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morwensteelsheen · 3 years

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I might have just hallucinated this but at some point i saw something (maybe it was a fic? Idk) exploring Eowyn meeting Glorfindel. Just for fun do you have any thoughts on how that might have gone? I always thought it was an interesting little detail that so many elves were present in Edoras for Theoden's funeral/the trothplighting and wonder what they might have made of all that. It seemed to me a changing of the guard in a way as the age of elves was ending and the age of men began ascending

Oooh, fun question, and that's really such a beautiful way of putting that, I love the idea of it as a changing of the guard.

You definitely didn't hallucinate that fic, I'm trying to find it now — will update when I do!

So I think there are a few main factors that go into deciding what Éowyn would have thought about meeting Glorfindel, and vice versa. I’ll start with Éowyn because that’s what I’m more comfortable with.

The three main questions to answer here are: 1) Éowyn’s thoughts on the Elves generally 2) Éowyn’s awareness of the prophesy/the lore surrounding the Witch-king and 3) the extent to which Éowyn is impressed (or not impressed) by impressive things.

We’ll start with 1. Which rocks because it’s the one we have the least textual evidence for — classic! Legolas is almost certainly the first Elf she’s ever interacted with, and we see basically no interactions between them. So we have to look to the next Elves she sees which are… Elladan and Elrohir. And on those fellas, she’s got nothing particularly interesting to say:

The Lady Éowyn greeted them and was glad of their coming; for no mightier men had she seen than the Dúnedain and the fair sons of Elrond; but on Aragorn most of all her eyes rested.

So, she (rightly) thinks they’re pretty and strong, but really has nothing much else to say beyond that. This is mostly because she’s focussed entirely on Aragorn, but you’d think if she was going to have any strong reactions, now would be the time. Textually this is all we get, so now I get to dive into my HC. I think she’s basically unimpressed by them generally. Not outright hostile, because she’ll have seen what part they played in the war and have tremendous respect for them for that, but they’re not really a thing that exists in her life, so to speak. Plus, the first person she really talks to for any extended period of time who’s going to have any strong opinions on the Elves is Faramir and he is, objectively, deeply ambivalent (see: his takes on dealing with Galadriel and the Elves in Two Towers. King of Not Giving A Fuck).

On the Elf Question, she’s probably going to come to them with a general level of ambivalence and, maybe, some scepticism, and maybe some feelings of discomfort. They’re just very, very outwith her ken.

Okay onto 2. The prophesy and the lore. Yeah, Éowyn almost certainly knows jack shit about this. Not because she’s dumb, but just because it’s, again, not really part of her world. The Battle of Fornost is a somewhat significant battle, all things considered, but it’s so far before the establishment of the Mark that it’s unlikely they’re going to be dealing with the specifics of it, and certainly even less so with the airy-fairy shit some twunk is spouting off afterwards. Going into her fight, she’s really not going to know why it should matter that she’s not a dude, she just knows that the Witch king is bad and she wants him gone. She might not even know who Glorfindel is, to be honest! Which is also going to be funny because for those in the know, Glorfindel is, like, literally Jesus Christ Superstar. The question really is how many people know? The Gondorrim fo sho, I struggle with the extent to which the Rohirrim are versed in this sort of stuff. Éomer, maybe. Certainly he’s going to be briefed, being the King of the Mark and all that, but how much gets passed along to Éowyn? I’m not sure. My heart says all of it, my head says basically none.

And 3., how much is Éowyn impressed by impressive things? Well, that can go either way. She’s obviously very impressed by Aragorn, but that could be/is as much an emotional response to the act of heroism she sees as it is to his general impressiveness. The next impressive thing we see her deal with is the Witch king and, again, this is coloured by emotion, but she really does not seem impressed At All by him. So unimpressed, actually, that where braver men turned tail and hauled ass out of there, she starts monologuing lol. The next impressive thing is Minas Tirith, Gondor generally, and Faramir. She’s very iffy on all of these things, she’s certainly not much impressed by the power or majesty of it all, and it takes a lot of concessions on Faramir’s behalf before she’s out and out ready to deal with him. So, yeah. Not easily impressed our Éowyn.

Glorfindel, by comparison, is an absolute delight of a character who is almost certainly deeply, deeply impressed with Éowyn. And, I think importantly, is not liable to get bogged down into the hooha about whether or not it’s Merry or Éowyn who fulfils the prophesy. I think he’s going to be fucking thrilled to death (in his own, neat and tidy way) about Éowyn being who she is. His approach to this is going to be much less complicated than Éowyn’s — he’s seen fucking loads of great heroes in his life, no matter how cool she is, she’s just another one of them, so he’s not going to be starstruck.

I think their actual meeting would be fairly lowkey, particularly if it’s at any sort of major event. I might even go so far as to say that Éowyn’s not really going to differentiate between him and any of the other Elves that are cutting about unless someone either 1) explicitly gives her a heads up in advance or 2) he goes out of his way to explain who he is and what their implicit relationship to one another is. For my part, I’m not certain he would.

Part of the problem with dealing with this question is that Glorfindel is Tolkien’s hero’s hero. He’s a hero nonpareil, basically so heroic that he lacks any real distinguishable personality beyond inherent nobility, goodness, and courage. In any interaction between them, Glorfindel would sort of being fulfilling the role of a character trope, and Éowyn would be providing the bulk of the personality. Given that, I think I’m pretty comfortable in saying that Glorfindel would probably approach Éowyn as a warrior equal, and would compliment her on her feat, but would not, I think, necessarily be hanging around to chat complex history with her. If anything it’s probably going to be a drive-by conversation. They’ll meet, he’ll congratulate her, he’ll go on with his life. I don’t think she’s going to be starstruck by meeting him.

I also think she’s going to be at a very specific point in her life at any point where they could reasonably meet where she’s probably not going to be all giggly/happy/proud of herself for having killed the Witch king. It’s still going to be a really sore, traumatic moment in her life that’s going to be wrapped up in so many other negative emotions (not least of which is her stunted catharsis — which I am intending to write about later) that she’s probably fine acknowledging it but is maybe a bit emotionally ehhh on it. If he, say, swings by Emyn Arnen in TA 3021, maybe she’ll be a little more up for chatting happily about it and swapping war stories. But I think at Théoden’s funeral or Aragorn and Arwen’s wedding she’s just not going to be in the right place for big hype over it. And I suspect Glorfindel would recognise that and be respectful of it — he, too, has seen some shit.

What would be fucking fun is everybody who’d be trying to watch that interaction, especially if it’s going on at an event or in public. The rubbernecking would be absurd. For all his Elf ambivalence, I’d put a decent amount of money down to say that Faramir would be hauling ass over there to be a part of that conversation — mostly out of a detached academic interest, it’s not often you see the heroes of your childhood stories/Tolkien Jesus come walking up to congratulate your wife on being radge as fuck. If Aragorn’s around/aware, he’s definitely got some level of pride going on over it, and would probably try to see it from afar, if not being around for it. Éomer’s definitely hyped even if he’s not really got the full significance of it down, there’s no way he’s not going to be impressed by Glorfindel’s biography. Everybody else, even those without a personal connection to either of them, is probably watching because it’d be a cool as shit thing to see. I don’t fully understand the significance of, like, public marriage proposals or whatever, but if I see one happening I’m gonna watch it. That sort of thing.

#asks #honestly just laughing at the thought of like half the room turning to watch glorfindel approach éowyn and éowyn being like 'the fuck???'#éowyn /#glorfindel /#gondor /#lotr /#hc

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irishseeeker · 3 years

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For the Bridgerton ask thing, 8, 9 & 29 please? Thank you! 💛

hi @mskatesharma <3 thank you for asking!

8. Ship that least interests you?

This is my ranking of the Bridgerton couples:

1. Anthony and Kate

2. Benedict and Sophie

3. Francesca and Michael

4. Hyacinth and Gareth

5. Colin and Penelope

6. Eloise and Philip

7. Gregory & Lucy

8. Daphne & Simon

I’d have to say Simon and Daphne would definitely be my least favourite. It took me a while to get through the Duke and I, I was just a bit bored? Anthony was the best part of the book for me tbh lol. I just found them dull compared to the rest of the books and even in the show, I wasn’t crazy about them? The sub-plots made the show for me but I am LIVING for the second season and the rest of them, the couples & stories are just so much better.

TVWLM blew my mind and I read it in about a day, and I re-read it regularly. it’s just incredible. I’m obsessed, clearly from the amount I write about them lol. I loved Benedict & Sophie as well-Sophie especially was a really good character, I liked her a lot more than Benedict. Benedict was a bit of dick but he did have some redeeming moments. I think he’s a lot more likeable in the series so excited for season 3! I would have liked to see more of them married in the rest of the books.

This may be slightly controversial as they are so popular and I do love them but Colin & Penelope’s book was quite disappointing? Colin was a bit of a dick which was disappointing as I loved him in the previous books and Penelope didn’t really get any consequences for being Lady Whistledown despite insulting a lot of people? I just felt a lot more could have been done with the revelation and their relationship. I did love Colin in the books though and I was disappointed as he didn’t have any of the charisma or charm in season 1, Benedict had it all-so hoping they give Colin more opportunities in season 2 and on to show his charm from the books! Particularly with Kate and Anthony.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they swap Benedict for Colin in pushing that ship though.

I do like Eloise and Philip. I love Eloise as a character, she’s definitely the most entertaining Bridgerton but Philip’s treatment of his children doesn’t sit right with me so I’m iffy about the book overall. I’m obsessed with the second epilogue of Amanda-wish she had gotten her own book!

Francesca and Michael- yes, yes and yes. Michael. Michael. Yes. It annoyed me we didn’t see any of Francesca’s relationships with her siblings, especially with Anthony who practically raised her. It just didn’t make sense to me.

I loved Hyacinth and Gareth as well. Hyacinth was everything I imagined her to be and I just thought it was fun! I loved Lady Danbury in it as well.

Gregory and Lucy were okay! I just found their story sort of meh compared to Anthony's, Francesca's or Benedicts. Licy was a good character I think Gregory was just too bland for me!

9. Favourite non-book compliant character?

Ooh, possibly Genevieve? I’m convinced she’s going to have something to do with Sophie getting ready for the masquerade ball in season 3. I’m intrigued to see her role in season two and three anyway! I also really liked Siena- it was a good sub plot for season 1 and very interested to see how the aftermath of their relationship affects Anthony especially if she comes back for the office scene? But it would also do nothing for her character as she ended things for herself so I reckon she won’t be back.

29. When did you first read the Bridgerton books?

I read them all in January! I was never one for romance books like Bridgerton and had never read any sort of historical romance but now I am hooked.

The Duke and I actually took me about 2 weeks to read because I wasn’t that into it, but I SPED through the rest of them. I didn’t have high hopes after the Duke and I but once I started it I couldn’t put TVWLM down and the rest of them too! On the Way to the Wedding did bore me slightly, I’ve already said this above I just wasn’t really rooting for Lucy and Gregory as a couple like the rest of the Bridgerton couples, even though I really did like Lucy as a character! I just felt Gregory was a bit pointless? Hermione also really annnoyed me.

wow that was very long but I just have a lot of thoughts about Bridgerton :)

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

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If your Runaan is King theory is true, do you think there might be any parallels between Runaan and Lain friendship and Harrow and Viren friendship (before Viren was taken over by dark magic)? And if Harrow died before he and Viren drew apart, would he have asked Viren to take care of his kids (same way Lain did with Runaan)?

Oh man, this is such a fun question! Gosh gosh gosh. I think there should be parallels there, yes! Lain is Runaan’s BFF, and Viren was Harrow’s. Like, that parallel is already there. The BFFs have/had a wife, and the leaders have had spouses too. There’s a group of four for each of them, two couples, with these pairs of men as the closest friends.

Both sets of relationships are complicated, and though we know a bunch of the issues Viren and Harrow have dealt with, we really don’t know much about Lain and Runaan’s friendship or how it’s affected their friend group and marriages, aside from two things: Lain got Ruthari together by encouraging Runaan to tell Ethari how he felt, and Laindrin trusted Ruthari with Rayla’s upbringing. That’s kind of all we got so far.

But I would love to see a handful more really key mirrors and parallels in place. Some things that are the same, and some that are different. That’s really how this show’s characterization works, so I’m practically expecting it.

Viren and Lissa divorced because Viren was creeping her out with his dark magic, apparently. Lain and Tiadrin are still together, and they fight as a dedicated battle couple. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t face some kind of crisis moment too, where maybe Lain had a hard choice to make and Tiadrin decided to support him instead of pull away--or maybe Tiadrin was the one making the choice.

Maybe it involved having Rayla? Or joining the Dragonguard? If Lain was the one invited, and he really wanted to go, Tiadrin would have to choose between staying with Rayla or staying with Lain. That’s a big echo of Claudia’s “Don’t make me choose!” right there, so maybe there’s something to that? (I have an angsty hc that Runaan, as the assassin leader, sent them both to the Storm Spire for many reasons. If one of them was to prevent Tiadrin having to choose, and if he chose to suffer the loss of both so they could remain together, gosh...) If they struggled with a decision and then left together, then Runaan and Ethari would have to support their friends’ departure while trusting that they’d be stronger together. Oh man, the feels.

Harrow and Viren are both men who will do things on their own if they must. We saw Sarai as more of a “I can go with you or leave you to your folly but clearly you need my help” kind of person when it came to the Magma Titan mission. And iirc there’s a tweet out there saying that Tiadrin and Sarai would be great friends if they met under peaceful circumstances.

So maybe Tiadrin, with her tactical mind, has the same approach as Sarai, and Lain is more of a “Dude, bro, dude, let’s just do the thing, bro my dude my guy, I gotchu.” He’s very supportive, but that can also become enabling if it goes a little too far, so maybe Lain has gotten Runaan into some tight spots, or at least not talked him out of said spots, over the course of their friendship? And it was Tiadrin who saved their butts, which she does not let them forget. I can see Sarai teasing her boys about their follies and her needing to save the day, too, gosh I love that.

We don’t know what kind of societal role Lissa had. I’ve been assuming she didn’t fight like Sarai did, but I could be super wrong on that. If she isn’t a combatant, then she actually kinda parallels Ethari. Three fighters and someone who doesn’t fight, but with the pairings are swapped. That just adds more possibility to the paralleling options, though.

And I’m wondering, maybe Runaan and Ethari had a moment like Lissa and Viren, where Ethari might’ve had to choose whether to stay with this stabby idiot after he saw something very unpleasant. Perhaps it was Runaan getting his scars? Viren sacrificed someone (presumably) to save Soren’s life. Perhaps Runaan nearly sacrificed his own on a mission. There’s a really dark parallel with these two about how little they value life--extra ironic and complicated for Runaan as a Moonshadow--and I can totally see a big scary moment happening where their spouses realize exactly how different their loved one’s philosophy is from their own. Except that Ethari stayed and Lissa left. and now Runaan has gone but Viren remains, aaaaa

I wonder how the other couples might’ve played out, there. When Viren and Lissa split, how did Harrow and Sarai handle it? What did Harrow try to do for his friend? Did they try to reconcile the couple? Probably. That could’ve felt like political pressure to Lissa. And I wonder if Harrow even knew what Viren had done to save Soren’s life, that he killed someone. I bet Viren wouldn’t tell him that part. Maybe he even lied, because his need to be Harrow’s friend, to be close to power and allowed to practice his magic, was so strong.

Lain and Tiadrin would’ve tried to talk to Runaan and Ethari too, I’m sure. They’re both assassins, just like Runaan, so they’d see his side, and Ethari might’ve felt very pressured as well, to just submit and go along. Not just as a freaked out spouse, but as the craftsman who made weapons for the assassin leader and for others, keeping them safe. If he left... who would keep Runaan safe? That’s kinda sus, bro. But I can see the Moonshadow logic in it.

Viren has attached himself to Harrow as friend and protector, and he’s dedicated years of his life to helping Harrow protect their people. Possibly Lain had the same motivation? “This guy’s important, so I wanna be his friend and help him out with that.” That’s not a bad thing at all. Viren’s motives were a little tainted by dark magic. Maybe Lain’s a stand-up guy. But maybe he also has some kind of self-interest involved in being Runaan’s best friend, too. Moonshadows be complicated.

tl;dr: Yes anon I am very here for an interwoven, complicated friendship between Lain and Runaan that involves spouses and plenty of good and bad history, similar to the long and complex relationship between Harrow and Viren. I am jonesing for more moonfam backstory so bad.

As to your other question, I do think that Harrow would’ve wanted to entrust his children to Viren before he and the dark mage drew apart. The question that arises for me is: when did that begin?

I think it began with Sarai’s death. Harrow had his own plan, but he trusted Viren and did it his way, and he lost his wife in the process. Fifty thousand lives is a lot more than one life. But that one life was the most precious one to Harrow, and it made the sacrifice personal in a way that losing fifty thousand citizens never would be.

Harrow might still have given his kids to Viren. But Amaya was also a choice. The general or the mage? Neither are super safe for a childhood environment.

Interestingly, in this parallel, Amaya is a lot more like Runaan: the fighter, who would’ve trained Callum and Ezran to fight because they grew up in such a dangerous environment. I wonder if there was another option for Laindrin to give Rayla to, one that was more magical, or more dubious? Lujanne comes to mind! Hah, can you imagine? Crikey!

I think that if Harrow and Sarai needed to give their boys to someone, Sarai would advocate for Amaya and win: “With troops like Gren and Corvus and the whole Standing Battalion to protect and raise them, there’s no safer place in all of Katolis!” It sounds like something Tiadrin would say about leaving Rayla with Runaan and Ethari, amidst the assassin corps. It’s not ideal by miles, but I can see why she, as a warrior herself, would see safety and a like-minded community as the strongest benefits.

If it was only Harrow, after Sarai died, it might still be Amaya, because his trust in Viren had begun to fracture, but it’s hard to say. I get the feeling that Harrow has never really seen Viren as dad material, even though he has kids. That hug thing in the S1 novelization was really weird, and I will never unsee Viren saying “familial clasp.” Viren, why are you like this. Anyway, Harrow might just decide that leaving his kids with a guy who literally doesn’t know what a hug is, might not be the best move for their emotional development.

He’s a good dad, an angry widower, an iffy king, a great jokester, a loving husband, and a loyal friend. He’s as complicated as Runaan is, kings or no. But I hope that he and Viren had many years of true friendship, just like I suspect Runaan and Lain have had. Positive, healthy relationships are good for everyone.

Please though, TDP, moonfam friendship stuff. This parallel is begging to happen and things don’t feel balanced without it. What’s that, there’s not enough time?

*magically sprinkles five extra minutes onto each episode* Reality schmeality.

#asks #viren #harrow #lain #runaan #tdp parallels #king runaan #moonfam #amaya #rayla

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currentfandomkick · 4 years

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Bio! Dad Strange part 8

This is just a bunch of random things that amuse me from this au, i will try to keep them in a coherent order but no gaurantees.

Everyone in Marinette’s friend group (Max, Kim, Alix, Nino, Sabrina and (somehow) Chloe) has at least one color unique to them, some with a secondary or pattern, to show that they are psuedo-family.

Chloe mentioned the idea after listening to Adrikins go on about anime magic girls and go off on Sailor Moon for too many days.

The group starts it as a joke—if you dont wear your color, you are mad at someone in the group enough to disown them. Wearing someone else’s color meant you saw them as really close compred to the others. Wearing all of the colors meant you felt very loved by the group and are proud damnit!

Chloe picked yellow, and added stripes as her pattern just incase they added another yellow later.

Sabrina demanded purple and argyle patterns as hers. Why? “Purple is mystery i will solve them all!”

Max picked green and decided collared shirts were his domain. Sabrina and him foght over this sometimes, as ‘no we both like this, Not eachother.’

Kim called Red and yellow, since he likes chlow he called her color as his secondary.

Sabrina picked up on the meaning and so did Nino. It didnt register for Marinette, Nino and Max.

Chloe claims this is why she wanted a pattern too.

Alix demands black as her color, despite Max’s protests that no, black is not a color. Alix says she’s all the colors as black, and picked stripes as her pattern like Chloe. Alix has her stripes as knit fingerless gloves, while Chloe wears hers as a shirt.

Nino call blue, and specified his hat as proof of friendship. When he is mad at them he doesnt wear it and everyone assumes a war is going on between him and someone. He forgot it one day and everyone was worried.

Marinette kicks kim and says she wanted Red. In the end she agree to either red or oink—depending on whatever rules her parents made about her wearing any color too much. She picked her signiture flower design as her pattern.

Why is this important?

Becuase now whenever any of them dont wear one if these colors or patterns visibly, it means someone did something and the school intervenes.

So the day Marinette came in early with a too big faded red hoodie and Kim was late without his red on, there was Tension.

He chases Marinette to get his hoodie back. She refuses, dodging and weaving until he ends up in the art class and Oh.

Marinette chucks a better red hoodie sweatshirt at him while saying “this should stop the shippers!”

No one but Chloe and Sabrina knew what that meant. Both were embarassed. They mentioend people thought Kim was crushing on her since his hoodie was getting pinker, and she did wear a lot of faded reds and pinks.

It did not stop the shippers. Only made them swap from romantic ship to ‘oh god these are destructive sibling cinnamon rolls’.

Becuase kim almost crying while tackling Marinette in a hug, in public, while Marinette goes off on him having bà’s hearing and squirming to escape and start another game of chase?

Intense ‘dorky brother loves his new sister who wants to play not be mushy in public’ energy that no one was stopping.

—

For those wondering, yes these kids have group sleepovers—boy’s night, girl’s night and ‘everyone night’ usually at Marinette or Chloe’s for the everyones. Yes, these are weekly.

—

Chat noir keeps trying to claim Marinette’s room as his part of the miraculous team’s base.

In this au both he and Ladybug have chosen weilders for various miraculous. They are partners but do lead two teams—Marinette’s focused on support, civlians, and strategy and his focused on combating akumas.

Due to this, Ladybug has a team she oversees, and Chat has a team he oversees.

Fu uses this to decide which would make the better gaurdian, as he trains them both here.

Marinette regrets being the only weilder Tikki approves of weilding her due to how the Cure works is people died. Marinette has to relive their death and decide if they should come back or not (was it too truamatic to go on after living it herself? Did they want to live? Questions like that are hers to answer). She is happy to share her job as Ladybug with other ladybug weilders, but is the only one who can cast the cure if there’s death involved.

Adrien is known to not be a perfect fit for the Black Cat, and he agrees that if a better cat comes along, he will give up his role as Chat Noir but not as a member of the team. Fu admits to him he’s a peacock more than cat early on, and while adrien loves plagg—that’s his cat-god-dad—he knows as a guardian trainee he has to do what’s best for the kwami and Paris. He agrees to training potential cats as Aspik until they can find, reclaim and fix the peacock.

Identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir are kept from each other to prevent them being an easy target for the Hawkmoth in this au. Others can know, but unless they weild a miraculous its dangerous given Nooroo’s weilder is their foe. Also name drops can be a thing and its bad all over.

Marinette is insistent on the secret identities being kept as she doesnt want to compromise her identity as a civilian that is not a meta when Ladybug is a known meta. The Miraculous she’s iffy on, and Tikki admits thst if they werent facing Nooroo, it was normal for all weilders to know eachother’s identites for covers and alibis and such.

Chat is upset about this until she mentions how metas are treated and her being out as a meta as ladybug but not as a civilian and why. Then he’s pissed at the govenrment and starts helping out at protests and crashes anti-meta rallies in Paris on Ladybug’s behalf, and points out that if it wasnt for a tiny meta none of them would be alive after syrenx, so shut up. He accepts her stance and only asks if he can tell her his identity when hawkmoth is done for.

Marinette agrees to post-hawkmoth reveal between them. Their teams hate that only the bugs and cats cant know each other’s identities as bugs and cats. Miraculouses are swapped like candy here, so you may know one hero is also another hero but not civlilin id or vice-versa

Yeah, writer salt here rather than character salt. Especially to how the characters were treated.

—

On Marinette’s powers, she does have them escalate as she grows and doesnt use her treatments. She takes her meds to prevent this as she’s already scared if her abilities when she leaves them unchecked for too long.

Her treatment is mircodosing kryptonite to keep the kryptonian part from taking over completely. She has all the abilities only when she’s more kryptonian than human cells at the time. Kryptonian cells multiply faster which is why she heals faster.

Max is the only one that she knows knows about her powers in Paris.

Sabine is implied to have an inkling but she ignores her own inkling often. Marinette thinks her mom is pretending she doesnt have powers.

Tom does notice but has no idea how to help, so he’s a cheerleader dad and helps her hide damage sometimes. They have a pact that they dont talk about the time she flipped him, and he fixes whatever she broke, no questions asked.

—

Side thing but when the miraculous come into play, warning that i will use character non-hero name for what they’re thinking and saying, while their hero-name is for what they are phsycially doing, as some will change mid-fight.

—

Hey i know this wasnt the expected update, but its more idk how to do Jason as Red Hood finding Marinette again.

First option is he was hunting strange, saw a picture of her on his desk and she calls strange asking about jow she should keep hiding since the restrictions just got worse on metas and she’s scared and ‘are you sure i cant just stay in Gotham? I...i dont feel safe here anymore’ and then Jason going on a Quest to find her in Paris, weird-happy reunion, and he goes back to Paris to live with Strange and work on things as Red Hood where Marinette can’t—mainly ground work. She helps him coordiante with the batfam via Tim, and handles gang attack coordination between Gotham Police, Batfam, Jason and RKC. Zsasz calls Jason his apprentice and trains him on hitman etiquette, guns, and yes, his signature form of ‘conditonal promises’. He was given League of Assassin Training, just cant recall it actively (talia gets memory magic becuase i said so. Blocked it until it would be safe for Jason to process here). He does not go to school, he just tracks down who he wants and ensures they cant hurt people. Is a bit obsessed with this when Marinette and Rose dont stop him by force.

Second Option is they both are targetting the same gang and their bust night is the same. Marinette helps him out in her Harley knock-off outfit (new and improved) while she evacuates the girls making the drugs, and Jason is just hunting dealers to find the drug den, finds a small girl dangling a major drug dealer, while Rose is there with the others tied up in plants. He gets caught by Rose, who recognizes his mark. He doesnt remember much about who he was as Robin, mostly as Red hoodie and is so confused. Marinette claims him as her brother and from there Rose takes on a new brother, dumps him on Strange as ‘i am many things, but i dont think i can handle memory loss and whatever happened to him. You do, so fix it.’ Strange winds up adopting him and Tom and Sabine encouraging him to add them as legal gaurdians. Here Jason is listed then on as Tod J. Smith—he cant remember his name in the right order so that’s what he got. His red hood outfit is revamped by Marinette, who coordinates his attacks on gangs with Batman’s, Gotham Police’s, and the RKC’s attempts at gang busts to maximize gang minimization. Somehow Joker starts helping J as a fellow J-J in Marinette’s life, with Zsasz claiming Jason as his apprentice. He does remember the League Training, but isnt sure if he was Robin and if he could be again if he was given that he was a their and kills the worst of the worst (mostly) of his own volition. Here is does go to school in Gotham.

In both Gina kidnaps him for chrismas with the family like she does with Strange. In Both he’s a teen still (hasnt aged since the Pit) and it takes Marinette and Tikki working together so he can later on (maybe? Idk on that point)

Comment which option you like better, becuase i cant choose.

And yes, rogues will be involved again soon.

@ilovefluffbutsmutisalsogreat @dast218 @weird-pale-blonde-person @mystery-5-5

#maribat #maribat au #bio!dad au #bio!dad strange #my au #my ideas #ml au #marinette strange dupain cheng #marinette strange dupain cheng part 8 #paris powers and polls oh my

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interviewswith-warfstachetonight · 4 years

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Interview: Vriska Serket (11/20/19)

Interviewer: Wilford Warfstache (WW)

Interviewee: Vriska Serket ( @aquaticculler ) (VS)

Date: Nov. 20, 2019

Time: 12:33 AM - 2:33 AM (CST)

(*”8″ = “B” and “eight” sounds; I.e “no8ility” = “nobility,” “expect8ions” = “expectations”)

WW: Okay! I think I’m all set- now.. you were a blueblooded troll, correct? Did bluebloods have any set roles or expectations? (Like how jades were more or less all caretakers, from what I understand.)

VS: I was a cerulean, yes. Expect8ions were really just what you'd expect, nothing too out of the ordinary. Our caste was mostly just the troll version of "lower upper class", we had the 8enefits of wealth without the responsi8ility or expect8ions of no8ility

WW: Well, that certainly sounds like it’d be interesting..! Were there any, ah.. differences?, I suppose?, between the blues? (Ah.. teal, cerulean, and indigo, I believe?) As in.. well, like physical abilities and such, how some trolls seemed to have certain abilities that others didn’t.

VS: Yes! Generally speaking, teal 8looded trolls (apparently) could "S3NSE TH3 1NT3NT1ONS OF OTH3RS" -something my terezi said, once. Cerulean 8loods like me tended to fall into one of two categories, either we could mind control to a certain extent or we had higher strength for lack of psychic a8ilities, on par with an indigo vs the normal cerulean strength. I was in the former camp so to speak. Indigos just had a8surd strength, that's kind of their whole deal

WW: And you could mind control, you say? Did you do that often?

VS: Not particularly, it only worked on castes with stronger psychic a8ilities (Rust, 8ronze, Gold) and for the most part I had no reason to

WW: Ah, that’s fair, that’s fair.. was it something you had to train/learn? Or was it more of an.. innate ability?

VS: At it's 8ase level it was inn8, 8ut when I was a little wriggler I pro8a8ly had to practice it to get 8etter at it, I don't remem8er much of 8eing a wriggler though, that was thousands of sweeps ago. Or hundreds. Or millions. Time flows weirdly in paradox space

WW: Oh, goodness gracious, what in the world happened to bring paradox space into it all? Was that something that happened then or a matter of ending up here?

VS: I died as a god tier, then woke up in paradox space. After what felt like a very long time in paradox space I woke up here missing a lot of memories.

VS: I do remem8er finding this place though, it was a dream 8u88le and it looked interesting. Didn't know it was one way only though, we are 8asically stuck here

WW: Well, that’s odd, hm? Ah.. what is a dream bubble, exactly?

VS: Simply put, pocket worlds in paradox space

VS: Less simply put

VS: Dream 8u88les are essentially pocket dimentions typically created 8y memories of whoever is residing in them, and those are scattered throughout paradox space. Apparently though, "inworlds" can also 8e found there too, though I am presently unsure if only certain ones are present, or if every8ody's are. I also do not have an explan8ion for memory loss while travelling certain dream 8u88les and not others, perhaps there are different types that can 8e distinguished. I did not put enough time into researching them while I was active in paradox space

VS: At least that's how I see them

VS: I do know that they transcend canons though! I met our meenah in paradox space, and her canon is wildly different from my own

WW: How odd! I wonder if that means they still exist in our world.. (oh! And you mentioned a, ah.. god tier? What is that?)

VS: A god tier is a s8ur8 mechanic, as a method to reach higher powers according to your classpect. You find your quest8ed, which is a stone 8lock with your aspect engraved, wherever you're destined to, and then you die on it and merge with your dreamself, and gain a 8unch of powers

WW: And what was your godtier, if you don’t mind?

VS: Here's where I differ the most from other Vriska's, I was a seer of life

VS: And I still am

WW: Oh? What are other Vriskas usually, then?

VS: Thief of Light

WW: And is that a huge change? (As in, like.. total opposites or something to that effect.)

VS: It's not total oppos8s, 8ut it is going from an active class to a passive class

WW: And I figure that would be a big change? (At least, in the sense of a shift from one to the other.)

VS: That one isn't a huge change 8ut it is sizea8le enough

VS: Classpects are still highly de88d to this day, with no one set system of explaining it all is agreed upon

WW: Oh, that does sound like it could cause a lot of confusion..

WW: If you don’t mind my asking, what does a Seer of Life do? Or.. what can they do?

VS: Well a seer is the passive understanding class, so I understand life, and I invite understanding through life

VS: Though life as an aspect tends to more dou8le down on your class, from source examples

VS: So in my case I understand [a lot] and I invite understanding through [usually oversharing]

VS: It's a little 8it iffy

WW: Well, that sounds interesting..! What do you mean by understanding a lot?

VS: Knowing things, seeing things (metaphorically, literally we're 8lind as fuck), just in general. In my time on this planet I've studied everything from mathematics, to 8iology, to quantum physics, to cooking, to astronomy, ect. ect.

VS: Of course I'm aware of my own 8lind spots, I know there are gaps in my knowledge, lots of them in fact

WW: And you said you overshare a lot? Does that ever cause any trouble for you?

VS: Sometimes, 8ut I also know when to shut my mouth so to speak. Whether or not I do is another matter........

WW: Well, that’s certainly a relatable statement— Has there been anything you’ve found issue in learning?

VS: Human anatomy

VS: Dear god what is with these 8odies

VS: Programming is something we've collectively had issues with, 8ut we're okay at it now

VS: And any form of art that isn't music or writing

WW: Oh? Is there a form of music you prefer over the others?

VS: Violin was always fun

WW: Violin? Is that one that’s particularly hard to learn?

VS: It varies from person to person, 8ut it is considered one of the more difficult instruments. All instruments have difficulties in learning though, so it's hard to r8 one over another in terms of difficulty

VS: Instruments we've at least started learning to d8 are(in no particular order):

-Voice

-Trumpet

-Trom8one

-Flute

-Cello

-Viola

-Violin

-Piano

-Guitar

VS: Though we were only competent at:

-Voice

-Violin

-Piano

VS: I have never 8een good with the voice, personally

WW: Oh, gosh, that’s a lot! Were you doing more than one at a time?

VS: We did voice along piano and violin. Other than that, no

VS: Some of those we did for less than a year

WW: What’s the longest one you’ve done?

VS: 5 years of voice pro8a8ly?

VS: May8e longer

VS: *We only did viola for two weeks 8efore swapping to violin, 8ut I'm counting it 8ecause I can still play it through violin skills

WW: Oh! Is there a difference between viola and violin?

VS: Viola's are similar to a violin, 8ut are larger and play lower notes than a violin. It's 8etween a cello and a violin in scale and size, and is played similarly to a violin

WW: Ooooooooh! Well, I didn’t even know those existed, heh— and you mentioned writing? Is that something you like doing?

VS: I personally don't write often, 8ut Eva likes to write poetry. She's also trying to write a 8ook

VS: I guess you can count this as writing though, I do love answering questions or going on lectures a8out things

WW: It does sound fun! Are there any particular subjects you like talking about?

VS: Quantum physics, Astronomy, and Philosophy

VS: All at once ::::)

VS: They're all connected

VS: Well everything is, really, 8ut those three are the most o8vious

WW: How so?

VS: Well using quantum physics to explain certain aspects of astronomy, and how they rel8 has several different theories that we do not have the energy to get into right now, 8ut it is fun to use those to 8oth prove and disprove free will ::::)

WW: Disprove free will?

VS: Mhm!

VS: Certain theories of how the universe works ends up with us having no free will at all

VS: That everything is predetermined, 8ut at the same time having free will

VS: It's the theory that I su8scri8e to that eventually the universe will stop expanding, then contract upon itself, and then eventually another 8ig 8ang in exactly the same way will happen. At the end of the day we're just atoms and electrical signals 8umping next to each other in a specific way, like a game of pool with a good enough computer if you run the same shot over and over again the 8alls will end up in the same exact place, right? It's the same concept only applied to every single particle in the universe. That we've had this convers8ion potentially 8illions of times 8efore in the same exact way and we will have it 8illions of times again. Oh 8ut this is usually the end of my ram8le on the su8ject, this is missing all the material that leads up to it

WW: Well, that all sounds quite interesting..!

VS: 8ut we are tired so the condensed version of the ending will do

WW: That’s quite alright! I’ve never heard it before anyways, so I’m simply happy to learn something new!

VS: I'm glad to have presented you something new and interesting to learn

VS: I'll go over other theories at a l8r d8

VS: We seemed to have side tracked quite a 8it whoops

WW: Eh, it happens sometimes!

VS: Or I have rather hahahaha

WW: Hey, I think it’s still just as valid! It is something you’re interested in, after all!

VS: Alright next question~

WW: Hm.. well, did you have anyone you considered most important to you?

VS: During my time alive in my own 8ody, pro8a8ly terezi. In paradox space, meenah (the one I'm here with)

WW: What was your Terezi like? (If you don’t mind sharing)

VS: She was a sylph of doom, she talked 8out the inevita8le a lot, rules, limits, things I don't care a8out. She was also really strict, 8ut I liked her. I can't remem8er 8ut we were either flushed or pale

WW: What do those mean?

VS: M8sprit or moirail, respectively

VS: Oh you don't- okay

WW: Well, I know they’re types of romance!

VS: Good start! So

VS: M8spritship resem8les typical human romantic rel8ionships the most, it's not 1:1 8ut there's a lot of love

VS: Moirailegence is like the human concept of soul m8s, 8ut not like "I love this person" more "We need each other", you t8ke care of each other and keep each other pacified and calm. Stopping them from doing stupid things, or they stop you from doing stupid things (or try to, and then they're there to say "I told you so")

WW: Pfft- Well, I can think of more than a few people I knew who were like that.. but no matter, ah- you said Terezi was a.. Sylph of Doom? What does that entail?

VS: Sylph is the passive cre8ion class, they create for others, and invite the creation of their aspect

VS: In this case doom, which is all a8out rules, limit8ions, f8, ect.

VS: It is the oppos8 of life, which is generally a8out freedom, choices, and change

WW: So, does that mean that she created rules and such for others? (Or is that what you meant by strict?)

VS: To all those reading along who are versed in classpects, I am extremely tired and doing a terri8le jo8 of explaining things

VS: 8ut yes, that is exactly what she did

WW: Did you think they were patricularly fair?

VS: Some times I have to admit they are, 8ut I'm not a 8ig rules person. I like to passively oper8 doing what I do, and usually that falls within the rules

VS: If I can't do something, that just m8kes me want to do it more, until I can do it

WW: Had you two ever had any fights over them? (And ah, that is- a mood)

VS: Small tiffs, 8ut nothing major most of the time

WW: Well, that’s good to hear! And, hm.. what’s Meenah like?

VS: Meenah isn't from my canon, 8ut I met her in paradox space

VS: She resem8les meenah from homestuck itself decently well

WW: Would you say that’s a good thing?

VS: She's nice, a 8it crass at times, I like her

WW: Well, that’s good to hear! It can always be a bit frustrating when people don’t get along.. and- hmm.. who would you say is somebody you didn’t like in your canon?

VS: Tavros

VS: He was annoying as fuck

VS: I 8roke his legs though, that was fun

VS: (On that topic, I also 8roke joke's legs too!)

VS: Or jape or whatever his name was

VS: I didn't like him either

VS: 8ut tavros I just couldn't stand

VS: (And now he can't either hahahaha)

WW: Pfft- Goodness..! What happened to lead up to that?

VS: He was 8eing super annoying while we were playing flarp, so I introduced him to a scenario where there was a cliff, and there was my mind control powers, and suddenly there was a tavros jumping off said cliff

VS: I wouldn't do that again, I've mellowed out a lot over the sweeps, 8ut I don't regret it

VS: Terezi got pissed at me for that one

VS: That was the only major fight we had

WW: Well, I could certainly imagine- but, ah.. what is.. flarp?

VS: Fantasy Live Action Role Play

WW: Oh! Were there particular things you could do? Or just whatever you wanted?

VS: GM (Game master)'s discretion (aka mine), 8ut for the most part you could do anything. Funnily enough it also had classes like in s8ur8

WW: Oh?

VS: I don't have the energy to go over that, so let's wrap this up with any closing questions you may have and then we can continue l8r ::::)

WW: Ah, alright! I believe the only closing question I can think of is.. what, if anything, do you wish people would stop assuming about you?

VS: Stop assuming all vriska's are 8ad! I'm working on 8eing 8etter 8y human standards, it's annoying to 8e written off as a 8ad person just 8ecause "Oh she's a serket what do you expect"

VS: Anyways that's all the time we have for tonight, thank you for 8eing here, and thank you whoever actually read all this

WW: Oh, I’m glad to be here! Thank you for allowing me to! (And I hope you rest well!)

#wilford’s interviews #11/20/2019 #interviews #wilford warfstache #vriska serket #interview transcriptions

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thoughts-of-loyalty · 5 years

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses 2/13 Trailer Analysis - Gameplay Elements

After such a long wait for information about the newest Fire Emblem title, we finally had a trailer drop on 2/13 , giving us another glimpse of the game we have been so eagerly anticipating. While still very much so a Fire Emblem game, it has no doubt taken a lot of people by surprise, given what we’ve learned about the cast and story - while we figured Byleth was being referred to as teacher by the narrator, I don’t think we expected for Byleth to be a teacher at an Officer’s Academy for nobles.

Regardless, the game is due to launch on July 26th, so a lot of what we’ve seen in this trailer is likely what we’re due to be seeing in this game. While I am analyzing the trailers we’ve been given, due to the sheer length I will be focusing on the gameplay for this post. If you want a refresher before reading, you can see the trailer here. The analysis is below.

In the first look at gameplay, we see Byleth approaching the Black Eagles house - presumably, the trailer decided to go with Byleth instructing the Black Eagles. It looks to be a meeting before the house travels out to fight the bandits, which will likely be the pre-mission structure for some of the earlier maps. Of note is in the upper-left corner of the screen, which reads “Entrance Hall - Day.” The former isn’t particularly interesting, but I find the latter worth noting: while a time system isn’t exactly new to FE (in Fates, certain events would be available at certain times of the day or after a day had passed), it makes me think it will play a role in this one as well - perhaps you can only teach during the day, which can be interrupted by events like needing to go into battle, and there are nighttime events unrelated to teaching.

As we see shortly thereafter, the presumably-aforementioned bandits that were located by the knights are confronted by the Black Eagles. While this just mostly pre-battle map stuff, I did notice he’s standing on a glowing tile (it’s even more glowing in the Japanese trailer, interestingly enough). There’s a couple of potential meanings for that, such as it being a heal/”throne” tile (where Kostas stays holed up to give himself a boost/recovery like most bosses) and/or a seize location (the two can be identical, after all). It’s impossible to say for sure, but it does make me wonder...

We get an overall look at the Black Eagles in this shot. There’s a few things of note here, so let’s delve into it: 1) Byleth (and as we can see below, Bernadetta) both have a total movement of 4 squares, which is rather low for a Fire Emblem game - Not counting Heroes, I think only Gaiden and Echoes have movement that low to start with for non-armored units. Given that we’ve seen Byleth with 5 movement in the previous trailer, I believe movement ranges might have been decreased, though why is still up in the air. 2) Almost every single unit has three upwards facing green arrows to the bottom-right of left model, and both Byleth and Bernadetta have those same green arrows in their little info box on the bottom-left of the screen, to the right of their HP. Notably, only Dorothea is lacking this indicator. What this means is unknown for the time being, but it makes me wonder.

Bernadetta is selected to be the one going forth, so we get a slightly clearer view of some of the basic UI. In the top left, we see a small tab dedicated to describing the current highlighted terrain and it’s effects - in this case, Flatlands, which is noted to be “Terrain with no special effects.” In the bottom left, we’re informed of basic info on the unit - their Name, HP, Level, currently equipped weapon, a 3DS-esque overworld sprite, and those triangles again. Nothing more to say, however, so continuing on...

We see the updated drop down options menu. For one, it seems “Attack” has been shortened to Atk (I kinda hope they undo that, personally, it’s weird to see it shortened). “Combat Arts” has also been shortened to “Arts” (a bit iffy on that, too, but I’m not as bothered there). We can also see “Gambit,” which has possibly replaced what was “Formation” prior. “Equip” and “Items” were also options beforehand, but it’s likely “Equip” has been merged into “Items” like in prior games. Meanwhile, while “Trade” was technically not seen beforehand, no one was close enough to allies in the previous trailer, so it’s probably there now for that reason. “Magic” has also been removed from the options - whether it’s due to Magic being merged with “Attack” (and “Heal” having it’s own location) or because Bernadetta can’t use magic currently, I couldn’t say.

Given that Bernadetta prepares to attack, we then get to transition into the combat preparation menu. It bares a lot of resemblance to the previous menu, containing a lot of the same layout, only a bit more uncluttered. On the bottom-right, we can see that it’s been laid out into more organized boxes. Defense has also presumably been changed back after it was “Endurance” last trailer, but it seems “Resistance” may be “Resilience” now. The top-left is much the same as beforehand, albeit we now see those triangles to the right of the Bernadetta’s HP and Bernadetta’s class is “Noble,” presumably a class she shares with everyone else that isn’t Byleth and maybe Edelgard (her class in the previous trailer was Aristocrat, but in the Japanese trailers, Bernadetta and Edelgard share the same class, so it’s likely she’ll have been made into a “Noble” now).

On the top right, we see the weapon menu, which is very much similar to how it was in the prior trailer. One thing of note, however, is that the “Mini Bow” Bernadetta is carrying lacks the Feather icon that the Iron Bow has. This indicates that said bow isn’t effective against flying units, so I figure the bow probably has some extra effect to make it worth using alongside the Iron Bow (such as how the Short Bow had lower weight and better crit in the GBA games, or 1 range like in Fates).

We now get to see the combat forecast menu, and it’s about what we’d expect it to be compared given what we saw last trailer (seen to the right), pretty much the exact same layout as before. That said, it seems we now have an idea of what that tab above the weapon’s is for, as the “None” has now been replaced with “No Combat Arts.” There’s also a icon above Bernadetta similar to Byleth’s, so it’s probably a skill icon of some sort. Finally, there’s two weapon icons next to said icon with “Lv 1″ at the bottom right, which wasn’t there before: what exactly this means isn’t clear, perhaps it’s just an indication of current weapon rank but it’s impossible to say for sure.

Continuing from the above, we can see that Combat Arts can be cycled through in the same ways as weapons/spells in other Fire Emblems. In this case, Bernadetta swaps to Curved Shot - introduced in Shadows of Valentia, it decreased HP by 1 to increase damage by 1 and hit chance by 30%. This Curved Shot seems to increase range by 1 (something that probably didn’t see use in Shadows of Valentia due to bows having 1 massive 5 range already) and a damage increase of 1 as well (no way to tell if it also increases hit chance, as Bernadetta had max hit chance already). It also doesn’t use any HP, but given the 3 placed above the Bow’s 50 durability, it makes me think that Three Houses will have weapon durability be used up to trigger Arts.

As a final note, in Echoes, every Combat Art would prevent follow-up attack from triggering (with a few exceptions like Double Lion, which functioned akin to doubles a la later-game Brave weapons). While Bernadetta couldn’t double beforehand due to not being fast enough anyway, I’m thinking this will remain as well to help continue the balance there.

On the right, I included the Japanese trailer’s representation of the same - interestingly, the range does not increase by 1 (and we can tell it IS supposedly the same skill because that’s the same name for Curved Shot in Japan). I don’t know what to make of this discrepancy yet, but I’m certain it means something...

Now, just a more minor thing, but they’ve definitely put a bit more effort into making the allied soldiers look a bit more unique than those “Blond dudes in blue clothing” that was nigh-omnipresent beforehand. Definitely good to know that what we saw in the first trailer was not everything we’d be seeing beforehand.

And then we get to see a Critical Hit in action, which definitely tells us that what we saw at the tail end of the first trailer with Byleth was a critical hit then, too. And it looks like they forced that critical, too, unless Petra is such a broken unit she’s got a natural 100% critical rate with an Iron Sword. That said, I can’t complain too much, as...

We finally get to see a post-battle experience gain screen - something we haven’t seen at all up to this point, so this is pretty valuable to us. I also made sure to take a screen shot of the before situation, so we can see exactly what she gained. So, let’s break down everything we see, bit by bit: 1) The top is the standard “Until Next Level” experience bar most FEs have, but there’s a slight twist: it looks like Petra needs to gain a total of 110 experience instead of the regular 100. Why exactly this change exists is difficult to know for sure, though here’s hoping this doesn’t impact unit progression too significantly. 2) We also see her gain points in what is referred to as the “Professor Level,” which seems to likely be akin to Weapon Ranks in most FEs. We see her gain 3 points in Swords, and 2 points in what we later know to be Authority; interestingly, given the clip beforehand, it’s impossible to say why she gained it, given she didn’t seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary, nor why it only gained two points. I have a theory I’ll elaborate on later tying into this, though. 3) We also see her gain a single point in a bar under a tad labeled “Until class is mastered.” While we can likely tie toward class progression seen later in the video, I’ll elaborate how I think it ties in during that analysis. 4) There’s finally an experience bat under a tab labelled “Until Battalion levels up,” and she gains 15 points in “Empire Infantry.” Now, it’s easy enough to know what those are: the generic soldiers fighting beside her. But what I’m curious about is what will occur as they level up. Does leveling them up grant access to different types of infantry, or does is that tied to “Authority” and does leveling those up grant access to new gambits? To be seen, I suppose.

We then transition to a scene presumably in the Garreg Mach Monastery, where Ferdinand and Sylvain are poised to duel each other with Training Lances. This reminds me of some degree to the Arena in a number of FEs, as well as the duels one could have in New Mystery of the Emblem. There’s a couple of interesting things to note here: 1) The tab at the top indicates this is “Round 2,” likely indicating some fight preceded this one in some way. Whether it’s Ferdinand fighting his way through some students or it’s several paired into duels, it’s impossible to say. 2) The reward for winning the duel is apparently 300G and an Intermediate Seal. We later learn that the latter is required to change classes, as it’s listed as such when Edelgard class changes to Brigand. As it’s unknown how else these will be earned, these duels might be important when it comes to improving your units. 3) Sylvain and Ferdinand have both Lances and Axes to choose from (and Ferdinand also has Swords), though both use Lances to duel each other. This makes me think that units in these situations will be saddled with the same weapons so as to make the duels relatively fair, presuming the weapon triangle is present. 4) Back to the Arena comparisons, we see that the player is given an option to withdraw in the bottom right. The player obviously accepts the duel, given they have no chance to lose, but it’s nice that we’re given the option to back out of duels we can’t win/don’t want to risk before they begin, especially since we’re given a combat forecast to help us make our decision. 5) Finally, most of the Arena duels in previous Fire Emblems (even in New Mystery’s Barracks duels you had to pay to enter) had your units facing generic enemies. As we see Sylvain in the Monastery earlier, but not as part of the Black Eagles, this makes me think most of the enemies one can fight in the Monastery will be picked from other houses. Whether we will end up fighting generics as well in these duels, or maybe even teachers, is unknown. We also don’t know for sure if arenas exist outside of the barracks, as they did in New Mystery, so who knows how this will end up being?

We’re then given a look at the teaching mechanics that this game looks to be pushing as a major mechanic. At the very top, we see a meter with the number 3 below it - given the various icons beside “Turoring” and “Auto-Tutor,” it’s likely that you get a maximum of 3 tutors before you run out of time that “day”, so that one can’t abuse the tutor system. Both Tutoring and Set Goals is explored in more detail later in the trailer, so I’ll save those for later. Auto-Tutor, considering the 3 icon, is likely allowing the game to determine which someones are selected for tutoring; this would no doubt be useful for those who either don’t want to be bothered to figure out/use the tutor system or just can’t decide - hopefully, there will be options to select auto-tutor after using up a few tutor plans in case one figures out a couple to tutor but can’t figure out what to use the final one(s) on. Group Task is a complete enigma, given that we’re never given a peek at how it works - while it obviously involves students working together, the time costs involved and how it is used is still unknown. There’s also “Start Class” as the final option - this makes me think that you first select who you want to tutor and set up the goals/group tasks, and then select this option to put it all into action; that said, Tutoring vs Start Class could be different matters entirely, like classes being focused on everyone gaining progression in Goals while Tutoring is focused on individual students. To be seen, I suppose. Finally, of note is the rather empty classroom - only Edelgard, Dorothea, Bernadetta, and Ferdinand (hidden behind the “Group Task” bar, visible very briefly after Tutoring is selected) are visible in this shot. Perhaps this means tutoring will be limited to select students if they’re around, akin to how you had limited options with who you could spend time with in the Private Quarters portion of the My Castle. Of course, it could mean nothing and you’re not limited by who is seen on-screen.

Here we see Tutoring in action, with Dorothea as the subject of a tutoring session. While Byleth decides aid her in learning how to use Reason magic, we can see that technically every option is available (including Hvy Armor, Riding, and Flying lower on the list, considering the sidebar has lower to go). Below the Skill Details box, we can see her Current Goals is Sword and Reason focus - to be elaborated upon later. Above that, meanwhile, we can see a bar with a Smiley icon, below which reads “You can train one more times.” This likely means, in the English trailer version, Byleth had already instructed twice before.

Focusing on the “Skill Details” box, we can see that deciding to tutor her in Reason magic would yield 6 EXP to that rank - +4 from Base (likely meaning tutoring in general offers a certain base growth) and +2 from “Strengths.” The latter likely means that Dorothea is incline toward growth in the categories marked by the Blue upwards arrows (It likely does not mean it’s because of her focus - you’ll see why under Linhardt’s instruction). There’s also a Red downward arrows, by what is later identified Faith magic - likely meaning that she would have a penalty if one tried to tutor her in that. Interestingly, Faith is also marked by 3 stars, but what those could mean is unknown.

In the Japanese trailer, meanwhile, we can see her getting instruction in Swords, which gives us a peek at that other icon I left for now. Now, my best translation efforts via Google Translate (And I only found out after Serenes Forest already translated it...) revealed it to say “Teacher correction,” which... probably isn’t 100% accurate. But this makes me believe that selecting skills tagged with the index finger add a bonus to EXP gained related to Byleth in some way (maybe Byleth is trained in the marked skills, and tutoring the students in skills he’s proficient with offers a bonus). We can also see the “Tutor Bar” from the classroom above Dorothea in the Japanese version, but it’s mysteriously missing in the English version. Wish I knew why, but who knows for sure.

We can see what gains is made from the tutoring now, with Dorothea gaining EXP x 1.5 - whereas the prior screen said she’d gain 6, she gains 9 instead, going from 62 to 53 (in the Japanese version, the same happens, where she gains 12 EXP instead of 8, going from 15 to 3). I can’t offer up a good reason why she’s gained 1.5 times the expected amount. Perhaps those smiley faces indicate mood, with students earning more EXP if in a good mood; alternatively, it could be based on supports between Byleth and his students, or maybe it’s just random and we had some brute-forced luck. Again, to be determined.

Above her dialogue tab, on the left, we see her portrait in a small square with a yellow arrow pointing upward on the upper-left corner and a heart in the upper-right corner. We’ve all pretty certain to see supports in some capacity, so it’s likely that indicates a support gain because of him tutoring her. As an aside, in the Japanese version, Dorothea has two arrows instead of one - this can likely be chalked up to focusing on a skill she’d have better gains in (since she has two bonuses in Swords to Reason’s one bonus) being responsible for the increase, but I can’t say for sure.

This is the Set Goals option of the teaching mentioned above. At the beginning, Linhardt’s current focus is Reason and Faith Focus, but the player in the trailer decides to swap Linhardt’s focus to Faith and Riding instead. Given that Linhardt’s best skill is Faith, it’s not surprising, but I guess they want him to branch out into being a horseback mage later. In the bottom-right of the screen, we see X can bring up the status screen, likely so one can see how well their focuses will work with their stats.

I’ve danced around discussing this beforehand, but Heavy Armor, Riding, and Flying are given growth ranks starting from E, like every other skill in the game. While not fully surprising, as it’s likely to serve as a gateway for Nobles seeking to reclass into classes with those traits, it makes me wonder if there’s any particular benefit to leveling up those skills beyond that point. As we know, the weapon ranks give us better weapons as we rank up, but will there be an equivalent for the others? Or do the ranks act as gateways throughout, forcing us to to level from E to A/S to access, say, the Paladin class? It makes me wonder.

Returning back to focusing on the screenshot, one thing of note is one can possibly select to have only one focus at once, given that there’s a None option below Flying. What sort of benefits one could achieve from choosing to focus on one skill instead of two is uncertain, given that it goes unexplored (my best guess is faster growth, but that’s just a guess), but it seems like it’s an option all the same. Unsurprisingly, one can’t double down on the same focus (as the confirmation screen doesn’t pop up until after Linhardt selects Riding, despite Faith being double under the Custom Focus), so if you’re going to focus on one skill, guess one probably will have to use the None option.

The English version unfortunately cuts away too early, but we see aftermath of it in the Japanese trailer. There’s not much, but there’s a few things to glean from it. For one, we can see that Linhardt doesn’t automatically gain a Blue arrow for Riding when it’s selected, despite it being his new Focus, meaning it’s not a Strength for him. While understandable, given that this would help prevent abusing easier EXP gains, it likely means Strengths are set in stone (and so are the Red arrows, too) and branching out from that would take extra effort. Second, when Linhardt’s custom focus is selected, it gains an E next to it (on the top left box), while the previous Reason and Faith focus is placed below, indicating that the Custom Focus is equipped. This tells us that the students have preset Focuses (likely tailored to their Strengths, like Linhardt with Reason/Faith and Dorothea with Swords/Reason) and will probably keep them around as quick-select options.

Finally, I should make it clear that the Japanese and English builds are different, and while most of what they do is the same, their selections do result in notable differences . For instance, in the Japanese trailer, the Tutor bar was at 2 the whole time, while in the English trailer, it was at 3 the whole time. I bring this up because this number doesn’t change when the Goals are changed in the Japanese trailer. This thankfully means tweaking a student’s Goals won’t interfere with your tutoring, so changing around your student’s focuses before tutoring them won’t eat up any of your allotted time.

And Linhardt shows us that one aspect of Faith is healing, likely having replaced staves this time around. He uses the spell heal to restore 11 HP to Byleth. Fire Emblem has never been fully consistent with the calculations, generally using “Healer’s Magic +10″ in older games, “Healer’s Magic/2 +8″ in the Archanea remakes and Awakening, and “Healer’s Magic/3 +10″ in Fates. This makes me believe they’re following FE11/12/Awakening’s formula for healing (or I hope so, otherwise Linhardt’s healing is trash), given how low the restored amount is.

Now, in theory, this is taking part after Linhardt’s goals have been switched to Faith and Riding, but obviously, Linhardt isn’t on a horse in this scene. Most Fire Emblems haven’t had their healers dismount to heal their targets after combat, so I don’t think this is the situation either. This leads me to believe that even if you decide to focus on a certain movement-altering skill, you still need to increase your Ranking before you can see it in action (I’d guess to E+ at the very least?). Thankfully, I believe that this isn’t too major an issue in the game. As you’ll recall under the bit during Petra’s gains, we see her make gains in both Swords and Authority after battle, and I said I’d discuss my theory on it later. Here it is: I believe that units will gain EXP in their current focus regardless of whether or not they’re currently making use of said skill. Of course, I can’t prove this, but I do hope this is the case because otherwise progression will take forever.

Moving away from the teaching and its results, we cut to Caspar fighting a “Western Church Soldier,” wielding “Iron Gauntlets.” Interestingly, when using these gauntlets, Caspar has a x2 next to his Mt, and deals two consecutive hits to the soldier before he can counterattack. There is no indication he used any sort of Combat Arts, too, considering it generally shows above the unit’s name if one is active. Therefore, it seems like it may be an innate feature of the gauntlets weapons is to attack twice consecutively a la Brave weapons. I figure that as a trade-off, they’re weaker than most (consider that he’s dealing 7 damage per hit despite facing a not particularly powerful unit). But what exactly the case with that is will be seen when we learn more, I suppose.

The trailer then hops back over to the more scholarly side of things, where we see Edelgard preparing to take the Brigand Certification Exam. This seems to be an equivalent of sorts to exiting a trainee class, which I believe we’ve established is likely what all of the students (and possibly Byleth, in a unique one of his own) start out in. Given all the classes shown on the left side, it’s likely that all classes will be available to every student and rather they must be trained up in certain skills before one can access them.

On the right side, meanwhile, we get to see peek at what exactly these “exams” will contain. Speaking of Exam Contents, there’s a ZL and ZR option to the left and right of where it says “Exam Contents.” It mostly makes me wonder what the other screen(s) will show, I figure something like “Here’s how this class change will change this unit’s stats” but I can’t say for sure, but just make note of those buttons there.

We also see, below that, a basic blurb describing Brigands in the standard Fire Emblem style (like if you tap/highlight a unit’s class). Lower down, we see ”Exam Skills” which notes Axe being C or higher - whether this is a requirement or recommendation isn’t fully clear, however. That said, we do see we are required to have an Intermediate Seal - something we see is a prize when Ferdinand duels Sylvain, making it one known way to obtain these seals.

Finally, we can see a “Pass Rate,” which Edelgard has as 100% going in to this exam, meaning she’ll become a Brigand with no problem. This makes me wonder: will these be binary rates, with either a 100% if you meet all the requirements and 0% if you don’t? Or will there be a bit more variety, like having extra points in Axes, or even reaching B, guarantee better success than having just a C rank, thus making success semi-dependent on luck if going on unprepared? Impossible to say, of course, but it’s definitely something I’d keep an eye on going forward.

Of course, Edelgard passes and is promoted to Brigand. This part progresses no further, so there’s no indication of what effects this will have on Edelgard as a unit beyond changing class and focusing more on axes, such as growths or class change stat influences. We’ll probably see more as time goes on.

We then cut to a scene of Ashe (who is likely from the Golden Deer) having a meal with a blond-haired girl (possibly from the Blue Lions, but unknown for sure) having a meal together. The dialogue over the meal indicates it to be some kind of team-building, but whether this is meant as the equivalent of a Support Conversation, simply a means to help build supports, or is unrelated to supports and simply tied to building bonds for gambits. Hopefully, we’ll learn more in the future.

Now, we see the beginnings of a Gambit Boost in action, being a part of a Gambit led by Edelgard. The Gambit is targeting a monster (identified as Black Beast) these units are nearby, with the particular targets being in front of Edelgard (with two arrows in front of Edelgard, interestingly). We can also see Byleth with a glowing sword (which has been identified as the chain sword from the prior trailers), making it unclear when exactly in the game this is. Interestingly, Byleth is the only one with a particularly unique-looking weapon, so it’s possible he’ll be getting one before the others (presuming Edelgard/Claude/Dimitri do as well).

In the Japanese version, there’s a few differences in presentation, but the end result is still the same. For one, Edelgard and Ferdinand are facing a bit to the right (compared to being front-facing in the English version), and the squares below and arrows above the Black Beast in the English version aren’t present. Otherwise, however, they’re positioned in the exact same way as before.

We then see the “Gambit Boost” activating, which involves Byleth, the black-haired guy from the Black Eagles we’ve seen a few times, Ferdinand, and Edelgard. The four being in close proximity to each other and the Black Beast seems to be relevant to their performing the gambit, which raises the future question of how complex or simple the Gambit Boosts can be.

Meanwhile, in the Japanese version, there’s a few differences. For one, Byleth and Ferdinand have swapped positions, but there isn’t any visible reason why. Byleth and the black-haired guy have visibly different outfits, with Byleth being much more armored and the black-haired guy sporting red robes (Ferdinand’s outfit might be somewhat different, too, it’s difficult to tell) - which points towards most units being rather customizable, possibly even allowing Byleth to become an armored unit.

Finally, we the (beginning?) of the Coordinated Gambit in action. Edelgard twirls her axe, which is the indication for a bunch of “Assault Troop” soldiers to charge forward, hitting the Black Beast. It possesses 14 Mt (likely using similar damage calculations as normal attacks), a 100% hit rate (does that mean that gambits have a chance of missing?), and 0 Crit (again raising a question, this time if gambits can cause critical hits). The Black Beast, meanwhile, has absolutely no indication it can counter Edelgard despite her being right in front of it - perhaps this means Gambits can allow units a form of attack without putting themselves at risk.

Finally, despite being referred to as a “Coordinated Gambit,” there’s a significant lack of coordination being displayed here, especially after the whole big thing with the Gambit Boost before. There’s a couple possible explanations for this, however. One could be that their involvement could be the reason why Edelgard isn’t at risk of taking a counterattack. The other option is that Edelgard is the first of a few gambits set to take place, and we only get to see the first because the trailer doesn’t want to spoil. Whatever the reason, I’m sure the game will eventually make it clear.

#fire emblem three houses #three houses #fire emblem 16 #FE16 #potential FE 16 spoilers?#edelgard #byleth #ferdinand #dorothea #bernadetta #petra #linhardt #caspar #fire emblem three houses trailer analysis #three houses trailer analysis #2-13 trailer #gameplay analysis

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