I'm honestly shocked and disappointed that Rhealeth is so unpopular. I mean, don't get me wrong, Edelgard is my girl too, but Rhea is really really great. She's like reverse Edelgard: apparently warm and kind but secretly terrifying, instead of outwardly cold and intimidating and inwardy gay mush.
Sweet Dangus McGee
Feb 5, 2020 11:42AM
probably cuz she's the cause of nearly all the systemic evils of the game and that's not as sexy and cool as being a complicated revolutionary. A lot-not all but a lot- of villain fuckers are into villains cuz they're already sexy but also cuz the way our media propagandizes us a lot of villains are the ones that want to tear down the systems of oppression or cuz they've been wronged by it in some way, and of course that resonates with a lot of gay people. Rhea on the other hand is more like a captain planet villain, and like if you find them sexy thats totally your prerogative, but its not a surprise if its not more commonplace
last edited at Feb 5, 2020 11:43AM
BakemonoJoker
Feb 5, 2020 1:41PM
awww , i guess too
vulpixie
Feb 6, 2020 3:14AM
i thought this was lysigard from the thumbnail; shame i haven’t seen any art of the 2 of them yet, the pairing has a fairly strong presence in the writing communities
Verdant
Feb 6, 2020 4:22AM
Spoilers ahead for Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
Rhea’s nothing like a Captain Planet villain, IMO. She’s as tragic and sympathetic and complicated as Edelgard if not more so, though you only really find out her backstory at the end of Verdant Wind. I won’t say she doesn’t have some responsibility for the systemic evils of the game, but I don’t think it’s anywhere close to nearly all of it. (I guess some of this depends on how much power one perceives the Church as having, and IMO while it’s considerable it’s nothing close to absolute.) To me, the game makes clear that the main cause of those systemic evils isn’t so much one particular person as it is human greed and lust for power in general, but, if you’re going to pin it on one particular entity, IMO it should be Those Who Slither in the Dark. The actions of Rhea, Dimitri, and Edelgard are all rooted in their own trauma, and for all of them, the source of that trauma is, ultimately, TWSitD.
Anyway... to comment on the picture, I like it and I wish there was more out there for this pairing generally. I suppose the way it’s kind of incestuous from both directions but also technically not puts people off, though.
Sweet Dangus McGee
Feb 6, 2020 11:08AM
Eh true that those who slither in the dark are way more obviously evil i'll give you that, but like, I just don't find myself very moved by Rhea's tragic backstory in conjunction to the atrocities and systems of inequity she very much, if not created directly, then at the very least allowed to perpetuate during her reign as superpope. it's what makes her a tragic and interesting villain to me, but not somewhat I really sympathize with or have any desire to side with. This is me personally and the general take I see floating around.
I'll defer to YMMV on this one, if people are into it thats their prerogative, but yknow i'm just speculating why its not the most popular
Verdant
Feb 6, 2020 4:24PM
Eh, as you say it's a YMMV thing, but to me Rhea and Edelgard are on the same level of "villainy", and indeed parallel each other in a lot of ways. Both are tragic characters who are villainous in certain lights and heroic in others. Both had terrible things done to them by TWSitD, both lie about their true goals, both have sympathetic reasons for those goals, and both do some pretty terrible things in service to them. I sympathize more with Rhea ultimately because Edelgard's starting a war of aggression, imperialism, and working with TWSitD (and sharing their agenda when it comes to the "Children of the Goddess") is beyond the pale for me (also there's some disturbing implications to a number of the Crimson Flower endings, which are more pronounced in the original Japanese from what I've heard), but yeah, YMMV.
Basically, though, I think the relative lack of popularity for Byleth/Rhea comes mostly from a combination of a lot of people playing Crimson Flower first and not knowing the other side of the story, that the game makes it a lot more difficult to get to know Rhea as compared to Edelgard, that she's a powerful religious authority figure and that rubs some people the wrong way no matter what, and that the pairing with Byleth is sort of psuedo-incestuous.
Mimiyaah Feb 4, 2020 1:44AM
Aww
Linterdiction Feb 5, 2020 3:54AM
GAY POPE
GAY POPE
I'm honestly shocked and disappointed that Rhealeth is so unpopular. I mean, don't get me wrong, Edelgard is my girl too, but Rhea is really really great. She's like reverse Edelgard: apparently warm and kind but secretly terrifying, instead of outwardly cold and intimidating and inwardy gay mush.
Sweet Dangus McGee Feb 5, 2020 11:42AM
probably cuz she's the cause of nearly all the systemic evils of the game and that's not as sexy and cool as being a complicated revolutionary. A lot-not all but a lot- of villain fuckers are into villains cuz they're already sexy but also cuz the way our media propagandizes us a lot of villains are the ones that want to tear down the systems of oppression or cuz they've been wronged by it in some way, and of course that resonates with a lot of gay people. Rhea on the other hand is more like a captain planet villain, and like if you find them sexy thats totally your prerogative, but its not a surprise if its not more commonplace
last edited at Feb 5, 2020 11:43AM
BakemonoJoker Feb 5, 2020 1:41PM
awww , i guess too
vulpixie Feb 6, 2020 3:14AM
i thought this was lysigard from the thumbnail; shame i haven’t seen any art of the 2 of them yet, the pairing has a fairly strong presence in the writing communities
Verdant Feb 6, 2020 4:22AM
Spoilers ahead for Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
Rhea’s nothing like a Captain Planet villain, IMO. She’s as tragic and sympathetic and complicated as Edelgard if not more so, though you only really find out her backstory at the end of Verdant Wind. I won’t say she doesn’t have some responsibility for the systemic evils of the game, but I don’t think it’s anywhere close to nearly all of it. (I guess some of this depends on how much power one perceives the Church as having, and IMO while it’s considerable it’s nothing close to absolute.) To me, the game makes clear that the main cause of those systemic evils isn’t so much one particular person as it is human greed and lust for power in general, but, if you’re going to pin it on one particular entity, IMO it should be Those Who Slither in the Dark. The actions of Rhea, Dimitri, and Edelgard are all rooted in their own trauma, and for all of them, the source of that trauma is, ultimately, TWSitD.
Anyway... to comment on the picture, I like it and I wish there was more out there for this pairing generally. I suppose the way it’s kind of incestuous from both directions but also technically not puts people off, though.
Sweet Dangus McGee Feb 6, 2020 11:08AM
Eh true that those who slither in the dark are way more obviously evil i'll give you that, but like, I just don't find myself very moved by Rhea's tragic backstory in conjunction to the atrocities and systems of inequity she very much, if not created directly, then at the very least allowed to perpetuate during her reign as superpope. it's what makes her a tragic and interesting villain to me, but not somewhat I really sympathize with or have any desire to side with. This is me personally and the general take I see floating around.
I'll defer to YMMV on this one, if people are into it thats their prerogative, but yknow i'm just speculating why its not the most popular
Verdant Feb 6, 2020 4:24PM
Eh, as you say it's a YMMV thing, but to me Rhea and Edelgard are on the same level of "villainy", and indeed parallel each other in a lot of ways. Both are tragic characters who are villainous in certain lights and heroic in others. Both had terrible things done to them by TWSitD, both lie about their true goals, both have sympathetic reasons for those goals, and both do some pretty terrible things in service to them. I sympathize more with Rhea ultimately because Edelgard's starting a war of aggression, imperialism, and working with TWSitD (and sharing their agenda when it comes to the "Children of the Goddess") is beyond the pale for me (also there's some disturbing implications to a number of the Crimson Flower endings, which are more pronounced in the original Japanese from what I've heard), but yeah, YMMV.
Basically, though, I think the relative lack of popularity for Byleth/Rhea comes mostly from a combination of a lot of people playing Crimson Flower first and not knowing the other side of the story, that the game makes it a lot more difficult to get to know Rhea as compared to Edelgard, that she's a powerful religious authority figure and that rubs some people the wrong way no matter what, and that the pairing with Byleth is sort of psuedo-incestuous.