They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character / Fire Emblem: Three Houses

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• Cornelia Arnim. She's the architect of the Tragedy of Duscur and, compared to other members of Those Who Slither In the Dark, is one of the most competent villains in the Azure Moon path. Three Hopes also shows that she successfully manipulated many of the lords in western Faerghus into being complicit in the Tragedy of Duscur, including Lambert's brother Rufus and Edelgard's mother Patricia/Anselma. Despite being so good at puppeteering others, she dies within one chapter in both the Azure Moon and Crimson Flower routes, just like Kronya.
• Despite playing an important part in the backstory and first half of the game, the presence of "those who slither in the dark" in the plot greatly declines once you get to Part II. And when they finally get the spotlight once again, depending on the route you're on, the group will be either swiftly defeated and have their base destroyed in just one chapter (Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes), have their remaining leadership killed and troops go AWOL without acknowledging their presence (Azure Moon), or have one lieutenant killed as collateral damage during a mission while the rest of the group is defeated offscreen during the credits (Crimson Flower).
• Sothis. The snarky companion Byleth had over the first half of the game is very conspicuous in her absence in the second half. This can be attributed to their Heroic Sacrifice Fusion Dance at first, but if Sothis was pursued as a romance option, she reveals she could've come back as that snarky companion any time she wanted to. While there would be some problems with her coming back (mostly in regards to how her commentary could be seen as favoring a particular route), people still wonder why didn't she?. This gets even more egregious in the Cindered Shadows DLC, as she never makes an appearance nor comments on the events of the sidestory despite it chronologically happening before Chapter 10.
• While his level is considered great, Nemesis being the Final Boss of Verdant Wind is considered a waste of the character by many fans due to how out of place he feels in the route. Not only does he come out of nowhere, but his main motivation is to kill Seiros, who is hardly a character in said route to begin with. Claude's motives for fighting him are very weak, and whereas the other final bosses have personal stakes in fighting the heroes and are played as tragic moments, Nemesis is just a roaring brute who never gets to confront the person he wants to fight. By contrast, Silver Snow is often said to be the route he should have been the final boss of because of his personal connection to Rhea, which makes significantly more sense than Claude.
• Before version 1.1.0, the Death Knight was this on the Crimson Flower route. He uniquely becomes an ally because of his loyalty to the Empire, meaning that he gets the chance to now fight alongside Byleth and the students he once fought to slay. However, after the timeskip begins, it's mentioned the Death Knight is stationed in another unit, and never appears nor is mentioned outside of characters like Manuela and Mercedes mentioning him offhandedly, so any chances to explore his motivations and history simply go nowhere. Jeritza noticeably managed to escape this with post-release patches, with the 1.1.0 patch allowing him to join as a playable character post-Timeskip (albeit logically only on Crimson Flower) and the 1.2.0 patch bringing his Support Conversations up to 4 (Byleth, Mercedes, Constance, and Bernadetta).
• Judith von Daphnel and Nader on the Verdant Wind route. The former is a famed hero of the Alliance despite lacking her household's Crest, cunning, a bit of a Troll, holds the admiration of characters such as Shamir, Catherine, and Ingrid (the latter being distantly related to her), and is both Claude's mentor and one of his only consistent allies in Fódlan, complete with comical banter between them. The latter isn't just one of the game's few connections to Almyra, but he was Claude's combat instructor since his youth and clearly cares about him and his goals, despite Almyra and Fódlan having a relationship that is tepid at best. Both are also quite good-looking in their own way, and are considered to be among the less infuriating NPC-ally units to contend with. Unfortunately, not only do neither of them contribute much to the route's overarching story (with Nader in particular vanishing not long after he's introduced), it's also doubly infuriating to some fans that they never become route-exclusive units despite both seeming like natural fits for the role, in particular because both the Crimson Flower and Azure Moon routes do have unique units outside of their house leaders (Hubert and Jeritza for the former; Dedue and Gilbert for the latter). The fact that Hilda, the closest person to a second-in-command/retainer Claude has, can be recruited on all routes bar Crimson Flower has led to some players citing unfairness.
• Several characters have family members who are mentioned heavily in supports or Exploration conversations, but make no actual appearance in game. Some have such strong impact in the game that their lack of inclusion seems strange. Notable examples include:
  • A lot is made of how Alois is a devoted family man, but his family never interacts with the story in any way, other than to have a reason for why all his paired endings are platonic.
  • Count Gregoire von Varley, Bernadetta's father, who most players wish they could fight and kill after reading into how horrible his treatment of Bernadetta is. Instead, he's put under house arrest when Edelgard takes power, and while he's apparently released on the routes in which Edelgard is killed, he is never actually seen, and the most we get outside of supports is a brief mention in the Cindered Shadows DLC.
  • Count Leopold von Bergliez, Caspar's father, who is described as a Four-Star Badass that sounds like a great foe to face or get to know depending on the route. Instead, he's also Killed Offscreen after making a Heroic Sacrifice for his men, which is somewhat disappointing.
  • Count Galatea, Ingrid's father, for being a loving father who also believes he must marry Ingrid off for the sake of the Galatea family's future. He gets mentioned in the Crimson Flower route if Ingrid is recruited, but he gets barely mentioned else where in the game.
  • Sylvain's parents, Margrave Gautier and his wife, who have strong pro-Crest views that ended up affecting their children for the worse, but also have legitimate reasons for having such views. Their actions during the main story are entirely offscreen.
  • Hilda's brother Holst Sigiswald Goneril, who is The Ace for his valiance on the front lines and seems to be a cool dude all around. Despite his heavy off-screen presence on the Verdant Wind route and significant role in Balthus's backstory, we never actually meet him.
  • Raphael's little sister Maya, who is important to Raphael's backstory and she actually marries Ignatz if they have an A-Support, but we never actually see what she looks like.
• The Black Eagles end up interacting very little with their story's events by the time the War Phase begins if they end up opposing Edelgard (Silver Snow). Having to share screen-time with the Church units means they get shafted (the likely explanation, based on circumstantial evidence from both interviews and datamine, suggest Silver Snow was more or less forgotten once it was finished and was never properly revisited). Special mention goes to Ferdinand's case, as he's determined to surpass, guide and criticize Edelgard during his supports and yet completely fades into the background after the timeskip, with his rivalry with Edelgard instead being given to Byleth.
• Dedue, especially when factoring that he is only playable on the Azure Moon route. Being the main Duscur citizen in a route where the Tragedy of Duscur is brought up as a major backstory point, he barely has any significant presence in that route's story outside of his supports. Even worse is that Gilbert pretty much takes over his role as Dimitri's retainer story-wise in Part II when he's Killed Off for Real if the player fails to complete his Paralogue's special condition. And even IF he returns in Part II, his role is severely diminished as he lacks the Plot Armor that Byleth, Dimitri and Gilbert have. It is possible for him to die in the same chapter he returns and Dimitri and the other characters will have no reaction whatsoever.
• Jeralt is anticlimactically killed off near the end of Part I, vanishing from the story before any of the big revelations occur. Apart from the event being easily predictable and only serving as a fuel for Byleth's actions and Character Development, him sticking around for Part II could've provided some interesting plot points, depending on the route. In particular, there are moments during Part I where Jeralt notices Byleth getting used to their life at Garreg Mach and muses whether his distrust of Rhea was warranted, but the only wrap-up those receive is him being happy when Byleth sheds their first tears over him being mortally wounded. Not helping the matter is Jeralt having unused combat and tea party quotes, implying that he was originally meant to be more than just a mission-specific ally unit.
• Aelfric from the Cindered Shadows DLC becomes this in relation to the main game. Like the Ashen Wolves, he appears in the main story and can be spoken to, but unlike with the Ashen Wolves, he only appears near the graveyard and has no involvement with the rest of the game after his one off quest is done. This is despite the fact he has a rich backstory, a unique class called Verrat, and, given his role in the DLC as the Big Bad, could have been given a chance to show some Hidden Depths to make him more likable. Instead, he just vanishes and never gets brought up again despite his potential.
• Emperor Ionius IX. He's Edelgard's father, the current ruler (if a Puppet King) of the Adrestian Empire, and the only living parent of the house leaders to actually appear in game. With how complex Edelgard is, and how much of her life was affected by events from her past, you would be surprised to know he appears exactly once in game. While part of this is because he's sickly and thus cannot do much as a Puppet King, it's a waste of someone who on paper should play a major role in the story. In spite of his actions causing the Insurrection of the Seven and being a major character in terms of the backstory of Edelgard and the current events of the story, his overall impact on the story less discussed compared to Lambert, who by comparison gets a few flashbacks in the Azure Moon route, and gets talked about often, and to an extent Claude's parents.
• Despite being incredibly important, Rhea is ultimately underused in the game's story, as on routes besides Crimson Flower she spends most of Part II absent as a prisoner of the Empire, and in the case of Azure Moon, the entirety of the route. Outside of that, Rhea cannot support with any character besides Byleth, despite having multiple characters who have long histories with her like Catherine or Seteth, or others who are religious and thus easily could have a support based around the subject such as Marianne or Mercedes. The result is that despite having a rich backstory and being a complex character, she comes across as very shallow compared to the rest of the cast, and without supports to flesh her out with things like hobbies, moments where she can relax and talk casually, or just in general moments to humanize her more, she becomes hard to connect to for many and feels like a wasted element of the games story. Some feel she was also wasted on Crimson Flower, where she's the Big Bad. An ideological conflict between her and Edelgard had potential, but she instead she suffers Sanity Slippage the moment the route begins and spends the rest of it as a two-dimensional villain as a result, leading to an antagonist whose motivations aren't explored unless you play Verdant Wind and Silver Snow. She does get a small scene if Seteth and Flayn die in combat, where she vows revenge over the bloodshed, but it's such a minor moment that it doesn't do much to characterize her more.
• Seteth and Flayn get a big case of this in the Silver Snow route. They end up serving the de facto Lord/Retainer role of the route instead of Rhea, as mentioned above. This could've given a great opportunity to explore their own views on Crests, the politics of Fódlan, and the role the Church of Seiros should play. Instead, because the story decides to play coy with the origins of the Church and the true nature of the Children of the Goddess, Seteth and Flayn end up not being very fleshed out in the route they are supposed to be the focus of. Instead these aspects of their characters are only scattered and implied through their various Supports with other characters.
• Anna, unlike every other DLC character, infamously has no support conversations. While it can be argued it makes sense from her perspective to not get attached to anyone in the cast given her profession, this leaves her out of having any interesting interactions aside from Monastery dialogue with Byleth. The fact she possesses a unique Crest despite being a commoner is also never addressed. This also gives her a disadvantage during gameplay, as having no supports leaves her without any stat boosts from them.

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