#fewath

A while ago, I wrote an essay about Fire Emblem: Three Houses’s Agarthans a while back in which I argued the slithering fellas were – on general terms – miscasted narratively, when it came to the role the story’s writers set them up to fulfill. Even though that essay provides an explanation as for why the Slitherers lose plot relevance as the story goes on, it doesn’t address everything else.

To elaborate on what I mean: the fan reception of “those who slither in the dark” has always fascinated me. Conceptually, hubris, xenophobia and entitlement incarnate should be a recipe for a perfect antagonist players can’t wait to dunk on hard. And yet, TWSITD is proof that having those qualities just isn’t enough, as it’s easy to find the belief within players that the slitherers: “are underwhelming”; “a missed opportunity”; “feel shoe-horned in”; etc.

So, what went wrong? What is exactly the “everything else” that hurts their reputation? With the benefit of hindsight, I’ll argue that the other reason the group is unpopular - as far as Fire Emblem Antagonists go - stems from how their darkness, their malice, is absent of focus.

Goes without saying that by this point there will be spoilers, so thread carefully.

To start things, I want to raise the following question:

Who is THE Archenemy of “Those who slither in the dark”?

Just think about it.

An antagonist can’t be called one if they don’t act in direct opposition of someone, more often than not; the story’s protagonist (whose Point of View is followed on). When talking about the Agarthans, however, this gets tricky. The group’s nature should put them in opposition with anyone quite easily, butthe reality shows this isn’t straightforward.

Who is their group’s nemesis, then? Who does Thales, the head honcho of TWSITD, perceive as HIS archenemy? Whom does Thales need to vanquish at all costs? And as a bonus; who can reciprocate these feelings?

The answer to that question SHOULD be Sothis, the god-like dragon that once purged his civilization in the far distant past. But… Uh…

She can’t quite do that anymore.

So naturally, he moved on for the next best thing. And what better archenemy for a millennia-old fart full of hate… than the last daughter of Sothis, Seiros.

Also known as Rhea.

After all, by virtue of Seiros founding the Adrestian Empire alongside Willhelm the 1st and instigating a +50-year-old war against Nemesis - the man that slaughtered her people and harvested their bodies for power -, Seiros indirectly and successfully foiled TWSITD’s plan for using Nemesis as a pawn for taking over Fódlan. Sure, the Slitherers did succeed with largely removing the Nabateans/Children of the Goddess out of the equation. But this wasn’t enough to give them rulership over the land like they wanted.

By present times (as in, at the start of the games’ story), Thales’ actions have been focused on setting up Rhea’s downfall: He has heavily crippled the main faction guaranteed to deliver Rhea support in times of war – The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus – through the Tragedy of Duscur; He collaborated with Duke Aegir to create a super-soldier with the Crest of Flames within House Hresvelg, with the Crest being chosen specifically so this soldier could “burn even the gods” not unlike Nemesis once did; And in the main story, he oversees his underlings’ experiments in Garreg Mach, aiming to perfect the Demonic Beasts planned to be used by the Empire to level down Rhea’s Keep and finish her off.

Unfortunately, here’s where the problem shows its ugly face. Because as much hatred there is between both Thales and Seiros…

(Rare exchange of Thales and Rhea face-to-face. The dialogue can only be seen if all minibosses in the Shambhala mission have been defeated in 3H).

…She’s not a protagonist in the Fódlan games. Heck, not even a deuteragonist, or being playable in any story-canonical way outside of Heroes.

Rhea’s role, across both Fódlan games – Fire Emblem: Three Houses & Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes – can be summed up as follows:

Being Byleth’s boss during most of the Academy arc of Three Houses.

Needing to be rescued by Part 2 of Azure Moon, Verdant Wind and Silver Snow.

Setting up (alongside Thales) the Final Boss of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow.

Acting as the main and final antagonist of 3H’s Crimson Flower, and Three Hopes’ Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire.

Needing to be protected 24/7 in Azure Gleam.

If you’re heavily invested in the narrative of the surviving Nabateans’ predicament and Seiros/Rhea, chances are you’ll appreciate the Agarthans a lot for what they represent. If not, it’s unlikely you’ll find TWISTD interesting or even worth having in the stories.

If I had to pinpoint a particular cause for this, it would be that, as the story puts little focus on Rhea, so, too, it does to Thales and the Agarthans. That way, their darkness becomes absent of focus. Thales’ main enemy just isn’t whom the Fódlan games want to follow, and he suffers in turn.

But wait! You might ponder:

What about everyone else? Why couldn’t Thales be [3H lord]’s archenemy instead?

In theory, an argument can be raised that they could be an effective replacement. In practice, however, you quickly run into issues that weaken their potential, many of which are highlighted on their stories already.

To provide a clearer picture, let’s tackle each candidate one by one, and examine why they could and do not work as Thales’ new nemesis:

Byleth Eisner:

The King Without a Kingdom

Pros for Thales as an Archenemy:

They’re Sothis’s reborn, even having some emotional carryover from their past life as seen in Chapter 2 of 3H, after dealing with Kostas’ gang in Zanado. Their status even leads Thales to quickly put them on his radar (as long he’s got a way to learn of this, that is), which should be cemented in the case Rhea exits the picture entirely.

Thales assists Kronya when she kills Jeralt in 3H, briefly leading the latter into a revenge spree.

In Silver Snow, Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, Thales sucker punches Byleth into falling to a 5-year slumber at the worst possible moment.

In Silver Snow, Thales played a pivotal role in the past of Byleth’s chosen and former house leader: Edelgard. The ideology that sprung from it leads Edelgard to drag Fódlan into a war and fight Byleth on this path, causing further tragedy.

Cons for Thales as an Archenemy:

Byleth and Thales lack shared screentime. And what little exchanges they get in battle is hurt by Byleth’s lack of knowledge about Sothis’ past, more so as some routes don’t explore it (and when they do, it’s once Thales’ already dead).

Byleth’s revenge against Kronya is short lived and defused by another lackey of Thales, who sacrifices Kronya in a ploy to kill Byleth. Beyond this, Byleth’s hatred for Jeralt’s death is never visibly extended to Thales, leaving their antagonism ultimately one-sided from Thales’ end.

Silver Snow never really focuses on Thales’ pivotal role in Edelgard’s backstory, despite its importance in the whole Byleth vs Edelgard angle the route’s plot is aiming for.

Edelgard von Hresvelg:

The Flame Emperor

Pros of Thales as an Archenemy:

Thales’s experiments on Edelgard and her family killed her siblings, drove some mad, and ruined her life.

Thales body-snatched and replaced her maternal uncle, Lord Arundel, and used his identity to further his group’s agenda.

Thales and Edelgard share substantial (if small) interactions together. As allies, Thales barely tries to hide he’s using Edelgard to achieve his goals, with Edelgard responding in kind. And their scenes together in Crimson Flower’s post-timeskip ooze passive-aggressiveness.

Due to 1 in a 1,000,000 chance, Edelgard seeks payback towards Thales at the start of Warriors: Three Hopes’ Scarlet Blaze route. Thales later openly retaliates against Edelgard during her war campaign and ends up serving as one of the two Final Bosses of her story.

Cons of Thales as an Archenemy:

From Edelgard’s Point of View, Thales is a minor link on the chain of factors that caused her (and others’) misfortunes, merely being an enabler of a social system of which Seiros (under the name of Rhea) sits at the very top (For those struggling to wrap their heads around this train of thought, I’ve made a resource which explains the logic behind Edelgard’s mindset). In practice, it means Thales figures very low on Edelgard’s radar, more so given…

In Three Houses, Edelgard and Thales need one another to achieve their goals: Thales lacks a proper army to fight Rhea on her home turf and would be quickly decimated in a proper war without one’s backing (see Silver Snow/Verdant Wind); conversely, Edelgard needs Thales’ resources to deliver a successful offensive against Rhea, the Kingdom and Alliance at the same time. In a worst-case scenario, Thales’ assets are needed to hold her ground (see Crimson Flower before Byleth returns), and without them (Part 1 of Three Hopes), the logistics of fighting two factions on her own would quickly overwhelm her, extra preparation time be damned.

As allies in Part 2 of Three Houses, Thales cannot successfully control nor threaten Edelgard. In Crimson Flower, his show of power is neutralized with success, and the unveiling of his trump card is rendered moot through a cover up; in other routes, Edelgard uses a captured Rhea as leverage against him, and her second-in-command shows he can trace back the location of Thales’ hideout, which is not good for him in the long-term in any storyline.

In Three Hopes, Thales is heavily cripped by Edelgard’s surprise attack in the prologue. It takes him 2+ years of preparation, an opening sparked by someone else’s attack, and bona fide luck for Thales to recover ground.

In Scarlet Blaze, the vitriol is very much one sided from Thales’ end. Edelgard meanwhile just sees him as a steppingstone and a ticking time bomb at best, or a roadblock at worst.

Edelgard shares little to no thematic parallels with Thales compared to Rhea, who is her de facto Archenemy.

 Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd:

The Savior King

Pros of Thales as an Archenemy:

Thales’ involvement as the Agarthan brain behind the Tragedy of Duscur ruined Dimitri’s life and affected most of his friends’. Dimitri in turn acquired a strong desire to bring the Tragedy’s true culprits to justice and avenge all its victims, direct or otherwise.

Thales killed and body snatched Lord Arundel – Dimitri’s step uncle – to accomplish his goals, and by proxy of Cleobulus/Fake Cornelia, used his stepmother to instigate the Tragedy of Duscur before disposing her with none the wiser.

Exploration of parallels: both Dimitri and Thales share an all-consuming desire for revenge against those that wronged them.

TWSITD are the main antagonists of Azure Gleam, with Thales even becoming the shadow ruler of the Empire and the story’s final boss.

Cons of Thales as an Archenemy:

Azure Moon’s story rejects the notion of revenge being righteous, the latter being the core idea that Dimitri’s story seeks to answer. Likely due to this, Thales’ defeat in this story (as Lord Arundel) is given little fanfare and the full extent of his vileness is never explored, cementing Edelgard’s position as the main antagonist.

Dimitri and Thales lack substantial shared screentime, even under the latter’s disguise as Arundel. Not only does this hurt Dimitri’s interactions with Thales, he also never finds out what exactly is the deal behind him and his group’s ilk, beyond their involvement in the Tragedy.

At no point are the parallels with Dimitri and Thales explored upon, save for two throwaway lines from Dimitri in Azure Gleam.

The vitriol is largely one-sided from Dimitri’s end, as Thales sees Dimitri and his Kingdom as just a steppingstone for a far greater goal.

Claude von Riegan:

The Master Tactician

Pros of Thales as an Archenemy:

Claude’s ideology of a unified world without barriers nor racism goes in direct opposition of everything Thales and his organization stand for.

Thales’s downfall being caused by a character that has little ties to TWSITD is very ironic. Conversely…

The death of Claude’s uncle in Three Hopes is revealed to not have been caused by Count Gloucester – but rather, someone issuing orders under his name – , the identity of the culprit being left unknown. Should the story hint strongly – or heck, openly state even– that Thales was behind it, it would add a layer of irony in which Claude’s involvement in Fódlan –his role on Thales’ defeat in Verdant Wind – would be a direct result of the latter’s actions.

The potential for schemer vs schemer action. A glimpse of this is explored in Golden Wildfire when Myson uses Claude’s own plans and disregard for his allies’ lives to set Fleche against him.

Cons of Thales as an Archenemy:

Irony aside, Claude is by far the lord with the least ties to Thales and TWSITD overall. In turn, any conflict involving him lacks any substantial vitriol between both parties and is treated as a formality.

The true culprit behind the death of Claude’s uncle being never revealed means that any potential attribution of the deed being handled to Thales is filled with uncertainty and unsatisfaction, more so within the context of Warriors: Three Hopes, given…

The Agarthans are irrelevant to Golden Wildfire, Claude’s story in Three Hopes. Thales does not even show up in it.

BONUS: Shez.

The Wandering Mercenary

Pros of Thales as an Archenemy:

Shez is the only protagonist with potential direct blood ties to TWSITD… maybe.

They’re hinted to have been subject to experiments with Agarthan technology, which is how they ended up with Arval’s core in them (the Slitherers’ “Soul Heart”).

Thales as Shez’s archenemy could be used to explore Shez’s past in greater detail, as well as the mystery surrounding their deceased adoptive mother.

Cons for Thales as an Archenemy: It’s heavily implied TWSITD did not experiment on Shez (or at least, none of their current members did…). Thales doesn’t even know who Shez is, and all his underlings that encounter Shez react with either surprise, curiosity, or bafflement. Solon is certain Shez must have come from Shambhala, but…

In Conclusion

Thales and “those who slither in the dark” are set up as the Seiros/Rhea and the Church’s perfect enemy and honestly, they’re quite competent when it comes to that. Force Thales and co. to deal with someone else though, and the conflict that ensues just doesn’t quite have enough spice for him and TWSITD to leave a good impression, or heck, to feel like they needed to be there.

Or at least, that’s half the reason why I believe their reputation is so low fandom-wise. The other half, as alluded early on, is explored further on my first essay.

Who knows if a 3H prequel involving Seiros will ever happen honestly. It’s the scenario where this spiteful evil geezer and his slithery gang can legit shine brilliantly as the hateable, unsympathetic black holes of evil they were crafted as. But like most things in writing, it’s the execution that matters.

Of all the things people have spoken about Three Houses’ writing, if there’s something I honestly don’t see discussed often as a whole (aka not just in an individual basis), is that KT’s writers were chronically unable to tie up all loose ends with the stories they worked on: Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, and Verdant Wind’s (quick reminder Silver Snow was written by IS instead). This sentiment is even shared by one of the scenario writers involved with both Three Houses, and in the Warriors: Three Hopes spinoff:

Regarding [Warriors: Three Hopes’] Scarlet Blaze, Azure Gleam, and Golden Wildfire chapters, what was the tale you wanted to tell? Iwata: In order to make it a different experience from Three Houses, one of the scenario writers explained about wanting to depict the things that had been left unfinished in the main game. In Scarlet Blaze, it’s the battle against ‘Those Who Slither in the Dark’, in Azure Gleam it’s reaching the truth about ‘The Tragedy of Duscur’, and for Golden Wildfire it’s the appearance of a huge obstacle to Claude realizing his dreams.

In turn, the purpose of this post will be recapping briefly what each unfinished plot thread was about, if we catch glimpses of them in other stories, and how Warriors: Three Hopes decided to give them a proper conclusion.

Crimson Flower: the battle against “Those Who Slither In The Dark”

Forever immortalized as very sneaky plague doctor-looking fellas.

Byleth’s informed starting Part 2 of Crimson Flower that the Empire/Edelgard has teamed up with “those who slither in the dark” for practical reasons in the fight against the Church (mainly, for their manpower and assets), and that the group’s expected to be next on the chopping block once they’re no longer needed.

As the main campaign goes on, the Agathans are treated as an “Elephant in the Room” sort of deal - being brought up only by a few select individuals when the situation calls for it - all while Edelgard and co. are monitoring their movements. Thales/Arundel tries subverting this in at least 2 different instances (Hubert’s paralogue and, most notably, in Chapter 16), but for one reason or another, the situation never escalates further.

The group’s seen one last time just before the final battle, as Edelgard and Thales have a small chat where both agree to keep their team-up going for a little longer once the war’s over. And after the main story’s done, the Empire’s fight vs TWSITD is mentioned in passing during the Epilogue cutscene, multiple paired and solo endings, and even one S-Support, all while confirming the group’s demise sometime later after a certain “Battle of Shambhala”.

Do we get glimpses of it in other routes?

Kinda? Even though the exact circumstances described in CF never take place anywhere else, we see Shambhala being invaded by Byleth and co. in two other routes: Silver Snow (the other other story branch of Black Eagles), and Verdant Wind (Claude’s story).

The main reason this happens in these storylines is thanks to a post-mortem request from Hubert, who was previously aware a certain Imperial fortress would get bombarded by them ahead of time, and determined (somehow) that the missiles’ origins can be traced back to a location believed to be the slitherers’ HQs.

In these 2 stories, the battle against TWSITD is solved in only one chapter, and the main narrative purpose it fulfills is to set up the real, actual final boss of the story (oh and also kill Rhea in Verdant Wind).

How did Warriors: Three Hopes tackle this loose end?

By axing Edelgard’s team up with the Agathans outright as early as possible, which shakes the entire foundation of the story given how much agency Edelgard’s actions hold over the plot. This is very important because the fact neither the Empire nor TWISTD are bound to work together for a common goal allows both sides to properly fight each other openly while the story unravels.

The way the story’s foundation is shaken is also quite important too, as its done by forcing Edelgard and Hubert to assume a very active role in the story against the slitherers which is never seen in 3H’s story besides CF’s Ch. 16, possible only through a one-in-a-million-chance that cannot happen in Three Houses: having Kostas die vs the House Leaders near Remire Village, everyone never meeting Byleth, and having Jeritza become Garreg Mach’s 3rd professor like Edelgard intended.

As you might have noticed by now however, the one big caveat Scarlet Blaze’s exploration of this story thread has is that the conflict shown in it, due to the involved circumstances, will never be the same as the one described in Crimson Flower’s. In hindsight however, given Edelgard’s battle vs the Agarthans in CF is heavily hinted to be anticlimactic and nowhere near as challenging compared to Three Hopes’ timeline (mainly thanks to her having already neutralized all other threats to the Empire by then), I dare say this change might’ve been for the best.

Azure Moon: Reaching the truth about the “Tragedy of Duscur”

This is a pretty cool CG tbh.

Blue Lions gives you many glimpses of the Tragedy of Duscur pre-timeskip. Most notably, Chapter 8 reveals Dimitri is in Garreg Mach mainly to find and get revenge on its culprits, and Chapter 10 shows how he finds out the slitherers’ were involved in the tragedy… right before Dimitri becomes convinced Edelgard was the mastermind of the event and the plot point is derailed completely for a while.

Some time later, it returns in full force during Ch. 17, where an exchange Rodrigue has with Gilbert reveals the body of Dimitri’s stepmother - Patricia/Anselma - was never found in spite of being one of the alleged victims. Then in Ch 18, Cornelia/Cleobulus as a last act of spite reveals to Dimitri that Patricia conspired to make the tragedy happen just to “see Edelgard again”. In Ch. 19, Dimitri tries to get answers from a dying Lord Arundel/Thales - whom he long since suspected to have been part of it - but fails to make him speak. In late Ch. 20/early Ch 21, it’s shown Margrave Gautier found out Viscount Kleiman’s involvement on the Tragedy, and the interrogation of one of his servants reveals not only the dude thinks he did what was best for the kingdom, but also that Patricia was allowed to escape unharmed.

And then the story ends, leaving the mystery hanging. If you bought the DLC, Dimitri & Hapi’s support chain reveals Cleobulus tricked Anselma into believing she couldn’t see Edelgard again due to Dimitri’s father, and essentially emotionally tortured the woman for +5 years until Anselma *cracked* and became a willing participant. Their paired ending also mentions they later worked on to expose TWSITD and the other culprits of the tragedy. Whatever was found in that investigation, it’s ultimately left unrevealed.

Do we get glimpses of it in other routes?

Mostly no. The tragedy is briefly discussed in Ch. 3 of Black Eagles and Golden Deer, but it never goes on beyond what happened and who died. And the circumstances in which Dimitri becomes so hell-bent on killing Edelgard are never ever shown to the player.

Crimson Flower meanwhile, not only confirms Arundel/Thales was 100% involved in it during Ch.17, if that chapter’s main story mission plays in a certain way, Dimitri in his dying speech of hate towards Edelgard will say the following:

Edelgard! You... I will kill you! You will know the regret of my father, who was killed for you! Of my stepmother, who was slain by her own daughter! You will bow your head before all of the lives you trampled for your ideals before you die in misery!

How did Warriors: Three Hopes tackle this loose end?

First, by focusing on the Kingdom politics during the first half of the story. It starts with Rufus (Dimitri’s uncle) launching a surprise coup in the Kingdom - for reasons irrelevant to the story - under the pretext of undermining House Fraldarius’s attempts to use Dimitri as a puppet, all while the revealing he was the mastermind behind the Kingdom side of instigators. And it all snowballs from there while the mystery develops, because unlike Three Houses, Rufus’ involvement isn’t kept under wraps due to a good chunk of evidence going to the grave with him (non-CF), or because he’s sidelined to put more focus to Edelgard's war (CF).

Second, by gradually making Edelgard irrelevant in the story until her character has been effectively written out, the narrative allows the tragedy’s culprits to be the main antagonistic force of the story.

And third, through making the story one of revenge and bringing justice to the Tragedy’s victims, Dimitri in turn is kept in a middle state between his normal and his revenge-obsessed self to justify it, and this permits the plot to have Thales as a fitting final boss, given his status as the brains behind the Agarthan side of the instigators.

Verdant Wind: The obstacle to Claude’s dreams

Look at that dashing smile man.

Starting Part 2 of Verdant Wind, it’s revealed Claude’s dream is one of a world without discrimination and prejudice. And for that, he sees the idea of an unified land, of tearing down the world’s barriers, as a way to allow everyone to start anew, understand one another and realize we’re more different than we would like to admit. And while by the end of the story Claude’s goal for Fodlan is achieved, he never directly has to overcome some obstacle to accomplish it.

Even though Edelgard, the Empire and the Agarthans are clear-and-cut antagonists during VW’s story*, they’re overall quite divorced from Claude’s dream to directly oppose it*. Edelgard is only an enemy mainly due to the threat she poses to the Alliance, as her ideals are not really that different to Claude’s and even admits such. TWSITD meanwhile, are not that involved in the story besides the lategame of Part 1 & 2, and at their core they’re just a xenophobic hate group, meaning they threaten everyone equally.

So in the end, only one candidate remains which fits the ideological angle of obstacle, which Claude does bring up during the plot but never serves this role in spite of the build-up it gets during Part 1: the Church & Rhea. The main reason for it is simply due to Byleth becoming both the new Archbishop and Claude’s biggest supporter during Part 2 during Rhea’s absence, all while the plot forces Rhea to be not only be rescued so Claude can have someone who can answer all the questions he seeks about Fodlan’s mysteries (which is another plot point of the story), but also conveniently kills her offscreen in a sacrificial manner once all’s said and done.

Do we get glimpses of it in other routes?

Sort of, but nowhere near as openly as you would expect. In Crimson Flower, Claude says the following about what he would’ve done had he defeated Edelgard at Derdriu:

In all honesty, I was hoping to become a supreme ruler and lead Fódlan to peace myself. But... that won't be happening now.

Also, compared to how he acts with Edelgard in her route, Claude in Azure Moon is ominously adversarial towards Dimitri after being saved (even insisting he does not owe him any debt whatsoever), and even says the following:

I'm leaving Fódlan. There are things I have to do. Dreams I need to see to fruition. That's why I became the Alliance leader to begin with, actually. But it left me no time for what I was really after.

How did Warriors: Three Hopes tackle this loose end?

Simple; by having him actually clash with the Church (and also the Kingdom by proxy). The plot ensures such by introducing Shahid - Claude’s half-brother - for the purpose of: 1. preventing Claude from ever becoming invested in Fodlan’s past and mysteries, and; 2. from finishing his fight with the Empire.

Time to process what had just happened after Solon revealed himself in front of everyone? - WHOOPS Shahid is invading, so back to the Alliance Claude goes!

Time to invade the Empire proper after fighting them in Gronder Field? You bet- WHOOPS Shahid is at it again!

With both of these plot points aborted and, due to Claude & Edelgard shifting gears after some uneven success in their campaigns, both deciding to team-up finally allows Claude in the second half of this story to finally pick up a fight against someone whom can ideologically serve as an obstacle to the dream he yearns to see a reality. Because without any bonds nor close connections to someone with power in the Church - more so if they lack Rhea’s approval, her own biases be damned -, the reality is that the church is not gonna allow it.

Now that I’ve gone over all three plot points, I do think only one answer remains to be answered:

Why couldn’t all these 3 story threads be finished in Three Houses?

Anyone who’s been aware or has heard of Three Houses’ development cycle would probably answer this question with something like “Well, because the game was rushed, duh!”, but I believe there’s another possibility which explains the “why” from a narrative perspective.

Because these 3 plot threads are side plots.

I’m fully aware this is probably a very spicy take, but please bear with me for a second.

The ideas explored in them can be very intriguing, don’t get me wrong, but as Three Houses shows, it’s not easy to dwell on plot points which are not the driving force behind the main story:

In Crimson Flower, Edelgard needs to wage war on Fodlan to force the continent to change in the way she sees fit. Due to this, fighting TWSITD in the process when it’s made abundantly clear their assistance is needed, risks massively derailing the campaign in the process and also handicap her war efforts. In hindsight, Ch. 16 is more of a godsend than anything.

In Azure Moon, Dimitri must rise from the brink, reclaim Faerghus and oppose Edelgard to bring peace. However, solving the mystery of the Tragedy of Duscur, and thus force conflict with all of its instigators (which BL heavily hints many lie within Dimitri’s own Kingdom) isn’t a wise idea during times of war, more so given the main antagonist of the story played no actual role on the event.

In Verdant Wind, Claude must secure the Alliance’s future by opposing the Empire, and retrieve Rhea to have her spill all the lore-juice missing from his knowledge fountain. For this campaign he’s also openly allied with the Church in spite of his misgivings with its teachings and its old Archbishop, so the whole idea of opposing them during the story (when said church also wants to rescue that Archbishop) is just plain awkward.

Fascinatingly - and I noticed this just as I was writing all this text -, this situation is pretty much inverted in Warriors: Three Hopes. Unlike Three Houses, the 3 stories of the spinoff, in execution, use the war as a pretext to explore the plot threads left hanging in the routes KT worked on back in Three Houses. And because of this, the stories actually end once those plot points finally reach their resolution, in spite of the war being technically not over once that happens.

...And arguably how it's also kinda contrived, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

A few weeks ago, I had a realization about something surrounding Edelgard's past which lowkey explains her whole dynamic with Dimitri a ton better than the generally accepted theory that the experiments "those who slither in the dark" did to Edelgard affected her memory (not saying it isn't a factor, mind you). After sharing my thoughts with the Three Houses subreddit, people pointed I either got some facts wrong or was missing some key details, so I went back and did a more thorough research on the whole topic again. And once getting a full picture of the whole situation, I feel it was worth making this post.

To explain what I mean by claiming that Edelgard & Dimitri's relationship is shockingly complicated, we first need to go over everything both Three Houses and its Warriors spinoff tells us about their shared past and experiences:

1. Edelgard in the Goddess Tower scene says her first love was a noble from the kingdom a lifetime ago.

2. In the Blue Lions event "Childhood Memories", Dimitri says the following about his past with Edelgard:

Dimitri: We were born and raised in different territories, without ever knowing the other even existed. Yet, against all odds, for just over a year, we became childhood friends. [...] Unaware of each other's stations or backgrounds, we met and became incredibly close. This was when she and Lord Arundel were living in the Kingdom.

Incidentally, Dimitri also says this in his A-Support with Hapi:

Dimitri: As [Anselma/Patricia] was seeking asylum from the Empire in the Kingdom, Lord Arundel was obligated to hide the Imperial princess's whereabouts. She would undoubtedly have become a political pawn in the Kingdom as well. If her location had gone public, the Empire would have demanded her return. [...] I did not realize until much later that the girl I'd met under such strange circumstances was my stepsister.

3. In the AM event "Questions and Answers", Edelgard is noticeably shocked when Dimitri gives her the dagger back, which brings back the memories of when it was gifted to her. Besides realizing Dimitri was that kid, she also calls him once afterwards "My dear, forgotten friend...".

Oh, and Dimitri also calls her "El" a few times, which is important.

4. In Three Hopes, in one of Edelgard's Expedition lines, she recalls the following about how she got her dagger:

Edelgard: Have I told you about the boy who gave me the dagger? I called him "Dee," which is all I really remember about him.

5. In Edelgard's A-Support with Byleth, she mentions near the end how "there's no one left who calls me El..."

6. In Cindered Shadows, this exchange happens the second time you get to explore during the side-story:

Dimitri: Pardon the odd question, but something has been bothering me for a while now. Your hair...was it always that color?

Edelgard: That is an odd question. But yes, if you must know, it was a different color when I was a child. How could you know that? Is it possible that we met before the academy?

7. And finally, in Three Houses itself, not only any mentions of Edelgard calling Dimitri by name in flashbacks were removed with the last update in the English script, checking the OG Japanese one with Fedatamine.com reveals Edelgard never outright called Dimitri by name in those flashbacks, meaning the changes made to the EN script post-launch were likely done for consistency's sake (as in, the localization took some liberties with the Edelgard and Dimitri flashbacks, the devs likely noticed them, and ordered the translation team to remain faithful to the OG script).

In short, the "tl;dr" version of the whole Edelgard & Dimitri dynamic, in both Three Houses and Three Hopes, is that:

Dimitri recalls all of his past time with Edelgard back when they were kids. He remembers growing close enough to Edie to call her "El", but admits that neither Edelgard nor him knew who the other really was by then. Dimitri also states he eventually put two-and-two-together long after Edelgard had left the kingdom.

Edelgard meanwhile, remembers meeting a boy in the Kingdom whom she once had a crush on. She called him "Dee", recalls receiving her dagger from him and... That's pretty much it.

What exactly does this all mean then?

It means that, not only Edelgard does not remember her past with Dimitri the same way he does (jury's out as for why that's the case), her & Dimitri's recollections of events makes abundantly clear that, for most of Three Houses, Edelgard is 100% unaware that Dimitri and "Dee" (as in, the boy she befriended in the kingdom) are one and the same.

As always, many thanks to everyone who read this post! Looking back at it, I'm lowkey mad that I figured this out so damn late into the game's lifespan given all the evidence pointing it had been staring at my face all along.