Fire Emblem Three Houses Obsidian Eclipse
is a Fire Emblem: Three Houses fanfic written by Crows Cronicle. The premise is a fifth route, where Byleth sides with a group of rebel Agarthans fighting against those who slither in the dark after making a deal with a mysterious and opportunistic individual, Phistomel.
The fanfiction consists of the main story and supplementary material. It uses a hybrid style of prose and a fake walkthrough.
Obsidian Eclipse contains the following tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: The worldbuilding and characterization of Agarthans is greatly expanded on.
- Adaptational Heroism: Zigzagged with Agarthans. While "those who slither in the dark" are still evil and messed up, and are in fact the main villains of the route, Agarthans as a whole are portrayed in a much more sympathetic light than in canon. In addition, the backstory surrounding them is changed to be more sympathetic: Agarthans are portrayed as victims of circumstance who bittered due to hosting a grudge for centuries as opposed to warmongering tyrants who challenged their benevolent goddess and got what they deserved like they were implied in canon.
- For Want Of A Nail: The fic's premise of Byleth teaming up with the mysterious Phistomel causes numerous ripple effects across the story.
- Humongous Mecha: Colossi, a large winged robot capable of paralyzing its foes and revealing an Agarthan's true form used by Phistomel.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite the changes due to the premise, certain events happen like in the canon.
- The battle of Garreg Mach still happens and Byleth falls to the chasm after it.
- Original Character: Every playable unit in the route (save for Byleth, obviously) does not have a canon counterpart.
- Shout-Out:
- Joshua's line in "Throne of Deception" "After all, do you think there is a villain who could be as handsome and charming as me?" is a reference to Kamen Rider Build
- Wham Shot: In "Beginning of a Revolt", Phistomel uses the Colossi to attack Lord Arundel, and the smoke clears revealing Thales, unlike in canon, where Arundel and Thales being one and the same was only ever heavily implied.
- Villain Protagonist: Phistomel, the route's lord equivalent, is essentially a villain co-protagonist. He seems to be more of an Anti-Villain, though, rather than full-on evil.
