Fire Emblem: Three Houses



The sixteenth entry in the Fire Emblem series of Strategy RPGs, and the first entry of the series to be released on the Nintendo Switch. Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes place in the land of Fódlan, a continent broken up into three distinct countries: the Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Leicester Alliance. One fateful night, the young heirs of these countries are suddenly attacked by a marauding gang of bandits, leading them to cross paths with Byleth, a stoic blue-haired mercenary who helps them drive off the bandits. Shortly after the battle, knights working for Fódlan's Church of Seiros arrive on the scene, and recognize his/her father Jeralt, who used to be one of their number. At the knights' insistence, Jeralt and Byleth accompany them to Garreg Mach Monastery, where the mysterious archbishop Rhea puts Byleth to work as a professor at the monastery's Officer's Academy, where commoners and nobility alike pursue higher education related to combat and military tactics.

While a somewhat controversial decision, Byleth takes to teaching like a duck to water and is assigned to supervise one of the Academy's three houses, with each corresponding with one of Fódlan's three countries: the Black Eagles led by Adrestia's future emperor Edelgard, the Blue Lions led by Faerghus' future king Dimitri, and the Golden Deer led by Leicester's future grand duke Claude. No matter the house, Byleth gets pulled into a complex web of political intrigue involving powerful ancient weapons, a shadowy organization sowing the seeds of chaos around Fódlan, and the mysteries surrounding their birth, as well as the mysterious girl living in their mind who can turn back time...

Proving to be one of the franchise's most popular games, Three Houses would receive a DLC campaign titled "Cinder Shadows", a sidestory where Byleth and all three house lords are thrust into a plot involving the seedy underground of Garreg Mach and the people living within it. It would also receive a Dynasty Warriors-styled spinoff by the name of Fire Emblem: Three Hopes, set to release on June 24, 2022. While not canon to Three Houses, it tells a new story featuring many of the same characters and sheds new light on the world they live in.


 * Abusive Parents: While not quite as bad a problem as some fans would have you believe, quite a few characters come from lousy upbringings.
 * Count Varley. Dear god Count Varley. While not quite the worst, he's the most infamous due to his abhorrent treatment of Bernadetta. Years of emotional and likely physical abuse left her a perpetually nervous wreck who can't go a scene without having a panic attack, all in the name of molding her into the perfect housewife.
 * Mercedes' stepfather Baron Bartels came dangerously close to becoming sexually abusive towards her, due to hoping to use her as his personal breeding sow he could legally rape despite being a child at the time. Thankfully, put a stop to that and gutted the man before he could even try.
 * Count Gloucester doesn't seem too bad on the surface, but it's clear that he's very cold towards his son Lorenz. Lorenz is legitimately afraid of being disowned by him should he lose a dance competition, and in the non-Verdant Wind/Crimson Flower routes, he's willing to have Lorenz potentially die by forcing him to defend the Bridge of Myrddin in his place.
 * Acceptable Breaks From Reality:
 * Aerith and Bob: This dynamic exists all over the place. The students you can potentially teach have names ranging from mundane ones like Raphael Kirsten and Annette Dominic, to truly extravagant ones like Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. We also have members of the Church of Seiros having names like Catherine and Cyril working in tandem with people named Seteth and Flayn.
 * Anti-Villain: As per Fire Emblem tradition, you run into plenty of sympathetic villains here and there.
 * Lord Lonato, the Arc Villain of Chapter 3 may be leading a violent peasant uprising against Rhea, but he's also a grieving father trying to avenge his son, whose execution she supervised (albeit not without reason). Ashe and Catherine's paralogue also reveals that he was being manipulated by the bishop of the corrupt Western Church into taking up arms, who took advantage of his grief for his own selfish ends.
 * An in-universe example is Miklan, as seen through Edelgard's eyes. The Black Eagles' version of Chapter 5 has her lament his death and blame Fódlan's Crest-based society for pushing a promising young nobleman and born leader into a life of banditry. However, Edelgard's tendency to project her worldview onto others blinds her to the ugly truth about Miklan, which is made perfectly apparent in the other routes and even the DLC campaign. While he was disinherited due to not having a Crest, he still could have enjoyed the cushy life of a nobleman and was fully disowned due to repeatedly trying to murder his Crest-bearing brother Sylvain out of spiteful envy, something he willfully turns a blind eye to.
 * The mysterious collaborator of Those Who Slither in the Dark, the Flame Emperor, doesn't seem to be a sadistic genocidal maniac like his brothers-in-arms and openly holds their overly cruel methods in disdain. He legitimately wants Byleth to join his cause so they can destroy what ails Fódlan, which includes Those Who Slither.
 * While unhinged and merciless enough to burn down an entire city just to kill her enemies, in Crimson Flower is ultimately
 * Ax Crazy: Interestingly, this game's most mentally disturbed characters are some of the good guys, who completely lose their mind when pushed far enough. The most notable is, who . There's also.
 * That being said, there are still terrifying psychos on the villains' side. Noteworthy examples are the Death Knight/, a sadistic, bloodthirsty maniac suffering from a split personality, as well as Kronya, a psychotic Monster Clown obsessed with killing and hurting people.
 * Badass Grandpa: Gilbert is getting up there in years, but he's a hard-hitting Armored Knight by default and won't hesitate to put bandits or in their place. Hanneman is roughly as old as him, and is still a very effective spellcaster in spite of his advanced age. Then there's Solon and Thales, whose ages might be up in the thousands. Doesn't stop them from being terrifying evil sorcerers in their own right.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Gauntlets are a new weapon type, and with them comes several Classes dedicated to melee combat: Brawlers, Grapplers, and War Masters. Their damage output is a bit weaker compared to other physical fighters, but they make up for it by being able to attack multiple times in one turn, up to four under the right circumstances.
 * Big Bad: is this in the Azure Moon route, while  is this in Crimson Flower. Those Who Slither in the Dark are technically this to the game as a whole, but only serve as the final threat in Verdant Wind.
 * The Big Guy: Every house has at least one designated axe/gauntlet-favoring physical powerhouse among their ranks.
 * The Blue Lions have Dedue, an intimidating Gentle Giant who doubles as The Lancer to Dimitri.
 * The Black Lions have Caspar, who makes up for his short stature with his brash, hot-headed nature and surprising strength.
 * The Golden Deer have Raphael, a hulking Book Dumb lug of a man who is obsessed with eating and training so he can become even bigger and stronger.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Practically the calling card of Those Who Slither in the Dark.
 * Bi the Way: Dorothea is explicitly flirtatious towards men and women alike, and Edelgard, Mercedes, Linhardt, Yuri, Rhea,, and can be romanced regardless of gender. This means that male and female Byleth are bisexual by association, as is Petra due to having an unambiguously romantic paired ending with Dorothea. Also, Catherine and Shamir's ending shows that their relationship goes a whole lot further than mere Les Yay.
 * Cain and Abel: Sylvain of the Blue Lions has this kind of relationship with his brother Miklan. Miklan is the Cain, being a spiteful, sociopathic brute of a man obsessed with murdering his little brother over losing his inheritance to him. Meanwhile, Sylvain is the Abel due to being a good-hearted young man who won his father's favor due to being born with the family Crest.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Dark magic may be scary and destructive, but its wielders are just as likely to be good as they are evil.
 * Darth Vader Clone: A few are present. Fittingly, they're all associated with an evil emperor.
 * Funnily enough, the Flame Emperor himself is basically Darth Vader in a medieval setting. While his manipulative warmonger tendencies and status bring Palpatine to mind, he's got the imposing armor, mechanically-filtered voice, Bad Boss tendencies, and tragic backstory most would associate with Vader, and even offers Byleth a genuine offer to team up and eliminate the shadowy Sith-like Agarthans that he answers to..
 * And the similarities go even further after the Emperor's identity is revealed..
 * The Death Knight is an even better example of this trope, being a terrifying warrior clad in skeletal black armor with a hellishly deep voice filtered through his helmet. He's an obscenely powerful combatant that you shouldn't even think of fighting early in the game, and serves as the muscle of the Flame Emperor's army. He's also related to one of the heroes: . More specifically, he's
 * Disposable Bandits: This game fulfills the time-honored tradition of having thuggish bandits serve as a Fire Emblem game's unremarkable Starter Villains. Funnily enough though,
 * Draconic Divinity: Dragons that happen to be divine beings are a staple in Fire Emblem games, this one included. A major figure in the Church of Seiros' mythos is the Immaculate One, an enormous white dragon who showed up to aid Saint Seiros in her time of need.
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Surprisingly, the series' weapon-based version of this trope is completely absent. With that being said, many Classes still have obvious strengths and weaknesses: flying units resist magic but are eaten alive by archers, Armored Knights shrug off physical attacks like they're nothing but get torn apart by spellcasters, etc.
 * Elite Mooks: In traditional Fire Emblem fashion, many endgame Mooks have access to high-level classes like Assassin, Swordmaster, Wyvern Knight, and War Master. They're much tougher to take out than your typical Myrmidons and Brigands as a result.
 * Evil Redhead: Miklan's got a head of long red hair, and he's one of the game's most vile villains. Kronya, Duke Aegir, and are similarly vile and have hair colors ranging from orange to pink.  also counts in Crimson Flower as well as any non- routes where he isn't recruited, though he's far more sympathetic than the other four.
 * Fantastic Racism: The people of Duscur are victims of a near-genocide at the hands of the Kingdom of Faerghus, and many Faerghus natives have nothing but abhorrent things to say about them, Ingrid included. Almyrans are similarly looked down on by many Fódlan natives due to Almyra's history of launching unprovoked invasions For the Evulz. Then there's Those Who Slither in the Dark and their hatred for humanity, who they view as little more than savage beasts.
 * Final Boss: Each route has one of its own.
 * Azure Moon:
 * Crimson Flower:
 * Verdant Wind:
 * Gainaxing: Not present during gameplay, but in the cutscene introducing the staff and students of Garreg Mach, Manuela is introduced with the camera fixated on her jiggling boobs.
 * The Heavy: While she's only the Big Bad in Azure Moon, is still a major threat in Verdant Wind, serving as the primary villain until the Slithers take the reins back at the very end.
 * Hero Antagonist: Dimitri and Rhea in Crimson Flower, where they're the ones being menaced by Villain Protagonist.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Dorothea is openly flirtatious towards Ingrid, who makes it clear that she isn't interested in girls.
 * It's All About Me: One of the Leicester Alliance's greatest weaknesses is that the Great Lords in charge of it are all ultimately looking out for Number One, meaning that it's hard to get anything done thanks to all the self-centered bickering going on during roundtable meetings. Due to technically being the head of the Alliance, Claude isn't amused.
 * This is ultimately the crux of 's motivation:
 * Lovable Coward: Bernadetta is a very anxious young lady who has panic attacks at the drop of a hat, and will do everything in her power to stay in her room so she doesn't have to go on missions with her class. She's no Dirty Coward, though, just an Adorkable victim of trauma inflicted by her abusive dickhead of a father.
 * Mechanical Abomination: Downplayed with
 * My Master, Right or Wrong:
 * If Edelgard asks Hubert to jump, he'd ask how high. If she told him to walk off a cliff, he'd practically run off it..
 * Dedue and Catherine, while far more heroic than Hubert, are also prone to outsourcing their morality to Dimitri and Rhea, the ones they're loyal to. Not necessarily a bad thing since both are kind-hearted and morally sound.
 * A Nazi by Any Other Name: "Those Who Slither in the Dark" are a cult of racial purists obsessed with wiping out those they deem inferior to them, and are fond of horrific human experimentation.
 * Parents as People: Many of the main cast's parents are good people who want to do right by their children, but make mistakes along the way.
 * Rodrigue is a kind and honorable man, but his relationship with his son Felix is strained due to him being Innocently Insensitive about the death of his other son Glenn. While he was undoubtedly heartbroken over his son's brutal murder during the Tragedy of Duscur, young Felix did not need to hear that his brother "died like a true knight" as young as he did.
 * While people are quick to label Margrave Gautier an abusive father for disinheriting Miklan for not being born with a Crest, his actions are understandable given the circumstances. Without the Crest of Gautier, Miklan can't wield the powerful Lance of Ruin and use it to protect their land from Sreng's invasions. Because Sylvain had the family Crest, the inheritance goes to him because he'll be key to thwarting future invasions.
 * Politically Incorrect Hero: Ingrid has a very low opinion of Duscur and its people, and doesn't hesitate to tell Dedue that to his face. Bigotry aside, she's still a good-hearted young lady who is firmly committed to fighting evil, and even renounces her racism when she and Dedue get to know each other better.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: In a setting already full of horrible villains, Miklan is especially noteworthy due the game all but blatantly saying that he's a brutal serial rapist. Yuri expresses disgust over his abductions of women and assures Byleth that while he's far from pure-hearted, he'd never sink to Miklan's level.
 * Starter Villain: Kostas, who's the obligatory Chapter 1 bandit boss seen in most Fire Emblem games. Though in a minor twist, he does survive past the opening chapter... only to die in the chapter immediately afterwards.
 * The Stoic: Byleth starts off completely emotionless, and is still rather subdued after growing the capacity to experience emotions. While this is due to, it might run in the family since Jeralt is a very serious, quiet man himself.
 * Token Evil Teammate: While most of the Black Eagles are friendly and good-hearted kids, Hubert is an openly sadistic creep who doesn't bother hiding his nasty nature from other people.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: In a setting already full of horrible villains, Miklan is especially noteworthy due the game all but blatantly saying that he's a brutal serial rapist. Yuri expresses disgust over his abductions of women and assures Byleth that while he's far from pure-hearted, he'd never sink to Miklan's level.
 * Starter Villain: Kostas, who's the obligatory Chapter 1 bandit boss seen in most Fire Emblem games. Though in a minor twist, he does survive past the opening chapter... only to die in the chapter immediately afterwards.
 * The Stoic: Byleth starts off completely emotionless, and is still rather subdued after growing the capacity to experience emotions. While this is due to, it might run in the family since Jeralt is a very serious, quiet man himself.
 * Token Evil Teammate: While most of the Black Eagles are friendly and good-hearted kids, Hubert is an openly sadistic creep who doesn't bother hiding his nasty nature from other people.