History FireEmblemThreeHouses / TropesEToM

* GambitPileup: Taking the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer routes into account, it's revealed Part 1 is ''shock full of separate schemes going on at the same time''. To recap: [[spoiler:Rhea recruits Byleth as a professor and test them during various missions to see if they're the vessel she needs for her mother to return in the mortal realm and reclaim her place as Fodlan's ruler; Edelgard prepares behind scenes to stage a coup against Duke Aegir, become Emperor, and attack Garreg Mach shortly after, all while as the Flame Emperor she gathers intel and assets from the Church; Dimitri investigates his uncle Lord Arundel to confirm whether or not he was involved in the Tragedy of Duscur, all so he may later claim revenge against him and those who started the slaughter; Claude is looking to make connections and find powerful allies that might help him make his dream of a world without barriers a reality; finally, "those who slither in the dark" perform experiments with Flayn's blood late late into Part 1 to perfect the Demonic Beasts intended to be used by the Empire to topple down Rhea and Garreg Mach during Edelgard's future invasion]].

** Some students or academy faculty cannot be recruited on certain routes. Or in some cases, it is simply more difficult or tricky; Hilda can't join the Black Eagles or receive gifts and lost items until and unless you choose to [[spoiler:abandon Edelgard and go down the Silver Snow route instead of choosing the Crimson Flower route and fully defecting to her side]]. Likewise, Catherine and Cyril won't join you up until [[spoiler:after Chapter 11, and only if you remain loyal to the church]], unlike with the Blue Lions and Golden Deer routes, where they can be recruited pretty early. The only way you'd find out someone can't be recruited is by talking to them at every opportunity and seeing what options you have, and as in [[spoiler:Hilda's]] case, even that can be unreliable.
** Recruiting students from other houses generally requires having a high enough rank in a proficiency, and/or a high stat. The game doesn't explain what rank your proficiency need to be, nor how much of the given stat they require to recruit them. You can circumvent this by getting their support with Byleth to B rank, but this can still result in some students not being able to be recruited yet, either because your requirements are not enough, or because they simply do not want to. Typically you have to wait till they request to join your house at that point.

** Mercedes and Caspar's paralogue is much-sought out by players since [[spoiler:it flat-out confirms the Death Knight's identity, as well as why he mentions Mercedes if she fights him in Chapter 4]], completing it at the right time and on the right route will unlock an additional scene later on, and can even give you access to [[spoiler:the Death Knight's signature weapon]]. Except for one little problem: it's tied to Caspar. A character who does ''not'' have any ties with Mercedes, nor can he support with her, ''and'' he is not in her house, meaning you must recruit him and ''him'' specifically. While the [[spoiler:Death Knight's]] connection to Mercedes is foreshadowed within the first five chapters, Caspar's is ''not'' foreshadowed at ''all''. The closest things you get to hints that ''maybe'' Caspar is required are the fact that he reports directly to the [[spoiler:Death Knight]] in Part 2 of the Alliance and Kingdom routes, he'll be on Fort Merceus with him if not recruited, and that Caspar recognizes [[spoiler:the Scythe of Sariel]] in Chapter 6 if you're a Black Eagle. The ''only'' way to know this for certain is to have Caspar recruited... in ''Part I''. Meaning by the time you might be able to figure out that Mercedes doesn't seem to have a Paralogue, you [[PermanentlyMissableContent already missed out]]. And this is without mentioning how the only way to obtain [[spoiler:the Death Knight's scythe]] during the paralogue is by having Caspar defeat [[spoiler:the titular Death Knight]].[[note]]The dialogue which hints so [[EasyModeMockery is only displayed]] [[InvertedTrope in Normal difficulty]].[[/note]]

** Managing lost items is a never-ending mess. Each item only gives you a hint as to who it belongs to, and while some do manage to be specific enough (like "native to Brigid" or "interested in art"), and a few are generous enough to outright mention the name (like one of Edelgard's gloves), most are ''hilariously'' vague. Special mention to "someone who trains a lot"; variants of it show up on multiple items, and they all go to different characters. The game fortunately lets you TryEverything as much as you want, but it still makes the whole thing extremely time-consuming without checking a guide. This is made slightly easier if you happen to remember who was standing where a lost item is on the turn before. Completing the "Roster Retrieval" DLC sidequest further expedites this by having the item's description display what House its owner belongs to.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** In the tutorial, Edelgard clearly has an axe and no dagger in her inventory (although daggers do not exist as an equippable weapon type in this game). Once the boss is defeated, she's suddenly armed with only a small dagger.
** Support conversations take place in the academy, even if you are currently at the temporary encampment before the end of Part I on the Crimson Flower route. A few of these support events first become available at this time.
** It's clear that many of the C- and B-rank supports were written with the idea that the player would see them before the 5-year timeskip. For example, Dimitri's supports: After the timeskip, he talks in a much deeper and darker tone of voice that matches his new grizzled look, but if you do one of his C- or B-ranked supports after the timeskip, he will suddenly return to talking with his lighter and softer voice that he has pre-timeskip. A special mention goes to the Ignatz/Ingrid supports, where the poor guy will find himself enthusiastically sketching a pile of rubble as if it was a statue of Seiros.
** The cutscene for Miklan's transformation shows the rest of his gang fleeing in terror from his monstrous new form. Despite this, undefeated enemies will still be there and attack your units in the second part of his level. This also happens even if you've defeated every other enemy on the map, including reinforcements, and forced Miklan's personal battalion to flee.
** Unlike in ''Awakening'' and ''Fates'', class changes don't affect non-CGI cutscenes. All characters have a default model in their school uniforms -- on occasion, this makes sense, as it's their outfits off of the battlefield, but many times it appears that they approach battle in their uniforms, switch into their combat gear for the battle itself, then switch back to their uniforms for the wrap-up.
** Hubert's canonical classes are [[CastingAShadow Dark Mage and Dark Bishop]]. The only way to get these is to [[LordBritishPostulate beat the Death Knight]] for them to drop the Dark Seal, which is needed to access the Dark Mage and Dark Bishop classes. However, [[spoiler:the Death Knight works for Hubert and Edelgard. Logically, they should have access to these via other means]].
** In gameplay, Divine Pulse has multiple charges and you can use it as many times in a row as that number of charges, trying different things each time (albeit RNG elements like level-up gains and critical hits will remain set) and can rewind all the way to the start of a given battle if you wish. In the actual story, Divine Pulse is only ever used to rewind time a few seconds (Sothis warns that it is not an infinite power), and if using it fails to change an outcome once, then said outcome is stated by Sothis to be impossible to change.
** If you choose to have a character specialize in a weapon other than their canon weapon, they'll still use said weapon in cutscenes -- Byleth, for instance, will always be depicted wielding the Sword of the Creator, even if they haven't raised their Sword skill at all.
*** In relation, there are hints that certain characters specialize in swords, whether it be via the character having one at their hip on their character model, them being stated to practice with or have knowledge in their use, or outright challenging other characters to sword fights. Not only do you have the option to not train these characters in swords in the interest of pursuing another classline, but many of these characters will lack a strength in swords to begin with, giving you all the less reason to do so.
** The Crest Stones that can be given to units in New Game+ give no negative effects to those carrying them, despite the drawbacks of non-Crest-bearers attempting such a thing having pretty severe ramifications story-wise. A lesser case of this also applies to Relics -- while they do inflict damage on Crest-less wielders, much like the Lance of Ruin does to Miklan during the first phase of his boss fight, any [[DraconicAbomination more extreme consequences]] of using them without a Crest are reserved for enemy units.
** In Felix and Dimitri's B-support, Felix refuses to let Dimitri handle the [[CoolSword Sword of Zoltan]], a sword crafted by the finest blacksmith in all of Fódlan that Felix has purchased from a merchant, due to the prince's history of [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength snapping swords in half with his immense strength]]. After the scene, it goes to Byleth's inventory by default, can be given to Dimitri, and Dimitri can use it in-game combat if he's got at least an A-rank in swords, as can anyone else who meets the same requirement.
** At the start of the game, Byleth is already a well-known figure in mercenary circles, feared and respected as "the Ashen Demon." However, in gameplay, they start as a level 1 Commoner. Similarly, Jeralt is infamously known as "the Blade Breaker," and considered one of the strongest knights in the Knights of Seiros (an elite fighting force) yet in his guest appearance in the very first battle, he's a level 3 Paladin (which, admittedly, is an advanced class that units cannot access until reaching Level 20 and high ranks in Lance and Riding).
** While the game [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration goes out of its way]] to give the models of [[TokenMinority Duscur and Almyran]]-affiliated units darker skin, their portraits do not reflect this, which makes scenes such as the aftermath of the "War for the Weak" Paralogue (Dedue's Paralogue, which is explicitly set in what was the Duscur region) or [[spoiler:the animated cutscene of Claude and Nader testing one another in a show of solidarity in the Verdant Wind route]] feel disjointed. The most noticeable case of this is the Almyran merchant that comes to Garreg Mach during the War Phase -- his skin is tanned, but his hair and facial model are identical to one of the generic male Fódlan [=NPCs=], and his portrait has pale skin. All of this ''also'' applies to [[spoiler:"those who slither in the dark," who have [[UndeathlyPallor eerily white skin]]. Only Agarthans of importance (Thales, Solon, and Kronya) have portraits and models that match]].
** Tied to [[spoiler:the Verdant Wind route cutscene above, when Nader enters Fort Merceus, he uses a bow and is riding on a horse. In gameplay, not only is he a Wyvern Lord for all of his gameplay appearances (whether as an ally in the Verdant Wind route or as an enemy on the Crimson Flower route), his weapons of choice are axes and he has an E-Rank in bows]].
** A minor one that can be avoided regarding [[MagikarpPower Cyril's]] self-hidden illiteracy: Outside of his Supports with [[TeenGenius Lysithea]], the only proof Byleth (and the audience) gets of his illiteracy are his Part I confessional notes, as they're noted to be crude illustrations instead of written out. However, in Part II, his notes are now written (albeit simply), meaning that Cyril was able to pick up some reading and writing skills during the five-year time gap. The segregation comes with his Lysithea Supports, as the main story involving it is specifically her teaching him how to read and write. If the player did not recruit Lysithea, or if the player obtained their first set of Supports during Part I, this is not an issue. However, if the player picked the Golden Deer/recruited Lysithea on another route, entered a scenario where they obtained one of Cyril's Part II confessional notes and ''then'' initiated his and Lysithea's first set of Supports, then the segregation happens.
** [[spoiler:Edelgard's death cutscene from the Alliance and Silver Snow paths shows Edelgard barely standing up by holding the Sword of Seiros's grip (which is stuck on the ground) as the Aymr lays near her feet, while in-gameplay, she previously had only the Aymr in her inventory. This is particularly baffling on the Verdant Wind route, as Edelgard does carry both her relic axe ''and'' the Seiros sword during the second battle at Gronder Field.]]
** No matter what route you pick, an animated cutscene of Byleth being pulled to the dance floor with Claude at the Garreg Mach Establishment Day ball will play. However, if you're on the Golden Deer route and choose to see him at the Goddess Tower, neither he nor the game, bizarrely, will acknowledge this. This sticks out badly because, on the Blue Lions route, the game [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration accommodates an extra cutscene where you speak with Dimitri]] by having him mention going to the Goddess Tower and transitioning from there if you chose to go with him.
** TakeYourTime is in effect -- everything happens within the last week of the month. It's often justified by being a scheduled event or a mission that takes weeks of preparation to mobilize for, but even when your characters are about to do something like [[spoiler:march upon the Imperial Capital or take the Alliance's strongholds]], or your job is to try and find where Flayn is, you'll still spend at least three weeks training in the monastery (although you can skip this for the latter if you choose to enter [[spoiler:Jeritza]]'s quarters, despite the warning that it'll skip to the end of the month). [[spoiler:There are two notable exceptions: on Crimson Flower, defeating the Kingdom army at the Tailtean Plains will move immediately onto the final battle [[BattleAmongstTheFlames in Fhirdiad]], while on all the other routes, taking over Enbarr will immediately move onto [[StormingTheCastle the Imperial Palace]] without returning to Garreg Mach.]]
** It's quite doable to prevent the Flame Emperor's forces from escaping with any Crest Stones when they raid the Holy Tomb. Indeed, the game rewards you for it. However, regardless of how you perform in the battle, [[spoiler:Edelgard will still escape with enough Crest Stones to bolster her forces]].
** The second Battle of Gronder Field post-timeskip is always treated as a bloodbath in-story, even though the map's objective is to defeat all enemy commanders, meaning it's entirely possible to clear the map by only defeating Edelgard and Dimitri/Claude. Especially on the Azure Moon route, where [[spoiler:the Alliance's military strength is described as "crippled" afterwards, even if you minimized casualties on their side]].
*** InUniverse, the Empire and Kingdom forces engaged in open conflict while the Alliance forces acted as a third party that is more aligned with the latter. Game-wise, the Alliance forces are unbiased towards either side which means that they can attack you ''without even going after an open Edelgard or even a single Empire unit'', making their pre-battle quotes (which is clearly meant for you attacking them instead of Edelgard) rather nonsensical.
** This can actually be invoked by the player themselves -- despite the characters ''clearly'' having biases towards certain classes that the story suggests, there is nothing stopping them (apart from common sense) from pursuing the ''exact opposite''. For example, the supports will still say Mercedes is an absolute klutz with a sword, even if she has an S-rank in swords.
** While the Death Knight refuses the nameless wizard's orders to attack the enemy, and expresses his lack of interest in fighting "weaklings," he will pursue and attack the player's units on Maddening.
** In the Crimson Flower route, the unfinished portrait Edelgard draws of Byleth will always resemble their male counterpart more, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/byleths_portrait_comparison.png even when playing as a female]].
** The Crests and Relics themselves can be quite different between gameplay and story. In gameplay, characters with Crests can attack with more power and critical shots at times, but they can still fall behind normal units if the latter have the right training and equipment. Even when players combine a Crest-bearing unit with a Relic, it still doesn't reach a point where you can one-shot two enemies at the same time on the map (unless you use your battalion at the right moment). Meanwhile, in lore and story progression, many characters will point out how Crests can single-handedly turn the tide of a battle and make their bearers superhuman; thus, they are necessary for many noble houses to wield their relics and protect their lands from invaders. This point is emphasized even further in the opening cutscene of the War of Heroes, where you can see the Relics (the 10 shining red dots on the battlefield) systematically destroying battalions left and right. The Sword of the Creator itself is mentioned to be able to cut a mountain in half and does eliminate a big group of soldiers by burning them to a crisp in the same cutscene mentioned previously.
** In Silver Snow's version of Chapter 13, if the player has lost any of [[spoiler:the remaining Black Eagle students]] during combat beforehand (which is only possible while playing in ''Classic Mode''), [[spoiler:during Byleth's meeting with Edelgard, the latter will mention how some of her former classmates [[FaceHeelTurn have taken her side]]]], suggesting they will be fought later during the route. In spite of this, none of them ever reappear in any subsequent chapter, and their ending cards ''will even contradict this information''.[[note]]Recent datamining heavily suggests the characters were indeed meant to defect if they had fallen during Part I in Silver Snow early in development, meaning the example in question is likely an unintentional leftover of this.[[/note]]
** In the closing cutscene of Azure Moon Chapter 19, [[spoiler:Edelgard responds to the loss in Derdriu by ordering her troops to fall back to Arianrhod in the west. This occurs even if you completed Dimitri's paralogue and retook control of Arianrhod; for bonus points, Hubert is the boss of said paralogue and is present for said conversation, yet this is overlooked.]]
** During months where specific units (or even all of the knights at once in Chapter 10) are away from Garreg Mach, they cannot be found while exploring to converse or do faculty training. However, they are still available for supports, auxiliary and prologue missions, the sauna, and meals in the dining hall.
** Besides the named students characters, each House is shown to have several other students; they are shown in crowd scenes, in some battles you have to protect them, and they also appear in Garreg Mach as anonymous [=NPCs=] who comment the events the story and who sometimes give you side quests. However, you can't control or recruit these "extra" students, and there's no explanation why some students are important enough to have become playable characters while others aren't.

** Paralogues show how long you have to do the paralogue. While most of them in Part I aren't indicative of what will happen after they become unavailable, [[spoiler:Sothis']] paralogue becomes unavailable a month before the other paralogues come to pass, giving a hint that something will happen to her. Meanwhile, some Part II paralogues' due dates spoil that a few chapters that were built up to be the final battle, aren't really the final chapter. Mercedes' paralogue, however, becomes unavailable at the end of the Great Tree Moon, [[spoiler:and her paralogue involves the Death Knight...]]

* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: It is possible for the very moody, sarcastic, rude and cynical Felix to end up marrying the relentlessly cheerful, kind, polite, and optimistic Annette.

* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: It is possible for the very moody, sarcastic, and cynical Felix to end up marrying the relentlessly cheerful, kind, and optimistic Annette.

* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: It is possible for the very moody, sarcastic, and cynical [[Tsundere Tsundere]] Felix to end up marrying the relentlessly cheerful, kind, and optimistic Annette.

* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: It is possible for the very moody, sarcastic, and cynical Tsundere Felix to end up marrying the relentlessly cheerful, kind, and optimistic Annette.

* MundaneLuxury:
** Coffee is very expensive as it has to be imported to Fodlan from Dagda. In one of [[ImpoverishedPatrician Constance]]'s support conversations with Hapi the former says that she could only afford to buy two cups worth of coffee beans with the money she has.
** Lysithea's support with Leonie in ''Three Hopes'' reveals that sweet treats are mostly eaten by the nobility as the average commoner is too poor to be able to afford them.

** Zig-zagged. [[spoiler:Claude]] hides the fact that [[spoiler:he]] has an Almyran father due to the damage it can do to [[spoiler:his]] reputation if it becomes public knowledge which indicates that a significant part of the people of Fodlan look down on relationships with Almyrans. However, characters like Petra (who is from Brigid) and Shamir (who is from Dagda) can end up getting publicly married to a Fodlanese character with seemingly little issue.

* MundaneLuxury: Lysithea's support with Leonie in ''Three Hopes'' reveals that sweet treats are mostly eaten by the nobility as the average commoner is too poor to be able to afford them.

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:Edelgard]] declares war on the Church of Seiros and the rest of Fodlan with the aim of ending the Crest-based nobility system, permanently crippling the Church's power, and unifying Fodlan. And while all story routes end [[spoiler:[[PosthumousVillainVictory with most of these goals being achieved]] (especially if Byleth recruits Sylvain, who manages to convince the rest of the nobility that Crests are no longer necessary in his personal endings)]], on non-Crimson Flower routes this happens after [[spoiler:Edelgard is killed by Byleth]] and [[spoiler:''Adrestia'' is annexed into the Holy Kingdom of Fearghus or the United Kingdom of Fodlan]].

** Dorothea's paired ending with female Byleth in the Japanese version of the game mentions that they ended up [[AllLesbiansWantKids adopting and raising many kids together]]. That line is absent in the English version of the game.

** However, the trope is zig-zagged in the English localization as female Byleth's paired endings with Dorothea and Mercedes as well as male Byleth's paired endings with Linhardt and Yuri explicitly mention Byleth getting married to their partner. Additionally, in the English version of the game Byleth's paired ending with Mercedes on the Crimson Flower still mentions them opening up an orphanage and raising many kids together but any mention of Byleth and Dorothea adopting children is absent from the English language version of their paired ending.

** However, the trope is zig-zagged in the English localization as female Byleth's paired endings with Dorothea and Mercedes as well as male Byleth's paired endings with Linhardt and Yuri explicitly mention Byleth getting married to their partner.