Who do you think will be the main Villain?

[Emblemier Ben]

 

8 hours ago, Armchair General said:

Why can't it be another church?

There's an "Western Church Soldier" as an enemy in the second trailer.

"Evil religion separate from the Church" Is this what you mean?

If you mean another church in the religion of Seiros that's what I am referring to when I say "The Church".

[Emblemier Ben]

As I heard from another post before, the idea for Sothis and the Church being the villain is likely.

Simple.

You might know this or not, but there is a recurring evil symbol that was present on the whip old guy and other links.

But, Sothis also has this symbol.

And... the shape of the art (below) is similar to this symbol/crest.

(I cannot find this symbol but you can find it on the special edition.)

[NekoKnight]

I think it will be the church but I'd be 100% behind Sothis being the main villain. Having your personal helper hype you up as being the ultimate savior would be the perfect misdirect for her actually manipulating the protagonist (and player). Alas, I suspect they'll be playing it safe with villains.

[Thane]

Expecting the church who serves a goddess who wants to wreak some kind of havoc for whatever reason. I would love more political drama or Sothis being a manipulative villain, but I'm not counting on it.

[Rose482]

10 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

Really? She screams "I'm going to tragically die in the Avatar's arms moments after revealing I'm his mother" to me.

 

Hmmm, that's not the feeling I got from her, there is something almost creepy about her smile, I'm not sure if it's just me getting the wrong feeling off of it or not though, and the fact she's apart of the Church is just more of a reason to think she's evil really. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Rose482

[Book Bro]

11 hours ago, Guest Don said:

Nicegirl McGoodwoman over there looks like a third helping of Emmeryn.

Perfection. Can we please all agree to use this as the trope name? 

I think the Church will be the villains, I don't expect a big subversion of what the trailers have outlined so far in that regard.

[Emblemier Ben]

1 hour ago, Rose482 said:

Hmmm, that's not the feeling I got from her, there is something almost creepy about her smile, I'm not sure if it's just me getting the wrong feeling off of it or not though, and the fact she's apart of the Church is just more of a reason to think she's evil really. 

Yeah, in that first trailer when she is watching someone die, I don't think she'll be the typical peace-loving type character.

[RexBolt]

50 minutes ago, Emblemier Ben said:

Yeah, in that first trailer when she is watching someone die, I don't think she'll be the typical peace-loving type character.

It's such a pity because in the first trailer i wanted her to be the main villain. But now that i know she's the head of the church i don't want anymore. It's was supposed to be a subversion of a trope but now it threatens to be just a more common one.

[Interdimensional Observer]

16 hours ago, This boi uses Nino said:

The church people seemed good to me, they wouldn't be Fodlan's main religion for nothing.

...You're not familiar with too many Japanese RPGs, are you?

It's because of this genre of games that people are assuming the Church. Starting with the PS2-Gamecube era, an anti-organized religion theme entered JRPGs in full force (earlier examples can be found though), and it has not ceased to be a cliche that some games use.

Said organized religions, sometimes as part of their schemes for world domination, do in fact exist throughout the entire worlds in question. On the surface, they don't necessarily look so bad, nice even, but as the game progresses and the surface is scratched, they end up smelling like the outhouse of the world is up in your nostrils and everyone is using it.

Typically, the games that do this theme throw in a caveat saying "individuals might not be bad and religion itself is not". But this caveat is surrounded by hopelessly corrupt Bishops and others in high ecclesiastic office, and the organization is rotten to the point the only way to reform it is at the edge of a sword accompanied by some fireballs.

Not all JRPGs cast religion in a negative light. Dragon Quest might throw in an NPC priest who likes rum or bunny girls for a little silliness, but the religion of the Goddess/Almighty is generally good. And there are plenty which don't take up the theme of religion at all.

Fire Emblem is not a JRPG, it is a Strategy RPG. However, it is made by Japanese developers and does and can share in general trends in Japanese popular entertainment media. Already, FE has dabbled in godslaying, which is something you sometimes find associated with games where you with a claymore cut Cardinal Cleptocrat's carotid. Therefore, it is not wholly infeasible that FE is moving in this direction.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Interdimensional Observer

[Emblemier Ben]

2 hours ago, RexBolt said:

But now that i know she's the head of the church i don't want anymore. It's was supposed to be a subversion of a trope but now it threatens to be just a more common one.

I mean you can do some really cool things with it. I don't want to refer to Xenoblade because it's all I ever compare to, but Amalthus from Xenoblade 2, basically the leader of this religious country who thought himself as the will of the sort of god (Architect as it's referred to) because he went to where he believed he now lived, making him gain a superiority complex.

[Hanes]

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Fire Emblem is not a JRPG, it is a Strategy RPG. However, it is made by Japanese developers and does and can share in general trends in Japanese popular entertainment media. Already, FE has dabbled in godslaying, which is something you sometimes find associated with games where you with a claymore cut Cardinal Cleptocrat's carotid. Therefore, it is not wholly infeasible that FE is moving in this direction.

These Japanese developers made Elimine a good church, usually the bad guys are from a clearly defined evil church and these guys don't scream evil too me, whilst the Grimleal where obviously evil from the start or the Loptyr guys and FE13 is more modern so if we are going by having typical FE cliches, the more recent ones are better examples to look at. And it seems they are just making the bad church clearly defined and the good one ok. FE is not a JRPG, it is made by japanese people but that's like saying all games made in the US will contain guns because it's made by americans.

[PrincessAlyson]

My trope sense is screaming that it'll be the church, but I'm hoping not, or at least, only a sect of it (on the map there are locations called Easter Church and Western Church. I suspect one of these may be the antagonist, seeing as in the trailer students are fighting Western Church soldiers). The "church/religion is evil" trope in JRPGs and other, similar games is overdone to where everyone sees it and it's not a plot twist at all. 

[Shadow Mir]

2 hours ago, This boi uses Nino said:

These Japanese developers made Elimine a good church, usually the bad guys are from a clearly defined evil church and these guys don't scream evil too me, whilst the Grimleal where obviously evil from the start or the Loptyr guys and FE13 is more modern so if we are going by having typical FE cliches, the more recent ones are better examples to look at. And it seems they are just making the bad church clearly defined and the good one ok. FE is not a JRPG, it is made by japanese people but that's like saying all games made in the US will contain guns because it's made by americans.

At the same time, Fire Emblem has been having evil bishops since the NES days (considering that Gharnef, the Big Bad of the Archanean saga, was originally a bishop before the remakes made him into a Sorcerer, and even those same remakes don't move away from this since in Shadow Dragon, Wendell refers to him as a pontifex, in addition to the title "Dark Pontifex" being used to refer to him at least once)... Also, I'd sooner call the Grimleal a cult, largely because they seem to be heavily based in the Loptyr Cult. And that's saying nothing of the other evil bishops the series has served up...

Edited March 3, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Hanes]

51 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

At the same time, Fire Emblem has been having evil bishops since the NES days (considering that Gharnef, the Big Bad of the Archanean saga, was originally a bishop before the remakes made him into a Sorcerer, and even those same remakes don't move away from this since in Shadow Dragon, Wendell refers to him as a pontifex, in addition to the title "Dark Pontifex" being used to refer to him at least once)... Also, I'd sooner call the Grimleal a cult, largely because they seem to be heavily based in the Loptyr Cult. And that's saying nothing of the other evil bishops the series has served up...

Evil bishops but not of the main religion.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, This boi uses Nino said:

Evil bishops but not of the main religion.

Ever heard the saying "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch"? Because I think that could apply here - just look at the Duma Faithful. Originally, it wasn't all that bad, but then Jedah deposed Halcyon, and things went to hell. So it's not a big leap from "evil bishops" to "the whole religion is corrupt". Also, religion is hardly brought up in most FE games (Gaiden and SoV are the only exceptions I can think of, and that's because the Big Bad [the aforementioned Jedah] happens to be the leader of a religion).

Edited March 4, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Acacia Sgt]

The phrase wouldn't apply to Gharnef, though. He was not part of any religion (in the sense of being a member, not just a practicioner). He was just simply a pupil under Gotoh at Khadein. He was a Bishop because the Sage class didn't exist. Therefore, characters like Wendell, Linde, and Merric would be/promote-to Bishops, despite not being members of any organized religion either. He would indeed form a religion/cult/order later on, but he himself wasn't an "bad apple that spoiled the bunch", because he was never part of the bunch to begin with.

---

Anyway, who would I think the game's main villain would be... hmm, hard to say. I'd want it to be some kind of anti-Fodlan alliance. Unlike other games, this time around we are given a bunch of countries that don't seem to be part of it, but are there on the map. Unless it's a red herring and are just there to world build, perhaps there's going to be some outsider kind of conflict this time around.

Can't say I support the idea of inter-continental conflict again, or pulling the evil church cliche again. Or even Edelgard's apparent vendetta against the crests. If something is done about it, alright I suppose. It'd be cooler if it was also a red herring. Or maybe the main villains are some radicalized version of Edelgard's stance. I don't know...

[PrincessAlyson]

A bit random, but does anyone else think that the evil-looking guy near the end of the direct looks a bit like King Garon? Definitely not saying it is, but an expy maybe?

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Can't say I support the idea of inter-continental conflict again, or pulling the evil church cliche again.

I wouldn't mind inter-continental conflict as long as it's believable and interesting. Evil church cliche needs to go, though. I seriously hope the main church is a red herring and help you. Maybe the Western Church split from them and have radical, extremist views? That would be interesting. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by PrincessAlyson

[Shadow Mir]

7 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

The phrase wouldn't apply to Gharnef, though. He was not part of any religion (in the sense of being a member, not just a practicioner). He was just simply a pupil under Gotoh at Khadein. He was a Bishop because the Sage class didn't exist. Therefore, characters like Wendell, Linde, and Merric would be/promote-to Bishops, despite not being members of any organized religion either. He would indeed form a religion/cult/order later on, but he himself wasn't an "bad apple that spoiled the bunch", because he was never part of the bunch to begin with.

Which is exactly why I brought up Jedah instead. Also, because, as stated earlier, religion tends to not be a big deal in most FE games.

[Flee Fleet!]

Obviously the main antagonist is the secret fourth house

Slytherin

Yes, its obvious. The three houses are basically a representation of Griffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The reason why they've shown much more of the Ardestrian Empire is because the main character in the Harry Potter series is a Griffindor. And that is what Edelgard is. A Griffindor. 

So obviously the main villain must be a Voldemort. Perhaps Blyeth is the true Harry Potter and has a scar hidden somewhere, and Sothis actually represents Voldemort. People just aren't scared to say her name is all.

 

...Or its like Yu Gi Oh GX and the main villains are actually a group similar to the Shadow Riders!

 

Srsly tho it seems to be the church

 

[ZeManaphy]

Byleth comes from the word Beleth, a king of hell with 85 demons under his command. Maybe Byleth will have an evil counterpart similar to Robin from Awakening, and the Byleth's heritage will kind of serve as contrast church's symbol, but strong bonds save the day. ( I really hope it doesn't go that route though. )

[Fabulously Olivier]

Plot twist - Sothis is the villain.

[Shadow Knight]

Why can't we be the evil for a change? I love Conquest, but I got tired of *Insert character here* doing the dirty work for Corrin so he didn't actually have to do anything morally questionable.

[Guest Dia]

 I somehow get a Radiant Dawn Vibe through this second Trailer. (Act 4 of RD to be precise)

Maybe the "goddess" saw too much bloodshed, too much hatred and greed and sorrow. And then, sometime later in the game she decides that it is useless to Keep on going like this. So she wants to either erase all living beings on the planet or Kind of reset the Evolution.

And Sothis..... would either be the daughter of that goddess or the goddess herself. 

In any case... since the church is the "Police" of all nations , it is bound to cause Trouble.

-> So....the goddess decides something with maybe good intentions and the church are the messengers to deliver that "judgement" -> So....essentially like FE : Radiant Dawn.

[Guest Hófvarpnir]

What if it’s the continent itself?

On the map, there are locations named Fódlan’s Fangs and Fódlan’s Throat. Maybe Fódlan is a humongous fallen dragon who wakes up towards the end of the game and shakes everyone off its back. All non-fliers drown in the sea, and the remaining units have to climb onto Fódlan, Pikmin-style.

Or, y’know, the continent was named after an already-dead dragon who is summoned by the Church or whatever.

[Guest Boatcat]

On 3/3/2019 at 11:07 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Already, FE has dabbled in godslaying

Well, I’d say it’s a bit more than dabbling, many FEs have had killing a god or god-like entity a protagonist thing.

The whole thing started in Gaiden, with both Mila and Duma ending up being evil, also FE7 opening with humans overthrowing the dragons (which are honestly pretty much demigods in that setting) and some gaining immortality (Brammimond, Athos) and one gaining sainthood and worship in her own right (Elemine). Not to mention Tellius’s finale too.

 

Anyways B A C K  O N  T O P I C, I’d love to see IS bamboozle us by making Sothis the villain who was manipulating Byleth the whole time.