Hello! I am so sorry, but I am not quite done talking about Fire Emblem Three Houses. I am nearing the end however, I see myself doing only two more write ups (including this one) before I can finally put this game down and move on.
Until then, I have completed my fifth playthrough of the game, in which I revisited my first path: Golden Deer. With the context and knowledge of all other paths, I wanted to come back and see how my thoughts and feelings had changed.
Quick note: I did not do a write up for my playthrough of the Ashen Wolves DLC Route or the Church Route, which I played after Black Eagles. This is because I simply could not think of much to say that would be worth discussing. For Church, I already covered many of its characters in other write ups, and its story is quite similar to the other paths. For Ashen Wolves, I felt that without seeing the support conversations, I barely got to know the characters, and the story in general left me with little to say. Basically, neither phased me to the point of being worth a write up, like the previous routes of this game did.
However, replaying Golden Deer did. So with that in mind, I wanted to dig into the story, its characters, and conclude my complex feelings towards them, now that I have a better understanding of the game as a whole.
WARNING, THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE STORY OF ALL ROUTES IN FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES
What stirred my interest in revisiting Golden Deer was not only having a non blind experience with it. After I played the Black Eagles route, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I thought Golden Deer and Claude would end up being my favorite route and lord character respectively, but I was wrong. I revisited Golden Deer to really figure out why that is, and if that is even the case. Do I actually like Edelgard and the Black Eagles route more? These thoughts took me through my replay.
If I had to summarize my overall feelings, just get the conclusion out of the way right now, I would say that, the Golden Deer route and Claude are not my favorite aspects of this game…but I wish they were.
Let me begin explaining that with the story. On my first play I was disappointed with the overall story of Golden Deer. I thought various twists and plot points made little sense, and in general it felt too fast paced. With the knowledge of the other routes, knowledge that they are equally short, rushed, and flawed in their own way, I have come to appreciate the Golden Deer story more. It is not perfect, and I vastly prefer the Black Eagles path to it, but I still enjoyed it much more then I did the Blue Lions and Church routes.
While the story does progress way too quickly and the Almyra subplot is pushed to the side for the last quarter of the game, I enjoyed what was there. The Almyra subplot was enjoyable despite how limited it was, and I liked seeing Claude sneak his Almyran friend Nader into the Alliance and then use a chance moment and the war to begin thawing relations between the Alliance and Almyra.
I also enjoyed the contrasts I now had from knowledge of the other paths. I liked that Claude mourned the loss of Edelgard, Dimitri, and any other casualties. He had ideals, but he clearly wasn’t willing to die or murder for them. I liked seeing the politics of the Alliance. Finding a way to make all the different perspectives come to a compromise after the time skip was fun.
I liked the students, and how involved they were with the story. I liked that while uniting the alliance, Lorenz had a role to play in helping his father come to the negotiating table. Hilda comes into play when Claude begins thawing relations with Almyra and her house has to deal with the fallout of that. Lysithea comes into play as you grow closer to learning the truth about Those Who Slither in the Dark, and even has great dialogue regarding Edelgard in their confrontation and aftermath. The other students and Cyril also have great and fun moments during the story, and I overall enjoyed seeing how the characters interacted with the overall narrative.
On that note, one significant thing I took away from this playthrough was that, of the students of the three houses, the Golden Deer class is my favorite. What really endears me to them is that the students of Golden Deer feel more distinct from each other then those of the other houses, which is fitting given the decentralized structure of the Alliance. This can be seen in the number of students in each house that do not come from royalty. In the Black Eagles House all but one of its students come from either the royal houses of the Empire or the royal lineage of Brigid, that being Dorothea. She is only able to get to Garreg Mach through her talent, hard work, and determination, illustrating that within the empire you can make it as a commoner, but you have to be exceptional at something and really devote yourself to do so. Being ambitious and having talent are defining qualities of the Empire, and you see it in the character arcs of all its students (with Bernadetta and Linhardt being the exceptions, though you could argue otherwise and that their lack of wanting to get involved is a direct result of the pressure of growing up in a culture that emphasizes ambition and being great).
The Kingdom is similar: half of its students come from royal families of the Kingdom, while the other half only get to the academy through royal connections. Ashe and Mercedes make it in because they were adopted by a royal family, Dedue likely is allowed in because of Dimitri’s favor, and Annette got in largely due to her high grades and exceptional skill at magic, but I also theorize that her connections to one of the royal houses also played a role. More then that though, the Tragedy of Duscur looms large over almost all of its characters, giving them all similar character arcs in having this dark past and difficult situation and learning to deal with it.
But then you have the Alliance. The Alliance only has five of its members come from nobility. The other three were able to attend due to possessing large wealth and working hard, which reflects the greater power money holds in the Alliance, and arguably greater meritocracy. If you count Cyril as a Golden Deer student (which I like to, given that he has most supports with Golden Deer students and appears in many cutscenes in the Golden Deer route) then you have another non noble, who gets in only from having good favor with the Archbishop.
This larger variety is reflected in the characters and their arcs. You have those similar to the Empire and Kingdom characters: Claude and Lorenz are ambitious and have plans to make history, bearing much in common with the Black Eagles characters, especially Edelgard and Ferdinand respectively. On the other side, Marianne and Lysithea are damaged and searching for ways to deal with their past trauma, similar to the arcs of the Blue Lions characters.
But then you have the other characters, all of which don’t feel like they would fit in with either the Empire or Kingdom, but also clash with the above-mentioned students. Hilda is one of the few characters to not have any sort of difficult past or conflict, her journey is rather one of learning to not be afraid to open up, put herself out there, and be her own person. Then the other characters have conflicts that reflect their lack of nobility. Raphael has used all of his family’s savings to make it in, so he must simply do his best in this difficult situation. Failure is impossible, so he puts on a happy face and does everything he can to make it. Leonie is similar, her entire village allowed her this opportunity, so she must make the most of it, struggling is not an option. Ignatz similarly must become a knight for his family, but his own self doubts and preference for other pursuits lead to his own personal struggle as he makes the most of his situation.
Finally, you have Cyril, a character that I would argue is the only one in the game to be a commoner on the bottom of the social scale for much of the story. For this reason he does not have the privilege of being able to get into politics, have his own ambitions, his own pursuits, or even his own journey to solve his past troubles. He must make the most of what he has and do what he can to live day to day, because that is what life is like for much of Fodlan. Having now played all four routes, one issue I take with the characters in general is that there are far too many nobles. I wanted to see more commoners, learn more of what life is like for the average person, and see how they handle things. As an example, one bit I really liked on my recent playthrough was learning in a support that Leonie wanted to be an artist originally, but she didn’t have the luxury of pursuing her passion due to her poor background, so she was forced to change. This could be made to be a big deal in other characters, but for her, she has to simply live with it, and she does, making the most of the few options she has available.
These sorts of characters, who aren’t ambitious and obsessed with their own grand plans, and who aren’t brooding and obsessed with their own trauma, are the sort I wanted to see more of, and so I really love that the Golden Deer House has so many of them. Not everyone has to have a dark backstory or grand plans to change the world, and I liked that the Golden Deer House was the one that relied the least on these character types. I felt a connection with the students for this reason, and I really enjoyed how much variety you could find in all of them. They are all so different, worrying about such unique issues and ideas, which in turn makes it fascinating to see them interact, and I adore them. I love these guys.
Where the Empire is united by its desire to change the world, and the Kingdom is united by its desire to heal its own problems, the Alliance feels different, and at the same time like it is trying to do both of those and then some. It is a fascinating attempt to make a “third way” in a conflict, one that is different from the other two, and I like what they did with it. Perhaps no where is this more obvious then in my favorite song in the game: Claude’s theme, which contrasts so much with Edelgard and Dimitri’s themes:
The softness and foreignness that Claude’s theme has perfectly showcases his uniqueness. I love that they explained this by the fact that he’s foreign. He’s from a land outside of Fodlan, bringing a completely new perspective that you would not normally see in a fantasy game with a continent spanning war. That is really cool, and I hope we see more characters like Claude in future Fire Emblems and fantasy epics in general.
However, while I love Claude conceptually, while I wish he was my favorite, he isn’t. Replaying his path helped me to gain a better understanding of his character, but also to see why in the end, I prefer Edelgard to him. Allow me to analyze the Master Tactician:
Looking at Claude as a character, we can see two very clear
sides to him that define him and the story of Golden Deer as a whole: he is a
foreigner stuck between two worlds, and he wants to find the truth, and use its
power for his goals.
The first point is clear. He grew up as a member of the royal family of Almyra, but for having Fodlan blood he was segregated against, and is likely one of the worst off of the Almyran royal children. He came to Fodlan to understand this foreign land, finding it to be just as xenophobic as his home. Yet because no one had traveled between them, no one knew how similar they really were except him. Therefore, his goal became one of breaking down borders, to bring the people of Fodlan, Almyra, and the rest of the world together.
Claude’s foreignness is a large source of his mannerisms. It is why he does not fit in with other nobles and doesn’t completely understand the practices of Fodlan nobility. It is also why he is so mysterious, as Almyrans are viewed negatively in Fodlan, and the discovery of his heritage could lead to trouble. He acts coy and hides much of his character behind tricks and deceit to hide the truth.
Yet there is another reason Claude travels to Fodlan, that being to learn its secrets and wield its great power. This is evidenced in his reactions to the Sword of the Creator and Byleth. He wants the sword so that he can use its great power for his own goals, especially tearing down the mountains that serve as the border between Fodlan and Almyra.
However, I do not believe tearing the border down is his only goal. Claude also wants to be King of Almyra, doing so would allow him to achieve his goals much easier. For this reason he needs power, and so he comes to Fodlan to steal its secrets, such as the Sword of the Creator.
I think this is where Claude’s two parts really intersect, and I find it interesting to view him as such. He is a foreigner, coming to Fodlan specifically to learn and steal its secrets. You could argue Claude is a foreign spy, a thought I enjoy having. He is trying to understand the technology and weapons of Fodlan so that he can steal and use them to take over Almyra. I rather like this perspective because, first I wish Claude was more flawed as a character, but second, I think it is realistic. Many foreigners who willingly travel to other countries do so for their own specific reasons, often seeking something from it to serve their own purposes. I certainly relate to that sentiment as a foreigner myself.
I think this is where you could argue Claude has a character arc. It’s not as noticeable as with Dimitri and Edelgard, but I think his arc revolves around growing to see Fodlan less as a foreign place, to be used for his own benefit, but as its own complex and interesting world with its own interesting people, just as Almyra is. He ends up fighting a war and becoming a popular figure in the country he’s not even from, a sign of his progression from someone who once saw Fodlan as a foreign land with strange secrets and technology.
This flaw of Claude’s is most apparent when Jeralt dies. I was surprised at how cold Claude’s response was. He does not try to emphasize with Byleth much, and is quick to want to steal and investigate their father’s diary for any secrets it might have to help his grand plans. Even if Byleth tells him not to, he will go against their sentiment and steal it. It reflects an interesting aspect of Claude’s character, that being his lack of investment in the events of Fodlan. He has his own family far away, so he is less inclined to get invested in the horrors and conflicts taking place, a stark contrast to Edelgard and Dimitri.
Claude also loves talking about his grand plans, they come up so many times during conversations with him that I couldn’t help but wonder if he is too into his plans and needs to view things less selfishly. When Edelgard declares war, his main concern in his dialogue with her is that she will ruin his plans, which seems strange to prize upon the destruction and death of so much of Fodlan.
Still, the overall groundwork is laid, and this part of Claude’s character changes quite a lot after the time skip. While Claude does bring up his plans, he’s more aware of the war, of what’s going on, and what would be best for everyone. He has grown, but this growth of his has taken place completely off camera during the time skip.
The war phase sees the two parts of Claude come to fruition; all the foreshadowing was for this. For the first half of the war phase, we see Claude attempting to unite the Alliance while using his Almyran connections to try and set the stage for a surprise alliance. This comes from having Nader rule part of the Alliance in his absence, and the big climax is in the taking of Fort Merceus, in which he uses the opportunity to fight alongside Almyrans, reveal that he had top generals on both sides meet and agree to ease tensions, and finally reveals his plans at creating a more open Fodlan.
This is a nice progression for him, however the fact that this is the end we hear of Almyra is disappointing. You never travel to Almyra to see first hand if its people really are so similar to those of Fodlan, you never meet more Almyrans, Claude never reveals his true heritage to anyone but Byleth and Marianne, the fact that no other Almyrans have supports save Cyril, who has very little to say about Almyra, feels like a huge missed opportunity.
However, while Claude’s lack of a substantial conclusion for one part of his character is disappointing, what is far worse is how the game resolves his other core trait: his search for the truth.
One issue I have with Three Houses in general, and I will talk about this more in my next write up, is that it tries to present a complex and grey world that has no right side and instead many different but valid perspectives. However, this notion feels undermined by many parts of the game itself, and one of the clearest examples of this is how Claude finds the truth.
The moment that ruins Claude’s character and the Golden Deer route for me, is when after much fighting, when the war reaches its conclusion, and Claude faces Edelgard, Claude has a choice to spare or kill Edelgard, and he chooses to kill her. This feels incredibly out of character, because Claude says afterwards that he wishes he didn’t have to kill her, so I cannot help but wonder why he did not disarm her, steal her weapon, knock her unconscious, or do any sort of other option to spare her life.
But what really hurts is that doing this locks Claude out of ever learning the actual truth, and it completely destroys his journey. Because this is the thing about the world of Three Houses, about Fodlan. So much of it alludes to the fact that this is a grey world, in which the winners write history, and there are no purely good or evil people. This is a world in which people are biased, and so they should not be trusted, but instead should be open to getting all the different perspectives before deciding what is right and wrong. This is a game in which during the Golden Deer route, they make a point that the Church of Seiros censors its history and the truth to present a narrative that portrays them much more positively then they actually are.
This was the perfect opportunity for Claude to start finding the truth. Spare Edelgard and use her to learn more about Those Who Slither in the Dark, gain her perspective, and get one step closer to the actual truth. It makes absolutely no sense that Claude would insist that he must get the truth from Rhea for so long, but never try to get it from Edelgard. It’s especially damaging when there’s even a scene in the game in which Claude says this, that Edelgard must know more of what’s going on, and that he wants to get the truth from her.
Despite this, he had the opportunity to hear her story, hear the truth and spare her, but instead he kills her. If Dimitri in the Blue Lions route was able to talk with Edelgard before their fight, then Claude should have been able to as well.
The big problem in all this is that Claude only gets the truth from Rhea, and thus, he only gets one perspective: the very Church perspective he was skeptical about this whole time. The other perspective, that of Those Who Slither in the Dark, is completely lost. As I argue in this additional write up I am attaching to this one, there is much in the game to suggest that what Rhea told Claude was biased, and should not be taken as the truth:
http://johnnyappleshy.blogspot.com/2020/08/fire-emblem-three-houses-thoughts-part.html
Yet he does, he assumes Rhea is the be all end all, she knows everything, and her words are gospel, just as the Church of Seiros says. He falls victim to the very propaganda he was supposed to be skeptical of, and it feels so out of character for him that all of the missions after taking Fort Merceus just kills Claude and the Golden Deer route for me. It makes his conclusion unsatisfying, and his words at the end against Nemesis, about tearing down walls and reaching out to others, feels incredibly hollow when he had the opportunity to do that with Edelgard, but chose not to.
Ultimately, I like Claude and his route conceptually. I like the students of the Golden Deer House, and I see potential for it to have been great, and my favorite route of the game. Unfortunately, Golden Deer to me is a story of lost potential. There was potential for a great story here, one that was about reaching beyond borders and understanding the lands outside of Fodlan by going to them. A story about truly reaching out to others, making peace with our former enemies, and learning the truth by finding all perspectives.
Instead, all that was lost and Claude and the Golden Deer route, while still being likable for me overall, will not go down as my favorite, and that sucks, because I wish it did.
In wondering why this is, why Claude’s route just doesn’t work for me, I think a part of it comes from the development of the game, from the fact that there were four routes. Because there were so many, some routes likely got more time and development then others. While we cannot say with certainty what happened, an interview with the developers gives clues:
In these excerpts, the leads state that the first route was the Church route. The Black Eagles route was also changed during development to make it easier to access. The fact that the Black Eagles route had time to change from its original conception to the final product tells me that it was part of the early process, and overall, that the first routes created were the Black Eagles and Church routes. This is further supported by the Black Eagles route being referred to as the “conquest” route, implying that it was the second of two routes originally, like in Fire Emblem Fates. The fact that the Black Eagles route diverges into two separate paths while the others do not, is further proof of those being the first two routes. When looking at the other two then, one can see that both share much in common with the Church route, implying they were modeled after it.
However, it is also clear that the Golden Deer route has more in common with the Church route then Blue Lions, which combines missions from the Black Eagles and Church routes. This suggests the Golden Deer route was the last to be finalized and developed. Another sign of this is the fact that the Blue Lions route receives a brand new unit after the time skip with his own supports and everything (Gilbert). Golden Deer has nothing like this, Judith and Nader are not playable.
This makes sense. Since Claude’s route was meant to be the “third way,” that would imply it was created third, after the other two. One could conclude then, that the faults of Golden Deer come from the developers not spending as much time and energy on it as they could have, and it being the last route. However, I am skeptical of this. Because even if the route had to be very similar to one route…why was it the Church, and not the Black Eagles route? The Blue Lions route has missions that mirror those of Black Eagles, couldn’t the Golden Deer route also have that? Have Claude turn on the Church, reuse missions from Black Eagles, with some small changes, ideally involving you going to Almyra, and you have a much better story. I will admit I know very little about game development, but I think in the time they made the Golden Deer route a mirror of the Church route, they could have instead made it a mirror of the Black Eagles route, and I am disappointed it wasn’t the chosen outcome.
With that, this concludes my new thoughts on Golden Deer. I am very glad I chose to replay it, because it gave me a greater appreciation for its characters and what could have been. However, it also reminded me why, despite being my first route, and Claude being my first choice of the lords, they are not my favorite. Because there was so much potential here that was either lost or contradicted, and the last quarter of the story ruined so much of it for me.
Still, I am not done discussing this game quite yet, I have one more write up in me. However, I will take some time before writing it. I will take some time, in which I view all other supports I’ve yet to see, view all the supports of the DLC characters, and finally, do one last playthrough of this game, my sixth and final paythrough, which will see me replaying my favorite route: Black Eagles.
Until then!
Dialogue Source: https://fedatamine.com/en-us/
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