Source
r/Edelgard•
Ednw

SB: are you winning, daughter?

SpoilerDiscussion

A testament to Edelgard's preparedness in SB is the number of hoops the game has to jump through to keep her from ending the war by chapter 8 or 9.

Chapter 5 ends with Jeralt's mercenaries covering the Kingdom's forces' retreat, but that's merelly a setback as the southern border and western coast has switched side to the Empire who can put the pressure on the Kingdom, who's like 'Oh no, what do we do if Edelgard presses on?'. That put her in her pre-chapter 11 situation. So Gloucester betrays her.

So the army securing the Goucester/Riegan border is backstabed and must be saved over two chapters. Count Gloucester's opinion on this: 'how dafuq did my political adversary since forever convinced me to do that? Oh well, your time has come, my dear Lorenz.'

So during that time Dimitri managed to undo most of the progress made on the Faerghus front and is about to lay siege on Arianrhod (spoiler: like a Korean starcraft player, he's already in your base killing your doods). So we yeet him out of the Maiden, at the cost of Ingrid's life.

Understanbly going West to East to West again, fightin all the way has left everyone exhausted so it's time for an eventful pit-stop at Embarr.

So after a timeskip and an alliance with the Alliance it's time to get back to where we left off and resecure the southern, then western, then central Kingdom. Hopefully the Alliance doesn't decide to backstab her again...

In,any case, now that she has Fhirdiad's gates in sight, the slithers and Aegir decide now is the time to cause trouble back to the Empire's eastermost reaches. We buy new marching boots, as the previous ones are no more that barely hanging together leather strips by that point, and go restore order while our enemies regroup.

And now it's finally time for the (presumed) last battle against a Kingdom whi's been on the ropes since day one (and hopefully not against an Alliance that's not the greatest ally). Dimitri's opinion on the matter: 'We should have stayed out of this feud between Empire and Church and opened working relations with the former from the beginning. But Ingrid died and I swore to avenge her on her spear, so that's that.'

So SB really lets El assert her superiority, don't you think? It's even forced to pull setbacks out of left field so that her victory doesn't come too early and we have a game to actually play.

Posted Jul 4, 2022, 9:19 AM UTC

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The_Elder_Jock•

Sounds about right. Even in THouses, the Empire has a massive war ready army. It's little wonder that CF is the shortest route.

33
Kaltmacher07•

SB reminds me why I adore rich, deep, nuanced political War-stories like Game of Thrones, Dynastie Warrior's, The Witcher, Dragon Age and Three Houses.

Edelgard is just the perfect protagonist here. She's a capable, fair and fearless leader, a great idealist, a traumatized victim and a skilled politician.

The antagonists of SB challenge every last one of her core expects. Dimitri and Rhea oppose her ideals, Claude and Count Gloucester are incredible politicians and schemers, and TSWD appose her on all fronts. But what's more special is that they get beneath her skin. Edelgards trauma comes from them and as much as Edelgard tries to overcome it, she still can't shake off what they have done to her.

One of the more powerful scenes for me was how Edelgard apologized to her friends and troops after chapter 8. She had tried her absolute best and yet the mistakes she had made weight heavily on her. She blamed Dimitris counter attack and the betrayal of Count Gloster entirely on herself. It's moments like that where she carries the whole world on her shoulders and you see the great tole it takes on her.

30
Cinderea•

And yet the ending tries to convince you that somehow the war doesn't fucking end because "Byleth was too crucial, the mercenary that literally killed the goddes of time isn't apparently enough".

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QG04•

In case you didn’t know, the war does end if you spare Byleth in chapter 10

12
Cinderea•

Yeah, I know. I didn't see the outcome yet but that's exactly what I am complaining about.

6
Reveanent_45•

its pretty much over at that point the rest is basically clean up mode.

1
DeargDraic :Cipher_HegemonyOverthrow: Hegemony-Overthrowing Emperor•

Sothis trying to take over was just wasted. You could see Byleth struggling but even if you recruit them you get nothing more.

I guess it's a worse ends due to Shez putting their one sided rivalry first. Instead of dropping it for their Lord's cause. Ashen Demon on their side being better.

Annoying still. Byleth really was just advertising bait.

6
Crowe-Chronos :FEW_ThreeHopesEl: Scarlet Blaze•

Frankly speaking it's kinda crazy what the two years of extra preparation she gets thanks to the removal of Thales and lack of Rhea going crazy allow her to ready. If I were a betting man I'd wager she planned to do something along these lines, though maybe not to the same extent in Three Houses as Jeritza's support says she intended to stay there as she quite plainly says she had more plans involving his position and not just rush to Enbarr for the coup, but because the Jeritza thing didn't pan out she had to rethink everything and the coup went the way it did.

Also if her A Support with Shez, B Support with Hubert, A Support with Dorothea and C Support with Jeritza are any indication being able to be free of the TWISTD ones control, having the Church even more unprepared for the attack and having a reliable ally who has Agarthan-like powers but seemingly no allegiance to them did both wonders for her strategy and honestly her mental state as there's significantly less stress for her overall.

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Flam3Emperor622 :Cipher_UnshakableWill: Unshakable Will of Flames•

That’s why she grows a whole 2 inches over the timeskip.

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Crowe-Chronos :FEW_ThreeHopesEl: Scarlet Blaze•

Not too far fetched consider the stress does affect your height.

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jtavington•

As others have said, all routes have that structure.

But...one thing that really does seem unique is that El is better off in Hopes than Houses. She's no longer morally compromised by TWSITD, her friend is alive, the pact with Leicaster can last and she just seems happier. Compare to Dimitri in AG who never becomes the boar but is still just masking his trauma, never becoming the Savior King, and Claude who is the new Nemesis.

12
Foolsirony•

I dunno, on the other hand, Edelgard misses out on Byleth simping.

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DeargDraic :Cipher_HegemonyOverthrow: Hegemony-Overthrowing Emperor•

Really shows you how much they drained her. Even having to work with/use them.

Also shows you how strongly she feels about her vision for the future.

SB has made me wonder how good CF could have been with more time. All of 3Houses routes to be fair needed more time. Love hanging with the Beagles, CF or SB.

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Reveanent_45•

claude like edelgard only wanted rhea out of power they are fine with letting seteth and flayn live so they are not quite nemesis.

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marthisbestboy•

I felt like that when playing Scarlet Blaze because it was my first route. BUT Azure Gleam feels the same. Golden Wildfire is barely different too. In the beginning of GW you feel like you are fighting in disadvantage, but soon enough you already feel like everything is going your way.

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Calm-Ad9795•

Yeah even in Three Houses when El’s initial plan is left in shambles I’m pretty sure it’s implied that the Empire is winning against the Kingdom, Church and Alliance

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