Which is brilliant. Leicester, according to the mythological book Historia Regum Britanniæ, is named after said king. Yet another stroke of genius is that they broke away from Faerghus, who is ruled by the Blaiddyd clan. King Bladud, called Blaiddyd in the Welsh translation of Historia, known as Brut y Brenhinedd, is King Lear’s father!!
Cordelia was the voice of truth in Shakespeare's play, but she's a bad guy in 3Hs...well...maybe...Cordelia I think was originally cool but the Slitherers planted an imposter?
How about the Dutch Republic for the Leicester Alliance? -Used to be part of Holy Roman Empire -Broke away from monarchy (kind of Spain, 1580) -formed oligarchic decentralized union with one leading province (Holland) -both Germanic and French cultural/linguistic origins
I really liked this video! I think the Leicester alliance being Greece makes the most sense since Greece and Persia (Almyra) are somewhat close to each other and have fought in the past, so it would make sense. Also Adrestia starting the war is kinda fitting to Germany lol
I always thought that the aliance was inspired in Italy, with múltiple city states that work together against the holy Román Empire, Aldo getting invaded bye the turks, etc.
This video is amazing! You put so much time and thought into it. My fiancé is finishing school to become a high school history teacher, and he was blown away. This video convinced him to try Fire Emblem, which I’ve tried for the past 5 years 😂 so thank you!
Here from Reddit, this was very informative! I especially liked the section where you talked a bit about Myrmidons and Faith/Reason, that stuff is so interesting
Hi, first of all love this video and I'm surprised about the amount of time dedicated to make it and the research made, but I think that the closest thing to the Leicester Alliance is actually Venice, let me explain: Venice was an independent republic based in marine trade, and it makes sense with some of the side quests of Golden deer route and the backstory of Ignatz and Raphael (and both names are Italian and Spanish names "Rafael" and "Ignacio"). Another point to prove my point of view is the Almyra and leicester aliance conflict that it's heavilly inspired by greek and persia but also the Ottoman-Venice war, a war wich main objective was to establish dominion over the in Aegean Sea and various islands as Cyprus and Athens (Fun fact, the Parthenon was blown up during this war). So to end this longer than expected argument i think that is in fact Venice, but all the arguments in this video are well thought and well argumented, I didn't thought about them in first place. (Sorry if you are annoyed about this commentary I only want to discuss this topic and if i'm wrong please tell me, and of course sorry for bad english)
That actually is a very great point. In the level where you fight in Derdriu (Leicester Capital), the layout of the city is coastal and with a lot of canals which is reminiscent of Venice.
The insane amount of thought and care put into this game’s story makes it very easy to overlook its flaws. This was a very well-organized and presented video, and I hope you keep up the good work! P.s. Glad I was scrolling through Reddit haha
I always thought the houses were a mix of different countries, as opposed to just one. Similarly to this video I thought the Adrestrian empire was germanic, but I thought the kingdom of Fargeus more so resembled Medieval France (with the Tragedy of Duscar being the Crusades) and that the Leicester Alliance was Spain, with Almyra being the Musilm Moors.
Dude your editing skills are awesome and i think it's really interesting how this game was inspired by history. I would watch the entire video but as you said there are spoilers (and although the game was spoiled to me several times cause of FEH, I forget stuff easily so I don't wanna be reminded again T^T hahaha) so i didn't T^T. But again, your editing skills are awesome and keep up the great content! (Edit) aaahhh my curiosity got to me! but wow ur research on the Catholic Church and comparing it to the Church of Serios was interesting and that relic stuff was pretty freaky
6:02 - 10:59 Also, one of the ruling houses that would rule the Spanish Empire were the Habsburgs, who also were the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in the later medieval and early modern eras, thereby strengthening the connections with the Ancient Roman Empire (Spain was a former Roman imperial territory until the fall of the Western Empire) and the Adrestian Empire in FE3H. 11:47 - 14:27 I am honestly surprised that you cited Great Britain as a primary influence for Faerghus, though it made sense to me once you presented your points. I also thought the Kingdom of Sweden had some influence on Faerghus, not just due to its geographical similarities (being northern lands), but also due to its actions intervening during the Thirty Years War. In order to win the hearts and minds of the German people, Swedish propaganda successfully exploits an old prophecy. The symbol of the “midnight lion” had long been known. Already in the Old Testament (Book of Daniel and Jeremiah) a Nordic lion was foretold: This lion will judge the sinful Babylon and build a new divine kingdom. In the contemporary Protestant interpretation of this prophecy at that time, the "whore of Babylon" was equated with the Catholic Church. Through the works of the Calabrian abbot Joachim von Fiore (1130/1135-1202) and later by Swiss philosopher and theologian Paracelsus (1493-1541), the complex of images of the “midnight lion” saw an upswing. According to a prophecy made by the latter, a “mighty lion born of northern star [...] will conquer the realm of evil, usurp the eagle's sceptre and [...] subdue all of Europe as well as parts of Africa and Asia.” The term ‘Midnight’ for North* consequently fell back on a long line of tradition, while, at the same instance, ‘the eagle’s sceptre’ nicely corresponded with the Imperial coat of arms (ie. the Catholic house of Habsburg).The lion would conquer the eagles and the evil empire (i.e.: the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholics). In this propaganda, King Gustav II Adolph of Sweden, otherwise known as Gustavus Adolphus, became Der Löwe aus Mitternacht ("The Lion from Midnight"), also known as the Lion from the North. Dimitri and his fellow students from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus in northern Fodlan are members of the house named "the Blue Lions". So, in a way, the Blue Lions were Lions from the North. 15:53 - 19:15 Also, the fact that you had used Greece, France, and the USA as some of the influences for the Leicester Alliance, as I had never thought about those, though I did hear the idea that Almyra had been influenced by the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from a discussion on Discord. I also noticed how there are some who also believe the Dutch Republics as an influence for the Leicester Alliance, given its history as Sophie Rose had stated in her comment. Also, the more I think about it, I think Almyra might have some influences from the Mongol and Ottoman Empires, as both civilizations were practically on Europe's doorstep at the end of their respective conquests (especially after the fall of the Byzantine [Eastern Roman] Empire and the conquest of most of the Balkan Peninsula and the lands in and around the Black Sea in the case of the Ottoman Turks. At its greatest extent, the empire was practically on Vienna's doorstep and would have conquered the city, until *the winged hussars arrived!* ), much like how Almyra is on Fodlan's. With this in mind, Almyra also possesses some influences with the Mongol Empire of the Middle Ages and the Palmyrene Empire of Roman times as well, which is not just regulated to the fact that their empires at their extent were on Europe's doorstep. The horse archer, which is the symbol on the Almyran coat-of-arms, was a powerful and deadliest military weapon within the Mongol arsenal. This was due to the composite bow utilized by the Mongol horse archers, who were highly skilled in mounted archery tactics. As for the Palmyrene Empire, I could only find one influence so far: its name ("Almyra" is just "Palmyra" without the "P"). 23:37 - 27:03 As for comparing the three lords to three important figures in history, I am amazed, and that's coming from a history buff. Claude having comparisons to Cyrus the Great, especially their tolerance of other religions and cultures, was a good choice, if I do say so myself. Also, the comparison between Edelgard and Napoleon was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I had once compared Edelgard to King Karl den Tolfte (Charles XII) of Sweden (you can blame Sabaton's English version of "Carolus Rex" for that [still a banger tho]), though with the information presented in both the game and this video in mind, I doubt Edelgard and Karl would get along, as Sweden became the most absolute of absolute monarchies during his reign. He was a brilliant commander, can field an effective army, and slept in the same grounds as the men under his command during campaigns, but he expected nothing less than absolute loyalty. His words were law. Fun fact: Karl XII and Napoleon made the exact same mistake invading Russia during the winter, during the Great Northern War and the Napoleonic Wars respectively. Also, I did not see any comparisons to any leaders in Dimitri's case. I'm curious to see why that might be the case and what historical leaders you or anyone else might be a good comparison for Dimitri. 27:05 - 29:47 I like how the overall story routes give different perspectives on characters and events, especially given their connections to real world history. Regarding the importance of learning from the past, I shall say a quote that had been stated in many forms, especially from Edmund Burke, Georges Santayana, and Winston Churchill: "Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." As people living in this world, it is our duty to learn about each of the different perspectives of the past (the triumphs and tragedies, the achievements and the atrocities, the miracles and mistakes, etc.) so we can make informed decisions in the present and potentially create a better future. Specifically, we learn about all of the atrocities and tragedies of the different wars that have occurred, and how they got to that point, throughout history, as well as similar events that have occurred years prior or later to those tragic events, to understand one thing: that history has the habit of repeating itself. That there is a cost to war, prejudice, and hatred. That they should be avoided. That should you see the red flags popping up in and around your area, maybe you and others well-informed in history can put a stop to it within reason. All in all, as both a Fire Emblem fan and a history buff, I really enjoyed this video and look forward to other videos you'll make in the future. Also, I apologize for the long comment.
@@ExplorersCompass82 I forgot to add this into my earlier comment, but I also noticed how the events of Three Houses mirrors that of the Three Kingdoms Era in China and the Thirty Years War in Central Europe, with the titular three houses and factions being influenced by the former (the three kingdoms being Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu) and the conflict portrayed in the main game and in Three Hopes being influenced by the latter(A governing body [German Protestant princedoms and dukedoms in the northern part of the Holy Roman Empire allied with primarily the Kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and France/The Adrestian Empire under the leadership of Edelgard] rebelling against the main continent spanning religious organization [The Roman Catholic Church/The Church of Seiros] and fighting against that organization's main supporters [The German Catholic duchies in the southern part of the Holy Roman Empire led by the Habsburgs and supported by the Spanish Empire/The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus under the leadership of Dimitri supported by the Knights of Seiros]). It's honestly interesting and fascinating how both Three Houses and Three Hopes have so much historical influences involved in the development of their stories, factions, and characters. EDIT: After much research, I feel that Dimitri might have some inspiration from the Scandinavian Legend of Amleth, who in turn might have been the inspiration behind Shakespeare's Hamlet. According to both legend and play, Amleth/Prince Hamlet sought revenge against his uncle Feng/Claudius for the murder of his father Aurvandill/King Hamlet. [SPOILER ALERT] In Three Hopes, his uncle Rufus was one of the main conspirators behind the Tragedy of Duscur, which led to the death of many knights and nobles, including Dimitri's father Lambert. Thus, when Dimitri returns to Faerghus to suppress a coup launched by Rufus, the prince executes the regent, avenging his father. I understand that I am glancing over a ton of details in both scenarios, but the parallels and connections made are something to behold.
I agree with you that faerghus is definitely similar to sweden!! and i wanna add onto your point that faerghus colonised, genocided and conquered the northern parts of faerghus from sreng and duscur, and sweden also colonised their northern parts + finland in some point in time.
@@ExplorersCompass82 I know this is a year late, but after looking at the lore and geography of the areas surrounding Fodlan, I have come to the conclusion regarding the real life influences of Brigid, Sreng, Albinea, and Morfis. For the influences of Brigid, it seems like a mishmash of cultures and locations. The tropical climate evokes the likes of the Polynesian and Mediterranean islands, but some of the culture, including the practice of shamanism and tattoos, seems to evoke other cultures such as the Asiatic tribes of Russia (the term "shamanism" was introduced to the West following the Russian Empire's conquering of Kazan [at the time, Russia saw itself as the "Third Rome", which gives another connection between Adrestia and other imperial powers that saw themselves as successors to Rome, such as the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire , and the Russian Empire]) and the Gaulic, Gaelic, Celtic, and Pictish tribes of Europe prior to Roman expansion (Petra's last name is Macneary, which gives me the idea that the culture of Brigid was similar to that of Ireland or Scotland prior to contact with the Romans). Regarding Sreng, it is my personal opinion that the region takes some influence from Viking Age Scandinavia. While the rocky desert doesn't match that of frigid Scandinavia, some of the characters that are from Sreng, such as Oleg and Leif, share influences from Old Norse. When we think of "Leif", we obviously think of Leif Erikson, the first European to set foot on American and was known to have founded the colony of Vinland within coastal North America (some evidence seems to suggest the location being in Newfoundland). While "Oleg" is an East Slavic name, it is derived from the Norse name "Helgi". This makes sense, considering how Russia shares its name with the Rus, who were descended from Vikings and would go on to rule the lands of Kiev, Novgorod, and Moscow (similar to how the Normans were descended from Vikings and ruled Normandy and later England). Also, Sreng is described as being home to a number of warlike clans, whose incursions into the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus over the past 200 years have been fended off by House Gautier. Since you cited Great Britain as an influence for Faerghus, I believe that these incursions by the Sreng clans into Faerghus may be influenced by the Viking invasions of England, which started from 793 (the raid of Lindisfarne) and ended in 1066 (the Battle of Stamford Bridge, which ended three days before the Normans, who were descended from the Vikings and were led by William the Conqueror, landed and began his conquest of England), as well as the Viking settlements into Russia. As for Albinea, it is my personal opinion that it is also influenced by the British Isles, as well as Iceland, given its geography. Much like how the British Isles are separate from continental Europe, so too is Albinea with the rest of Fodlan, though Albinea is farther north in comparison to the British Isles. Also, "Albinea" is phonetically similar to "Albion", the oldest known name for Great Britain. We don't know much about Albinea's culture, since both Three Houses and Three Hopes don't go into detail about it, but, taking into account the geographical similarities to the British Isles, I would think that the culture of Albinea's people would take influence from Pre-Christian, even Pre-Roman, Great Britain, even though we don't know much about the cultures of the Celtic Britons and Anglo-Saxons prior to Roman contact and Christianization respectively. Lastly, for Morfis, after looking into its lore (as well as watching videos of AC: Mirage), I came to the conclusion that Morfis takes inspiration from Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. Morfis is said to be a metropolis of magic, once known as the "City of Illusion", with an immense desert surrounding it. Now, a city surrounded by a desert is nothing new in Fire Emblem (just look at Khadein and its school of magic). However, the fact that Morfis is described to be a metropolis of magic, as well as the fact that word of this mysterious magic continues to spread thanks to an intricate web of trade routes, gives more strength to its connection with 9th-century Baghdad, which was both the site of the House of Wisdom and the epicenter for the Islamic Golden Age. Baghdad was also within desert terrain, with the Tigris River being one of, if not only, major sources of water for the city. Since the Abbasids chose Baghdad multiple times as the capital of the Caliphate, it was also a major center for trade from all corners of the caliphate and beyond. Also, Baghdad has had multiple names during the reign of al-Mansur and the Abbasids: "The Round City", "Madinat al-Mansur" or "City of Mansur", and "Madinat al-Salam" or "City of Peace". The latter two names match that of Morfis's nickname: "City of Illusion".
Good and Evil are a matter of perspective. I do like that and agree. Many things can be misconstrued in war. I don't believe anything is just "black and white" like that.
Also I think the Japanese developers mentioned that the Adrestian Empire, Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and Leceister Alliance are based off of the ancient Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Would Edelgard be Cao Cao in this scenario?
@@ExplorersCompass82 Here's how I see things. The very first quote in the novel of Romance of the Three Kingdoms are "the empire long divided, must unite, long united, must divide." You can see this theme play out in Three Houses in how all the countries used to be part of the Adrestian Empire but broke off, but then are put back to together again as one country at the end in all the routes. Exactly like how the Han Dynasty collapsed into Three Kingdoms which were unified by the Jin Dynasty in the end. The Church of Seiros would represent the Han Dynasty, the existing order that Edelgard (Cao Cao) wants to replace. Cao Cao like Edelgard places heavy emphasis on merit and not on noble station. Cao Cao's obsession with bringing Guan Yu over to their side because they had seen his strength is a bit like Edelgard's obsession with Byleth in the non-Crimson Flower routes. Cao Cao is seen as a villain by others but is a hero to many. Cao Wei is a very powerful state that conquers like the Adrestian Empire. Dimitri's character arc progression from benevolent noble to broken psychopath to redemption is probably inspired by Liu Bei the leader of Shu Han. He also was a very kind, noble and chivalrous figure before the death of his close friend Guan Yu made him go beserk, becoming consumed by revenge. Because Cao Wei was such a powerful state there was internal debate amongst the independent minded nobles in Eastern Wu about whether they should support it or go to war with it. I think this is where the inspiration from the Leceister Alliance's internal squabbles about the Empire come from. The leader Sun Quan also tries to maintain neutrality but eventually agrees to fight. At the famous Battle of Red Cliffs (Gronder Field class reunion), Sun Quan devises a scheme to fake surrender and burn all of Cao Cao's ships. There are many parallels to Claude's scheming here. The plot of Three Houses and the characters themselves have many parallels to ROTK.
@@skazka3789 Yep, exactly. And just like Three Kingdoms, when Wei and Wu work together, such as at Fan Castle (or in FE's case, after the Treaty of Myrddin Bridge), the shallow fans who were expecting the cliché framework of "ragtag resistance vs. evil empire" get all triggered. Also, benevolent lord's sworn siblings dropping like flies.
This video was great and it's obvious there was a lot of research done for the video, I am surprised Edelgard is most likely based off Napoleon. I have to say the name inspiration was probably my favorite part, i'm wondering if a full video analyzing every characters name and its historical base is going to be a future video.
This is very well-done video, the amount of research done into this is very surprising. By the way where did you get all your sources for Three Houses?
Historical information in actually learned from school, but also used various website to confirm their validity. In terms of Three Houses music, my source was a website were you could download video game ost’s from. Please tell me if you want the link
Ok, I see some of the connections, but here are some issues I have with this analysis. 1. The Catholic church being the basis of the Church of Seiros is 100% intentional and very obvious. But the Church in the real world was never an all-powerful institution and during the middle ages remarkably weak and couldn't compete with the lords in the land. Though the Church could help with the coronation of Kings, the reverse was more the case; After the Pope declared Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor and thus gaining some measurement of influence in the Frankish court, it lead to the Investiture crisis, where the lords and nobles would mess with the Papal elections and often declare their relatives as new pope and many chapters in history has the Pope being beaten down by Kings and Nobles, to the point of being exiled. The Babylonian exile, the avignon state as well as the whole conflict with the Knights Templar in France are more than enough proof to conclude that they were very weak for medieval standards. They also, despite being against herecy, helped with the science within Europe and beyond and are responsible for many technological advancement like Glasses and automatic clocks for instance, the latter being a medieval version of our modern day computers, who made time a commodity. This is the opposite of the Church of Seiros, which has definitely more to say in the secular matters of the continent and actually hampered down the development of science, a stereotype that is very offensive to the Christianity as many do use it as justification of destroying religion as we know it, particularlythe more radical atheists. 2. Fearghus is clearly more like France, they have French names, wear a lot of blue and Chilvary was more popular there than in great Britain. They also had close ties to the church since the beginning and the Russian names are a possible reference of the relationship between medieval France and Kievan Rus, as they were close and influenced the latter's culture. Celts also loved in Gaul, which was conquered by the Romans and the French also fought against the Vikings, so they fit better as inspiration for France than England, which had more in common with a different faction in Fire Emblem Three Houses. Still, the comparison makes sense and has some merit, but it isn't what we we see in the game. It's cleary France. 3. The Leicester alliance, going by it's name, is cleary based on Medieval England, with many names of these houses coming from English regions with 3 of the 5 great houses being a reffernece to the daughters of King Lear in one of William Shakespeare's books; Riegan, Goneril and Cordelia are all refferneced with the houses Riegan, Goneril and Ordelia, so England was the clear inspiration for them. Also the Alliance is not a democracy, it's a republic with roundtable conferences were only the nobles have a saying it it and pretty much more aligned with Rome than with Greece. Focusing only on big ancient societies also forced us to lose focus on the more clear inspiration for the Alliance; The Baron alliance. It was a rebellious group of Nobles who fought against the crown ruled by King Edward II during a tumultuous time in England also known as the Secound Baron's war. It was led by the earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort, who opposed the King with other barons, whom they felt had too much power and was to incompetent. They made plans to remove him and reduce the power of the King, but De Montfort went further and wanted to have a country ruled by its people and was progressive even for his time. But he lost, not without influencing the court into making reforms that restrained much of the power of the nobles and gave the common folk more influence in their lives. This fits Claude and his federation much better than ancient Greece, which was not always democratic and very much divided by the rich and the poor and men and women as well. 4. The Nabateans are more like the Jewish people, in that they are the chosen people of God and the founder of Christianity was a Jew. Also the idea of lizards controlling the world is a stupid conspiracy theory that is made reality in Fire Emblem, so yeah, we can infer the real life example into the Nabateans. 5. The Agarthans are more based on misconceptions Renaissance people had about Romans and Greeks and envisioned them as those superior and better people, which also inspired Lovecraft's precursor races in many of his works, with racist characteristics that also many esoteric people believed in. The Thule Society and before that many white supremacist and anti-semetic mystics believed that Shambala was the home of the Aryans and that they are highly advanced humans not unlike the Agarthans. The Agarthans are based on these esoteric sci-fi horror that has it's roots in racism and xenophobic attitudes, particularly to perceive non-humans. It's just interesting to mention. 6. I believe they wanted to make this game look more like real history without going too much into detail by basing their countries strongly on real world societies to also showcase their very mediocre at best understanding of medieval Europe and the Middle East, but they give in into too many cliches, which is why many of its story elements are deeply flawed. Stories that use harmful misconceptions are often the worst offenders of tone-deaf portrayals and often harm the otherwise progressive messages of the story like the evil church and the savage easterners that is so overdone, one might think they get their history knowledge from Family Guy. Cheers and a great compliment to your video, it was well made with its refferences, even if I disagreed with some. Anyway, thanks for the video and tell me what you think? It would be great!
I understand your reasoning but staunchly disagree with Faerghus being France. There’s too many Insular Celtic names (the Gaulish are Continental Celts) and the culture of chivalry is too obviously King Arthur (a Welsh man) to be France. I’d be willing to concede a little bit if you said they were Bretons as Brittany is in France and the Bretons are descended from the Welsh. But they can’t be French. I think they take inspiration from all Insular Celtic cultures, but due to the chivalric culture I stand firm they are mainly Welsh people.
@@ExplorersCompass82 If we're looking at kings who were deposed, but later reclaimed their kingdoms, Alfred the Great of Wessex might be one. He fought wars against Danish Viking invaders all his life and was even deposed for a time before he mustered enough forces to win back his crown. Importantly, he didn't execute the man who deposed him, a Dane named Guthrum, but instead reconciled with him, much the same way Dimitri attempts to reconcile with Edelgard in Azure Moon. As far as Dimitri's madness is concerned, we may have to write that off as drama for the narrative's sake. There weren't many kings who went insane, miraculously recovered, and went on to reclaim their thrones.
@@ExplorersCompass82 the thing is I think that the Blue Lions and Faerghus are an older variant of the UK, when the Britons dispersed into Cornish, Welsh and other people. This is supported by the mix of Irish and Welsh names of territories, cities, and forts in Faerghus. The Kingdom, to me, is based on Celtic lore, namely, it derives inspiration from the Ulster Cycle. The characters aren't necessarily historic references, but they're based on fictional characters from Celtic lore Dimitri is likely inspired by Ferghus Mac Roich, a high king of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle. He is betrayed by Conchobar Mac Nessa and loses his kingship and goes into exile, where he will ally and eventually fall in love with Medb of Connacht and lead a campaign against Ulster. Fergus fights Conchobar but spares him after his son Cormac stops him from finishing him off. Honoring an earlier pact with his step-son, Cuchulainn, Ferghus withdraws and the Connacht forces are routed Dimitri, similarly, is betrayed by Edelgard and Cornelia, framed for an assassination and put to death, only he escapes into exile. He then kick-starts his campaign for revenge on them. He ends up killing Cornelia, but initially shows Edelgard mercy. The other evidence we can cite is Dimitri's unique class. Dimitri becomes a High Lord. High resembles the same title as is used by the Celtic kings High King, which is the king that reigns over all the other kings.
This was a fantastic video! I think you did a pretty good job all around. I’m not entirely certain with the conclusion you made with the Alliance but 1. I’m no historian and 2. You still had well argued points
I liked your video! But I must say something concerning the war. I think the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is more inspired by French history for the War. Indeed, not only is the fact that almost all of the blue lion's names are French but also there are common historical events. Especially in the war phase. It echoes withe the Hundred Years' War. When Dimitri fled to Garreg Mach during the time skip, made me think of Charles VII. Dimitri lost his capital, taken by the traitors. In 1428, Charles VII lost his capital too (it was Orleans back in the day) and fled to Chinon (a town nearby), they couldn’t take it back at first, since they were losing tons of battles. The traitors (Les bourguignons) were letting Great Britain take control of more than half of France. Just like Edelgard did to Fearghus. Dimitri, couldn’t take his country back at first due to his lack of sanity, troops and conflicts. That is, when Byleth returned, convinced, Dimitri and the others were able to take back the capital after amassing more troops and winning battles against the Empire, with the help of the enlightened one. That is said, things got better when Byleth took part on the side of the Blue lions since they are linked to the Goddess. This phenomenon happened as well during the Hundred Years' War. Jeanne of Arc was able to hear a divine voice, just like Byleth at first. When Jeanne of Arc convinced Charles VII, to take back Orlean, she delivered a path to Reims to crown him. Then, since he became the King, Charles VII was able to win and deliver France from England’s grip. Putting an end to the succession war. That is almost the same for Dimitri and Faerghus. Since Dimitri was crowned, he gathered more troops, and win battles after reorganising his army, and got rid of those traitors. Yes, it wasn’t a question of succession, but the way it happened made me think more and more about the history of my homeland. (That is a bad resume but there is my point). But also, nice video!
Thank you for the feedback and I also really enjoyed your theory! Since I am planning on making more lore videos in the future, may I ask how you got to this video? Did you see it in the algorithm or some place else?
The comparisons I'd make would be as follows: The empire as France with Edelgard being Napoleon who attempted to conquer Europe in order end a lot of traditional aspects of Europe. Brigid represents the overseas empire that France had which Napoleon tried to get rid of in order to focus on Europe. Hence why Edelgard has promise petra that Brigid will be sovereign. Faerghus represents England before the British Empire. A Traditionalistic country without great ambitions to change the world. Duscar probably represents Scotland. (I backwater society that England feuds with) Leicester Alliance represents the British when they have thier empire. A merchantile republic, with a noble class that in practice doesn't much more power than commoners, that views itself as destined to bring the whole world together. Almyra simply represents the rest of the world that the British Empire is coming in contact with continually due to being a global empire. The Church represents the catholic church as well as european traditionalism generally. (The relationships to the other nations make a lot of sense from that perspective. The empire goes from accepting the church to completely rejecting it. (Similiar to how the France revolution was concern with new ideas of a new mankind.) The Kingdom accepts it wholeheartedly since they are traditionalistic. The alliance plays the middle ground, not really rejecting or accepting the church. (Makes sense because england maintained a degree of traditionalism even as it accepted aspects of the enlightenment. Even now the Church of england views itself as a bridge between Catholism and Protestantism.)
I actually find your comparison really interesting! If the empire is France, then Brigid may as well be Haiti or Indochina since it is often described as tropical. As for Duscur, I completely agree with it being Scotland.
Loved the video, your connections were honestly shockingly accurate, especially when you compared edelgard to napoleon Hope to see more videos like this from you
interesting video but you missed a few things like the multiple King Lear references in the names of the Golden Deer or the absolute wealth of references to Irish mythology like how Loog is named for Lugh the God that the county Louth is named after or that Dagda and Brigid are also named for Irish gods
I knew some of those but the video was getting a bit too long. I’ll definitely include them in a part 2. Lugh’s weapon also had the same name as Dimitri’s relic
@Lore Explorer: History in Gaming Also in Irish mythos Lúin, The Spear of Assal, and Aréadbhar are all different names for the same spear! Seteth, Dimitri and Ingrid are taking turns with one spear lmao
For me, Almyra also reminds me of the Ottoman Empire, and Leister thus Austria-Hungary. Agree w your points and other commenters, just a minor resemblance to me.
Probably a bit too late, but I always connected Leicester to Italy for a lot of the same reasons you connected it to Greece, but also the fact that middle-aged Italy was also a bunch of different states ran independently: so much so that some Italian states were with the Holy Roman Empire, and some were not (Similarly to how Adrestian Empire had sympathisers in Leicester in Fodlan)
I think that Leicester is more like Polish-lithuania they had a kind of republic and a kind of political system of a democracy between nobility. So the almyrans would be ¿mongols? They were stopped by the polish so it makes senses I tink. Almyra also could be the ottomans they also had a lot of wars against polish idk. Almyra is weird
I actually thought the alliance shared a lot of elements with the Italian merchant republics such as Venice. Especially with the leader being a Duke that could be translated to doge.
Another country I would compare Leicester to is the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. It still had nobility, yet it elected its leader the way Leicester does.
Er... What about FE4? From an FE fan's perspective, 3H was clearly drawing from Genealogy of the Holy War... So does that mean there's room to dive into FE4's historical inspirations?
I have never played Genealogy, but I heard it was a good game. I may have to research the plot of that one first, but thanks for the interesting idea. 3H was the first one that really hooked me into FE, so I may have to dive into other games
@@ExplorersCompass82 Genealogy of the Holy War released only in Japan on the Super Famicom (SNES,) but nonetheless, it's become a fan favorite even in North America. And Three Houses is honestly not a bad starting point for Fire Emblem. The map design is often a bit lackluster, but besides that, it does a good job of incorporating and showcasing what both classic FE fans (pre-3DS era) and 3DS/modern FE fans like about the series. Besides Genealogy, the fan favorites are the GBA games and Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn. Awakening and Fates pretty much had a whole separate fandom from the rest of the series before Three Houses came along... Despite the 3DS games being very polished games with high production values, the fans of older FE games did not take kindly to the characters, worlds, and stories of Awakening and Fates, to say the least.
The devs said themselves that FE4 influenced 3H: namely, the idea of holy blood (crests) and the academy days of Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan (the officer's academy).
about the alliance being based on usa, I'm saying this as a joke, but how the people of leicester view the people of almyra also kinda reminds of how (and I'm saying this as a mexican) the people of usa see the people of mexico and vice versa haha
I was pleasantly surprised that he somehow managed to skirt around the more fascist comparisons, cuz that was the first connection I made with Edelgard. At least I have a new way to view her.
The church of Seiros isn't the Catholic church. IS is a Japanese company: their inspiration isn't the same as an American or European company would have. It's kinda ethnocentric to default to a Western religion by default as the only inspiration when that's not the case. If you look at the church of Seiros, it's very Buddhist in nature. Meanwhile, a female "archbishop" or "Pope" would never actually happen in Catholicism. The very premise that it's based on the Catholic church is flawed from the beginning. Meanwhile, looking at Buddhism, you see an immediate parallel re: enlightenment. Byleth's signature class is the enlightened one. Byleth loses their enlightenment upon joining CF, indicating that they've chosen selfishly/wrongly and thus lose their status as enlightened. Meanwhile, Byleth becomes the next archbishop in AM epilogue, indicating that their enlightenment allows them to continue to serve the people. In VW/SS, Byleth becomes a leader of Fodlan retaining their enlightenment too. As for the nations of Fodlan, it's easy to say that the names of characters and regions was based on European nations. Things like Welsh, Irish, French, German and Italian names are all over the game. However, the inspiration itself was the Chinese romance of the 3 kingdoms. Koei Techmo also helped to make 3H and their specialty is the Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors game series. Edelgard has a lot in common with the playable villainous characters of those games too (Cao Cao and Nobunaga). The concepts of AM and CF themselves were based on the Chinese concept of the mandate of heaven: by which a righteous king's path (AM) and a tyrant's path (CF) are meant as opposites. The devs confirmed this inspiration themselves (look for the interview there they discuss odou vs hadou). Thus, it has always been an Asian inspiration and not a Eurocentric inspiration at all.
You're exactly right. Aesthetically, it looks like an European setting. But, it's characters, story, and themes are based of East Asian history. With only the French Revolution having impact, but solely carried by Eldagard and not by the people.
I love the Napoleon Bonaparte comparison because it still heavily supports my feelings (logical summation) of her path leading directly to a form of fascism
Feel free to share this to friends who enjoy Fe3h as well!
It's worth mentioning that all of the nobles in the Golden Deer house derive either their first or last name from a character in King Lear.
Which is brilliant. Leicester, according to the mythological book Historia Regum Britanniæ, is named after said king. Yet another stroke of genius is that they broke away from Faerghus, who is ruled by the Blaiddyd clan. King Bladud, called Blaiddyd in the Welsh translation of Historia, known as Brut y Brenhinedd, is King Lear’s father!!
I was rereading King Lear today and this realization smacked me in the face.
Cordelia was the voice of truth in Shakespeare's play, but she's a bad guy in 3Hs...well...maybe...Cordelia I think was originally cool but the Slitherers planted an imposter?
How about the Dutch Republic for the Leicester Alliance?
-Used to be part of Holy Roman Empire
-Broke away from monarchy (kind of Spain, 1580)
-formed oligarchic decentralized union with one leading province (Holland)
-both Germanic and French cultural/linguistic origins
mmmm cool
"Hubert means "Bright Spirit...""
Me: *spits out water" WWHHHHHAAAAAAAT?!?
This video was sleeping in my « Watch Later » playlist for so long and I'm glad I took the time to watch it, it was fascinating. Thanks a lot !
I really liked this video! I think the Leicester alliance being Greece makes the most sense since Greece and Persia (Almyra) are somewhat close to each other and have fought in the past, so it would make sense. Also Adrestia starting the war is kinda fitting to Germany lol
I got much more of a Spain vibe from the Leicester Alliance, rather than Greek, but Almyra being Persian makes a good bit of sense..
I always thought that the aliance was inspired in Italy, with múltiple city states that work together against the holy Román Empire, Aldo getting invaded bye the turks, etc.
Edelgard really is Napoleon! Height and everything!
This video is amazing! You put so much time and thought into it. My fiancé is finishing school to become a high school history teacher, and he was blown away. This video convinced him to try Fire Emblem, which I’ve tried for the past 5 years 😂 so thank you!
Really hope he enjoys the game. Even if the gameplay isn’t your thing the lore sure is intriguing
Here from Reddit, this was very informative! I especially liked the section where you talked a bit about Myrmidons and Faith/Reason, that stuff is so interesting
Oh man, this video is so underrated. I've been waiting for someone explain the lore like this!
no problem. more videos about Fire Emblem and other games are on the way
Great video. I now need these kind of video for every fire emblem
Hi, first of all love this video and I'm surprised about the amount of time dedicated to make it and the research made, but I think that the closest thing to the Leicester Alliance is actually Venice, let me explain:
Venice was an independent republic based in marine trade, and it makes sense with some of the side quests of Golden deer route and the backstory of Ignatz and Raphael (and both names are Italian and Spanish names "Rafael" and "Ignacio").
Another point to prove my point of view is the Almyra and leicester aliance conflict that it's heavilly inspired by greek and persia but also the Ottoman-Venice war, a war wich main objective was to establish dominion over the in Aegean Sea and various islands as Cyprus and Athens (Fun fact, the Parthenon was blown up during this war).
So to end this longer than expected argument i think that is in fact Venice, but all the arguments in this video are well thought and well argumented, I didn't thought about them in first place.
(Sorry if you are annoyed about this commentary I only want to discuss this topic and if i'm wrong please tell me, and of course sorry for bad english)
That actually is a very great point. In the level where you fight in Derdriu (Leicester Capital), the layout of the city is coastal and with a lot of canals which is reminiscent of Venice.
This video is cool and that ending felt so impactful holy heck
I’m glad u liked it. More vids like this are on the way
The insane amount of thought and care put into this game’s story makes it very easy to overlook its flaws.
This was a very well-organized and presented video, and I hope you keep up the good work!
P.s. Glad I was scrolling through Reddit haha
Thank you so much. Im really glad you liked it
I always thought the houses were a mix of different countries, as opposed to just one. Similarly to this video I thought the Adrestrian empire was germanic, but I thought the kingdom of Fargeus more so resembled Medieval France (with the Tragedy of Duscar being the Crusades) and that the Leicester Alliance was Spain, with Almyra being the Musilm Moors.
This video is tremendously underrated. Fantastic analysis!
Dude your editing skills are awesome and i think it's really interesting how this game was inspired by history. I would watch the entire video but as you said there are spoilers (and although the game was spoiled to me several times cause of FEH, I forget stuff easily so I don't wanna be reminded again T^T hahaha) so i didn't T^T. But again, your editing skills are awesome and keep up the great content!
(Edit) aaahhh my curiosity got to me! but wow ur research on the Catholic Church and comparing it to the Church of Serios was interesting and that relic stuff was pretty freaky
It’s nice to hear you liked it! I have more stuff like this planned for the future ;)
6:02 - 10:59 Also, one of the ruling houses that would rule the Spanish Empire were the Habsburgs, who also were the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in the later medieval and early modern eras, thereby strengthening the connections with the Ancient Roman Empire (Spain was a former Roman imperial territory until the fall of the Western Empire) and the Adrestian Empire in FE3H.
11:47 - 14:27 I am honestly surprised that you cited Great Britain as a primary influence for Faerghus, though it made sense to me once you presented your points. I also thought the Kingdom of Sweden had some influence on Faerghus, not just due to its geographical similarities (being northern lands), but also due to its actions intervening during the Thirty Years War. In order to win the hearts and minds of the German people, Swedish propaganda successfully exploits an old prophecy. The symbol of the “midnight lion” had long been known. Already in the Old Testament (Book of Daniel and Jeremiah) a Nordic lion was foretold: This lion will judge the sinful Babylon and build a new divine kingdom. In the contemporary Protestant interpretation of this prophecy at that time, the "whore of Babylon" was equated with the Catholic Church. Through the works of the Calabrian abbot Joachim von Fiore (1130/1135-1202) and later by Swiss philosopher and theologian Paracelsus (1493-1541), the complex of images of the “midnight lion” saw an upswing. According to a prophecy made by the latter, a “mighty lion born of northern star [...] will conquer the realm of evil, usurp the eagle's sceptre and [...] subdue all of Europe as well as parts of Africa and Asia.” The term ‘Midnight’ for North* consequently fell back on a long line of tradition, while, at the same instance, ‘the eagle’s sceptre’ nicely corresponded with the Imperial coat of arms (ie. the Catholic house of Habsburg).The lion would conquer the eagles and the evil empire (i.e.: the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholics). In this propaganda, King Gustav II Adolph of Sweden, otherwise known as Gustavus Adolphus, became Der Löwe aus Mitternacht ("The Lion from Midnight"), also known as the Lion from the North.
Dimitri and his fellow students from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus in northern Fodlan are members of the house named "the Blue Lions".
So, in a way, the Blue Lions were Lions from the North.
15:53 - 19:15 Also, the fact that you had used Greece, France, and the USA as some of the influences for the Leicester Alliance, as I had never thought about those, though I did hear the idea that Almyra had been influenced by the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from a discussion on Discord. I also noticed how there are some who also believe the Dutch Republics as an influence for the Leicester Alliance, given its history as Sophie Rose had stated in her comment. Also, the more I think about it, I think Almyra might have some influences from the Mongol and Ottoman Empires, as both civilizations were practically on Europe's doorstep at the end of their respective conquests (especially after the fall of the Byzantine [Eastern Roman] Empire and the conquest of most of the Balkan Peninsula and the lands in and around the Black Sea in the case of the Ottoman Turks. At its greatest extent, the empire was practically on Vienna's doorstep and would have conquered the city, until *the winged hussars arrived!* ), much like how Almyra is on Fodlan's. With this in mind, Almyra also possesses some influences with the Mongol Empire of the Middle Ages and the Palmyrene Empire of Roman times as well, which is not just regulated to the fact that their empires at their extent were on Europe's doorstep. The horse archer, which is the symbol on the Almyran coat-of-arms, was a powerful and deadliest military weapon within the Mongol arsenal. This was due to the composite bow utilized by the Mongol horse archers, who were highly skilled in mounted archery tactics. As for the Palmyrene Empire, I could only find one influence so far: its name ("Almyra" is just "Palmyra" without the "P").
23:37 - 27:03 As for comparing the three lords to three important figures in history, I am amazed, and that's coming from a history buff. Claude having comparisons to Cyrus the Great, especially their tolerance of other religions and cultures, was a good choice, if I do say so myself. Also, the comparison between Edelgard and Napoleon was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I had once compared Edelgard to King Karl den Tolfte (Charles XII) of Sweden (you can blame Sabaton's English version of "Carolus Rex" for that [still a banger tho]), though with the information presented in both the game and this video in mind, I doubt Edelgard and Karl would get along, as Sweden became the most absolute of absolute monarchies during his reign. He was a brilliant commander, can field an effective army, and slept in the same grounds as the men under his command during campaigns, but he expected nothing less than absolute loyalty. His words were law.
Fun fact: Karl XII and Napoleon made the exact same mistake invading Russia during the winter, during the Great Northern War and the Napoleonic Wars respectively.
Also, I did not see any comparisons to any leaders in Dimitri's case. I'm curious to see why that might be the case and what historical leaders you or anyone else might be a good comparison for Dimitri.
27:05 - 29:47 I like how the overall story routes give different perspectives on characters and events, especially given their connections to real world history. Regarding the importance of learning from the past, I shall say a quote that had been stated in many forms, especially from Edmund Burke, Georges Santayana, and Winston Churchill: "Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." As people living in this world, it is our duty to learn about each of the different perspectives of the past (the triumphs and tragedies, the achievements and the atrocities, the miracles and mistakes, etc.) so we can make informed decisions in the present and potentially create a better future. Specifically, we learn about all of the atrocities and tragedies of the different wars that have occurred, and how they got to that point, throughout history, as well as similar events that have occurred years prior or later to those tragic events, to understand one thing: that history has the habit of repeating itself. That there is a cost to war, prejudice, and hatred. That they should be avoided. That should you see the red flags popping up in and around your area, maybe you and others well-informed in history can put a stop to it within reason.
All in all, as both a Fire Emblem fan and a history buff, I really enjoyed this video and look forward to other videos you'll make in the future. Also, I apologize for the long comment.
No worries. I hope you enjoy more essays like this in the future
@@ExplorersCompass82 I forgot to add this into my earlier comment, but I also noticed how the events of Three Houses mirrors that of the Three Kingdoms Era in China and the Thirty Years War in Central Europe, with the titular three houses and factions being influenced by the former (the three kingdoms being Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu) and the conflict portrayed in the main game and in Three Hopes being influenced by the latter(A governing body [German Protestant princedoms and dukedoms in the northern part of the Holy Roman Empire allied with primarily the Kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and France/The Adrestian Empire under the leadership of Edelgard] rebelling against the main continent spanning religious organization [The Roman Catholic Church/The Church of Seiros] and fighting against that organization's main supporters [The German Catholic duchies in the southern part of the Holy Roman Empire led by the Habsburgs and supported by the Spanish Empire/The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus under the leadership of Dimitri supported by the Knights of Seiros]). It's honestly interesting and fascinating how both Three Houses and Three Hopes have so much historical influences involved in the development of their stories, factions, and characters.
EDIT: After much research, I feel that Dimitri might have some inspiration from the Scandinavian Legend of Amleth, who in turn might have been the inspiration behind Shakespeare's Hamlet. According to both legend and play, Amleth/Prince Hamlet sought revenge against his uncle Feng/Claudius for the murder of his father Aurvandill/King Hamlet.
[SPOILER ALERT] In Three Hopes, his uncle Rufus was one of the main conspirators behind the Tragedy of Duscur, which led to the death of many knights and nobles, including Dimitri's father Lambert. Thus, when Dimitri returns to Faerghus to suppress a coup launched by Rufus, the prince executes the regent, avenging his father.
I understand that I am glancing over a ton of details in both scenarios, but the parallels and connections made are something to behold.
I agree with you that faerghus is definitely similar to sweden!! and i wanna add onto your point that faerghus colonised, genocided and conquered the northern parts of faerghus from sreng and duscur, and sweden also colonised their northern parts + finland in some point in time.
and if you wanna read more about that i suggest you search up the sami people and sapmi
@@ExplorersCompass82 I know this is a year late, but after looking at the lore and geography of the areas surrounding Fodlan, I have come to the conclusion regarding the real life influences of Brigid, Sreng, Albinea, and Morfis.
For the influences of Brigid, it seems like a mishmash of cultures and locations. The tropical climate evokes the likes of the Polynesian and Mediterranean islands, but some of the culture, including the practice of shamanism and tattoos, seems to evoke other cultures such as the Asiatic tribes of Russia (the term "shamanism" was introduced to the West following the Russian Empire's conquering of Kazan [at the time, Russia saw itself as the "Third Rome", which gives another connection between Adrestia and other imperial powers that saw themselves as successors to Rome, such as the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire , and the Russian Empire]) and the Gaulic, Gaelic, Celtic, and Pictish tribes of Europe prior to Roman expansion (Petra's last name is Macneary, which gives me the idea that the culture of Brigid was similar to that of Ireland or Scotland prior to contact with the Romans).
Regarding Sreng, it is my personal opinion that the region takes some influence from Viking Age Scandinavia. While the rocky desert doesn't match that of frigid Scandinavia, some of the characters that are from Sreng, such as Oleg and Leif, share influences from Old Norse. When we think of "Leif", we obviously think of Leif Erikson, the first European to set foot on American and was known to have founded the colony of Vinland within coastal North America (some evidence seems to suggest the location being in Newfoundland). While "Oleg" is an East Slavic name, it is derived from the Norse name "Helgi". This makes sense, considering how Russia shares its name with the Rus, who were descended from Vikings and would go on to rule the lands of Kiev, Novgorod, and Moscow (similar to how the Normans were descended from Vikings and ruled Normandy and later England). Also, Sreng is described as being home to a number of warlike clans, whose incursions into the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus over the past 200 years have been fended off by House Gautier. Since you cited Great Britain as an influence for Faerghus, I believe that these incursions by the Sreng clans into Faerghus may be influenced by the Viking invasions of England, which started from 793 (the raid of Lindisfarne) and ended in 1066 (the Battle of Stamford Bridge, which ended three days before the Normans, who were descended from the Vikings and were led by William the Conqueror, landed and began his conquest of England), as well as the Viking settlements into Russia.
As for Albinea, it is my personal opinion that it is also influenced by the British Isles, as well as Iceland, given its geography. Much like how the British Isles are separate from continental Europe, so too is Albinea with the rest of Fodlan, though Albinea is farther north in comparison to the British Isles. Also, "Albinea" is phonetically similar to "Albion", the oldest known name for Great Britain. We don't know much about Albinea's culture, since both Three Houses and Three Hopes don't go into detail about it, but, taking into account the geographical similarities to the British Isles, I would think that the culture of Albinea's people would take influence from Pre-Christian, even Pre-Roman, Great Britain, even though we don't know much about the cultures of the Celtic Britons and Anglo-Saxons prior to Roman contact and Christianization respectively.
Lastly, for Morfis, after looking into its lore (as well as watching videos of AC: Mirage), I came to the conclusion that Morfis takes inspiration from Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. Morfis is said to be a metropolis of magic, once known as the "City of Illusion", with an immense desert surrounding it. Now, a city surrounded by a desert is nothing new in Fire Emblem (just look at Khadein and its school of magic). However, the fact that Morfis is described to be a metropolis of magic, as well as the fact that word of this mysterious magic continues to spread thanks to an intricate web of trade routes, gives more strength to its connection with 9th-century Baghdad, which was both the site of the House of Wisdom and the epicenter for the Islamic Golden Age. Baghdad was also within desert terrain, with the Tigris River being one of, if not only, major sources of water for the city. Since the Abbasids chose Baghdad multiple times as the capital of the Caliphate, it was also a major center for trade from all corners of the caliphate and beyond. Also, Baghdad has had multiple names during the reign of al-Mansur and the Abbasids: "The Round City", "Madinat al-Mansur" or "City of Mansur", and "Madinat al-Salam" or "City of Peace". The latter two names match that of Morfis's nickname: "City of Illusion".
This video was very informative thank you so much.
Good and Evil are a matter of perspective. I do like that and agree. Many things can be misconstrued in war. I don't believe anything is just "black and white" like that.
Also I think the Japanese developers mentioned that the Adrestian Empire, Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and Leceister Alliance are based off of the ancient Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Would Edelgard be Cao Cao in this scenario?
that is very true. I still need to research the story behind that novel but Chinese folklore/history is a really interesting topic!
@@ExplorersCompass82 Here's how I see things. The very first quote in the novel of Romance of the Three Kingdoms are "the empire long divided, must unite, long united, must divide." You can see this theme play out in Three Houses in how all the countries used to be part of the Adrestian Empire but broke off, but then are put back to together again as one country at the end in all the routes. Exactly like how the Han Dynasty collapsed into Three Kingdoms which were unified by the Jin Dynasty in the end.
The Church of Seiros would represent the Han Dynasty, the existing order that Edelgard (Cao Cao) wants to replace. Cao Cao like Edelgard places heavy emphasis on merit and not on noble station. Cao Cao's obsession with bringing Guan Yu over to their side because they had seen his strength is a bit like Edelgard's obsession with Byleth in the non-Crimson Flower routes. Cao Cao is seen as a villain by others but is a hero to many. Cao Wei is a very powerful state that conquers like the Adrestian Empire.
Dimitri's character arc progression from benevolent noble to broken psychopath to redemption is probably inspired by Liu Bei the leader of Shu Han. He also was a very kind, noble and chivalrous figure before the death of his close friend Guan Yu made him go beserk, becoming consumed by revenge.
Because Cao Wei was such a powerful state there was internal debate amongst the independent minded nobles in Eastern Wu about whether they should support it or go to war with it. I think this is where the inspiration from the Leceister Alliance's internal squabbles about the Empire come from. The leader Sun Quan also tries to maintain neutrality but eventually agrees to fight. At the famous Battle of Red Cliffs (Gronder Field class reunion), Sun Quan devises a scheme to fake surrender and burn all of Cao Cao's ships. There are many parallels to Claude's scheming here.
The plot of Three Houses and the characters themselves have many parallels to ROTK.
@@skazka3789 Yep, exactly. And just like Three Kingdoms, when Wei and Wu work together, such as at Fan Castle (or in FE's case, after the Treaty of Myrddin Bridge), the shallow fans who were expecting the cliché framework of "ragtag resistance vs. evil empire" get all triggered. Also, benevolent lord's sworn siblings dropping like flies.
This video was great and it's obvious there was a lot of research done for the video, I am surprised Edelgard is most likely based off Napoleon.
I have to say the name inspiration was probably my favorite part, i'm wondering if a full video analyzing every characters name and its historical base is going to be a future video.
I’m working on a video about character names rn
This is very well-done video, the amount of research done into this is very surprising. By the way where did you get all your sources for Three Houses?
Historical information in actually learned from school, but also used various website to confirm their validity. In terms of Three Houses music, my source was a website were you could download video game ost’s from. Please tell me if you want the link
Lore sources for Three Houses were found in the in-game library at Garreg Mach
@@ExplorersCompass82 Thanks, I didn't realize that you had already tried to contact me earlier.
@@ashenwolf3846 NO problem. Im just really glad you enjoyed the video
Amazing Video, the only thing I think was not directly addressed is what is the real life counterpart of Dimitri.
Ok, I see some of the connections, but here are some issues I have with this analysis.
1. The Catholic church being the basis of the Church of Seiros is 100% intentional and very obvious. But the Church in the real world was never an all-powerful institution and during the middle ages remarkably weak and couldn't compete with the lords in the land. Though the Church could help with the coronation of Kings, the reverse was more the case; After the Pope declared Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor and thus gaining some measurement of influence in the Frankish court, it lead to the Investiture crisis, where the lords and nobles would mess with the Papal elections and often declare their relatives as new pope and many chapters in history has the Pope being beaten down by Kings and Nobles, to the point of being exiled. The Babylonian exile, the avignon state as well as the whole conflict with the Knights Templar in France are more than enough proof to conclude that they were very weak for medieval standards. They also, despite being against herecy, helped with the science within Europe and beyond and are responsible for many technological advancement like Glasses and automatic clocks for instance, the latter being a medieval version of our modern day computers, who made time a commodity. This is the opposite of the Church of Seiros, which has definitely more to say in the secular matters of the continent and actually hampered down the development of science, a stereotype that is very offensive to the Christianity as many do use it as justification of destroying religion as we know it, particularlythe more radical atheists.
2. Fearghus is clearly more like France, they have French names, wear a lot of blue and Chilvary was more popular there than in great Britain. They also had close ties to the church since the beginning and the Russian names are a possible reference of the relationship between medieval France and Kievan Rus, as they were close and influenced the latter's culture. Celts also loved in Gaul, which was conquered by the Romans and the French also fought against the Vikings, so they fit better as inspiration for France than England, which had more in common with a different faction in Fire Emblem Three Houses. Still, the comparison makes sense and has some merit, but it isn't what we we see in the game. It's cleary France.
3. The Leicester alliance, going by it's name, is cleary based on Medieval England, with many names of these houses coming from English regions with 3 of the 5 great houses being a reffernece to the daughters of King Lear in one of William Shakespeare's books; Riegan, Goneril and Cordelia are all refferneced with the houses Riegan, Goneril and Ordelia, so England was the clear inspiration for them. Also the Alliance is not a democracy, it's a republic with roundtable conferences were only the nobles have a saying it it and pretty much more aligned with Rome than with Greece. Focusing only on big ancient societies also forced us to lose focus on the more clear inspiration for the Alliance; The Baron alliance. It was a rebellious group of Nobles who fought against the crown ruled by King Edward II during a tumultuous time in England also known as the Secound Baron's war. It was led by the earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort, who opposed the King with other barons, whom they felt had too much power and was to incompetent. They made plans to remove him and reduce the power of the King, but De Montfort went further and wanted to have a country ruled by its people and was progressive even for his time. But he lost, not without influencing the court into making reforms that restrained much of the power of the nobles and gave the common folk more influence in their lives. This fits Claude and his federation much better than ancient Greece, which was not always democratic and very much divided by the rich and the poor and men and women as well.
4. The Nabateans are more like the Jewish people, in that they are the chosen people of God and the founder of Christianity was a Jew. Also the idea of lizards controlling the world is a stupid conspiracy theory that is made reality in Fire Emblem, so yeah, we can infer the real life example into the Nabateans.
5. The Agarthans are more based on misconceptions Renaissance people had about Romans and Greeks and envisioned them as those superior and better people, which also inspired Lovecraft's precursor races in many of his works, with racist characteristics that also many esoteric people believed in. The Thule Society and before that many white supremacist and anti-semetic mystics believed that Shambala was the home of the Aryans and that they are highly advanced humans not unlike the Agarthans. The Agarthans are based on these esoteric sci-fi horror that has it's roots in racism and xenophobic attitudes, particularly to perceive non-humans. It's just interesting to mention.
6. I believe they wanted to make this game look more like real history without going too much into detail by basing their countries strongly on real world societies to also showcase their very mediocre at best understanding of medieval Europe and the Middle East, but they give in into too many cliches, which is why many of its story elements are deeply flawed. Stories that use harmful misconceptions are often the worst offenders of tone-deaf portrayals and often harm the otherwise progressive messages of the story like the evil church and the savage easterners that is so overdone, one might think they get their history knowledge from Family Guy.
Cheers and a great compliment to your video, it was well made with its refferences, even if I disagreed with some. Anyway, thanks for the video and tell me what you think? It would be great!
I understand your reasoning but staunchly disagree with Faerghus being France. There’s too many Insular Celtic names (the Gaulish are Continental Celts) and the culture of chivalry is too obviously King Arthur (a Welsh man) to be France. I’d be willing to concede a little bit if you said they were Bretons as Brittany is in France and the Bretons are descended from the Welsh. But they can’t be French. I think they take inspiration from all Insular Celtic cultures, but due to the chivalric culture I stand firm they are mainly Welsh people.
I went back to confirm it, but you forgot to mention Dimitri's historic parallel
Please feel free to tell me. I’m really interested about who Dimitri's historical parallel is
@@ExplorersCompass82 If we're looking at kings who were deposed, but later reclaimed their kingdoms, Alfred the Great of Wessex might be one. He fought wars against Danish Viking invaders all his life and was even deposed for a time before he mustered enough forces to win back his crown. Importantly, he didn't execute the man who deposed him, a Dane named Guthrum, but instead reconciled with him, much the same way Dimitri attempts to reconcile with Edelgard in Azure Moon.
As far as Dimitri's madness is concerned, we may have to write that off as drama for the narrative's sake. There weren't many kings who went insane, miraculously recovered, and went on to reclaim their thrones.
@@vel0xraperio That sounds so interesting! Now im intrigued to learn more about Alfred the Great
@@ExplorersCompass82 the thing is I think that the Blue Lions and Faerghus are an older variant of the UK, when the Britons dispersed into Cornish, Welsh and other people. This is supported by the mix of Irish and Welsh names of territories, cities, and forts in Faerghus. The Kingdom, to me, is based on Celtic lore, namely, it derives inspiration from the Ulster Cycle. The characters aren't necessarily historic references, but they're based on fictional characters from Celtic lore
Dimitri is likely inspired by Ferghus Mac Roich, a high king of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle. He is betrayed by Conchobar Mac Nessa and loses his kingship and goes into exile, where he will ally and eventually fall in love with Medb of Connacht and lead a campaign against Ulster. Fergus fights Conchobar but spares him after his son Cormac stops him from finishing him off. Honoring an earlier pact with his step-son, Cuchulainn, Ferghus withdraws and the Connacht forces are routed
Dimitri, similarly, is betrayed by Edelgard and Cornelia, framed for an assassination and put to death, only he escapes into exile. He then kick-starts his campaign for revenge on them. He ends up killing Cornelia, but initially shows Edelgard mercy.
The other evidence we can cite is Dimitri's unique class. Dimitri becomes a High Lord. High resembles the same title as is used by the Celtic kings High King, which is the king that reigns over all the other kings.
@@sean3920 That story is very interesting! Now I see how FE3h's inspiration goes even further
This was a fantastic video! I think you did a pretty good job all around. I’m not entirely certain with the conclusion you made with the Alliance but 1. I’m no historian and 2. You still had well argued points
I liked your video! But I must say something concerning the war.
I think the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is more inspired by French history for the War. Indeed, not only is the fact that almost all of the blue lion's names are French but also there are common historical events. Especially in the war phase. It echoes withe the Hundred Years' War. When Dimitri fled to Garreg Mach during the time skip, made me think of Charles VII. Dimitri lost his capital, taken by the traitors. In 1428, Charles VII lost his capital too (it was Orleans back in the day) and fled to Chinon (a town nearby), they couldn’t take it back at first, since they were losing tons of battles. The traitors (Les bourguignons) were letting Great Britain take control of more than half of France. Just like Edelgard did to Fearghus. Dimitri, couldn’t take his country back at first due to his lack of sanity, troops and conflicts. That is, when Byleth returned, convinced, Dimitri and the others were able to take back the capital after amassing more troops and winning battles against the Empire, with the help of the enlightened one. That is said, things got better when Byleth took part on the side of the Blue lions since they are linked to the Goddess. This phenomenon happened as well during the Hundred Years' War. Jeanne of Arc was able to hear a divine voice, just like Byleth at first.
When Jeanne of Arc convinced Charles VII, to take back Orlean, she delivered a path to Reims to crown him. Then, since he became the King, Charles VII was able to win and deliver France from England’s grip. Putting an end to the succession war.
That is almost the same for Dimitri and Faerghus. Since Dimitri was crowned, he gathered more troops, and win battles after reorganising his army, and got rid of those traitors. Yes, it wasn’t a question of succession, but the way it happened made me think more and more about the history of my homeland.
(That is a bad resume but there is my point). But also, nice video!
Thank you for the feedback and I also really enjoyed your theory! Since I am planning on making more lore videos in the future, may I ask how you got to this video? Did you see it in the algorithm or some place else?
@@ExplorersCompass82 oh, well it’s thanks to the algorithm, since I watched a lot of video about fire emblem three houses, it suggested your videos!
@@kiwichaaaaaan4193 thank you so much for the feedback. More videos are on the way
Great video! Thanks for the upload
The comparisons I'd make would be as follows:
The empire as France with Edelgard being Napoleon who attempted to conquer Europe in order end a lot of traditional aspects of Europe.
Brigid represents the overseas empire that France had which Napoleon tried to get rid of in order to focus on Europe. Hence why Edelgard has promise petra that Brigid will be sovereign.
Faerghus represents England before the British Empire. A Traditionalistic country without great ambitions to change the world.
Duscar probably represents Scotland. (I backwater society that England feuds with)
Leicester Alliance represents the British when they have thier empire. A merchantile republic, with a noble class that in practice doesn't much more power than commoners, that views itself as destined to bring the whole world together.
Almyra simply represents the rest of the world that the British Empire is coming in contact with continually due to being a global empire.
The Church represents the catholic church as well as european traditionalism generally. (The relationships to the other nations make a lot of sense from that perspective.
The empire goes from accepting the church to completely rejecting it. (Similiar to how the France revolution was concern with new ideas of a new mankind.)
The Kingdom accepts it wholeheartedly since they are traditionalistic.
The alliance plays the middle ground, not really rejecting or accepting the church. (Makes sense because england maintained a degree of traditionalism even as it accepted aspects of the enlightenment. Even now the Church of england views itself as a bridge between Catholism and Protestantism.)
I actually find your comparison really interesting! If the empire is France, then Brigid may as well be Haiti or Indochina since it is often described as tropical.
As for Duscur, I completely agree with it being Scotland.
What an amazing video!
Loved the video, your connections were honestly shockingly accurate, especially when you compared edelgard to napoleon
Hope to see more videos like this from you
More are definitely on the way! Stay tuned
Can you please do engage
interesting video but you missed a few things like the multiple King Lear references in the names of the Golden Deer or the absolute wealth of references to Irish mythology like how Loog is named for Lugh the God that the county Louth is named after or that Dagda and Brigid are also named for Irish gods
I knew some of those but the video was getting a bit too long. I’ll definitely include them in a part 2. Lugh’s weapon also had the same name as Dimitri’s relic
@Lore Explorer: History in Gaming
Also in Irish mythos Lúin, The Spear of Assal, and Aréadbhar are all different names for the same spear! Seteth, Dimitri and Ingrid are taking turns with one spear lmao
I’m curious to know what the other countries would be such as dagda, duscur, albinea and sreng
Guessing rn dagda is meant to be Japan
For me, Almyra also reminds me of the Ottoman Empire, and Leister thus Austria-Hungary. Agree w your points and other commenters, just a minor resemblance to me.
Probably a bit too late, but I always connected Leicester to Italy for a lot of the same reasons you connected it to Greece, but also the fact that middle-aged Italy was also a bunch of different states ran independently: so much so that some Italian states were with the Holy Roman Empire, and some were not (Similarly to how Adrestian Empire had sympathisers in Leicester in Fodlan)
I think that Leicester is more like Polish-lithuania they had a kind of republic and a kind of political system of a democracy between nobility. So the almyrans would be ¿mongols? They were stopped by the polish so it makes senses I tink. Almyra also could be the ottomans they also had a lot of wars against polish idk. Almyra is weird
You know, jeritza always reminded me of Vega from street fighter, which is a Spaniard. Coincidence?
I actually thought the alliance shared a lot of elements with the Italian merchant republics such as Venice. Especially with the leader being a Duke that could be translated to doge.
I really hope this video manages to get more views. This was an excellent exploration!
One thing not discussed: Dimitri = Vlad Tepes of Wallachia.
Dang it I chose the French house
😂
Another country I would compare Leicester to is the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. It still had nobility, yet it elected its leader the way Leicester does.
Er... What about FE4? From an FE fan's perspective, 3H was clearly drawing from Genealogy of the Holy War... So does that mean there's room to dive into FE4's historical inspirations?
I have never played Genealogy, but I heard it was a good game. I may have to research the plot of that one first, but thanks for the interesting idea. 3H was the first one that really hooked me into FE, so I may have to dive into other games
@@ExplorersCompass82 Genealogy of the Holy War released only in Japan on the Super Famicom (SNES,) but nonetheless, it's become a fan favorite even in North America.
And Three Houses is honestly not a bad starting point for Fire Emblem. The map design is often a bit lackluster, but besides that, it does a good job of incorporating and showcasing what both classic FE fans (pre-3DS era) and 3DS/modern FE fans like about the series.
Besides Genealogy, the fan favorites are the GBA games and Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn. Awakening and Fates pretty much had a whole separate fandom from the rest of the series before Three Houses came along... Despite the 3DS games being very polished games with high production values, the fans of older FE games did not take kindly to the characters, worlds, and stories of Awakening and Fates, to say the least.
The devs said themselves that FE4 influenced 3H: namely, the idea of holy blood (crests) and the academy days of Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan (the officer's academy).
about the alliance being based on usa,
I'm saying this as a joke, but how the people of leicester view the people of almyra also kinda reminds of how (and I'm saying this as a mexican) the people of usa see the people of mexico and vice versa haha
Lol and thanks for watching I recognize you from the discord
@@ExplorersCompass82 so you do? lollll
The Haudenosaunee were the first democracy, not the Greeks. If it doesn’t have universal suffrage, it’s not a democracy, it’s an inclusive oligarchy.
I feel like you're conspicuously skipping all of the German influence on Edelgard.
What’s so conspicuous?
It's hard to miss her German influence. Hresvelg is a pretty obvious name. Plus Adrestia is the double headed black eagle.
I was pleasantly surprised that he somehow managed to skirt around the more fascist comparisons, cuz that was the first connection I made with Edelgard. At least I have a new way to view her.
Edelgard is more like Mao.
The church of Seiros isn't the Catholic church. IS is a Japanese company: their inspiration isn't the same as an American or European company would have. It's kinda ethnocentric to default to a Western religion by default as the only inspiration when that's not the case. If you look at the church of Seiros, it's very Buddhist in nature. Meanwhile, a female "archbishop" or "Pope" would never actually happen in Catholicism. The very premise that it's based on the Catholic church is flawed from the beginning. Meanwhile, looking at Buddhism, you see an immediate parallel re: enlightenment. Byleth's signature class is the enlightened one. Byleth loses their enlightenment upon joining CF, indicating that they've chosen selfishly/wrongly and thus lose their status as enlightened. Meanwhile, Byleth becomes the next archbishop in AM epilogue, indicating that their enlightenment allows them to continue to serve the people. In VW/SS, Byleth becomes a leader of Fodlan retaining their enlightenment too.
As for the nations of Fodlan, it's easy to say that the names of characters and regions was based on European nations. Things like Welsh, Irish, French, German and Italian names are all over the game. However, the inspiration itself was the Chinese romance of the 3 kingdoms. Koei Techmo also helped to make 3H and their specialty is the Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors game series. Edelgard has a lot in common with the playable villainous characters of those games too (Cao Cao and Nobunaga). The concepts of AM and CF themselves were based on the Chinese concept of the mandate of heaven: by which a righteous king's path (AM) and a tyrant's path (CF) are meant as opposites. The devs confirmed this inspiration themselves (look for the interview there they discuss odou vs hadou). Thus, it has always been an Asian inspiration and not a Eurocentric inspiration at all.
You're exactly right. Aesthetically, it looks like an European setting. But, it's characters, story, and themes are based of East Asian history. With only the French Revolution having impact, but solely carried by Eldagard and not by the people.
Edelgard my wife.;(
I love the Napoleon Bonaparte comparison because it still heavily supports my feelings (logical summation) of her path leading directly to a form of fascism
Nah but Napoleon was a gigachad for indirectly causing my country to gain independence
Based?
Nazi VS commie VS Whatever Cloude is