#the devs better go gotcha 2.0 & say it was a dream

[fantasyinvader]

So, remember the Nintendo Dream interview? I seem to recall the devs saying the Nabeteans ruled/governed humanity while Nemesis went around killing them for power? I don't think this is the gotcha Nemesis apologists say it was, as Houses it very clear that the era before the Empire was bloody and lawless. Clans/tribes/houses used their power without restraint, creating constant war within Fodlan while Nemesis used his Crest and Relic to go from being being a simple bandit to crowning himself king. The War of Heroes started not as a war on Nemesis specifically, but an attempt to unify Fodlan and restore order on Wilhelm's part.

Dragons might have led humanity, but they also maintained order while doing so. Nemesis going around killing them all only served to create chaos and further wars, resulting in more and more lives lost.

Likewise, the Agarthans didn't go after Sothis because they were natives fighting a colonizer. This ignores that they were going around, massacring their neighbors and Sothis stepped in to stop them. Their own texts admit this, but they still play the victim. Then they back Nemesis, creating further chaos, in revenge. This is in line with their name, as the residents of Agartha are the Shura waging an endless war against the benevolent devas.

Edelgard is their third attempt at this, after Loog backed out after getting what he wanted. Like Nemesis, she's also using false pretenses and lying to the people to hide her real goal, conquest of the continent while giving herself absolute power to shape society as she sees fit. She is willing to throw the world into chaos, to sacrifice however many it takes, in order to achieve this. Like Loog, there's an implication that the Agarthans are manipulating the situation, and she espouses the same survival of the fittest stuff Nemesis does.

Then there's HopesClaude, who stumbles into being Edelgard 2.0.

So when you really look at it, what is it saying? This does not make a good pro-human argument to support these sides, it makes Houses a case where humans are the real monsters all along and need to be guided away from such a path. This is why Byleth is supposed to have to have such a connection to their teaching gig, preferring it over their previous life as someone who kills for money. They become someone who guides Fodlan and it's leaders to a better tomorrow, or they throw away that development and return to being the Ashen Demon at Edelgard's side.