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.
 * Ambiguously Evil: Count Gloucester is However, his true culpability is left unclear due to there being no real follow up to Ignatz and Raphael's paralogue.
 * 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.
 * Badass Long Hair: Post-timeskip, Ferdinand has impressively long Fabio hair to coincide with his status as one of the best fighters in the game.
 * 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 Eagles 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.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Catherine is all but said to be in love with Rhea, who she valiantly defends as a Knight of Seiros. Hubert however flat-out says that he's in love with Edelgard, who he's also the chief protector of.
 * 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.
 * Christmas Cake: Manuela, who's 36 before the timeskip and 41 after it, and obsessed with finding a nice man to settle down with while lamenting her "old" age and inability to keep a boyfriend past the first date. However, Manuela's horrible luck with men isn't due to them finding her repulsive because of her age; they're turned off by her slovenly behavior and "woe is me" attitude, something that Cyril calls her out on during their Support conversations.
 * 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 warmongering 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,
 * Draco in Leather Pants: Verdant Wind reveals that the Church of Seiros has been invoking an interesting in-universe example of this trope with Unfortunately, this does have the side effect making Edelgard wrongly believe that.
 * 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.
 * Beasts are in a class of their own, boasting multiple health bars and Herd-Hitting Attacks with massive range as well as horrifying stat boosts every time they lose a health bar.
 * 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 to the point that his villainy merely consists of backing the wrong horse.
 * Expy: The Flame Emperor is the latest in a long line of Expies based off of Rudolf from Fire Emblem Gaiden, being an evil emperor heavily associated with the color red with a Well-Intentioned Extremist mindest like Rudolf himself, Arvis, and Walhart. He's also got a lot in common with Ashard due to being a murderous, imperialistic Social Darwinist who wants to reform society into one based on merit, though he's much more sympathetic than him.
 * 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:
 * Forgotten First Meeting:
 * 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.
 * Generic Doomsday Villain:
 * The Good King: King Lambert, Dimitri's father, was by all accounts a nice guy and fair ruler who was hellbent on forging an everlasting peace with Duscur. Dimitri follows in his footsteps,
 * Hate Sink: Plenty. The most (in)famous example would be Count Varley, Bernadetta's abusive jackass of a father. While we never see him onscreen, Bernadetta's support conversations paint a very clear picture of the man being a cruel, greedy bully whose awful parenting molded his daughter into a paranoid recluse. He was also involved in the Insurrection of the Seven to some extent, which resulted in the torturous experiments that killed most of the Imperial royal family and traumatized Edelgard. And unlike Duke Gerth, Hubert's father, and possibly the fathers of Linhardt and Caspar, it's very likely that he participated solely to steal some of the Emperor's power for himself as opposed to benevolent reasons like them.
 * Fellow Imperial abusive parent Baron Bartels is similarly morally bankrupt, due to being a pedophile who was willing to use his child-aged daughter as a breeding sow since her mother was past the age where she could bear him children. What little we know about him points towards him being entirely selfish and cruel, and him traumatizing doesn't win him any likability points, either.
 * "Those Who Slither in the Dark" are a faction of Hate Sinks. While fans of the game's lords will argue endlessly about which one was "right" and which ones were irredeemably evil, just about everyone agrees that the cruel, genocidal Nazi molemen are a blight upon Fódlan and its people, and every last member is an absolute monster who commits horrible atrocities for the fun of it.
 * Miklan Gautier, Sylvain's monstrously abusive older brother is revealed to have made his life hell growing up, often attacking him and trying to kill him out of jealousy for losing his inheritance to him before getting disowned completely by their father, which he responded to by becoming a raping, pillaging bandit. While Edelgard and even Dimitri spare him pity for their own reasons, Miklan's spiteful Psychopathic Manchild attitude and refusal to take accountability for his actions won't win him any sympathy from the player... at least, in theory.
 * Acheron is an obnoxious Smug Snake and Dirty Coward extraordinaire, and has no redeeming qualities to his name beyond being satisfying to kill. He exists solely for someone that all sides of the game's main conflict can hate, no matter who they think is ultimately in the right.
 * 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.
 * Interface Spoiler: If you can't interact with an important character in the monastery beyond talking to them, chances are they're either secretly evil, or are going to die.
 * It's All About Me: One of the Leicester Alliance's greatest weaknesses is that the 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 after the timeskip and being forced to step up to the plate during a war, 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.
 * Nerd Glasses: Ignatz is a very brainy, artistic young man, and has a pair of big round glasses to spare. Petra gets to wear them during one of her support conversations with Ignatz, and she really pulls off the Nerds Are Sexy look.
 * 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. At worst Margrave Gautier was neglectful of Miklan's needs and focused too much on Sylvain, but everything points to him otherwise being a decent parent.
 * Byleth grew up living a very sheltered life, and possesses almost no knowledge of the outside world whatsoever due to being born and raised a mercenary by Jeralt their father. While far from an ideal upbringing, Jeralt very clearly loves his child and was acting out of fear over
 * 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.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: During teatime with Hilda, she'll suddenly get cagey and assure you that if you hear anything that it isn't her stomach growling. "Just so you know."
 * Early in the game, you can check up on Bernadetta and hear her chowing down on something before she realizes you're outside of her dormitory. Cue the panicky cries of "I-I'm not secretly eating cake!"
 * 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.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Flayn loves fish. As in, really really loves fish. She often talks about eating it, and at one part of the game, your daily monastery activities are interrupted by a fishing tournament where all the participants are trying to catch a fish she deems good enough to eat.
 * 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.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Flayn loves fish. As in, really really loves fish. She often talks about eating it, and at one part of the game, your daily monastery activities are interrupted by a fishing tournament where all the participants are trying to catch a fish she deems good enough to eat.