So I'm going to start this conversation by analyzing a meme. Yes, I'm being serious. The meme I'd like to talk about is this one:
This is a meme that Zak Goldfinch posted about a year ago in Guyden. It confirmed an observation I had made about the fandom and female lords. The Fire Emblem community has a strained relationship with the female lords in this series. Based on what I've seen from the writing of these games, I don't think this was intentional. We're supposed to root for characters like Celica and Eirika, but many don't. So on a surface level, it would appear that Edelgard is simply following a time tested formula. But there's a key difference here. Edelgard is a female lord who's controversial by design.
The main reason why has to do with the main conflict at the heart of Three Houses: Is Edelgard justified in declaring war on the Church of Seiros? This is a question I asked about a year ago. I even made a poll of it on Facebook. Even to this day, I'm still surprised at how even the results were:
Over 400 participants, and the results are dead even. Based on the comment section of said poll, it's safe to say that she's a character who elicits strong reactions from people. Unlike other games, Three Houses puts its main conflict front and center, and then lets the player make up their own mind about whether Edelgard is justified or not. This is a bold idea for a Fire Emblem game. In previous games we might be able to sympathize with a villain's motives, but the games always made it clear that those villains were wrong. Three Houses doesn't do that. Thanks to how that game is written, you can unironically agree with Edelgard and be taken seriously.
Since Edelgard made the # 2 spot on this list (along with Rhea who I'll be discussing momentarily) I'd like to talk about why people might like her, why people might dislike her, and why she's this high up.
Why Some People Like Edelgard
- The Crest system sucks and it needs to be abolished: One point that everyone can agree on is that the crest system has been negatively affecting Fodlan. In Fodlan, a character's fate is dictated by whether they have a crest or not. Those who have crests get to be leaders while those who don't have crests get nothing.
The crest system is basically the Holy Blood system from Jugdral, but worse. At least in Jugdral you can count on getting Holy Blood if your parents have Holy Blood. In Fodlan no such guarantee exists. If your parents both have crests, you can still be born without one. This is exactly what happened to Sylvain's brother Miklan, and his entire life was ruined from just that one event.
Miklan isn't the only character in the game whose life was ruined because of the crest system. The whole reason why Sylvain's such a skirt chaser is because he resents women who only value him for his crest. Ingrid was going to marry a douchenozzle because her family needed prominence and her suitor wanted her crest. Edelgard and her siblings were experimented on because the powers that be wanted a powerful heir to the throne with a stronger crest. Edelgard's siblings died, and while she lived she had to endure torture. Her life span was reduced meaning that she could no longer live as long as she would have been able to normally. This isn't even the full list of characters whose lives have been ruined by crests, which just goes to prove how awful the system really is.
Even Seteth admits to Ingrid in one of their supports that he has "mixed feelings" about the crest system. Considering how high up on the food chain he is in the Church, that admission says a lot about how terrible crests are.
If it weren't for the Church of Seiros, the crest system wouldn't be in place. Once again, everyone who's played Three Houses agrees that the Church of Seiros at the very least needs a reform. The Church lies to everyone by covering up the real history of Fodlan, and even Rhea herself performs experimentations on people in the hopes of resurrecting her mother. So basically, the Church of Seiros is actively lying to people, and they've been doing so for a thousand years.
- Edelgard's Plan Benefits Humanity: If Edelgard wins, then Fodlan benefits. Her entire plan is to replace the crest system with a merit based one. One interesting nuance about Edelgard's character is that she steps down after conquering Fodlan. Edelgard isn't power hungry, despite the fallacious accusations against her of being so. What she really wants is the power to benefit all the people of Fodlan, uniting them against the Church of Seiros. Edelgard is a rare example of a villain who's plan is actually beneficial to the world that she lives in.
- Rhea's crazy and needs to go down: Rhea follows the tradition of most Fire Emblem dragons and is shown to be mentally unstable. Is that really the type of person who should be ruling Fodlan? Rhea jumps at the chance to immediately execute anyone who crosses her. The end of the Crimson Flower route shows us that Rhea is willing to burn down a city with innocent people inside. It's also obvious that she's not trustworthy even before that incident. A lot of people who side with Edelgard hate Rhea, and want to see her die.
Reasons to Dislike Edelgard
- She declares war on the entire continent: No matter what route you play in Three Houses, Edelgard will always be the one who declares war on the continent. This means that she's responsible for the deaths (either directly or indirectly) of thousands of innocent people. While most people agree that the Church of Seiros is bad, the cost required to get rid of them is just too high.
- She teams up with Those Who Slither In The Dark: While the Church may have held up the system of crests, it was Those Who Slither in the Dark who were the ones that performed the crest experiments. Those Who Slither in the Dark are consistently portrayed as an evil organization so teaming up with them does not make Edelgard look good. It's even worse that she's teaming up with the people who were the reason why her lifespan got shortened. To any Edelgard fan who reads this and is about say "Did you play her route? It explains why she teamed up with them," the answer would most likely be, "Yes, we've probably played her route and they know why she did it. That still doesn't help her case."
- She attempted to assassinate Dimitri and Claude at the beginning of the game before they were in a position to do anything.
I could probably keep going in terms of listing the pros and cons to Edelgard, but this post is getting long and I think the point has been made already. There are very strong reasons to either like or dislike Edelgard, which is why the fanbase is divided on her. Like her or hate her, she is a memorable character that accomplished what she set out to achieve.
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