level proficiency in their respective weapon class. Catherine in particular comes with Thunderbrand, which functions as a stronger Brave Sword before getting a normal Brave Sword. Once other units get their Advanced classes, the Knights remain on par.
** Felix's personal skill gives him five extra damage when he's not equipped with a Battalion, while Annette's personal skill is basically Rally Strength, giving the affected person +4 strength. These skills make the two great in the early game, and can make the EarlyGameHell of the [[HarderThanHard Maddening difficulty]] easier to go through, especially if you're on the Blue Lions route, where you get both from the start.
* DiseaseBleach: The painful and inhumane experimentation that [[spoiler:endows someone with another Crest has a high failure rate. In the rare instances where the procedure is successful, the strain of bearing two Crests, along with shortening one's life span, turns the person's hair white]].
* DoubleMeaningTitle: “Three Houses” could refer to the three classes at the Officers Academy, or to the three nations that rule Fódlan that each of the classes come from.
* DownloadableContent:
** The first "wave" of DLC launched alongside the game and added male and female Officers Academy outfits for protagonist Byleth. Wave 2 introduced new Auxiliary battle maps, as well as "helpful in-game support items" and some additional content. The third wave of DLC added new quests whilst making certain characters such as Jeritza [[PromotedToPlayable playable]] for free; meanwhile, the fourth is slated to arrive by February 13, 2020 and will focus on adding a side story called Cindered Shadows (separate from the main game), introduce new playable characters, locations and online features.
** The "Amiibo Gazebo" gives minor item drops each in-game month once ''any'' Toys/{{amiibo}} is scanned. Previous ''Fire Emblem'' amiibo will include music tracks from their respective games, accessible in non-story battles.
** In NewGamePlus, having scanned a ''Fire Emblem'' amiibo lets one access the Holy Tomb. This gives better randomized items and a special ability called Sothis Shield that increases Resistance for three turns once per fight.
* DragonRider: Some units can promote to Wyvern Rider and Wyvern Lord, and Wyvern Master and Barbarossa are exclusive to Claude. Like in most ''Fire Emblem'' games, a wyvern is a dragon with a pair of hind legs and wings where their arms would be, and as flying units, they have high movement and are immune to ground effects.
* DramaticIrony: During the Azure Moon route, at one point a young girl begs to join the army in some capacity, despite clearly not being a soldier. She says that she must join the army, as she wants revenge on the man who killed her brother. Dimitri, currently seeking his own revenge, seems to sympathize and says that she can do whatever she wants. [[spoiler:The player already knows that this girl is the sister of a general the Kingdom army killed a few chapters ago. The man she wants revenge on is ''Dimitri''.]]
* DramaticUnmask: The Flame Emperor's identity is revealed [[spoiler:in the Holy Tomb in Chapter 11. If you're a Black Eagle, Edelgard is part of the party, so she simply tells everyone that she was the Flame Emperor. If you're a Blue Lion or Golden Deer, her mask comes off during battle. Everyone is horrified to find out she was the one responsible for the attacks on the Church, not least of which is Dimitri, who goes LaughingMad]]. This reveal is so dramatic that it represents the point where the routes all diverge.
* DrawAggro: Enemy attacks are now forecast during the player's turn, so they can know exactly who's at risk and shuffle units to protect anyone vulnerable. [[spoiler:Hitting monsters with a Gambit forces them to target the perpetrator, which is particularly vital before their map attacks, as these aren't forecast otherwise.]]
* DubNameChange: Ashe and Lysithea's last names change from Duran to Ubert and Cordelia to Ordelia (to avoid a [[OneSteveLimit shared-name scenario]] with Cordelia from ''Awakening'') respectively.
* DummiedOut:
** There are full combat quotes for being selected, crit dialogue, and leveling up for Jeralt, Rhea, and Sothis, despite the former two not being able to level up under normal circumstances and Sothis not being even usable in battle. In Rhea's case, there's even existing data for Tea Time despite being unable to be invited in the final game.
** Annette and Felix have unused voiced lines as enemies for Chapter 18 of the Azure Moon route. In the final product, it is impossible for both to pull a FaceHeelTurn.
** [[spoiler:Seteth, Flayn, Cyril, and Catherine]] all have unused S-support portraits for the Crimson Flower route depicting [[spoiler:Byleth with their natural hair color]], despite not being recruitable on that route. In addition, [[spoiler:Hilda]] has an unused paired ending with Byleth for the Crimson Flower route.
* DysfunctionJunction: The three main lords have varying issues.
** Edelgard became her father's heir, not because of her capabilities, but because [[spoiler:all her siblings, both older and younger, died either from disease, insanity, or Crest experimentation]]. The results of this has plagued her with nightmares for as long as she can remember, along with a healthy dose of SurvivorsGuilt, and it would lead her to [[spoiler:attempt to kill Rhea and destroy the Church of Seiros, as well as backstabbing allies and endangering innocents to attain her goal of bringing true peace to Fódlan in order to tell herself that their deaths weren't a waste]].
** Dimitri is the SoleSurvivor of the tragedy of Duscur after a series of assassinations killed his father and other nobles. He suffers from SurvivorsGuilt and [[spoiler:can hear voices and hallucinations of those who died, asking why he hadn't avenged them yet]]. Post-timeskip, he is a ShellShockedVeteran with SanitySlippage and is nothing but an AxCrazy BloodKnight wreck.
** Claude is practically the most well adjusted out of the three lords, but even he had to survive through the ChronicBackstabbingDisorder that is very common in his homeland. Only his pragmatic approach has kept him and his friends alive all this time.
[[/folder]]
----
!!''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Tropes A]]
* AbortedArc: Played with. Depending on the route you’re on, some [[PlotPoint plot points]] that pop up during Part I can potentially get dropped by the time Part II starts, the best example of this being Byleth’s origins which are eventually revealed only [[spoiler:on the Silver Snow route]] (while you do get to learn some hints of it on the Verdant Wind route, the exposition given lacks some key details that are told in that path so you don't get the full picture). That being said, there are some paths where this trope is played straight:
** On the Crimson Flower route, it is said multiple times by Edelgard and Hubert that the collaboration with [[spoiler:“those who slither in the dark”]] is merely temporary and that they’ll be eventually dealt with once the war is finally over, which is brought to even more attention after [[spoiler:the organization destroys Arianrhod with a "javelin of light" as retaliation for Cornelia's death]]. Not only that, after [[spoiler:the fall of the Leicester Alliance]], Hubert mentions that Lord Arundel has started collecting the Heroes’ Relics found in the territory, which would indicate he’s up to something. Due to the storyline ending [[spoiler:after the Battle at Fhirdiad and the group being mentioned to have been defeated during the credits]], this plot thread ends up being cut short and resolved offscreen.
** On the Azure Moon route, later in the story Dimitri starts once again seeking answers for the Tragedy of Duscur, which lead him to learn that [[spoiler:his stepmother Patricia may have not only had a hand in what happened, but that she actually went missing instead of being killed like everyone in the Kingdom had previously assumed, and could potentially be still alive somewhere]]. After this discovery, this plotline never ends up being brought up again and the storyline ends instead [[spoiler:after Edelgard's defeat]] (granted, part of this is due to Dimitri choosing to stop dwelling on the past, but still).
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: A character's level caps at ''99'', when your party will be around level 40-45 at the end of a standard playthrough, and you will likely cap most stats long before this point. Also, due to the restraints on your time, it is nearly impossible to get anywhere near the cap unless you abuse the free maps on Normal difficulty, in which some auxiliary battles do not require you to spend activity points.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Lockpicking and regular keys work just fine on the [[spoiler:ultra-modern metal sliding doors of Shambala.]]
* AdultFear:
** Seteth has one in Chapter 6 [[spoiler:when his younger sister Flayn goes missing]]. It gets even worse when you find out that [[spoiler:she was abducted by Jeritza, a teacher at the academy and somebody Seteth and Flayn would have trusted]].
** For Jeralt, [[spoiler:his wife dies in childbirth, and there seems to be something wrong with the baby that he cannot find an explanation for]].
* AerithAndBob:
** Among the four main characters, there's names like Byleth and Edelgard, but there's also more regular-sounding names like Claude and Dimitri. You've also got names like Dedue and Sylvain next to names like Hilda and Ashe.
** Applies to the Hero's Relic weapons, as you have fancy names like Aymr, Areadbhar, and Failnaught alongside more regular-sounding names like Crusher, the Sword of the Creator, and the Lance of Ruin.
* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler:Picking the Golden Deer reveals that the continent of Fódlan went through this. Thousands of years ago, it was home to an extremely advanced and prosperous civilization called Agartha that was built with the help of Sothis and the Nabateans. However, after a series of wars among the Agarthans, they eventually turned their weapons on Sothis herself, and this led to an even bigger war that left much of Fódlan looking like the modern Valley of Torment and killed most of the humans on the continent. The destructiveness of the weapons used is why none of the ancient technology remains above ground. Sothis eventually restored the continent to a livable state, but it took an immensely long time, and when she was done, the exhausted goddess fell into a sleep she would never have the chance to wake up from while she was still alive.]]
* AlasPoorVillain:
** On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:Edelgard feels sorry for Dimitri after she kills him. She laments that her uncle's machinations twisted him into a person obsessed with revenge on her, as he believed that she was complicit in the Tragedy of Duscur, and that he could have become a good king during times of peace]].
** On the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:if Mercedes and Casper's paralogue was completed before the final battle against the Death Knight, when he dies, Mercedes cradles him and calls him by his true identity, Emile, as she tearfully apologizes for being a lousy older sister for not rescuing him in time from House Bartels]].
** On the Verdant Wind [[spoiler:and Silver Snow routes, Edelgard's death is portrayed sympathetically: she talks about her regrets and how she had wished that Byleth had chosen the same path she did. She also asks her professor to kill her, since if she's left alive, the fighting and bloodshed will continue (and it's implied that thanks to her body bearing two Crests, she is not likely to live a long life regardless). Byleth wordlessly listens to her, spurred on from their hesitation by her words, and then swiftly kills her the moment she finishes.]]
* AllTheOtherReindeer: The people of Duscur, Almyra, and the Abyssians.
** The people of Duscur are treated with suspicion and animosity due to the people believing they are responsible for the death of King Lambert and countless others.
** Almyra is constantly attacking Fódlan's borders, and Fódlan natives have reservations when it comes to foreigners.
** The Abyssians, meanwhile, are treated with hostility and suspicion by some of the officers within the Church of Seiros for unexplained reasons as of yet. According to Balthus in the DLC Wave 4 Trailer, the people of the Abyss are comprised of merchants who were "chewed and spit out" by the nobility, along with orphans, lost souls, the elderly and the infirm; basically anyone who didn't belong.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Played with in the Crimson Flower storyline, [[spoiler:as Garreg Mach was your base of operations during the school portion of the game, but upon siding with Edelgard in the Holy Tomb and making an enemy of Rhea and the Church of Seiros, the opening battle of the war is the Adrestian army seizing the monastery and forcing the Church to flee to Faerghus so it can be used as their base of operations. After the timeskip, the monastery is noticeably more run-down, and Edelgard can even admit that some areas are still unusable even five years after the battle. Also notable is that the statue of Seiros in the monastery chapel is pulled down (though chapel-related services like choir practice carry on as usual). The Knights of Seiros make an attempt to reclaim the monastery after the fall of Leicester, making this a straight example of the trope, but the Black Eagle Strike Force is able to hold them off.]]
* AlternativeCalendar: The game uses a variant of the real-life Gregorian Calendar, with the months being named after Moons, and the February equivalent month (Pegasus Moon) having 29 days instead of 28. In-story, the first day of spring and the first day of the year (April 1 in the real life equivalent) is the day the Adrestian Empire was founded.
* AmbiguousSituation: Several of Edelgard's claims when she [[spoiler:declares war before the timeskip]] run off of ambiguity as the game doesn't confirm or deny her statements.
** One is that [[spoiler:the Church of Seiros chose to split the Empire to form the Kingdom, and that they did so with the intention to create discord in Fódlan and weaken opposition to them. Not only is Rhea complacent as a ruler unless violence is used, she values peace over anything else, to the point of refusing to challenge the power of the countries themselves. The debunked theory from Manuela can easily be explained as the church adapting to events out of their complete control in a way that would allow them to remain relevant (i.e. giving legitimacy to the successful rebellion that created the Kingdom, and in so doing being given leeway to make sure the new borders met at Garreg Mach). Plus the Kingdom is without question the nation most loyal to the church (due to gratitude over their independence being endorsed by the church), so them intentionally splitting it to form the less loyal Alliance would be counterproductive. The history books even confirm lack of Church involvement, where the previous King split Faerghus into three nations between his three sons is what lead to the Alliance territory to rebel after their Archdukes death.]]
** Another is that the church is hoarding wealth for itself. On one hand, the Church would naturally have some amount of treasure or wealth stored up from years of activity, and they obviously have the funds to pay for soldiers, teachers, and for basic needs, especially since, as shown with Leonie, many students had to pay to get in. Near the graveyard is a room that an NPC outside mentions is the treasury, containing several different weapons and armaments, so the Church logically would have some amount of hidden wealth stored away, which is supported by Pallardó in non-Crimson Flower routes, where he and his bandits have items and money taken from the [[spoiler:ruined monastery]]. On the other hand, said NPC specifically clarifies that said treasury is only filled with weapons (the NPC could be lying of course but there's no evidence to say otherwise), the Church accepts donations (which was how some students like Dorothea got in), and rarely is money or wealth ever brought up by any of the staff, even on Crimson Flower when Edelgard [[spoiler:takes control of the monastery]]. It's possible the Church ''does'' have a hidden stash of wealth that they hoarded for usage that was plundered by the empire and thieves (the NPC by the treasury notes they wouldn't store the truly valuable items in a building out in the open, even one under guard). Then there's the actual logistics of supplying, feeding, and sustaining both a clergy and a academy to train warriors, something that by its very nature would not be cheap, but the game doesn't go much into this claim beyond Edelgard's statements.
* AncestralWeapon: The Heroes’ Relics, weapons wielded by the 10 Elites during the conflict against Nemesis in the distant past. The weapons were passed down to their descendants, though [[spoiler:only descendants bearing Crests can wield them safely, as otherwise, the person wielding it is harmed or even turned into a monster]]. Each of the main lords gains one during the story, as do a few of the other characters.
* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: In Claude and Ingrid's C support, when Claude claims to get up at sunrise every day to meditate, Ingrid responds, "Uh-huh, sure. And I've decided to quit my pursuit of knighthood."
* AndIMustScream: It’s implied that this happens to those who are transformed into [[spoiler:Black Beasts by Crest Stones or misuse of Heroes' Relics. The process is incredibly painful and the transformation is said to be akin to being swallowed whole by the Crest Stone. With the exception of a select few, after being transformed, people lose their ability to speak, and all they can do is make inhuman screams. Furthermore, it’s implied that their human bodies are essentially trapped underneath the flesh of their beastly state, as whenever a Black Beast is killed, their monstrous form dissipates into ashes, leaving nothing but their human corpse. It's also shown in Marianne’s paralogue that those who are transformed into Black Beasts can end up wandering the world for over a thousand years trapped in their monstrous state.]]
* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: In Claude and Marianne's support chain, Marianne explains her low self-esteem and neuroticism by alluding to burdens she's had to bear since she was born. Claude responds by telling a story about a boy who was also born with burdens: [[spoiler:his mother and father were from different nations whose people hated each other, and thus, no matter where he was, he was looked down upon]]. Claude doesn't outright tell Marianne that the story is about himself, but he tries to drop hints during the rest of the A support that he's the boy in the story.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: One of the things unlocked in NewGamePlus is alternate costumes/appearances for the three house leaders. Part of the DownloadableContent is also clothing: a NonUniformUniform for Byleth and loungewear for all the students.
* AnimalLover: Marianne talks to squirrels and birds and is good at riding. She also fits the "better with animals than people" stereotype because hardly anyone in her class knows what she sounds like.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** Divine Pulse allows the player to rewind actions up to three times per battle (though the amount is eventually increased to up to ''13''), even in the middle of the enemy phase, letting the player fix mistakes without starting the whole map over. This doesn't change the RNG, so you need to perform different actions so it can be used to rewind an unfortunate CriticalHit and hope for a different result. In addition, it automatically triggers if you enter a GameOver state while you have charges left (for example, if [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou Byleth or the main lord bites it]], or if you fail the mission objective).
** Almost all of the social sim, time management, and character customization can be opted out of. Skipping ahead on the calendar will automate these aspects, and will spit out reasonably usable unit builds in the process provided you set your characters' goals at some point.
** The marketplace is fully available from the battle preparation screen, so there's no need to withdraw through several loading screens because you forgot something. The marketplace is also available from the calendar menu, thus preventing the need to waste a free day Exploring just to access the basic shops. The market always restocks its weapons at the start of the month as well.
** Quests, Lost Items, random items, and conversations found by exploring during free time update monthly, so the player isn't missing anything by using Sundays on other activities provided they Explore once a month.
** Battalions cost a hefty price to hire, but they are generally very cheap to refill. This allows the player to refill their Battalions frequently if they desire.
** After the timeskip, all of the gear your units were wearing pre-timeskip will be repaired to full durability, including all of your expensive to repair Relic weapons. On Normal mode, all of your units that are below level 20 will be boosted up to 20, though this does not occur on Hard mode.
** The first mission with an allied NPC, Catherine, does not allow her to attack the boss (and if he attacks her, she won't be able to lower him below 1 health), meaning you can't lose experience from killing him. Although it is dropped in later missions, by that time, you either have sufficiently developed characters to easily kill the enemy on your own or the boss is hard enough that an ally's help is welcome.
** If you're playing on Normal Mode, one repeatable Auxiliary battle costs no activity points each week, allowing for as much grinding as you like. You can't take promotion exams between battles, though, so use those wisely.
** After using Divine Pulse, level-up gains aren't re-rolled, meaning that the soft reset of winding back time after a mistake won't come at the cost of a good level-up. (Though conversely, it also means you can't just keep resetting until a bad level-up turns good either.)
** Each class has minimum stats to start with. If you have a character whose stats are poorer than the minimum stats for a class, upon taking that class, their stats will permanently be upgraded to that minimum. For an example, if you had particularly bad luck with Lysithea's level-ups and her Defense is about 6 when you upgrade her into a Warlock, she will automatically gain 6 points to Defense upon classing into warlock, as Warlock has 12 Defense minimum.
** While characters do need to invest in the proficiency that the class uses, they don't need to have them at the exact grade; all that the grade requirement does is make the chance of passing the exam certain. As such, as long as a character is within striking distance, they can still take the exam and have a chance to pass, even if it's less than 50%.
** NewGamePlus carries plenty of these. Among them, you're able to adjust Byleth's supports (to recruit your favourite characters you've invested time into easily on other routes), retain your professor level, retain class mastery and skill points, and will ''show'' you the skill ranks you need from the start, so you can more easily plan your character progression.
** During the Red Wolf Moon ball before the timeskip, you can have a scene at the Goddess Tower with one of your possible romantic supports, using the one with the highest support level reached. If you have multiple possibilities, however, it's randomized amongst them. However, you can speak to the Gatekeeper on any free day that month and be given the option to choose who you want to appear at the tower on the night of the ball.
** After the timeskip, Faculty Training is replaced with Advanced Drills, allowing you to learn from any unit with a higher skill level than you. This means you can't increase your skill if you don't have anyone stronger than you; however, the professors and knights can always train you in their specialized skills no matter how high your skill is, ensuring that you'll always be able to improve.
** Enemy attack ranges will automatically update after you move but before you hit the "wait" button, allowing you to check to make sure you aren't exposing someone squishy to unwanted danger before you commit.
** Flayn deserts you and Seteth won't join if you choose to [[spoiler:side with Edelgard after choosing the Black Eagles in chapter 12]]. To offset that, their Paralogue's rewards are not exclusively tied to their own Crests, ensuring that you ''will'' be able to use them. And two characters native to [[spoiler:the Black Eagles, Linhardt and Ferdinand]], have matching Crests to maximize their effectiveness.
** When you view a support between two characters, the support log automatically records the support for all the routes you've played as well as options to view the support before or after the TimeSkip if applicable. This means you don't have to farm every possible support for every character.
** Right after Byleth first becomes a professor at Garreg Mach, you're immediately thrown into a mock battle against both of the houses you didn't choose. That may seem like too difficult a mission for the beginning of the story, but to make it easier, the other house leaders are scripted to make some unwise tactical decisions during this battle (like sending long-range fighters like Ashe or Dorothea to the front lines, or having a heavy hitter like Hilda start from behind a barricade).
** Despite the fact that it makes no sense, you can still lockpick [[spoiler:all the sliding doors in Shambhala using door keys and lockpicks]]. On the same stage, they will also drop a lot of door keys.
** When you have to open a lot of doors or a lot of chests are on the stage, a lot of enemies will drop chest keys and door keys.
** If a temporary ally (such as a guest for a Part I paralogue or someone you grabbed for mission assistance) kills an enemy with an item drop, the item is automatically sent to the convoy.
** The first chapter of all routes other than Crimson Flower post-timeskip immediately drops the player into a battle featuring only Byleth and Dimitri/Claude/[[spoiler:Seteth]] going up against [[spoiler: the bandits that have taken over the ruins of Garreg Mach]], without the ability to use the rest of the player's students [[spoiler:until midway through the battle when they charge in together]]. Unless the player decided to invest in Faith skills for Byleth [[spoiler:or Seteth]] (as Dimitri and Claude are automatically reclassed to classes that can't use magic), the player will be without a dedicated healer. Fortunately, almost all of the enemies that are close to the player's spawn location are not only weak but also drop Concoctions, healing items that heal 20 HP for three uses, after they are defeated.
** Enemy commanders cannot be killed by NPC allies, meaning you don't have to worry about the level finishing on its own until you have accomplished everything you want.
** Byleth, Cyril, Flayn, and the twenty-four student characters have their level-ups rigged to ensure they get at least two stats per level, meaning they are less likely to fall off. This is especially helpful for [[CantDropTheHero Byleth, Edelgard, Dimiri, and Claude]], as Byleth is force-deployed on every story and paralogue mission, the chosen lord is required for most maps, and either one dying is a GameOver.
** If you’re a Black Eagle, you can’t normally recruit Hilda until Chapter 12 as long [[spoiler:you’re siding with the Church]], past the point where nearly all Part I paralogues have their completion deadline. Fortunately, the paralogue that requires Hilda's presence is the only one that has its deadline extend past Chapter 11 and into Part II.
* AnyoneCanDie: Once Part II begins, ''any character not recruited before the timeskip'' that shows up as an enemy can ''potentially'' die, with the exceptions of [[spoiler:Petra, Hilda and Dedue on non-Crimson Flower routes, who [[VillainExitStageLeft will retreat if defeated]] only to reappear later in the story as an enemy once again [[note]]Petra[[/note]] or as an ally NPC [[note]]Dedue and Hilda[[/note]]]]. Depending on the player's choices however, some can be spared and recruited into your army, such as [[spoiler:Lysithea on the Crimson Flower route, Ashe on the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes, and Lorenz on the Azure Moon and Silver Snow routes (for the last two however, you have to have recruited them during Part I in order to get them to rejoin your party)]]. As for the house leaders themselves, [[spoiler:Edelgard and Dimitri will survive only in their own routes, while Claude can potentially die only in the Crimson Flower route]].
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: You are limited to between 10 and 12 units on the field, depending on the mission, and some may have an even lower limit. However, up to 3 of those who aren't deployed can accompany deployed units as adjutants and earn experience and support points.
* ArtificialAtmosphericActions: In order to make the monastery seem more alive (especially in Part I), random unnamed [=NPCs=] will walk around the monastery. However, the player is able to get into their path and block them, causing them to get stuck - making things seem very artificial. Byleth doesn't even ''need'' to do this - sometimes [=NPCs=] might even get stuck trying to walk through each other.
* ArtificialStupidity:
** Annette's paralogue features several enemies that will only target her. If your units block access to Annette, the enemies will get as close as they can to her but won't try to kill anyone standing between them. Because of their short range, they can become target practice for anyone with ranged attacks.
** Invoked in the mock battle in the second mandatory fight in the game — the opponents will make very bad decisions, from a single unit charging into your entire force alone, to fragile ranged-attacking characters running unguarded into melee. Averted during the second MeleeATrois battle, where they will make much smarter decisions - which actually makes a ''lot'' of sense thinking about it.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Petra's personal skill significantly increases her critical hit rate against enemies with less than half health. This is a powerful benefit, but in many cases, you're likely to kill any enemy that's weakened this much with a normal attack (with the exception of monsters, and there are special ways to inflict bonus damage on them).
** Astra, the combat art gained by mastering the Swordmaster class. While it hits five times, each hit is very weak, which generally doesn't justify spending the extra durability to use it. By comparison, the ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'' version of Astra was only reduced to half damage, randomly triggered, and each hit had a chance to crit, making it especially devastating in Ryoma's hands.
** The Crest of Blaiddyd (Dimitri's Crest) doubles the Might of Combat Arts when triggered. However, it also doubles the durability cost of said Combat Arts, making you burn through Dimitri's weapons that much faster. This is particularly a problem in the late-game, when Dimitri will usually be wielding pricier, lower-durability weapons.
** The "Defiant" abilities significantly buff one stat when the unit is below 25% of their health. The stat boost is nice, but not only is it difficult to get down that low without your unit being killed, but staying that low can be dangerous.
** You can zoom the camera all the way in on your units so that you control them like you would in a regular third-person adventure game. This allows full 360-degree freedom within the character's movement range and lets you see their battalions moving along with them. While a neat and visually appealing feature, it offers almost no tactical benefit whatsoever since it significantly reduces your field of vision with the zoomed-in camera. A mini map is displayed to help alleviate this, but it is still much less useful than sticking to the traditional, zoomed-out camera angle of the grid.
** Recruiting all the students on a file without NewGamePlus benefits. While this gives you a wide variety of characters to use, it's also immensely difficult to actually accomplish without SaveScumming, and it can lead to experience being spread too thin.
** The rare Crescent Sickle lance has immense durability (especially if forged) and decent accuracy, but is heavier than even the Steel Lance. The forging material is also rare, only being obtainable by breaking the armor of the Crawlers and Titanus. [[NotCompletelyUseless That being said, their durability makes them great for Combat Arts.]]
** Most of the Relic-related combat arts, with the exceptions of the Crusher's Dust and Aymr's Raging Storm. The Lance of Ruin's Ruined Sky and Areadbhar's Atrocity especially stick out; Sylvain can use Swift Strikes with any lance for more damage overall (including with the Lance of Ruin!), and Dimitri's great Strength means that Areadbhar will do more than enough damage with normal attacks, not to mention his Crest means he can very well break the weapon.
** The Saint's Relics. Unlike the Heroes' Relics, which are essentially more powerful regular weapons with Unique Combat Arts, these Relics have abilities of more unique weapons, possessing a [[HealingFactor Renewal effect]] along with the abilities of weapons like the Horseslayer, Brave Bow or the Hammers respectively, and unlike the Hero's Relics they can be used by anyone, with corresponding Crests only increasing the healing effects they have. However, the material needed to repair them, Mythril, is quite possibly the rarest material in the game along with [[spoiler: Agarthium]] and, when combined with forging the Rusted legendary weapons which cost 10 to Forge and Repair, have very limited uses, especially in comparison to Heroes' Relics that require the comparatively less rare Umbral Steel. This gets alleviated slightly with the third DLC where feeding the animals around the Monastery can get you forging materials, including Mythril, but it can still be an issue.
** The Rusted Legendary weapons. Like the Heroes' Relics, they are more powerful than the base weapons and have insane benefits, such as Parthia's low weight and Hauteclere's unusually high hit rate. That being said, forging them from their rusted forms costs 10 Mythril and another 10 to repair them, meaning that if you were to somehow get your hands on all of them, you would need ''over 40 mythril''. Needless to say, this often subjects them to TooAwesomeToUse.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes B]]
* BackFromTheBrink:
** On all routes other than Crimson Flower, this is played straight. [[spoiler:Byleth awakens from their coma to discover that the Kingdom has been reduced to a puppet state, only a couple of stray Kingdom nobles are continuing to put up a fight, and Dimitri has gone completely AxCrazy and is in no fit condition to lead a resistance by himself. The Alliance is only slightly better off, as Claude is only barely able to maintain a facade of neutrality and keep the country together due to civil strife between the pro-Imperial and pro-Church factions. The Knights of Seiros have been scattered to the four winds in a forlorn effort to find Byleth and Rhea. It's up to Byleth to turn things around, defeat the Empire, and stop Edelgard.]]
** On Crimson Flower, this is turned on its head. [[spoiler:The Kingdom and Church have fought the Empire to a stalemate, but when Byleth awakens, their objective is to help the Empire crush the resistance against them.]]
* BackstabBackfire: On the Azure Moon route, after [[spoiler:Edelgard's defeat, when Dimitri tries to reconcile with her, she throws the dagger he had given her at his shoulder and is met with the end of his spear; it is implied she did this not as an attempt to kill him but to force him to kill ''her'', as she believed there was [[IHaveComeTooFar no turning back]] on the path she had chosen]].
* BadassCape: The House Leaders, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude, all bear a cape bearing their [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience house's respective color.]]
* BadBadActing: In their B support interaction, Claude and Ingrid challenge each other to be more pleasant — less slovenly on Claude's end and more cheerful on Ingrid's end. What plays out in their next interaction is a forced, painfully polite conversation between the two. Claude is first to drop the act when Ingrid [[BrokenRecord runs out of lines]].
* BadWithTheBone: The Hero's Relics, including the Sword of the Creator, have a bony appearance with noticeable cracks and yellowish tint. [[spoiler:It's because they ''are'' bones made into weapons as Nemesis murdered the progenitor goddess, Sothis, and created the Sword of the Creator from her bones and heart (which are made into Crest Stones). Nemesis and the Ten Elites also did the same to many of the Nabateans.]]
* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The final battle of the Crimson Flower storyline, [[spoiler:the Battle of Fhirdiad, is fought after Rhea orders the Knights of Seiros to set fire to the city simply to slow the Adrestian advance. The Black Eagles Strike Force faces off against the remnant of Faerghus' army, the Knights of Seiros, and Rhea in her full dragon form in the burning capital]].
* BattleInTheRain: The Battle of the Tailtean Plains [[spoiler:against King Dimitri and the Church forces]] near the end of the Crimson Flower storyline is fought in the middle of the pouring rain. It adds to the somber tone of the battle.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: One boss fight has the party go up against Miklan, Sylvain's brother, who has stolen the Lance of Ruin in hopes of being special and important like Sylvain is with his Crest of Gautier. [[spoiler:Miklan does get to be important, but as a ''warning'', as once he tries to use the Lance of Ruin without possessing the necessary Crest, he's turned into a Demonic Beast, the first such creature the player has to fight.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: The story has multiple antagonist factions with goals that conflict with one another, and depending on the route, one faction takes center stage during part II:
** Part I: [[MalevolentMaskedMen The Flame Emperor]], "[[MoleMen those who slither in the dark]]" [[spoiler:and [[OrderIsNotGood Rhea]]]][[note]][[spoiler:Only if you picked the Black Eagles and side with Edelgard during the moment of fate.]][[/note]]
** Part II:
*** Crimson Flower: [[spoiler:[[FallenHero Rhea]], [[HeroAntagonist Dimitri]] and [[TheUnfought Arundel]]]]
*** Azure Moon: [[spoiler:[[VisionaryVillain Edelgard]], [[LadyOfBlackMagic Cornelia]] and [[TheDragon Hubert]]]]
*** Verdant Wind: [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Nemesis]], [[ManipulativeBastard Thales]], and [[IronLady Edelgard]]]]
*** [[spoiler:Silver Snow: [[DecoyProtagonist Edelgard]], [[FantasticRacism Thales]], and [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Seiros' emotional baggage]]]]
* BigDamnHeroes: If Byleth S supports Claude, he [[spoiler:[[ButNowIMustGo gives her a ring at the Goddess Tower and then leaves to take care of business in his homeland]]. Some months later, the Imperial Army and those who slither in the dark ally and invade Derdriu, and the new kingdom of Fódlan is unable to take them on. When defeat seems imminent, Claude, now King of Almyra, enters with Almyran forces and defeats the enemies easily.]]
* BigFirstChoice: Early on, the protagonist has to decide which House they will personally teach. While the first half of the game is roughly the same for all three Houses, this changes after the TimeSkip [[spoiler:where the protagonist fights for the nation their students of the chosen House are from against the other nations, unless the Black Eagles house is picked, where there is a possibility of choosing to side with the Church instead of the Empire]].
* BigScrewedUpFamily: Many of the students, especially those from noble families, have more than a few family problems, from rivalries with their siblings over who gets to inherit the family to family members trying to marry them off for personal gain.
* BirthmarkOfDestiny: While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jugdral]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 games]], said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], potentially leading to [[CainAndAbel violent internal power struggles]]. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier, either, as aside from being targets in the aforementioned power struggles, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have a varyingly shortened lifespan. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros and the Saints were actually gifts shared to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade as part of the cover-up) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]
* BiTheWay: Linhardt, Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, [[spoiler:Jeritza, Rhea, and Sothis]] can be romanced by a Byleth of either gender. Reaching A-rank support between certain characters of the same gender alludes to romance that can then be confirmed if you get the paired endings for those characters, with Petra and Dorothea explicitly falling in love despite Petra being unavailable for female Byleth. However, Alois and Gilbert are not romancable for a male Byleth despite both having S-rank supports, and in the former's paired ending, Byleth marries an unnamed woman.
* BittersweetEnding:
** Unlike ''Fates'', there is no GoldenEnding. [[spoiler:No matter what you do, at least one of the Three Lords will die and Edelgard and Dimitri die in every path except their own. Also, none of the story paths completely resolves all the lurking problems or issues.]]
** Out of the S Supports, Claude's is one of the more bittersweet ones. He decides to [[spoiler:leave Fódlan to unite it with Almyra and Dagda into a new kingdom]], though he fully intends to return and seals the promise with Byleth with a proposal ring. [[spoiler:The epilogue reveals that the Almyran army, led by Claude, pulls a BigDamnHeroes when Fódlan is about to be defeated and the aftermath of the war brought a new age of unity, averting the trope gradually.]]
** The only way to have Felix get a happy ending outside of the Blue Lions route are in his paired endings with female Byleth, Ingrid and Annette. Otherwise, guilt will weigh on him for the rest of his life, even if he can find some small happiness in a spouse, or in [[spoiler:Mercedes or Flayn helping him realize what he's done.]] His ending with Sylvain outside of the Blue Lions route even goes straight into a DownerEnding.
* BlackKnight: The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Death Knight]] is a strong and enigmatic knight clad in black armor with a skeleton mask that serves one of the game’s main antagonists.
* BladeLock: Post-timeskip, when [[spoiler:Byleth and Edelgard first meet again in Garreg Mach as enemies on the Silver Snow route, they briefly clash blades. Edelgard manages to lock her rapier (the Sword of Seiros she took from Rhea) with Byleth's Sword of the Creator]], after which both attempt to strike each other's throats.
* BlessedWithSuck:
** What having a Crest can amount to. Congratulations, you’re descended from one of the great heroes of Fódlan's past. That gives you a special ability and possibly even physical abilities beyond that of normal people! It's also all many will ever care about in regards to you; you as a person are less valuable than the Crest you carry. Expect your family to marry you off into what is likely to be a loveless marriage, especially if you happen to have a particularly valuable Crest, or for people to try to use you simply so any children you might have with them will inherit your Crest and improve their standing. The tactics noble parents will sometimes use to ensure that you will be attractive for marriage may be abusive and downright cruel, especially for women. The worst part is, even experiencing all this themselves, people with Crests will simply continue the cycle with their own children rather than work to change it because of how valued Crests are in Fódlan culture and national defense.
** While it is possible to [[spoiler:forcibly implant a second Crest onto someone — like Edelgard and Lysithea — the procedure has a high risk of failure, resulting in crippling madness and/or death, which is precisely what happened with all of Edelgard's siblings. Even success will leave you [[DiseaseBleach permanently marked with white or silver hair]], and your lifespan will be dramatically reduced as a result, as long as you carry the implanted Crest. This entire state of affairs (along with some misunderstandings about how Crests came about and what role the Church plays), and the torture she and her siblings went through, is what drives Edelgard to make war on the Church of Seiros so Fódlan can be remade into a meritocracy and the idea of Crests as a social construct can be done away with forever.]] [[GameplayAndStorySeparation This is only from an in-universe view, as units with Crests often tend to be very useful gameplay-wise.]]
** The Crest of Maurice, also known as the Crest of the Beast. People who are born with such a Crest are believed to [[TheJinx bring bad luck]] and turn into horrible monsters with the passing of time. It has such a bad reputation that Maurice himself was the only [[spoiler:ally of Nemesis who did not receive an in-universe HistoricalHeroUpgrade]].
* BloodierAndGorier: This is the first game in the franchise with fully animated cutscenes to have blood, such as the opening cutscene.
* BloodKnight:
** Almyra is a warrior culture that instigate small skirmishes to enjoy the thrill of fighting. Despite putting themselves in a life-or-death situation, they use the battle to honor the dead, then head back home to enjoy big feasts and party after the battle, regardless of whether they win or lose.
** Dimitri and Felix are also fond of battle, but the two have drifted apart over this, as [[EveryoneHasStandards even Felix]] finds the nightmarish glee Dimitri takes in slaughtering his foes unnerving.
** The Death Knight is entirely motivated by his desire for fighting and killing only, which occasionally harms the goals of his boss, the Flame Emperor.
* BlueBlood: The Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Leicester Alliance host several noble families, of which several characters are heirs, and many of which are descended from the 10 Elites and Four Saints of the distant past. The Leicester Alliance goes further, being a coalition of noble families who refuse to swear fealty to any royal.
* BondOneLiner: Every character has one of several lines to say after killing an enemy, usually complimenting themselves ("No one makes it past me!") or putting down their fallen enemy ("You are nothing").
* BookEnds:
** During Part I, the last time you will see the Lords all together while they're still students at the Officer's Academy is at Gronder Field. At that point, they're still on amicable terms with each other. On non-Black Eagles routes, the second and last time the three lords are together is also at Gronder Field, and by that point at least one is calling for the other's head.
** On the Crimson Flower route:
*** The last king of Faerghus [[spoiler:dies on the same plains where the first king of Faerghus forged the kingdom, and his defeat heralds the fall of the church and demigod who previously bested Nemesis on those very same plains to unite Fódlan under her guidance]].
*** House Hresvelg's bloodline and claim to fame began by receiving the Crest of Seiros, and Seiros was responsible for [[spoiler:setting in motion the Crest system as a part of Fódlan society]]. The last Hresvelg heir, [[spoiler:Edelgard]], is the one who [[spoiler:wishes to eradicate said Crest system]] and may even end up [[spoiler:killing Seiros herself]].
*** The opening cinematic shows Seiros cradling the Sword of the Creator against her cheek, staining it with blood. At the end of the route, [[spoiler:that same sword is one of two weapons that kills Seiros as the Immaculate One (the other being Edelgard's Relic axe, Aymr) by destroying her Crest Stone, causing it to leak massive amounts of green blood over her as she dies]].
** A couple on the Azure Moon route:
*** [[spoiler:Edelgard]] is [[GuestStarPartyMember one of your first allies]], and your [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss last foe]]]].
*** The second half of the Azure Moon route begins and ends with [[spoiler:one person collapsed on the ground, another offering them a hand, and the first person rejecting it]].
** On the Verdant Wind route, [[spoiler:the first and final boss is a leader of a group of bandits]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler:said final boss is one of the first characters who appears onscreen, Nemesis]].
** [[spoiler: On the Silver Snow route, the final battle of Part II [[FinalDungeonPreview is fought in the same place as the final battle of Part I: the outer wall of Garreg Mach Monastery]]]].
* BoringButPractical:
** The fishing minigame. The game itself can be quite tedious in the long run, but it is a quick and easy way to improve your professor level, since it does not reduce your action points.
** Training weapons lack the raw damage and crit chance of the other weapons, but they make up for it with low weapon weight, rank, and cost, plus they can be upgraded easily. The only real downside they have is their low attack means you have to rely on your unit's raw stats to compensate, but as enemies become harder to hit, the training weapons remain viable for just about the entire game.
** Dimitri's High Lord and Great Lord classes are vanilla compared to Edelgard's Armored Lord and Emperor [[note]]A hard stop to physical attacks while maintaining good magical bulk and having an additional point of movement over normal armored classes.[[/note]] and especially Claude's Wyvern Master and Barbarossa. [[note]]Effectively the Wyvern Rider and Wyvern Lord with a preference for bows.[[/note]] However, the classes require zero investment on Dimitri's end to obtain, allowing him to focus on other skills if so desired, and the stats provided by the classes are more than enough to carry Dimitri through the rest of the game.
** The stat-boosting skills and movement-related combat arts learned by mastering beginner classes. The stat boosts are always on, and the arts allow a unit's movement to be artificially extended. While Death/Fiendish Blow provide large boosts on player phase, Strength/Magic +2 is active on both phases.
** Ignatz's personal skill, Watchful Eye, provides a flat +20 to his hit rate at all times. While his attack power is low, he can consistently land attacks even from a long distance with bows, and land Break Shot (and possibly Seal Strength) from a safe distance.
** In the earlygame, especially on Maddening, Sylvain and Leonie's personal skills, Philanderer and Rivalry, respectively. For simply standing next to a character of the opposite sex, both characters will deal 2 more damage and take 2 less damage from enemy attacks. And yes, they can trigger their personal skills by standing next to each other.
** Hubert and Ingrid's personal skills give flat bonuses to gambits. [[note]]+5 damage for Hubert, +3 damage and +5 hit for Ingrid.[[/note]] This lessens the need for Authority skills on them, allowing them to equip another skill instead, such as Fiendish or Death Blow, respectively.
* BossInMookClothing: Once the routes diverge, if you've managed to poach a character that should appear as an enemy, they'll be replaced by a generic enemy with an equivalent loadout. For instance, [[spoiler:if you recruit Shamir and/or Alois before going down the Black Eagles path, they'll be replaced by a generic Sniper and Warrior during the defence of Garreg Mach. In particular, not-Shamir retains her blatantly illegal skill combination which gives her ridiculous range]]. There are three signs that a {{Mook}} is a replacement. Firstly, their name states that they’re a general instead of a soldier, secondly, they often have the commander's medal next to their health bar, and lastly, they share the same batallion with their enemy counterpart [[spoiler:(Seiros's Archers in Shamir's case)]].
* {{Bowdlerise}}:
** In Ingrid's and Sylvain's C-Support, Ingrid mentions how Sylvain once flirted with her grandmother, and later on, with a ''scarecrow''. Except that, in Japanese, Sylvain flirted not with a scarecrow, but with a [[DisguisedInDrag boy who was disguised as a girl for a performance]].
** [[InvertedTrope Turned on its head]] in the Black Eagles Route, at least if you're playing Female Byleth. At some point, Dorothea wonders if someone will make the story into an opera, and if so, whether Edelgard or Byleth will be played by the current Diva. In the translation, however, Dorothea wonders whether Byleth and Edelgard will have a secret love affair…
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: On the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route, when Rhea suddenly turns into her Immaculate One form and begins a mindless rampage, the high ranking members of the church who happen to bear her blood end up becoming crazy as well, with the ones with the highest amount of blood even [[FaceMonsterTurn transforming into White Beasts]]]].
* BreakableWeapons: Returns after being missing in ''Fates'' and ''Shadows of Valentia'', with a similar system to the one in ''Genealogy''. Instead of being gone for good, broken weapons are a detriment to the user due to their weakened state. However, weapons can be repaired at the forge. Weapon durability extends to those in enemy hands as well, which can help with grinding Support Bond points: tank an enemy with a strong character enough times to break their weapon, then have someone weaker tank the enemy while standing next to the people you want to bond with. Combat Arts give access to more damaging attacks with special perks, at the cost of damaging the weapon as much as several normal attacks.
* BreatherEpisode:
** The ball during the Red Wolf Moon is smack-dab between [[spoiler:"Tomas" revealing himself to be a villain by forcing villagers to slaughter each other and burning down the town in the process]] and [[spoiler:"Monica" stabbing Jeralt]].
** Following [[spoiler:Flayn's abduction]], Chapter 7 focuses primarily on the Battle of the Eagle and the Lion, and even features a fishing tournament. In many ways, it serves as the last moment of respite, as each of the following chapters features some sort of WhamEpisode [[note]][[spoiler:the aforementioned Tomas reveal, Jeralt's death, Sothis merging with Byleth, Edelgard being revealed as the Flame Emperor, and the Empire's assault on the monastery]][[/note]] leading into the TimeSkip.
* BrokenPedestal:
** The Verdant Wind route reveals that [[spoiler:the Ten Elites, supposedly the heroic yet fallen founders of the continent's most prominent bloodlines, were actually vicious, murderous bandits that were allies of Nemesis from the start]].
** Reading Jeralt’s diary reveals he once held Lady Rhea in high esteem, and it wasn’t until [[spoiler:his wife’s mysterious death during childbirth and Rhea’s refusal to explain Byleth’s situation after being born (namely, that they wouldn’t cry nor have a heartbeat)]] that he became distrustful of her.
* BrokenSmile: One of the NPC soldiers sports this in a cutscene upon witnessing what the [[spoiler:"javelins of light" can do to a fortress]].
* BusCrash:
** If a character is defeated in classic mode in part I, most of them [[https://imgur.com/a/AIbFwFT will either vanish or unceremoniously die during the timeskip]].
** Heavily implied to be the case for [[spoiler:almost ''every student not recruited during Part I'']] on the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route]] after the second Battle at Gronder [[note]][[spoiler:Sans Ashe and Lorenz, who are fought during the story, and Annette, who's implied to be forced to live with her pro-imperial uncle, Baron Dominic, if not recruited outside of the Blue Lions route]][[/note]]. [[spoiler:Characters describe the event to have been such a bloodbath the only confirmed survivors are Edelgard and Hubert, while Dimitri is mentioned to have perished and Claude is considered M.I.A. after the battle. However, Dedue showing up alive later in Enbarr to carry out Dimitri's will, despite being also declared dead, [[AmbiguousSituation leave the final fate of the other characters involved in the battle up in the air]])]].
* BusmansHoliday: The optional side missions often go this way. The characters will be investigating something irrelevant to the main story, only for the situation to escalate into a full-scale battle for survival.
* ButThouMust:
** In your first conversation with Sothis, the game will not allow you to proceed until you tell her you're a mortal.
** At the beginning of the Golden Deer house's version of Chapter 10, the game will not allow you to proceed until you permit Claude to borrow [[spoiler:Jeralt's diary]].
** Many dialogue options, especially in Byleth's supports, are almost identical to another, making them examples of the variant in which "there is no 'wrong' answer to choose." For example, after Raphael and Ignatz's Paralogue, you can say that Raphael's "a [[NiceGuy nice guy]]" or "a good man."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes C]]
* CallARabbitASmeerp: Characters refer to [[spoiler:ballistic missiles as "javelins of light"]], since they have no idea what those things are. Though as they are surrounded by glowing rings of light when deployed, they fit the description, [[spoiler:as even the Children of the Goddess don't fully understand the technology ancient Agarthans had]].
* CantDropTheHero: Zigzagged. While Byleth can’t be dropped in any story related missions and paralogues, there are some chapters where the house leader doesn’t need to be deployed.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: This is why, on the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:"those who slither in the dark" are fought after the war is ended]], and why on the Verdant Wind and [[spoiler:Silver Snow]] routes, [[spoiler:Hubert makes sure to leave a letter to Byleth and their faction telling them to go after "those who slither in the dark"]]. Despite that they are ObviouslyEvil and have caused many of the game's conflicts in recent history, [[spoiler:the Empire still uses them simply because they can't afford to waste resources on dealing with them until ''after'' their goal is accomplished]].
* CastFromHitPoints: In gameplay, whoever uses a Hero's Relic without the proper Crest or the Devil's Axe will suffer 10 damage after combat.
* CastFullOfRichPeople: The game is set in a MilitarySchool for royals and nobles, so the majority of the cast are the offspring of rich landed nobility, with one imperial and one royal heir in the mix. There ''are'' fair number of commoners (though still a minority) accepted into the academy on their combat/academic merits, recommendations by nobles, pooled funds from their allies or families, etc. as well as a handful of {{Impoverished Patrician}}s, but they could be seen as the exceptions confirming the rule.
* CastingGag: Japanese-wise in two ways:
** Lysithea is voiced by Creator/AoiYuuki, a prodigy in her field (magic) who [[spoiler:suffers a case of YourDaysAreNumbered and will expire if she doesn't get a paired ending with certain characters]]. The voice actress also did work on ''Franchise/FireEmblem''[='=]s [[DuelingGames rival game]] in the gacha department, ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', as a prodigy in her own field (swordsmanship) [[spoiler:and short-lived due to her own sickness history-wise]], [[GenderFlip Okita Souji]]. Furthering the gag, Lysithea also has hidden talent in Swords, and changing her class into Mortal Savant evokes a close image of a Samurai/Oriental Swordsman like Okita.
** Cornelia's voice actress is Creator/AkemiOkamura and previously within the franchise, she voiced [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Emmeryn]], the definition of [[TheHighQueen serene High Queen.]] Cornelia is a person of authority, nearing queen levels, but [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil and manipulative]], so you can say that the casting invokes 'evil Emmeryn'.
* CelibateHero: Unlike previous games, with only a few exceptions[[note]][[ChivalrousPervert Sylvain]], [[BlueBlood Lorenz]], [[ChristmasCake Manuela]], and [[GoldDigger Dorothea]], and even Lorenz reassesses his priorities in his A-support with Byleth[[/note]], every playable character is not actively looking for romance. Either they haven't had enough time to truly get to know someone for a romantic relationship (Part I) or they're in the middle of an active war and have no time to think about romance (Part II). It becomes {{subverted}} in various paired endings, though platonic paired endings also exist.
* CentralTheme: The four routes have a core theme they follow:
** Crimson Flower: Challenging corrupt institutions and seeing one's ambitions and ideals realized.
** Azure Moon: Finding light even in the darkness and learning and growing from tragedy.
** Verdant Wind: Uncovering hidden mysteries kept secret from all and breaking down cultural barriers.
** [[spoiler:Silver Snow: Confronting the past and learning who you truly are.]]
* ChainOfDeals: One sidequest has both Shamir and Catherine asking for a two-toned whetstone. In order to obtain said whetstone, you'll need to pick up the tone of Crestological Mysteries and give it to Hanneman, who will give you the Tome of Comely Saints, which Manuela needs. Several exchanges later, you get the whetstone.
* CharacterSelectForcing: On [[HarderThanHard Maddening]], expect certain characters to become essential.
** If playing as the Blue Lions, Dedue is basically required for the earlygame, as his high Defense allows him to tank hits that his squishier teammates will fold to, despite his CrutchCharacter status. Felix is similar as he has effectively the highest attack power on the team, although unlike Dedue, he remains strong throughout the game barring bad luck with level-ups.
** If playing as the Golden Deer, Ignatz and Raphael's early Rally skills (Speed and Strength, respectively) can enable kills that were otherwise out of reach, or at least allow an ally to avoid being killed. Leonie's high base stats and immediate access to Tempest Lance also make her a required pick.
** Regardless of house chosen, that house's archer (Bernadetta, Ashe, or Ignatz) is required for chip damage due to their immediate access to Curved Shot, which notably allows them to attack enemy mages without fear of retaliation.
** Lategame, at least one of Sylvain, Ferdinand, or Seteth is required to deal with enemy Swordmasters and Assassins, as their access to [[ActionInitiative Swift Strikes]] allows them to bypass their Speed and one-round.
* ChekhovsGift: When they were both little kids, [[spoiler:Dimitri gave Edelgard a dagger as a parting gift — symbolic of cutting one's own path in life. While uncomfortable about the gesture at the time, she's kept the weapon. When the Flame Emperor leaves the same dagger behind, this clues Dimitri in to who they are. On the Azure Moon route, Dimitri gifts her back the dagger after failing to reconcile with Edelgard before the assault on the imperial capital, only for her to try to kill him with the weapon after being defeated in her Hegemon form]].
* ChekhovsGun: A relatively minor one. One innocuous quest in Chapter 4 has you looking for information on a band of thieves on Seteth's behalf, eventually learning that they are holed up on Conand Tower. Chapter 5's mission is to wipe out these bandits.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
** Dimitri reveals that [[spoiler:while Edelgard and her uncle sought asylum in Faerghus, they became friends and she even taught him how to dance. However, [[ForgottenFirstMeeting Edelgard apparently doesn't remember this]], though she does say that her first love was a nobleman, and Byleth can tease Dimitri over supposed romantic feelings for her, though he tends to laugh it off. Nothing of the romantic nature results (for both story reasons[[note]]they end up locked in a bitter war against one another in their respective routes post-timeskip[[/note]] and gameplay reasons[[note]]neither can be recruited into the other’s class and support with one another during any route playthrough[[/note]]), [[WeUsedToBeFriends much less of the platonic nature]].]]
** Ingrid, Dimitri, Sylvain, and Felix grew up together, and she can be paired up with any of them.
* TheChurch: The Church of Seiros is one of the most powerful institutions on the continent of Fódlan, responsible for running the Officers Academy and keeping the peace between the three nations of the continent. It also happens to have [[ChurchMilitant an army of its own]], usually deployed to suppress bandit attacks and provide military support to nearby territories.
* ColonCancer: The narration of each chapter reads this way.
-->'''Jeralt:''' Part I: White Clouds: Horsebow Moon: Rumors of a Reaper.
* ColorAnimalCodename: The eponymous three houses of are all named in accordance to this trope: Black Eagles, Golden Deer, and Blue Lions.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The three nations of Fódlan (and thus, the three houses) are associated with a color: red for the Adrestian Empire, blue for the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and yellow for the Leicester Alliance. The main color is present in the nations' banners and their soldiers' uniforms, and their future leaders are clad in that color. After the timeskip, the majority of former students of the Black Eagles and Blue Lions also have red and blue in their clothing, respectively.
* CombatStilettos: Every female character in their default costume wear high heels while in battle, be them students, teachers or knights. This also extends to most female class costumes, with a handful of aversions (notably Armored Knight / Fortress Knight).
** Gender-inverted by Felix after the timeskip, as his outfit includes tall boots with noticeable heels, despite not being a riding class.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** In Byleth and Flayn's S support, Flayn, intrigued that [[TwoBeingsOneBody Sothis dwells within Byleth]], asks if he considers himself male or female and if it's possible for a male goddess to exist. When he presents a ring to her, the proposal goes over her head. She finds it beautiful and remarks that Byleth walks around with a women's ring, which surely must mean he thinks himself female.
** In Byleth and Cyril's S support, Byleth gives Cyril her mother's ring and asks him to try it on. He doesn't know its purpose, and when [[TheGadfly Byleth tells him, "There's no running away now"]], he assumes that means the ring is cursed and he cannot leave Garreg Mach.
* CommonTacticalGameplayElements:
** FogOfWar (only on maps with a literal fog cover)
** [[GeoEffects Movement Modifiers]] (different terrain types, like forest and sand, cost more movement points to some unit types, while flying units can cross some terrain impassable for everyone else)
** Viewing Range (only of maps with fog: a unit carrying a lit torch dispels the fog much further than normal)
** Movement Speed (armored units and mages have fewer movement points than light skirmishers, and mounted and flying units are much faster than either)
** [[CompetitiveBalance Unit Specialization]] (each class and even character has special abilities and stat bonuses that make them more suited for different combat roles)
** [[TheLeader Leader Unit]] (Byleth has an ability that boosts XP gain of adjacent allies, while the Lord class boosts adjacent allies' attack; and of course, Byleth or a house leader permanently dying is an immediate GameOver for story reasons)
** Attack Range (different weapons have different attack ranges, which can be further extended with special abilities and combat arts)
** SplashDamage (all Gambits affect multiple squares, with enemies further away from the attacker taking less damage)
** [[TakeCover Taking Cover]] (non-flier units standing in forests or bushes get evasion bonuses[[note]]on the other hand, standing on the other side of an entire house has no effect on the attacker's precision for some reason[[/note]])
** Called Shots (several combat arts disadvantage their targets in various ways), KnockBack (several Gambits push the target back a square or two)
** [[CombinationAttack Pincer Attack]] (Gambit attacks are boosted by nearby allies with high support levels)
** Crowd Control (several basic Gambits "rattle" the enemy, preventing them from moving on their next turn)
** Guard (kinda: assigning a defensive-type adjutant to a unit causes them to sometimes block an incoming attack)
** Concealment (enemies in the fog get to sneak up on Byleth's troops, though [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard not the other way around]])
** Context Action (instead of attacking or using magic, a unit can occasionally spend their turn opening a chest or a door, talking with an ally, or using a stationary weapon like a ballista)
** Rule Breaker (usually tied to class or character special abilities, such as the mounted units' Canto ability that lets them use their unspent movement points ''after'' attacking, which unmounted troops cannot do).
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard:
** Sometimes, enemy named characters will have skillsets player-controlled units can't access. For example, [[spoiler:an enemy Shamir on the Crimson Flower route will have Bowrange+1 from being a Sniper as well as Bowrange+2, a skill usually only usable by Bow Knights and one that normally doesn't stack with Bowrange+1]].
** If Hilda is recruited on the Azure Moon route, she is replaced in Chapter 19 by a generic female War Master, a normally male-only class.
* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: In Petra and Bernadetta's Paralogue, the win condition is allegedly to get Petra to the goal in the southeast corner of the map or rout all enemy units. [[spoiler:''The game is lying''. Approaching the highlighted goal point or routing all enemies currently on the map triggers a wave of enemy reinforcements, accompanied by Hubert (or Catherine in Crimson Flower), in the middle of your turn no less, and the win condition changes so that you're required to wipe out all of the enemy units before they reach the goal square]].
* ContinuityNod: The [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Archanea]] regalia once again make an appearance, albeit as a chance to be obtained from rare monsters as [[ExcaliburInTheRust rusted weapons]].
* ContractualBossImmunity: Major enemy bosses have either the General skill (immune to instant death effects and half damage from enemy gambits) or the Commander skill (immune to instant death, movement effects, and status ailments, and severely reduced damage from enemy gambits). Major magic-wielding bosses also tend to have Unsealable Magic, which renders them immune to Silence. Finally, enemies who normally have weaknesses to effective damage often have the appropriate skills or shields to nullify said weaknesses, with the notable exception of the Death Knight.
* ContrivedCoincidence: In Byleth and Caspar's C-support scene, Caspar goes after a suspicious man with a scorpion tattoo, who [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled kills himself when he sees Caspar approaching]]. A knight scolds Caspar for his rash behavior, since he may have been part of an underground group. After the timeskip, Caspar approaches Byleth, saying he was thinking about what happened five years ago, when he's interrupted by a knight (who also knows of Caspar's actions) informing them that knights on patrol were attacked by brigands, all wearing scorpion tattoos, and while the knights prevailed, there were casualties. Caspar remarks what a coincidence it is that he should mention the suspicious man and then receive news of his comrades' attack.
* {{Corpsing}}: In their B support, Claude tells Lysithea about a graveyard that she should avoid due to her fear of ghosts. His voice actor cracks up toward the end of the line.
-->See, there's a graveyard over here. Might run into some of those gho-o-osts you hate so mu-ha-ha-ha-ch.
* CosmeticAward: The reward for beating the game for the first time is NewGamePlus and a title screen showing Sothis sleeping on the throne. The reward for beating the game on [[HarderThanHard Maddening difficulty]] without starting a New Game+ is [[spoiler:a title screen showing Sothis sleeping on the throne, under yellow light]].
* CoupDeGraceCutscene: Every enemy must have their health lowered to 0 to defeat them. However, for major bosses such as the ones at the end of the Verdant Wind, Azure Moon, and Crimson Flower routes, the defeat is followed by a movie where Byleth and/or the chosen faction leader deal the finishing blows.
* CrapsackWorld: Mixed in with CrapsaccharineWorld. Sure, Fódlan is in relative peace (it having been centuries since the last large-scale war in the continent), but the keyword is "relative," as each nation has its own problems that have gotten much worse in recent years.
** In the Empire, the corrupt nobles conducted a coup after the Emperor tried to centralize power and stopped an insurrection in Hrym territory due to this. Afterwards, once the empire's regent got involved with the coup, [[spoiler:the emperor's children were captured and experimented upon with the intention of implanting crests in them in order to create a "perfect Emperor", from which only one heir survived the process "relatively unscathed"]]. Said nobility also commits several other abuses to get Crests in their bloodline, like marrying women with crests and making them bear children non-stop at the expense of their health. Also, the Empire was invaded by Dagda and Brigid just 5 years before the events of the story, which led to the extinction of some noble houses like House Nuvelle.
** The Kingdom suffered a horrific regicide several years before the story began which led to great unrest and violence within the Kingdom as people rioted and certain nobles attempted to seize greater power. In retaliation, the Kingdom army committed a genocide on the innocent natives of the Duscur region who were framed for the regicide, despite the protests of the Kingdom's own prince, and the Duscur survivors face intense discrimination in addition to having lost their homeland. Not to mention food shortages, brutal winters, and a barren land make life hard for the people the Kingdom, and the nobles are also obsessed with Crests in their bloodlines in order to defend themselves against invaders from Sreng, but this has lead to a tendency (or in rare cases a requirement) for the first born to lose their inheritance if they lack a Crest and a younger sibling doesn't (such as in the case of Miklan).
** The Alliance looks relatively stable, but their leading nobles are constantly squabbling, and the common people can suffer the consequences of their infighting, such as Raphael's parents who were collateral damage in what amounted to a political assassination. House Ordelia was also implicated with the empire's insurrection due to providing aid to the Hrym territory, which led to most of their key people killed and replaced with imperial staff, as well [[spoiler: their children getting experimented upon by implanting them crests, from which only one heir made it out alive at the expense of her health and life expectancy]].
** The Church contributes in some ways to Fódlan's stagnant status quo. Despite their good intentions of keeping the continent in harmony and preaching against many of the abuses of power the nobles practice (as well as attempting to teach acceptance and equality in the monastery), the fact their teachings claim the Crests were originally gifts from the goddess [[spoiler:due to Rhea's manipulation of her followers and distortion of history]] effectively promotes the various versions of the Crest caste system and abuses mentioned above. The tenets of the Church preaching against interactions with outside nations has also led to widespread isolationism and prejudice, and other branches of the Church like the Southern and Western Churches have enacted rebellions and instigated chaos.
** Last but not least is [[spoiler: "those who slither in the dark" deliberately taking advantage of these events or outright causing them in some cases, with the intention to destabilize and eventually genocide all the people of Fódlan so they may rule the continent as they once did in the ancient past]].
** There is also the fact that there are so many small scale conflicts such as with noble rebellions and bandit attacks that most armies are stretched thin, and the Monastery is forced to [[ChildSoldiers send each class on monthly military expeditions]] (it's noted by [=NPCs=] that the amount and severity of fighting the students are having to do during the year Byleth teaches is unheard of and showcases how precarious a state Fódlan is in presently). It's clear that [[ExactWords the narration really did mean]] ''[[ExactWords relative]]'' [[ExactWords harmony]].
* CripplingOverspecialization: The biggest drawback of using many of the teachers and knights. While very useful in their own class, they usually have a disadvantage getting a master class due to lacking any talent in a field not their own. Even after training them, characters usually have, at best, neutral proficiency or possibly even a negative to skills in the desired master class.
* CrossPoppingVeins: When characters speak to each other, when someone is angered, a red cross-popping veins symbol will appear beside their head for a moment.
* CurbStompBattle: What the Crimson Flower route basically amounts to. [[spoiler:In the other routes, the other factions of Fódlan can only barely keep Adrestia at bay for five years until Byleth comes back and turns the tide against it. In the route where Byleth ''joins'' the Empire instead of opposing it, however, when they return, Edelgard is able to muster the full might of her forces and steamrolls the rest of Fódlan so badly that her route is the shortest by a good ''four maps''. Even the occasional unforeseen hiccups like Claude summoning Almyran reinforcements to defend Deirdru or the Knights of Seiros launching a surprise assault on Garreg Mach are handled without much fuss and don't ultimately make a difference anyway.]]
* CurtainsMatchTheWindows: Around half of more of the cast have hair and eyes that are the exact same or very similar color.
* CustomUniform: Varies from character to character during the school half. You’ll have characters like Hubert or Dedue wearing the uniform as they should. But then you have characters like Raphael or Mercedes, who add personal touches to it.
* CycleOfRevenge: This is a major theme in the game, particularly on the Azure Moon route. [[spoiler:In the backstory, Sothis massacred the Agarthans for attacking her in their hubris. This caused "those who slither in the dark," the last vestiges of Agartha, to take their own revenge through Nemesis by having him kill Sothis in her sleep and using the remains of Sothis to forge the Sword of the Creator. They then massacred Seiros' brethren, which resulted in her going to war with them and killing Nemesis. "Those who slither in the dark" retreated but continued to plot their revenge against Seiros and her church. To this end, they forge weapons and Crests, and much later, they experiment on Edelgard with Crests and convince her to seek revenge on the Church for promoting the Crest system (though she also intends to take revenge on ''them'' afterwards for their experiments and she no longer needs them). Dimitri becomes obsessed with revenge against ''her'' for her involvement with the people who murdered his family as a part of that goal. Dimitri only breaks the cycle on the Azure Moon route when the sister of an imperial general who died fighting Dimitri's army ends up killing Rodrigue while trying to avenge her brother, prompting Dimitri's HeelRealization.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes D]]
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique:
** Regardless of how many Crest bloodlines are in their ancestry, humans can only naturally be born with one Crest power active in their bodies. This seems to be for safety, as while it is possible to [[spoiler:artificially implant a second Crest, the surgical process is traumatic and usually fails, killing the subject in horrifying ways. Even when it succeeds the subject will be left with a vastly shortened life expectancy in exchange for their heightened powers, the strain of two Crests being simply too much for the body to bear.]]
** Those without Crests can [[spoiler:use Crest stones to gain power, but always at the cost of their minds and bodies, transforming into raging deformed hybrids of man and reptile called Demonic Beasts. Simply holding a Crest stone for long enough will cause the transformation in anyone who doesn't have their own Crest.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** Various elements including GreyAndGrayMorality, GambitPileUp among various factions, [[DarkAndTroubledPast dark backstories]] such as with [[spoiler:Edelgard, Dimitri, Lysithea, and Bernadetta's]], and [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier cutscenes]] make for a very dark game, especially when comparing this to ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'', and even the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn games]]. Put simply, this is very much the darkest ''Fire Emblem'' game since ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', which is fitting since that game was the inspiration for ''Three Houses''.
** The game's particular brand of darkness avoids the gratuity and over-the-top nature of a typical DarkFantasy setting, instead opting for a disturbingly grounded and subtle kind of darkness, rooted firmly in its love of GreyAndGrayMorality and real-world subtext. Previous games such as ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' tackled themes like FantasticRacism and religion, but in the end, much of the blame still lay firmly with HateSink characters such as the [[spoiler:Begnion Senate]]. In ''Three Houses'', almost all evil is man-made, with the entirely sympathetic main cast with its flaws, mistakes, and miscommunications to be held responsible. The existence of human-on-human racism and xenophobia is acknowledged in all routes and made one of the central themes of Golden Deer. The Crimson Flower and [[spoiler:Silver Snow routes]] deal heavily with questions of religion, classism, and political extremism in a rather ambivalent way, avoiding one-dimensional CorruptChurch and KnightTemplar stereotypes. Several characters, such as Dimitri and Bernadetta, suffer from realistic mental illnesses which are not magically cured through EpiphanyTherapy, don’t turn them into cackling villains, and are not treated as a mere quirk for ComicRelief. The series's traditionally idealized depiction of aristocracy is scaled back; not only do many of the noble characters have the dysfunctional, troubled, and/or violent family backgrounds that historically were common among the nobility, but the very validity of a hereditary nobility is called into question, particularly on the Crimson Flower route. Even the one definitively evil group responsible for much of the conflict, [[spoiler:"those who slither in the dark,"]] are motivated by the same ideals, such as revenge and independence from the divine, that motivate the rest of the factions; their primary distinguishing quirk (aside from their {{Magitek}}) is their [[MadScientist complete lack of ethical boundaries]], [[LackOfEmpathy empathy]], or compunction — something the game [[HateSink doesn't even pretend to try to rationalize or make sympathetic.]]
** At its core, the conflict between [[spoiler:Edelgard and Dimitri]] is that of a warmongering emperor and the young noble who wants to stop them… except the emperor has suffered through devastating trauma and has very good reasons to want to upend the status quo, and the young noble has ''also'' suffered devastating trauma, takes the emperor's betrayal very personally, and almost completely snaps from the pressure to become a bloodthirsty butcher. [[spoiler:Depending on which route you pick, one of them may lighten up and become more heroic, but ''only'' one.]]
* DarkReprise: "Blue Skies and a Battle", the theme that plays out during the mock three-way battle of Chapter 7, has a sweeping orchestra that permeates the scale of the fight, but is held in check with dubstep beats that mellow out the tone. Chapter 17 on some routes features a three-way battle similar to Chapter 7, [[spoiler:but because it comes after a five-year timeskip in which the three playable factions have been locked into a war, there is no mock battle; every conflict is now real, and casualties are no longer excused by a retreat. "Between Heaven and Earth", which has a similar melody to "Blue Skies and a Battle", replaces the dubstep beats with a solemn chorus, making the overall song darker. Claude even makes a point of referencing the drastic drop in the mood, calling the "class reunion" the worst in history.]]
* ADayInTheLimelight: This game's paralogue missions put your regular units in the spotlight for one map and often have them handle personal issues.
* DeadlyDeferredConversation: During the Guardian Moon, Jeralt tells Byleth that he has something important to share with them, but he's interrupted both times during their conversations. [[spoiler:He's killed by Kronya before he has a chance to tell them, and they figure it out by reading his diary.]]
* DeadPersonConversation: On the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route, a few days after your army takes the Great Bridge of Myrddin and allows the Faerghus army to pass freely on their way into the Empire, Dimitri is reported to have died in battle at Gronder Field. That evening, he shows up at the monastery to speak with Byleth, who is incredulous that he's alive and senses something is amiss. Just as Dimitri appears to open up and say what's on his mind, Seteth wakes Byleth from sleep, and when they ask where the person they were talking to went, Seteth reports that he only saw Byleth asleep. Byleth tells him they were talking to someone, and Seteth remarks that it was probably someone who desired their guidance.]]
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: ''Three Houses''[='=] DarkerAndEdgier setting gives the opportunity to deconstruct a lot of the [[RecurringElement long-running archetypes]] present in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series. See the [[Characters/FireEmblemHeroicArchetypes character]] [[Characters/FireEmblemAntagonistArchetypes archetype]] pages for details.
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Unlike the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer routes, if you’re leading the Black Eagle house and end up on the Silver Snow path, their house leader, Edelgard [[UndyingLoyalty (and Hubert, her retainer)]] will abandon you character roster permanently after Chapter 11. Because of this, Byleth becomes the main character and the main lord for the rest of the story]].
* DefeatMeansFriendship:
** In several quests, Byleth's class is tasked with beating down a group of rebels, defectors, or bandits causing trouble. After the chapter's cleared, they'll be added to the player's available battalions with the explanation that the fight was enough to impress them into coming to work at the monastery. In other cases, it will be a training exercise against various military units to prove the worth of the player's house.
** Certain characters not native to the player's chosen faction post-timeskip will [[spoiler:defect from their class even if they had been previously recruited, like Lorenz on the Azure Moon route, Ashe on the Verdant Wind route, or both on the Silver Snow route. If they're defeated with Byleth when they're encountered, they'll be able to rejoin Byleth and their allies]].
** On the Crimson Flower route, this is played straight with [[spoiler:Lysithea]]. If she's not recruited before the timeskip, the player is given the option to spare and recruit her on the spot should she be defeated in combat.
** Averted hard in the case of the [[spoiler:Black Eagles]], as none of them can be recruited after the timeskip when fought on routes that aren't their own.
* DelayedReaction:
** Bernadetta, due to her low self-esteem and anxiety, is prone to making assumptions about someone without really registering what the other person has said to her until a few seconds later, leading her to stop herself and verbally backpedal.
** In Ferdinand and Hubert's A+ support, both assume that the coffee beans/tea leaves each bought for the other is for someone else.
--->'''Hubert:''' Is it a gift? Perhaps for someone you fancy?\\
'''Ferdinand:''' A gift, yes. For you.\\
'''Hubert:''' Hm. Who is the unlucky— Did you say for me?! This coffee is a gift for me? Have I heard you correctly?\\
[...]\\
'''Ferdinand:''' For me? Are you certain? I would hate to deprive the intended recipient of such a fine tea.\\
'''Hubert:''' That would be difficult to do, since I bought it with you in mind.\\
'''Ferdinand:''' Oh, in that case, thank— What? You were planning to give this to me all along?
* DevelopersForesight:
** Group Tasks and meals together will often have unique interactions between characters, namely those with supports with each other. These can range from friends motivating each other, to some characters flat-out questioning why you would pair them up together (such as Edelgard and Ferdinand). As they go through support interactions, some of their lines change during mealtimes and group tasks to account for the support conversation. For example, after Annette and Mercedes's B-rank support, which ends with them arguing, if you eat a meal with them together, they are both uncomfortable in their dialogue. After their A support, though, they're back on good terms with each other.
** Students poached from the other two houses in the first half will have unique dialogue after the timeskip to justify why they've remained with you, [[spoiler:fighting against their country of birth, including their families and former friends]], or in the case of the Crimson Flower path, [[spoiler:why the more devout students like Mercedes or Marianne would turn against the Church of Seiros]]. They'll also comment on events in the storyline when talked to in the months between battles. Sometimes there will also be battle dialogue when they're forced [[spoiler:to fight against a former friend or family member,]] like a Crimson Flower path Felix having to fight [[spoiler:his father Rodrigue during the siege of Arianrhod,]] which wouldn't happen on a playthrough of their native house.
*** The game will even ''acknowledge'' several things you did, such as [[spoiler:Dimitri calling out Felix for killing Rodrigue]]. This also extends to the knights and professors on Crimson Flower who may sometimes have choice words against each other, [[spoiler:most notably Catherine and Shamir]].
** During the second to last fight of the Crimson Flower route, Dedue will [[spoiler:turn himself into a Beast enemy once one of your units enters within movement space of him. However, if you manage to kill him in one of your units' attack turns, he will not transform into a Beast, and instead die. Doing so will result in different dialogue as he dies, and Dimitri having a different reaction]].
** Characters that reach [[{{Cap}} level 99]] will say a unique line upon leveling up. Typically, by the end of a playthrough, units will be around their mid-40s; 99 is impossible to reach unless one grinds on the auxiliary maps on Normal.
** When doing Alois and Shamir's Paralogue, Sword and Shield of Seiros, the pirate will claim to be Almyran. Normally, Alois is the only one to comment on this fact, but if you are on a Golden Deer playthrough, Claude actually comments that while they are Almyran, they are still pirates. After you win, Claude will also comment that they aren't actually Almyran, something that doesn't appear in any other route save the Golden Deer.
** Completing paralogues often changes dialogue when necessary in the main story. For example, if you complete the "Silver Maiden" paralogue, then at one point in the main plot, Dimitri will reference how you liberated Arianrhod. Additionally, [[spoiler:completing Mercedes' paralogue on the Azure Moon route before the Death Knight's final defeat unlocks a route-specific cutscene of her cradling her dying brother's body]].
** Doing Catherine and Ashe's Paralogue has you executing the bishop of the Western Church. After, if you do Seteth's and Flayn's Paralogue, where the Western Church occupies a shrine to St. Cichol, Seteth comments that this group was separate from that Bishop. If you do them in the opposite order, Catherine will bring up the incident from Seteth and Flayn's paralogue.
** On the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard will reveal in her support her past and the fact she has [[spoiler:two Crests]]. If the player does not have a high enough support with Edelgard to learn this fact, Hubert and Edelgard will reveal it to the player post-timeskip while discussing Edelgard's uncle. However, if you have already gotten her support that far, they will acknowledge that you are aware of it instead.
** When checking a character's profile, it will display the house or faction they belong to. Byleth's will default to the Church of Seiros, as they are an instructor, and will only change when you reach the timeskip. During the first level of the game, however, since Byleth and Jeralt are not part of any faction, their faction will instead say Mercenaries.
** Some of the support conversations will have altered dialogue depending on if you got them pre- or post-timeskip, as well as the route. For instance, Linhardt pre-timeskip in his C Support with Caspar will have him wonder why their fathers hate each other so much, but if achieved post-timeskip, Linhardt will instead muse they are likely bickering in the Empire. Some even go a step further and actually make sure to account for time differences [[note]]such as Seteth and Hanneman's C Support where Seteth adjusts the amount of time they've known each other from 16 years to 21[[/note]], or whether or not you've unlocked certain other Supports yet or not [[note]]In Byleth's A Support with Catherine, she'll talk about how Lady Rhea saved her when she was a student. Normally she doesn't remember exactly what happened, save for a few details, but if her C Support with Seteth is achieved beforehand (where he jogs her memory of that event), she'll recall exactly what happened[[/note]].
** Several paired endings will be different depending on the route and who are being paired together. For example, a paired ending for Ingrid and Felix always states that [[spoiler:they got married]] regardless of the route, but on the Azure Moon route, Felix [[spoiler:gets injured protecting her and gives up fighting after]], something that doesn't happen in the other routes. Byleth's S supports also are all different depending on the route; male Byleth romancing Lysithea, for example, will all be different due to each route having Byleth in different positions after the war.
** On the night of the ball, the player can meet a prospective LoveInterest at the Goddess Tower. On the Azure Moon route, there's a scene right before that where you and Dimitri talk privately; if you pick him, at the end of the scene, you'll walk to the tower together instead.
** If a character is on low health and scores a CriticalHit, they will wince and look pained instead of looking triumphant like they do when critting on full health.
** Some of the students have hidden quotes that activate when they achieve a CriticalHit against an enemy playable unit. For example:
--->'''Lysithea''': I don't want to do this!\\
'''Mercedes''': You may want to move!
** Several support conversations change context in accordance to which support was done before it. For example, in Ferdinand and Edelgard's A-Rank support, [[spoiler:the support conversation opens with Ferdinand drinking and complimenting on the taste of the tea he drank, but if you open up Ferdinand and Hubert's A+ support beforehand, this opening changes to Ferdinand drinking coffee]]. Another example is Marianne and Ashe's B Support, if the player has completed her support with Sylvain, she mentions the outcome of it, and Ashe will comment on it as well.
** Weapon animations will change to match the specific subtype of weapon you're wielding — for example, if you give a [[SinisterScythe Crescent Sickle]] (considered a lance type of weapon) to someone, rather than stab with it, they will swing or chop with it.
** In Dedue's paralogue, the player fights soldiers of Duscur. For the only time in the game, the enemy models have darker skin, appropriately reflecting their ethnicity.
** The final map of Crimson Flower has [[spoiler:Gilbert]] as an enemy. If [[spoiler:his daughter Annette]] is not recruited, then she will also be on the map. Should you decide to [[spoiler:kill one of the two before the other]], the game will acknowledge that you have pushed them past the DespairEventHorizon and they will break AI patterns and [[UnstoppableRage charge straight for your army]].
** Several support conversations can change context or be unlocked differently in different routes. For example, Lysithea's A-Rank support with Byleth won't be opened [[spoiler:until the second battle of Gronder field is cleared]] in the Golden Deer route. And if you unlocked Seteth's A-Rank support late into the game in the Golden Deer route, [[spoiler:specifically, after the opening of chapter 22, where Rhea told Claude and Byleth about Byleth's own origins, you have the option to mention that you have already known it from Rhea]].
** If you chose the Golden Deer house, Claude has a special comment when facing the bosses in certain paralogues if he is brought. Namely, the "Tales of The Red Canyon", "The Forgotten Hero", and "Legend of the Lake" paralogues. This fits the fact that the Verdant Wind route is one of the routes where the characters are not LockedOutOfTheLoop. [[labelnote:note]]Dimitri does not have any special dialogue in those paralogues when he faces the bosses, while [[spoiler:Edelgard]] is not available for the "Legend of the Lake" paralogue.[[/labelnote]]
** If you poached Lorenz into one of the other houses, he will remark on this for his paralogue, citing that even though he's no longer a part of the Golden Deer house, he will still eventually have a leadership role in the Alliance.
** Should a character die in battle pre-timeskip, the epilogue accounts for this by stating they either perished during the battle at [[spoiler:Garreg Mach]], or gives them an excuse to justify why they are not playable, such as Marianne flat-out leaving. If they die post-timeskip, they instead are listed as killed in battle.
** Seminars will adjust their flavor text to account for the character teaching it and what they are teaching. Characters like Petra will usually say she teaches a lesson about Brigid tactics, while others will use the characters personality as the basis for their lesson, such as Caspar.
** If Felix and Dorothea's B-support is obtained after the timeskip on any route besides Azure Moon, he dismisses her by saying [[spoiler:that as he abandoned his family]], she won't gain anything by marrying him.
** If the player chooses the Black Eagles, [[spoiler:sides with the church]] and their birthday falls between 3/14 and 3/31, [[spoiler:Flayn will write the birthday letter instead of Edelgard,]] and instead of receiving the [[spoiler:Black Eagle Pendant]], they will receive the [[spoiler:White Dragon Scarf]], a one of a kind item. Similarly, if the player chooses the Blue Lions and their birthday falls between 1/1 and 4/30, post-timeskip, [[spoiler:Gilbert]] will write the birthday letter instead of [[spoiler:Dimitri]].
* DiabolusExMachina:
** When [[spoiler:Jeralt is killed by Kronya]], Byleth turns back time using Divine Pulse so they could [[spoiler:stop her. As they prepare to strike Kronya with the Sword of the Creator, Thales teleports right at that moment and blocks the attack, leading to Jeralt getting stabbed and killed again. Sothis remarks that if even Divine Pulse couldn't save Jeralt, his death must've been willed by fate]].
** At the end of the [[spoiler:Silver Snow]] and Verdant Wind routes, it seems like you've saved the day; [[spoiler:Edelgard is dead, the Empire is finished, Thales is dead, Shambhala is nothing but rubble]], and peace has returned to Fódlan. Then either [[spoiler:Rhea suddenly goes insane and has to be put down on Silver Snow]], or [[spoiler:Nemesis comes back from the dead and goes on a rampage on Verdant Wind]]. Neither has any sort of foreshadowing whatsoever, the former only makes sense if [[spoiler:you've read up on past games' lore and know about dragons degenerating into madness because of things outside of their control]], and the latter [[spoiler:relies on the fully unexplained mechanics of the Crest of Flames]].
* DirtyCoward: Before Byleth became a professor at Garreg Mach, there was another professor who was just starting, but fled during the bandit attack, leaving Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude behind. Lampshaded when Alois remarks that they "Can't entrust students to someone who's abandoned them once before, huh?"
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: More like Disc 2 Final Dungeon, but on the Verdant Wind/[[spoiler:Silver Snow]] routes, the invasion of the [[spoiler:Adrestian Empire’s capital, Enbarr,]] is set up as the final mission of the route, only for the story to continue as a new threat needs to be taken care of right after. This is [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the case of the Azure Moon route, because [[spoiler:Edelgard]] is the FinalBoss.
* DiscOneNuke:
** You can get the Lance of Ruin at the end of Chapter 5 if you have Sylvain in the party, and he's effortless to recruit if Byleth is female or the player chose the Blue Lions house. This thing has 22 might, 9 weight, and a unique combat art, and is pretty much the strongest weapon you're going to get until Thunderbrand (and you can't even get Thunderbrand on the Crimson Flower route until the very last mission).
** The Knights of Seiros, who can be recruited when Byleth is around level 12, have Advanced classes (normally requiring a level 20 unit) and a A-level proficiency in their respective weapon class. Catherine in particular comes with Thunderbrand, which functions as a stronger Brave Sword before getting a normal Brave Sword. Once other units get their Advanced classes, the Knights remain on par.
** Felix's personal skill gives him five extra damage when he's not equipped with a Battalion, while Annette's personal skill is basically Rally Strength, giving the affected person +4 strength. These skills make the two great in the early game, and can make the EarlyGameHell of the [[HarderThanHard Maddening difficulty]] easier to go through, especially if you're on the Blue Lions route, where you get both from the start.
* DiseaseBleach: The painful and inhumane experimentation that [[spoiler:endows someone with another Crest has a high failure rate. In the rare instances where the procedure is successful, the strain of bearing two Crests, along with shortening one's life span, turns the person's hair white]].
* DoubleMeaningTitle: “Three Houses” could refer to the three classes at the Officers Academy, or to the three nations that rule Fódlan that each of the classes come from.
* DownloadableContent:
** The first "wave" of DLC launched alongside the game and added male and female Officers Academy outfits for protagonist Byleth. Wave 2 introduced new Auxiliary battle maps, as well as "helpful in-game support items" and some additional content. The third wave of DLC added new quests whilst making certain characters such as Jeritza [[PromotedToPlayable playable]] for free; meanwhile, the fourth is slated to arrive by February 13, 2020 and will focus on adding a side story called Cindered Shadows (separate from the main game), introduce new playable characters, locations and online features.
** The "Amiibo Gazebo" gives minor item drops each in-game month once ''any'' Toys/{{amiibo}} is scanned. Previous ''Fire Emblem'' amiibo will include music tracks from their respective games, accessible in non-story battles.
** In NewGamePlus, having scanned a ''Fire Emblem'' amiibo lets one access the Holy Tomb. This gives better randomized items and a special ability called Sothis Shield that increases Resistance for three turns once per fight.
* DragonRider: Some units can promote to Wyvern Rider and Wyvern Lord, and Wyvern Master and Barbarossa are exclusive to Claude. Like in most ''Fire Emblem'' games, a wyvern is a dragon with a pair of hind legs and wings where their arms would be, and as flying units, they have high movement and are immune to ground effects.
* DramaticIrony: During the Azure Moon route, at one point a young girl begs to join the army in some capacity, despite clearly not being a soldier. She says that she must join the army, as she wants revenge on the man who killed her brother. Dimitri, currently seeking his own revenge, seems to sympathize and says that she can do whatever she wants. [[spoiler:The player already knows that this girl is the sister of a general the Kingdom army killed a few chapters ago. The man she wants revenge on is ''Dimitri''.]]
* DramaticUnmask: The Flame Emperor's identity is revealed [[spoiler:in the Holy Tomb in Chapter 11. If you're a Black Eagle, Edelgard is part of the party, so she simply tells everyone that she was the Flame Emperor. If you're a Blue Lion or Golden Deer, her mask comes off during battle. Everyone is horrified to find out she was the one responsible for the attacks on the Church, not least of which is Dimitri, who goes LaughingMad]]. This reveal is so dramatic that it represents the point where the routes all diverge.
* DrawAggro: Enemy attacks are now forecast during the player's turn, so they can know exactly who's at risk and shuffle units to protect anyone vulnerable. [[spoiler:Hitting monsters with a Gambit forces them to target the perpetrator, which is particularly vital before their map attacks, as these aren't forecast otherwise.]]
* DubNameChange: Ashe and Lysithea's last names change from Duran to Ubert and Cordelia to Ordelia (to avoid a [[OneSteveLimit shared-name scenario]] with Cordelia from ''Awakening'') respectively.
* DummiedOut:
** There are full combat quotes for being selected, crit dialogue, and leveling up for Jeralt, Rhea, and Sothis, despite the former two not being able to level up under normal circumstances and Sothis not being even usable in battle. In Rhea's case, there's even existing data for Tea Time despite being unable to be invited in the final game.
** Annette and Felix have unused voiced lines as enemies for Chapter 18 of the Azure Moon route. In the final product, it is impossible for both to pull a FaceHeelTurn.
** [[spoiler:Seteth, Flayn, Cyril, and Catherine]] all have unused S-support portraits for the Crimson Flower route depicting [[spoiler:Byleth with their natural hair color]], despite not being recruitable on that route. In addition, [[spoiler:Hilda]] has an unused paired ending with Byleth for the Crimson Flower route.
* DysfunctionJunction: The three main lords have varying issues.
** Edelgard became her father's heir, not because of her capabilities, but because [[spoiler:all her siblings, both older and younger, died either from disease, insanity, or Crest experimentation]]. The results of this has plagued her with nightmares for as long as she can remember, along with a healthy dose of SurvivorsGuilt, and it would lead her to [[spoiler:attempt to kill Rhea and destroy the Church of Seiros, as well as backstabbing allies and endangering innocents to attain her goal of bringing true peace to Fódlan in order to tell herself that their deaths weren't a waste]].
** Dimitri is the SoleSurvivor of the tragedy of Duscur after a series of assassinations killed his father and other nobles. He suffers from SurvivorsGuilt and [[spoiler:can hear voices and hallucinations of those who died, asking why he hadn't avenged them yet]]. Post-timeskip, he is a ShellShockedVeteran with SanitySlippage and is nothing but an AxCrazy BloodKnight wreck.
** Claude is practically the most well adjusted out of the three lords, but even he had to survive through the ChronicBackstabbingDisorder that is very common in his homeland. Only his pragmatic approach has kept him and his friends alive all this time.
[[/folder]]
