Fire Emblem Three Houses (Spoiler Thread)

That certainly is an interesting perspective, though Catherine is certainly an adult. Here's a thought, maybe Rhea can't connect to Catherine because Catherine uses a spine of her dead family member as a sword? Whatever reason Rhea has for the relics for good or ill, it's clear they are quite a sensitive topic for her.

I'm pretty sure Edelgard just separated church and state, not abolishing the religion itself.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 23rd 2019 at 3:56:29 AM

I wish Rhea was a unit with supports besides just Byleth.

Hot take: Silver Snow isn't Rhea's story, White Clouds is. It's the only part of the game where Rhea plays a major role, and the save file icon for White Clouds is the Church of Seiros flag while the one for Silver Snow is for Byleth's personal army.

You can get questions from Rhea herself that make very clear just how isolated and alone Rhea really is. She wishes she could sit next to students and eat with them, to enjoy time with others.

She placed herself into a burden she wasn't equipped to handle, and so she's been eternally isolated for 1000 years.

In fact Seteth is a good example of just how separated she is because Seteth did move on from Sothis death. He moved on from his wife's death. Both him and Flayn have gone forward and the idea of resurrecting Sothis never crosses their mind.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Oct 23rd 2019 at 4:29:21 AM

Pffft Death Knights complete dislike of anyone on his side doesn't even apply just to Those who Slither. He treats Hubert the same for trying to order him if they fight.

@Druple: The CF ending states that the "Church of Seiros vanished from history" (in the sense of ceasing to exist, as discussed a few pages back), but depending on your endings/supports and so on, it's made clear that it basically continues on as a secular organization for doing good, instead of a behemoth of soft power on the continent.

That's not really the same thign though? One of Edelgard's main tenets is that the church is not the same as te faith and the latter can exist just fine without the former. Abolishing the church is definitely not the same as abolishing religion.

CF Edelgard does make it clear that she's an enemy of the church, not faith. I mean, to be against religion totally would be hypocritical since she does need Byleth who is Sothis's vessel.

Organized religion typically involves a community working together, and a lot of NP Cs, from the Nobility in Lorenz dialogue outright discarding their piety and being happy to murder Rhea, to NP Cs part of the Church, treat turning on the Church the same as renouncing the Religion. One Scholar even prayed to the Goddess to renounce the Goddess after Seteth is gone and the Church is doomed.

Marianne even calls the Goddess a fallacy on Edelgards route and so "logcially" she shouldn't be praying to her. So they can't seem to decide where the religion itself begins and the Church ends in the game itself. Which shouldn't be so confusing if Edelgards tenets were more detailed I feel.

It would be a lot easier to realize the Church of Sothis already existed before Seiros did, since Seteth met his wife in a church in Enbarr long before the war against Nemesis began.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Oct 23rd 2019 at 5:56:51 AM

Is the Church of Sothis the same Church of Seiros? Goddamn, i really need to doublecheck the timeline. Anyone have a good source?

I wouldnt say it was called the Church of Sothis, but a religion worshipping her had to have existed before Seiros since Flayn was born before the war or Zanado and Seteth met his wife in the church found in Enbarr.

I'm curious just how right Rhea was about the goddess. On the surface she seems 100% correct: the goddess was needed to save Fodlan, the goddess does save Fodlan and Rhea's role in things can be ended. But on the other hand, how much of Byleth is the goddess? Are they simply Sothis without her memories? Is someone with different memories the same person? If the memories came back would it simply be like an amnesiac recovering or would it be murder?

I have a feeling that if Byleth had grown up in the monastery, Sothis would have been more active the whole time and overwhelmed any independent personality growth on the baby's part, resulting in Rhea's plan working more or less perfectly.

Sothis when she goes all Purple Prose when Byleth is sleep-healing does call Byleth herself "i, or rather, you". She treats them the way reincarnation is supposed to work(Ie it's "you" but a different Incarnation of "You").

Reincarnation is very complicate and weird like that.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Oct 23rd 2019 at 6:31:44 AM

Let's also not forget Rhea isn't 100% sure about the process, and she certainly sugarcoats a lot. It seems Byleth and Sothis are different people, Byleth is not a incarnation or reincarnation of Sothis in anyway. Much like Robin and Grima, Byleth and Sothis are two different people who share a connection.

Yeah it's sort of an ambiguous situation on how Rhea exactly views the situation, i personally view it as Rhea talking to Sothis in Byleth, and her plan for having Byleth sit in the throne was her attempt at having Sothis take over. I'm pretty sure Rhea views Byleth and Sothis as different people, sure, Rhea will go all, you need to regain your memories before the time skip, but then in Golden deer she's all, i know Sothis's mind exists in you. And let's also not forget that after Rhea tell Byleth to assume the sacred duties of archbishop, like Byleth is an amnesiac Sothis, Seteth upfront asks if Byleth is Sothis, and Rhea tells him Byleth is a vessel and that they will become one with Sothis's power IE Sothis will overtake them. Rhea certainly is manipulative.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 23rd 2019 at 7:04:59 AM

Sothis is pretty clear she sees Byleth as an incarnation, Rhea acts under the idea thzt a Reincarnation will be 100% the same person as before. Which, while it happens with some versions of reincarnation, others treat it as the soul getting a clean slate and you have to actually get Enlightenment Superpowers via meditation and the like to see anything about ones past self.

Not to mention Sothis is a God and views herself as one, including Heroes where she speculates if she created Askr before dismissing her thoughts.

And her full powers are on such a different level even her Children's Blood canlt do the miraculous things her can. Like ensure you can forever resurrect as long as no one burns the Body(Thanks Dedue on SS/VW!)

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Oct 23rd 2019 at 7:06:28 AM

Really? Can you show some lines that state Sothis views Byleth as an incarnation? My understanding is that she views them as a companion and their own person, but a potential host but one she has not intention of truly taking over.

Also DAMN, my existential crisis involving reincarnation in FF XIV followed me here.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 23rd 2019 at 7:22:16 AM

Looking forward to the Hubert x Jeritza support where Hubert goes full smarmy on Jeritza's "poor understanding of obedience" while Jeritza goes "Keep pushing me, book boy."

Not gonna lie, i totally want to see Edelgard and Jeritza interact. He's like the only minion she has, who isn't 100% loyal.

Calling Byleth herself is treating them as an incarnation of her. That she's being dramatic about it is icing on the cake till she gets mad at them.

Like even when the Crest Stone, the thing fundamentally required to activate a Heroes' Relic, and Byleths mint hair going away, they can still wield the Sword of the Creator according to the epilogue. That should be fundamentally impossible with everything explained about how they work, which means Byleth has to be an incarnation of Sothis in some form.

x2 He shows similar disdain when the Imperials ask for his aid in Mercedes and Caspar Paralogue too.

The only time he ever seems to actually not be a jerk about it is with Edelgard where he instead goes "Uh...this isn't part of the plan."

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Oct 23rd 2019 at 7:31:09 AM

Ya know, if game took in account what you'd name Byleth, naming Byleth Sothis would be hilarious

Sothis: Human names are so strange and foreign to me... anyways, my name is also Sothis

x4 The first line after the time skip is Sothis waking up Byleth. During her speech, she refers to Byleth in the first person (calling them "I") before switching to third. Evidence points to Byleth being a reincarnation of Sothis's soul, but different experiences and the fact that her conciousness refuses to go away (because goddess) make Byleth and Sothis differentiate enough from each other and keep enough sense of self that they end up Sharing a Body, despite being one in soul, heart and mind (which honestly, makes their paired ending even more narcissistic).

It's very Hindu, since all souls originates from the original Brahma, the Male Trimurti and their wives are essentially Opposite-Sex Clone of each other(And Shiva's mutiple wives are all reincarnations of the same soul - Sati/Parvati).

So the Crest stone disappears on CF and Byleth's hair returns to normal, but they can still wield the sword and (I assume) Sothis is still there if you S supported her?

What does the Crest stone even do, then? Is it basically vestigial once Sothis does her mind meld thing?

Yes. The stone is pointless after that point regardless of the route.

Oh man, can I get Manuela to do an operation and remove it, then? Because I want that steel blue hair back