Fie Claussell

idk, I think Rhea is pretty evil. In fact I think she's on par, if not worse, with anyone bar the Slitherers. Disclaimer I've only played the two Black Eagle routes, but have seen some footage of the ends of GD/BL and know the general plot of both. From the get-go you know Jeralt doesn't fully trust Rhea, but then you play the game and see how she's so quick to straight up kill people, how little value she places no human lives, how she runs a church that worships herself and her mother, and how tried to turn so many people into Sothis. I think the last thing is incredibly fucked up. They're not actually themself, she's trying to make them someone else. And she's done it for so many years. Byleth was the 14th attempt if I recall correctly, which pretty clearly shows how she's desperately clinging to being able to recreate her mother at the expense of peoples lives. I don't fully comprehend the circumstances of putting the Crest stone onto Byleth's heart, but it's quite obvious that Byleth doesn't have the same levels of being human as other characters; just look at Jeralt's journal. It's hard to judge to what extent exactly Byleth is "human" because they're an avatar character, thus mostly void in personality in the first place, but from what I gather is they're even less than what an avatar would be. Let's remember Jeralt's death scene; that was the first time Byleth's ever cried. Byleth is 21 years old according to their mother's tombstone. The Crest/Noble thing is a pretty big deal, too. It's probably the only theme that every lord and a majority of students will agree is a big issue; and Rhea is the centerpiece of said issue. She's the one who established the system in the first place, and her power as archbishop is a centerpiece to upholding the current standing. And then you find out just how insane she is when you do Crimson Flower. And in another route even Seteth is very questioning of her methods and her plan; she doesn't trust him with any big information. To the things you laid out in the OP: (spoils church route) 2. There's a difference between retaliation and genocide. She offers them no alternative punishment except death, and does so right in front of a person that barely knows her. I'm not saying it's not likely that others would respond similarly, but the manner in which Rhea presents herself in regards to the Western Church is quite scary to see from someone with so much power and expected to be a holy authority. 3. All of the Saints were gifted powers from Sothis. Seteth/Flayn just lost their power to transform into a Dragon, whereas Rhea, the most powerful one, still has it. Seteth and Flayn are just humans with a long lifespan, whereas Rhea posses more power than pretty much anyone. She's an incredibly dangerous force and she's also insane.

Played with Japanese voiceover. Ignatz was the most drastic difference between the Japanese and English voices to me. I was so taken aback when I first heard his English voice I did a double take to make sure that the it wasn't someone self-dubbing as a joke. I prefer the Japanese voice acting because I think a lot of the voices are overall more fitting to their character, or just plain better (Mercedes, Annette, Felix, Hubert to name a few). I also just think the Japanese voice acting sounds more... natural? Obviously not to a native English speaker in the sense that it's more natural to me personally, but it feels less like they're trying to voice act and more like the character is talking. The English voice acting is fine of course, though. I think this is pretty inaccurate. I would say Rhea very much felt like her voice was targeted towards being a motherly figure. Which, to me, felt accurate for her character. "Cute" never crossed my mind in the slightest when Rhea was talking.

Keep in mind Breath skills don't stack with the Special cooldown acceleration from Vengeful Fighter. If you decide to invest in a Breath skill on Grima, you're probably better off building Steady/Warding Breath + Bold Fighter + Quick Riposte. Otherwise, Fury is optimal alongside Vengeful Fighter.