Really awesome open-thinking question! 🙂 I really love Dimitri, but what would get me to like Claude and El? I do like Claude, but.. don’t know if revealing more of his background would make me like him more, because there are still those few, tiny traits… he forces Byleth to to give him Jeralt’s diary right after Jeralt died, quickly spins a conversation of Catherine’s strength & skills right after killing Lonato and other innocent civilians, etc, etc… Claude as a whole has ups and downs for me-still like him though! So Edelgard… I could never start liking her since even starting the game but I still can’t pinpoint why exactly, so I think other people’s heavy essays of her negative traits explain enough. Again, your ideas sound good, I think overall Claude and Edelgard would’ve been better without Byleth but I still like Byleth as a character haha 😆 But for real just making her a complete fleshed out villain and making no nudges of feeling sorry for her would’ve made her alot better!

Ah I’m bad at ranking, but I’d say I hate Monica from 3Hopes, and you already explained why, and I also dislike Bernadetta from 3HOPES specifically while I enjoyed and loved her more from 3Houses. The rest… - found ignatz’s support with Marianne sweet but don’t see him as anything more than a knight painter - Gilbert/Gustav is just a guy that abandoned his daughter Annette but his supports with Dimitri were super good. Wish we got Rodrigue instead of him in 3Houses, and I was super satisfied that the dream came true in 3Hopes (so as a counter I actually love rodrigue and found his character fixed/better in that game but also still liked him in 3Houses, imo) - I don’t hate Hanneman so much but just don’t really see him more than a CrestScholar (guess his conflicts with Manuela is a lil’ funny) - Linhart is okayyyyyyy but his supports with Flayn in 3Houses made me drop all respect I had for him… - Again Cyril is not super bad, again I believe you explained enough, but his supports with Lysithea was pretty sweet - I found Solon/Tomas meh but guess it’s a lil’ intriguing how he’s involved with the Zahras spell from both games, but if I had to decide the best Agarthan, I’d pick Thales, only by his design - I know leonie still has supports that don’t mention Jeralt but I still couldn’t find her amusing; but her supports with Sylvain and Lorenz (from 3Houses) were a bit entertaining - some reason I can never get myself to like Sothis, but the concept of S ranking her as male or female byleth or whatever route you did is beyond funnyyyy - And then same with Arval. Just found no amusement or connection sadly. I’ll include Epimenides since they’re one and the same. Final pick hmm… yeah it’s hard for me to not pick Edelgard. Ever since I opened the 3Houses series I could never like her, but I DO AGREE with the thought process of Rhea’s crest system being awful, but I DISAGREE with her methods. In the end this video was fine, but pardon me what’s up with the judgements or arguments of a character’s sexuality that defines their quality? 😐

Ngl i pretend tethys doesn't exist because that character is probably my least favorite in the series, she's like, the most explicitly a sex worker of any of the dancers but she's also like, blatantly a sexual predator in most her supports

Wait a minute?!!! Manuela went on a date with Jeritza?!! I always think that she saw Jeritza go out at night when she was on a date with someone else. He dropped his mask which she picked up and then she came to his room the next day to confront him about it, but of course he wasn't there because the Death Knight, his second personality, took the body and stabbed Manuela in the back. Since you probably will never make a video about your top 10 characters in Three Houses, could I ask which characters make it to your top 10? Although, I bet Dimitri, Dedude, and Hubert are probably very high up there if not on top.

Personally... there's only one way a self insert avatar would work and not have all the problems you have with that archetype. Make a Soren like character. Soren is integral to the Dawn Brigade because of tactician reasons, right? So you could still influence what route/ maps you take to some degree by talking to the lord and making your case on why they should do (x,y, and z) but, you're a fully voiced character with preset name that doesn't influence the story too extremely because you're not the god/ chosen one that everyone loves. Just a regular unit, whose growth rates and starting classes you can manipulate. The story can revolve the lord and only the lord like the older titles and the lord might ask you advice on certain choices to change up the playthrough. That way you're just in for the ride. Or just give us a decent , lovable lord to play with in the first place. I only like the avatars from 12,13, and 14 because of the flexibility of the my units in the first place.

Why is not being gay bad?

As a trans man, transmasc Felix is super important to me. I strongly believe you can view his story as a trans allegory! I've actually considered making my own video essay on this!

I must say, to complain that most of the chapters are not in the Laguz armies is a bit silly considering they are often the protagonists, and aside from Phoenicius, rarely get invaded because of their geographical locations. That's why you are barely in their areas - you're not going to invade them. they're in the story just fine given that they are the primary driving force behind the main conflict in Radiant Dawn. The branded serve as a warning that the goddesses are not perfect nor omniscient, and how those of a mixed race can end up as ostracised by both races and feel like neither. This then manifests as self-loathing in many of the characters, and the "loss" of the laguz power exemplifies this. I feel like this is pretty analogous to the real world. There is still of course many problematic areas of Tellius. One you didn't cover was how at the end of it all, the more political "intellectual" beorc nations were ruled by women, yet almost all of the strength based laguz nations were rules by men. Nailah being the exception. Feels quite stereotypical.

I always assumed that Sothis actively sacrificed herself at the end of Crimson Flower in order to start Byleth's heart and that she was the reason it didn't beat to begin with. What makes no sense is Byleth randomly collapsing when Rhea dies to begin with.

The Hubert cue card comment took me out 😂. I'm about to start a Crimson Flower run and I'm so excited for Hubert and his witty commentary.

I hate Ashe, probably a hot take but hes always benched on my playthroughs

See I really like Ignatz but that's not because of any particularly deep reason. I just think he's neat. Is he particularly well written into the post-timeskip? Not really! Does his character writing suit a war story? Not particularly, but you could probably say the same about a fair few FE3H characters. Ignatz is, fundamentally, just like... a guy. He has self-blame issues and struggles to live up to his parents' expectations. He likes to paint. Compared to many of the FE3H characters with their rather intense backstories and war or duty-related motivations, Ignatz is nothing particularly special. But that's why I like him! I do hate Alois though. He's just really, really annoying.

I just found your channel from this video, and I love it!! I would really enjoy if you did a video on your favorite characters from these two entries in the series. Keep up the good work I loved this

Still not over when Jeritza was giving a somber monologue over his mental despair and Byleth’s response was “wow he likes ice cream!”

My understanding of the Manuela thing is that Jeritza stabs her and she’s able to point to the hidden passage as a clue to others before she passes out, not that Jeritza posed her body in that way

it might’ve been a negative video but you’re never rude and since the way you talk about it comes from a place of love, it still makes for a very chill watching/listening experience

I personally love the enby Byleth headcanon. I know it's fairly common but idk, it just fits for me.

I have never liked Cyril, but I didn't get Three Hopes until recently and learning they cut him and other playables from 3 Houses made scream, the people who like him deserve to have him wtf

They did anna dirty

I was going to bark at you for opening on Cyril but then we were on the same page, ahahah. poor cyril; wonderful character concept, given so little room to play out, and then the eng localization went and trimmed off a bunch of his good dialogue for whyever the hell. anyway I also feel stronger than most on Raphael having a whole lot of wasted potential actually. I think he's a better character than a lot of people give him credit for, but that's also in no small part because IS just kept stopping juuuust short of really delving into what could be interesting. his dynamics with Claude can be very interesting; they're also confined to a B-length support chain in Houses and N/A in Hopes. his relationship with his family is one of his more humanizing, de-onenoteifying sides; those people come up once in a blue moon and never for something interesting to have happened to them after the backstory. so on and so forth it goes also on better characters than a lot of people give him credit for: Gatekeeper, actually. he wouldn't have won CYL5 if that wasn't just plainly a funny as hell thing to happen, but I genuinely believe that one can look past all the ha-ha memes to actually frankly appreciate him as a character. his grounded, yet still warm and human perspective keeps things nice and balanced in the flush of monastery chatter (which I also happen to think is the strongest part of Houses's writing), and I'll take a hundred more flat-ish characters in well-executed roles than one more guy with the world's most tortured backstory and nothing actually interesting going on. (which is also to say, him snubbing Chrom for that CYL was fully well earned and I spent that whole time laughing and eating popcorn. I'm not sure Chrom deserved to win CYL6 either, even if by that point the competition was just utterly gone) lastly, wrt FE16's plot in comparison to FE14 and FE17: I do fully well believe that FE16 is better /written/ than both of these games, but the central plotline is easily its weakest point and one part where it compares extremely poorly against FE17 (which tells a mostly unintersting and not particularly well grounded but at least consistent and focused story).

I honestly adored AG, it gave me everything I felt was missing from AM and then some. The route was great, if not outright fantastic, and easily my favorite Fódlan route behind AM. I didn't have the highest expectations walking into it because you'd think it was the worst piece of fiction ever based on how much melodramatic whining you'll hear from the fandom about it, but frankly nearly every single reason I saw turned out to be bullshit, or at least highly exaggerated.

claude should be on this list ngl

I'm personally not a big fan of Constance for similar reasons as Bernadetta (response to trauma played for laughs) and having supports that have similar subjects with other characters, but have it with unsatisfying endings.

I... Unfortunately don't have any hot takes but good video

wow yeah dark magic access really is such an egregious example of the misogynistic writing preoccupations that burden fe's women characters

I'd definately nominate Flayn as a 'lost potential' category. Her backstory and connection to Rhea, Sothis and Byleth (as well as Seteth, obviously) feels like there should be so much more going on with her character. But outside of being kidnapped, a few lines when she possibly dies in crimson flower, and a couple comments on the story in that route nobody likes, she really doesn't exist at all outside of supports. And her supports are really nothing special, the only one where anything really happens for her character is her Seteth support and that feels underbaked. Her being a romantic Byleth support just makes her feel like her entire existance was so the devs could give the player a *second* potentially-blood-related-thousand-year-old-who-looks-like-a-child romance.

I get Nowi and Anna being odd S support options, but why Ryouma in particular?

Kronya is a really disapointing villain, she is meant to be quite impactful in the story since she kills Jeralt and is the first (and probebly only) villain that Byleth hate and yet she is like a generic super evil villain who is the boss of an early boss in a fire emblem game. She could be compared to Valter but unlike Valter she is only here for 2 chapters and is quite incompetant (like Phasma in the sequel trilogy) she simply follow orders, kills Jeralt by surprise (and yet she need her superior's help) , isn't a really powerful boss, she is then sacrificed by the game's actual big bad and is never mentionned again. Even in Hopes she isn't that present (she has a special line for when she fight Monica but I find Monica quite boring so...) I think that even Myson appears more.

Switch CF and VW and this is basically my exact ranking as well, solid taste my dude.

Fates: Conquest is my favorite FE. I love Camilla; she's probably my favorite female character. I play as female Corrin because I always choose female over male when given the choice in any game and I didn't think their supports were weird as a female. I like all of Camilla's supports that I've seen. I always like to have her take down Hinoka on the Rainbow Sage map. I refuse to play Birthright so I've never personally experienced that cutscene but I think it looks absolutely ridiculous.

Hubert: His A-support with Shamir. He is willing to lie to Edelgard's face and goes behind her back to remove inconvenient people despite it making the emperor's demands for surrender look disingenuous. In Hopes the battle in Dominic territory, he and Edel make some unsavory remarks about the soldiers who went down fighting before the surrender. It's like walking into someone's house and stomping their cat to death because it's an invasive species, then get mad that they swung at you. Dorothea: Her complaints about the Church missions rub me the wrong way. I'm sorry did you join a military academy or a dance troupe? Anna: She is DLC, her bases are trash, her growths are trash, and she doesn't even have supports. Hopes Claude: He doesn't have supports with Cyril, and he lacks the self-awareness to consider that Almyra may have something to do with the bad blood between them and Fodlan.

I'm pretty sure this is not a hot take but Gilbert. He's bland and he abandoned his family to wallow in guilt for something that was entirely not his fault. He's also a bad unit and very annoying in Chapter 5

I probably would have said Raphael over Ignatz, but you do make a good point about Ignatz. His entire character is weird as heck in Hopes. It really does feel like they had no idea what to do with him. For a character who isn't on your list, I'd have to say Hopes kinda ruined Dorothea for me. I just hate how they decided to re-write her to be recruitable but endlessly whining about EVERYTHING you do in whatever non-Edelgard route you recruited her to. Like. She NEVER stops complaining. In Houses if you recruit her (or play Silver Snow) then she has some actual resolve. She's not 100% happy about having to fight Edelgard and Hubert, but she's got a good balance of being sad but also determined and willing to see her choices through. I do feel bad for her because it's clear she didn't want this to happen, but she also felt based on her own principles that she had to see it through to the end. In Hopes she feels like a completely different character. All of that resolve is gone. You make her a literal general in your army for some reason and she acts like you're dragging her around holding her at gunpoint (even though at one point I'm pretty sure you can literally tell her she can just leave or she doesn't have to fight and she's like "NO BUT I MUST!") and it makes her VERY inconsistent and grating as a character.

It's a shame that Patrick Seitz' work on Fire Emblem is so mediocre; i love some of his work outside (Olberic from Octopath 1 and Ragna the Bloodedge from BlazBlu who, despite the name and the design, is not edgy)

Byleths Creststone disappearing and them regaining a heartbeat and their original human features can probably be understood as an act of divine intervention by Sothis. Crimson Flower is Byleth chosing humanity and connection over immortality and eternal divine rule. Sothis was always characterized as valueing Byleths humanity and their agency, so it is a fitting bookend for the story in its entirety for Sothis to restore Byleths humanity and removing the physical source of her divine power from the world, respecting Byleths choice to fight for a world ruled by mortals instead of gods. The Creststone always symbolized the power of god in world and is thematically tied to how different actors tries to abuse it for their own ends. Nemesis stole the creststone and forged it into a weapon for his own selfish desire for power. Rhea used it to force the absolute rule of god against Sothis wishes back into the world, her character symbolizing the tyrannical abuse of religion. While in most endings, Byleth will claim the power of god, and of religion, to cement their rule, Crimson Flowers ending cements it as the route in which they reject the power of god. The creststone disappearing but in a final act of divine mercy granting Byleth their heartbeat back cements a peaceful transition of power over the world, away from god into the hands of portals (where in contrast the Agarthans tried to wrestle away this power through violent means). It makes perfect thematic sense, if you think about it. It doesn't disappear in Silver Snow, because it is the route in which Byleth fully choses the divine over the humane. Verdant Wind is a thematically a bit weird one because it feels rushed together from mostly Silver Snows outline, with the route being the one that thematically stands the least on its own. Azure Moon is more consistent, in that it ends thematically represents a restoration of the initial status quo after having its rot burned away, the entire route being history repeating itself with new actors.

Even when Fates first came out, I really liked Camilla. Not just because of the dichotomy between her aesthetics and her darker nature, but I liked her personality, in a general sense. I thought she was a lot different from the other female characters in the franchise for the reasons you listed, one of them being it seemed like she was one of the only characters who had some semblance of autonomy in her sexuality and how she presents herself, though that’s obviously not true because she’s not real. I still appreciate the illusion of autonomy that she brings though. And I also can appreciate how over the top she is. Most people probably won’t pick up on that and will likely focus on her aesthetics alone (I’m talking about straight men), but when you think about her character more deeply, I feel like she’s not that bad. Not the best of course, but for Fire Emblem trying to make a sex fantasy character, I think they could have made her potentially have no redeeming qualities, which I’m glad is not the case. Did the developers and writers intend to make her come across in all the ways you mentioned? Probably not, but I’m still glad there’s some level of merit to her character, even if you have to look hard to see it.

What were the other dating sims games you showed in the video? I’d really like to know!

31:05 As much I like Byleth's design and enjoy fics that expands on the crumbs of backstory/personality they have, I do agree that this approach would've made the games significantly more interesting to explore writing wise. Without Byleth as a central piece, we could've had time to expand on Claude's life in Almyra or more Duscur worldbuilding in Azure Moon, for example. I like certain bits of Byleth's character, but have always felt like all of them could've been expanded upon significantly if they were a secondary character with good supports like Seteth. I guess my one big disagreement with you on this video is Jeralt, mainly because him being a questionable dad is part of the appeal for me. I also LOVE his dying quote, because it has interesting implications to what he expected Byleth to develop into, had they continued as a merc for the rest of their lives. He's definitely no Greil because there's no topping Greil, but I have a "holy shit, two cakes" kind of approach to him. My least favorite... good question. It's probably Monica, due to all reasons you cited + the missed opportunity gameplay wise. Another mage? On the most magically inclined route? Groundbreaking. #HUBERTSWEEP

I love Byleth but 99% of my love for her comes from her design, I'm not going to lie. Also I like her voice.

You forgot Raphael's third trait: He cares deeply about his family

Really neat video i stumbled upon a year later. While yes the class decision for the dark mage class is mostly an attempt to give male mages some relevancy that is not your point. And the point you do make is incredibly fascinating. Because things like these are stuff that I as a straight cis male fire emblem player often miss unless expressly pointed out. Especially as I play these games more for the gameplay and see characters more as units however the games' story and the subtext of that story still matter to me Awesome vid 👍

Are we sure that one line Kostas says in Hopes is directed at Edelgard? When I'd played the demo, I assumed the statement was meant for Shez. What triggers it? Was the Japanese text clearer? On Patrick Seitz: I'd argue that, in addition to Halloween!Hector, he also voices Child!Hector quite well. I genuinely couldn't even tell it was him when I first heard the voice, it's remarkable! Jeritza, on the other hand... um, yeah... To get back to the main topic, around half of this list is in my personal bottom 10 as well... but I actually like the other half quite a lot (and Byleth even makes my top 5!). It's fascinating how wildly different people's opinions can be, even when they clearly played the same game (not always a given with this fandom). If only we could all just agree to disagree...

As a straight guy who has never played a single dating sim in my life that dream daddy rant was the stuff of legends 🔥🔥 The beauty of the fodlan characters in my opinion is that due to the sheer breadth of supports in this game there's bound to be at least one where the characters you know shine and develop properly without any janky cuts to their quirks at the end. Cyril for example is often bashed for his nonstop yapping about Rhea yet in his one support iirc that doesn't mention her at all (lysithea) we get to see what is almost a completely different character. This is not Cyril the hardworking and devout Rhea supporter this is Cyril the hardworking but at the same time struggling character who lies and is afraid to admit things because people won't take him seriously. There's other supports where he also learns this lesson but none are handled as well as the lysithea one because it's also a good support for lysithea since it also pulls her away from her more annoying gimmick of not wanting to be treated like a child and instead shows how much she cares for other people because at the end of the day she knows she only has limited time and wants to do something nice while she's here. Maybe I'm reading too much into it because it's my favorite straight support in this game but hey my comment my rules. As for least favorite character (that's not on this list because it would be Bernie easily and if I wasn't a massive gameplay guy I would despise her as much as you) it would probably be Lorenz just because I don't really think his perspective changes all that much in his supports. Maybe I don't recall them as well but yeah he never really seems like he learns something profound or we learn something profound about him.

5:50 igantz, the fun fact he has more romantic pairings than sylvain let that sink in. 7:30 alois, he is the only good dad in fodlan, seriously have 75 percent of the cast would be mentally fine if they had a dad like alois. I love him 17:30 bernadetta, she would work ever well in gba games. 18:20......... really............ as a asexual person. I made friends with ONE person like bernadetta with 55 percent less yelling. In a high school special Ed class because l have autism. She is more of a marianne now. 24:54 "actually owes up to his own evil" jeritza literally asks edelgard to lock him in jail in their A support in three hopes how did you miss this 26:15 you never looked at his dialog, did you. His dialog always changes in every month and routes in three houses. Heck someone replaces him in crimson flower because gatekeeper is loyal to the church and that is consistent, he is very charming and bring a smile to my face because yes l was one of those people, who talks to everyone at the beginning of month.

I don't care for Leonie. I've heard she's not that bad in other supports, but I could never get over how she seems to be mature and level headed with everyone else- then turns around and gets weird as fuck with Byleth, acting almost...pissed?? That they were even born at all, just because she'd rather- I don't know- be Jeralt's kid instead? Although I agree with some of your Byleth takes, I still don't dislike them honestly. It feels so strange that Leonie gets this weird one sided beef with Byleth, with them being damn near emotionless as they are. Benched her super early on in game. I never used her again. ...that aside, I can't help but mention my love for Alois. Never played Dream Daddy, I love puns, and his ending with byleth where he stands in for Jeralt at Byleth's wedding and bawls tears of joy is so sweet to me.

imho people love Jeralt largerly because of his mistrust of Rhea Speaking of her, I lowkey thought your #1 would be Rhea lol