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8%% Note: YMMV tropes/AudienceReactions cannot be PlayedWith (i.e. SubvertedTrope, AvertedTrope, InvertedTrope). The only exceptions are IntendedAudienceReaction, LampshadeHanging or an InUniverse example.
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11
12!!YMMV Tropes with their own pages:
13[[index]]
14* [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/FireEmblemThreeHouses Alternative Character Interpretation]]
15* [[Fanon/FireEmblemThreeHouses Fanon]]
16* [[Memes/FireEmblemThreeHouses Memetic Mutation]]
17* [[Narm/FireEmblemThreeHouses Narm]]
18* [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/FireEmblemThreeHouses They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character]]
19[[/index]]
20----
21[[foldercontrol]]
22
23[[folder:A]]
24* AbandonShipping:
25** While pairing Byleth with Leonie was once fairly popular before the game's release due to her design and her history with Jeralt, the popularity of the ship faded after their B support had Leonie criticizing Byleth for not appreciating Jeralt enough. To make matters worse, said support event is locked until [[spoiler:after Jeralt's death]]. Not helping is that many players unlocked their B support ''immediately after'' [[spoiler:Jeralt's death]], making it seem ''even more'' in poor taste compared to any other time afterwards.
26** Some players reconsidered Byleth S-supporting Sothis when datamining listed her physical age as ''9''. Although [[spoiler:as a dragon goddess, the avatar she appears before Byleth in isn't indicative of her actual age, and is probably something she can change at will]], it still made many uncomfortable.
27** While Byleth and Rhea as a ship still has many fans, many others jumped ship due to various revelations in-game, ranging from the questionable interpretation that Rhea is (depending on your view of the story) essentially [[spoiler:their grandmother/sister, to the fact that Rhea intended for Sothis to use Byleth as a vessel, with it being uncertain if Rhea intended for Byleth's consciousness to be erased or not]].
28* AccidentalInnuendo: Edelgard's C-support, more specifically [[https://youtu.be/DiILTTe3mvw the noises she makes at the beginning]], which sound less like her [[PastExperienceNightmare tossing and turning in her sleep]] and more like her, um...[[MistakenForMasturbating pleasuring herself]].
29* {{Adorkable}}: There's quite a lot of it in this game.
30** Edelgard:
31*** The juxtaposition between her [[TheStoic overall demeanor]] as a future Emperor and her social awkwardness can be quite endearing. For example, in a few support chains, she briefly imitates Ferdinand and Hubert's voices just to explain her point further, and during [[spoiler:the events in Chapter 12 that lead into the Crimson Flower route]], Edelgard takes pride with coming up the name "Black Eagle Strike Force", and can even reveal [[spoiler:it took her a whole night to do so]], all while stating it with a straight face.
32*** During Part II of her route, Byleth ends up discovering in front of her [[spoiler:that she painted a portrait of them during the time skip due to how much she missed them. Edelgard becomes ''incredibly self-conscious'' when they point it out, and even starts to [[INeedToGoIronMyDog make out excuses just to kick them out of the room]]]].
33** Dimitri:
34*** He can be endearingly awkward in certain social situations. For example, in their C-support, Sylvain teases him about once giving a girl he liked a dagger as a gift instead of something like flowers. Then in their B-support, Dimitri confesses that he took Sylvain's advice about loosening up... by ''using Sylvain's pick-up lines'', because he didn't know how else to ask girls out.
35*** His support chain with Catherine is him practically [[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee squeeing]] over his admiration for his childhood hero. In their A and A+ supports, he stumbles over himself coming up with reasons for her to come back to Fhirdiad with him, just so he can be near her.
36*** His S-support with Female Byleth starts off with him pausing for a moment, likely to work up the nerve to confess, then ''[[TalkAboutTheWeather discussing the weather]]''. When he gets around to the confession, it's in a cutely nervous way, and when he discovers his feelings are requited, he practically falls over in relief.
37** Claude:
38*** His entire Annette support chain. He overhears Annette singing in the greenhouse and assumes there must be some deep meaning behind the lyrics. In their next conversation, he tells her he researched old rituals from the eastern regions of Faerghus to try to decipher the meaning of her song and thinks the song is about people who die with regret trying to dig their way out of the underworld. Annette tells him the song is just about seeds sprouting, and he admits he might have read too much into it. He then asks her to sing a cute song he wrote about her and has her try to decipher the meaning.
39*** He gets easily flustered when Judith or Nardel/Nader teases him. Even Byleth can tease him depending on which dialogue options you pick.
40** Sothis' [[spoiler:love confession]] absolutely reeks of this. She dearly adores Byleth, but goes over the top when [[spoiler:confessing her love to them]].
41** Petra's attempts to speak Fódlan's language tend to come off as this at times.
42** Ferdinand's earnestness and over-the-top enthusiasm place him squarely in this category, and he comes off bumbling and yet endearing in his supports.
43** Annette's support chain with Felix has her singing adorable songs about food and getting hilariously flustered when Felix overhears her. She also does the same thing in her supports with [[TheGadfly Claude.]]
44** Ashe:
45*** He's uncomfortable with referring to Dimitri by name, stumbling over himself when Dimitri asks him not to be so formal.
46*** In his supports with Marianne, he's shown to be superstitious, believing in ghosts and fumbling with his words while trying to assure her that she did nothing wrong when she spooked him.
47** Ingrid is a ComicallySerious girl who, despite her mature and level-headed nature, has scolded Sylvain for coming on to a scarecrow and her "sweet, sweet granny" loudly enough for other students to hear, as well as has been a victim of Dorothea's teasing. Ingrid also forgets herself in the presence of delicious food.
48** While Flayn tries to come across as a mature woman, her sincerity in all things, {{Cloudcuckoolander}} mindset in certain things, and near-obsession with fish can make her come across as a dork sometimes. Of particular note is her C-support with Raphael, where at his insistence they practice her battle cry... which are far more adorable than anything remotely intimidating.
49* AmericansHateTingle:
50** Gilbert is much more of a [[BaseBreakingCharacter polarizing character]] in the Western world, compared to his more favorable reception in Japan. This is because his abandoning his family out of shame for his failure at Duscur is [[ValuesDissonance more understandable to a Japanese audience than a Western one]].
51** In the western fanbase, Cyril often gets heat due to his in-story and monastery dialogue more often than not centering on [[UndyingLoyalty his dedication to]] [[BaseBreakingCharacter Rhea]], [[SatelliteCharacter his work and little of anything else]]. This generally causes players to lose interest in him or outright hate him before they can see his other characterization and more sympathetic aspects, especially his higher rank supports (which often don't mention Rhea or center around working). While certain supports of his like with [[ToyShip Lysithea]] are praised in the eyes of some fans, he’s still largely disliked by most others. He's also ''hated'' by Korean players, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/ctstb8/fe3h_korean_switch_community_popularity_poll/ notably earning the third highest votes for most hated character]]. Japanese players are more indifferent to him, but he has enough of a fanbase that he was voted [[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/dis8eo/recent_famitsu_character_poll_results_for_three/ higher than some characters]] like Alois and Hanneman.
52** The developers probably wanted a morally-gray situation regarding the authoritarian policies undertaken by Rhea. Given that the West is [[ValuesDissonance highly-individualistic]] while Japan, although not ''completely'' unsympathetic to individual freedoms, [[ValuesDissonance places more value on societal harmony]], said policies went over worse among the Western fanbase, more than what was intended by the game (which makes it a point to criticize the policies in every route). As a result, in the West Rhea is more [[BaseBreakingCharacter polarizing]] and more likely to have her tragic past and trauma ignored while being blamed for many of the modern problems in Fódlan, [[spoiler:only some of which are her fault, admittedly, but the rest of which she feels obligated to begrudgingly tolerate]].
53* AngstWhatAngst:
54** For someone who's [[ChildhoodFriend been friends with Dimitri since childhood]], Sylvain doesn't seem too broken up when Dimitri [[spoiler:is killed after the battle of Gronder Field in the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes]]. All of the other Blue Lions have something to say about the event in question, but Sylvain instead talks about the upcoming attack on Fort Merceus, making an analogy about winning a girl over.
55** [[spoiler:If you S-support Sothis on Crimson Flower, or on Silver Snow without A-supporting Rhea, she doesn't seem to be that bothered by you killing her daughter, and even if she decided it had to be done, you would think it would be the sort of thing that at least merited a mention, particularly as Rhea remembered Sothis as a very loving mother. Oddly enough, this would be one of the few cases that's [[JustifiedTrope actually justified]], as a story scene in Part I of Blue Lions all but states Sothis has no memories of her family after reawakening within Byleth's body, except WordOfGod claims that Sothis actually did speak to Rhea during her death or near-death experience on Silver Snow, implying she got them back]].
56** In ''Cindered Shadows'', both Byleth and Rhea appear pretty held together when [[spoiler:Sitri's corpse is morphed into the Umbral Beast]]. Particularly jarring when you consider that Rhea's trauma stems from her [[spoiler:loved one's remains being desecrated]]. Made worse after the battle when Rhea explains that she couldn't [[spoiler:bear to put Sitri's body in the dirt,]] yet she acts resigned to the turn of events.
57* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: While most of the uncontrollable ally green units are actually fairly competent, especially when compared to earlier ''Fire Emblem'' games, a few in particular are fairly nasty exceptions to that rule.
58** Gilbert in Chapter 5. On paper, his high defense and low speed make him a decent tank who is less likely to kill-steal, and his movement of 4 isn't really a bane, as your characters likely aren't much better at this point. The problem is that his AI is programmed to rush straight to the boss as fast as possible. If he does that, and especially if he hugs the left wall and thus gets into range of the archers, he will cause all the enemies to start rushing towards you, causing you to end up getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. On Maddening in particular, you have no choice but to let the mage ambush spawns at the start of the map kill him (which is rather easy given his poor speed and resistance), as he's just too much of a liability to keep around.
59** Jeralt in Chapter 8 & 9:
60*** In Chapter 8, he's spending most of his time picking off weak enemies in movement hindering terrain. But after the last villager is saved or lost he'll start rushing towards the boss. While he can't kill the boss (only reduce him to 1 HP), the same does not apply to the boss, and Jeralt being defeated is a lose condition. This means that, if you trigger this event, you need to kill the boss ASAP, robbing you of your time to fulfill secondary objectives like beating the Death Knight or opening the treasure chests.
61*** In Chapter 9, he's more present as a combat unit. He is much faster than Gilbert and has better movement too, but that just means he's more capable of killing the monster enemies, and thus robbing you of the experience or the materials from armor breaking them. It's telling that some players cheered when [[spoiler:Kronya killed him]], just because it meant they wouldn't have to deal with his "help" anymore.
62** Rodrigue in Felix's paralogue chapter perplexingly gains no levels and very little stats on higher difficulties compared to those gained by other ally characters, including his own friendly soldiers on the same map. This makes him extremely squishy and nigh useless in combat, and you lose if he goes down. To make matters worse, he is a Holy Knight with an eight tile movement range who actively seeks out enemies to attack, making it so Maddening turns him into a suicidal LeeroyJenkins who will even go straight for the chapter boss if the way is clear.
63* AntiClimaxBoss:
64** The second fight with Solon. Given that Byleth has just collected their InfinityPlusOneSword, he has an unfortunate tendency [[SingleStrokeBattle to get beheaded in a single shot]]. No crits. No combat arts. No gambits. [[OneHitKill Just a single clean shot.]] Then again, [[CatharsisFactor this might be intentional...]]
65** The fight against Cornelia in the Azure Moon route has all the makings of a hard level and fight. However, if the player gets past the first selection of enemies with the middle group and has a unit with Warp, they can simply Warp a unit over the wall, allowing them to easily kill Cornelia in one turn. What's more, Dimitri can casually do this in ''one hit'' thanks to his Crest weapon. While not every unit has Warp, most players will probably have Lysithea because of how strong she is. Even if you don't have Warp, Ingrid as a Pegasus Knight can easily kill her thanks to her good Speed and Resistance. Once she's defeated, the level ends, making it potentially the shortest chapter in the game.
66** The Azure Moon final boss, [[spoiler:Hegemon Edelgard]], looks intimidating, with a demonic design, enormous range, and ability to attack twice, but the remaining soldiers prove to be a greater threat than the monster. The projectile attacks can hit across the entire map, but they have both a low hit rate and low attack power for any unit with halfway decent defense. After reaching a certain part of the map, the attacks will cease and the boss becomes a sitting duck. Because of the boss's single armor point, underwhelming defense, average health, low damage, and typical weaknesses associated with monster enemies, it's possible to beat them in a single turn. Additionally, while the final boss could be threatening if they just focused on one character with low defenses, like Lysithea or Flayn, they will only ever target the same person twice if no one else is in their range, which is ''exceedingly'' unlikely to be the case except for ''maybe'' the first turn. Furthermore, if Dimitri is within range of the final boss's attacks, the final boss ''will'' target him, despite him being easily the worst choice to target given his insane speed and defenses making the attacks more or less moot. The enemies themselves on the map are tough, but ''Myson'', an otherwise generic unit mini-boss serving as the last leader among the Slitherer forces, is far more dangerous than the final boss, given he has a highly accurate tome that brings your HP to 1, has awesome range, and is surrounded by units who can pick you off. It's worth noting this ''only'' applies to both Normal and Hard difficulties. In [[HarderThanHard Maddening]], [[spoiler:Hegemon Edelgard]]'s stats are high enough to hit harder, be far more accurate, nab a CriticalHit against allies with low Luck, and trigger [[TurnsRed low-health abilities]] consistently.
67** The final boss of the Verdant Wind route, [[spoiler:Nemesis]], is just a beefy human with no break bars, no truly special attacks, and on Normal has very low Speed, allowing most of your units to double him. While he does have a dangerous class skill called [[spoiler:Mighty King of Legend]] that gives him +3 to all stats for each member of the [[spoiler:10 Elites alive]], given that you need to defeat them all to even fight him, this means that he loses the only part of his arsenal that is a threat. The hardest part about him is removing the barrier to even hit him, and the fact that he is on a tile that gives him some defense and avoid thanks to also having Heartseeker, but he can be baited off of the tile with a sturdy enough ranged unit and is still vulnerable to Gambits. It's possible to kill him in one hit with Byleth if they use the Sublime Creator Sword, or Lysithea if she uses Luna, something the other final bosses lack as a weakness because they are Monster type enemies and have at minimum three bars of HP. To add some insult to injury, Lysithea can do so without a [[CriticalHit crit]] ''even while all'' [[spoiler:10 Elites]] ''are alive'' due to Luna ignoring the applicable Res buff. Similiar to Azure Moon's Final Boss, he is much harder on the higher difficulties (though he doesn't gain any HP, making it just as easy for Lysithea to delete him with Luna with the right setup), of course, but compared to the other final bosses, he's very straightforward.
68** The final boss of the ''Cindered Shadows'' DLC, [[spoiler:Umbral Beast Aelfric]], is a joke if you make good use of all your units and the tools they have at their disposal. First off, unlike most other ''Fire Emblem'' final bosses, they are fought in an enclosed room and will take your forces a maximum of two turns to get close enough to strike, even if you play defensively. Secondly, they may summon phantoms [[spoiler:of who they were before they turned into a monster]] to steal HP from and harass you, but they can easily be ripped in half by the likes of Hilda and Balthus. Thirdly, a mixture of several high-Movement units on your side, several wide-hitting Battalions, and some good positioning makes it absurdly easy to inflict a total armor break on them in a single turn. ''Fourthly'', Hapi’s personal Skill Monstrous Appeal effectively makes her a meat-shield for the rest of your army, provided that Linhardt keeps her health up. Play your cards right, and it’s extremely likely that ''Cindered Shadows''’s finale won’t last for more than six turns.
69** From a narrative standpoint, [[spoiler:Those Who Slither In The Dark]]. On the Verdant Wind [[spoiler:and Silver Snow]] routes, [[spoiler:they're dealt with in the penultimate chapter, with their leader killed and their secret base destroyed in the course of a single battle]]. On the other two routes, they don't even get ''that'', with their leadership being steamrolled in Azure Moon without the characters even knowing who they are, and in Crimson Flower, [[spoiler:they're taken out offscreen in the ending]].
70* AssPull:
71** At the end of the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:right after Rhea's death, Sothis's Crest Stone suddenly disappears inside Byleth and they revert to a normal human being]]. Not only does it come out of nowhere, it makes no sense why [[spoiler:NoOnologicalInertia would apply when Rhea didn't even create said Crest Stone]]. Even more perplexing is the fact that [[spoiler:in spite of Rhea potentially dying on the Silver Snow route (unless you got her A- or S-support rank with her) and being heavily implied to die after the events of Verdant Wind, Byleth doesn't revert in such cases]]. And while this is [[HandWave handwaved]] via [[spoiler:Edelgard considering the possibility that something could happen to Byleth due to sharing Rhea's bloodline, Byleth's solo ending mentioning they were wounded at some point during the fight, and Rhea's belief that both her and Byleth are destined to establish a divine bond of sorts]], it still comes across as rather sloppy.
72** [[spoiler:Nemesis' revival]] on the Verdant Wind route comes out of nowhere after the fight with [[spoiler:Thales]], with little explanation on how it was possible or why [[spoiler:Nemesis]] was back after apparently being killed by [[spoiler:Seiros]]. Several characters speculate that [[spoiler:those who slither in the dark revived him using the blood stolen from Flayn, and Rhea later comments that she believes that Nemesis having the Crest of Flames allowed him to not fully die, and he awoke when the "Javelins of Light" struck their base]], but nothing else is explained about it in-game beyond both parties merely speculating. [[spoiler:Nemesis]] also ''only'' appears on the Verdant Wind route, which is jarring, since not only does it raise the question of why it didn't happen on the Silver Snow route, where the same inciting incident occurs, but also the other final bosses ultimately make sense with what is known setting-wise, while [[spoiler:Nemesis']] appearance relies on UnexplainedRecovery logic thanks to nobody in-universe knowing how [[spoiler:Sothis' powers work]].
73** On the Silver Snow route's final chapter, [[spoiler:all the Cardinals and Church of Seiros leaders go berserk along with Rhea]] due to a plot point that is only mentioned ''at the start of the battle'' with no foreshadowing: [[spoiler:that leaders of the Church undergo a ritual where they are implanted with a fragment of Rhea's Crest Stone and blood]]. It's still never explained why this causes them to [[spoiler:share Rhea's insanity]] and only seems to exist to justify the final chapter having {{Mooks}} to fight.
74** The book in the Abyss Library that reveals that [[spoiler:the Church has been holding back technological advancement. Many fans see this as a lazy {{Retcon}} to justify the [[MedievalStasis technological state of the era]], one that isn't even plausible to boot. For instance, studying the human body is supposedly banned, but Garreg Mach's infirmary is too advanced for that to make sense, and movable-letter printing presses would be needed to mass-produce the amount of books that can be found there (note that the books are not treated as irreplaceable). Other fans, while not outright rejecting it as canon, interpret the book as being out of date and the bans as having been lifted some time ago to split the difference.]]
75** On the note of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, the fact that they play so similarly to one another (minus SS lacking Gronder Part II) means it makes little sense when they finally splinter, as the [[spoiler:aftermath of Shambhala somehow has different consequences on the two routes]]. On Verdant Wind, [[spoiler:Nemesis is awoken after the base’s destruction]], while on Silver Snow, [[spoiler:Rhea goes berserk after her years of imprisonment]]. There is no explanation given on what happens differently between the two routes and why both of these events don’t just happen together for both Verdant Wind and Silver Snow ([[spoiler:well, the two routes obviously needed different final bosses, and having two final bosses would cause EndingFatigue; still, no in-universe justification is made]]).
76* AudienceAwarenessAdvantage: It's ''very easy'' for players to fall into this trope once they have played more than one route and potentially seen the full context behind some key plot points. This frequently leads them to disagree with some of the characters' knowledge and even motivations, forgetting Three Houses' stories run on [[SympatheticPOV biased storytelling]] and DramaticIrony to begin with, as each story ''deliberately withholds specific information from the characters often'' due to their circumstances or because the knowledge at hand is not relevant to the story being told.
77* AwardSnub: Despite being one of the biggest hits of 2019, the game was only nominated for one category, Best Strategy at the Game Awards (a category that it handily won). Although well deserved, many felt that the game was passed over for not being a "AAA" game like ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'' or ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', two games that while more successful, were far more polarizing and contentious then ''Three Houses''. The game ''did'' end up winning the Player's Voice Award (essentially a Viewer's Choice GOTY award, determined bracket-style over three rounds) by a 40% margin, leaving actual Game of the Year nominees like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' and the aforementioned ''Death Stranding'' in the dust. Many fans at the time also wished ''Creator/ChrisHackney'' got a Best Performance nomination for his work as Dimitri.
78* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: In contrast to the [[UnintentionalUncannyValley varying quality]] of the majority of S-support [=CGs=], Jeritza's S-support CG is brilliantly designed, featuring Byleth and Jeritza as they [[spoiler:fight against those who slither in the dark in Shambhala]]. The S-support CG for Constance from the Ashen Wolves is widely seen as being one of the best ones in the game as well.
79* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Has its own page [[AwesomeMusic/FireEmblem here]].
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:B]]
83* BaseBreakingCharacter:
84** Edelgard has enough fans and detractors to fill whole essays with their arguments:
85*** Her fans tend to see her as a WellIntentionedExtremist TragicHero, and either argue she's [[spoiler:completely right in her assessment of Rhea as a villain, or at least see her actions as understandable due to her exclusive knowledge of history portraying Seiros and the church in a more negative light, which only the imperial lineage has access to]], and that she makes several valid points about the stagnation and problems in Fódlan and solutions. Her detractors, on the other hand, say that [[spoiler:her [[TheUnfettered overall methods]] (with the war that she kickstarts being the most stand-out example) makes her no better than those she opposes, and being allied with "those who slither in the dark" is unforgivable regardless of her end goal]]. In addition, her own route [[spoiler:never reveals that [[UnreliableNarrator Edelgard's version of history is missing key details]] and thus never reveals Seiros' true reasons for antagonizing Nemesis]]. Other routes also [[spoiler:don't reveal her more sympathetic aspects nor the circumstances preventing her from ever learning the truth]].
86*** Also, the possibility [[spoiler:that Edelgard’s war may ''not'' have been entirely necessary to bring about change to Fódlan only further drives the rift between those who stand by Edelgard’s actions and those who loathe them]]. Due to how polarizing Edelgard is, she's more often than not the center of most heated discussions about the game, which leads to a lot of misinformation being spread around about the lore and aspects of her characterization, making her appear either [[DracoInLeatherPants more sympathetic]] [[RonTheDeathEater or nastier]] in the process.
87*** The revelations added on the Abyssal Library only further muddle things for both sides, as it throws most things learned through the story into question, and the Nintendo Dream 2020 interview where WordOfGod confirmed [[spoiler:that Edelgard has the Crest of Flames so she would serve as Byleth’s rival (but not the main villain, as Thales is presented as the bigger threat and outlives Edelgard on that route) for the Silver Snow route (which was the first path developed)]] threw the fanbase into debate in no time. Even long after the game released and the fandom mostly calmed down, she still is one of the most talked about characters in good and bad ways. Edelgard (Pre-timeskip) placing 23rd and Edelgard (Post-timeskip) placing 3rd in the "The Villain You Just Can't Hate" poll for the mobile game ''Fire Emblem Heroes'' has restarted a lot of arguments within the fanbase. Crimson Flower Rhea placing 36th didn't help either.
88** Rhea is in a similar boat as Edelgard’s:
89*** Her fans argue that [[spoiler:she has kept Fódlan relatively peaceful for generations, and under her lead, the monastery is far more inclusive than the rest of Fódlan, showing that she’d like the continent to be more open and less Crest-focused. And while she can be ruthless, she’s normally not the aggressor. Further, they note that many of her actions were done to suppress war and chaos rather than for the sake of power]]. Meanwhile, her detractors [[spoiler:see her as a [[FalseProphet deceptive zealot]] who has kept Fódlan's culture stagnant for too long (or at least doesn't do enough to promote societal reforms or directly oppose those stopping them), spreading isolation, racism, and crest superiority through Church tenets and is willing to be downright merciless to those opposing her violently, even if they have sympathetic reasons like Lonato]]. Not helping matters is some ambiguity surrounding Byleth’s status as [[spoiler:Sothis’s vessel, such as whether Rhea thought Byleth’s and Sothis’s consciousness would fuse, whether Rhea intended for Sothis to completely take over Byleth, whether she thought Byleth was actually an amnesiac Sothis and that the ritual would restore her missing memories, or if even Rhea didn't know what she expected beyond Sothis returning]].
90*** Like in Edelgard’s case, how she’s depicted varies from route to route; players who played Edelgard’s route first likely only know her as [[spoiler:an insane monster, as Rhea’s past and reasoning is never explored there]]. On the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind routes, however, she comes across as [[spoiler:more tragic and sympathetic, as her past trauma regarding the death of her mother and kin is touched upon (explaining her [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge behavior]] in the Holy Tomb), and does not undergo SanitySlippage with the exception of Silver Snow’s endgame, where she can even be saved via an A- or S-rank support, allowing her to reflect on her actions, acknowledge her wrongdoing, and seek atonement]]. Just like Edelgard, the lore reveals of the Abyssal Library scramble things further from her side of the events. Specifically, [[spoiler:Rhea's slowing the technological advancement of Fódlan's culture breaks the base further: On one side, it's considered bad by her detractors and an inexcusable thing to suppress it at the cost of mankind's betterment. On the other hand, it’s viewed by her supporters as necessary (though not [[NecessaryEvil necessarily good]]) as the last time the Children of the Goddess allowed mankind (a.k.a. the Agarthans) to advance without restriction, they ended up being [[MasterRace too prideful]] and went on to wage huge wars that eventually destroyed the continent and massacred her kinsmen.]]
91* BestLevelEver:
92** The Battle of the Eagle and Lion at Gronder Field. It's a MeleeATrois between the three houses, with your house coming in from the north and the other two on the southwest and southeast. One of the opposing houses has a hold of the ballista in the center, and the player's given several options to tackle the map: head down the west and engage the house there, head down the east and do the same, or [[TakeAThirdOption head down the middle]], capture the center, and ''engage both houses at once''. It's a fun test of skill between the three houses. [[spoiler:In some routes, this battle is revisited post-timeskip, but with the three factions now at war. The stakes are much higher, with some enemy units meeting their bitter end on this map (which ''[[PlayerPunch can hurt]]'' if they weren't recruited). While the strategies are still the same, trying to take the ballista on the central hill this time results in it being set ablaze by Edelgard, ''no matter who's on it''. But the objective is ''still'' just to defeat the bosses, so if you want some VideogameCaringPotential, you can challenge yourself to do a PacifistRun. The song is a DarkReprise of its pre-timeskip version, and is all the more intense for it.]]
93** For the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind routes, [[spoiler:Stand Strong at Shambhala]]. Despite having ''so'' many things set up to make it ThatOneLevel (tough reinforcements, turrets you can't kill, forced split-up of the party, loads of locked doors and narrow hallways), it manages to shine out due to pure ''atmosphere''. It looks ''nothing'' like ''any'' chapter you have ever seen before since ''Fates''. The soundtrack sounds ''very'' out of place — giving it a very EldritchLocation feel.
94** Most of the final maps. They all feature big final bosses and several mini-bosses, have incredible music, and dramatic atmospheres, all making for fun but challenging final tests for the player. While some of the maps are recycled from other routes, those at least add a twist. Crimson Flower's final map takes place in Fhirdiad, just like a map from Azure Moon, [[spoiler:but it's set ''on fire'', meaning the terrain is hazardous, and the big boss of this map is a giant dragon, namely Rhea as the Immaculate One]]. The final map of Azure Moon is set in the imperial palace of Enbarr, which is visited in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, except [[spoiler:Edelgard is at her most desperate and assumes a giant, monstrous form known as Hegemon Edelgard, and she's also backed up by "those who slither in the dark"]]. The pressure is mounted even more than those versions thanks to all the enemies with long range weapons, all ready to swarm you, and you also start a bit further back. Verdant Wind's final map is actually unique, and has you face off against [[spoiler:Nemesis, plus the revived husks of the Ten Elites, and all of them are using dark versions of the Heroes Relics that you've been using. And considering that they power Nemesis up, that's ''eleven'' bosses to fight on this map]]. Silver Snow may share the final boss with Crimson Flower, but comes with unique reinforcements, forces the player to split their army to move in a "W" shape, and has its own sad theme.
95** The last map before the TimeSkip, The Battle of Garreg Mach, is seen as a good one. However, special mention goes to the Crimson Flower version [[spoiler:in which you ''swap places'', so ''you'' are on the attacking side]]. On top of this? Much like other routes, the Death Knight appears... but he's [[spoiler:''on YOUR side'' this time]].
96** The Battle of the Tailtean Plains, the penultimate battle on the Crimson Flower route and that route's counterpart to the Gronder Field battle, has possibly the most ShockingMoments of any map in the entire game. It starts simple enough, with an enemy army led by [[spoiler:Dimitri, Dedue, and possibly Sylvain and Mercedes]]. But then [[spoiler:several of the enemy soldiers start pulling out Crest Stones, [[PlayerPunch willingly transforming themselves into Demonic Beasts in a desperate attempt to defeat you]]]], immediately followed by a wave of enemy reinforcements possibly led by [[spoiler:Mercedes]]. Then a second wave of reinforcements arrives, this one led by [[spoiler:Rhea herself, having donned her Saint Seiros outfit from the intro cutscene and bringing several Golems along with her]]. And as if that wasn't enough, [[spoiler:once you get close enough to him, [[OneWingedAngel Dedue himself transforms into a Demonic Beast]]]]. As the cherry on top, [[spoiler:the chapter has a secret bonus objective where killing Dedue before he transforms unlocks a different death scene for him and Dimitri.]]
97* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
98** At the start of Chapter 8, Byleth suddenly faints for a second after finishing talking to Jeralt and hearing a strange noise. Sothis comments about feeling dizzy, and than after reassuring Jeralt everything is fine, it never gets mentioned or referenced again. The game seems to be implying that something inside Byleth caused them to faint, as you unlock Sothis' paralogue after, but nothing about Byleth passing out like that is talked about again, so it comes across as random, especially compared to other instances where Byleth passes out, and the story more overtly indicates why. Worse, the sound effect originally was a heartbeat, implying something about Byleth's heart caused them to momentarily pass out, but a later patch changed it to sound like some object breaking, making it sound like a nearby object broke and Byleth just passes out randomly.
99** Due to her being OutOfFocus on the Azure Moon route, Rhea [[spoiler:turning into a Dragon pre-timeskip]] comes out of no where and never gets talked about again, unlike the other three routes where it is a plot plot that is discussed often.
100** [[spoiler:The Death Knight]]'s sole appearance in "Cindered Shadows" straight comes from out of nowhere, especially notable as the entrance to Abyss is right inside Garreg Mach monastery and depending on when exactly "Cindered Shadows" takes place, [[spoiler:Jeritza may have already fled the Monastery after Flayn was rescued]]. Making it more odd is that despite [[spoiler:fellow Flame Emperor's goon Metodey]] working for the DLC route's BigBad, [[spoiler:the Flame Emperor proper]] has nothing to do with Abyss' situation, making the reason for his appearance even more perplexing. He can even [[spoiler:end up fighting Edelgard, his employer, and she expresses extreme bemusement at him being there]].
101* BreatherLevel:
102** Chapter 9 is only a battle against a few Demonic Beasts. It's possible for several of your units to never even need to ''act'', since by that point, you're most likely used to fighting Demonic Beasts and Monsters. Not to mention Jeralt is also around to help, and can help fighting any monsters that get too close. Unfortunately, it is also one of the game's [[WhamEpisode wham episodes]].
103** Chapter 16 on the Crimson Flower route involves attacking Arianrhod. There are several bosses throughout the stage- [[spoiler:Rodrigue, Cornelia, Gwendal, and Felix and Ingrid or their Kingdom General replacements]]- as well as a handful of [[DemonicSpiders Titanus]], but there aren't any reinforcements, unlike the preceding three or final two maps, so you can afford to take the map at a leisurely pace. It also helps that the enemy commanders are positioned in such a way that you only have to focus on the left side of the map, and there is a path outside of the fortress without any enemies that you can use to traverse more serenely. You only need a key or a unit with the Lockpick ability to open a gate that blocks an entrance on that side of the fortress.
104*** Dimitri's paralogue can also be completed this way. You can completley ignore the enemies inside of Arianrhod and just take the way outside of the fortress down to [[spoiler:Hubert]], and this time, the aforementioned gate on the left side is ''open'' for you.
105** Felix's paralogue, especially on Normal mode. You have a ''lot'' of allies with you, including Rodrigue, who is [[PurposelyOverpowered incredibly overpowered for this point of the game]]. On top of that, Rodrigue's soldiers are actually rather competent, unlike most NPC allies. The only thing that keeps you from being able to [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing win by sitting on the sidelines]] is the fact that you have to save all the villagers to get the Aegis Shield, which requires ''some'' level of effort from the player and is considered ThatOneSidequest. The level gets much more difficult on [[HarderThanHard Maddening]], in which it is possible for the bandits to kill Rodrigue on the first Enemy Phase, thus causing you to fail.
106** Ashe and Catherine's paralogue is also ''very'' easy — it's a defend-the-point map, only you don't have any luxuries of things like bottlenecks. Because of how your units are positioned, if they are powerful enough, you can [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing win by sitting back]] and waiting it out.
107** Retribution, Ferdinand and Lysithea's paralogue available in non-Crimson Flower routes, is fairly easy in lower difficulties. While you need to save villagers here, you only need to reach the node of the map to rescue them rather than worry about having NPC allies. Additionally, you can reduce the number of enemies by taking out two of the generals in the south and east area of the map first before dealing with the enemies at the north.
108** In the Cindered Shadows DLC, after four chapters of battles with increasingly hard enemies and increasingly difficult gameplay conditions, Chapter Five is nothing more than a simple "Rout the Enemy" condition. As an added bonus, most of the enemies are too distracted by the monsters that spawn in to immediately engage the player.
109* BrokenBase:
110** Outside of debates about [[BaseBreakingCharacter Edelgard]] as a character, the fanbase cannot agree [[spoiler:whether Edelgard’s war was truly necessary to remove/change the crest system and bring unity and equity to Fódlan, and if it could've been avoided entirely. On one hand, it's stated that Edelgard’s war [[VillainsActHeroesReact prompted the other regions to make reforms]] in all routes, as the ravaged state of the continent allowed change with little resistance, allowing the victorious faction to make positive progress by the end. On the other hand, it’s been pointed out by fans that some endings imply the opposite — particularly Sylvain’s solo ending should he survive, where it's stated that his oration alone helped create a new way of life for nobles in which crests and relics were unnecessary (granted, this occurs after Sylvain becomes a war hero and has the support of the winning lord). Further, the victor of the war is able to reform the entirety of the Continent, not just a single territory. Due to Edelgard never offering a peaceful alternative for unifying Fódlan, it's debatable whether the crest system could have been done away with using similar methods without war, or if the war was necessary to create reforms in the aftermath. Complicating this further, not only did the other lords also have plans to change the ''status quo'' through more peaceful means before the war began [[note]]Dimitri's particular situation does complicate things, given his peaceful means clash hard with his [[RevengeBeforeReason desire for revenge]] up until late into Azure Moon[[/note]], but many students (who are mostly future heirs of their respective territories) also discuss in their supports how awful the current system is and how they would wish to change it. Dimitri also speculates in his route that one reason the crest system had endured for nearly a millennia is both its actual and metaphorical power to quell threats, leaving room to imagine just how effective and lengthy a peaceful reform would've been under different circumstances. Finally, there is also the issue that, for all intents and purposes, the Empire had long been preparing itself to annex all of Fódlan by force before Edelgard hijacked the throne from Duke Aegir with the support of the Agarthans and half of the crew involved in the Insurrection of the Seven[[note]]Whom incidentally, switched sides only because Edelgard had previously negotiated with them beforehand[[/note]], meaning that, despite the Kingdom and Alliance's best efforts, the Empire would've still potentially undone their progress, and would've continued its downward spiral of decadence and corruption without direct intervention.]]
111** While Dimitri is well-liked as a character, how much he supports Rhea, the Church, and Fodlan's current status quo is hotly debated and which side one falls on generally lines up with how they see Edelgard: Edelgard supporters tend to view Dimitri as entirely supportive of a regressive, corrupt system, while Edelgard's detractors don't believe Dimitri entirely supports Rhea or the Church, is a reformist in his own right, and merely opposes [[spoiler:a war of conquest by the continent's largest empire]].
112** The Crimson Flower route is easily the most contentious path in the game (contrasted with Silver Snow, which is the least popular route). Setting aside the fact that it stars Edelgard and [[BaseBreakingCharacter all the drama that entails]], those on both sides of her argument are conflicted on various aspects of the route, such as [[ItsShortSoItSucks its short length]] and overall rushed feel (it only has one animated cutscene, and Jeritza, one of its exclusive characters, had to be added in a later patch), along with debates over the quality of its writing (with several major moments, such as [[spoiler:Randolph and Ladislava's deaths]] and [[spoiler:fighting Those Who Slither In the Dark]] occurring offscreen), whether Edelgard got enough CharacterDevelopment and if it was a good or a bad idea to have most of it hidden behind her supports (by contrast, Dimitri and Claude's character evolution is very much visible during the main story of their paths). The conflicting perceptions it has spawned regarding whether if it shows the most [[BlackAndWhiteMorality black-and-white]] depiction of the conflict (either by [[spoiler:stripping Rhea and the Church [[RonTheDeathEater of all their sympathetic traits]]]], or conversely, by [[spoiler:forcing players to play the [[VillainProtagonist villain route]] where the [[WhatTheHellHero guilt-tripping]] becomes [[TooBleakStoppedCaring unbearable]] as you help Edelgard take over Fódlan]]), or if it manages to [[GreyAndGrayMorality remain grey]] overall and showcase that [[spoiler:for once, the Empire isn't [[AntiVillain that bad]] after Edelgard reforms it]], also contributes heavily to its status. Not to mention, people are also split on whether it makes sense to have [[spoiler:The Immaculate One]] serve as the FinalBoss of Edelgard's story instead of [[spoiler:the Agarthans]] or not; some want the satisfaction of dealing with the most evil faction during the campaign or think it would make it longer, while others believe having [[spoiler:the Immaculate One]] as a final boss allows the game to end on a climactic note without succumbing to EndingFatigue and/or AntiClimax, given [[spoiler:that in Silver Snow/Verdant Wind, the Agarthans are swiftly dealt with in ''one'' chapter once Shambhala's location becomes known and the group no longer have the Empire supporting them]]. Long story short, you have those who like Edelgard and think the route is perfect for her, those who like Edelgard but dislike the route and think she deserved better, those who dislike Edelgard ''and'' her route, and those who don't sympathize with Edelgard [[CatharsisFactor but still find her path]] [[EvilIsCool fun to play]] and appreciate it being the most unique one. And then there is the camp who doesn't hate Edelgard by any means, but think that Crimson Flower completely invalidates the other three routes with its ending and makes the three other routes worthless while also going against the main selling-point of the game.
113** Byleth being a HeroicMime PlayerCharacter is a polarizing subject for players. It's either a welcome change to make them a silent protagonist after the previous games' uses of the Avatar system were polarizing for how disconnected some felt playing as what is supposed to be them, but the character has their own personality, or it's a worse version of the Avatar system that makes Byleth essentially a non-character who lacks any complexity and yet is placed in such a way that you are the most important person in the world. The fact that Byleth is an ExperiencedProtagonist yet is LockedOutOfTheLoop also creates a divide since it means some find it a good way of making Byleth fit into the setting naturally since it means the player can also fit into their shoes better to understand the setting, while others find it to be annoying that the game wants to make Byleth a badass mercenary, and yet doesn't know anything to justify why the player can be told things.
114** [[HubLevel The Monastery]] and its mechanics are a huge source of debate, especially in the years following the game's release. It's among the most popular aspects of the game by those attached to the characters and world-building, along with minigames like fishing, tea time and gardening being well-liked. Detractors decry the Monastery as FakeLongevity, citing that an average playthrough of one route can take 80 hours and not much of that time is spent fighting, and see motivation, randomized teaching, and chance-based promotion exams as {{Scrappy Mechanic}}s. And while the Monastery ''can'' be skipped by choosing to rest on free days, this robs your army of a lot of important resources. Others feel the Monastery mechanic causes plot holes, especially during the War Phase, where your army could be deep into enemy territory only to return to the Monastery for a whole month and suddenly be back where they were afterwards. There's a third group that doesn't mind the Monastery, but find going through it on all four routes to be excessive. As the social simulator aspect of the Monastery played a big role in the game's NewbieBoom, while those more into ''Fire Emblem'' for the gameplay tend to dislike it, there's a heavy OldGuardVersusNewBlood divide in its reception, especially on the issue of whether future games should draw from it due to the success of ''Three Houses'', though some feel the base camp system in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'' was a good compromise.
115** Cindered Shadows:
116*** The DLC adding in the Abyssal Library, which provided even more world building for the history of Fódlan ended up dividing the fanbase further. Ultimately the Library showed that [[spoiler:the version of history Edelgard pushed during her war speech for the Empire in Chapter 12 of non-Crimson Flower routes was just as false as the one Rhea propagated]], while also revealing (and later confirming in a developer interview) that [[spoiler:Rhea at least for a time deliberately held back Fódlan's technological development in areas like warfare, printing, and medical science]]. This caused arguments over whether this new addition added even more nuance to the lore of the world, or if it ruined the GrayAndGreyMorality by [[spoiler:seemingly making Edelgard and Rhea come off as less sympathetic by consequence. There're also disputes about whether or not these revelations actually make sense, given books are simply too numerous and treated too casually to be hand-copied and Manuela performs an autopsy during the main story despite the Abyssal Library specifically claiming the Church bans the practice; some argue that the books could just be out of date and Rhea might be pursuing a policy of gradual progress on her own terms rather than MedievalStasis a la [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension the Technocracy and their Timetable]]]].
117*** The DLC campaign a player needs to complete to unlock the DLC content in the main story, since the player only gets the three Lords and three members of their Houses, plus eventually the Ashen Wolves themselves, all in pre-selected classes. For every player who decries the lack of player freedom or customization and attendant reduction in strategic possibilities this entails, there's another who finds the class system in the main game [[ScrappyMechanic opaque and often poorly-handled]] and welcomes being given a handful of competently-built readymades to tackle well-designed tactical challenges built around them the way the rest of the series handles these things.
118** The ability to be able to have romantic supports with your students. One group notes that the support that explicitly makes it romantic (S supports and a few A supports) happens after the TimeSkip, where all parties are considered grownups and there's enough inference to suggest that Byleth is around the same age, if not younger than Mercedes. Others take issue with the fact that many of the students still call the Player character by "Professor" rather than their name after the TimeSkip and the ability to start the support while they are still your students comes off in a very gray area of what could be considered a power dynamic, although most of the students treat Byleth as a relative equal even during the first part of the game.
119** The ability to recruit all students to your house except for the house leaders and their retainers (and even then, Hilda can be recruited on the Blue Lions route or [[spoiler:if you turn against Edelgard in the Holy Tomb]]). Some like this feature, whether because it lets them recruit their favorite units when not playing with that unit's house, or because it lets them see what might happen if the unit in question leaves their house. Others believe that while it makes sense to recruit some students, it doesn't make sense for others; for example, it's reasonable that Lysithea would join Edelgard's [[spoiler:war against the church and the Crest system]], but it doesn't make sense for Annette to [[spoiler:betray her own homeland and especially her father Gilbert, estranged though they may be]]. Some also argue that making the majority of students recruitable cheapens the impact of choosing a route, though others counter this is balanced by how you have to work towards certain stats to recruit most of the students.
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:C]]
123* CaptainObviousReveal:
124** The true nature of Sothis [[spoiler:and her identity as the Goddess was incredibly obvious to some players, given how she is the only dragon to appear for most of the game, and she draws heavy inspiration from Tiki, to the point of being pretty clearly divine in nature]].
125** Seteth and Flayn [[spoiler:are ReallySevenHundredYearsOld]], which isn't much of a surprise because Flayn is such a BadLiar about it. You can even lampshade it by telling Seteth that you always suspected that [[spoiler:Flayn was his daughter, not his sister (although they don't reveal their identities as Cichol and Cethleann)]] after their Paralogue, and he, embarrassed, says he thought he did a better job of hiding it.
126** The Heroes' Relics [[spoiler:[[UnholyHolySword are not in any way holy]]]]. This is fairly obvious by Chapter 5, which had [[spoiler:a Relic weapon called the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Lance of Ruin]], which has multiple twitching, bony protrusions for seemingly no reason but to look creepier, and turned Miklan into a monster in a [[NightmareFuel rather disturbing fashion]] that was ''[[PainfulTransformation clearly]]'' [[PainfulTransformation unpleasant]]]]. In other words, [[spoiler:everything about it indicated that it was an EvilWeapon]]. If the Lance of Ruin didn't convince you, some of the other Relics have [[SarcasmMode such noble-sounding names]] as "Crusher", "Areadbhar"[[note]]which translates directly to "Slaughterer" — a very appropriate name for [[AxCrazy its wielder]][[/note]], and "Blutgang"[[note]]which translates to "[[BloodKnight blood errand]]" or "blood flow"[[/note]]. All of their unique Combat Arts also [[spoiler:have ObviouslyEvil (or at least very painful-sounding) names like "Atrocity"[[note]]a term that is frequently applied to ''war crimes''[[/note]], "Fallen Star"[[note]]which sounds like an allusion to Lucifer[[/note]], "Raging Storm"[[note]]not really "evil" because it's a force of nature, but still outrageously destructive[[/note]], or "Apocalyptic Flame"]].
127** The lead-up to TheReveal of the Flame Emperor's identity includes [[spoiler:several scenes in which the leader of your chosen house makes an excuse to leave, or is otherwise conspicuously absent, just in time for one of the Emperor's appearances. Depending on which house you chose to align with first]], this can make it ''extremely obvious'' who the Flame Emperor is well before the character is unmasked on-screen. One of the most jarring give-aways is in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'': [[spoiler:for some reason, Edelgard's Victorious Axe was given the ''same'' appearance as the Flame Emperor's axe in their artwork in ''Three Houses'', which nearly outright gives away the fact that they are the same person]].
128** In the Cindered Shadows DLC, the reveal that [[spoiler:Aelfric was EvilAllAlong was fairly obvious to most players upon his initial portrait reveal. The [[RedHerring red herrings]] pointing the Church toward being responsible for the suffering of the Abyss people certainly didn’t knock many players off of his trail]].
129* CatharsisFactor:
130** The game is kind enough to let you exact revenge on [[spoiler:Jeralt's killer]] very quickly. Watching Kronya squirm in her final moments is super satisfying. Doubly so if you land the final blow with a Gambit [[spoiler:from Jeralt's Mercenaries]]. And even if Solon provides one himself later by being an AntiClimaxBoss, [[spoiler:his betraying her might bring a smile to the player's face when he wipes that smug-ass grin and confidence off of Kronya's face permanently and reduces her into cravenly writhing and begging to be saved, to which most players would be thinking "Nope, serves you right."]]
131** After the massacre at Remiere Village and [[spoiler:sealing you away and forcing Sothis to perform a HeroicSacrifice to save you]], dying absolutely pathetically is the least Solon can do. He even admits that he is terrified by Byleth before being attacked by them, just in time for Byleth to teach that hunch-backed pissant just how powerless he is.
132** If there's a recruit-able character that you heavily dislike: Not recruiting them and/or [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal killing them in battle during the time-skip]]]] can be greatly satisfying for some.
133** After getting your hide handed to you three times over by the Death Knight, [[spoiler:seeing him take the field as a green ally unit]] if you sided with Edelgard in the Black Eagles version of Chapter 12 is very, ''very'' satisfying. Goes double after the version 1.1.0 update, where [[spoiler:he joins your team outright at the beginning of Part II]]. Alternatively, [[TheDogBitesBack having Flayn or Manuela defeat him on other routes]].
134** Anyone who doesn't condone the Flame Emperor or Rhea's actions will probably find [[spoiler:them being the BigBad and FinalBoss of the Azure Moon and Crimson Flower routes, respectively, and getting to put them down in a climactic fashion]] very satisfying.
135** If you recruit Bernadetta outside of the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:after defeating Edelgard, getting the option to exile her absolute shithead of a father will feel ''very'' satisfying, and even Bernadetta agrees]]. Hell, if you pair her with Ferdinand and Linhardt in Crimson Flower, Seteth in both Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, and Felix in Azure Moon routes, then her severing ties with her father is especially satisfying with the irony that [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor her being the perfect wife he wanted her to be would bite him in the ass]].
136** If you found Leonie's idolization of Jeralt to be annoying, then having Alois give Leonie, [[spoiler:a girl who hates debt, all of Jeralt's unpaid tabs]] in their A support conversation, [[spoiler:and then finding out that she ends up having to deal with debts for her whole career in their paired ending (especially in Crimson Flower)]] is both hilarious and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor an oddly fitting end]] for the girl.
137** Killing Miklan can be immensely satisfying after all [[BigBrotherBully the hell he put Sylvain through]], including pushing Sylvain down a well and leaving him stranded on a mountainside ''in the middle of winter'' to die. For extra pleasure, you can either have Sylvain to the honors himself, strike him down as Byleth or let Dimitri, Felix and Ingrid take turns wailing on him.
138* ClicheStorm:
139** The Verdant Wind route, with the occasional bout of NarmCharm, is this. [[spoiler:You end up aiding the Alliance to fight against the evil Empire. You fight the Emperor as a ClimaxBoss, but once they're defeated, they reveal that there is a [[TheManBehindTheMan man behind the man]] who has been trying to pull the strings and lead the land into war — those who slither in the dark. Despite defeating their boss, a powerful monster from antiquity (Nemesis) appears, with implications that he's with them as his army is made up of TheRemnant of Those Who Slither in the Dark. What's more, he's even defeated with a [[ThePowerOfFriendship power of friendship]] speech.]] If it is your first playthrough, it ''definitely'' feels like a rehash of all things ''Fire Emblem'', though this is arguably to the route's strength. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Fortunately]], when viewed [[JigsawPuzzlePlot as a whole]], plenty of the tropes are played with more than it appears.
140** By extension, the Silver Snow route, which is highly similar to Verdant Wind, comes off the same.
141** The plot of Azure Moon is rather typical for a ''Fire Emblem'' game, as the plot focuses around a young noble [[spoiler:saving his homeland from an [[TheEmpire invading power]] hellbent on overthrowing it]]. However, what sets it apart from other stories in the series is its protagonist, Dimitri, and his [[HearingVoices rather]] [[SurvivorGuilt large]] [[IAmAMonster character]] [[AxCrazy flaws]] and arc. The Blue Lions are also tied very intimately with the plot, making for a character-driven story. Due to this, Blue Lions is regarded as the best route especially by veteran ''Fire Emblem'' players.
142* CommonKnowledge:
143** Byleth's age is ambiguous, but it's implied that they are in their early twenties, based on Jeralt's diary mentioning Byleth's birth as being in 1159, and the game beginning in 1180. Similarly, the characters do ''not'' marry as teenagers. Byleth proposes at the end of the war, when all of the romanceable characters are of age (the youngest, Cyril, is 19 after the TimeSkip), and all other explicitly romantic couples wait at least that long, if not longer. Furthermore, as Byleth was in a coma-like state for those five years (something stated to be why Flayn looks young still), Byleth remains the same age physically and mentally by the end of the game, meaning all but the characters already older than Byleth are roughly around the same age.
144** It's commonly believed that Edelgard's [[spoiler:exclusive royal knowledge concerning the War of Heroes]] was at some point [[spoiler:deliberately tampered with by "those who slither in the dark" in order to manipulate her]]. While it would be one reason as to why [[spoiler:her version of history differs from both the "official" version ''and'' the one that Rhea tells Byleth about in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow]], nothing, not even the Abyssal Library added through the Cindered Shadows DLC, actually confirms this. Likewise, it's unknown what opinion Edelgard has of [[spoiler:Nemesis himself, other than that he used to be "all-powerful"]].
145** Some fans believe overall [[spoiler:TWSITD lied to Edelgard about the Church and the Children of the Goddess to make their alliance happen]]. No evidence for this claim exists in the actual game and, as stated previously, [[spoiler:the origin of Edelgard's bias against both stems from House Hresvelg's secret imperial records]]. There is room for argument that [[spoiler:TWISTD [[LockedOutOfTheLoop kept Edelgard in the dark about the truth of Rhea's motives]]]], but in practice the idea doesn't go beyond that. Not to mention, this knowledge is even contradicted in the actual game as [[spoiler:Thales at one point comments Nemesis used to be a thief in front of Edelgard, a notion she quickly dismisses]].
146** Some fans believe that Edelgard made her decision to [[spoiler:declare war on the Church of Seiros]] entirely due to the [[spoiler:exclusive history kept by the Adrestian emperors]]. What ''actually'' motivated her was Fódlan's unjust social and class stratificiation.
147** The whole deal with the "Gatekeeper's twin", who is mentioned during the exploration of Chapter 13 in the Crimson Flower route. [[spoiler:There, after being asked if he has any siblings in the church, Gatekeeper answers that he has an older twin who also was part of the Knights of Seiros, working as a grunt, and unlike the Gatekeeper, the "grunt twin" is extremely devoted, and left the Monastery now under Imperial rule at some point during the timeskip]]. Likely as a product of this conversation being unique to Crimson Flower, many people believe that the "grunt twin" is the Gatekeeper in Crimson Flower instead of the actual Gatekeeper, despite evidence to the contrary, even in this very conversation (where it's mentioned that the twin was just a grunt, unlike the Gatekeeper who is very proud of his position).
148** Marianne's lack of appearance on any route save Verdant Wind is commonly stated to be because she was DrivenToSuicide. While Marianne does say in her support with Byleth that she prayed to the Goddess to take her life, the way she explains this suggests it wasn't that she was going to do so herself, but rather she was hoping for the Goddess to end her life instead, and her explanation leans towards it being something she wasn't fully aware of until she did self reflection. She even calls her past behavior out post-timeskip. Furthermore, she only appears on other routes if recruited because her adoptive father requested she do so, implying that on other routes, Margrave Edmund chose to sit on the sidelines and so had Marianne remain out of the conflict, something Marianne brings up in supports as something he tends to do.
149* ComplacentGamingSyndrome:
150** From a gameplay perspective for picking a Dancer, players usually pick either Flayn, Marianne, Dorothea, or Mercedes to train as a Dancer due to each either having healing utility or sword skills that they can capitalize on. Flayn and Dorothea in particular are often suggested to be selected for the class because they can suffer from CantCatchUp, and the Dancer class allows both to provide support without taking experience away from others [[note]]Dorothea is sometimes considered the best Dancer thanks to the huge range her Meteor spell grants combined with the large number of units she has supports with, which means that she can keep dancing and at the same time provide paired support bonuses in battle to many characters at once so long as she has Meteor equipped[[/note]]. Of course, this is only speaking if not recruiting from outside your starting house.
151** There are a handful of students that are considered among the best options to recruit for any playthrough due to their usefulness. In particular; Lysithea[[note]]she's arguably the best magic unit in the game, and can trivalize many hard fights[[/note]], Felix[[note]]he's very easy to recruit and has incredible offense as a sword or gauntlet-focused unit[[/note]], Ingrid[[note]]she's one of the only units to naturally be geared towards flying, and with her high speed and flexible skills, can be a powerful flying unit[[/note]], Petra[[note]]she's very fast and has one of the best personal skills in the game, on top of her great offensive power as an Assassin or Wyvern Rider/Lord[[/note]], and Linhardt[[note]]his Physic/Warp combo can make many maps a complete joke, and while Lysithea has Warp too, Linhardt having Physic makes it a complete package[[/note]]. There are also some units who are recommended either because of their early game strengths, or for items obtained from paralogues. Namely; Sylvain[[note]]female Byleth can easily recruit him by talking to him, and he can get the Lance of Ruin easily, allowing him to use a powerful late-game weapon within the first few chapters[[/note]], Lorenz[[note]]his paralogue unlocks a very powerful staff that Lysithea can use[[/note]], Mercedes[[note]]she's a solid healer, but also has supports with Jeritza, making her more story-desired[[/note]], and Leonie[[note]]she's a decent fighter, and also has her paralogue which unlocks a powerful bow that anyone can use[[/note]].
152** Just about every player will push a character into the Brigand class specifically to get Death Blow, as a flat bonus to Strength when attacking is simply too good to pass, alongside being a major boon to Archers like Ashe and Leonie. The extra growths to Strength and Speed are also very desired for characters who are just under the average range as well. Similarly, the Mage (for magic users) and Pegasus Knight (for females) classes are also heavily pushed for Fiendish Blow (boosts Magic) and Darting Blow (boosts Attack Speed) respectively for the same reason.
153** For the first half of the game, the house leaders are often kept to one or two specific classlines that better suit them than going right to the Lord class. Edelgard is typically put in the Fighter/Brigand/Warrior class or is made a Wyvern Rider/Lord because of the offensive growths offered by the class lines and how both level her main weapon, axes (the latter is more often considered by some a much superior choice compared to her exclusive Armored Lord/Emperor classes, as it provides more movement and allows her to pull off hit-and-run tactics with Canto, thus maximizing the effectiveness of her exclusive Combat Art better). Dimitri is either put into the Cavalier class line or the Myrmidon class line to give him more utility and movement, or to give him extra speed. Claude is often put in the Archer/Sniper class, or made a Wyvern Rider in order to get his Flying proficiency high enough before the timeskip to make optimal use of his exclusive classes when they become available. Edelgard and Claude are also rarely put in the Lord class due to it lacking proficiency in their main weapon, and because they both perform better in other classes compared to Dimitri.
154** On a Maddening run, expect to see Ferdinand, Sylvain, and Leonie on a final team, due to learning combat arts that let them bypass speed checks and instantly double; Swift Strikes for Ferdinand and Sylvain, and Point-Blank Volley for Leonie. On Golden Deer/Blue Lions runs, Cyril is also a common pick, as he also learns Point-Blank Volley.
155** Maddening mode in general pretty much enforces this. The sheer enemy stat inflation and halved EXP gains makes it impossible to rely on strategies used on lower difficulties. Players will usually separate their team into Player Phase units with orko potential (Grapplers, Snipers, unit with brave combat arts, etc...) so they can avoid eating very dangerous counter-attacks, and Enemy Phase units (dodge-tanks to aggro enemy units or Wrath / Vantage builds to clear large portions of the maps with minimal risk), with a Dancer and potentially Lysithea or Linhardt thrown it for Warp access. This also means that some units who would be able to pull their weight on lower difficulties get benched for the entire game, [[WeakButSkilled Ashe]] and [[MasterOfNone Lorenz]] being typically among those who get ditched.
156** When it comes to Byleth's late game classes, you'll often find people suggest sticking with Swordmaster or Wyvern Lord over their unique class, Enlightened One. While the Enlightened One provides increases to all their proficiencies and is pretty good at worst, it's slightly behind in extra growths compared to the aforementioned classes, and turns Byleth into a MagicKnight when their magic potential is good, but not the best on account of having no starting points in Magic, and their Magic growth being low enough that, even if put into one, they barely reach average in it. On the other hand, Swordmaster is simply easier to use due to their high starting Sword rank, gives a good buff to speed, and helps Byleth throw crits out consistently thanks to Sword Critical Plus, while Wyvern Lord makes them a OneManArmy and capable of soloing many enemies thanks to its great growth rates. The class isn't without merit, especially as an end game one after getting the most of the previously classes, but the amount of work for a magically powered Byleth makes it a bit hard for some players to feel is worth it.
157* CompleteMonster:
158** [[AmbitionIsEvil Thales]] is the chief member of "[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesThoseWhoSlitherInTheDark Those Who Slither in the Dark]]", and a ruthless schemer dedicated to achieving the power of the [[AGodAmI gods]]. [[spoiler:Approving [[PlayingWithSyringes ghastly experiments]] on multitudes of innocents to [[MindRape destroy their minds]], Thales initiated a massacre of nobles to blame an innocent land, resulting in the near genocide of its people, oversaw the [[KillAndReplace killing and replacing of many members]] of the Church, threw "[[FantasticNuke Javelins of Light]]" to obliterate fortresses, and manipulated the war of the Flame Emperor in order to tear the country apart and destroy its people. Having his own forces kill those they can to revive the monstrous Nemesis and unleash him on the world, Thales even spitefully tries to nukes his own base and the last stronghold of his people to [[TakingYouWithMe kill the heroes upon defeat]]]].
159** [[EvilGenius Solon]], Thales's MadScientist, is responsible for horrendous experiments on many innocent people, even [[WouldHurtAChild children]], to destroy them [[spoiler:and [[TransformationHorror twist them into monstrosities]] that his group and allies may use as weapons. Having murdered and replaced kind librarian Tomas to infiltrate the Church of Seiros, Solon kidnapped Monica as a means to have her father potentially deliver a Hero's Relic to his group and to have Kronya use her body for when she infiltrates Garreg Mach, and drove the people of Remire Village insane though his blood experiments to see them rip one another apart, [[ForScience just to see what would happen]]. Willing to sacrifice members of his own orgnization, such as Kronya, to further his goals,]] Solon stands out as one of the worst members of an already evil organization.
160** [[spoiler:[[TheWarlord Nemesis]], the "[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesHistoricalFigures King of Liberation]]", was in reality a barbarically power-hungry warlord who was the [[GreaterScopeVillain catalyst for the bloody history of Fódlan that unfolded down the line]]. Originally a bandit, Nemesis became associated with the original members of "Those Who Slither in the Dark", who asked him to murder Sothis, the Progenitor God, while she slept. With her remains, they created the Sword of the Creator and gave him the Crest of Flames by having him drink her blood. Subsequently, Nemesis stormed into Zanado, the city of the Children of the Goddess, and slaughtered every person there to create more weapons like his from their remains and give his army more power by giving them crests from the blood of the Children of the Goddess; all so that he could declare himself the king of Fódlan. Being killed by Lady Seiros, the only survivor of the massacre, [[BackFromTheDead Nemesis is revived]] by Those Who Slither in the Dark in the Verdant Wind route, immediately going back to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge rampaging through cities to get back to Seiros for having killed him all those years ago]]]].
161* ContestedSequel: There's a bit of a rivalry between fans of this game and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', due in large part to their similarities. Both games not only are among the more popular entries, but have some of the best stories in the franchise and star the child of a mercenary leader [[spoiler:who dies relatively early on in the game]]. As a result, some fans of the Tellius duology resent ''Three Houses'' for its popularity, and claim the greater attention for ''Three Houses'' is due largely (if not entirely) to recency bias.
162* CrackPairing: Some people [[{{OT3}} ship Byleth with Rhea and Edelgard]], and a handful ship Rhea with Edelgard. While Byleth is the ImpliedLoveInterest for both on their respective routes, [[spoiler:Rhea and Edelgard are [[ArchEnemy arch-enemies]] in ''all'' routes]].
163[[/folder]]
164
165[[folder:D]]
166* DeathOfTheAuthor: The Silver Snow and Crimson Flower routes find themselves on the receiving end of this trope. Both in interviews and Japanese guides, it's been expressed by the developers that Silver Snow ''is meant'' to be the actual Empire/Black Eagles route while Crimson Flower is considered the ''Hegemon/Supreme Ruler'' route instead. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The former stems from the idea Silver Snow is the default story branch of the house, and that Byleth in it [[StartMyOwn more or less builds their own empire]] under the Crest of Flames's banner, while Crimson Flower needs to be unlocked manually to access it, and it involves Byleth helping Edelgard become [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the supreme ruler]] of Fódlan[[/labelnote]]. However, for a variety of reasons, the fandom (both Western and Japanese) has rejected this characterization, in favor of calling Crimson Flower the Empire route, and Silver Snow the Church Route.
167** Firstly, Crimson Flower is the ''only'' route where the Black Eagles remain together, and thus have unique, expanded support chains with route-specific characters or non-house characters. [[spoiler:Edelgard and Hubert leave and never return, barring them from achieving A-ranked and S-ranked supports with any other character.]] Conversely, in Silver Snow, their absence in the roster is filled by several Church-affiliated characters[[labelnote: Namely...]]Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, and Cyril[[/labelnote]]. In particular, this route has a particularly strong CharacterFocus on [[spoiler:Seteth]], who serves as the BigGood and MissionControl. Silver Snow is the only route where he is guaranteed to join no matter what; [[spoiler:in Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, he will not join on Classic Mode if Flayn was killed]]. An S-ranked support chain with [[spoiler:Rhea]] is likewise available on this route only, and the route's best ending hinges on reaching its conclusion. A good portion of the fanbase believes the main character the route focuses upon (akin to the lords in their respective routes) is meant to be either [[spoiler:Rhea, or Seteth & Flayn]], with good reason given their centrality to the narrative. Meanwhile, developer interviews have stated that Byleth is meant to be Silver Snow's main focus and the ''de-facto'' lord of the route. Since Byleth is barely a character, especially on said route, most people ignore this in favor of the previously mentioned characters. Contrasting this, Crimson Flower is the only route where [[spoiler:Jeritza]] is available as a characters and has a lot of synergy with the Black Eagles and even Adrestian characters from other houses: [[spoiler:he is one of Constance's childhood friends alongside his sister Mercedes, and Ferdinand; he can reach a paired ending with Mercedes that also reveals his backstory and is the only path where both siblings live; has an A-ranked support chain with Bernadetta; and has an S-ranked romance chain with both Byleths]].
168** Secondly, in terms of game mechanics and aesthetics, the route distances Silver Snow from being the Adrestian route. In the save menu, choosing Silver Snow replaces the Imperial flag with a unique "Church of Seiros Resistance" -- i.e. Rhea- and Byleth-aligned -- flag bearing the Crest of Flames, reinforcing the perception of Silver Snow as a Church-centric route wherein Byleth is a Church stalwart. The Black Eagles also end up siding with the Empire in Azure Moon and Verdant Wind without Byleth's input, which reinforces its perception as a Byleth-centric, rather than Empire-centric route. In addition, the Black Eagles, in Silver Snow, have a lot less to say, and are more or less shunted into the background by [[spoiler:Seteth, Rhea, Catherine]]; their sidelining in a route designated as their own undermines the idea that it was theirs in the first place.
169** Thirdly, in terms of narrative, the Silver Snow route ends with [[spoiler:all three powers subsumed into a Fódlanese mega-state ruled from Garreg Mach by a reformed church. In particular, Adrestia is subjugated by an NGOSuperpower they are ideologically opposed to, and it is difficult to see the mostly anti-clerical Black Eagles as being at the center of this route, as opposed to the church figures who benefit most directly]]. In contrast, Crimson Flower ends [[spoiler:with Fódlan united and ruled from the Imperial capital of Enbarr by a less extreme Edelgard, Rhea dead, the power of her church neutered, and the Empire free to pursue political and societal reforms. In addition, the Black Eagles and Black Eagle-adjacent characters like Lysithea and Jeritza get some of their best personal endings in this route only]]
170* DemonicSpiders:
171** Enemy Pegasus Knights in the early stages of the game, while mercifully rare, are usually fast enough to double most units, and can hit like a truck. Their only saving grace is their weakness to bows, but even then, their Defense is usually high enough to tank one hit, and their aforementioned Speed ensures that they will usually only take the one, forcing the player to use a second unit to eliminate them. And to top it off, as Pegasus Knights, due to their movement speed and flight, they will usually reach you before you reach them, allowing them the first attack. As an added kick in the teeth, [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules enemy Pegasus Knights are actually considered to be an]] ''[[MyRulesAreNotYourRules advanced class]]'', giving them access to Lancefaire and an additional point of movement over player-controlled Pegasus Knights.
172** Enemy Swordmasters and Assassins in the later stages of the game are incredibly fast, giving them high Avoid, and their Spd also lets them both avoid doubles and easily double your units. The latter can also use Vantage, which enables them to attack first at less than half health, even when you're attacking. Assassins also have no movement penalty through forest tiles, so underestimating how far they can move can lead to trouble, especially on [[HarderThanHard Maddening]], where they also have Pass to move through your units and go straight for the more fragile ones.
173** Enemies with Miracle can be a mix of this and GoddamnedBats, since if the ability triggers (which can be as high as a third of the time), you'll have to attack them again to defeat them, and the unit that would have killed them will be open to their counterattack.
174** War Masters have high HP and Strength, on top of solid Speed and Defense. While their low Resistance hypothetically means they can be easily picked off with mages, their HP allows them to just ''eat the attack'', and due to their Speed, most mages will only get a single shot in. Their preferred weapons, axes and gauntlets, only add to this; the sheer Might of axes combines with their Strength to potentially one-round most units, and while they forgo pure-hit damage with gauntlets, their Speed and the lower weight of gauntlets means that, if initiating, they can realistically land quadruple attacks. On top of it, their class skills are Axefaire and Fistfaire, piling on even more damage; and [[OhCrap Critical+20]]. A War Master with Killer Knuckles is practically guaranteed to score at least one critical hit on a unit not equipped with the Ochain Shield or Rafail Gem. They're even worse on Maddening; Grapplers and War Masters who use gauntlets have Tomebreaker, which, combined with the somewhat low dexterity of many mages, makes hitting War Masters with Gauntlets and Grapplers an utter crapshoot. In a mode where any wrong move can and will get a unit killed, having a unit live or die based on what can very well be a coin flip is terrifying.
175** Though they are only fought in a few chapters, [[HumongousMecha Titanus]] are among the most dangerous "monster" enemies. On top of a huge HP pool, they wield strong, accurate ranged swords with a high crit rate, have the Strength to two-shot most units (and very few can survive a critical), and gain Swordfaire (+5 Might) on their final health bar. The ones in Chapter 18 of Azure Moon are even worse, as they start the fight with a large stat boost that can only be removed by flipping a very out-of-the-way switch.
176** Granted, pretty much anything on [[HarderThanHard Maddening]] is a terrifying obstacle to overcome, but any Maddening run that isn't Blue Lions ''will'' hit a brick wall as early as ''the second chapter'' because of mere ''Bandits.'' In comparison to every other type of enemy in the game, Brigands and Thieves are a true menace in Maddening and Maddening only for two reasons. The first is Pass; '''every last member of Kostas' crew''' that isn't a healer seems to have the damn ability, making tanking nearly impossible, especially early in the map where you're constantly bottlenecked. The other issue is their speed. They can and will competently kill every unit in your squad due to how overpowered they are and how quick they are compared to your units. This wouldn't be so bad if this was restricted to only Chapter 2, since it could just be chalked up to EarlyGameHell. Instead, they return with a vengeance in all non-Crimson Flower timeskip maps for Chapter 13, constantly menacing you and your units. They single-handedly teach you the importance of actual dedicated 'tank' units in Maddening, because without Petra, [[DownloadableContent Yuri]], (because they're the only likely characters who won't get doubled without having to resort to gauntlets, Training weapons, or going unarmed), Raphael, or Dedue, you are almost certainly not making it through the second chapter with these monsters.
177* DesignatedHero: Even without Dimitri's [[spoiler:SanitySlippage over the timeskip, some fans think that his heroic traits have setbacks that make him the very opposite of what those traits should make him. Even though his AxCrazy mindset for the first half of Part II is supposed to be wrong, many think that it is sloppily done because the cataclyst for it is him believing Edelgard caused the Tragedy of Duscur through small steps that come across as illogical, and that it happened when she was only 13 years old which is something he never thinks twice about until Cornelia drops some hints that leads him off from suspecting Edelgard. And even though he does eventually make attempts to better himself and atone for what he has done, it's seen as him being EasilyForgiven despite how mean he had been to his friends up until that point and that someone close to him such as Rodrigue had to die for it to happen. His overall goals is probably the biggest point against him, which is to keep Fódlan as it was before the war started and make changes in a slow but steady pace to prevent unnecessary sacrifices or upsetting the people, since he thinks the nobility and crests still have values. Many find this to be in incredibly poor taste when so much about the game's story is about showing how the current system has made Fódlan into the CrapsackWorld it is that brings harm to both nobles and commoners and is the exact thing Edelgard started the war against. And even if Dimitri were to install changes, who's to say they won't just as easily be undone by a future ruler, setting the world back to what it was before the game started? Even if that might happen somewhere down the line in every lords' ending, it is the easiest for Dimitri's reforms to be undone since it was so easy for him to install them, as opposed to the other endings where radical reforms are introduced and therefore is gonna be harder.]]
178* DiagnosedByTheAudience:
179** Fans have taken some of Linhardt's character traits (His drowsiness, fluttering from interest to interest, and general lack of social tact) as evidence he is neurodivergent, like ADHD or being autistic.
180** Felix's self-admitted dislike of making eye contact, hyper-fixation on a single subject (swordfighting/combat), lack of social tact, difficulty with expressing emotion, PickyEater tendencies, and extreme bluntness are all traits among those on the autism spectrum, leading fans to interpret him as autistic.
181** Edelgard is commonly interpreted by the fanbase as having PTSD, due to her mentions of night-terrors thanks to [[spoiler:being experimented on as a kid]], having a panic attack when near rats [[spoiler:due to her being surrounded by them when she was captured]], and being hyper-vigilant. Most notably, she admits to Byleth in their A-support that she has "distanced herself from the normal world", which is a parallel of those suffering from PTSD and their inability to truly trust everything around them.
182* DisappointingLastLevel: The final map of Silver Snow is considered to be quite frustrating compared to the final maps of the other paths. While it checks the boxes of having a big boss, great music, and dramatic atmosphere, it's unfortunately not as engaging or as fun as the other maps.
183** Gameplay wise, [[spoiler:the enemies are all bothersome, with high stats all around, Brave weapons, and troublesome skills like Miracle, and a lot of them are capable of fully healing it to full at the start of their turn [[note]]since the FinalBoss has MultipleLifeBars, this thankfully means that only the current life bar is refilled, but it's still frustrating[[/note]]. The enemies also all surround you initially, giving you no room to breathe, and that's without mentioning how the Final Boss [[ThatOneBoss is a contender for being the hardest Final Boss of all four routes]]]].
184** Location-wise, the map is [[spoiler:just the outer walls of Garreg Mach, making it the ''third'' time the map is used on Silver Snow after its appearances in Chapters 12 and 14]], but without much of a twist aside from the kinds of enemies fought.
185** Lastly and story-wise, [[spoiler:Rhea's sudden berserk dragon form]] also [[DiabolusExMachina comes out of nowhere]] in the context of the route [[note]]the circumstances are strikingly similar to dragon degeneration, which is not new to the series (being a major plot point in the Archanea games (especially ''[New] Mystery of the Emblem''), ''Gaiden''[=/=]''Shadows of Valentia'', and ''Fates''), but the concept doesn't show up elsewhere in ''Three Houses''[[/note]], unlike in [[spoiler:Crimson Flower, where it's been set up since Chapter 12 if Byleth sides with Edelgard]].
186* DracoInLeatherPants:
187** All three house leaders plus Rhea get this treatment from some of their route's respective supporters who forego the GrayAndGrayMorality approach and instead gloss over their negative traits and actions to make their side more appealing than the others. Such supporters may argue that their route is the true one, the "canon" route above all others, and the only one they'll play.
188** While none of the main factions qualify due to the game's GreyAndGreyMorality, the Western Church sometimes gets this treatment by fans opposed to Rhea and the Central Church, with it often argued that they were innocent victims who Rhea has massacred simply due to them not sharing her religious beliefs (despite it being made clear that despite the talk of "purging them", those killed are of their corrupt leadership or otherwise aggressors, not the entire church). Yet in the actual story, every time you end up fighting and killing members of the Western Church in-game, they always attack first, their head bishop is viewed as power-hungry and corrupt by nearly everyone in-universe, and [[spoiler:Catherine and Ashe's supports reveal they used Christophe as an UnwittingPawn in their schemes. Should Ashe confront one of their bishops during their paralogue, they rather openly admit that they also manipulated Lonato and took advantage of his grief (though painting it as "helping" him by giving him an outlet). Furthermore, their diversionary attack on the Goddess Tower during the Rite of Rebirth is stated by Manuela to have harmed a number of students and other innocents]]. While some people in-canon view their punishments as too harsh, no-one considers them innocent. It's also made clear that they have serious racist tendencies, with an early quest having an informant on dissidents from the Western Church explain that they are opposed to how the Central Church monastery has accepted people from Dagda, Brigid, Duscur, and even Almyra within its walls. Despite all this, the Central Church, as stated by Seteth, continues to hope the Western Church will eventually "see reason".
189** After [[WordOfGod a developer interview]] confirmed that [[spoiler:some Children of the Goddess held positions of power over humanity and the Agarthans initially sought to overthrow them]], some fans have taken to painting [[spoiler:the Agarthans]] as heroes, despite the same interview making it clear that, even if they started with good intentions, they were quickly corrupted by power, which led them to [[spoiler:massacre the Children of the Goddess to make more weapons]]. In addition, it was never even mentioned [[spoiler:whether or not the Children of the Goddess were ever cruel or even poor rulers]].
190** Miklan has a surprisingly large fanbase that sees him as a tragic AntiVillain who's only acting out due to being unfairly disinherited by his family, and will blame them entirely for his turn to villainy. While his family's treatment of him ''was'' unfair, [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it doesn't even come close to justifying]] the way he turned into a gleefully murderous madman, nor does it excuse his horrible treatment of his little brother well before that. It's notable that while the game's DLC added some extra nuance to various antagonistic characters, an effort was made to detail that Miklan actually was an even ''worse'' person than initially shown, with Yuri noting Miklan is infamous for abducting women (with all that implies). Part of this may be due to the routes; in the Black Eagles route, Edelgard is sympathetic to Miklan for being disinherited due to not having a Crest, whereas on the Blue Lions route, Dimitri brings up how Miklan's raiding a village and leaving its inhabitants destitute and in danger of starvation.
191** While Lord Lonato is undoubtedly a TragicVillain, some fans are a little too willing to downplay the fact that he abused the loyalty of his subjects by selfishly getting them caught in the crossfire of his vendetta against Rhea and the Central Church, something that characters like Ferdinand and Lorenz, two characters who are very serious about the nobility's responsibility for the commoners they govern vehemently (and rightfully) call him out on. Not helping his case is the fact that, unlike [[spoiler:Alm and Rudolf]] in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', Lonato won’t hesitate to kill Ashe, ''his own son'', if the two face each other, making him come off as a major {{hypocrite}}.
192[[/folder]]
193
194[[folder:E]]
195* EndingFatigue: The Silver Snow route suffers from this, since after the DiscOneFinalBoss fight with [[spoiler:Edelgard]], there's another chapter in which the player's army invades [[spoiler:Shambhala to defeat Those Who Slither In The Dark]], and then ''another'' mission in which the player fights [[spoiler:a berserk Rhea]]. Notably, everyone in the monastery acts as though the war is over in the final month of the game, and the game does actually end with the DiscOneFinalBoss on the Azure Moon route [[note]]though the actual boss fought is different in form[[/note]]. The Verdant Wind route, which also features [[spoiler:the Shambhala chapter]] and then a final chapter after that, but [[spoiler:it's Nemesis instead of a berserk Rhea, which is a more direct consequence of the events in the preceding chapter and feels like a more climactically appropriate way to end the game given that [[BookEnds it opened with Nemesis on the battlefield as well.]]]] This trope is one reason cited by Crimson Flower fans as to why its shorter length (by three or four chapters) is ultimately preferable: while having less content by volume, it at least ends on a narrative climax with a confrontation with that route's BigBad.
196* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: Even though the story is regarded by the fandom for being some of the best story-telling and world-building in the series, there has been a lot of criticism of the gameplay. The root of the criticisms come from the Monastery grinding gameplay advancement to a halt without participating in it, the homogenous map design, and the samey-feeling nature of the class progression system and its balance. It's very easy to simply class every physical-oriented character as a Wyvern Lord and steam-roll the game, which combined with the other mechanics makes it feel for several the story is the best thing about it by a long shot.
197* EnsembleDarkhorse:
198** Barely a week after the game released, the Gatekeeper of the monastery became incredibly popular with fans for his enthusiastic personality and great voice acting courtesy of Creator/KyleMcCarley. His popularity is comparable to that of [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Tellius' 3-13 Archer.]] He is so popular that he actually got on the character polls, even beating a few playable characters to boot. Fans were also elated that he appeared on the Garreg Mach Monastery stage in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''. When [[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes CYL 5 came around]], the Gatekeeper placed '''2nd''' in the Males division as of the interims, beating out Chrom, Byleth, Robin and others and beaten only by [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Marth]]. Players took this even further during the second half of the event, as the Gatekeeper ultimately '''beat Marth''' by a whopping 25,000 votes.
199** The Abysskeeper, the Gatekeeper's Abyss counterpart, despite not being as beloved as his predecessor, is still very much liked by fans.
200** A nameless Green Unit Swordmaster that appears in chapter 12 if you recruited Catherine has gotten a fanbase due to having a high crit chance and even being able to deal a significant amount of damage to the boss of the chapter.
201** Despite playing minor roles in the story compared to the lords, each house’s supporting cast members have burst into popularity post-release, becoming mainstay faves for the fanbase:
202*** Black Eagles has [[PennyAmongDiamonds Dorothea]], [[InHarmonyWithNature Petra]] (in the West), [[CompetitionFreak Ferdinand]], and especially [[ShrinkingViolet Bernadetta.]]
203*** Blue Lions has [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Felix]], [[LovableRogue Sylvain]], and [[FriendlySniper Ashe]].
204*** Golden Deer has [[BrilliantButLazy Hilda]].
205*** The Church of Seiros has ColdSniper Shamir.
206*** Of particular note are [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Lysithea]] and [[ShrinkingViolet Marianne]], the latter of whom not only has a minimal role n the story, but does not appear post-timeskip on any route if she is not recruited. Both managed to reach the top 2 of CYL polls before even debuting in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes''. The former got 2nd place in CYL 4, while the latter beat [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Eirika]] out for first place by 1700 votes in CYL 5.
207*** All of the [[DownloadableContent Ashen Wolves]] are well-liked, but [[AgentPeacock Yuri]], [[TheCynic Hapi]], and [[MoodSwinger Constance]] are greatly enjoyed for their dynamic and fun personalities.
208** A clothing variation, regarding the Lord's personal promotions for Part II: A sizable portion of the fandom actually prefers Claude's [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/6/65/Claude_Barbarossa_Dismount.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190823185746 Barbarossa]] uniform to his default Wyvern Master one, with reasons being tied to both [[MrFanservice sex appeal]] and [[ShownTheirWork lore]], as the class is named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayreddin_Barbarossa a real-life Ottoman general]]. The badass-looking white wyvern that comes with the outfit also helps.
209** For a one-chapter villain whose existence is mainly to [[spoiler:introduce Demonic Beasts]], Sylvain's evil brother Miklan has a surprisingly ''big'' fanbase. While his rugged good looks are a factor, a lot of it also comes from his history with Sylvain as well as sympathy for him being screwed over by Fódlan's crest-based society, both of which make him an interesting foe despite his minor role in the grand scheme of things.
210** Despite having relatively minor relevance after the prologue [[spoiler:and before his death]], Jeralt is well beloved by many fans. [[spoiler:In fact, his death is considered one of the saddest events of the game and it's not rare to see stories written by fans where he would somehow survive]]. Some were even annoyed that he wasn't made playable, and their wishes would be answered when Jeralt would later return as a playable character in ''Three Hopes''.
211** Rodrigue is among the most liked [=NPCs=] because he's one of the ''very'' few allies that aren't secretly plotting to stab your back, his story is more expanded in contrast to others, and that he has an active role in the story (in Azure Moon anyway). [[spoiler:Even his HeroicSacrifice gave him more fans since it was what broke Dimitri out of his demented state]]. Much like Jeralt, people were actually happy he was made playable in ''Three Hopes''.
212* EvilIsCool:
213** For those who look at them in the context of routes where they are the antagonist, the Flame Emperor [[spoiler:{and by proxy, their true identity)]] can be seen as this.
214** The Crimson Flower features a few cases:
215*** For starters, [[spoiler:this is [[HazyFeelTurn arguably]] ''the entire point of the route''. You get to side with the empire and wage glorious conquest against the rest of Fódlan's nations, defeating the [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder scheming and backstabbing nobles]] of the Leicester Alliance, the HonorBeforeReason Faerghus, the Church of Seiros [[CorruptChurch stagnating the land and misguiding its people]], ''and'' the sinister Agarthans (okay, that last one takes place post-game, but still). Emperor Edelgard can refresh herself repeatedly and finish maps in 1 turn, Hubert lets us control the evil mage advisor archetype, and the Death Knight himself is a playable unit exclusive to this route. It helps that this is the route where the 'noble' part of their NobleDemon characterization -- and the 'Anti' part of the AntiVillain -- is emphasized]].
216*** [[spoiler:Rhea (or rather Seiros) as the Big Bad is an excellent example. Cherami Leigh's performance as her and her chilling monologues are a highlight of the route, Rhea has more presence in this route compared to others, and those who dislike her actions in part 1 at least see her as a LoveToHate type of villain]].
217** Despite their short appearance as the final boss of the Verdant Wind Route, [[spoiler:Nemesis stands out as an imposing and terrifyingly cool figure for effectively serving as a {{Foil}} for Byleth, accompanied by a cool final battle and excellent music, makes for a memorable villain.]]
218[[/folder]]
219
220[[folder:F]]
221* FandomSpecificPlot:
222** Even though Sothis specifies that she can't rewind time too far, Byleth [[PeggySue going back in time after the game's end]] to [[FixFic save everyone]] is rather common. Depending on the writer, this can be played completely straight to attain a ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Revelations]]''-style GoldenEnding where all three houses are unified against a common threat ([[spoiler:Seiros, Nemesis, and those who slither in the dark being chief candidates]]) and nearly everyone survives and [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets happy endings all around]]. [[note]]It helps that the game implies that the war may not have happened if the three house leaders made more of an effort to reach out to one another, and when they do cooperate in "Cindered Shadows", all three of them form mutual friendships with the Ashen Wolves.[[/note]] There's also the idea of continuing the original game's trend of bittersweet endings in that some fics may have the houses unite, albeit not without drama that prevents a true Golden Ending.
223** Fanworks involving twin Byleths joining opposite houses and facing each other in war are growing abundant; the most common combination is one going Black Eagles and the other going Blue Lions, with whichever twin is on the losing side pulling a TogetherInDeath out of love and loyalty for their chosen lord.
224** While fusing aspects of certain routes is a very common FixFic plot, Azure Moon and Verdant Wind tend to get fused the most often, with Claude and Dimitri actually working together rather than [[spoiler:beating the tar out of each other at Gronder Field, causing one of them to leave or get KilledOffscreen]] respectively. The main reasoning for this in particular is likely that [[spoiler:while their end goals differ, they compliment one another (Dimitri being primarily focused on Faerghus and the state of the downtrodden compared to Claude's more all-encompassing reforms and internationalist bent). Both men also desire to improve foreign relations, they seek to bring reforms to the Church to varying degrees without destroying it outright, and (during Part I and on Azure Moon, at least) are quite cordial to one another, whereas Edelgard doesn't usually extend the same courtesy and vice versa.]] With the release of Three Hopes, fanfics where Claude and Edelgard team up have been on the rise in Houses fics, with that game highlighting how well these two work together, and emphasizing how Claude has differences with the Church and Dimitri.
225** Shipping fan fiction set during the pre-timeskip section of the game will almost always make reference to — or outright be about — the ball, as it offers plenty of opportunities for relationship drama and development. It’s further made an attractive setting by the player not being there for a lot of the ball, leaving plenty of room for speculating what else might have been going on that night without having to contradict canon.
226** Another popular one is Byleth meeting any of the three lords, as a child due to their upbringing as a wandering mercenary.
227** Pick any popular pairing where children isn’t mentioned in their paired epilogue and you’ll find that fans have headcanons where they have kids after the war. This even applies to some same-sex pairs such as any of either Byleth’s {{Gay Option}}s, [[FanPreferredCouple Sylvain/Felix]], as well as [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Dimitri]]/Any male character. In those cases, whether the child is stated be theirs [[HomosexualReproduction biologically]], [[DeliveryStork delivered via Wyvern/Pegasus]], created with [[FunctionalMagic some kind of magic]], or simply just adopted is up to the writer and/or art.
228** The academic setting is rife with it, as original characters are created by fans to fill in the roster of other students in each class (discounting the playable characters).
229** Many interesting scenes and battles take place offscreen, leading to many options for this. A notable one would be how Rhea says she [[spoiler:spoke with Sothis during her near death experience on the Silver Snow route if you S-rank her]]. [[spoiler:Just what was this meeting like? Was Rhea [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech given a classic Sothis tongue-lashing for her various mistakes and misguided excesses]], only to end with [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre Sothis lovingly imploring her to return to Fódlan and do better]]? Was it a simple heartfelt reunion between mother and daughter where little was said but much was communicated?]]
230** Due to the nature of Claude's origins [[spoiler:as the product of a MalignedMixedMarriage between Duke Riegan's daughter and the current King of Almyra, with him being a prince to boot]], more and more stories surrounding said origins and his life both before and after the war have grown popular; it helps that unlike Dimitri and Edelgard, the game proper barely dips into Claude's childhood via his Supports, although his secretive nature justifies it somewhat. The fuel goes further in that if one [[https://rorvk.tumblr.com/post/186830710067/fire-emblem-three-houses-middle-eastcentral makes some observations about Claude's hobbies and clothing]], [[spoiler:Almyra seems to draw heavily from Persian/Turkish/Iranian cultures and motifs]].
231** There are many post-game fanfics dealing with Byleth and their respective house dealing with the aftermath of the war and [[spoiler:finishing off "those who slither in the dark"]], especially for those who ship Byleth with Dimitri, Claude, or Edelgard. The ones with [[PortmanteauCoupleName Dimileth]] also have a continuation of Dimitri handling his SurvivorsGuilt and implied depression.
232** Quite a few of Sylvain’s supports only go to B [[spoiler:with the speculated reason for this being that due to his untrusting nature, Sylvain is unable to make real connections with the girls he pursues (save for the ones whom he can actually end up marrying)]]. However, it’s not uncommon for the more popular supports of his that end at B, particularly ones that many feel are left at a cliffhanger, to be followed up in the form of fan fiction or fan comics in place of the missing A support. A popular one to do this with is his support with Bernadetta, due to how it left off leaving many to complain that it should have gone up to A-support. It unfortunately makes a degree of sense though, due to how his upbringing has caused him to view all women as {{Gold Digger}}s who only want him for his Crest.
233** How did Dimitri lose his eye? Fans are allowed to come up with their own theories because the game never gives an answer. The common stories involve [[AxCrazy Dimitri]] being reckless and losing it during a battle, or Cornelia [[EyeScream popping it out]] while Dimitri was imprisoned for the murder of his uncle.
234** Byleth is given very few opportunities to interact with their father, Jeralt, who is barely present in the story when he should be integral to Byleth's past. Many fans like to [[spoiler:have him survive Monica's attack so he can continue being part of the story instead of being [[KilledOffForReal unceremoniously killed.]]]] Not to mention, getting to have [[PapaWolf Jeralt]] react to Byleth's potential love interest.
235** Annette and Felix bonding over their issues with their fathers is a common plot within Felix-Annette (Fellanie/Netteflix) shipping-centric fanworks, such as ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27984483/chapters/68543655 The Wanderer's Curse and the Witch of the Wind]]'' and ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21539725/chapters/51347632 A Song for Tomorrow]]''.
236** Lysithea [[spoiler:only has a select few pairings where her twin crests are removed and she is allowed to live a full life]]. So some fans like to think that as long as she gets an A-support with [[spoiler:Hanneman, a freely recruitable character that helps her find a cure, she can live and be paired up with someone she would otherwise not survive in their ending with, with the most common pick being Cyril]].
237* FanNickname:
238** 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.
239** The Black Eagles faction are commonly called the Beagles (or occasionally "Bleagles") for short.
240** 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=].
241--->'''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.\
242'''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'.
243** 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.
244** 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.
245*** Some have taken to calling post-timeskip Dimitri "[[{{Pun}} Dmitri]]"[[labelnote:*]]because he's missing an eye, get it?[[/labelnote]].
246*** [[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.
247*** A fourth is "PTSD", a coincidental acronym for "Post Time-Skip Dimitri".
248*** 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).
249** 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.]]
250*** 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.
251** 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.
252** After the game's release, some fans call Byleth [[ForeignCussWord "Blyat"]], both as a LyricSwap of their name and as an InherentlyFunnyWord.
253*** 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).
254*** 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.
255** “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]]
256** 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.
257** 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.]]
258** Like how [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Black Knight]] is called "Burger King" due to his initials, Death Knight is called "Franchise/DonkeyKong".
259** Dimitri, Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix are often referred by fans as the “Childhood Friend Quartet” or the “Faerghus Four”.
260** 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]].
261** Those who slither in the dark are sometimes called "[[ANaziByAnyOtherName Mole Nazis]]" because they are deranged racial supremacists who live underground.
262** Considering their similar hairstyles and tomboyish personalities, Leonie (even before the game officially released) was dubbed Medieval [[VideoGame/Persona4 Chie]] by many fans. Helps that the game was considered the closest in style to the ''Persona'' series by fans of both which only added fuel to that fire.
263** Sewer Trio[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the Cindered Shadows DLC, Linhardt, Ashe, and Hilda are the only members playable from each of their respective houses along with their house leaders. This rather odd trio are hilariously portrayed as a new [[PowerTrio Power Trio]] who are coincidentally found wandering at night and just so happen to have a connection with the Ashen Wolves and knowledge about the Abyss and the Rite of Rebirth in some ways.[[/labelnote]]
264* {{Fanon}}: [[Fanon/FireEmblemThreeHouses Has its own page]].
265* FanPreferredCouple:
266** In the JP community, Dimitri/Male Byleth is by far the most popular ship for male Byleth despite the fact that the two cannot actually S-support in the game.
267** Dimitri/Claude is one of the biggest examples of this in the player base. The pair is incredibly popular, perhaps more so than any other same-sex pairing for Claude, despite the fact that the two cannot support each other due to the mechanics of the game. It’s helped by the fact that the two are mostly on friendly terms during the game and that in the Drama CD that has been released, Claude also comments on Dimitri’s body and is noted by Dimitri to have been staring.
268** Despite Sylvain's [[ChivalrousPervert skirt-chasing antics]], his most popular pairing is with [[{{Tsundere}} Felix]], and vice versa for Felix, despite the latter's comparatively larger number of A-supports.[[note]]Most of Sylvain’s supports end at B, while Felix can have A-supports with almost every character he can support with[[/note]] The fact that their supports and paired ending have a heavy dosing of HoYay make it popular to assume even outside of a certain [[YaoiFangirl demographic]] that they both end up together. It is one of ''the biggest'' ships in the fanbase and as a testament to the ships popularity, it currently has the most fics on [[Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn Ao3]], beating out every other pairing in the game including ones involving the lords/the main character.
269** [[OppositesAttract Ferdinand and Hubert]] are each other's most popular romance options due to their A+ support reading almost like an S support, romantic music and blushing included.
270** Hilda and Marianne are more commonly shipped together more than any of Hilda's available romance options due to Hilda's desire to take care of Marianne when she's struggling being adorable. They easily have the second-most fanart of any yuri pairing next to Edelgard and female Byleth.
271** Annette and Mercedes are commonly shipped together due to their PseudoRomanticFriendship status in game (Mercedes can S support with a female Byleth, but Annette cannot, although some think that Annette [[IfItsYouItsOkay makes an exception for Mercedes]]) and the fact that their ending implies that they settle down together. Their A support in JPN reading like an S-support definitely adds fuel to the fire.
272* FightSceneFailure: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CyNTO79IXQ cinematic]] at the end of Part I on non-Crimson Flower Routes has some ridiculous moves if you look closely. You can see Claude(the only Lord who ''[[WeakButSkilled doesn't]]'' have SuperStrength), defeat two soldiers with single-handed sword strikes, with the first being a light tap. Meanwhile, Dimitri parries a sword strike with the shaft of his spear, then twists his spear so that he throws the soldier to the ground, apparently killing him from a fall that is unlikely to have seriously injured him.
273* FountainOfMemes:
274** '''Claude'''. From his personality, to being upside-down on the boxart and to being [[spoiler:(pretty much) a neutral party]], the fans have run with it, calling Claude the 'Chad' of ''Three Houses''. His English voice actor, Creator/JoeZieja, has embraced all of the Claude memes on his Twitter and Discord.
275** Dimitri has inspired more memes than any other character, from his eyepatch memes to his weed-eating memes, and of course "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"
276* FriendlyFandoms:
277** With the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series. While there was already a case of this between the two franchises (which ironically enough caused a Friendly Hatedom for said entry), ''Three Houses'' has intensified this due to its darker plot that is dictated by numerous choices and alignments decided by the player in a manner highly reminiscent of a classic ''SMT'' game, with [[spoiler:each house representing the traditional alignments]]. [[spoiler:Blue Lions is Law, as Dimitri's ending has the status quo, the traditional nobility that keeps order in in Fódlan, and the crest system being upheld but reformed to be less harsh and Edelgard's radical attempts at challenging the status quo stopped (as well as Byleth's title in the route being "Guardian of Order"). Golden Deer is Neutral, as Claude's ending has him present a third choice to Edelgard and Dimitri's conflict, and both end up dead by the end of the game. Black Eagles is Chaos, as Edelgard's ending has her overthrowing the church, tearing down the corrupt caste system of Fódlan, and giving people a chance to rise on their own merits. Blue Lions and Black Eagles being Law and Chaos is taken a step further, as the former is aligned with the Church, and the latter wants to overthrow the Church, mirroring YHVH and Lucifer's conflict in ''SMT''.]]
278** Due to the prominent life sim elements as well as the greater variety of activities to build RelationshipValues between your avatar and the other characters, fans of the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series have taken a shine to ''Three Houses'', which has lead to cross-pollination from the ''Fire Emblem'' fandom looking to see where much of this game's inspiration came from. It's also noted that three of the paths share both {{Color Motif}}s and {{Central Theme}}s with the three "modern" ''Persona'' games released at the time: the Azure Moon path shares ''VideoGame/Persona3''[='=]s blue motif and theme of moving past tragedy; the Verdant Wind path shares ''VideoGame/Persona4''[='=]s yellow motif and theme of seeking hidden truths; and the Crimson Flower path shares ''VideoGame/Persona5''[='=]s red motif and theme of challenging a comfortable, yet corrupt status quo. Finally, the crests are based on [[TarotMotifs the Major Arcana]], itself one of the central elements of the ''Persona'' series.
279** With the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fandom. Due to the game taking place at a castle-like school divided into rival houses, along with having strong world building for the world-at-large beyond the school and a conflict partly driven by prejudice and discrimination surrounding magical power and lineage (or lack thereof), comparisons with ''Harry Potter'' were inevitable and led many members of the latter's enormous fandom to take interest in the game. Many fans have christened it [[SpiritualSuccessor the best Harry Potter video game we'll never get]].
280** As they are developed by the same developer, the game is building up a friendly relationship with other KOEI Tecmo-made games' fandoms, particularly ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' franchise. It is confirmed by Instys and Nintendo directors as well that the game is [[https://www.vg247.com/2019/07/05/fire-emblem-three-houses-interview/ partially made as a homage]] to the [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms epic]] that inspired the ''Dynasty Warriors'' franchise. The whole plot point of the three opposing factions is the main cue. Hence the fandom's lack of surprise and in many cases outright joy when ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'' was announced as a spinoff.
281** There are quite a lot of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fans among the group due to the similarities between both stories. It's borderline unlikely you'll find a fan of both works that has yet to see the parallels between Lelouch and Edelgard.
282[[/folder]]
283
284[[folder:G]]
285* GameBreaker: Has its own page [[GameBreaker/FireEmblemThreeHouses here.]]
286* GeniusBonus:
287** The game's Japanese name of 風花雪月 translates literally to "Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon" and is an idiom about appreciating nature. Funnily enough, [[https://twitter.com/AintItK/status/1006889119593533441 there's a Chinese idiom of a similar name]] that is also about nature... but is instead [[TakeThat a dig towards poetry about the topic]], roughly translating into "trite and shallow writing."[[note]]It originally meant the same thing as it did in Japanese but over the years, it became a DiscreditedMeme due to overuse[[/note]]
288** In one Azure Moon chapter, Gilbert compares Ailell, the Valley of Torment, a hellish, volcanic location the characters are in, to a place between life and death where sins are purged, from the doctrine of the Church of Seiros, but notes that such a place is not actually referenced within scripture itself. This is an elaborate reference to the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, which developed in the Middle Ages and is generally rejected by the Protestant denomination due to its lack of direct scriptural basis[[note]]due to the Protestants regarding the book and verses from which the defined concept of purgatory eventually developed, 2 Macabees 12:39-46 (which refers to praying for the dead to loose them from sins), as not a canonical part of the Bible[[/note]].
289* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
290** Petra, Dorothea, Seteth, and the Gatekeeper are among the most beloved characters in the Western fandom, but none of them were able to crack the top 10 in [[https://nintendoeverything.com/famitsu-readers-vote-on-favorite-fire-emblem-three-houses-characters-and-more/ the official Famitsu popularity poll]] for the game. The discrepancy is due to a combination of MemeticMutation, effective woolseyisms, and a touch of ValuesResonance with Dorothea.
291** While he’s not unpopular in eastern countries, Ashe’s fanbase is quite a bit larger in the west, being among [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorites]] of each respective class.
292** Alois isn't hated, but he's not super popular in Japan, being voted as the least popular character in a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/dis8eo/recent_famitsu_character_poll_results_for_three/ Famitsu poll]]. In the west however, he's beloved by the community for his fatherly role he takes, his lighthearted and cheerful attitude, his puns, and his backstory with Jeralt.
293** While not unpopular with eastern Audiences, Edelgard is more popular with western audiences in comparison to Japan. This is most likely due to her actions and ideals on personal freedom, merit, and going against an unjust social order in her eyes resonating more with western audiences than eastern ones.
294** Dedue is a largely forgotten member of Blue Lions in eastern fandoms, even sometimes being left out of Blue Lions group fan art altogether. This is much different in the west, as while he’s probably still the least popular Blue Lions member compared to everyone else, he’s still well loved and comparably more acknowledged, enough so that fans rally for other players to take an interest in him and express disappointment in the fact that his plot was [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot Dimitri focused]], rather than fleshing him out as a character. This is not helped by his very limited availability, even by the standards of route-locked characters.
295* GoddamnBats:
296** Enemy Archers can hit from three squares away, and even with the reduced accuracy past two squares, have enough Dexterity to hit anyway. While unable to inflict serious damage to non-flying units, the damage can add up. This is more noticeable on Maddening, where all enemy archers gain Poison Strike, allowing the chip damage to further add up. They're especially annoying early on, as while enemies have access to Bowrange +1 from the beginning, you won't until Level 10, meaning they avoid counterattacks most of the time.
297** Some enemies with battalions will use their abilities, even if they won't inflict significant damage, thus resulting in the unit being immobilized and weakened if the gambit succeeds.
298** Golems aren't the most threatening of monster enemies, but their basic attacks have 1-3 range, which makes them annoying to bait or fight without risking counterattacks.
299* GoodBadBugs:
300** A glitch was discovered by FED that essentially allows you to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJGyTPXYuoQ get infinite money and Renown via a stack overflow bug if you have purchased the DLC pass]]. The Pagan Altar allows you to spend either items for Renown or vice versa. However, spending enough renown on a single item can result in the values being overflown and as a result, you essentially can potentially get 66 Killer Knuckles at a mere ''464'' Renown when it's supposed to cost around 66,000 Renown. Granted, it does require either a significant amount of items or potentially multiple NewGamePlus playthroughs, but once that is achieved, suddenly Maddening Mode becomes much easier to bear through.
301** Another glitch that doesn't require the use of the Expansion Pass was discovered by another player allowed you to get [[https://twitter.com/ClarisTheGirl/status/1396207435765800963?s=20 infinite money via looping the calendar]]. By being on a month where the mission is not on the final day and holding right on "Skip to Date", this essentially allows you to loop around the calendar, allowing for unlimited grinding and resources, which has resulted in jokes about Byleth perfecting the Divine Pulse ability to rewind time further than usual.
302** Linked Attacks would only trigger their bonuses when another unit is in attacking range of an enemy. Due to an oversight though, characters with spells that could hit from far across the map could essentially always give bonuses to other units. The most note worthy one being Dorothea, whose Meteor has huge range and who had a large amount of support options, meaning not only would she almost always provide the basic bonus, but the additional might that came with it. This allowed units to potentially always have the extra hit/avoid, which while not gamebreaking, was a huge asset on higher difficulties. Sadly, this was tweaked in later patches to balance it out.
303[[/folder]]
304
305[[folder:H]]
306* HarsherInHindsight:
307** Claude [[TheGadfly jokingly]] plays ShipperOnDeck for Dimitri and Edelgard early in the game. Knowing how things to between the two of them later on...
308** If you have Claude fight Edelgard in Chapter 7, he has an amusing moment where he throws Edelgard's concentration off by tricking her into thinking there's a rat near her. Then you play the Crimson Flower route, where it's revealed that [[spoiler:rats are a [[TraumaButton PTSD trigger]] for Edelgard, reminding her of her imprisonment and experimentation]], and the scene becomes... significantly less amusing.
309** During the pre-battle cutscene for Chapter 7 on the Golden Deer route, Claude jokes about lighting the hill on fire as a strategy. [[spoiler:Edelgard does exactly that when Gronder Field becomes the site of a real battle after the TimeSkip.]]
310** In the same chapter, if Edelgard fights Dimitri, she jokes about how [[spoiler:if the Kingdom and Empire go to war, they'll be able to fight as much as they please]]. This becomes a ''lot'' harsher once you know that [[spoiler:Edelgard was already making preparations to go to war with the Kingdom]].
311** Most of Bernadetta's early supports play her NervousWreck tendencies and [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]] for laughs. Later supports reveal that [[spoiler:the reason she's so high-strung is because she grew up with an ''extremely'' [[AbusiveParents abusive father]], and her anxiety stems from PTSD and the reason she has no social skills is because he would barely let her interact with anyone until she came to the monastery]].
312** Alois's fear of ghosts is usually played for laughs, especially in his and Mercedes's supports, [[spoiler:but in his and Shamir's B support he reveals that this fear stems from the guilt he feels for killing so many people in the line of duty.]]
313** Flayn and Seteth's paralogue involves them fighting Western Church apostates who have seized Rhodos Coast in the name of Saint Cichol. Later in the game, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Seteth is the ''actual'' Cichol, and the apostates are desecrating his wife's gravesite]].
314* HighTierScrappy:
315** '''Lysithea''', though a popular character, is regularly criticized for being the best mage in the game, rendering all but healing focused mages obsolete. Not only does she have some of the beast Faith and Reason spells like Seraphim and Dark Spikes for effective damage output, and Warp for extra utility, but her Magic growth ties with the DLC character Constance for the highest in the game. Unlike Constance though, Lysithea has two Crests, one of which is the Crest of Gloucester, which lets her use the broken Thyrsus staff to get additional range on her spells without having to equip the NewGamePlus-exclusive Craft Dragon Sign, and her personal skill, Mastermind, lets her level in classes twice as fast as everyone else [[note]]Although Jeritza also has Mastermind, it's not his personal skill, so for him, it takes up an equippable skill slot which could be given to a more valuable skill, while Lysithea lacks this issue as Mastermind does not take up one of her equippable skill slots.[[/note]] and move between many classes to get skills. Already that makes her really powerful, but she's recruitable on all routes if the player wants, and isn't as hard as some characters to recruit, meaning she can quickly be recruited and upstage all other non-healer focused mages, to the point of the game being harder without her due to other mages lacking the same advantages she has[[note]]To give an example: Lysithea is fully capable of one-shotting the final boss of the Verdant Wind route with [[ArmorPiercingAttack Luna]], and she can do it without going out of your way to setup.[[/note]]. Her only downsides are not having some of the more unique spells, or having much healing support, but the trade off for raw magical damage, especially when she becomes a Gremory, makes her so good that she is often criticized for being simply way too strong.[[note]]This isn't even mentioning her potential as a MagicKnight, where she can also be broken in.[[/note]]
316** The '''Wyvern Lord''' class is often disliked, as its high power, unmatched movement, and easily negated weaknesses boil the endgame meta down to "make everyone a Wyvern Lord as fast as possible", and the class tends to be not hard to get. It's not the only flying class in the game, but since it isn't gender-locked or DownloadableContent, it gets most of the ire for being superior to just about all the other physical classes.
317* HilariousInHindsight:
318** The constant jokes comparing Edelgard to [[Series/GameOfThrones Daenerys Targaryen]], when she turns out to, again, be the most brutal of the three lords [[spoiler:and starts a war and conquest like Daenerys herself does. The final battle of Edelgard's campaign even takes place in a burning city, although unlike Daenerys, Edelgard's enemies set the city on fire]]. She can even become a DragonRider like Daenerys if one makes her a Wyvern Rider/Lord class, and in fact many consider it to be her most powerful class.
319** After all the memes about Marianne being Berkut and Rinea's daughter, it was revealed that she has a proficiency in horses and lances, making her a good fit for the paladin class, just like her "father".
320** Likewise, the memes about Linhardt being the child of Lyn and Reinhardt became that much funnier when it was shown that his best proficiencies are in magic, also much like his "father".
321** When his post-timeskip design was revealed, a FanNickname for Dimitri was "[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Punished Dimitri]]". If you start a NG+, you can give him an alternate hairstyle that makes him ''even more strongly'' resemble Big Boss.
322** One of the more popular memes in the community was taking characters who didn't have good physical skills and having them use Brawling weapons, with Marianne and Mercedes being two of the most popular examples. The ''Cindered Shadows'' DLC would later add a class for both genders that specialized in Brawling and Faith magic, meaning that now this meme idea actually has merit to it.
323** There are number of people who notice that Leopold, a villager from ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' strongly resembles Seteth. While this is likely due to both latest installments of both series being on the Switch, what makes this a tad funnier is that while Leopold's design predates Seteth's[[labelnote:*]]and Leopold only appeared in the original game before returning in ''New Leaf''. Even so, his default outfit in ''New Horizons'' isn't a noble shirt (which was the case in the previous games), which resembles Seteth more.[[/labelnote]], his house interior in ''New Horizons'' is a classroom, and [[spoiler:one of Seteth's quotes for reclassing is "I must set course for a new horizon"]].
324** Naturally, some signature traits about the game are the houses, their colors, and the fight at Gronder Field. When the Direct for ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' revealed three way fights later into Splatfests as a new mechanic, a handful of people drew some pleasant comparisons to ''Three Houses''. It especially helps that the signature colors for Deep Cut, the new idol trio for the game, are the same as the three houses, which also means the first Splatfest for the game will have its own MeleeATrois with those same colors. It's also the closest thing to a {{Defictionalization}} of the Gronder Field fight. This has also led to many people hoping for a [[CompanyCrossReferences crossover Splatfest]] based on either ''Three Houses'' or ''Three Hopes'', simply because it makes too much sense for it to not happen. It especially helps that one of the new weapons for ''Splatoon 3'' is the Tri-Stinger, which is essentially a bow.
325** One of the major characters is a revolutionary known as the Flame Emperor, who seeks to overthrow the current social order and whose real identity is [[spoiler:Edelgard, Dimitri's stepsister]]. A few years after the game came out, in ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[spoiler:Sabo, who is Luffy and Ace's adoptive brother and]] a member of the Revolutionary Army, became known as the Flame Emperor.
326** Deploying Shamir in the final chapter of Verdant Wind. It's funny because she looks a lot like [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Jill Valentine]] and the final boss of the route is named [[spoiler:Nemesis]]. Another funny fact is that if you'd speak with Shamir at the monastery before going to battle, she will note that ghosts from the past are persistent, no matter how hard they're pushed back.
327** One of the first sidequests in the game is to catch Flayn a fish so she can use it in a ritual involving Saint Cethleann. This throwaway quest becomes much more amusing once you learn [[spoiler:Flayn ''is'' Cethleann, and that "ritual" was probably just a fancy way of saying "my lunch".]]
328* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: After Creator/ChrisHackney's [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden previous]] ''Fire Emblem'' role as [[LovableCoward Boey]], a fairly simple character, his voice-acting for Dimitri [[StarMakingRole gained]] near-universal praise, especially on the Blue Lions/Azure Moon route. [[spoiler:The transitions from a [[WhatMeasureIsAMook reluctant]] and {{adorkable}} NiceGuy, [[NominalHero to a]] [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids cynical]] and [[SanitySlippage insane]] RedBaron with a [[RevengeBeforeReason vendetta]], and [[HesBack then]] to a [[TheseHandsHaveKilled remorseful]] [[TheAtoner atoner]] who becomes TheGoodKing to his people]] would not be as convincing as it is without such convincing voice chops. Many were peeved that Hackney [[AwardSnub wasn't even nominated]] for "Best Performance" at the 2019 Game Awards.
329* HesJustHiding: The Verdant Wind route implies that [[spoiler:Rhea, who shielded Byleth, Claude and the others from the "javelins of light,"]] died of [[spoiler:her]] wounds after the war. However, some fans think Catherine's ending where she [[spoiler:takes up protecting Zanado, which, while off-limits even to members of the church, by all accounts has nothing that needs protection there]], makes no sense... unless [[spoiler:Rhea is FakingTheDead and sleeping off her injuries there.]]
330* HoYay: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise [[HoYay/FireEmblem here.]]
331* HypeBacklash: ''Three Houses'' is the most successful entry in the franchise since ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'' by a wide margin, but it's also [[LaterInstallmentWeirdness radically divergent from the rest of the series in both gameplay and story tone]], which had led to ire from fans of more traditional entries out of a concern future games will have to follow its style to be successful. This reached a head when the next entry in the series, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'', [[ToughActToFollow received significant backlash from both critics and fans for not being like]] ''[[ToughActToFollow Three Houses]]'', leading to a major ContestedSequel.
332[[/folder]]
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334[[folder:I]]
335
336* IKnewIt:
337** Almost everybody predicted and expected that [[spoiler:Jeralt dies at some point in the story, especially due to the number of other main lords' fathers dying in the series]].
338** Fans also called [[spoiler:the Church of Seiros being a major antagonist, though this was also spoiled beforehand by Nintendo UK (although Church of Seiros are only the major antagonist during the Black Eagles route, other routes usually have them siding with the player by default)]]. On the same note, [[spoiler:Sothis' status as the Goddess and a Divine Dragon]] was also predicted.
339** A lot of fans also speculated that [[spoiler:the Flame Emperor is actually Edelgard and she'll always be the main antagonist in the Blue Lions and Golden Deer routes, and even the Black Eagles route if certain conditions are met]].
340** Two major fan theories surrounding the ''Cindered Shadows'' DLC were proven correct upon release: that [[spoiler:Aelfric was EvilAllAlong]], and that [[spoiler:Yuri was the commoner that Bernadetta befriended as a child]].
341** It was a common theory that [[spoiler:Claude]] was an assumed name to help him blend into Fódlan. A March 2020 interview not only confirmed this to be true, but also revealed his real name; [[spoiler:Khalid]].
342** It had been speculated by the fanbase that either the Blue Lions route or the Silver Snow route were the first routes created by the developers, due to the similarities the other routes share with them. As of the Nintendo Dream 2020 interview, it was confirmed that the Silver Snow route was created first and that the development of the three lords and other characters went from there.
343* IronWoobie: Dimitri in the second half of the Azure Moon route. Despite the fact that his father and knights are dead, [[spoiler:his stepmother may have been involved with it, his stepsister is a tyrannical warlord]], and he's almost certainly going to be struggling through his traumas for the rest of his life, he refuses to let it all hold him down any more and instead focuses on reforming the world and cherishing what he still has.
344* ItsEasySoItSucks: While the game is overall very well-liked, a large contingent of fans and reviewers have criticized the lack of difficulty compared to previous titles in the series. The hardest initial difficulty setting available on a first playthrough is less difficult than the hard modes present in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' or ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Features like the ability to micromanage your units and the Divine Pulse mechanic, while appealing in their own right, also hurt the challenge. More challenging difficulties can be unlocked upon beating the game once (and "Maddening" mode was added in a patch about two months after the game's release), but those who want a NintendoHard experience right away are out of luck.
345* ItsHardSoItSucks: Some people find Maddening mode falls into this trope, largely due to the [[EarlyGameHell rather difficult early game]], among other things. The fact that it's much more difficult than Hard doesn't help.
346* ItsPopularNowItSucks: While ''Three Houses'' had brought in another NewbieBoom to the franchise, quickly becoming the most popular entry to the franchise, in the years following its release, the game was met with scrutiny by fans of the franchise, especially of previous games and even ''Engage'', for the increased [[PanderingToTheBase pandering of the game itself]] that caused almost all other ''Fire Emblem'' games to lose so much of their popularity to the point where most newer players will only know the franchise through ''Three Houses'', and only ''Three Houses''. This isn't helped by the fact that the game also has a massive BrokenBase regarding either the characters, the plot, or the game as a whole, which deterred fans away from it.
347* ItsShortSoItSucks: The Crimson Flower route has received some criticism for being a few chapters shorter than the others (it has 18 Chapters while Silver Snow has 21 and both Azure Moon and Verdant Wind have 22). It doesn't help that the fact that [[spoiler:the epilogue of said route states the Black Eagle Strike Force clashed with "those who slither in the dark" after the events of route [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome and goes unseen]] despite having received buildup within the route itself]], which could have easily have filled in that dearth of content.
348* ItsTheSameNowItSucks:
349** Despite the different intra-house interactions, all three versions of White Clouds feature the same plot beats and monthly missions. It can be jarring how the shared pre-timeskip plot, which, for example, features battles against Ashe's adoptive father and Sylvain's disinherited elder brother, seems almost tailor-made for the Blue Lions and no one else. Of particular note is Chapter 11 in the Black Eagles route, as [[spoiler:it forces Byleth and the other students to fight Edelgard regardless if the player has attended her coronation, sides with her ideals and intend to follow the Crimson Flower branch or not]], which has led many players to wish that particular chapter played out differently [[spoiler:depending on their choices, similar to how Chapter 12 does work on that route]].
350** The Silver Snow route gets a lot of flak for being a variation of Verdant Wind but without Claude, with the exception of [[spoiler:the removal of the fight on Gronder Field and the different final level]]. While this might have been the point, since both the Alliance and the Church of Seiros happen to be the factions that are the most neutral on the conflict, and the path is seen as an option for those who [[spoiler:aren't willing to side with Edelgard after learning what she's done]], it's still disappointing that said route turns out to be a rehash of another existing path, especially for those hoping that it would [[spoiler:be a sort of Rhea route and feature more of her throughout than the other routes]]. Interestingly, one group of fans instead criticize Verdant Wind for being too similar to Silver Snow, reasoning that [[spoiler:the cinematic with Edelgard's death]] makes more sense on that route, and speculate that Verdant Wind may actually be the rehash. Meanwhile, another group ''also'' criticizes Silver Snow for being a rehash of Claude's route, claiming that [[spoiler:receiving reinforcements from Judith and the plan to infiltrate Fort Merceus]] make more sense on the context of Verdant Wind, and not helping matters is that some monastery dialogue shared between both routes seems to [[https://imgur.com/a/uER3ArW have been written with the Golden Deer route in mind]] rather than for the Church's route. In the end, though, Claude's route doesn't get a lot of flak because Silver Snow, unlike Verdant Wind, has some contention of TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot and DisappointingLastLevel for many players.
351*** The arguments took on new meaning when it was revealed in an [[https://yks160519.tumblr.com/post/613155373448396800/some-qa-answers-i-thought-were-interesting-from interview]] that Silver Snow was in fact the first route developed, and its worldbuilding was used as the basis for the other routes. That it came first proves that Verdant Wind's similar elements are indeed a rehash of sorts. Now the debate is if this means Silver Snow is superior for being the first, or if Verdant Wind is by virtue of being seen as the finished version to Silver Snow's rough draft.
352** Even apart from Silver Snow, the first halves of the non-Crimson Flower routes are sometimes criticized for being highly similar to each other, featuring the battle to retake the monastery, the second battle of Garreg Mach, meeting reinforcements in Ailell, crossing the Great Bridge of Myrddin, and fighting in Gronder Field, although the [[spoiler:Silver Snow]] route lacks the latter, as mentioned above.
353[[/folder]]
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355[[folder:J]]
356* JerkassWoobie:
357** [[ChildProdigy Lysithea]] acts bratty and is too prideful for her own good most of the time, [[HairTriggerTemper especially when she gets particullary angry]]. However, considering [[DarkAndTroubledPast the hell she went through]] as [[FridgeHorror an even younger child]], and [[spoiler:[[YourDaysAreNumbered the result of it]]]], it's a miracle she didn't turn out more like [[spoiler:[[AntiHero Edelgard]]]]. Thankfully, [[EarnYourHappyEnding in certain paired endings]][[note]]those being her endings with Byleth, Claude, Edelgard, Hanneman, and Linhardt[[/note]], [[spoiler:her Crests are removed, restoring her lifespan]].
358** [[AntiHero Edelgard]], for those who find her sympathetic due to her DarkAndTroubledPast. While her actions throughout the game can’t be entirely justified to some, it’s hard not to sympathize with her a bit due to what she went through.
359** Sylvain may be a [[TheCasanova notorious womaniser]] and serial heartbreaker, and even admits to toying around with the feelings of women ("Playing around with girls is the most fun a guy can have."), but it's not like he's like this for no reason. Pretty much his whole life, he's felt his value was determined by something he had no control over (namely, his Crest), and it's not like such a concern is unfounded, since his Crest was the cause of his parents preferring him over [[BigBrotherBully Miklan]], which resulted in the latter's abuse of him. Additionally, he feels the girls who want him don't want him, but the potential rewards of loving him, namely the privilege of bearing a child with a Crest.
360** Dimitri during the Verdant Wind route and the first half of the Azure Moon route. He's had an utterly miserable life; his father and entire retinue of knights were slaughtered in front of him, he is constantly tormented by hallucinations of his loved ones demanding vengeance, and the WhamEpisode reveals [[spoiler:his childhood friend/stepsister/former love interest Edelgard is an accomplice to it all]]. Then, during the timeskip, [[spoiler:he is ousted from his kingdom in a coup, his best friend is presumed dead saving his life, and he is forced to become a vagrant for five years]]. Unsurprisingly, by the time Part II rolls around he's become a psychotic shell of a man who can only deal with his suffering by obsessively trying to get revenge on the one villain within his capacity to hurt.
361* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: While a lot of the main villains in this game are huge [[BaseBreakingCharacter Base-Breaking Characters]], they still have their fans at the end of the day. However, Count Varley is one of the few universally hated characters in the game. Even though he's not an antagonist and [[TheGhost doesn't even appear on-screen in any route]], his severe [[AbusiveParent emotional abuse]] towards his daughter Bernadetta (which includes tying her to a chair to teach her on how to be a submissive housewife) is the main reason she's a such a NervousWreck and a withdrawn shut-in in the first place, thus he garners the hatred of pretty much the entire playerbase and even the characters themselves in-universe. When he finally appears in the flesh in ''Three Hopes'', Bernadetta, Edelgard, and Hubert aren't shy about expressing their clear disdain for him, and many players are all too happy to play missions that can end with his death, even on the route where he's on your side.
362[[/folder]]
363
364[[folder:L]]
365* LauncherOfAThousandShips:
366** Unsurprisingly, [[PlayerCharacter Byleth]], due to the ability to pair them with nearly every character in the game and being the only character that's able to S-support. They’re even ''rarely'' paired with NPC characters.
367** Of the three lords, Dimitri is this the most. Outside of his ship with female Byleth being his most popular one, he has been shipped with [[HoYay male Byleth]] as well as almost every student including the other two lords but most popularly Claude. He also gets shipped with the Church of Seiros characters, [[GhostShipping Glenn]], [[{{Squick}} Rodrigue]], as well as other [=NPCs=].
368* LesYay: Catherine has so much that it's surprising that she's not an S rank option for Female Byleth. She's devoted towards Rhea [[spoiler:who is bisexual]], and she gets flustered after Shamir suggests marriage in their A+ support (after a couple lines saying that they'll always be partners). That said, she explicitly mentions to Leonie that she has an [[AmbiguouslyBi interest in men]].
369* LGBTFanbase: Unsurprising, since the game has multiple canonical same-sex romance options, but Edelgard, Dorothea, Shamir, and Catherine in particular are ''immensely'' popular among lesbians and bi women. For gay and bisexual men, Claude, post-timeskip Dimitri, Linhardt, and Dedue are incredibly popular as well. Female Byleth, despite being the PlayerCharacter, seems to be popular among gay and bisexual women as well, as well as Male Byleth being so among gay and bisexual men. Timeskip Sylvain has also joined the ranks of being favored by the LGBT fanbase, and it's not uncommon to see Sylvain depicted as a bara in fan art due to this, especially in the eastern community.
370* LoveToHate:
371** Edelgard, depending on the player's perspective. Even to those who do not agree and/or sympathize with her reasons for her actions, some still consider her to be a very enjoyable anti-hero/villain depending on the route.
372** Rhea. Even amongst her detractors, she is also considered an interesting and tragic figure that in some ways [[spoiler:adds to her antagonism]]. Special mention goes to her in the Crimson Flower route where she is actively present in the story during several chapters in Part II (even [[spoiler:donning and fighting in her old garb as Seiros from the opening cutscene]]) and makes [[spoiler:quite the terrifying antagonist]] as opposed to other routes where she is nothing more than an off-screen DamselInDistress until near the end of the game, or spends the entirety of Part II offscreen (on Azure Moon).
373* LowTierLetdown:
374** [[MagikarpPower Cyril]] is normally a decent MagikarpPower character thanks to having a personal skill that boosts his growths, and having very high-value affinities and a good selection of combat arts, but on the Silver Snow route, he's a borderline unusable character on anything above the lowest difficulty (due to infinite level grinding being possible), and even then doing so is not a good idea. The reason is because he joins one chapter before the timeskip due to plot reasons, giving the player only a few free periods to level and train his skills, time that can better be spent doing other things or empowering your already invested-in roster. Furthermore, unlike other characters from outside the chosen house that either gradually level in classes or are in one to begin with, Cyril is always recruited as a Commoner, the base class all units share, meaning he starts off with lower growths than his level should have, and only has a B rank Axe and Bow skill (made worse by Maddening Mode making his Bow rank C+), meaning he can't go into any class above Intermediate (mainly Archer and Fighter), and promoting to anything above that is likely to fail. Worse, his strengths are covered by so many other characters (Bow is covered by Shamir who starts as a Sniper, Axe Flyer by Seteth who starts as a Wyvern Rider, etc), that he can't hope to catch up and make use of his full potential unless ''really'' coddled, at which point the player would be handicapping themselves. So instead of a MagikarpPower unit like on the other routes, you have a LateCharacterSyndrome unit that takes so many extra resources to make good, that doing so comes at the cost of all of the other units available.
375** Anna. While having good availability, she suffers from being a MasterOfNone with an eclectic kit that has no idea what she's meant to be used for, and being worse than other units. Her growths are low across the board except for Speed and Charm, but she has a penalty to Authority, making her good Charm harder to use properly when it comes to using Battalions, and because she has no Supports, she can't get Linked Attacks, making her Charm almost useless. She seems to be aimed at being a JackOfAllStats thanks to her martial skills being spread out around Sword, Box, and Axe, but she doesn't have anything unique beyond her Crest, which has no Heroes Relic to synergize with it, and she doesn't really have unique skills or combat arts to offer. Her bases are okay, but even if recruited as soon as possible, she's likely already overshadowed by the rest of your units. Her MagicKnight option is handicapped by her having a weakness in Reason as well, making it hard to properly use her a magical unit, and she doesn't learn enough unique spells to give her a reason to be invested in. To top all this off, she's upstaged by Yuri, who not only has similar skills and growths as her, but has better skill proficiencies, and a Heroes Relic that synergizes with him very well, on top of better skills and spells by comparison. Due to this, Anna offers nothing of value as a unit, and trying to use her means having to sacrifice a slot, resources, and time on a unit who has poor payouts in the end, and is easily replaceable by so many other units. Her only good thing is her high Luck, which doesn't do enough in game to make it a selling point.
376[[/folder]]
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378[[folder:M]]
379%% These MagnificentBastard entries approved by the special efforts thread, do not edit them except to correct spelling or grammar errors. Any other changes should be discussed at https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1 first.
380* MagnificentBastard:
381** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard von Hresvelg]] is the leader of the [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlackEagles Black Eagle house]] and heiress to the Adrestian Empire, as the sole surviving heir and successor to her father Ionius IX. [[spoiler:Edelgard kickstarts the plot by acting as the Flame Emperor to have the heirs apparent of the other nations, [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd]] of [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlueLions Faerghus]] and [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude von Riegan]] of [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesGoldenDeer Leicester]], assassinated by bandits. Edelgard's goal is to dismantle the [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesTheChurchOfSeiros Church of Seiros]], which she views as corrupt and after preparing behind the scenes for a year, she declares war on the Church, forcing everyone's hand, as she marches towards her grand ambitions. On the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard sways the reincarnation of the goddess Sothis, [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth Eisner]], to her cause, executes or exiles Claude, slays Dimitri, kills Rhea, Archbishop of the Church and daughter of the goddess, and conquers the entire continent of Fódlan. On the other routes, after being bested, Edelgard demands to be executed so that the war can end. Despite Edelgard's cold and calculating demeanor and seeming perfectionist attitude, those who have earned her respect, such as Byleth, are treated to a much warmer side of her. In the end, Edelgard succeeds or almost succeeds in bringing Fódlan to its knees, her actions pave the way for the societal reforms she dreamed of, and she removes the corrupt influence of "those who slither in the dark"]].
382** [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesHubert Hubert von Vestra]] is the brilliant [[TheDragon right hand]] of Edelgard, serving out of genuine love and loyalty toward her. Cloaking his intelligence in an ObviouslyEvil persona, Hubert proves a vital asset to the Adrestian Empire in [[spoiler:their war against the Church of Seiros]]. Often opting for assassination and usually handling the dirty work of Edelgard's schemes, Hubert [[spoiler:secures her rule by ordering the deaths of every noble in the Adrestian Empire when she rises to power and is even willing to stray from her orders to ensure her goals are achieved, no matter what he must do. Taking to the field often to face foes of the Empire, Hubert proves himself an excellent and analytical tactician who can deduce enemy plans and dispense valuable advice. If the Empire is successful, Hubert proves an effective advisor to Edelgard for years to come. If they fail, he [[VillainousValor valiantly]] engages in a final stand against the Empire's enemies. If given the opportunity, Hubert [[GracefulLoser has a posthumous letter sent to the victors]] to ensure the defeat of "those who slither in the dark"]].
383** ''Cindered Shadows'': [[DoubleAgent Yuri Leclerc]] is the leader of the [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesAshenWolves Ashen Wolves]] and a hero to the underground refuge of Abyss, always hiding his true wit behind a sharp tongue and a cynical demeanor. Yuri repeatedly proves himself a brilliant leader and tactician despite his nature as a criminal and a runaway. Yuri initially attacks the visiting students led by Byleth, only to quickly ally with them to defeat Abyss's external foes. Yuri later secretly notifies Byleth to pursue him to the Holy Mausoleum, proceeding to [[spoiler:[[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betray the Ashen Wolves]] and prepare them to be bled out and sacrificed in a ritual organized by the evil Cardinal Aelfric]]. Upon Byleth's arrival, Yuri [[spoiler:derides Aelfric for being impaired by his conscience to the point of being [[GoodIsDumb completely outwitted]], ultimately aiding Byleth in Aelfric's defeat and saving his teammates]]. Yuri ends ''Cindered Shadows'' having manipulated everyone around him, friend and foe alike, to eliminate all of Abyss's enemies and protect the people he loves.
384%% These were the entries approved by the special efforts thread, do not edit them except to correct spelling or grammar errors. Any other changes should be discussed at https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1 first.
385* MemeticBadass:
386** Lysithea has gotten this treatment thanks how easy it is for her to kill [[{{Superboss}} the Death Knight]] (mostly due to her being equipped with anti-cavalry black magic). Some even jokingly stated that the Death Knight is scared of her.
387** In contrast to [[MemeticLoser his Crimson Flower counterpart]], Azure Moon's Dimitri is this. There are stories of players using him to clear entire maps, reactions to his big scene in the Holy Tomb, his quotable lines (most famously "Kill every last one of them!"), his insane stats, and the fact that he's able to match the popularity of veteran Nintendo characters in polls.
388** Edelgard's considered utterly broken as a unit. She can perform absurd feats thanks to her relic, ranging from — as an enemy — decimating half of the player's army in just one turn to — in her own route — being capable to solo entire maps on her own, and Crimson Flower [[spoiler:allowing players to be a true anti-hero]] also contributes to her having this status. For those who agree with her ideals, this trope certainly applies, as Edelgard is the first lord to actively avert VillainsActHeroesReact.
389** Out of all the Lords, Claude has this status the most; being the first lord to ride a wyvern and use a bow does him wonders. There is also the fact that he's the first lord to have claim over [[spoiler:TWO nations instead of one]]. His reputation is also helped by [[FountainOfMemes literally]] being a Memetic Badass and having a ton of memes created revolving around him.
390** Dedue also has this reputation, as a mighty warrior who, in-universe, is rumored to [[SuperStrength be able to pick up a horse with one hand]]. He's [[StoneWall rather sturdy]] when he shows up to [[spoiler:attack the imperial palace by himself]] in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, leading to [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1543547-fire-emblem-three-houses this version of the Area 51 meme.]]
391* MemeticLoser:
392** Lorenz became a meme due to his goofy design and personality. Fans either view him as a loser or [[MemeticBadass in a league above]] the other students. He's also sometimes characterized with a foot fetish, partially due to helping Mercedes back to her room after she twists her ankle and taking care of Leonie's injured foot. Fans also comment on the matter that he's sometimes ''only'' recruited in non-Golden Deer routes so that they can access his paralogue, then immediately give his Thyrsus staff to Lysithea, making him nothing more than fuel to Lysithea's destruction power.
393** Crimson Flower Dimitri has this reputation in some circles compared to Azure Moon Dimitri. This is due to [[spoiler:not having his badass eyepatch, being just sad and broken compared to what a rage-fueled powerhouse Azure Moon Dimitri is, and that despite his toughness as a boss, he's overshadowed as a threat on the map by Stone Demonic Beast Dedue. There are also jokes about the fact that his and Rhea's grand plan to overwhelm the Black Eagle Strike force is foiled by ''rain'' of all things, and him giving shelter to Rhea only for her to torch the capital.]]
394** As a consequence of Lysithea's MemeticBadass status, several jokes were made at the Death Knight's expense, showing him being dominated ([[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/dtmmx8/how_to_increase_your_social_status_at_school/ or even outright terrified]]) by a small sickly white-haired mage girl.
395** Hubert, due to being the only [[NumberTwo retainer]] not to appear on the Garreg Mach stage in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''.
396** Despite being the leader of Those Who Slither of the Dark and essentially the overall BigBad of the game, Thales has gotten this reputation in ''spades''. Not only is he considered a very lackluster BigBad compared to both [[spoiler:Edelgard and Rhea]] who doesn't get much screen time or fleshing out as either of them, but once Part II comes along, he's either [[spoiler:defeated by complete accident by Dimitri under his disguise as Lord Arundel without Dimitri even knowing in Azure Moon, dealt with offscreen as an afterthought in Crimson Flower's epilogue, or in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, the two routes where he's actually fought under his true identity, ends up not being the FinalBoss to make way for either Nemesis or a berserked Rhea]], all of which makes Thales come off as an extremely incompetent AntiClimaxBoss. His reputation would only sink even further in ''Three Hopes''.
397** Despite being constantly hyped as a formidable statesman and warrior boasting of the moniker "The Shield of Faerghus", Rodrigue struggles to defeat common bandits in Felix's paralogue and more damningly gets [[spoiler:killed on the Azure Moon route by Fleche, a simple ''soldier'', without even trying to use his magic to defend himself.]] His reputation as an overpraised fighter got even worse after Maddening difficulty was released and players who attempted Felix's paralogue discovered that the mighty Shield of Faerghus ''can't make it to the end of the first turn'' without the player's help.
398* MemeticMolester:
399** Leonie's devotion to her role model Jeralt has not gone unnoticed by the fans. She's often memed into an obsessed DILF hunter who's only an S-support for Male Byleth because he's Jeralt's spawn, or because she wants to wear Jeralt's wife's ring.
400** Certain elements of the fanbase have turned Rhea into a source of jokes involving sexual harassment in the workplace and/or her being a cradle-robber. This is thanks to Jeralt's journal being full of concern for her plans and warnings to watch out for her, her invasion of Byleth's personal space in their A-support, which they can call her out on, and the moment after chapter 10 where she watches over the barely conscious Byleth. The latter ''sounds'' comforting, but the execution, tone, and the sinister undertones in Rhea's dialogue make the scene creepy.
401* MemeticTroll: Hubert and the Death Knight's tendancies to [[TheBattleDidntCount flee from battle when defeated]] multiple times has earned them both the status of [[MadeOfIron indestructable men]] who won't die no matter how much you hurt them.
402* MisaimedFandom:
403** All of the routes run on GrayAndGrayMorality, with various plotlines being exclusive to one or more detailed in another, and many revelations are exclusive to one route. Due to this, and the habit of most players to default to one route as being "their GoldenEnding", many fans will take their route's storyline as being the one that explains all of the game's story as fact, even when other routes throw suggestions that it's not the case. A person playing the Crimson Flower route, for example, might see [[spoiler:Rhea as hating all of humanity, behind every single problem in Fódlan, and pure evil, due to Edelgard's biased assertions about her]], missing the nuance of the Silver Snow route and the revelations of the Verdant Wind route, while someone on the other routes will see [[spoiler:Edelgard as an EvilOverlord who caused the Tradegy of Duscur, and the game's BigBad, causing them to miss her DarkAndTroubledPast, her valid points about Fódlan's status, genuine desire to improve Fódlan, and [[FreudianExcuse reasons for her actions]]]]. The routes most guilty of this are the Crimson Flower and the Azure Moon route, because they are the ones most opposite with each other in terms of how they present all the players in the conflict, and present many views and revelations that are true, but only [[MetaphoricallyTrue from a certain point of view]]. Even the Verdant Wind route, the route that reveals a lot of the world's history is not one-hundred percent the most accurate route, as many plotlines and reveals are missing pieces that the other routes and even the DLC side-story explain.
404** The notion that the game operates on GrayAndGrayMorality leads some fans to believe that this applies to ''every'' character, including unambiguously villainous characters like [[AssholeVictim Miklan]]. Yes, Miklan has some understandable reasons to be upset, but the game very clearly points out that he more or less was responsible for his own failures, and that he was a pretty bad person to begin with.
405** Some fans hold evil/wrong actions a character takes on a single route against them on ''all'' routes, ignoring the efforts the game makes to depict each different route (and indeed even each particular playthrough) as being their own universe and having in a sense entirely different characters (i.e. with various characters talking about how differently they could have ended up as people if different choices had been made or events had played out differently). The characters most affected by this are Edelgard and Rhea; no matter what route you play, its common to see the worst of their traits used even when both have good and bad traits that depend on the route you chose to play as.
406** There are also some parts of the fandom that usually came from the positive side of the BrokenBase surrounding ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' that actually liked that there was a Golden Ending that allowed you to keep (almost) everyone alive and was frustrated that ''Three Houses'' deliberately had none (or the fact that forcing on a GoldenEnding caused [[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates a great mess]] back in ''Fates'').
407* {{Moe}}: Every house, including the Church of Seiros, has at least one character that falls under this, with the Black Eagles having [[ShrinkingViolet Bernadetta]] and pre-timeskip [[PintsizedPowerhouse Caspar]], the Blue Lions having [[TheCutie Annette and Ashe]], the Golden Deer having a triple whammy with [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Lysithea]], [[AnimalLover Marianne]], and pre-timeskip [[ShrinkingViolet Ignatz]], the Church of Seiros having [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Flayn]], and the Ashen Wolves having [[RedheadInGreen Hapi]].
408* MoralEventHorizon:
409** Miklan's gang of thieves crosses it in Dimitri's eyes when they wantonly raid several villages, apparently ForTheEvulz. To Dimitri, stealing to survive is wrong but understandable, but this goes beyond the pale, especially since the villagers they attacked probably won't be able to survive the winter. And according to Yuri in chapter 5, [[RapePillageAndBurn they also kidnap women.]]
410** Solon crosses it when he [[spoiler:drives a bunch of innocent villagers murderously berserk using dark magic]], motivated purely ForScience. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even the Flame Emperor is disturbed at that one]], and they're not exactly a saint themselves.
411** [[spoiler:Edelgard]] has several major contenders for the moment they cross the line, both in and out of universe:
412*** Some people who dislike the character [[spoiler:believe she crossed the line at the very beginning of the game, being the mastermind behind the bandit attack you fend off in the Prologue. This one is accentuated by the Azure Moon route, where it's revealed that her mother was King Lambert's second wife and that Edelgard also spent time with Dimitri in their youth (of which she has foggy memories of in the present), which basically means she also endangered her own stepbrother just to further her own plans.]]
413*** In-universe, their enemies believe [[spoiler:she crosses it during her raid on the Holy Tomb in Chapter 11, which is also the point where she's revealed to be the Flame Emperor.]] Notably, [[spoiler:Byleth can feel the same way and even consider her a lost cause, regardless of whether they attended her coronation on the Black Eagles route or not.]]
414*** A complicated example happens in-universe on the Azure Moon path. [[spoiler:While Dimitri eventually relents in his initial hatred for Edelgard and tries to reconcile despite her past actions, he's nonetheless convinced she doesn't deserve compassion in her deliberate transformation into Hegemon Edelgard, [[{{Hypocrite}} in which she renounces her humanity despite the entire basis of her war being putting Fódlan in humanity's hands]], is indeed what lies at the end of her chosen path. Despite this, Dimitri ''still'' tries sparing her once everything's over, but [[BackstabBackfire he's eventually forced to put her down in self-defense]].]]
415** [[spoiler:Lady Rhea]] has two noteworthy examples in which many believe the line of no return was crossed:
416*** At the end of the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:she orders Fhirdiad to be burned to the ground to kill the Black Eagle Strike Force, fully unwilling to let the innocent civilians evacuate and uncaring that they will be caught in the crossfire]]. And this is ''[[UngratefulBastard after]]'' [[spoiler:Fhirdiad ''gave her shelter'' and their king just died to protect her]].
417*** With the release of Wave 4 DLC, some players lost all respect for [[spoiler:her and, by extension, the Church of Seiros]] due to information found in the Abyssal Library, regardless of [[ParanoiaFuel her reasons]]. [[spoiler:If what the one of the books says is true, Rhea is responsible for banning certain inventions, specifically oil, the telescope and the printing press (as opposed to the woodblock printing that is accepted), as well as rendering autopsies taboo, in effect hindering Fódlan's ability to learn, or improve medical science. While there were some debates about whether the books in the library were real or not, WordOfGod has confirmed that they are in a [[https://serenesforest.net/2020/03/24/three-houses-nintendo-dream-interview-reveals-first-route-claudes-real-name/ Nintendo Dream Interview]].]]
418** With the release of Wave 3 DLC came the full details of Jeritza's backstory. From it, many players believed that [[spoiler:his father, Baron Bartels, crossed it when he decided to [[ParentalIncest forcefully marry]] Mercedes, ''his step-daughter'', in order to produce more Crest-bearing children. It's a small wonder that many were glad Jeritza [[SelfMadeOrphan offed]] [[AssholeVictim him]] before he had the chance to do so.]]
419[[/folder]]
420
421[[folder:N]]
422* NarmCharm:
423** Claude's "[[MemeticMutation friendship speech]]", as first seen in the E3 trailer, is undoubtedly cheesy. But because of the actual ''context'' of the scene it takes place in, [[spoiler:with him using it to distract Nemesis and set Byleth up for the kill]], as well as Joe Zieja's fantastic delivery, you won't care.
424** Female Byleth's comically large bust is a sticking point for many, but it's turned into an honest to God charm point for the character. Multiple fans have [[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/cnxfqs/byleth_living_the_dream/ poked fun]] at the idea of playing as a character with one of the largest busts in the game, with various [[https://twitter.com/chickenbabby/status/1156040331600596993 fan comics]] and discussions centered around the unconventional absurdity of it.
425** Female Byleth's outfit, both the normal one and the Enlightened One regalia. Many people still hate both, especially the lace tights and midriff-baring, but a larger-than-expected contingent of fans love both costumes unironically. It helps that the base outfit has a lot more personality — with fans appreciating its goth/punk aesthetic with the added feminine trimming in the pink tassel — as opposed to Male Byleth's rather generic clothes.
426** Lysithea and Cyril's A+ support mostly consists of Lysithea reading a letter from Cyril full of spelling and grammar errors. It's still a big achievement for Cyril, who starts their supports illiterate, and Lysithea is delighted by it. The player may still find themselves feeling "bappy" after reading it.
427** One of the most common animations is the "Excited" one in which characters lean forward with their arms bent up and shaking. While perfectly in-character for characters like Flayn, even the more serious characters like Seteth and Hanneman will do it, too. And at the same time, it comes off as quite endearing — showing just how much they respect you. Even more, the characters won't do this until after you've spent several sessions tutoring them in private.
428** "Those who slither in the dark" is possibly the [[OverlyLongName longest]] and most [[ObviouslyEvil ridiculously overblown]] faction name ever, but given [[GreaterScopeVillain who they are]] and the nature of [[KillAndReplace their tactics]], it ''really fits''. ''Especially'' when [[spoiler:it's ''Hubert'' who introduces you to them on the Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower route]].
429** The MoodWhiplash that is Dimitri during the White Heron Cup. [[spoiler:He's still seething from the massacre at Remire Village, and sounds '''very''' bloodthirsty and vengeful.]] Then, seemingly goes back to his normal self by begging not be chosen for a dance competition, and gets very annoyed when he is. Chris Hackney somehow smoothes through the mood change like it's nothing, and makes it work.
430** "Black Eagle Strike Force" is not a very threatening nor creative name, but it helps to highlight how despite [[spoiler:waging war on the entire continent]], Edelgard is still a massive [[{{Adorkable}} dork]] who really values her friends to the point of naming their part of the army after their class name. It's equally adorable when she says that she was up all night coming up with it.
431* NeverLiveItDown:
432** Leonie and Cyril have a lot of traits that make them unique and have some well-developed supports with other characters. Unfortunately, because of Leonie's admittedly disliked support with Byleth and Cyril's aloof personality, they've been exaggerated by the fans to be utterly obsessed with Jeralt and Rhea respectively, basically ignoring any other traits or supports they have. Making things worse in Leonie's case is that her A-support with Byleth gives a JerkassRealization and a genuine apology, but true to this trope, [[AccentuateTheNegative the fandom doesn't really acknowledge it]] because of how bad her first impression was to many (fans of hers argue that her B-support being locked until after [[spoiler:Jeralt's death]] was the writers ''really'' screwing her over). Cyril has it even worse, considering his relative popularity compared to Leonie as he lacks the same amount of focus Leonie gets until late enough where people will have no reason to use him. In his case, it doesn't help that players who choose the Black Eagles will have less opportunity to see his better traits, as depending on your choice in Chapter 11 he's either [[spoiler:unrecruitable and an enemy who will stand with Rhea even at her worst]] or [[spoiler:joins with no fanfare in Chapter 12, giving the player little opportunity to use or build supports with him.]]
433** Similarly, Dedue gets a lot of flak due to supposedly being obsessed with Dimitri, to the point where some fics try to "fix" him by heavily downplaying his relationship with Dimitri or separating them altogether. To be fair, he does have a couple support conversations and several monastery dialogues that focus on Dimitri... However, he also has several support chains that either barely mention Dimitri or ''don't mention him at all'', and his S-support with a female Byleth has him outright leave Dimitri's service to focus on his marriage to her. It's also made clear that the reason Dedue is so loyal to Dimitri in the first place is because he was one of the few people who [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe treated him kindly despite his Duscur heritage]].
434** Leonie also gets criticized for her rather harsh treatment of Marianne at the end of their C support, although Leonie later apologizes and generally isn't this abrasive.
435** Some people can't get over Alois and Gilbert due to how their S-support ranks are [[BaitAndSwitchLesbians misleading]] and blaming them for the game's dual-male options. Even though they are well-rounded characters and their supports with Byleth still are sweet even if they aren't romantic, since they offer Byleth their UndyingLoyalty regardless of gender, they still get harsh treatment from some fans.
436** Rhea's infamous lap pillow scene with Byleth at the end of Chapter 10 due to its framing, atmosphere, execution, and creepy implications, has had many fans painting her as a MemeticMolester, also not helped by the fact that [[spoiler:romancing her is also possibly romancing your grandma who is also your daughter.]]
437** Ingrid gets a lot of criticism for her xenophobia towards the people of Duscur, despite the fact that it only comes up in-game during her supports with Dedue, plus one monastery conversation, both of which are exclusive to Azure Moon (as that monastery conversation is replaced in the other routes by her praising the bountiful resources of Garreg Mach) — meaning that if you play any other route first and recruit her, it's still possible to miss it entirely. Additionally, those same supports see her coming to regret her hostility towards him and apologizing to Dedue for her behavior. It's made clear that Ingrid never had all of the information regarding the Tragedy of Duscur, she was younger and more impressionable when it happened, and it's only because her fiancé Glenn Fraldarius died in the Tragedy that she's facing constant pressure from her father to accept an arranged marriage that will support the Galatea family financially — but none of this matters to the fans who write her off derisively as a xenophobe. Ironically, [[OlderThanTheyThink this wasn't the first time that Intelligent Systems wrote a character that dealt with being a bigot]]; they previously did it with [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Jill]], and she got over it enough to become a fan favorite, but she never (or at least just rarely) had a NeverLiveItDown phenomenon, unlike Ingrid.
438** For similar reasons, quite a number of people refuse to let go of Hilda's comments about Almyra, for almost the same reasons as Ingrid. Not only does Hilda not know much about Almyra, but her only experience with them is them attacking for seemingly no reason, to the point that historically her family has had to bare the responsiblity of defending the land from those attacks. Even though Hilda comes to at least understand Almyra better, and her brother even befriends Nader with her having no issue with it, she often gets labeled a bigot/racist, when in truth it's more complicated than that and she does move past it.
439** Sylvain’s [[ChivalrousPervert playboy antics]]. While it’s not particularly difficult to view him as a shallow philanderer due to the fact that it’s his most prominent character trait, he’s also another character that falls in line with there being more to him than that meets the eye. Looking deeper into his supports and his actions over the course of the game would reveal that [[spoiler:his laid-back behavior is merely a front he puts on to mask his insecurities and to keep others from having high expectations of him. Not only is he shown to be [[HiddenDepths one of the most intelligent and reflective characters]] in the story,]] he is also far more dark than he initially lets on.
440* NoYay: For some fans, the notion of a romance between Byleth and Rhea becomes this after [[spoiler:it's revealed that Rhea was responsible for creating Byleth's mother, as well as the fact that for the first half of the game, Rhea believed Byleth could "become" Sothis through her implanted Crest Stone. They liken it to if a woman were to [[IncestSubtext marry her own grandchild]], who also [[MindScrew happens to be her mother]]. The game does address a bit of this in their S-support where Rhea clarifies her romantic feelings developed toward Byleth's own identity, rather than anything to do with Sothis. The ambiguity of specifically how Byleth's mother was made and what she was in relation to Rhea remains, though.]]
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder:O]]
444* OlderThanTheyThink:
445** [[https://twitter.com/_Jamalex/status/1006589825275723776 There was some surprise]] at the fact that the characters of ''Three Houses'' have surnames. While it ''is'' true that last names are a rarity in ''Fire Emblem'', this game is far from the first to feature them, with the short list including [[spoiler:Albein]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Alm]] [[spoiler:Rudolf II]], [[spoiler:Anthiese Lima]] (aka [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Celica]]), [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Seliph Baldos Chalphy, Leif Faris Claus]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade the Reed family (Brendan and sons Lloyd & Linus)]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Elincia Ridell Crimea, Jill Fizzart (and her father Shiharam), and Sanaki Kirsch Altina]]. Even [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Marth]] had the family name "Lowell" in [[DubNameChange the dub]] of the OVA from [[TheNineties 1996]], though that isn't canon to the Japanese version, let alone the games' continuity.
446** Having Byleth have two potential paired platonic endings isn't that new in ''Fire Emblem''. There have been several endings that are unambiguously nonromantic in previous ''Fire Emblem'' games, most notably Dozla and L'Arachel, where Dozla was happy at L'Arachel being married. While it is a first for a paired ending of an S support to be nonromantic in the original text, there were a few paired endings from the localized versions of ''Awakening'' and ''Fates'' that show no outward implications of romance (specifically, any potential KissingCousins couple having more of an ambiguous ending, and Soleil being changed to only have two possible romantic endings).
447* OneTrueThreesome:
448** Dimitri/Byleth/Claude started to become this as several fanworks with the FandomSpecificPlot of a fusion between the Verdant Wind and Azure Moon route grows common and have Byleth shipped with both Dimitri and Claude in the end.
449** The Japanese fanbase has taken to [[MemeticMutation memetically]] shipping Ferdinand/Sylvain/Lorenz together and dubbing the trio “The Three Nobles”.
450** For the Black Eagles crowd, solving the Hubert/Ferdinand and Hubert/Edelgard issue is to ship all three together.
451** One semi-common solution to the divide between Dorothea/Petra and Ferdinand/Dorothea has been to ship Dorothea/Ferdinand/Petra.
452** Owing to the fact they were childhood friends as well as meme that the Blue Lions house had an "Otome" cast, Ingrid having a harem of Sylvain/Felix/Dimitri has memetic and serious support.
453** Another variation of "The Three Nobles" has appeared in the form of Ferdinand/Constance/Lorenz, helped by the fact that Constance is revealed to be Ferdinand’s childhood friend and a noblewoman archetype akin to Ferdinand and Lorenz’s noblemen characterization. It’s even further evolved into being a quartet, featuring Sylvain along with them.
454** Byleth/Rhea/Edelgard has some fans, albeit as a CrackPairing due to [[spoiler:Rhea being Edelgard's enemy, and the feeling becoming mutual after the raid on the Holy Tomb. Although some groups they suggest that Edelgard's and Rhea's love for Byleth helps put aside their differences.]]
455[[/folder]]
456
457[[folder:P]]
458* PlayerPunch:
459** Remember in ''Radiant Dawn'', where the two protagonists (Ike and Micaiah) fought alongside their friends? There were no consequences there for defeating the opponent. Instead, ''Three Houses'' goes the ''Fates'' route. During the MeleeATrois chapter, along with many others, you can actually ''kill'' some of the former students. Not knock out, force to retreat, or wound. ''Kill.'' To make it worse, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude will have words to say where they mourn their fallen comrades.
460*** Worse still, some characters (namely, [[spoiler:Ferdinand on Verdant Wind, Lorenz on Silver Snow, both on Azure Moon, and Felix, Ingrid, Mercedes, and Sylvain on Crimson Flower]]), are ''mandatory''. The game will even throw salt in the wounds if you go and [[spoiler:talk to recruited characters like Dorothea, who will be mourning their death]].
461** In general, encountering characters you did not recruit after the TimeSkip. More often than not, you're forced to kill them, and most of them are genuinely decent people. It hurts even more if you actively ''tried'' to recruit them and failed to do so.
462** As an extension of the above, having to kill, or at least being unable to prevent the deaths of, [[spoiler:the Lord characters whose House you did not choose]], ''especially'' if you've [[spoiler:done their route before]]. The only exception is [[spoiler:Claude]] in certain routes.
463* PortmanteauCoupleName: [[note]]These for the most part only cover the ship names for the western community. Due to the different pronunciations of the name in Japanese, the ship names may read differently as demonstrated by Shiruferi being a different ship name for Sylvain/Felix. Members of the Japanese community however do at times use the western ship names in tags.[[/note]]
464** "Claudeth", "Claudeleth", or "Bylaude" for Claude/Byleth.
465** "Dimileth" for Dimitri/Byleth.
466** "Edeleth" for Edelgard/Byleth.
467** “Dimigard” for [[FoeYayShipping Dimitri/Edelgard]].
468** "Sylvix" and, less commonly, "Sylvelix" are both used for Sylvain/Felix. In the Japanese fanbase, the ship is called ”シルフェリ“ or "Shiruferi" due to how their names are pronounced in Japanese.
469** "Setleth" for Byleth/Seteth. Notable for being only one letter off from one of their names.
470** “Rhealeth” for Byleth/Rhea.
471** "Yurileth", for Byleth/Yuri.
472** "Dimilix" for Dimitri/Felix.
473** "Marileth" for Marianne/Byleth.
474** "Dimivain" for Dimitri/Sylvain.
475** "Felileth" for Felix/Byleth. [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Noticing a pattern here?]]
476** "Dimidue" for Dimitri/Dedue.
477** "Casphardt" or "Linspar" for Caspar/Linhardt.
478** "Doropetra" or "Petrathea" for Dorothea/Petra.
479** "Petrashe" for Petra/Ashe.
480** "Ferdibert" or "Aegestra" for Ferdinand/Hubert.
481** “Ferdithea” for Ferdinand/Dorothea.
482** "Yuridetta" for Yuri/Bernadetta.
483** "Felannie" or "Netteflix" for Felix/Annette. The latter is a {{pun}} on Netflix.
484** "Cysithea" for Cyril/Lysithea.
485** “Flaynatz” for Flayn/Ignatz.
486** "Hildamari" or "Marihilda" for Hilda/Marianne.
487** "Dorogrid" for Dorothea/Ingrid.
488** "Hapistance" for Hapi/Constance. Doubles as a PunnyName on "happenstance".
489** "Sylcedes" for Sylvain/Mercedes.
490** "Hilclaude" for Claude/Hilda.
491* PreemptiveShipping:
492** Leonie was often shipped with Byleth before the game released, as she was a former student of their father who greatly idolises him. Many abandoned the pairing when the game released due to their B Support, where Leonie chews out Byleth for not idolising Jeralt as much as she does, which, to add insult to injury, is first unlocked [[spoiler:right after Jeralt dies]].
493** Before it was known they were MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers, some fans shipped Edelgard with Dimitri. While shippers of the pairing still ''exist'', it's rendered awkward by several factors in the final game: [[spoiler:they're step-siblings, Dimitri declares vengeance on her and ''goes insane'' after mistaking her for the one who killed his family, their two routes are completely opposed to one another and it's made clear they will ''never'' see eye to eye, and there's no route where they both survive]]. Those who ship it now tend to do so ironically.
494[[/folder]]
495
496[[folder:R]]
497* RelationshipWritingFumble: The game treats any time Byleth and any students not recruited on a route meet and fight as a tragic FightingYourFriend moment, which works in some cases if you spent time supporting with them before the timeskip but never recruited them, but in most cases it comes across as rather undeserved since, thanks to the recruitment system, the odds you'll have to fight a character are inversely proportional to how invested you are in them. In fact, some students may never have even interacted with Byleth pre-timeskip, yet claim they are conflicted and have trouble justifying doing so. For example, Ashe if not recruited will claim he is having trouble aiming at Byleth on a Crimson Flower route, even though he can potentially have not once spoken to them and has every reason to not feel conflicted. This is rather jarring for Edelgard as well, who ''always'' acts this way towards Byleth on every route except her own, while potentially interacting with Byleth only during mandatory moments. The only route that this is justified on is the [[spoiler:Silver Snow route because of the branching paths that lead to that moment]], but on every other route, it can come across as strange.
498* RonTheDeathEater:
499** Both [[spoiler:Dimitri and Edelgard]] experience this from the more extreme detractors of their respective routes due to their insistence on who may have been more "in the right". [[spoiler:Rhea and the Church]] also don't escape from this due to some fans of the Crimson Flower route adopting a black and white view on [[spoiler:their actions]] and refusing to see them as more than just antagonists. Only [[spoiler:Claude]] seems to avoid this treatment, with the most criticism of his character usually boiling down to claims that his story is "boring" compared to the conflict between the other two lords.
500** Even outside of the Crimson Flower fans, Rhea is often portrayed as supporting many negative aspects of the social order that she only begrudgingly tolerates in canon. For instance, it's made fairly clear that she doesn't ascribe to the local brand of xenophobia, nor does she support it, but many Verdant Wind fans treat her as being the root cause of it based off of an assumption made by Claude that he himself later acknowledges is inaccurate.
501** Dorothea has attracted a small but vocal set of detractors who paint her snappishness towards certain noblemen as wholly negative and unjustified and take issue with her goals as a GoldDigger, despite coming from a history of abuse by noblemen[[note]]She herself is the bastard child of a nobleman abandoned for not being born with a Crest.[[/note]] and facing the very real threat of homelessness and starvation if she cannot find someone to support her. She is sometimes painted as heartless and manipulative, despite her earnestness towards characters like Byleth and Bernadetta.
502** Rodrigue is often made out to be an abusive and unloving father towards Glenn and Felix who was ''happy'' the former was killed even though he was at worst an [[ParentsAsPeople imperfect but well-meaning father]] who made an InnocentlyInsensitive comment after his older son's death that was moreso praising ''how'' he died rather than ''that'' he died. He also gets accused of emotionally abandoning Felix after Glenn's death, which ignores that Felix himself was clearly the one who pushed away Rodrigue instead of the other way around.
503** While he was responsible for Byleth growing up as a mercenary, an extremely dangerous and unstable profession, some detractors take things a step further and decry Jeralt as an abusively neglectful drunkard, irresponsibly placing his own concerns ahead of Byleth's needs. They also deem him responsible for Byleth's extreme stoicism lingering into adulthood due to keeping them from forging positive social interactions with other people, and even accuse him of being privately repulsed by Byleth for being "weird" due to them never showing emotion. Jeralt is far from a perfect man, but ''everything'' he did for the last twenty years leading up to the game's beginning was out of concern for Byleth's welfare, and the one thing everyone in-universe is sure of about with regards to him is that he loved Byleth dearly. [[spoiler:Additionally, while Jeralt himself begins to wonder if living at Garreg Mach would have been better for Byleth, their lack of emotion was supernaturally induced due to the nature of their birth, and there's no guarantee making friends at a younger age would have been enough to dispell it alone.]]
504* RootingForTheEmpire: For those who agree with Edelgard's ideals and/or dislike [[spoiler:the Church of Seiros]] for their immoral actions, this trope is actually possible if one chooses the Crimson Flower route, where, as a change of pace from the series' normal conventions, [[spoiler:you get to actually ''side'' with the Empire who serves as a major if not the primary antagonist of all the other routes and wage war against the rest of the continent in all its glory]]; ironically, unlike what the trope could suggest, [[spoiler:siding with the Empire this time isn't actually siding with evil; besides the "alliance" with the Agarthans]].
505[[/folder]]
506
507[[folder:S]]
508* SalvagedStory:
509** Jeritza [[spoiler:a.k.a the Death Knight]] was initially a polarizing character, with fans being divided on [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter whether he got enough screentime]] and his actions [[spoiler:as the Death Knight being contradictory to Mercedes' insistence that he's still the sweet boy she remembers]]. The third wave of DLC not only makes him playable in [[spoiler:Crimson Flower]] (instead of having him vanish from the plot), but it also finally explains his FreudianExcuse and justifies his contradictory actions by revealing [[spoiler:that Jeritza and the Death Knight are literally different personalities, which explains why one wants to kill Mercedes and the other wants to protect her. It also helps differentiate him from [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance the Black Knight]], who he was previously accused of being a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for]].
510** For those that criticized the Azure Moon route for [[spoiler:[[WhatHappenedToTheMouse not addressing the fates of the remaining "those who slither in the dark" affiliates]] in the endings for the Blue Lions]], Dimitri was given a support with Hapi that goes into detail about his past and an ending with her that addresses and alludes to dealing with them, which somewhat ties up loose ends in that aspect. Hapi's solo ending also provides a bit of closure regarding them regardless of route.
511** The base game {{Gay Option}}s received some criticism on both the laziness and ButNotTooGay fronts for omitting Byleth from the S-support [=CGs=]. Meanwhile, the CG art for the two post-release {{Gay Option}}s, Jeritza and Yuri, show Byleth clearly visible for either gender. In addition, Jeritza and Yuri are both male, helping to even off the significant imbalance in which Male Byleth only had one GayOption to Female Byleth's five.
512* ScrappyMechanic:
513** Recruiting students from the other houses is relatively well-liked, but many people find fulfilling the students' requirements to be frustrating. To do so, your Byleth needs to have a high enough proficiency and stat that the student asks for, and their support rank will help too. Unfortunately, [[GuideDangIt the game doesn't tell you the exact stat or proficiency level you need]], and some proficiencies are difficult for Byleth to obtain. Ferdinand particularly suffers from this, as he requires a C in Armor and has his support with Byleth cap at C+ on Part 1, preventing the player from poaching him for free and instead forcing Byleth to invest in a skill rank that gives no interesting benefit and whose instructors, Alois and Gilbert, aren't always around.
514** Supports in this game face a few issues:
515*** The first is that you can't guarantee paired endings, since characters will pair up with whoever they have gained the most support points with among their A-ranks. [[GuideDangIt The game doesn't tell you any of this]], of course, so it either takes trial and error to get the paired endings you want, or you simply have to not achieve A-ranks but miss out on conversations. This is alleviated somewhat with the last wave of DLC adding the Wayseer, who lets you guarantee paired endings, but if you're either unwilling or unable to fork out the princely sum of 10,000 renown points each, you're stuck with the above two options.
516*** The second is the matter of the S-ranks, which only Byleth can achieve. You can choose Byleth's S-rank partner only before the final maps of each route, meaning that to max them out for completion's sake, you have to go through all of those final maps over and over and over. Making this worse is that Crimson Flower and Azure Moon both have two-part maps.
517*** Finally, the last point of contention is that some support levels in particular routes ''cannot'' [[PermanentlyMissableContent be raised past a certain point in the story]], and the only way the game lets you know is [[GuideDangIt telling you after the fact that you missed your chance]]. Since the game ''also'' rewards you for seeing support conversations by [[LevelUpFillUp refilling a unit's motivation gauge after a support]], the player is incentivized not to necessarily listen to every support ASAP, leading to a potential nasty surprise.
518** Some Paralogues are tied to multiple characters — and sometimes, they aren't even in the same house (or recruited to your party yet in the case of the Knights of Seiros). This is no problem in part one; if one character is part of your house, the second will [[GuestStarPartyMember join you temporarily]]. In part two, ''both'' need to be in the party, and they often have [[GuideDangIt no obvious connection]] (Caspar and Mercedes? Lysithea and Ferdinand? Linhardt and Leonie?). Some paralogues are also route locked as well; Annette and Gilbert is exclusive to the Azure Moon route meaning Annette will only ever get to use Crusher on that route, while Caspar/Mercedes and Ferdinand/Lysithea are unavailable on Crimson Flower due to [[spoiler:the Death Knight being your ally]] and [[spoiler:Arundel having less power in the Empire and Ferdinand keeping his title and lands in that route]] respectively.
519** Hosting Tea Parties is rather obnoxious. You are made to pick topics of discussion from a list of three and try to figure out which topic is of most interest to your guest. Sometimes what not to pick is obvious (Edelgard probably won't be that interested in a discussion about the benefits of crests for instance), but sometimes the topics are vague enough that it's a crapshoot. Additionally, some topics you think a character will like is shown to be a negative (for example, Claude likes animals but [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial he doesn't want to talk about cats to hide the fact he likes them]]). And if you manage to get all the topic choices correct, your guest will make a comment and you have to pick a reply they approve of. The answers you have are even more vague (with one instance being a choice between "commend", "nod", and "praise") and sometimes how they relate to what the person said is utterly cryptic, leading to them being [[https://twitter.com/hamesatron/status/1352756618107047936?s=19 mocked]]. And if you don't do well enough, you don't get the charm boost, making the tea time partially wasted effort. Luckily, a DLC sidequest made it so you get one redo if you pick a wrong option per tea time, but it still feels a bit too random.
520** The class and skill system in general is a fair bit more obnoxious than it needs to be. The only place one can actually look up the skill level requirements for class exam qualifications is the class exam screen on Saturdays, notably excluding the lecture screen on Sundays where a player can actually adjust the goals a character is studying to meet. Since weapon usage is entirely a function of skills rather than class, what classes actually do outside of is a bit ambiguous (affect stat and skill growths while offering some abilities for the record), and the game doesn't actually tell you what a class's abilities will be until you've qualified or what its mastery abilities will be until you've mastered the class. Oh, and only arbitrary "magic using" classes can make use of a unit's magical skills, no matter how good they are at them, meaning units trying to train their magic from a weapon using class are SOL, while raising skills like Armor, Riding, and Flying that aren't tied to weapons at all is incredibly difficult and tedious for everyone who doesn't start in them or with them, ''especially'' the protagonist who doesn't get easy access to them or to any classes that use them, but still needs them to recruit some characters.
521** Actually improving skills via lecture is randomized like stat growths, with free support points, bonus XP, and potentially a free extra time unit for rolling well, meaning every improvement is a LuckBasedMission. And improving the protagonist's skills (outside of actually using a weapon) is a huge pain in the butt that's also mutually exclusive with earning professor XP, the single most important resource in the game since it dictates how many actions the player can take in the non-combat planning sections, while also being desperately important so the player can qualify for various classes or recruit new students before the timeskip.
522** Gender restricted classes. Several classes are randomly given gender restrictions, hurting any viability of certain characters for reasons solely based on their gender. For example; Hubert and Linhardt are unable to become Gremory's, meaning they can't keep up with other mages who can, while said other mages are just not able to become Dark Mages due to it being a male locked class. Classes like Brawler, Grappler, and the Pegasus class are ones that many units of either gender would benefit from, and are just prevented from doing so. It doesn't help that the DLC would then add two more classes locked to one gender (both magical classes), meaning that certain units just are unable to use their skills to their fullest because of it.
523** Teammates join at a level parity with the current point in the story, with a handful of predetermined skills pre-trained up to a similar set level. Most of them at least start with proficiency in the skills their starting classes use most, but several of them have downright bizarre secondary skill choices that do a poor job of preparing them for other classes, like Catherine having a high Grapple skill despite not qualifying for any of the classes that use it. This can permanently hobble many of them if they're recruited too late, and ''does'' demonstrably hobble the handful that are ''only'' recruited past a certain point on specific story arcs, like Cyril on Silver Snow.
524** Master classes have several issues:
525*** They have limited variety--there are only nine compared to twelve advanced classes. Worse, most of them require a proficiency that the logical preceding advanced class has no use for, meaning you have to deliberately train at a proficiency that will be mostly useless until the certification. This is most obvious with the numerous mounted master classes, which require Fortress Knights, Snipers, Warlocks, and Bishops to suddenly learn how to ride and use spears.
526*** What makes the variety issue even more annoying is that three of the nine classes--in other words, a third of the master classes--are gender-locked: the War Master for men and Falcon Knight + Gremory for women. Gender-locked classes really stand out in a game that went out of its way to give many same-gender S-supports for Byleth. As a result, the only master class with brawling support is male-exclusive.
527*** [[FromBadToWorse Compounding with the lack of variety still further]] is that several master classes just aren't worth it due to terrible growths, bad skills or bad synergy with the units who are expected to get them. Mortal Savant is the only master class specializing in swords, and it's a MagicKnight with requirements to match on top of a negative speed growth. The advanced sword classes, Swordmaster and Assassin, are very speed-heavy classes, so their only master class progression kneecaps one of their specialties, and this is not helped by the vast majority of units with a proficiency in sword having lackluster magic and spell lists (Felix is a notorious example, as he gets little the class despite potentially unlocking a study plan for it), causing most players to just avoid it altogether and leave their sword units in advanced classes. Great Knights are slow, have steep requirements (all but prohibiting Dedue passing exams for it due to his riding bane and [[spoiler:missing three chapters on Azure Moon]]), inferior move to paladin and units who could get the class without much trouble like Sylvain and Ferdinand have options that synergize better with their kits (such as Paladin for Lancefaire-boosted [[ActionInitiative Swift Strikes]]). Finally, Holy Knight is a class that's supposed to be an upgrade from Bishop, but lacks its restorative power and focuses on offensive white magic, which is both rare and lacking in firepower, making the class a downgrade instead.
528** The fact that dialogue choices can provide support points, which you miss if you skip the scene. This indirectly means the game punishes you, even if just a little, for skipping dialogue in a game that has a ''lot'' of dialogue, which can make replays particularly annoying, especially if the player wants to S-Rank [[spoiler:Sothis]] at the end of the game, as it is the ''only way'' to earn support points with the character. The New Game+ mechanic mitigates this by allowing you to buy back attained support levels with an in-game currency, but there are more pressing in-battle advantages you may want to spend those points on instead.
529** The Side Story campaign of the Cindered Shadows DLC places pretty strict restrictions on character classes. Characters can level up and reclass, but can only reclass into the classes that were unlocked for them at the start of the campaign, and cannot increase their weapon skill levels in any way. All well and good for the Ashen Wolves themselves, as the campaign is more or less designed to show off the skills of their new classes, but it becomes very troubling if one has already become familiar with using the normal Garreg Mach students. Have you gotten used to using unorthodox skill sets like an Edelgard who uses Reason or a Lance wielding Ashe? Tough luck.
530** From an aesthetic standpoint, the inability to let the characters wear their cutscene outfits as mounted classes. While this is likely to avoid the character model clipping into the mounts (such as the case with characters wearing dresses), many of the students' default classes are mounted in the first place, yet are relegated to generic class outfits if changing into ''another'' mounted class. For example, Sylvain wears his default outfit as a Cavalier or Paladin, but loses it if he class changes into a Wyvern Lord or a Dark Knight.
531* SelfImposedChallenge: If you can think of it, you can try it, and the nature of the game means that almost all of them are viable with effort. Using only characters of one sex in battle except where requried by the plot, ''not'' using cavalry or flying classes, forcing characters down class paths they're ill suited for (a Fortress Knight Lysithea or Gremory Petra for example), using only Byleth in battle, ''not'' using Byleth at all in battle... The options are endless.
532* ShipMates:
533** If someone ships Hubert/Ferdinand or Dorothea/Petra, they usually ship the other as well since it nixes Ferdinand/Dorothea in the bud. Meanwhile, Dorothea/Ferdinand shippers tend to ally with Hubert/Edelgard, Hubert/Petra, and Hubert/Bernadetta shippers in opposition.
534** Dorothea/Ferdinand shippers (usually but not always those who recruit them out of house) also tend to ship either Sylvain/Felix or Sylvain/Mercedes and Felix/Annette, given that those two Blue Lions guys are sometimes popular choices for Dorothea as well, and Mercedes being a support option for Ferdinand helps bridge the gap. Dorothea/Ferdinand shippers are also often Edelgard/Hubert shippers, as mentioned above, with each enjoying a BetaCouple dynamic in each other's works, so focuses on Edelgard and Hubert getting together will tend to have Dorothea and Ferdinand doing so too in the background and vice versa. The reason for them being shipmates too also has to do with them going against the mega-popular Fem Byleth/Edelgard and Ferdinand/Hubert ships, who themselves are also shipmates. A lack of bad blood also exists with [[TakeAThirdOption Ferdinand/Edelgard and Dorothea/Hubert]] shippers with Edelbert and Ferdithea fans, as the former is both too small to be a threat but also gives the latter a spin on the same characters in a dynamic they find interesting. Finally, there's also once again the reason for the four pairings fans to unite against their more popular Ferdibert and Edeleth rivals.
535** Sylvain/Mercedes and Felix/Annette shippers usually go hand-in-hand. If a [[PortmanteauCoupleName Netteflix]] shipper prefers Sylvain/Ingrid instead, they'll usually pass Mercedes to Dimitri, Dedue or Ashe from her own house or set her up with Ferdinand, provided he isn't busy with Dorothea. Interestingly, many of these shippers tend to also support Edelgard/Hubert and usually recruit these characters (excluding the route-exclusice Dedue and Dimitri, of course) to the Black Eagles to enjoy them all at once. They may also be Caspar/Hilda fans, but have to contend with Hilda not being able to go to the Black Eagles. Regardless, these ships tend to be united by being underdogs to their more popular counterparts that are same sex or involve Byleth.
536** If Dorothea is paired with Felix, then it usually follows that Ferdinand and Sylvain are keeping Mercedes and Annette busy respectively as those two girls are popular for shipping Felix with, female Byleth aside. ([[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Though neither Sylvain nor Ferdinand can be romantically paired with Annette in-game]]).
537* ShipsThatPassInTheNight:
538** Some fans have taken to shipping Dimitri with Hilda. Neither of them can have a support conversation in-game, but this was originally fueled by the FandomSpecificPlot of a fusion of the Verdant Wind and Azure Moon routes [[spoiler:which usually has Dimitri saved either by Claude or Hilda herself]], and the fans went from there. It also has to do with Hilda being unable to join the Black Eagles unless [[spoiler:the player chooses not to side with Edelgard in the Holy Tomb]], which led to the conclusion of her being the only one who hates Edelgard more than Dimitri.
539** There are also several of these with the supporting cast who have never interacted with each other but the fandom thinks they would be a great match if they had. For example, some think Sylvain/Claude despite never interacting would be a good pair due to their similar laidback personalities [[spoiler:[[SadClown or at least the personality Sylvain puts on]]]].
540** A lot of fans are disappointed that Sylvain doesn't even ''support'' with Petra, who would have provided an interesting contrast as a princess forced to be a hostage with the cynical, handsome Sylvain.
541** Sylvain/Bernadetta has gained some traction as it is a genuinely sweet support chain that ends disappointingly at the B-support. It's one of the few supports featuring Sylvain where his womanizing never makes an appearance, as he genuinely appreciates Bernadetta's writing and simply wants to read more.
542** [[RuleOfThree Sylvain/Marianne]] is often lamented as wasted potential as they have a very cute B-support with Sylvain treating Marianne very gently and teaching her how to smile and Marianne opening up a bit to Sylvain, and both of them had their lives ruined by Crests, but they never discuss this and they can't even A-support.
543** Yuri/Ashe has gained some traction (despite the fact that the two cannot support) thanks to Ashe recognizing Yuri in the Ashen Wolves route as Count Rowe's ward and urging him to return home, while Yuri states if he faces Ashe in battle that he really doesn't want to kill him. Fans also like contrasting Yuri's cynicism with Ashe's idealistic personality.
544** Edelgard/Ingrid has a small level of traction (despite the fact that not only can the two not support, but Ingrid makes it clear to Dorothea that [[IncompatibleOrientation she's not interested in women]]). Has become somewhat abandoned as people (reluctantly or otherwise) accept Ingrid's sexuality and the fact that even if she does switch houses, she only ever says she does so because of Professor Byleth. It's notable as well that Ingrid is far more likely to fulfill her dreams by remaining in the Blue Lions; if she leaves her house, she rarely if ever becomes a Knight.
545** Hapi/Sylvain or Hapivain have a lot of dedicated fans with accompanying fan art and fanfiction despite the fact that the two don't have supports with each other and never interact in canon. Though, it helps that Hapi does fit in with the Blue Lions both in terms of story and gameplay.
546* SpecialEffectFailure:
547** Many conversations, including almost every support conversation, feature the characters' 3D models standing in front of a 2D panoramic backdrop. Unlike some other games that use similar techniques, such as ''VideoGame/Persona5'', it's far more obvious. This is mostly due to the camerawork in these scenes; as the camera moves around a lot and often leaves the ground in clear view, [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EBj7FpzU8AAaLsl?format=jpg&name=large it's very easy to spot where the 2D image bends]]. Another dead giveaway is that any flames in these backgrounds remain completely static.
548** Byleth's C-support with Alois has him and Byleth having a conversation and as they are supposed to be fishing, their arms aren't even touching the fishing rods, and the textbox does a poor attempt to cover their hands. The fishing rods are just awkwardly floating in the air.
549** Every time you use a gambit that involves the battalion charging at your enemy, no matter what the gender makeup of your battalion is, the sound used is that of an obviously-masculine group shouting as they charge… even if you're using ''[[AmazonBrigade pegasus knights]]''. Oops.
550** The clouds under the red canyon always face the same direction relative to you. If you change the camera angle, they'll immediately rotate in place to follow the camera.
551** Anytime Manuela raises her arms [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manuelasupport.png it shows a black void in her sleeves]], making it look like her arms are hollow.
552** Lysithea's sleeves often clip through the table or her model when she's invited to tea time after the TimeSkip.
553** As part of the DLC and Free Updates, Rhea was made an option for Tea Times. However, it is clear her model was not designed for this, as whenever she does anything like rest on the table or drink tea, her clothing cuts through her arm.
554** Cloud textures overall look bizarrely blocky despite much better textures having existed for years at this point. In battles, the sun often looks very orange as if it's supposed to be rising or setting even though the rest of the sky indicates something like midday.
555** If inspected closely, the fruit baskets in the Monastery look like they have [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/561917840756834327/1064972845702184980/image0.jpg cardboard objects plastered with low-quality textures of apples and oranges]]. What makes it stranger is that the fruits outside of the baskets are fully modelled, albeit very blocky for Nintendo Switch standards.
556* SpiritualSuccessor:
557** Many comparisons have been made between the game's main plotline and ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Both involve [[spoiler:a member of the world's ruling power (Lelouch and Edelgard) suffering a horrific tragedy due to said ruling power's innate corruption and despotism, leading them to become utterly obsessed with exterminating the world power by the roots and replacing it with a more peaceful power. They are willing to go to whatever lengths is necessary in order to achieve their goals, and one major arc in both stories even involves them assuming a masked alter-ego who infiltrates a resistance movement against the corrupt power and quickly becomes its leader. Their main opponent (Suzaku and Dimitri) is an initial WideEyedIdealist who gradually becomes more cynical as the plot progresses and who serves as a loyal enforcer of the world power. While this second individual recognizes the corruption within the world power and seeks to change it from within, he vehemently opposes the rebel leader's methods due to how ruthless and destructive they are. Eventually, they're forced to face their [[WeUsedToBeFriends former friends]] in battle. ''Several times'']]. Not to mention the [[spoiler:[[InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha giant mechs]] that you have to defeat at the end of some routes, as well as some cities essentially being completely obliterated in some routes as well. There's also the fact that a semi-neutral party consisting of a mystical green-haired girl (C.C. and Sothis) that are capable of passing down their power]].
558** Fans of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' have described this game as a better take on the game than any of its actual licensed games due to the very similar settings featuring rival houses and complex worldbuilding, as well as the plot featuring similar themes regarding FantasticRacism and discrimination over the differential inheritance of magic-related abilities.
559** With the game's Calendar system, mixing day-to-day activities with a dramatic fantasy plot, school setting, and emphasis on RelationshipValues, at least, in the first half, it has has drawn a lot of comparisons to modern ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games.
560* SpoiledByTheFormat:
561** The narrated chapter titles all have "Part I" or "Part II" included in them, depending on how far you are into the story. Obviously, any chapter still beginning with "Part I: White Clouds" is nowhere close to the end of the game.
562** Byleth is only allowed to choose a character to S-rank at a specific point of the story, during the final exploration month. On certain routes ([[spoiler:Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, which seemingly conclude with the siege of Enbarr and the assault on Shambhala before the final battles]]), ''not'' being able to do this when the plot seems to be about to wrap up gives away the fact that the bad guy you're about to fight isn't the FinalBoss, and there's still another chapter left.
563* {{Squick}}:
564** Once you find out what the Heroes' Relics are, you'll realize how disgusting they actually are: [[spoiler:They are weapons forged from the remains of murdered Children of the Goddess, including Sothis herself. The Sword of the Creator looks like an actual spine and promotional materials has Sothis holding the sword. In other words, she's literally holding ''her own spine'']].
565** For some players, an S-Support with Rhea becomes this after [[spoiler:learning that Byleth's mother was created from Rhea's blood as a vessel for Sothis. As such, marrying Rhea is like [[ParentalIncest marrying someone]] who's [[MindScrew simultaneously their mother, grandmother, and daughter.]]]] This sentiment started getting worse after the Cindered Shadows sidestory DLC reveals [[spoiler:that Byleth's mother saw Rhea as a ParentalSubstitute]].
566** To some, the older characters Balthus, Hanneman and Manuela being able to romance the younger characters comes off as this due to the rather large age gaps between them, with Manuela/Ferdinand, Hanneman/Dorothea, Hanneman/Edelgard, and Balthus/Lysithea being major points of contention. Some others dismiss this due to the characters all being of legal age by the time they’re able to settle down.
567* SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: Overall, the English voice acting has been universally praised, with specific roles singled out below.
568** In general, while there are many experienced voice actors in the cast, many cast members are relatively new and only had bit parts to their name, many of them being characters in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes''. Many get an opportunity to play more fully realized characters, such as Joe Brogie (Sylvain), Creator/JoeZieja (Claude), Creator/AllegraClark (Dorothea and Shamir), Creator/BenLepley (Dedue), and Creator/{{Ratana}} (Leonie).
569** Creator/ChrisHackney's performance as Dimitri has been universally praised, with his voice acting perfectly capturing the emotional anguish the character goes through. Needless to say, many were disappointed he [[AwardSnub didn’t even get a nomination]] for his voice acting as Dimitri at the Game Awards in 2019.
570** Creator/CheramiLeigh's performance at Rhea has been widely praised for the range of emotions the character goes through on each route. Especially when she [[spoiler:goes from serene and saintly to an AxCrazy womanchild]].
571[[/folder]]
572
573[[folder:T]]
574* ThatOneAttack:
575** Raging Storm, the unique combat art of Edelgard's personal axe Aymr and a GameBreaker in the player's hands on Crimson Flower, is extremely dangerous in Chapter 17 on Azure Moon and Verdant Wind. It allows her to deal 14 extra damage with 10 extra accuracy and receive another action at no penalty. Aymr has enough charges to allow her to use it ''five times in a row and get a sixth attack in with her backup weapon, and unlike most bosses she's capable of moving''. You can expect Edelgard to butcher half of your team with it if you let her. Fortunately, it's not as dangerous when it comes back in Verdant Wind Chapter 20 since she's immobile this time.
576** Bohr X, a spell packed by [[BossInMookClothing Myson]] at the end of the Azure Moon route and an anonymous Gremory at the end of Verdant Wind on Maddening. Nothing quite like a HPToOne attack with 10 range in a game where permadeath is considered standard. It's even worse on Azure Moon, since Myson has the skill [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules Infinite Magic]], unlike Thales and his Quake Σ.
577* ThatOneBoss:
578** [[spoiler:Catherine]] in Chapter 12 [[spoiler:if Byleth chose to side with Edelgard]] after choosing the Black Eagles is an incredibly difficult boss, and is harder than the actual main target of the level, [[spoiler:Rhea]]. She hits very hard, has high speed thus allowing her to double almost all your units, and [[spoiler:Thunderbrand]] gives a Brave Sword like effect, meaning just about ''anyone'' dumb enough to get in her range will die in one round of combat. She also has a high crit chance, meaning even if your unit can survive the two hits, they might get killed anyway. To put into perspective how tough she is, your only real hope of winning is to use long range spells and bows, weaken her with gambits, or hope [[spoiler:the Death Knight, who she can one-round regardless]], can whittle her down for you.
579** [[spoiler:Ingrid]] in Chapter 16 of the Crimson Flower route is fast, has a long movement range and has a devastating spear, making her arguably the most difficult of the commanders you are required to defeat to complete the level. Getting close to [[spoiler:Ingrid]] is no easy task given the terrain, which means the boss will likely attack you first, and with Darting Blow making a double attack more likely, the boss has a high chance of killing whatever unit is attacked.
580** [[spoiler:Cyril]] is fought in Chapter 12 and 18 of the Crimson Flower route, and in the latter case, is guarding the FinalBoss. He has an extremely large movement range as a Wyvern Lord and a Brave Axe that will likely kill anyone he fights if he gets to attack first, so it's almost impossible to avoid him and rather difficult to lure him out to safely defeat him.
581** [[spoiler:Rhea[=/=]Seiros]] in Chapter 12 and 17 of the Crimson Flower route. She has the deadly combination of a sword that heals her whenever she takes damage, Vantage (which allows her to attack first when attacked below half health) and Counterattack (enables her to retaliate against foes regardless of distance). Your best bet is to reduce her from just above half health to zero in a single hit, which may not be feasible on higher difficulties.
582** [[spoiler:Edelgard]] in chapter 17 of the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes. She has high defense and resistance, and she's surprisingly fast and hard to double. She has Counterattack, so nobody can attack her without retaliation. And she has 68 attack on the easiest difficulty, meaning she can potentially take out your squishier units in a single hit. Furthermore, she can use her Raging Storm combat art, which not only boosts her attack, but will likely give her another action, meaning she can potentially take out multiple units in a single turn.
583** If she is not recruited on the Azure Moon or Verdant Wind routes, you face [[spoiler:Petra]] twice, once in chapter 17 of both, and again in chapter 21 of the former and chapter 20 of the latter. Both times can be immensely frustrating. On Normal, she has 40 Speed on her first appearance and 44 or 46 on her second, enough to double even the fastest of your units (and in higher difficulties she's ''even faster''), and thanks to a combination of Sword Prowess, Alert Stance, Keen Intuition (an enemy-only skill that gives +30 Avoid when fighting an enemy at range), and her Avoid-boosting [[spoiler:Brigid Hunters]] battalion, her Avoid can get boosted to the point that she's almost impossible to hit. She can also hit fairly hard, especially if she's going up against an already damaged unit [[spoiler:as her personal skill, Hunter's Boon, boosts her crit when fighting an opponent with less than half HP - which is even worse on Verdant Wind chapter 20, as she uses a Wo Dao there instead of the Sword of Zoltan she uses in Azure Moon]]. Good luck defeating her without first rattling her with a gambit - which is hard enough to do in the first place.
584** At the very end of the Silver Snow route lies the [[spoiler:berserk Immaculate One]], the hardest boss ''Three Houses'' can offer. [[spoiler:For starters, she's essentially a harder version of Crimson Flower's Immaculate One, with the difference she pulls a ''BaitAndSwitchBoss on herself'' after she has entered attack phase twice or has had her White Beast reinforcements blocked off. Besides the fact no damage dealt prior will be transferred to her true form, the true berserk Immaculate One boasts far higher stats than showed initially, carries a crest weapon with ''8-range'' and gains an unique skill which allows her to trigger [[AreaOfEffect Staggering Blows]] ''without the need to recharge or even telegraph her attack'', meaning she cannot be attacked back during enemy phase and is able to repair her barriers in just one turn. Her Staggering Blow also has an insane long range, is very hard to telegraph manually without drawing her attention with a gambit, and happens to ''bypass defenses entirely'', so any unit with 28/35/46 HP or less (in Normal, Hard and Maddening difficulty respectively) will be OHKO'd (and that's assuming she doesn't activate her Crest of Seiros, otherwise she deals ''+5 more damage''), while also being able to ''heal any ally that may happen to be caught in the fire''. And as the cherry on top, she naturally has an ability which regenerates current her health bar completely during enemy phase when a White Beast happens to be 10 spaces near her, and gains Miracle after losing her first health bar]].
585** The [[spoiler:Umbral Beast]] in the "Cindered Shadows" DLC can be an absolute ''nightmare'' to deal with if you don't use your resources carefully. Like any beast final bosses, it has three life bars, and will frequently summon [[spoiler:Aelfric Illusions]] to fight your units. However any clones not killed will have their life drained by the monster. It will also has an attack that rearranges its position, causing you to be separated from your other units. It can also damage any unlucky character in its path doing this. Good luck defeating it when your units are around level 30 range.
586* ThatOneComponent: The game features eight types of ore that can be used to restore weapon durability and improve weapons by forging. The three types of ore for the most common weapons are easy to obtain, and Venom Stones fall under JunkRare due to being only used for [[ScrappyWeapon the unimpressive Venin weapons.]] The rarer types (Mithril[[note]]for Sacred and Blessed Weapons as well as Archanea regalia[[/note]] Agarthium [[note]] for Aymr, Agarthian and Devil weapons[[/note]], Umbral Steel [[note]] for Heroes' Relics [[/note]] and Arcane Crystals [[note]] for magic weapons [[/note]]) are only available by shattering the barriers of monster units that may be rare too, or as a reward for limited quests. This severely limits the use of many weapons that have to be repaired with these types of ore, particularly as most of them are only one per save file and have a low durability stat, making them TooAwesomeToUse.
587* ThatOneLevel:
588** Chapter 5 is one of the few chapters in the game to have same turn reinforcements. [[spoiler:It's also the first chapter to have a demonic beast, so if you didn't conserve your gambits, you will likely lose a unit.]]
589** Sothis' Paralogue can be incredibly difficult if you still didn't learn how to deal with [[DemonicSpiders Demonic Beasts]], given that the game throws no less than ''8'' of them right from the start, with more spawning the more the level drags on. Even worse, Byleth starts away from the others flanked by two beasts that will go straight for them and reach them on the second turn (though they do have a healing tile to help evasion) and the students must defeat a third beast blocking the way to even reach them. Even if you did learn how to deal with beasts, this paralogue can be problematic due to the sheer amount of beasts you have to fight.
590** Marianne's Paralogue is one of the few levels which requires adopting a completely different strategy. Marianne herself spawns away from the rest of the party ''next to the level boss'' and a bunch of monsters, each of which can kill her easily (and her death will cause the level to fail even on Casual) unless you reclass her into something that can cover her defenses (such as [[MightyGlacier Fortress Knight]]). Between her and the rest of your party are additional monsters which make it difficult to get to her, which you can't see because it's also one of the few levels with ''fog''. Once you reunite, you then have to beat the boss monster itself, which has ''4'' health bars.
591** Somewhat similarly, there's Manuela and Hanneman's Paralogue. Manuela starts off on the top of the mountain, fairly close to some enemies who can kill her, thereby causing you to fail. Flayn with Rescue is your best friend here, although it may take a couple turns to get Flayn in range.
592** Mercedes and Caspar's Paralogue. The good news is that you don't have to defeat the Death Knight. The bad news is that [[SquishyWizard Mercedes]] and [[GlassCannon Caspar]] are on the other end of the map from your units, and it's entirely likely that the enemies near there will go over and kill them. Granted, you can just make them stay where they are and not move them anywhere, but you have to go through a horde of soldiers and Demonic Beasts to get towards Mercedes and Caspar's location, and the soldiers are already trying to get there anyway so your other units have to try catching up to them. Not only that, enemy reinforcements will come much later in the battle ''near towards Mercedes and Caspar'' (which is even worse in Maddening difficulty, as they ''will attack them on the same turn they spawn''). It's especially rough in Verdant Wind, where you more than likely weren't leveling up either Mercedes or Caspar very highly, so they're still level ~23 units facing level 29/30/35~38 soldiers and potentially a Giant Wolf. If you ''do'' fight against the Death Knight [[spoiler:in order to get the Scythe of Sariel]], [[ThatOneSidequest the Death Knight is still a very tough opponent to beat]].
593** Linhardt and Leonie's Paralogue is no slouch either; on top of being a level with fog, the enemies on the level have ''enormous'' movement ranges, making it extremely easy for your units to be ambushed by two or three units out of nowhere. If you think your troubles are over once you've reached the boss, think again; on top of possessing a massive four health bars, the boss is nine units wide — meaning you need to break more than double the number of weak points to stun it till your next turn compared to a regular beast — and it's one of the only monsters in the game that does not get temporarily stunned by breaking its weak points. On top of that, it has a massive attack range, and once it's on its last health bar, it gets guaranteed double attacks whenever your units initiate combat, while also preventing them from double attacking in turn. Not helping matters is that on the [[spoiler:Crimson Flower]] route, [[spoiler:Edelgard and Hubert]] cannot be deployed on the map as a case of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, making things harder for the player as [[spoiler:Dimitri, Dedue, Claude and Hilda]] face no such restrictions on their respective routes. Good luck!
594** Petra and Bernadetta's Paralogue, Foreign Land and Sky. For starters, the map is primarily forests, thereby limiting your movement significantly, while the majority of the enemy are armor units, who greatly benefit from the extra evade to StoneWall your forces. But what really makes this chapter infamous is what happens halfway through. You see, the game tells you that you can win by either routing the enemy or making Petra arrive at the highlighted location. ''[[TheComputerIsALyingBastard The game is lying to you]]''. If you try to move Petra anywhere near that space, not only will you prompt a massive wave of reinforcements to just spontaneously appear all over the map ''in the middle of your turn'' (better hope you moved Petra first, because the game doesn't care how many available units you have left), but then it will change the win conditions to ''remove the condition you were just about to fulfill''. [[spoiler:Pick your poison as to which version of this map is worse. Side with the empire, and you'll have to fight against [[ThatOneBoss Catherine]], a LightningBruiser with a powerful Hero's Relic. Side with the ''church'', however, and not only will you have to deal with Hubert having a shot of meteor that just might kill somebody with little chance to run away, but all of the reinforcements will also prioritize running deeper into enemy territory towards that square you were bringing Petra towards, which is now an ''instant lose condition'' if any of the reinforcements arrive there]]. Even worse, the reinforcements will ''also'' spawn if you kill all the enemies on the map without moving Petra near that space, and if that happens on the enemy's turn, the reinforcements will be able to act immediately.
595** Balthus and Hapi's Paralogue has a suggested unit level of 13 in Normal & Hard, and 17 in Maddening, but in either case, this is in fact a low estimate. The boss is an Trickster and has gauntlets that let him perform four hits on you and is flanked by two mages, meaning you will lose a unit on your first try. Once you defeat him he turns into a Demonic Beast, which has three health bars, all while any other enemies you didn’t defeat attack you as well. Then, one or two turns after the boss transformed, a ''massive'' wave of reinforcements, bigger than the two that have been showing up through the level, arrive. The kicker? You can’t just defeat the boss and end the level: you ''have to kill all the enemies'', a challenge on Normal difficulty and outright impossible on Maddening.
596** The first post-timeskip mission on [[spoiler:non-Crimson Flower routes: Reunion at Dawn]]. You start off with Byleth and [[spoiler:Dimitri/Claude/Seteth]] facing down a large army of bandits. Your reinforcements come in very slowly, and at different corners of the map, making it significantly harder to launch a focused offensive. [[spoiler:The map also surprises you after defeating the boss by turning the mission into an enemy escape map as said boss makes a break for it. This can be difficult to deal with if you didn't deal with the units stationed near his escape route.]] Furthermore, your reinforcements are [[spoiler:strictly your starting house students, which can punish any player who trained a varied mix of students from other classes and/or neglected their default students]], especially on Maddening difficulty. Special mention goes to the Silver Snow version of the chapter, where you get one reinforcement ''less'' compared to the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes, and Seteth, unlike Dimitri and Claude, doesn't automatically come equipped with a new battalion capable of stunning a massive horde of enemies.
597** The second post-timeskip story mission on the non-Crimson Flower routes, Protecting Garreg Mach, is also pretty tough. You have to prevent the enemy from reaching certain points on the map in an area chock full of twisting turns, with an enemy Onager that will pelt your forces from afar. Escorting your ally's unit to a specific point complicates things, but the big problem is the [[DemonicSpiders Falcon Knights]] who will generally make things hellish for you, especially on Maddening Mode. Once you set off the fire trap, things get considerably easier; surviving that long without losses is the big issue.
598** The invasion of Enbarr on the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes is significantly more difficult than its Azure Moon counterpart. In this map, you not only have to defeat Hubert, but also the Death Knight, and contend with more than a few enemy reinforcements near your position, forcing you to make a beeline for the bosses.
599** Chapter 3 of Cindered Shadows is a brutal gauntlet level where the hits don't stop coming. The player is surrounded by powerful enemies, including multiple golem monsters with multiple hitbars that continuously respawn, and crossing certain map thresholds summons swarms of powerful reinforcements. The goal is to get to the other end of the map and trigger one of three switches with a specific item that a single character can carry; [[LuckBasedMission choose correctly and the map immediately ends with the player's victory, choose wrong and the game debuffs your entire army and drops yet more powerful reinforcements on their heads]].
600** Chapter 4 of the Cindered Shadows DLC: A Harrowing Escape, is stressful. As the name implies, it's an escape map in which you have to flee from oncoming enemies. There's a time limit of ten turns to get past each gate to the next section, and you have no time to dawdle, because there's a giant enemy chasing you throughout the map, and said enemy has stats that are so massive that it'd be suicide to take it on. Enemies and reinforcements pour into the map constantly, but it's most egregious at the very end, where enemies spawn in for every unit you get past the final gate, turning into a ZergRush. There is also the fact that out of your available units, a good number of them either have low Movement ([[MightyGlacier Edelgard as a Fortress Knight]], Linhardt), [[FragileSpeedster pitiful]] [[GlassCannon defences]] (Linhardt again, Ashe, Hapi) or both, meaning it may take a while for them to catch up with the others to the gates and/or will be difficult for them to even survive the onslaught of enemies. To make matters worse, not even playing on Casual will save you as if '''any''' of your units are defeated, you '''automatically lose''', making the chapter much harder than it should. Unless you properly use your Gambits, you're a goner.
601* ThatOneSidequest:
602** Getting the three/four Dark Seals available in part one, since it's a process that involves dealing with [[{{Superboss}} the Death Knight]]. Even if you choose not to fight him, you still have to get a thief close enough to steal from him. On the third encounter, however, Jeralt is on the field with you — and he has a clear path to the boss and will go after him once the mission's original objective is complete. (It's worth noting that Jeralt falling is game over, whereas the boss's defeat ends the stage.) Even on Normal, you may have to rush past obstacles and exploit Warp (which you might not have available to you) to get to the Death Knight before Jeralt can be killed by the boss or use Rescue to bail him out of trouble. Even if you're willing to overlook the Death Knight's difficulty, the fact that he is the only source of Dark Seals in the game (and the game doesn't tell you this in advance) means you have a ''very'' limited number of opportunities to get them if you want at least one Dark Bishop on your team, especially if you chose the Black Eagles [[spoiler:(the Crimson Flower branch in particular)]], and it does not help matters that Hubert, the only playable character that can get the full benefits of the class line, is a {{Mutually Exclusive Party Member|s}} to that route. While the other routes provide more opportunities to fight the Death Knight and get Dark Seals (and your characters will eventually be strong enough to reasonably challenge him), you only get the first three chances after choosing the Black Eagles [[spoiler:and if you decide to take the Crimson Flower branch]], [[spoiler:since the Death Knight becomes one of your allies on what would normally be the fourth chance]], and you're typically encouraged to avoid fighting him at that point in the game (although the level gap between him and your units is likely to shrink with every encounter, and on the third encounter, a nearby chest provides a [[AchillesHeel Horseslayer]] in case you don't have Lysithea). The [[spoiler:Crimson Flower]] issue is at least alleviated from version 1.1.0 onward since [[spoiler:Jeritza (the Death Knight himself)]] comes with another Dark Seal in his inventory when he joins you, meaning you only need to defeat the Death Knight at least once in Part I if you want at least one Dark Bishop on your team.
603** While Felix's Paralogue is fairly easy, keeping ''all'' the villagers alive is extraordinarily difficult. They're scattered around the map, and generally far away from your starting point. While they have soldiers protecting them, their final destination is guarded by several enemy units, who will likely kill them before you can reach them. If they decide not to charge towards their goal, they'll instead run ''away'' from it, ''[[TooDumbToLive towards]]'' [[ArtificialStupidity enemies]], who will likely kill them before you can reach them. Physic can help heal the villagers, but if you don't beeline towards them right away with cavalry/fliers, saving them can be difficult.
604** Hubert's Paralogue. The point of the mission is to save ally mages from demonic beasts as quickly as possible. While the mages that you're trying to protect are initially smart enough to use Gambits on the Demonic Beasts and most of them are on a tile that gives them some extra defenses, once their Gambits run out, they'll attack the Demonic Beasts themselves, [[TooDumbToLive even if they'll certainly be killed in the counterattack]]. Since [[SquishyWizard the mages aren't durable enough to survive two battles with the Demonic Beasts]], you'll have to kill your enemies quickly if you want the reward for protecting the mages. Worse yet, if you let any of them die, in the cutscene after, Arundel mocks you for it despite it gameplay wise being nothing you could have prevented. On normal its possible to do this without losing any mages, but on any other difficulty, expect to lose the two to the far south because of how far away they are.
605** Getting all the stat boosters[[note]]A Goddess Icon, Energy Drop and Seraph Robe respectively[[/note]] in Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude's paralogues. The three missions share a gimmick where there are 3 enemies in the map holding stat boosters, which can be obtained only by stealing it [[VideoGameStealing through a speedy unit with the Steal skill equipped]]. The difficulty surrounding this task varies on the paralogue; in Edelgard's, two of the units carrying the items are [[EnemySummoner in charge of constantly summoning reinforcements]] and are located at the far right of the map while the player starts on the far left, making the ordeal risky without backup; in Dimitri's, not only there are multiple mages abusing [[ThatOneAttack Meteor and Bolting]] around the map, one of the enemies carrying a booster is a [[DemonicSpiders War Master]], which on harder difficulties ''will need to be stunned with a gambit'' so your unit can be fast enough to steal the item; lastly, in Claude's there are multiple Giant Crawlers around the map and, if the Wind Caller is attacked in harder difficulties, there can also be a constant swarm of enemy reinforcements, and this is without accounting how these enemies will be also targeting ''other enemies carrying items'' which, unlike them, ''do drop it by simply knocking them out before the enemy does'', essentially adding one extra layer of difficulty if the player intends to get them all.
606** Getting Rhea's supports with Byleth for the support library. Rhea is an NPC during Part I and can't be invited to tea, or participate in group activities, so the only way to raise her RelationshipValues is by DialogueTree choices, Faculty Training, or gifts (which can only be bought in limited amounts per chapter, and are best saved for recruitable students). In addition, both her C- and B-supports become PermanentlyMissableContent several chapters before the end of Part I, leaving you with a very tight time-frame to unlock them. And worse, [[spoiler:her S-support is only available on the Silver Snow route]]. This was mitigated a bit after the 1.2.0 update, as it made possible to invite Rhea for tea after completing a certain quest and added a few lost items for her, thus giving the player more means to raise her support points.
607** Obtaining the "Opera Co. Volunteers" dancer battalion. In order to obtain it, you need to bring either Dorothea or Manuela into the invasion of Enbarr map in any route other than Crimson Flower, and have them reach a certain area in that same chapter. The problem is that the game [[GuideDangIt gives no hints]] that you should bring either of the two units into the map to obtain the battalion, making it easy to miss when the chapter is over.
608** Recruiting Ferdinand without a NewGamePlus. He has a combination of his B-support being locked behind the timeskip (which would not only lower his requirements but also give him a small chance to join for free) and wanting heavy armor (there are only two tutors, Alois and Gilbert, [[spoiler:and both are unavailable during Chapter 10.]]). The most a player can do is get his support to C+, bringing his requirements down to D+ instead of C. [[note]]The Dexterity requirement is trivial, as Byleth starts with 9 of the required 10 at no support, and any support fulfills the requirement.[[/note]] [[spoiler:To players that want to minimize the student death toll in Part II, Ferdinand is also a ''required'' recruit, since he will otherwise appear in chapter 16 as an enemy general who is required to be killed in order to progress, making this especially annoying.]]
609** Recruiting Hilda in the Black Eagles if [[spoiler:Byleth sides with the Church]]. Unlike with Blue Lions, the game prevents the player from giving Hilda gifts, returning her lost items, inviting her to Tea Time outside her birthday, temporarily assisting the party, and even accessing the actual recruitment option up until ''two weeks before the end of Part I''. This means the only reliable way of raising supports with her in the Black Eagles route beforehand is through sharing meals, which is necessary not only for lowering her requirements to an acceptable level (as in, having an Axe rank of D and 12 Charm with her B-Support), but also to potentially recruit her for free. Another option is farming gifts during most of Part I in advance for her short availability window, which in itself requires a ton of preparation and planning.
610** Balthus' request "Thieves at the Throat". It involves fighting a mission at Fódlan's Throat against Almyran troops, and when we mean troops, we mean ''eighteen'' Wyvern Riders and Lords. This means you have to fight a highly mobile unit of troops, who all have good enough physical stats that can kill your squishy units easily, and you spawn in the wooded area near where the fortress is. This creates a map where the enemy can just fly over and eliminate your team from all angles on the enemies' ''first turn'' if you don't check how far they can fly. It's one of the most difficult requests in the game, if not ''the'' most difficult.
611* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
612** The return of gender-restricted classes (after ''Fates'' removed most of those restrictions) wasn't received warmly by fans, especially the series mainstay Hero now being male-only. The flames were fanned by the fact that this version of Hero has Swordfaire and Vantage, which led most people to believe female characters were locked out of two skills associated with the female-friendly Myrmidon/Swordmaster class. Thankfully, it was confirmed in the July Famitsu issue that Swordfaire isn't Hero exclusive. However, the fact that the very big pain-in-the-ass-to-get Dark Mage (and Dark Bishop even more so) being a ''male exclusive'' class was not well appreciated, especially considering that it is a rather questionable design choice in a game where almost all of the magically-inclined characters are predominantly female; not only that, one (two, with DLC) of the female mages pretty much ''exclusively learns dark magic''. Not helping matters is that Hubert, the one male mage who exclusively learns dark magic (and gains the most benefits from being a Dark Mage[=/=]Bishop, and is classed as such as an [=NPC=]) is exclusive to choosing the Black Eagles [[spoiler:(the Crimson Flower branch in particular)]], which has the fewest opportunities to get the two Dark Seals needed to access the full class-line. Another unfortunate aspect is the fact that the Gremory, the only pure caster Master class, is female-only, meaning units like Linhardt are stuck being unable to promote to a higher class tier for an arbitrary reason. Players were hoping the new classes added in the ''Cindered Shadows'' DLC would fix this, but instead two of the new classes are female only, while the other two are available to everyone.
613** Making Byleth a HeroicMime after Robin and Corrin, who had a lot more customization but did speak, is a somewhat contested change, especially since the stellar voice acting of the cast makes Byleth's HeroicMime status stick out like a sore thumb. Byleth's fans also tend to be disappointed that Jeannie Tirado and Zach Aguilar, who at least did well with what they had, weren't given more to work with.
614** The September 2019 patch changed some of dialogue in the story, most notably changing [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/600399469665845278/621797182692917268/Screenshot_20190912-145939_Chrome.jpg a line in Bernadetta's B-support with Byleth, where she explained why she's reclusive]]. This one dialogue change was very disliked after it was discovered due to it not only removing some details, but lessening the impact of the abuse she experienced. It also doesn't transition into the line after and the rest of the conversation very well, which are otherwise unchanged from the original localization ("I tried hard to do as he asked").[[note]]The original line in Japanese did not have any mention of the more abusive elements, making the original localized line appear to be a case of {{Woolseyism}}, but one that was liked because the original support runs off YamatoNadeshiko logic as the cause of her abuse, something that doesn't translate into English well.[[/note]]
615* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
616** Edelgard is one of the most important characters to the overall narrative on all routes, and has a very deep backstory. There's a lot for her personal Paralogue to draw on... and yet it turns out to be mostly an alternate take on [[spoiler:Hilda and Cyril's]].
617** [[spoiler:Archbishop Rhea]] is revealed to [[spoiler:be a dragon in front of witnesses]]. A lot of things could have been done with this plot point: [[spoiler:Does it lead to a crisis of faith across Fódlan, since their archbishop was lying to the entire continent? Alternatively, would people see this as a sign of the Goddess' power and become ''more'' devout? How do the other house leaders feel about this? There could have been debates over the implications her transformation has for the church's teachings, the ethics of divine beings potentially distorting history, and controlling Fódlan from behind the scenes for centuries.]] In CF in particular, this plot point even turns the entire standard ''Fire Emblem'' plot of [[spoiler:Emperor invades peaceful nations]] on its head. In the end and, outside of some NPC chatter in non-Azure Moon routes and Seteth and Flayn's battle conversation against [[spoiler:an enemy Edelgard in the Imperial Palace]], it doesn't end up receiving much focus in the main story.
618** It's possible to [[spoiler:spare Claude von Riegan]] on the Crimson Flower route if you defeat him with [[PlayerCharacter Byleth]] or Edelgard (who will likely be your strongest units). This choice only directly affects one story scene, some base chatter and some endgame dialogue, yet suggests so many possibilities:
619*** If [[spoiler:he's spared]], it could've potentially [[spoiler:led him to rally the Almyrans and come back for another attack]], adding more content to a desperately content-deprived route (even if that would've been unusual [[spoiler:for him to grab the ConflictBall]]). This would've made the opposite choice a pragmatic ShootTheDog option for the player, who otherwise would have no reason to do so.
620*** Alternatively, [[spoiler:Claude could have returned as an ally instead]], granting Edelgard some CharacterDevelopment by showing that a more gentle and merciful approach can have its own benefits. [[spoiler:Claude]] himself seems to expect this to happen, and even Edelgard is happier with this choice should it come to pass.
621** The Leicester Alliance is meant to be a deconstruction of the TheAlliance trope in which the high degree of independence enjoyed by the local lords turns it into a DecadentCourt where the central authority is unstable, allegiances shift constantly and power politics, backstabbing and even murder are common; an environment which pretty much forced Claude to become TheTrickster in order to survive. When you go to petition the Alliance for help in three out of the four routes, one could reasonably expect a section devoted to showcasing this, navigating the courtly intrigue and trying to gather support, something similar to what the series has done before for instance in the Begnion segment of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. Instead however, almost all the intrigue and politicking happen offscreen, with [[spoiler:Claude having already rallied half the Alliance behind his banner and the other half having become LesCollaborateurs to the Empire]].
622** The DLC gave players a lot more story about [[spoiler:Byleth's mother and what she was like before her death, some players hoped that Jeralt would be involved since the DLC expanded on Byleth's mother and how the side story itself is placed during Chapter 5. Additionally, his interaction with Aelfric and the Ashen Wolves, and also his reaction to the events in the side story would have been interesting to see. However, Jeralt is instead absent throughout the DLC sidestory]].
623** The Silver Snow route, despite being the first developed is often criticized as being the most shallow of the 4. [[spoiler:Despite the Church of Seiros being a huge focus in it, very few revelations about the Church actually gets revealed. Byleth is the defacto "Lord" of the route, but because they are a HeroicMime, they don't get to push the plot forward like Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude. Rhea is relegated to being a DamselInDistress for the majority of the route despite her institution being the focus. The fact that Claude's route, Verdant Wind shares many of the same maps, reveals more about the Church and some argue has the final boss that people felt would've better served Silver Snow, led to people writing off the Church route.]]
624** In Azure Moon, the Tragedy of Duscur is the biggest motivator for Dimitri's actions before and during the war, and it also directly or indirectly affects the character arcs of most Faerghus-related characters: Dedue, Ingrid, Felix, Gilbert, Annette, Ashe, Catherine... Despite all this, we learn relatively little of why the Tragedy happened, who was ultimately behind it (especially since the second half of Azure Moon [[spoiler:drops the Those Who Slither in the Dark subplot altogether]]), and by the time the story ends, the subplot is literally LeftHanging with just the promise that Dimitri will continue to follow the leads he still has. So on this route, Dimitri and the others whose lives were altered by the Tragedy may never get full closure on it. And while you can recruit the other Faerghus characters in routes where more of the secrets behind the Tragedy are revealed, you can't do that with Dimitri, Dedue, or Gilbert, so they'll never have that closure. The only way to really get a resolution is to recruit Hapi and get her and Dimitri's paired ending, which doesn't feel as satisfying as having it play out on screen.
625* ToughActToFollow: The game's acclaimed story, characters, and world-building proved to be a tough act to follow for ''Engage'', the next game in the main series. With criticisms of poor pacing and heavy exposition dumps, among other changes like the removal of paired endings for everyone except the PlayerCharacter, ''Engage''[='s=] story is one of the game's biggest points of contention in drastic contrast to ''Three Houses''. Critical reviews and sales numbers also show ''Engage'' lagging well behind.
626[[/folder]]
627
628[[folder:U]]
629* UnconvincinglyUnpopularCharacter: Claude is very charming, funny, smart, and good-looking, but at Garreg Mach he's considered an outsider and complains in an advice box note that many people find him strange.
630* UnintentionalUncannyValley:
631** While the artstyle is mostly praised by the fandom, the eye designs (particularly the dotted pupils, double-tiered irises that look like they have entire eyeballs surrounded by the sclera, and the flat and low saturated colors) are generally criticized for giving the characters rather soulless expressions.
632** The CG artwork for Byleth's S-supports have rather variable levels of quality for both genders' options. Certain ones, like Petra, Dimitri, Claude, and Marianne are heartwarming and well-drawn; on the other side, Edelgard's gives the player a deer-in-the-headlights close-up of her face with an expression that makes her look like she is sucking in her cheeks. Some, like Leonie, Flayn, and Gilbert, look nearly completely different from their in-game art and designs, and a surprising number of them seem to pretend noses don't exist. Lastly, a few of them even [[OffModel depicted the characters with either missing or incorrect design details]], which was thankfully addressed later with the version 1.0.2 update.
633* UnderusedGameMechanic:
634** As far as spending Free Time goes, when it comes to class optimization Seminars (where Byleth and their class learn from professors and knights to increase skills & motivation) drop in viability as time goes on, as Byleth cannot go to more than 1 Seminar no matter the Professor Levels. Seminars are generally overshadowed by Exploration (which not only motivate students with meals and increase Byleth skills from Faculty Training, but also provide quests, resource gathering from fishing & gardening, and improving supports) and Battle (the only way to improve character and battalion levels aside from missions). Seminars do gain more utility later into the game due to providing motivation and helping give extra proficiencies, but at that point, you might just be better off doing combat.
635** Adjutants theoretically have a role in battle, either attacking, blocking, or healing the lead unit, making picking them part of your strategy. The problem is that the activation rates for two of these benefits is abysmal, and the player will have to go through many battles to see any of them activate once, and it doesn't help that there is an oversight with Adjutants Follow-Up's activation rate[[note]]basically, the default is at 10% activation, which increases by 10 for each successive support rank between the two units, capping out at 50% for S rank, but the C+, B+, and A+ support ranks bring it back down to 10%, [[GuideDangIt even the hidden ones only revealed with certain activities in the Monastery]][[/note]] until it was fixed in 1.1.0. Adjutants are only really good for grinding Experience and Support points. That being said, the blocking adjutants are actually incredibly useful for anyone using armor units. Contrary to popular belief, armor units actually serve a niche in this game, as their defense with shields and battalions can get so high that not even boss characters can dent their HP bars. For the rare units that ''can,'' an armored adjutant paired up with an armored unit deflects up to ''half of the damage'' of a follow up attack, a trait that can be vital in keeping your tank alive.
636** The ability to talk to other units on the battlefield sees far less use than ''Awakening'' or ''Fates''. While in those cases, it could be used to win units over to your side, especially in the Paralogues for the second generation units, there are fewer cases in which it has comparable impact (for example, talking with the Lords in the Prologue will just get a few lines of dialogue and some relationship points). It doesn't help that the icon indicating that a unit can be talked to is smaller and easier to miss.
637** Three-way battles appear for the first time in a mainline ''Fire Emblem'' game... and it's used all of once if you choose Edelgard, or twice with Claude or Dimitri (with a couple of more examples in ''Cindered Shadows'', but that's paid DLC). Some auxiliary battles include monsters that fight both you and the enemy faction and a couple of maps throw some bandits into the mix as a third army, but they aren't quite the same as a true MeleeATrois. Surprisingly, even the practice match in Chapter 1 has both rival houses GangUpOnTheHuman.
638* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
639** Leonie's support chain with Byleth has earned a decent amount of criticism due to Leonie's frustrations at Byleth's lack of knowledge about Jeralt's life. She acts very hostile, accusing them of taking their father Jeralt for granted, and when she attempts to apologize in the B-support, she loses her temper again in the end. [[spoiler:The fact that this support can often happen after Jeralt dies comes across as extremely poor taste, as she makes the issue about herself and doesn't even remotely try to console Byleth.]] While Jeralt is an important mentor for Leonie, she comes across as very entitled about him, especially since she still has a living father. She also has the highly-irritating habit of attributing any skill Byleth has to be because of Jeralt and it takes a lot of prodding for her to acknowledge Byleth is skilled in their own right. She also acts quite abrasively to Marianne in their C-Support over Marianne not wanting to go to town with her and unlike Lysithea in her C-Support with her, she doesn't apologize for it until their B-Support.
640** Dorothea earned complaints of this, due to her supports with several characters giving her what come across as a long list of hypocritical views that she is rarely called out for. Though certainly intentional, as she does drop these views post-timeskip and some supports acknowledge she was being narrowminded, some players felt this made it hard to like her, because she is critical of people for things she is as guilty of, but the game either doesn't address it, or it treats it as a likeable personality trait, such as her complaining about pushy people coming onto her, only to be pushy towards Ingrid in their supports. Since a lot of her supports tend to have elements like that, some players found it hard to like her and find her situation sympathetic due to the hypocritcal way she treats others, even if she does improve. This could also apply to her hatred of Ferdinand. Even if it is a misunderstanding, Dorothea's reason for disliking him ([[spoiler:he gave her a look as a child and ran off, which she took to be disgust while it was actually embarrassment, and the fact he was a noble, which is a sore spot for her]]) is presented as an understandable and justifiable reason to be hostile towards him, but instead, it comes off as extremely petty and harsh because Ferdinand was only a child during the incident and [[DisproportionateRetribution holding a decade long grudge against someone for something rude they did at such a young age is quite unreasonable]]. Not helping matters is the fact that Dorothea never apologizes once to Ferdinand for how she treated him, after she learns what really happened.
641** Count Varley is already unsympathetic in the base game, mainly due to his harsh and abusive behavior towards his own daughter Bernadetta to make her a submissive wife, which shapes who Bernie is now. The Ashen Wolves DLC, however, revealed that [[spoiler:Yuri, one of the Ashen Wolves, is actually Bernadetta's ChildhoodFriend who was beaten badly by her dad.]] All this time, Bernadetta thought that he was beaten because he was a commoner and has no right to be her friend. [[spoiler:Yuri turns out to be an assassin sent to kill Bernadetta, and their friendship was a facade, though Yuri couldn't go through with it in the end. So basically, Count Varley beating Yuri was to prevent said assassination, and Yuri points out to her that her father still cared for her at least a little]]. To many, it's as if the DLC apparently forgot that Count Varley still abused his daughter afterwards, and said protection was only to preserve the family's heir, not because of love.[[note]]In real life, many abusers ''do'' love/care about those they hurt, yet are simply unable to understand (or care) that they're hurting them. Leaving aside that Count Varley's actions remain inexcusable, whether this is true or not of him is up to interpretation.[[/note]]
642** The nation of Almyra can come across this way to some players. The story portrays Fodlan's negative attitude towards them as FantasticRacism born of ignorance and isolationism, but the few times we actually see Almyra in the story they're constantly invading Fodlan for no reason other than [[BloodKnight love of battle]], most anti-Almyran prejudice is [[ShowDontTell exposited from past events rather than on-screen]] (unlike anti-Duscur prejudice, which is much more visible and clearly wrong) and the two playable Almyran characters don't speak entirely fondly of their time there, Cyril in particular making it clear he resents Almyra to Claude, who isn't consistent with how he feels about it. It's also noted Almyra is in general just as prejudiced against Fodlan, but lacks any depth or explanation as to why to at least maybe humanize why they do so. The one route that focuses on opening up relations, Verdant Wind, doesn't give the nation much focus, and some feel its cast are [[EasilyForgiven too quick to warm up to Nader]] despite him leading invasions of their homeland in the past.
643* UnpopularPopularCharacter:
644** Sylvain, in a nutshell. It’s made pretty clear in his supports that most characters are annoyed at his philandering and shenanigans [[spoiler:though most of them warm up to him should the player move further up his support chain, once he begins to behave genuinely]] and most of his support chains end at B for one reason or another (including his ChildhoodFriend Dimitri). His reputation InUniverse is tarnished due to his suffering the consequences of his constant womanizing, with [=NPCs=] even going as far as to say he’s useless. Despite this, Sylvain has become one of the most popular characters in the ''Three House‘s'' player base due his [[MrFanservice design]], HiddenDepths as well the way the womanizer trope is deconstructed with his character compared to previous incarnations of it in the ''Fire Emblem'' franchise, plus he's considered one of the funniest characters in the game.
645** Ferdinand. He's pretty much TheFriendNobodyLikes in the Black Eagles, with most of his classmates treating him like a nuisance (especially Edelgard and Hubert), or avoiding/snarking at him and Dorothea outright tells him she hates him in their C-support (though they work things out by their A-support), with only [[NiceGirl Petra]] being consistently nice to him from the beginning. But he's adored by the fandom for being an {{Adorkable}} and earnestly well-intentioned goof with an incredibly meme-worthy {{Catchphrase}}, and being a pretty useful unit in battle.
646* TheUntwist: The clues as to the Death Knight's true identity are super-obvious, and since we never get a DramaticUnmask, it's very easy to dismiss them as {{red herring}}s. Nope, turns out he really is that person.
647[[/folder]]
648
649[[folder:V]]
650* ValuesDissonance:
651** Gilbert leaving Annette behind after failing in his duty suffers from this. In Japan, if a father failed in something important such as a job, he was seen as having shamed his family due to how honor and family dynamics work in Japanese culture, and therefore did not deserve to have the comfort of loved ones as a failure. Thus, they would leave to ease the pain they caused. As a result, Gilbert is sympathetic from a Japanese perspective because his situation can potentially hit home for someone whose family had such a thing happen, or at least speaks to a historical view of family traditions, making his choice seem more logical. In western society, a father abandoning their family, no matter the context, would be viewed as irresponsible and selfish, and would be seen as a coward for not helping one's family when they needed it. The result is that Gilbert is seen negatively for abandoning his daughter and not very popular among Western players because he comes across as almost an abusive father and husband, versus in Japan where he's more viewed tragically.
652** Ingrid's hatred of the people of Duscur is often looked on more harshly in Western communities, where ethnic bigotry is often based on an unequal power dynamic, and ''especially'' where a light skinned blonde character hating on a race of dark skinned people has some unfortunate connotations. Within the narrative, her hatred is strictly based on trauma she and people close to her experienced as a result of the Tragedy of Duscur, which public knowledge holds the people of Duscur responsible for. This resonates more strongly for Eastern audiences, thanks to the cultural impact of bad histories between countries like Japan and South Korea.
653** Most people view Ingrid's father, Count Galatea, as a well-meaning father despite his actions. However, some Western fans view him in a rather negative light due to him giving his daughter arranged marriage proposals constantly. In Japan, arranged marriages are more commonplace to a degree, which makes Count Galatea more understandable there. In Western cultures, his arranged marriage proposals make him look more greedy than intended. Interestingly enough, the narrative proposes that this is necessary to ensure the well-being of [[ImpoverishedPatrician the Galatea family and their people]] (even if he comes to regret marrying her off to the noble that becomes the villain of Ingrid's Paralogue), and in the past had set up a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage for Ingrid with Glenn, while Mercedes' adoptive father marrying her off [[ItsAllAboutMe to improve his own social standing]] is unambiguously portrayed as a bad thing, and even [[NiceGirl Mercedes]] has little but contempt for her father.
654** Manuela being an OldMaid and being unsuccessful in finding a romantic partner. Being in her thirties at the start of the game and the stress she feels about her love life comes from Japanese traditional views of marriage; a woman is usually pushed to get married as early as they can (usually closer to their early twenties), so her still being single makes it look bad on her part. This doesn't make as much sense from a western perspective, where this kind of belief is not really present socially and has been slowly dying.
655* ViewerGenderConfusion:
656** There was some confusion among fans as to Linhardt's gender, since he has long hair and somewhat feminine features, especially before the timeskip, until he was stated to be a guy.
657** Many fans thought Yuri from the Ashen Wolves was a girl until it was stated that he was a guy. His [[YuriGenre name]] (which can be a girl's name in Japanese) probably didn't help.
658* ViewerPronunciationConfusion:
659** Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd is Blay-thid, not bladed.
660** The Leicester Alliance is pronounced Lester, undoubtedly tripping up those unfamiliar with the English city of that name.
661** Mercedes is always pronounced the French way (mer-SAID-es), not like the luxury car (mer-SAY-deez).
662** The spelling of Dedue's name suggests various possible pronunciations such as DEH-du-eh, DEH-dyuu, DEE-dyuu, DE-doo, DEE-doo, de-DU-eh, de-DOO, de-DYU-eh, dee-DYU-eh, or deed-YU? The correct one is the counterintuitive de-DOO.
663** Lysithea's name is pronounced Lī-see-tee-ya in the English dub, not Lee-see-tee-ya. The Japanese dub, however, uses the latter pronounciation in the Katakana リシテア.
664[[/folder]]
665
666[[folder:W]]
667* WinBackTheCrowd:
668** While there were a few detractors who weren't as fond of the designs as others, even they were won over with the reveal of the main trio's outfits post-timeskip. Especially Dimitri. This also extended to the timeskip designs of other characters, where they drop the generic school uniforms in favor of more personalized looks. Lorenz is especially well-liked.
669** The reveal of the timeskip and the story being much darker than it initially seemed also won people over who found the school segments bland, fearing the game would take a ''Franchise/{{Persona}}''-meets-''Fire Emblem'' approach.
670** On the second day of Nintendo Treehouse E3 2019, it was confirmed that ''Three Houses'' will have romance options, however, it will only be possible after the timeskip. This calmed down a lot of fans because of the controversial possibility of TeacherStudentRomance.
671** After it was revealed that ''Fates'' would be split into 3 different games for each of its routes, the reaction to that was mixed-to-negative. ''Three Houses'', by comparison, is a single game with multiple routes (albeit with the routes branching in the middle of the game, rather than after the first few chapters), which was greatly appreciated by the fanbase.
672** The female character designs have, on the whole, been [[TamerAndChaster toned down and made less overtly sexual than previous installments]], pleasing fans who found ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'' and especially ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'' to be excessive in the {{Fanservice}} department.
673* {{Woolseyism}}:
674** Petra's foreigner speech habit was originally handled in Japanese by having her take long pauses between words as she tried to find the correct term to use. This is difficult to convey in English because of word count limitations, and possible union issues with [[Creator/FayeMata her voice actress]] being paid to essentially say nothing [[note]]And it would also risk making her sound like Creator/WilliamShatner[[/note]]. To get around this without losing an aspect of her character, the localization makes her a StrangeSyntaxSpeaker whose grammar is intelligible but slightly off (e.g., "I am having (x)"), especially in areas such as verb conjugation or idioms, similar to how Starfire speaks in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' or, to a lesser extent, Fawful from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga''. This allowed Petra's dialogue to convey her struggle as a non-native speaker without issue of text limitations, and made her more endearing of a character.
675** Bernadetta's B-support with Byleth reveals her father is the cause of her social issues and her shut-in nature by forcing her to practice being a "quiet and subservient wife". In Japanese, this type of logic is essentially her being groomed to be a YamatoNadeshiko, a traditional belief in how a perfect wife is supposed to be; quiet, submissive, etc. This makes Bernadetta's social issues make sense from a Japanese perspective by showing how her father was so traditionalist that he ended up abusing her. However, the YamatoNadeshiko trope and type doesn't make sense from a western perspective and for many would not explain why Bernadetta behaves the way she does. Thus when the game was localized, an extra line was added that stated her father tied her up to a chair and left her alone for hours, which makes her abuse and personality make more sense, while still framing her father as being out of touch. In fact, this change was so well-liked that when it was removed without explanation in the second DLC pack, players were furious.
676** In the Japanese version, Hubert's preferred hot beverage is called "teff" ("テフ"). It's treated as Fódlan's coffee-like alternative to tea, never mind that in RealLife, [[https://ethnomed.org/resource/more-about-ethiopian-food-teff/ actual teff]] is a grain that's more akin to millet and is typically either cooked into dishes like ''injera'' (An Ethiopian dish that resembles a pancake) and stew, or fermented into an alcoholic beverage. Teff-based teas exist, but they're very uncommon and more akin to, well, regular tea. The localization simply has coffee be the beverage instead; One of the gifts that raises motivation was also switched to regular coffee beans. This also applies to Hapi and Constance's B-support.
677** Edelgard and Dorothea's C-support has the two speculating on what an opera about Edelgard's exploits would be like, leading to Dorothea reciting some lines from a hypothetical opera. In Japanese, she [[ChewingTheScenery just talks overdramatically]]. In English, she actually ''sings'', and her [[Creator/AllegraClark voice actress]] [[TheCastShowoff can sing incredibly well.]]
678** Sylvain and Ingrid's support chain originally mentions that Sylvain once mistakenly [[UnsettlingGenderReveal flirted with a man in drag]]. Such jokes have not aged well in the United States, so the English script instead has them refer to an incident where [[NoodleIncident Sylvain made eyes at a scarecrow]].
679* WTHCostumingDepartment:
680** With the exception of their Officer's Uniform, Byleth's character-specific outfits have been met with varying degrees of ridicule from the fanbase:
681*** Male Byleth's default outfit is decent, if a tad generic. The female outfit, in comparison, seems overdesigned and impractical: short sleeves, short shorts, lace tights, stiletto boots, and a midriff top that also features a boob window. The only thing it has in common with the male design is the cape, color scheme, and overall silhouette. Some fans have warmed up to it post-release, but there are some (particularly fanartists) who prefer to nix the more questionable design elements.
682*** The [[https://mobile.twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1207466853620011009 Sothis Regalia DLC outfit]] brought back the booty shorts... for '''male Byleth''' . Adding to the weirdness is a black bodysuit that makes all of the intricate stomach/chest cutouts pointless. The top reply to the official Twitter announcement questioned if the DLC images were from a parody account, with others chiming in to express their confusion.
683*** Byleth's outfit for their unique class, Enlightened One. It's a mix of white and black robes, gold ornaments, a tiara, and a purple cape, which possibly comes off as a garish mismatched outfit.
684** Wyvern Lords of either gender have a metal half-skirt sticking up in the back. It's clearly there to provide extra protection while seated in a wyvern's saddle, but unfortunately it comes at the expense of looking ''ridiculous'' when not mounted, visually resembling the tail feathers of a turkey.
685** The DLC loungewear costumes look like something you'd expect from a soccer/football player to wear, and thus likely to [[{{Narm}} kill any drama in dramatic scenes just for your units wearing them]]. That said, [[NarmCharm most people using them are already wearing them to pretend their class is a basketball team already for laughs]], so it doesn't hurt as much as the other examples.
686** The DLC summer wear and the evening wear that came with the third wave of the expansion pass are pretty nice costumes. The maid and the butler costumes on the other hand, are pretty ridiculous. Like the loungewear mentioned above, it's likely to kill off any drama, but for those that came from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', this doesn't come off as too much, especially considering that maids and butlers were playable classes in that game.
687[[/folder]]

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