Fire Emblem Three Houses / Tropes N to R

Tropes A to D | Tropes E to M | Tropes N to R | Tropes S to Z | YMMV | Trivia

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses provides examples of:

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• Named Weapons: Several Legendary Weapons associated with Crests bear names, including the lance Areadbhar (Blaidyyd), the bow Failnaught (Riegan), and the axe Aymr (Seiros).
• Narrating the Obvious: In interactions, characters will often narrate something that has just happened or is currently happening, even though their observation should be plainly obvious. This is due to limitations on what their models can do and show; the audience won't otherwise know what they're doing.
• Narrator: A narrator introduces each chapter with a summary of events of the story so far, in addition to the detailing the general goings-on of Fódlan during the time. After the timeskip, he also describes the movements of different factions' forces before the gameplay begins, if they are relevant to the chosen route.
• Neglected Sidequest Consequence:
  • A downplayed example happens in Chapter 4. If you don't complete the quest "Know Your Enemy" before the month ends, during the chapter's main story mission, enemy reinforcements will appear 2 turns earlier than if it had been done otherwise.
  • "War for the Weak", Dedue's paralogue, is completely optional. However, if you don't complete the sidequest it results in his death while helping Dimitri escape imprisonment.
  • It's possible to miss the sidequest in Chapter 10 which asks to find Jeralt's wedding ring on his room. If this happens, then Byleth will be unable to S-Rank anyone near the end of the story.
• Nerf:
  • Mages now only have 4 movement, with Gremory, the female-only class that doubles the uses of each spell a character has, only having 5 movement. Their limited use of magic is also a convenience and a frustration, since you don't have to buy equipment for your mages, but you can't have them spam their best spells in the same map. Their use of magic is still valuable for many situations, and they lean into Magikarp Power with their master classes and the spell Warp.
  • Horseback classes are now significantly slower, with all but Bow Knight having negative speed modifier unless they dismount, and all of them having negative speed growth.
  • The Wrath skill now only works when the enemy initiates combat, rather than any time the user's HP is below half.
  • The bonuses in hit/avoid the "weaponbreaker" skills give not only are now lower, but they're also activated only when the user has equipped a specific weapon type (e.g., Axebreaker works only when the user is wielding a sword, Swordbreaker works only with a lance equipped, Lancebreaker works as long an axe is wield, etc.).
  • The Seal skills now needs the user to actually land an attack on the enemy to debuff the enemy rather than just needing the user to survive the battle.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • The trailers accurately showed that there would be an initial school arc with a strong focus on character bonding followed by a Time Skip with tragic Fighting Your Friend elements. However, they somewhat oversell the notion that the three main Lords would become True Companions before the timeskip. For instance, Edelgard's suggestion that everyone have a Class Reunion at the Millennium Festival appears to be directed at the other main characters, when in the game, it's specifically a house-internal thing. Similarly, Claude's Friendship Speech makes it seem like he's trying to be the Only Sane Man and heal the rift between the trio, but in the actual story, it's used to distract one of the Big Bads and refers more to his vision of opening Fódlan to the outside world, with the other two Lords having perished by that point. Ultimately, while the pre-timeskip plotline certainly involves a handful of mandatory bonding moments between the main trio and Byleth has the option to bond with the other house leaders, the Lords themselves are actually relatively indifferent to one another, only fighting side-by-side once in the prologue, each focused on their own house and their own vision for the future first and foremost, with the notable exception of Dimitri's fairly one-sided obsession with Edelgard.
  • One official Nintendo tweet before the game's release stated that the Church of Seiros would be a major enemy faction. This turned out to only be true for one of the game's four paths (the Crimson Flower route), though it does describe that one path very well.
  • Played with in the case of the E3 2019 trailer, which revealed there would be a huge battle between the titular Three Houses after the Time Skip. Despite the cutscene being framed in such a way Byleth could potentially support any of the three lords, the chapter where the battle happens in-game (Blood of the Eagle and Lion) is only available for the Blue Lions and Golden Deer routes, meaning Byleth will never be able to support Edelgard in it.
• New Game Plus: Remaining available Renown, hired battalions, shop levels, and Saint Statue levels are carried over. Renown points can also be spent on carrying over skill levels, learned abilities, Professor Levels, and Support levels. New equippable Crests are also available to purchase using renown. You're also able to freely switch units between their pre- and post-timeskip appearances, while the leaders can change their outfits and hairstyles separately (although these changes may not be reflected in their dialogue portraits or cutscenes).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A variant, depending on which path you take. At the beginning of the game after having met Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude, you wind up saving Edelgard from an attack of the bandit boss who wasn’t dead yet. Guess whose secret identity is the Flame Emperor? Yep, the same “noble brat” (in Jeralt’s words) you just saved. Naturally, her goal is to conquer the continent. Unless you side with her as the professor of the Black Eagles, guess who you have to fight before the end of the game?
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: On some routes (namely, Silver Snow and Verdant Wind), those who slither in the dark send "javelins of light" to strike Fort Merceus, in an attempt to kill the forces that just took over it. Not only do their targets escape unharmed, Hubert is able to use the javelins' trails to determine where they came from and therefore where their base of operations is.
• No Bisexuals: Inverted when it comes to the same-sex romance options as all of them can also end up in heterosexual relationships.
• No Hero Discount: Even during a war threatening all of Fódlan, merchants will not lower their prices for you. One tells you that because of the ongoing war, business has been slow, and so he must charge full price. In the final chapter of the Verdant Wind route, a merchant says that she was planning on having a sale, but has decided to put it off until the last battle is won, i.e., after the end of the game.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In the opening movie, Seiros and Nemesis fight one-on-one while their forces do battle. After getting disarmed, an enraged Seiros beats Nemesis with her bare fists before stabbing him to death.
• Non-Combat EXP:
  • Experience toward levels can only come from combat, but the lion's share of combat skill progression takes place in the classroom. Byleth can learn from other professors, and their house learns from their lessons.
  • In battle, undeployed units can be attached to deployed ones as adjutants and safely earn experience.
• Non-Heteronormative Society:
  • The Adrestian Empire is implied to be this as the majority of the available same-sex romance options for Byleth (Dorothea, Edelgard, Mercedes, Jeritza, Linhardt) are either Adrestian citizens or are of Adrestian descent with Rhea, Sothis and Yuri being the only same-sex romance options for Byleth with no ties to the Adrestian Empire and there being no same-sex romance options from the Leicester Alliance. Moreover, Three Hopes adds Monica, the daughter of an Adrestian noble, who has a rather obvious (and unhealthy) crush on Edelgard.
  • It is implied that Fódlan is this as Byleth can get publicly married to a same-sex character with no visible opposition even if they are the archbishop of the Church of Seiros or the king/queen of the United Kingdom of Fódlan. Justified, since the dominant religious organisation in Fódlan is the Church of Seiros which is headed by the bisexual archbishop Rhea and worships the Goddess (Sothis) who is also bisexual.
  • Dagda is also this as Shamir states in Fire Emblem Heroes that Dagdans can marry whoever they want regardless of gender.
• Non-Indicative Name:
  • Units of the grappler class have no ability to grapple or restrain anybody. They strike enemies just the same as any other gauntlet-using class.
  • Verdant Wind, despite meaning green, is the name of the storyline that follows the gold-colored Golden Deer.
  • Played with in the case of the Flame Emperor. While lacking fire themed magic nor weapons as that moniker would suggest, the Flame Emperor does however bear the Crest of Flames and have the capability to learn fire magic.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: In Dedue's Paralogue, any Duscur units that you defeat are convinced to flee the battle. The goal is to defeat as many units in this manner as possible, so as to minimize the death toll.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: Several of the students have modified their uniforms to their tastes:
  • Dorothea leaves her jacket open, providing a Cleavage Window for her many would-be suitors.
  • Ashe and Bernadetta wear a hoodie underneath their uniform.
  • Sylvain leaves his jacket and the top of his dress shirt unbuttoned.
  • Raphael forgoes the jacket completely and just wears the dress shirt due to the fact the shirt alone can barely cover his rippling muscles.
  • Lorenz pins a rose to his lapel.
  • Mercedes wears a tan shawl over her uniform.
  • Leonie wears an archery glove on her right hand, a fingerless glove on her left hand, what's essentially a compression sleeve on her left arm, and has an orange coat/jacket tied around her waist.
• North Is Cold, South Is Hot: Faerghus is the most northern of the three nations, and it is infamous among the characters living there for its bitter cold. Adrestria is the most southern, and while it isn't called extremely hot, it is next to Dagda and Brigid, which are described as very hot. When using the Sauna, Blue Lion students heat up the fastest of the three houses while Black Eagle students heat up the slowest.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: In Caspar and Byleth's C support, Byleth quietly watches a suspicious man. Caspar, against their wishes, goes to confront him, since he's near an area of the church where there are children, and the man kills himself. A Knight of Seiros scolds Caspar, saying the man may have had allies that they now cannot learn about. After the timeskip, they learn that the man was part of a bandit group, and the group killed several knights in a surprise attack. Caspar feels that had he not acted so impulsively, those deaths may have been prevented.
• Not the Intended Use: Many of the playable units' proficiency will lean towards their favored classes. But if you were to give them a class they are not supposed to be suited for, they become surprisingly efficienct in the class that's opposite of their preferred class. For example, promoting a Squishy Wizard into an Armor Class not only increases their strength stats, but also their defense and health.
• No, You:
  • When Edelgard faces Dimitri at the Tailtean Plains towards the end of her route, he questions her actions, and her response is to say his words back to him, though she does elaborate:
    Dimitri: Must you continue to conquer? Continue to kill?
    Edelgard: Must you continue to reconquer? Continue to kill in retaliation? I will not stop. There is nothing I would not sacrifice to cut a path to Fódlan's new dawn!
  • At the start of Seteth and Flayn's Paralogue, one of the Western Church members calls him and the army "heretics." Seteth replies "You are the heretics!" Which might be because the Western Church members are fighting him in the name of Saint Cichol... who Seteth is.
  • If you have Claude fight with Acheron in Lorenz's paralogue, Claude will remark that he'd heard that a "good-for-nothing" inherited the lands. Acheron, incensed, calls Claude the "good-for-nothing," apparently unaware that he's speaking to the future leader of the Alliance.
• NPC Roadblock: During the first chapters, you can only visit a select few areas of the monastery during Explore, with more being unlocked further into the game. Knights will be guarding the entrances to the locked areas, and if you approach them, a text will appear saying "You don't have business here yet".

O

• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: On the Verdant Wind route, Claude becoming King of Almyra and bringing the Almyran army to Fódlan in a Big Damn Heroes moment is only mentioned in his epilogues.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Right after you capture Fort Merceus on Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, the Death Knight tells you to Run or Die and points to the sky. Then you see the Javelin of Light spoken in legends falling and instantly wrecking the impregnable fort, not helped by the soundtrack^*appropriately titled 'Javelins of Light' that plays which can be described as "Oh, Crap! in music form". And from a meta-viewpoint, you might be shocked to find out that said Javelins are very similar to modern era ballistic missiles.
  • Was the above example not enough? How about a whole stockpile of them, courtesy of Thales trying to take you down with him when you defeat him in his own home? Even Rhea knows how bad the situation is, prompting her to attempt a Heroic Sacrifice intercepting as many as she can.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Or rather, Ominous Japanese Chanting, in Sothis's Leitmotif "The Spirit Dais". This leitmotif is repeated in "Awakening" and "Apex of the World".
• The One Guy: Regarding the Final Bosses, no less. Out of all the routes, only Verdant Wind route's Final Boss is the very male Nemesis; Azure Moon route's final boss is Hegemon Edelgard, while Rhea's Child of the Goddess form is the final boss of Crimson Flower and Silver Snow, albeit both being due to differing circumstances on each one. Three Houses also marks only the third time in the series in which the very last boss can be female, being preceded by Binding Blade's Idunn and Radiant Dawn's Ashera.
• One-Man Army: It is said that anyone who can wield the Heroes' Relics has the potential to be this, mowing down hundreds or even a thousand normal foes on their own. While how true that actually is is debatable at least for past the first-generation Crest Bearers, the legends and power behind such armaments are why Crest-bearers are so valuable, especially if they possess honed fighting ability. The backbone of several territories' defenses are even dependent on them, such as House Gautier using the Lance of Ruin to defend against invasions from Sreng.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • In Chapter 5's story mission, the Lance of Ruin engulfs Miklan with a dark substance after the latter's defeat, transforming him into a Black Beast the party is forced to take down.
  • In the final battle of the Azure Moon route, Edelgard turns into Hegemon Edelgard, a red-eyed, grotesque humanoid demonic beast, as part of her final attempt to kill Dimitri and Byleth.
  • On the Crimson Flower route, Dedue uses a Crest Stone to transform himself into a demonic beast in hopes of ensuring victory for Dimitri. In the same vein, right before the final battle, Rhea turns into The Immaculate One, her dragon self, as a last measure to kill the Black Eagle Strike Force.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Those who slither in the dark get hit hard by this. For starters, the name shown at the start of Part I isn't the true name of the organization (they're Agarthans, or rather, their descendants), it's simply the nickname Hubert uses when speaking about the group. And second, in the routes where it's eventually revealed their true name, the characters and even the ending still keeps calling them by their given alias.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Unlike most of the Heroes’ Relics, only Byleth can make use of the Sword of the Creator. Justified, as they carry in the heart the Crest of Flames' stone, which is needed to make the sword usable.
• Onrushing Army: When using an offensive Gambit, an army of soldiers will rush on the enemy.
• Opportunistic Bastard: On the Azure Moon route, after Fhirdiad is retaken by Kingdom forces, Mercedes will tell Byleth that her adoptive father had once groveled at Cornelia's feet but did a 180 and started courting the Kingdom. Byleth can either tell her people do what they can to survive or remark that his behavior is despicable, the latter of which nets Mercedes's approval.
• Order Is Not Good: On the Crimson Flower route, Rhea becomes the main antagonist for trying to stick to the status quo and stagnating Fódlan for years. Even in the routes where this doesn't apply, all of the characters agree that societal change needs to happen. Opinions about the status quo run the gamut from complete revolution and destruction of the old, oppressive order^note Edelgard's reasons for warring with the church to more restrained internal reformation within the system itself^note Internal Reformist Dimitri acknowledging that the order needs to change, but that it doesn't need to be destroyed. In those routes, even Rhea admits that the status quo isn't entirely good, but she made the church that way to prevent even greater anarchy caused by mankind's inherent evil that led to the tragedy of Zanado, and at the end of the routes, after seeing how the Garreg Mach students have grown, she willingly allows her order to be reformed into a better order (and in certain routes, is okay with dying to make it happen).
• Orphaned Punchline: The first line of dialogue in Catherine and Shamir's C support is Catherine ending a funny anecdote with, "And he said, 'I don't even have a horse!'"
• Orwellian Retcon: A minor case overall (mostly), but the free updates Three Houses received slightly tweaked aspects of its lore and even added more content in some cases without drastically changing any of its potential narratives.
  • Version 1.0.2 changes:
    • Bernadetta & Byleth's B-Support slightly removed a bit of context surrounding Count Varley's treatment of her daughter.
    • Dialogue from both Caspar and Randolph was altered so their relationship is only explicitly revealed during Part II.
    • Male Byleth's English voice actor was changed from Chris Niosi to Zach Aguilar.
  • Version 1.1.0 changes:
    • Jeritza became a proper playable character for the Crimson Flower route, which required a few pieces of monastery dialogue to be tweaked so his whereabouts in Part II are consistent with the story.
    • A few extra NPCs were also added in the Monastery during Part I that allude to the Abyss's existence.
  • Version 1.2.0 changes:
    • The option to have Tea Party with Rhea was added and she was given her own Lost Items as well.
    • In Chapter 8's event "A New Disaster", the sound effect that plays out before Byleth suddenly collapses was changed from a heartbeat to a glass-shattering sound, akin to the one when a Divine Pulse is activated.
    • Edelgard no longer refers to Dimitri by name during the latter's flashbacks in the Blue Lions route.
• Our Dragons Are Different:
  • In this game they are called Children of the Goddess, and largely resemble Manaketes from previous Fire Emblem games. They can assume a largely human form at will (they all have green hair and pointed ears) and maintain it indefinitely, live for over a thousand years without visibly aging and do not decay upon death, can interbreed with humans, and can grant humans power and long lives through blood transfusions that can be passed down to their descendants for indefinite generations in the form of Crests. Their hearts are Crest Stones, which are used to power Heroes' Relics, weapons made from their corpses.
  • Wyverns act as mounts for the wyvern-riding classes. Fódlan’s wyverns are the two-legged variants used most often in the series, rather than the four-legged wyverns seen in Tellius and Elibe. Aesthetically, they also possess deer-like antlers, a first in the series. Male characters train their flying skill riding on wyverns, as Pegasus Knights are Always Female and Pegasi are traditionally averse to men riding them.
  • In spite of having been once humans transformed against their will by unique means, both the Demonic and White Beasts are still considered draconic in nature, meaning they have a weakness against anti-dragon weaponry.

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• Painful Persona: The lyrics to "Edge of Dawn", aka the main theme, imply that Edelgard does not enjoy their Flame Emperor persona and wishes they could live out their days at the academy with their friends in peace.
• Painful Transformation: Transforming into a beast via Crest Stone is a painful and frightening experience. The first of such transformations occurs when Miklan tries to use the stolen Lance of Ruin, ignorant of what would happen to him, and everyone around watches in horror as he's engulfed in black tendrils and turned into a roaring Demonic Beast.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The few surviving Children of the Goddess don't use any kind of real disguise in their human forms, perhaps because so few in the world even know anything about what Children of the Goddess are. Their shades of green hair are noted to be rare, but not suspiciously so, and they use thin excuses for their lack of visible aging (at least until they decide to abandon their current identity and go into hiding until they are ready to make a new one). Their most distinguishing non-human features, their pointed ears, are somehow simply hidden at all times by their thick and long hair. Seteth and Flayn's ears are only seen in concept arts, while Rhea's are shown in the game but only when she is in poor health and disheveled after five years of imprisonment.
• Pegasus: Pegasus Knights and Falcon Knights once again return, reverting back to being a female-only class. Training a female unit's flying skill also involves them riding on pegasi.
• Peninsula of Power Leveling: The Battle at the Border auxiliary battle, which is located on the Fódlan's Throat map. A very convenient one-wide bridge located next to your team's start location is positioned perfectly to draw literally every enemy unit on the map towards this murderhole. Stick a unit with high defense in front and unequip their weapon so they don't counterattack, then let your casters and archers fire away in safety behind them as enemies plink off the tank's armor. Granted, it can backfire spectacularly, since you can actually outlevel the shop progression if you're not paying attention, and have most of your team ready for advanced or master classes before the seals even appear in the shop.
• Permadeath:
  • As per usual in the series, on Classic mode, any unit whose HP reaches zero will be permanently killed and cannot be deployed again, unless the chapter is one of the mock battle chapters. Averted in Casual mode, where downed units are not usable for the remainder of the map, but return after the chapter is cleared to be usable again.
  • Before the time skip, practically every playable unit acts like plot-important characters in the previous games: when they lose in battle on Classic mode they retreat and are still present in the monastery but don't appear in cutscenes (unless they have Plot Armor), and can't be deployed or improve in any way. However, post time-skip they disappear entirely, and the ending slides reveal that they either died or went missing sometime during the interim.
• Permanently Missable Content:
  • A handful of support conversations are written such that they must logically take place before certain events in the main story, and if you miss your chance, it's simply gone. The game will tell you your opportunity to deepen a bond has passed you by, but only after you have already missed it.
  • As a rule of thumb, most quests and paralogues have a specific deadline after they're unlocked. This means that any rewards you could've obtained from them (such as most Heroes' Relics, rare equipment and personal battalions) are pretty much lost if you didn't clear them on time.
  • On the Blue Lions route, whether or not the paralogue War for the Weak was cleared will determine if Dedue will return to the party after the timeskip during Chapter 16 or not.
  • On the Black Eagles route, if you fulfilled all the necessary requirements beforehand^note Seeing Edelgard's C+ support and choosing to accompany her to Enbarr during Pegasus Moon, you'll have to choose losing either Edelgard and Hubert, or Flayn after Chapter 11, depending on whether you choose to protect or kill Edelgard. ^note If you didn't meet the requirements, you'll automatically be forced to choose to (attempt to) kill Edelgard. Regardless of whether you willingly choose to execute Edelgard or get railroaded into it, Hubert is having absolutely none of that.As a result of this, you'll also lose either the ability to buy church-affiliated battalions or one deployment slot for all upcoming story missions save for the Final Battle respectively (only in the latter's case).
  • If you forget to pick up Jeralt's ring from his room after his death Byleth will be locked out of S-supporting anyone.
  • On both the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes, it's possible to lose the chance of getting Seteth to join your party in Classic Mode if Flayn happened to have fallen in battle previously.
• Personality Powers:
  • It is speculated In-Universe, and in some cases strongly implied due to similarities, that Crests influence a person's personality. Amongst other things are a general love of sweets (excluding Felix, and potentially, the Crest of Fraldarius); Bernadetta's skills in crafts, social awkwardness, and archery that are like Indech's; or Flayn and Lindhardt's aversion to violence.
  • All characters have a personal Reason and Faith spell list, and which elements their Reason spell list gets is often used for flavor; peaceful or tricky characters like Claude and Flayn get wind magic, headstrong and aggressive characters like Edelgard and Alois get fire magic, and withdrawn or unemotional characters like Shamir and Marianne get ice magic, though there are exceptions and thunder magic doesn't have a clear consistent theme.
• Piñata Enemy: Any enemy that does not have a ranged weapon, cannot move, and is on a healing tile is a free target practice for ranged units. The second encounter with Kostas is one of the first such enemies.
• Place of Protection: According to Rhea, Garreg Mach Monastery is protected by a power that repels evil. The source of the power is in the Holy Tomb, which was said to be built by the goddess herself to protect her children. That power is what has prevented those who slither in the dark from dropping "javelins of light" on Garreg Mach. When they attempted to do so in the past, the missile changed course and struck Ailell instead.
• Player Death Is Dramatic: If a playable character dies in battle, the music stops and the action freezes for a second before the character falls to the ground. Sad music then plays as the character says their Last Words, with the camera lingering on their body for much longer than normal. To really twist the knife, this applies even if the character is an enemy, such as characters from other houses you failed to recruit. (Downplayed in Part I or on Casual mode, where characters retreat instead of being killed; a slow-down is used instead of a freeze-frame, and the music does not change. The full version still applies for enemy students, however.)
• Player Mooks: In Chapter 6 of the "Cindered Shadows" campaign, you need to have four units (including Byleth, but not including the Ashen Wolves) plug up four vortices to disrupt a dark ritual. If you can't deploy enough units to do so, you are given a generic Fortress Knight, Paladin, and Sniper to make up the difference.
• Plot Armor: Played with. While there are some plot-relevant units who will become undeployable rather than killed if their HP reaches zero (Seteth & Flayn in Silver Snow, Hubert in Crimson Flower, Gilbert in Azure Moon and Hilda in Verdant Wind), the credits will mention said character eventually perished right after the events of the story.
• The Plot Reaper: On non-Crimson Flower routes, the Battle at Gronder in Part II serves to either kill off much of the non-Empire house you didn't pick (or houses, on the Silver Snow route) or otherwise weaken them enough so that you're the only ones who can stop the Empire.
• Plot Tunnel:
  • If you do anything other than side with Edelgard after choosing the Black Eagles, you're forced to play Chapters 12 and 13 consecutively, with no opportunity to visit Garreg Mach Monastery or even do battle preparations.
  • On Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, you're forced to play the two Enbarr chapters back-to-back and cannot visit the monastery to grind.
• Point of No Return:
  • Downplayed in Chapter 6. When you reach the entrance to Jeritza's room, going there will end the month, and the game will warn you if you try to do so, but you can still perform activities beforehand if you have not done so already.
  • In Chapter 11 if you chose the Black Eagles, when you talk to Edelgard and say you'll go with her to Enbarr, you will open the choice at the Holy Tomb to either join her side or stay with the Church), while not going will lock you into the Silver Snow route with no choice. These choices are unique in that they dampen the music, add a heartbeat sound effect, and bring up a large text prompt stating that this will significantly alter the story.
  • After chapter 12 of every route a time skip occurs. After this, you can no longer recruit students from other houses, and those you haven't recruited eventually become enemies.
  • In the final month of the Silver Snow route, speaking to Seteth and informing him that you have decided whether or not to lead Fódlan will end the month and take you to the final battle.
  • On the Azure Moon and Crimson Flower routes, the penultimate chapter is the last time you can explore the monastery freely. You will not be able to do so in the next chapter, which is the final battle.
• Poor Communication Kills: This is at the crux of the three lords and Rhea. Everyone has personal issues as to why they are unable to trust anyone outside of Byleth and their inner circle. A lot of the conflicts would be avoided if the leaders simply talked to one another. That goes double for Rhea, who is carrying by far the most secrets of the cast.
• Posthumous Villain Victory:
  • While the villain part may be debatable, even on the routes where she is defeated Edelgard's actions result in a better Fodlan due to the war incentivizing much-needed reforms as well as Rhea either stepping down from her position as the archbishop or assisting in reforms as archbishop. However, the trope is downplayed as both the Church of Seiros and the nobility system remain, even if they are significantly reformed.
  • Even though she dies on the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes Edelgard still succeeds in her goal of wiping out those who slither in the dark thanks to a letter from Hubert alerting the protagonists to their existence and allowing them to put a stop to their plans for good.
• The Power of Friendship: Claude's dream is to break down the mental walls and prejudices of the people of Fódlan and those of other nations. The final fight on the Verdant Wind route demonstrates this philosophy: Nemesis refuses to see Claude and Byleth as worthy opponents because they won't fight him one-on-one. Claude brushes that aside and replies that they have the strength and courage to set aside their differences and work together, before he and Byleth work perfectly together to blindside and kill Nemesis.
• Power Up Let Down: The bonus for mastering the Swordmaster class is the series-mainstay skill Astra, but circumstances make it substantially weaker in this game than in past entries. Since it's a Combat Art, it always attacks 5 times and cannot trigger follow-up attacks, unlike in past entries where it could trigger on follow-up attacks for a total of 10 hits (or 20 with Brave weapons), each hit deals 30% damage instead of 50%, and it consumes 9 durability for those 5 strikes. You're usually better off using gauntlets or a Brave Sword, for a potential 4 attacks at full damage and less durability cost.
• Precursor Heroes: The 10 Elites and Four Saints, who in Fódlan's distant past fought and defeated Nemesis, are legendary figures in Fódlan's present. They passed down their weapons and special powers in the form of Crests to their descendants, many of whom started noble bloodlines. Their Historical Hero Upgrade notwithstanding, some, like Cichol and Cethleann, are still around by the time the game begins, and some are brought Back from the Dead by those who slither in the dark on the Verdant Wind route.
• Preserve Your Gays: On the Crimson Flower route, provided that the player recruits Mercedes and Yuri, it is possible for the player to ensure the survival of almost all of the explicitly LGBT characters in the game (except Rhea).
• Promoted to Love Interest: Discussed in-universe after defeating Claude on the Crimson Flower route; Dorothea remarks that when they make operas about you in the future, you and Edelgard will probably have romantic tension whether it's historically accurate or not. Likewise, if recruited to the Blue Lions, Dorothea will comment to a female Byleth after rescuing Claude that future operas will probably tease a romantic relationship between her and Dimitri.
• Promoted to Playable: There are 2 characters in the game who, only on specific routes, become playable units later in the story after showing up earlier as an NPC.
  • On the Azure Moon route, Gilbert from the Knight of Seiros will join your party automatically at the start of Part II, as a result of Dedue potentially getting Killed Offscreen or suffering a Disney Death which leaves him out of commission for the first chapters of Part II.
  • From version 1.1.0 onwards and, on the Crimson Flower route, Jeritza will join your party automatically at the start of Part II, with his signature Death Knight class and Scythe of Sariel included.
• Propaganda Machine: In retrospect, the Verdant Wind route reveals the Church of Seiros was founded by its namesake to serve this purpose. In an effort to gather an army big enough to oppose Nemesis and to conceal the origin of the Crests and Hero Relics, Saint Seiros, with the support of the first Adrestian Emperor, used the church and her reputation as "Sothis' prophet" to push the narrative Nemesis and his 10 Elites had been previously gifted by the goddess to defeat evil before they fell to corruption and began misusing their blessings, a belief which in present Fódlan is thought to be the actual truth of the events by nearly everyone but a select few. Also, Rhea in the present uses the church's teachings as means to keep commoners and nobles alike loyal to the Church and the Crest System for the sake of mantaining peace in Fódlan.
• Properly Paranoid: After Monica/Kronya kills Jeralt, a nameless student remarks that she'd always found the person in question suspicious. Said individual also expresses suspicion of Edelgard, who'd often been seen talking to "Monica", but drops the subject. Since Edelgard is the Flame Emperor, that makes it the second time the student's gut instinct was right.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Each route tends to depict its Lord more favourably than they would be on other routes due to Byleth's influence, with the possible exception of Dimitri on the Azure Moon route where he's arguably at his worst, but even then he manages to redeem himself. This also affects the depiction of Rhea: on Crimson Flower, where she's your lord's main enemy, she's shown at her worst and is nearly completely insane. The Azure Moon route, where the Church is a major ally, depicts her more favorably but doesn't give her a major role in the post-timeskip story, while the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes give her a more grey portrayal. Additionally, on the Silver Snow route, Edelgard's hatred of the Church, the Goddess, and her Fantastic Racism towards the Children of the Goddess is much more pronounced, probably because you're siding with the Church and Seteth.
• Pyrrhic Victory:
  • On the Silver Snow route, the Battle at Gronder is one for the Empire. Sure, they manage to kill Dimitri, drive Claude into hiding, and remove loyalist Kingdom and anti-Imperial Alliance forces from the war. Too bad the casualties inflicted against the Imperial army leave them wide open for an invasion from the Resistance, ultimately leading to the death of Edelgard and the total destruction of the Empire.
  • Can be said of both sides on the Crimson Flower route when the Knights of Seiros under Seteth attempt to retake Garreg Mach from the Black Eagle Strike Force while a larger force commanded by Rhea and Catherine takes on the Imperial Army in the field. The Garreg Mach invasion is repelled, at the cost of many knights (including potentially Alois and Shamir if they were not recruited) and ends with Seteth and Flayn either dead as well or going into hiding, removing some of their best fighters, and further unbalancing Rhea. However, the Imperial Army takes a severe beating from Rhea and Catherine's forces, and veteran Imperial soldiers like Randolph and Ladislava are lost in the fight. In the end, Edelgard admits that while they can and will call it a victory, the Church will do just the same.
  • The Adrestian Empire successfully unifying Fódlan is this for those who slither in the dark on the Crimson Flower route. Despite Edelgard conquering both Alliance and Kingdom territories, reforming the Church of Seiros and defeating Rhea in their stead, the group's victory quickly ends up short-lived as Edelgard turns her back against them once the war's over and unceremoniously wipes them out during the epilogue.

R

• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: This game presents a marked aversion for the series. There are four carefully grouped playable factions that host the majority of playable units, and your party will consist of one of the three houses you pick at the start of the game and whichever non-route exclusive characters you were able to recruit during Part 1. Recruiting enemies and NPCs during battle or elsewhere isn't featured at all in this game, with only one very specific option to recruit an enemy on only one of the routes. The few odds and ends of the Knights of Seiros include Dagdan mercenary Shamir and the former Almyran slave Cyril, but they are greatly outnumbered by regular folk like Alois and nobles like Catherine. The Golden Deer house does fit this image more compared to the other two houses, but the three commoners (Raphael, Ignatz, and Leonie) all have respectable upbringings and most of them are fairly united in protecting the Alliance come the war arc.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending:
  • Historically and geographically speaking, the Verdant Wind route ends with a majority of the existing power of Fódlan except for the Leicester Alliance gone and the church is potentially crippled with the loss of Rhea as an authority figure. However, with the truth of the history of Fódlan revealed, those in the present can truly give Fódlan a completely fresh start, free from the system that is born from many years of lies that created prejudices and various problems to the society of Fódlan, and change the land for the better.
  • This event also happens at the end of the Silver Snow route as well, since every single one of the existing powers of Fódlan are decimated along with the church being potentially crippled with Rhea's death (unless you achieve an A-rank support with her). Fódlan as it was is gone by the end of the Silver Snow route, but those in the present can still create something new for the future of the land.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over:
  • The Flame Emperor Army, a recurring enemy faction during Part I, wears black and red colors.
  • Zigzagged in the case of the Adrestian Empire. On one hand, while "evil" is perhaps a stretch, their troops' colors are black and red and they are a major antagonist in 3 out of 4 routes during Part II, and Edelgard, the Final Boss of one of those routes and The Heavy in the other two, dresses in black and red as the Flame Emperor and all red after the timeskip. On the other hand, this doesn't apply on the Crimson Flower route, as you side with the Empire and rein in Edelgard's worst impulses.
• Red Herring:
  • Byleth's Crest of Flames and their unique ability to wield the Sword of the Creator is brought to attention, as Nemesis, King of Liberation, was the original bearer of the Crest and could wield the sword as well. Arundel muses that Byleth carrying the King of Liberation's bloodline should be impossible, as Nemesis died childless, unless there's more to the situation than is known. Claude also believes that Byleth could be descended from Nemesis in the Verdant Wind route. There's also Byleth's mysterious past and how Jeralt seems to be hiding it from them, which, combined with Jeralt having a similar appearance to Nemesis, suggests that there is a blood connection of some kind. Then it's revealed that they both possess the Crest, and thus the ability to wield the sword, for different reasons^note Byleth had the Crest Stone itself implanted within them shortly after they were born and was raised as a potential Soul Jar for a resurrected Sothis, while Nemesis murdered the goddess Sothis and magically infused himself with her blood to gain the Crest and they're otherwise completely unrelated.
  • No matter which house Byleth chooses to lead, the story will give many hints that your house leader might be the Flame Emperor. Whoever your lord is, they are suspiciously absent the first times the Flame Emperor shows up. Edelgard implies that teaming up with the Flame Emperor might not be a bad idea, and her own future title will be Emperor. Dimitri is shown having a friendly conversation with one of their accomplices, and as The Reveal approaches, begins to complain about headaches and becomes increasingly erratic. Claude is openly critical of the Church and shows a fixation on the Sword of the Creator right after the Flame Emperor states a similar interest. In the end, each lord eventually has a moment where they’re able to settle their innocence, where only Edelgard reveals she was the one behind the mask.
• Red Herring Twist: Late into Part I, "those who slither in the dark" start causing chaos in the main plot, and while Kronya and Solon are eventually dealt with for good, Thales goes unfought and the group is set up to return in full force later. No matter the route chosen, "those who slither in the dark" are swiftly forgotten by Part II to make way to the game's main antagonists, and while Thales and co. do return eventually, their overall relevance heavily differs depending on the route: In Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, after Edelgard's death and, with some posthumous support from Hubert, the Alliance/Resistance Army invade Thales' headquarters and bring him down, but not without making way for the stories' final threat. In Crimson Flower, they collaborate with the Empire to bring down a common enemy, and while it's teased multiple times Thales' team-up with Edelgard is temporary and that they're next on her list once the war's over, TWSITD is mentioned to have been fought and defeated offscreen in various epilogues. Finally, in Azure Moon, both Cleobulus and Thales are fought and defeated but while wearing the guise of Cornelia and Lord Arundel respectively, and the group's involvement with the Empire is heavily hinted but never directly acknowledged during the remainder of the story.
• Reestablishing Character Moment: In the first two thirds of the Blue Lions Route, Dimitri is a pretty stereotypical "noble prince" archetype being incredibly kind and always putting his people first. However, after Edelgard, Dimitri's step-sister and former friend, turns out to be the Flame Emperor, the Big Bad for most of the pre-timeskip, it triggers an extreme Sanity Slippage in Dimitri that continues to corrupt him throughout the Time Skip. When Byleth first sees him after the time skip, Dimitri is a complete wreck and a shell of his former self. His clothes are ruined, his hair is unkempt, and he's wearing an eyepatch. Upon seeing Byleth, the first thing that Dimitri tells them is to just go away, a far cry from his younger self.
• Refused Reunion: Annette came to Garreg Mach Monastery hoping to find her father, Gilbert, who is working in the Church as a Knight of Seiros. Gilbert, out of guilt and self-loathing for not saving his liege during the Tragedy of Duscur, refuses to speak with her or his wife or even think of returning home.
• Relationship Values: The Support system is in place again, where characters who spend time with each other (such as through sharing meals, going to choir practice, and doing group tasks) and battle together (whether directly on the field or paired with an adjutant) can improve their relationship. Ranks go from C to B at the very least, while some characters can go to A and have paired endings in the epilogue. Byleth can reach S-Support with certain characters — choosing someone to give the ring to results in a scene at the end of the game where the two get married (in most cases).
• Religion is Magic: The faith skill is a measure of how ardent a believer in the Church of Seiros a character is, with more devout characters having proficiency and higher growth in it. Leveling a unit’s faith skill and changing them to the monk, priest, or bishop classes grants, depending on the character, the ability to magically heal allies, temporarily increase an ally’s resistance, silence other magic users, teleport allies around the map, and cast Life Drain or a massive Pillar of Light for damage.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: If you complete the Ashe/Catherine paralogue (where you execute the bishop of the Western Church) before playing the Seteth/Flayn paralogue (where the Western Church seizes sacred ground at Rhodos Coast), Seteth explains that the foes you are fighting are a group of radicals who refuse to submit to the new order.
• Required Party Member: On the majority of missions, Byleth and their chosen house leader must be deployed in battle. In paralogues, the characters who receive focus in those stories cannot be left out of the battle, either.
• Revenge: Several characters seek revenge on someone. Those successful in their quest in the past have perpetuated a Cycle of Revenge spanning a thousand years. In-game:
  • Dimitri is driven in part by revenge on those responsible for murdering his family in the Tragedy of Duscur. Post-timeskip, he's an emotional wreck, and exacting revenge on his enemies, especially Edelgard, becomes his sole goal.
  • After Jeralt is killed by Kronya, a grieving Byleth swears revenge on her and her mysterious organization. Rhea and the Knights of Seiros are able to get a lead on Solon's location, but she tries to keep it a secret under the (correct) assumption that it's a trap and Byleth, spoiling for a fight, will fall for it.
  • On the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, Dedue swears to kill Edelgard for having a hand in Dimitri's death.
  • On the Azure Moon route, Fleche's brother Randolph is killed by Dimitri's forces, and she seeks revenge on Dimitri for her brother's death.
  • Lonato, Ashe's adoptive father, raises an army in rebellion against the Central Church of Seiros for executing his son Christophe, though he targets Catherine specifically for being the one to detain Christophe.
  • On the Verdant Wind route, it's revealed that Seiros initially founded the Church and the Adrestian Empire alongside Wilhelm I with the intention of raising an army that would let her kill Nemesis, who had previously slaughtered her kin residing in Zanado. Fittingly, right after this reveal, Nemesis and his undead army are shortly confirmed to be marching straight towards Garreg Mach and destroying everything on their way, with the explicit intention of avenging his previous defeat at the hand of Seiros.
  • Finally, Thales, the leader of those who slither in the dark, seeks revenge against the Children of the Goddess for having vanished the Agarthans from the surface and taken away what he believes is his kin's right of ruling Fódlan after their previous attempt at doing so led to their near extinction by the hands of Sothis.
• Revisiting the Roots:
  • Promotional stat gains harken back to the NES games, with each class having certain minimum values for each stat, and if a stat is lower than the minimum on promotion, it increases to that minimum. (In other Fire Emblem games, promotion comes with fixes stat increases across the board.)
  • Magic runs on similar rules as in Fire Emblem Gaiden — rather than items, each spellcaster has a particular list of spells which they learn as they increase their magic proficiency, and those spells do not take up inventory space. Spells have very limited uses, but are completely replenished between each battle.^note Spells in Gaiden were Cast from Hit Points rather than having a finite number of uses.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • The very first cutscene offers some depending on the route you previously played. For all routes, there are 10 more glowing red lights after Nemesis makes his entrance. These represent the 10 Elites, as they all fought with Hero's relics. Additionally, Seiros' outfit further drives home that she and Rhea are the same. Especially since she only wears the same armor again in Crimson Flower. How she disarms and kills Nemesis is also where Rhea's ability to instruct brawling comes from. Lastly, Nemesis' brief Leitmotif, Seiros' anger and grief as she confronts and kills Nemesis, and her holding the Sword of The Creator to her face afterwards can take different tones if the player had just completed Verdant Wind route.
  • At the start of the first battle, you can have the three youths talk to Byleth, and while Dimitri and Claude express concern about the bandits and the threat to their lives, Edelgard is more interested in Byleth. This takes a darker tone later on, when it comes to light that Edelgard hired the bandits to help kickstart her ambitions by giving them the mission to attack any nobles in sight, and thus has little reason to be worried about them.
  • When Sothis uses her powers to rewind time for the first time, you'll notice on repeat playthroughs that the sigil in the center of the magical runes that appear is the Crest of Flames, which is the Crest originally borne by the Goddess.
  • During the cutscene which results in Byleth getting the Divine Pulse ability, Edelgard pulls out a dagger for self-defense, despite her only equippable weapon in the tutorial battle being an axe. It's the same dagger that was given to her by Dimitri, and Dimitri's route even ends with her using it again.
  • Any scene in the beginning involving the Flame Emperor becomes this once you know their true identity.
  • All of Rhea's interactions with Byleth pre-timeskip become this after The Reveal of the true circumstances of their birth. Especially the scene after Chapter 10, knowing that Rhea sees Byleth as her mother reborn.
  • Playing Ashe's Paralogue and seeing his supports with Catherine sheds new light on Lonato's motivations. While his grievances over his son's execution are understandable, Christophe wasn't entirely innocent either, and the Western Church were the Greater-Scope Villain behind the whole ordeal.
  • Many aspects concerning Claude's actions can be shed in a new light by either replaying the Verdant Wind route (whose narration is fairly subtle) or by playing Crimson Flower or Azure Moon, as his actions in both of those routes take on a new tone if one played Verdant Wind route first. Two examples come from his C-Support with Cyril where he nearly lets slip that he is a prince of Almyra, trying to get to know more about his fellow Almyran before Cyril tells him that he doesn't really care much about Almyra anymore, and both his C and B-supports with Balthus in which his hypocrisy in regards to his prodding of others and fear regarding to his Almyran heritage being exposed are made more prominent. His leaving Fódlan on the other routes (providing you spare him in Crimson Flower) are made clearer to the player if done later, as does the presence of the Almyran general Nader and his troops on the Crimson Flower route. Rewatching also readily explains as to why his Barbarossa Master Class has what turns out to be a major Interface Spoiler, as the class description makes it plain that its fighting style is derived from Almyran battle traditions.
    • After Three Hopes shows more of Claude's displeasure with the Church and Rhea, it's easier to notice the moments where he shows it in this game. For instance, at the beginning of Part II in Verdant Wind, he will ask Byleth what they think happened to Rhea. If they answer that they think she's dead, their support with Claude will go up.
• Riddle for the Ages: A number of mysteries are left unclear by the story’s end, relating to the backstory. A lucky few would get a resolution in Three Hopes though:
  • Why did the Flame Emperor hire Kostas to kill Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude? Unlike the rest of their schemes, the goal they sought to achieve with it is never revealed, and the evidence involving this subplot leads to contradictory possibilities. For one, as the end of Part I reveals the Flame Emperor is Edelgard's secret persona, it can seem at first glance she willingly risked her own life just to kill potential future enemies in a way which didn't implicate her, and that Edelgard intended to survive the bandit attack seemingly through her own strenght and skills. And yet, Edelgard's own surprise over seeing Byleth being hired as a teacher for Garreg Mach after the attack, Caspar's comments that Jeritza was expected to get said job after Kostas' bandits scared away the original candidate before Byleth showed up, Ferdinand wondering if a house leader had been aware mercenaries were staying nearby Remire Village during the incident, and Edelgard deliberately ommiting to Kostas and his gang the Church of Seiros would've inevitably gotten involved in their attack, heavily suggest the possibility the bandit attack had been a set-up for the sake of giving Jeritza the job of professor to further Edelgard's goals. Regardless, the game never provides enough clues to confirm either possibility, the story moves from this subplot without giving an answer, and it takes until the release of Three Hopes to confirm the latter outcome was Edelgard's inteded aim.
  • What became of Patricia/Anselma after the Tragedy of Duscur? Azure Moon makes clear that not only did she disappeared and faked her death, it was also very important to have her leave Duscur alive. Despite this, she's nowhere to be seen in the present day, even though its stated she very much intended to reunite with her daughter. Also, how did she really feel about Dimitri? He grew up thinking that she loved him as though he were her own blood son, but did she really leave him to die so cold-heartedly? Dimitri's DLC support with Hapi suggests that Patrica did care for her daughter Edelgard and Dimitri, but was barred from seeing the former by Cornelia, who suggested that it was the King's doing (when in reality, it was nothing of the sort) to drive a wedge through them... and after some time of this emotional poisoning, she was desperate and then tricked into participating in the Tragedy of Duscur in some manner, all just to see her daughter again. However, what became of her remained unknown. Three Hopes would reveal more, confirming she is dead (though not the exact circumstances beyond that they involved using her body to empower Edelgard) and that if she did care about Dimitri, it was not enough to keep her from helping organize the event that she had every reason to believe would result in his death, even writing to a Western lord to enlist them in her plot.
  • A question is asked by a student about the Goddess that Byleth can answer. Is Sothis an Ancient Astronaut from the Blue Sea Star? Due to the Schizo Tech, the Holy Tomb's workings being beyond her Children's understanding, Sothis' amnesia until she remembers who she is just before her sacrifice, and its ability to repel ICBMs, it's never made clear if she did come from said planet millions of years ago.
  • How did Sothis conceive the Children of the Goddess? It's said she used her blood, but it's left unclear if they were Artificial Dragons made in the same way Byleth's mom was created, or if she bestowed her blood to humans and their children were born dragons. Due to the knowledge of this process coming from her daughter Rhea, who didn't exist until after her mother did it, it's left unknown.
  • What type of dragon was Sothis? Her children are revealed through the Signs to all be different breeds of dragon, showing a bizarre case of LEGO Genetics, from earth and dark to light and shield dragons, yet her specific breed is left unknown.
  • What kind of handicap do the "javelins of light" have? It's discussed in some routes that TWSITD are seemingly unable to launch many in succession, as their long-term manipulations would be entirely superfluous with such asset at their disposal, hinting they likely have a cooldown period that's severe enough to make them only useful in emergencies. Some characters speculate that they could be afraid of having their base found out by calculating the weapon's trajectory (which is not unfounded, since Hubert does exactly that), and Rhea at the very least reveals they can't be launched to Garreg Mach as Sothis put a magical barrier in it which jams their trajectory, but the game never provides a definitive answer.
  • What exactly did the political landscape of Fódlan look like during the reign of Sothis before the war with the Agarthans? Rhea describes it as a golden age where Sothis uplifted humanity but mankind's propensity for violence caused them to war with each other and eventually Sothis herself. The few hints dropped from the Agarthans, on the other hand, style Sothis as a monster and tyrant they opposed to free themselves. Given both sides are both obviously biased and far from paragons of honesty, it's doubtful either story is fully true. The only aspects both their stories and Word of God agree is that Sothis arrived in Fódlan from elsewhere, assumed a leadership position of the natives along with her children, and that the Agarthans rebelled against them by purging many of their cities and kin with "javelins of light".
• Rightful King Returns: On the Azure Moon route, Dimitri is sentenced to death as part of a Frame-Up, but he manages to escape with the help of Dedue. He lives in exile for the next five years. Meanwhile, Cornelia takes control of the Kingdom of Faerghus and effectively surrenders the capital, Fhirdiad, to the Adrestrian Empire, and she renames the kingdom the "Faerghus Dukedom". Dimitri rallies enough allies and returns to Fhirdiad, where he kills Cornelia and her forces and retakes control. He is crowned king in front of a massive audience of citizens, delighted to see that he has returned.
• Rivals Team Up: Any of the rare moments where rival house leaders Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude fight directly alongside each other.
  • In the prologue, the house leaders fight together to survive a bandit attack.
  • In the "Cindered Shadows" expansion, the house leaders work together to investigate Abyss.
  • Subverted in the Golden Deer route where Edelgard offers Claude an alliance in Part I. Since neither party willingly desires to share their secrets with the other, the negotiation eventually falls through.
  • In all versions of Chapter 12 other than the one that leads into the Crimson Flower route, the final cutscene shows Dimitri and Claude fighting together against the Flame Emperor's soldiers.
  • In Azure Moon route Chapter 19, Dimitri rescues Claude from invading Imperial forces.
• Route Boss: Three Houses has a number of bosses who are only fought on certain routes, and even bosses who appear on multiple routes may have differences between their fights on those different routes.
  • The Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes have exclusive final bosses. Azure Moon ends with fighting Hegemon Edelgard, while Verdant Wind has Nemesis, who also brings along The Ten Elites to serve as minibosses on the final map.
  • Crimson Flower is the only route where Lady Rhea appears as an enemy while in her human form, being the stage boss of the map directly after the plot branches, and also appearing in the penultimate map as part of a Boss Bonanza. In a similar vein, Rodrigue, Judith and Nader can only be fought during this path.
  • Dedue is fought on both Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind, but in the former route, he has a unique demonic beast form.
  • Thales is actually fought on all three default routes, but Azure Moon is the only one where he's fought while he's disguised as Lord Arundel, which is notable as he fights in a completely different manner while in the disguise.
  • Silver Snow and Crimson Flower share a final boss, The Immaculate One, but the two fights are very different. Firstly, the minibosses are different, with Crimson Flower having Gilbert, Catherine, and Cyril, themselves exclusive bosses to that route, while Silver Snow has the route exclusive White Beasts and the Brainwashed and Crazy Cardinals. The Immaculate One also has different stats and skill sets in each version of their battle, with the Silver Snow version being generally weaker until she Turns Red partway through.
• Royalty Superpower:
  • Certain members of the nobility possess a Crest that can grant them special bonuses in combat. It also grants them the right to wield one of the Heroes' Relics.
  • The three lords have personal skills that boost their experience gain, meaning that they're probably going to be your strongest unit, assuming about equal time on the battlefield.
• Run or Die: Played with. In Cindered Shadows Chapter 4, there's a giant Guardian Golem chasing after you. It is possible to defeat it, especially if you get a few critical hits. However, it is extremely difficult and your best option is to run. If you do manage to defeat it, nothing happens and the battle will continue as normal.

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