Three Hopes, this time for real (Part 5 of ?)

[waltzoid]

With Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire all wrapped up, it's time for Azure Gleam to go under the microscope. Why am I doing that route last? There are two reasons:

1. Edelgard and Claude's goals are more closely aligned in this game than in Three Houses, and openly work together in Part II of both their routes.
2. Azure Gleam has the most faction-exclusive characters out of the three. Most of the Blue Lions save for Ashe and Mercedes are completely loyal to Dimitri and can't be recruited away from him, while the Church of Seiros characters (Seteth, Flayn, and Catherine) are loyal to Rhea and can't be recruited away from her.

Anyway, spoiler time:

• Dimitri's uncle Rufus gets a passing mention or two in Three Houses as a skirt-chaser who would make Sylvain blush. While he got passed over for inheriting House Blaiddyd due to his lack of a Crest, Dimitri says in Crimson Flower before his final battle against Edelgard that the Blaiddyd name will live on even if he dies, so there must be no small shortage of Crest-less bastard children running around even after the Empire takes over (provided Hubert doesn't have them all killed to prevent a "child of dead ruler rises up to defeat the evil empire" scenario that makes up Dimitri's route, as well as a handful of RPGs).
• In the Three Hopes timeline, he was a party to the Tragedy of Duscur and the rebellion that brought out Dimitri's "inner boar", causing a rift between Dimitri and Felix, and ever since those days, he's had nightmares of "a lion ripping his throat out". Well, what kind of leader would I be if I didn't oblige and give a man a fate he believes he so richly deserves? (Translation: Dimitri executes his uncle Rufus for his treachery.)
• It's unfortunate that the only time you get to fight Hubert in the main story of Three Hopes is as the boss of AG's first journey through Ailell. After that, he just disappears from the plot. Compare that to Three Houses where if you don't side with Edelgard, he's a consistent and persistent thorn in your side for Part II. An NPC hanging around the Kingdom camp in Chapter 10 states that he and Ferdinand just sort of "disappeared" once Duke Aegir takes over the Empire. But then I looked ahead at a cutscene during the battle where you fight Randolph and Fleche, and Randolph tells Jeralt that Hubert and Ferdinand were "lost", which sounds to me like a diplomatic way of saying "Duke Aegir and his cronies had them killed offscreen because they're too close to Edelgard and know the truth about him and his puppetmasters". What a sad way to go...
• In fact, most of the conflict of Dimitri's route is between him and the lords of the western side of the Kingdom who also opposed his father and were complicit in the Tragedy. Naturally, they had help from the inside with Cornelia (or, I should say "Cleobulus", but just as in Three Houses, she never sheds her human disguise, only complaining about how weak her human body is when we finally get the chance to kill her). At least Baron Dominic (Annette's uncle) isn't taking any of their shit and chews them out for their cowardice.
  
  • Related to that, some find it funny that the baron still has a generic character unit portrait when guys like Sylvain, Linhardt, and Caspar's dads get full face pictures. There's one thing to remember, though: all of those guys hadn't been shown on-screen until Three Hopes came out, whereas Baron Dominic did.

While I make my way through the second half of Azure Gleam (which I hope to get done before the official start of autumn), I'm also going back through the old quests of the other two routes to compile a great big spreadsheet/database of everything that happens in those quests - every ally, every enemy, every strategy...but maybe not every bit of dialogue...this solo project is already a time eater for me. I've been at it for a week and I've chronicled most of Scarlet Blaze Chapter 4, so...I have quite a long way to go if I'm going to finish this thing. This should also make filling out Three Hopes content on the Fire Emblem wiki that much easier.

Comments

[sarajayechan]

But then I looked ahead at a cutscene during the battle where you fight Randolph and Fleche, and Randolph tells Jeralt that Hubert and Ferdinand were "lost", which sounds to me like a diplomatic way of saying "Duke Aegir and his cronies had them killed offscreen because they're too close to Edelgard and know the truth about him and his puppetmasters". What a sad way to go...

Ferdinand isn't said explicitly to be lost, but tbh I wouldn't be surprised if he was killed along with Hubert. My other guess is that he was taken hostage to make sure Duke Aegir didn't screw anything up.