History Trivia / FireEmblemThreeHouses

* QuoteSource:
** GiftGivingGaffe
** RomanticFusion

* FanNickname:
** Many fans that first saw the trailer called Edelgard "Edgelord". Even [[Creator/CristinaValenzuela her English VA for the E3 2018 trailer]] was guilty of this at first.
** The Black Eagles faction are commonly called the Beagles (or occasionally "Bleagles") for short.
** The game is occasionally called "[[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Romance of the Three Houses]]" due to being co-developed by Creator/KoeiTecmo, famous for games based on [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu China's Three Kingdoms]], like ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'', and also applying the company's usage of ChromaticArrangement and at least one color having the same placement in the region (Blue Lions and Wei located at north). And after the time skip, even Dimitri himself sports an eyepatch in a similar manner to Xiahou Dun. This was even noted by the directors themselves in an [[https://www.vg247.com/2019/07/05/fire-emblem-three-houses-interview/ interview]] with [=VG247=].
--->'''Genki Yokota''': We can’t say it was very conscious, but you know, we always talk with Koei Tecmo people – and some of them have been working with Three Kingdoms for a very, very long time.In our discussions, maybe it was an unconscious decision. We didn’t say ‘let’s make a homage to Three Kingdoms’ – it didn’t happen like that.\\
'''Toshiyuki Kusakihara''': Perhaps it was for us a good starting point – to say 'okay, let’s do our version of three kingdoms with three people, three countries'.
** In a similar vein, "[[Anime/YugiohGX Fire Emblem GX]]" due to the academia setting and heavy dose of CerebusSyndrome from the timeskip drawing comparisons to Seasons 3 and 4 of GX.
** After the E3 2019 trailer showed Dimitri after a five-year timeskip sporting an eyepatch, presumably after some sort of traumatic event, the "[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Punished Dimitri]]" jokes practically wrote themselves.
*** Some have taken to calling post-timeskip Dimitri "[[IncrediblyLamePun Dmitri]]"[[labelnote:*]]because he's missing an eye, get it?[[/labelnote]].
*** [[RuleOfThree A third nickname]] for post-timeskip Dimitri has also been "feral Dimitri" because his [[AxCrazy attitude]], [[PrettyInMink fur cape]], and [[{{Hunk}} more grizzled look]] makes him seem more of a BarbarianHero than his previous KnightInShiningArmor.
*** A fourth is "PTSD", a coincidental acronym for "Post Time-Skip Dimitri".
*** His fangirls also love to call him "Dima" (especially in fanfiction), or more rarely, Mitya, due to those being [[UsefulNotes/RussianNamingConvention Russian diminutive forms of "Dimitri,"]] in spite of the fact that he is never addressed as such in the game. The closest this gets in canon is [[TheNicknamer Hapi]] calling him "Dimi" in the "Cindered Shadows" DLC (in Japanese; she calls him "Didi" in the English dub).
** Being a green-haired woman cladded in white who is revered by a Church, Seiros quickly gained the nickname [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Palutena]]. This quickly got applied to Rhea as well, being another wise green-haired woman and the archbishop of said Church who the protagonist works under. [[spoiler:This being applied to both works even better after TheReveal that they're the same person and are really divine.]]
*** Following this, Cyril has been nicknamed [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Pit]], due to being a young and devoted servant to Rhea in a similar fashion as Pit is to Palutena. Coincidentially, both are also associated with bows and can't read, cementing the nickname further.
** Felix is commonly called '[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Vergil]]' due to being an aloof and stoic swordsman with a similar attitude and hairstyle to the elder son of Sparda.
** After the game's release, some fans call Byleth [[ForeignCussWord "Blyat"]], both as a LyricSwap of their name and as an InherentlyFunnyWord.
*** Fans also differentiate between the male and female forms of Byleth by calling them "Bylad" and "Bylass" respectively. Some also use the Japanese romanizations ("Bereto" for male Byleth and "Beresu" for female Byleth).
*** Another nickname for the player character often popping up on image boards seems to be “Frog” due to their appearance, especially after they acquire green hair. There’s also “Manleth” for the male player character and “Femleth” for the female.
** “Nightcrawlers” was a common FanTranslation for the "those who slither in the dark" group before the official localization's more literal rendering was revealed. Since then, they have been often called "Slytherins" or "Slitherins" for short in reference to the [[Literature/HarryPotter Hogwarts]] house of the same name. Together with the game's titular Three Houses, they form a perceived counterpart quartet of sorts.[[labelnote:*]]With Black Eagles filling in for Ravenclaw, Blue Lions for Gryffindor, and Golden Deer for Hufflepuff.[[/labelnote]]
** The game is occasionally referred to as some variation of "[[RomanceGame Otome Emblem]]", owing to its combination of ElaborateUniversityHigh, medieval political intrigue, and intimate relationship bonding through tea, all elements well-known in fantasy {{Shoujo|Demographic}} series and Otome games. The use of otome powerhouse ''VisualNovel/UtaNoPrinceSama'''s artist Chinatsu Kurahana also adds to it.
** The hilarious nickname of "Dubstep Mole People" [[spoiler:to stand in for those who slither in the dark, referring to Shambhala being underground and having the heaviest dubstep musical theme. Other nicknames include TWS, [[Literature/HarryPotter Slytherin]], Slitherers, Those Who Dubstep, and Dubsteppers.]]
** Like how [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Black Knight]] is called "Burger King" due to his initials, Death Knight is called "Franchise/DonkeyKong".
** Dimitri, Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix are often referred by fans as the “Childhood Friend Quartet” or the “Faerghus Four”.
** The Silver Snow route is more commonly known as the Church of Seiros/Church route in the fandom, which was [[https://serenesforest.net/2020/03/24/three-houses-nintendo-dream-interview-reveals-first-route-claudes-real-name/ acknowledged by the developers themselves]].

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesRhea Rhea]]

* CharacterSpecificPage:

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude]]
** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesRhea Rhea]]

** Claude's role in the story was meant to be much different than it was in the final product, hinting that Claude was meant to be more villainous, but still carried the same goals of unification and finding somewhere to belong for himself that he had in the final product. This is why a lot of media/descriptions about him played up his trickster and strategist traits so heavily, whereas in the final product, he's mostly just a light troll at times.

** There's some data hinting that, besides [[spoiler:Edelgard and Hubert]], the rest of [[spoiler:the Black Eagles]] would've also become enemies in the Silver Snow route under specific circumstances. In the route's version of Chapter 13, if any of the [[spoiler:Black Eagle]] students fell in Part I while playing in ''Classic Mode'', [[spoiler:Edelgard will make mention some of her former classmates defected to her side after the timeskip]], which never comes to pass in actual gameplay as the game considers the units dead rather than unrecruited. On that same vein, the path's version of the event "The Death Knight" has triggers to make [[spoiler:Caspar and Linhardt]] appear in the cutscene alongside the titular Death Knight if the game considers them unrecruited, which is a quirk both characters ''also have'' in the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind versions of this event.

*** Creator/KaitoIshikawa provides a subversion of PigeonholedVoiceActor as the voice of Dimitri. Dimitri is the kind of [[{{Bishonen}} handsome]] NiceGuy that Ishikawa tends to play...[[spoiler:but he also has an AxCrazy dark side and spends a good few chapters after the timeskip being a revenge-obssesed {{Jerkass}} focused on RevengeBeforeReason]].

** Creator/ChrisHackney is [[https://twitter.com/chrishackneyggk/status/1191465713489154049 a notorious Dimileth shipper]], playing female Byleth on his stream of the game solely to marry her to Dimitri, and has Liked fanart of the ship on Twitter.
** Joe Brogie is among those who think TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot with Sylvain and Bernadetta's lack of an A-support, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JlGj-0ec_8&ab_channel=ANIMEImpulse%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B9 stating that he thought they had romantic potential]].

** Apparently there was going to be a scenario in which Annette and Felix might defect during the Azure Moon campaign and side with Cornelia's army, forcing you to kill them. Annette because of something to do with her mother and uncle, and Felix being disgusted with Dimitri [[spoiler:for the death of Rodrigue, Felix's father]], and that Dimitri was technically responsible for it. It is theorized that it might have been tied to the point in the Azure Moon campaign where you are told to decide whether to march on Enbarr or try to reclaim Fhirdiad (in the final product, it doesn't matter which choice you make). A similar situation was planned for Lorenz in the Verdant Wind route, as he has unique dialogue against Claude in the Bridge of Myrdinn about being unable to not fight him there as it would be somehow coward from his part, and the route's monastery dialogue for the next chapter has lines for Raphael, Hilda and Marianne referencing the fight. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG35-BifhWI See here how both scenes]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UE_74ntPR0 would've played out in the English version]].

** Claude's role in the story was meant to be much different than it was in the final product, hinting that Claude was meant to be more villainous, but still carried the same goals of unification and finding somewhere to belong for himself that he had in the final product.

** Apparently there was going to be a scenario in which Annette and Felix might defect during the Azure Moon campaign and side with Cornelia's army, forcing you to kill them. Annette because of something to do with her mother and uncle, and Felix being disgusted with Dimitri [[spoiler:for the death of Rodrigue, Felix's father]], and that Dimitri was technically responsible for it. A similar situation was planned for Lorenz in the Verdant Wind route, as he has unique dialogue against Claude in the Bridge of Myrdinn about being unable to not fight him there as it would be somehow coward from his part, and the route's monastery dialogue for the next chapter has lines for Raphael, Hilda and Marianne referencing the fight. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG35-BifhWI See here how both scenes]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UE_74ntPR0 would've played out in the English version]].

Hacking the game has revealed multiple hidden elements that were [[DummiedOut left unused]] from the final game:

There is an impressive amount of evidence, both online and in the game's data, of many elements, features and similar content which [[WhatCouldHaveBeen experienced changes during development]]:

** The Silver Snow route is more commonly known as the Church of Seiros route (or simply Church route) in the fandom, which was [[https://serenesforest.net/2020/03/24/three-houses-nintendo-dream-interview-reveals-first-route-claudes-real-name/ acknowledged by the developers themselves]].

** In spite of the speculation surrounding the game's development, none of the interviews mention nor hint that the Crimson Flower route was a last-minute addition to the game. What's said about the Black Eagles route is [[spoiler:that ''only'' Black Eagles was planned to have [[StoryBranching a route split]], and that playtesters complaining about being railroaded into the Silver Snow route (the path where you oppose Edelgard) led to the developers lowering and telegraphing the requirements for accessing the Crimson Flower path, not to the actual creation of the route]].
** From the same interviews, you'll find many who claim the interview confirms [[spoiler:Edelgard was designed as the game's BigBad]]. The interview never says that; instead, it talks about the reasoning behind making said character (and by extension, [[spoiler:their allegiance]]) have an antagonistic/driving role in the story in most routes while also [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools playing with the player's expectations about what such a role usually entails]].

*** Creator/TaraPlatt, who voiced Miriel and Flavia in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakenig]]'', is Edelgard.

*** Creator/BenDiskin, who voiced Jakob, Hayato and Saizo in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates]]'', is Caspar and Lorenz.
*** Creator/EricaMendez, who plays Lianna in the ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriors Warriors]]'', spinoff is Bernadetta.

*** Creator/CheramiLeigh, who plays Mae in ''Echoes'' and Caeda in ''Warriors'', voices Rhea (aka [[spoiler: Seiros]]).

*** Creator/JamisonPrice, who voiced Priam in ''Awakening'' and Rudolf in ''Echoes'', voices Nemesis.

** The paralogues "Foreign Land and Sky" and "Forgotten Hero" share the same map in spite of both paralogues being meant to happen in different geographic locations[[note]]The former is in an archipelago, while the latter is in a forest within Edmund's territory[[/note]], with the only actual difference between both locations being the presence of FogOfWar in the latter.

** The involvement of Creator/ChrisNiosi as the English voice of Byleth was leaked only six days before the game's release, which eventually necessitated [[TheOtherMarty a casting change]].

*** Creator/KaitoIshikawa provides a subversion of PigeonholedVoiceActor as the voice of Dimitri. Dimitri is the kind of [[{{Bishonen}} handsome]] NiceGuy that Ishikawa tends to play...[[spoiler:but he also has an AxCrazy dark side and spends a good few chapters after the timeskip focused on RevengeBeforeReason]].

*** Creator/TakehitoKoyasu who voices Lewyn is Seteth.

** Several members of the English voice cast did work for ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', with many of them doing voice work for the characters of [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Jug]][[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 dral]]. More specifically:

*** And even there are two cases from the Japanese cast who started on the ''Genealogy'' crew and then got into here:

%% To avoid the enormous degree of bloat and FanMyopia this trope receives, only add entries if the two characters who appeared together in a different work have a significant relationship together, especially if the relationship is similar across works. Do NOT add if the most you can say of the characters is that they merely coexisted in the same series. Alternatively, consider if the reason an unusual number of the [=VAs=] collaborated on a separate project is more notable than both works having an AllStarCast that draws from the same limited set of voice actors, as usually happens with English dubs.

* TarotMotifs: The crests are linked to the major arcana, although the official links have never been released. However, some fans have worked out the most probable motifs (by using the circle of crests and comparing it to the order of tarot cards), which adds some nice references to the game and characters. Marianne is the Devil, which works with her unfortunate secret, Hilda is the wheel-of-fortune as a lazy, hit-or-miss young woman who tries to get people to do things for her, Sylvain, who has lost the ability to trust, expects (hopes?) not to survive the war and wears red-and-black class clothing, is Death, and Ferdinand is Justice/Strength, as a very just young man who hates the mistreatment of innocents.
** Annette and Felix are the Empress and Emperor respectively. Annette is the only person Felix is unexpectedly soft towards, and we can see from scrapped content in Azure Moon that the two at one point ran away from the rest of the party due to differences in belief.
** Some of the crests look like the motifs they are representing. The crest of Fraldarius looks like a shield, the crest of Maurice looks like a horned beast's head, the crest of Riegan is a moon, the crest of Goneril looks like a wheel with slots, and the crest of Gautier is spiky and jagged, with protrusions coming off it which looks like scythe heads.

** Jeralt, Rhea, [[spoiler:Seiros]], and Sothis have unique player battle and level up quotes, including critical quotes[[note]]Jeralt and Rhea can land critical hits in the final game, but they are NPC allies and thus not controllable[[/note]], with Jeralt also having [[https://twitter.com/DeathChaos25/status/1220193484361080832 a second set of unused victory and critical hit quotes]]. In addition, both Jeralt and Rhea have sets of lines meant for instruction responses, classroom questions and group task results, as well as some Tea Party lines (the latter eventually made functional via DLC in Rhea's case). Jeralt's responses to receiving gifts also remain unused as he cannot be given any in the final game.
** Updates slowly added data of a new character which ultimately was left unfinished. Datamining reveals they're a 17 year-old girl who has similar growths and bases to Ferdinand, and is set to call out missing voice clips. Other aspects of her data also changed between updates: in 1.1.0., she was aligned with the Adrestian Empire and had a Minor Crest of Cichol; in 1.2.0. however, her alignment changed to the Church of Seiros and her crest changed to a Major Crest of Flames.
** There's an unused member of "Those who slither in the dark" called Cleobulus in the character's data who would've used a generic portrait similar to the likes of Myson, Bias and Odesse. They have Agarthan Technology as their personal skill (like most important members) and their location code-wise suggests they were meant to be fought in [[spoiler:Shambhala]] before their appearance was cut.
** Monica, Fleche, Judith, Rodrigue, Ladislava, Sothis and Tomas have some voiced lines recorded for when they're giving Monastery Quests, which can't be seen without hacking as the characters never provide quests in the actual game.
** All playable characters have unused death quotes meant for the Academy Arc. In the final product, if a character falls pre-timeskip, they instead retreat and simply are unusable for the rest of the game.
** Every character have unique lines meant to be used when they unlock their Budding Talent, which includes those who were never coded with one to begin with.
** [[https://i.imgur.com/Ie9fn0u.png?1 Catherine]], [[https://i.imgur.com/XmrbvSl.png?1 Flayn]], [[https://i.imgur.com/SnH43FG.png?1 Cyril]], and [[https://i.imgur.com/vglYvBo.png?1 Seteth]] all have a second S support image with Byleth depicting them with their original hair color. In-game, this is impossible as [[spoiler:the only route where Byleth's hair returns to normal is the Crimson Flower route, in which all 4 characters cannot be recruited nor romanced with]].
** Hilda actually has a written paired epilogue with Byleth for the Crimson Flower route, despite the fact that she cannot be recruited during Part I of the Black Eagles in the final game unless [[spoiler:Byleth ends up on the Silver Snow branch of the story by remaining loyal to the Church]]. Likewise, Gilbert has a solo ending should he fall pre-timeskip while playing in Classic Mode, even though he's only available post-timeskip on the Azure Moon route.
** There are some characters[[note]]Hubert, Ferdinand, Ashe, Leonie, Lysithea, Raphael, and Hanneman[[/note]] who have customized map sprites for specific Advanced/Master classes where they conserve their Part II appearance, which in the final game are left unused as they use the generic designs for the classes instead. On a similar note, Rhea has a unique map sprite for her [[spoiler:Saint class]] that goes unused in favor of her default class sprite, and the same goes for Dimitri, who has a map sprite that [[spoiler:depicts him with both eyes post-time skip, but every route uses the sprite with an eyepatch, even in Crimson Flower]].
** There are also [[https://fireemblemwiki.org/w/images/5/5f/Is_ns01_unknown_skill_1.png three]] [[https://fireemblemwiki.org/w/images/5/5b/Is_ns01_unknown_skill_2.png unused]] [[https://fireemblemwiki.org/w/images/b/b9/Is_ns01_unknown_skill_3.png icons]] meant for unknown skills, the last two of which seem to have been related to bow and brawling-related skills.
** The enemy Death Knight class has the dubious honor of being the only NPC-exclusive class capable of teaching a skill by mastering it (Heartseeker). This functionality goes unused as [[spoiler:Jeritza uses a unique playable version of the class which teaches Counterattack instead]].
** After version 1.1.0, unused text indicates Jeritza was meant to appear in [[spoiler:the Imperial Army's Provisional Camp used in the Crimson Flower route]] before the idea was scrapped. In a similar vein, Hilda, Marianne and Raphael have unique lines meant for Verdant Wind Chapter 17 where [[spoiler:they mourn an enemy Lorenz's death, in spite of Verdant Wind being one of the few routes where he ''does not'' defect from Byleth's side]].
** Jeritza has unused lines and voiceclips for being recruited manually in the monastery. In the game proper, he joins automatically at the start of [[spoiler:Crimson Flower's Chapter 13]].
** There's a HarderThanHard difficulty option hidden in the game's code which is called ''Infernal''. Had it been completed, it would've featured ''even stronger enemies'' than the ones the already challenging Maddening difficulty bears, to the point most of them in the lategame [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/case_in_point_infernal_boss.png would've reached their Stat Caps]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWy950aN8Q This video gives an idea about what could've been.]]
** Hilda has a coded Alliance General replacement for Chapter 7's Gronder Field battle in the Black Eagles route despite being potentially available for recruitment later on. Similarly, Dedue has a coded Kingdom General replacement for both the Part I and II's Gronder Field battles despite being playable only in the Blue Lions route.
** Felix and Annette are coded to appear as enemies in Azure Moon Chapter 18's story mission if the game registers them as not recruited, which is an impossible feat in the game proper. The same applies for Lorenz in Verdant Wind Chapter 16's story mission, and [[spoiler:every Black Eagle student save for Bernadetta during the Silver Snow route]].
** Both Lorenz and Ferdinand have lines for when they share a meal together after reaching an A-Support, even though in the final game their support chain goes up to B.
** Flayn has lines meant for Chapter 9 should she lose the White Heron Cup. This is normally impossible to see as she joins with 16 charm, which is [[ForegoneVictory more than enough to guarantee her success]].
** The DLC paralogue Black Market Scheme has unused dialogue from Edelgard which would've been used if the paralogue had been done prior to completing Chapter 6.
** Gwendal has an unused battle quote where he mentions wielding a lance. In the final release, he will only wield axes in all of his appearances.
** Hubert and Gilbert have death quotes as playable characters during Part II. In the Crimson Flower and Azure Moon routes respectively, neither can strictly die in battle as a result of having literal PlotArmor.
** Dedue has a unique death quote meant for [[spoiler:Chapter 19/20 of the Silver Snow/Verdant Wind routes]], which goes unused for unknown reasons.
** Death screams for the Ashen Wolves were recorded for both the Japanese and English dub. Due to an oversight however, the English ones are never used, regardless of the dub chosen.
** Anna has a few lines & voiceclips meant to be used when doing a Group Task which someone she has achieved supports with. Given she's the only playable character with ''no'' supports whatsoever...
** Both Anna and the Ashen Wolves have dummied out data for a normal recruitment method in which Byleth is required to have passed a specific threshold with certain abilities, similar to how recruiting students in the base game works. In the final game, Anna can be recruited as soon as Chapter 3 while each Ashen Wolf requires a specific chapter from the ''Cindered Shadows'' sidestory to be cleared to become recruitable in the main game.
** There are two unused maps in the game, which correspond to unused variations of the Gronder Field and Fort Merceus chapters from the War Arc. While there isn't much data in them beyond their title (which indicate they would've served as a Chapter 17 & 18 respectively) and the fact both share similar spawn data, the only route which they have any data filled for is with the Black Eagles.[[labelnote:Which means...]]In Three Houses, the maps's data is split into three slots: BE/BL/GD, which are filled depending on whether the route uses that particular map or not. In the case of the Black Eagles and save for one exception (Petra and Bernadetta's paralogue), [[spoiler:both the Crimson Flower and Silver Snow maps are stored in the BE slot]].[[/labelnote]]
** Edelgard and Dimitri have unused deployment slots for the mission in which [[spoiler:Byleth and co. invade Shambhala in the Golden Deer and Church routes]]. The slots are located on the same spot used by Claude on his route.
** There are many strings and icons assigned to unused items, weapons, spells, abilities, crests, and even a gambit, including:
*** A "Combined Seal" that would have allowed a unit to promote to a "combined class" / "composite job". Interestingly, the North American ''Seasons of Warfare'' artbook have the art for the Gremory, Holy Knight, and Mortal Savant classes labeled as "combined classes" in Japanese, while the European and Japanese releases of the book label them as master classes, indicating that combined classes were reworked into master classes.
*** Item versions of the shields used by the Armored Knight, Fortress Knight, Great Knight, Flame Emperor, Armored Lord, and Emperor classes, all which provide 0 weight and no defensive boosts. They're not strictly ''unused'', however; they're built-in on their respective classes and are swapped when their users equip a different shield.
*** A C-rank sword called "Ridill", which is a 1~2 ranged sword that deals magical damage, which is supposedly exclusive to [[spoiler:the leader of Those Who Slither In The Dark, Thales]], but was left unused for an unknown reason. The fact that [[spoiler:Kronya still has her Athame, Solon still has his Circe Staff, and Cornelia can wield her Asclepius in some routes]] in the final game makes its removal all the more strange.
*** A Dark Blutgang, which is essentially an EvilKnockoff of the Hero Relic Blutgang, [[spoiler:similar to the replicas used by the revived Ten Elites in Verdant Wind's Endgame]].
*** Tomas's Staff, which as the name implies, is a staff meant to be wielded by Tomas when seen on the battlefield.
*** A non-functional Torch spell. It's considered a White Magic E-rank spell, it has 10 uses, and it was meant to reduce the FogOfWar effect based on the user’s magic stat.
*** Fistbreaker, a Breaker skill that allows bow users to do extra damage on brawling units, which, despite being assigned to a Bow level of B, cannot be learned, and Discipline, whose effects (double the skill experience) are reused into Mastermind, Lysithea's personal skill.
*** Infantry Effect Null and Dragon Effect Null, which would nullify effectiveness towards the respective units. Infantry units in the game have no natural weaknesses (beyond the Combat Arts Atrocity and War Master's Strike, which grants effectiveness against every kind of unit) and none of the dragon-type units in the game use the latter skill.
*** Two crests called the Crest of Agartha and the Crest of the Forge. Both have no icons and have no known effects.
*** Various enemy-only battalions, some of which were meant to be used by factions like the Western Church, Those Who Slither in the Dark and even the [[spoiler:BrainwashedAndCrazy villagers from Chapter 8]].
*** A support gambit called "Bag of Tricks". Its description reveals it was meant to reset your available gambits' uses to 0.
*** Multiple baits, one ore and fish item, various greenhouse vegetables and many meats can also be found on the game's data, whose description indicates were once meant to be used for scrapped features and even for cooking if possible.
*** Multiple terrain types which are not present in any way map, which include but are not limited to: woods, peak, waterfall, sky, fire, poison, snowfield, etc.
** A game mechanic that made it into the final product is certain characters having 'special bonds' that grant them extra might in addition to the regular support bonuses, including Ferdinand and Lorenz and Sylvain/Felix/Ingrid. However, data shows special bonds between Hilda and Dorothea, and between Marianne and Bernadetta were coded into the game in spite of neither pair being able to support each other in the final release.

** Originally, the game was going to use a mechanic called "Formations", where the unit would use a squad of NPC like soldiers that would adjust their formation to do various effects that the player could use in battle, such as attacking from a distance, charge over the enemy, or use other effects. The feature was shown in the initial trailer, but during E3 2019, it was revealed that this feature was scrapped and changed to the Battalion/Gambit system instead, which focuses on individual moves and roles instead of formations.
** The reveal trailer shows a few elements that were changed before the game's release.
*** Mercedes was intended to have brown hair, and not the blonde hair she has in the final version.
*** Ashe was going to be part of the Golden Deer before being switched to the Blue Lions at some point. Given Ashe's backstory and commoner status, this implies that early on Lonato would have been from the Leicester Alliance, before the choice was made to make him from Faerghus.
*** Edelgard was originally supposed to start with Magic of some kind, based on her having the ability to use Magic on the menu in the trailer, but instead Edelgard's Magic skills start too low to cast any spells in Chapter 1.
*** Crit animations originally were framed as a large amount of the character model looking towards the center of the screen as it zooms in towards the user's face.
** A [[https://nintendoeverything.com/fire-emblem-three-houses-interview-part-1-cindered-shadows/ Nintendo]] [[https://nintendoeverything.com/fire-emblem-three-houses-interview-part-2-byleth-dimitri-eyepatch/ Dream]] interview revealed multiple tidbits:
*** Garreg Mach Monastery having an underground labyrinth of sorts (known as Abyss in-game) was planned very early into development but ended up getting cut in the initial release due to the enormous amount of content already present in the game. Its reintroduction through the DLC waves came because, while developing ''Cindered Shadows'', the developers desired to bring back the ideas they had initially omitted.
*** Unlocking [[spoiler:the option to access the Crimson Flower route]] was originally meant to be a lot more complicated. One of the developers stated the method in the final game is "about 3 times as easy to follow" as their original concept, since [[spoiler:the game [[GuideDangIt would never telegraph at any point]] that an exploration event could trigger [[StoryBranching a route split]]]].
*** Claude's role in the story was meant to be much different than it was in the final product, hinting that Claude was meant to be more villainous, but still carried the same goals of unification and finding somewhere to belong for himself that he had in the final product.
*** In a related note, the Golden Deer House was initially conceived to be far more dysfunctional than it ended up being, as they were planned to act as a microcosm for the Leicester Alliance.
*** There was originally meant to be a scene where Nader reveals that Claude's [[spoiler:real name is Khalid]], but it ended up not fitting anywhere in the story.
*** Rhea was meant to be shown as being really fond of animals and originally had a bathroom full of animal items. This ended up scrapped, but might have influenced the large number of cats and dogs that appear in Garreg Mach.
*** The reason why Edelgard [[spoiler:is the only other character in the game other than Byleth with the Crest of Flames]] is because originally she was supposed to [[spoiler:be able to interfere with Byleth's Divine Pulse ability]].
*** Dimitri wasn't initially going to have an eyepatch after the timeskip, and the decision to give him one was taken later in development. Similarly, it was decided that he wouldn't get one during Edelgard's route as a means to communicate that he went through different experiences compared to non-Crimson Flower routes.
** ''Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Fódlan Art Book'' reveals Almyra [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/almyras_banner_fodlans_art_book.png has a unique banner of its own]] which was never used in the game proper. On a similar note, [[https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/File:FETH_Miklan%27s_thieves_banner.png the banner of Miklan's thieves exists in the game's data]] among the other banners, but ended up never used during gameplay (keen players can still catch a glimpse of it during one of the game's cutscenes however).
** Datamining the game has also revealed multiple aspects, scenarios and features that never made it into the final game:
*** The fact Jeralt, Rhea, [[spoiler:Seiros]], and Sothis have multiple unused lines as playable characters heavily suggests they would have been playable in some manner early into development. Sothis especially stands out since she is not playable in any form and only appears in battle when Byleth uses the Sothis Shield ability.
*** Characters were originally going to able to die pre-timeskip, as evidenced by every character having been coded to call different death quotes specific to their Academy and War Phase.
*** Both Byleths were supposed to access the Dancer class at one point, but in the final game, the Dancer class is only available to students. This appears to be because Byleth has a high Charm stat and growth, meaning Byleth would win easily by the time of the event, and so to make things more fair, was prevented from entering, alongside being a professor and not a student like the requirement states. The 4th DLC wave gives them the option to ''dress'' as a dancer, though not take the class.
*** There are hints Hilda was briefly considered to be recruitable during the Crimson Flower route. For starters and, unlike [[spoiler: Seteth, Flayn, Catherine and Cyril]], who are also unavailable during said route, she has a written epilogue between her and Byleth exclusive for the route. Also, her A-Support with Byleth is coded to be unlocked as soon as Chapter 14 in CF rather than Chapter 16 like in other routes, likely to account for the path's short length.
*** There's some data hinting that, besides [[spoiler:Edelgard and Hubert]], the rest of [[spoiler:the Black Eagles]] would've also become enemies in the Silver Snow route under specific circumstances. In the route's version of Chapter 13, if any of the [[spoiler:Black Eagle]] students fell in Part I while playing in ''Classic Mode'', [[spoiler:Edelgard will make mention some of her former classmates defected to her side after the timeskip]], which never comes to pass in actual gameplay as the game considers the units dead rather than unrecruited. On that same vein, the path's version of the event "The Death Knight" has triggers to make [[spoiler:Caspar and Linhardt]] appear in the cutscene alongside the titular Death Knight if the game considers them unrecruited, which is a quirk both characters ''also have'' in the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind versions of this event.
*** Silver Snow's Endgame was at some point more difficult than it ended up being in the final release. Unused text indicates that, along with the southern stronghold, the east and west ones were also able to spawn monster reinforcements at one point, with each tile needing to be blocked off separately to stop them.
*** Apparently there was going to be a scenario in which Annette and Felix might defect during the Azure Moon campaign and side with Cornelia's army, forcing you to kill them. Annette because of something to do with her mother and uncle, and Felix being disgusted with Dimitri [[spoiler:for the death of Rodrigue, Felix's father]], and that Dimitri was technically responsible for it. A similar situation was planned for Lorenz in the Verdant Wind route, as he has unique dialogue against Claude in the Bridge of Myrdinn about being unable to not fight him there as it would be somehow coward from his part, and the route's monastery dialogue for the next chapter has lines for Raphael, Hilda and Marianne referencing the fight. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG35-BifhWI See here how both scenes]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UE_74ntPR0 would've played out in the English version]].
*** Both Lorenz and Ferdinand have lines for when they share a meal together after reaching an A-Support, even though in the final game their support chain goes up to B, suggesting there was a point in development where they could've potentially reached a paired ending together.
*** Circumstancial evidence suggests there were plans to give [[spoiler:the Silver Snow route]] its own version of the [[MeleeATrois Three Houses' rematch in Gronder Field]] at one point. To start, one of the two unused maps in the game is set to load this location and is internally called as a Chapter 17 of some undefined route. Second, the chapter's spawn data not only has set deployment locations for playable and enemy units ''only'' in [[spoiler:the Black Eagle slot]], the data in question is ''also present'' on the spot where Azure Moon and Verdant Wind's Gronder Field 2 battle data is stored, and in the exact same slot. Third, there's a small DifficultySpike between Chapter 16 and 17 on this route which doesn't exist in Azure Moon/Verdant Wind due to the presence of the Gronder 2 mission smoothing the level scaling. Lastly, in the monastery exploration script, there is one empty slot between the Silver Snow and Azure Moon routes, which would've allowed the addition of one more chapter into the route without having to repoint the data used for Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, which are the next paths on the line.
*** The DummiedOut Crest of the Forge and Agarthan Crest were meant to enhance the effects of specific weapons through unknown means. Just as its name suggest, the Crest of the Forge is tagged to have compatibility with every forged weapon in the game; meanwhile, the Agarthan Crest is set to enhance the Scythe of Sariel, Athame and Ridill.
*** Datamining the ''Cindered Shadows'' DLC reveals that ''all'' of the game's playable cast have builds setup as if they were usable in the DLC, including weapons and skills. This implies the original idea was that you could take any unit you wanted with you, but likely because of the cost of having to record that much dialogue and work it into the game's story, the choice was made to stick to Linhardt, Ashe, and Hilda instead.
*** Multiple leftover text reveals the monastery had a few features that were cut:
*** There was originally going to be an additional feature called the Focus System. Each month, the player would chose one of the game's many skills to focus on, and at the end of the month, all of your students would gain experience in this skill. Why it was not implemented is unknown, but it may have interfered with the teaching and goals.
*** A horse raising feature was initially planned to be in the game. Not much leftover text exists of it, though the description of a few unused food items suggests the player would've been able at least to feed the horses with those.
*** In a related vein, a Horse Riding minigame was briefly considered, though sadly not much information remains of it besides brief mentions.
*** It was possible to certificate students for new classes during monastery exploration at one point. It would have required Byleth talking to a scrapped NPC called "Certification Proctor", who was meant to stand outside the Officer's Academy's classrooms.
*** There were supposed to be seven group tasks in total. Three of the four were given details while the last one was not; "Fishing Pond", "Greenhouse Upkeep", "Food Procurement". No details exist for what these would have buffed save vaguely implying things like Food Procurement would have increased bow skill due to the flavor text describing it as hunting. Unused item descriptions also hint there were more types of meat meant for cooking the last group task would've provided that were ultimately dummied out.
*** There was going to be plans for a birthday party mechanic. It's unclear if it was for the player only or for other students.
*** Listening to the game's soundtrack was at one point possible during monastery exploration (specifically, in Manuela's room). The player would've needed to clear a quest in which 4 music sheets named after the four seasons had to be collected and delivered to her.
*** A game mechanic that made it into the final product is certain characters having 'special bonds' that grant them extra might in addition to the regular support bonuses, including Ferdinand and Lorenz and Sylvain/Felix/Ingrid. However, data shows that there were plans for special bonds between Hilda and Dorothea, and between Marianne and Bernadetta. This suggests that at some point, there were meant to be support conversations between these duos, but were scrapped for unknown reasons (the fact that Marianne and Bernadetta definitely had potential regarding their self-worth issues while Hilda and Dorothea could logically have a bond over being flirty and gossipy only further enhances the mystery).

** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesSothis Sothis]]

*** There was originally going to be an additional feature called the Focus System. Each month, the player would chose one of the game's many skills to focus on, and at the end of the month, all of your students would gain experience in this skill. Why it was not implemented is unknown, but it may have interfered with the teaching and goals.
*** A horse raising feature was initially planned to be in the game. Not much leftover text exists of it, though the description of a few unused food items suggests the player would've been able at least to feed the horses with those.
*** In a related vein, a Horse Riding minigame was briefly considered, though sadly not much information remains of it besides brief mentions.
*** It was possible to certificate students for new classes during monastery exploration at one point. It would have required Byleth talking to a scrapped NPC called "Certification Proctor", who was meant to stand outside the Officer's Academy's classrooms.
*** There were supposed to be seven group tasks in total. Three of the four were given details while the last one was not; "Fishing Pond", "Greenhouse Upkeep", "Food Procurement". No details exist for what these would have buffed save vaguely implying things like Food Procurement would have increased bow skill due to the flavor text describing it as hunting. Unused item descriptions also hint there were more types of meat meant for cooking the last group task would've provided that were ultimately dummied out.
*** There was going to be plans for a birthday party mechanic. It's unclear if it was for the player only or for other students.
*** Listening to the game's soundtrack was at one point possible during monastery exploration (specifically, in Manuela's room). The player would've needed to clear a quest in which 4 music sheets named after the four seasons had to be collected and delivered to her.