Happy 7th anniversary of Fire Emblem Three Houses
Today is the 7th anniversary of Fire Emblem Three Houses.
Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of my favorite switch games because of its story and characters. It was like my "real high school experience" when I first played it in September 2, 2019 as a 14 year old before the COVID-19 pandemic started. My older sisters played the game and that made me want to play it.
When I started playing Three Houses, I would play it for more than an hour because I was so engrossed in the story, characters, and support conversations. Even before playing the game, I gravitated towards Annette, Mercedes, and Hilda as my favorites and still are today. They were like my fictional best friends. I also gained new favorites as I played it such as Flayn, Alois, and Lorenz.
It's been 6 years since Cindered Shadows was released. I thought it was pretty good side story and new characters. Constance became one of my favorites.
Here is a timeline of my playthrough and how I found my ideal man.
I choose Golden Deer first because I thought this was the "golden" route in my eyes when there is no golden route in the game. I also sided with Rhea at that time. As I played through the route, the game managed to subvert my expectations I had on the characters such as Sylvain, Lysithea, Seteth, and Ashe. I managed to recruit all students from the other two houses except for Ferdinand...
Let's talk about Ashe, he was not the guy I had in mind when I was thinking who I should S support in the game because I initially thought of him as... how do I put this without being mean... generic nice guy. I was originally going to S support Ignatz because we both like art. When I first met Ashe I was like, "Okay, but I still have Ignatz in mind." However, I grew curious about his background whenever he mentions Lonato. So I raised support points with him to know his background and planned to recruit him, though I still had Ignatz in mind. Once I got his B support with Byleth, I felt something that I never felt before when he told Byleth his backstory. Like a small spark lit up within me that made my cheeks pink a little whenever I'm around him, but didn't know why.
As the Goddess Tower Event was approaching, I had to decide whether I should pick Ignatz or Ashe. After deciding which one I should pick, I chose Ashe. Okay so in my first try, I got Mercedes instead of Ashe because I think I had more support points with her and not with him so I exited the game and went to my autosave to actually raise support points with him. Now back to the conversation, I finally got Ashe for the Goddess Tower Event. As I was watching this special scene, I have developed a crush on him when he wished for his younger siblings to live out their lives in peace. After that event, I tend to blush whenever he's on screen. But in the post-timeskip, my crush for him has faded during his A support with Byleth. I didn't know who would be my ideal man until later.
Back to my playthrough, I completed the Golden Deer route in January 19, 2020. After completing Golden Deer, I started the Blue Lions route. But this time, I only recruited three Golden Deer students that is Lysithea, Marianne, and Lorenz. Now for the usual, I recruited almost all of the Black Eagles because Ferdinand was hard to recruit...
Somewhere in February 2020, I stopped at chapter 19 of Azure Moon and didn't play the game again because I was burnt out and busy with school.
Then 5 years later at age 20, I picked up the game and played it again in November 23, 2025.
I was nostalgic as I played this game and watching support conversations I've already got. I even got new ones such as Dedue's A support with Mercedes and Ashe. Speaking of Ashe, the memories of me being flustered by him have started flooding back whenever I see his post-timeskip design and hear his slight nasally voice. I also come to grow more fond of Marianne as she became one of my favorites. As I completed Blue Lions in December 5, 2025, Ashe's S support made me flustered so much that I was dying of wholesomeness.
Then I started the Black Eagles route on the same day. When I was rewatching Ashe's support convos with Byleth, I finally realized why I had a crush on him. It was not just his wish in the Goddess Tower event, it was his two important qualities. First, it was his B support that even though he was a thief to support his younger siblings, he knew it was wrong. Second, him not giving in into the darkness despite the hardships he went through. I have finally found my ideal man. Two important qualities that I look for in a real Christian man, keen sense of self awareness and unwavering optimism!
Anyways, back to my Black Eagles playthrough. I also found new favorites, Caspar, Bernadetta, and Dorothea as I revisit their characters. And in this route, I finally got the chance to know about the man, the myth, the legend, Ferdinand von Aegir.
Well, I kind of did know about him because of the "I Am Ferdinand Von Aegir" meme and him being competitive with Edelgard. As I played through the route, he turns out to be a pretty good character. Like in his support convos (particularly with Dorothea, Lorenz, and others) and his paralogue with Lysithea. That's all I have to say about him so yeah. Billy did a excellent job on voicing him...
As for Edelgard, I find her fascinating because of how she is intentionally written to be a flawed character in each routes like Rhea is. Abolish the crest system and nobility? Sure. But starting a war? Erm, that's too far. Of course, I heard about the discourse on Reddit that I didn't know of until I was 20 years old.
In January 3, I completed Black Eagles and started the church route.
In April 2, I finally finished the church route. After I completed all routes, I went through the support convos before the virtual game family sharing period expired.
After all these 7 years, Ashe has become my ideal man because of his unwavering optimism and most importantly, his keen sense of self awareness of his past actions when he was a thief in the past (+ bonus points for his slight nasally voice). That makes him close of what a Christian man is in real life is in terms of those two qualities and his overall personality because I am like the gray clouds who is only compatible with a Christian man who shines like the warm sun like Ashe. Or at least who can surpass him. I don't see Ashe as a cinnamon roll that needs to be protected all the time, I see him as a true man.
Now, I'm currently in part 2 of Azure Gleam in Three Hopes and my mii is married to mii Ashe with three children (1 boy and 2 girls) in Tomodachi Life Living the Dream.
To end this post, I made my FE3H character tier list that is based off on how well written these characters are in my perspective.
Tier list maker for every character in the Fire Emblem series. Filter by game, class, and other categories all at once.
Note: It won't save your ranking if you close the page.
Happy 7th anniversary of Fire Emblem Three Houses and rest in peace, Billy Kametz (March 22, 1987 – June 9, 2022).
