When E3 2019 came around and they
showed little trailers of the characters in each house in Fire Emblem; Three
Houses, The Black Eagles stood out to me for a number of reasons. They were the only house whose head was a
woman, that woman was voiced by Tara Platt, who I was familiar with for voicing
Mitsuru Kirijo in the Persona series and Kali Belladonna in RWBY, and they had
a character named Petra who reminded me of Starfire from the 2000s Teen Titans
cartoon. In the time between then and
the Christmas I actually got the game, I discovered the Black Eagles were
opposing the “Pope-equivalent” in the game, earning the ire of both other
kingdoms, but the reason why was to make crests no longer valued as a means to
rule or considered “better” than someone else, since Edelgard, the Black Eagles
house leader, had undergone torturous experiments in her youth in which a
second crest was forced into her. She
wanted to create a society where what she went through would never happen
again.
Quite often, when I was growing
up, people would insult me or insult something I loved and it made me
miserable. Mom would ask me why I didn’t
respond in kind, hurting their feelings the same way. I couldn’t stand the idea of responding by
inflicting the same hate backwards, not with how terrible it felt. In that sense, I identified with the Black
Eagles’ cause, and I would identify with it more and more as the game
progressed.
Classes take place at Garreg Mach
Monastery, under the command of the “Pope-equivalent,” Lady Rhea. Lady Rhea thinks nothing of sending your
house out to arrest dissenters so she can execute them, executing people for
speaking their minds and dehumanizing people for not following her rules,
rallying people to do her dirty work.
Also, Rhea’s true form is a giant dragon known as the Immaculate
One. Throughout the game, with her
spiritual and political influence, Rhea reminded me of Politics in modern-day
America, stating the only Christians are Republicans, that all who are
Democrats are Satanists, Communists and Abortion Fanatics, that the LGBTQ+ and
African-American Communities need to either accept their status quo as
second-class citizens beneath the dictator’s heel or prepare for genocide. When Rhea said “Execute Edelgard for being a
rebel,” if you’ve achieved a C+ Support Rank and attended her coronation, you
can choose to defend Edelgard.
And I did, with a great sigh of
relief that I would no longer have to do this madwoman’s whims again. Thus we began our campaign to eliminate this “theocratic”
dictator, this monster who we even gave the chance to surrender before the
final battle. Her response? Set the city ablaze, even though that will
kill many innocent civilians. So I made
a beeline to her in the final battle.
Forget any opponent unless they’re in your way, end the fight quickly so
we can save Fodlan. Eventually, Rhea was
down and Byleth and Edelgard were free to be married.
I made at least two same-gender couples
during this playthrough, Byleth, my avatar who I chose to be female, ended up
with Edelgard, who is like someone I’d like to marry in real life, someone who
can speak her mind, someone unafraid to indulge in silliness now and then and
someone independent, and Dorothea ended up with Petra. This further resonated the importance of
ending the lies of the current administration and elevating reconciling congregations. This game was what I needed when I needed it,
challenging an authoritarian figure with an army that felt like a quirky, dysfunctional
family. But there was another
message. There were many times in this
game I lost the fight, all the units died and I had to start over. Therefore, I urge everyone, persevere, don’t
give up and keep trying until you succeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment