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Propaganda I'm never falling for is the idea that Nemesis makes better sense in SS than VW, or that Rhea should originally been Claude's boss like in GW. It's honestly the biggest sign that a lot of y'all never really understood or even tried to understand Verdant Wind.
Verdant Wind is literally centered around the actual origin of Fodlan's bloodstained history. The biggest justification for VW even takes a lot from SS is because a lot of the things that SS has also involves the Agarthans, Edelgard being their second Nemesis for the Nabateans' end, the fact that Rhea is charitably not the actual problem who makes Fodlan a worser place, etc.
Hence why:
- Claude's intrusive curiosity over others and the truth behind Fodlan is relevant
- Claude's certain interactions switch from him blaming Rhea and the Seiros tenets for the world's borders to denying it when Lorenz brings it up when he announces his dream
- Claude full-on concluding with Cyril that he doesn't have to make Rhea his enemy
- Claude letting Byleth succeed in the role Rhea appointed them
- Claude having a whole paralogue centered around Maculi and special dialogue with Indech
- Claude experiencing / learning more about the Agarthans, their plots and why they're the real people behind Fodlan's suffering and bloodstained history and bringing them down (this similarity with SS is arguably the most necessary, concluding it directly leads to Nemesis' resurrection, which is double vital for Mr. "I wanna know Fodlan's problems" to know more than anyone else)
- why Claude is literally the only lord gets to know that Nemesis is the man behind the genocidal slaughter and why he and Byleth become the second coming of Seiros and finish him for good in the same plains he was killed
Like, VW and SS definitely have problems, but Nemesis being VW-exclusive is just not one of them, it takes an active misunderstanding or ignorance regarding both routes to still argue Nemesis or even, Rhea's SS final boss should have been swapped.
Silver Snow is about transitioning from Beagles dealing with Edelgard's betrayal and war, Byleth's origins, and Rhea's bittersweet fate regarding her feelings towards Byleth and Sothis that can lead to either a merciful death, an isolating seclusion or salvation and peace.
Verdant Wind is about Claude growing from his past assumptions about Rhea, learning about her and the many circumstances that truly shaped the world, and the actual monsters responsible.
6 years, and people are still either misunderstanding or ignorant to the fact that Nemesis / Agartha being Claude's true enemies is immensely fitting for his character.
This round of illiteracy is arguably as bad as people never clocked that Silver Snow was NEVER the church route, but legitimately the first Black Eagles route (SS' appeal literally started with "what if your lord betrayed you?), just because Edelgard or Hubert are opponents, it doesn't mean it wasn't largely Beagles-centric.
Then again, people still think that Byleth choosing to oppose and kill Edelgard wasnt a choice, when the whole SS / CF split is literally a choice between Byleth either opposing Edelgard for her betrayal or allying with Edelgard in her betrayal. BOTH WERE ALWAYS CHOICES, the same way Silver Snow and Crimson Flower are BOTH BLACK EAGLES ROUTES.
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Fire Emblem Three Houses Trivia: Contrary to popular belief, the titular Fire Emblem in this entry, according to Director Toshiyuki Kusakihara, is the Crest of Flames flag used in the Silver Snow route (and also Verdant Wind), not the Crest called "Crest of Flames"
Rhea is a scapegoat. The Nabateans are a scapegoat.
And the Emperor isn't just misguided, she's been radicalized into a Slither asset. Legitimate conspirators who have tricked her into believing a (antisemitic-coded and definitely xenophobic) conspiracy theory about their opponent.
These are very important things for what they mean for the narrative if you pull away from Crimson Flower and take it for the horror story it really is under the surface. And if we operate under the knowledge and perspective not of "Rhea is genuinely as evil as the route would have you believe she is" and of "The Emperor is a compromised, known Slither Asset let loose to act under the benefit of Those Who Slither in the Dark." I feel like the playing field just switches from a game about anime fluff and school romance to the nightmare of genocide.
My Empirestan friend did NOT like that I compared her to Ulfric Stormcloak getting manipulated by the Thalmor into thinking he was ever acting of his own independent will. Because I brought up Ulfric Stormcloak as a comparison point. (Which... also gets into the insular nature of a conspiracy theory. It doesn't want you to accept anything that would be deeply uncomfortable and rattle the foundation it set in.)
I brought up Ulfric Stormcloak not because he's a tacitly a bigot whether he realizes it or not, but because their backstory involved taking a vulnerable noble and subjecting them to such torture until they reached a breaking point of despair, then convincing them that they are the only one who can save Skyrim/Fodlan. By the conspirators who are feeding them conspiracy theories in order to convert them into an unwitting asset, not agent. They believe that they can take down the Thalmor/Slither, but only AFTER defeating the force that abandoned them. The betrayer. The Skyrim Empire / The Knights of Seiros. And more than likely, Rhea herself.
The Emperor says out and out in the Manuela B support that she thinks Faith Makes You Weak. Incapable of surviving on your own. She is anti-religious beyond the pragmatic take down of the Church, she's got a bias. The A support? Basically has Manuela backpedal and say "oh, but you give me faith too." It doesn't steer her away from conquering. And Manuela is just... on board? What?
And her story is constructed in a way that wants to convince you that her way is right. Or at least it wants to stalemate into "The Conqueror has a point about Conquering and it should be given legitimacy." because the final statement in all routes is that it's a happily ever after, (while Edelgard's is the only one that provides a truly radical progressive future.) It's like the story has a narrative black hole, asserting that the only way for things to change for the better is for Edelgard to have her war, win or lose. No, no it doesn't. Hanneman is a man of inventions trying to undo the need for Crests, Claude is here to bust down racist borders, Byleth is wielding a WMD that realistically should deter people from war. Rhea wants to step down and give the position to Byleth. Too many people want change that a war of nations does not need to happen. A civil revolution could probably achieve the same purpose.
But Crimson Flower wants you to think that the sacrifices are necessary to build a more prosperous future. I wonder how many warlord leaders have promised that or along the lines of it.
Arvis, Walhart, Rudolf, Morion. Hmm. Hmmmm...
Even the most sympathetic of the Red Conqueror brand of character still is a Red Conqueror. That necessitates war. So how does Crimson Flower make people think it's a valid path for Fodlan to take and that the war is necessary for Fodlan?
By tricking you into thinking it. By tricking you into thinking the Conqueror's actually right. There is a lot of things in Crimson Flower that makes it appear that Rhea is as the Conqueror says. Rhea is shown to be evil to the player because she is an inquisitor who wants to execute dissenters. (Those dissenters attempted to steal a WMD and assassinate the pope.) She does say inquisitor shit, but secretly controlling Fodlan? No, no she doesn't. And the Inquisitor shit is promptly dropped in any route that the Emperor is not the lord in. Almost as if the writers needed to make Seiros look bad so they made her do awful things instead of genuinely getting to the point. (Free my girl Seiros, she did all of it but I don't care /joke. But goddamn does she deserve to be the hero of her own story.)
She sees Byleth as a failure? Byleth just sided with the Empire, who just took the corpse parts of the Nabateans. It doesn't even matter if they're not being used by the Conqueror, supposedly, it's endangerment of lives, aggressing with open war, and fucking bringing the Crest Stones that much closer to. It doesn't matter that you don't see the Conqueror using Demonic Beasts while playing CF because Fire Emblem is a game that doesn't typically give you neutral units like Faceless, Stoneborn, Puppets, etc. And AYMR is designed to the Conqueror's specifications, HOLY SHIT. She is still using their weapons and technology of Genocide Pursuit.
The burning of Fhirdiad? That's long after the Conqueror has already made Rhea snap. Flayn and Seteth are liable to have already died, her trauma as a genocide survivor is being retriggered incredibly so like UMM. Rhea is at the brink of death, despair, and is susceptible to dragon degeneration (See Silver Snow), she has lost everything. But the Conqueror made a villain out of her.
And without her burning Fhirdiad, would she even really look like the serious villain that needed to be put down? This is meant to be the final piece of proof of Seiros's villainy and it's... "She has been pushed to the point of draconic degeneration by the Conqueror and has lashed out reprehensibly because she has lost everything and has gone berserk as a result." Well, she's been scapegoated the entire time so no doubt people will assert she's still a problem, because it's not even a matter if she really is a problem or not. Because Fodlan is a fucking mess of three different countries where every noble is shit and built on the backbone of a genocide. The people are racist because with or without Seiros, they were going to be. The Church of Seiros is just an excuse for them. And the accusations come from Slither-based sources. And their claims are NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE!
Meanwhile, the game doesn't even let you question the Bombing of Arianhrod, and Edelgard's decision to scapegoat the Church about it, which would build her future on lies by the way! The same kind of lies she's fighting against?? Fodlan has genocided for less, imagine what they'll do for this.
The only thing my fic, Wrapped-In-Black, had me start from the point of Byleth being confused and skeptical about the whole thing. And very little else. Next thing you know, every minute to minute detail is dealing incredible psychic damage to her because each thing the Emperor says is something that is an attempt to convince her to be more cruel, to accept the horrors, to become as desperate for change through war as she is. Reaching for her hand is NOT going to save the Emperor, it will ruin Byleth. Searching for the truth is needed, but the Emperor is an insular figure who does not want to be changed, she wants to be validated in her cause. That change needs to start with her.
Meanwhile, Slither is actually committing a legitimate conspiracy, not a conspiracy theory, with functional, tangible proof that they have infiltrated Adrestia and Faerghus. And the funny thing is, there's A LOT of tangible evidence and a paper trail for Slither's infiltration and subversion of both states.
Whereas it's much harder to prove or disprove Rhea's supposed conspiracy because she gets exited from the story on the route she'd be the most relevant is for a good chunk. She isn't even playable. There's so little to go off of.
But you know who aren't compromised? Flayn, Seteth, Indech and Macuil. And while no one would dare say Seiros is a scapegoat, we know damn well Flayn is a scapegoat. And we know Flayn doesn't have any of the intentions levied against Seiros.
I think if we understand the Nabateans to be scapegoats, and that Edelgard is being fed conspiracies, then I think it's worth calling into question the narrative. And the worst part is? I'm certain I don't have a solid answer and I'm tripping on my own feet and I definitely could be wrong about details even right now because even when I know things, there's always more to reconsider. But Crimson Flower tries my patience so hard, trying to get me to swallow the idea that the genocide survivor is somehow genuinely the cause of Fodlan's ills. Like, I hope people are questioning that.
