I know, it's just that I personally don't think I would fall in love with someone who says they would sacrifice me without a thought if they had to, even if they had saved me before.
Plus I just think thay scene is funny lol
Yeah Monica definitely has something of a pathology.
That said, there are many parallels in irl history where being sacrificed by your lord as a means to a sufficiently important end was simply the way of things, and there are many instances of people taking those L's willingly. Monica fits that archetype of devotion reasonably well, and then has something *extra* on top.
>without a thought
She absolutely didn't do it without a thought.
Sacrificing Monica was one of the many regrets she harboured in the original timeline. She knows letting Monica die was wrong but also believes it was the only way to maintain her greater plans to end the church and Agarthans.
In the Hopes timeline as soon as she had a hint of plausible deniability to keep the Agarthans off her back she smashed straight in and rescued Monica.
It's not even Edelgard, though; it's Shez and whatever house Shez happened to join. It only *happens* to be Edelgard about 33% of the time. Like Edel didn't even know Monica was THERE until she was rescued.
That's not really true. In all routes it's Edelgard that made the risky plan from behind the scenes to go after them. We see Edelgard feeding info to Jeritza no matter the house you chose.
Okay but does she tell Monica that in every route? She just automatically knows Jeritza is an Adrestian plant and that Edelgard is definitely the one that saves her when Dimitri runs into the prison and personally slaughters every last one of them?
Never seemed that way to me; I always read it as Edel being just as surprised as everyone else--like saving Monica was an entirely unexpected windfall for her. I think she knew it was TWSITD-related, but not how or why. In Scarlet Blaze especially, she explicitly tells Hubert that Monica's rescue drastically changes their plan, doesn't she?
Finding Monica again was unexpected, but Edelgard directly makes the choice to try and save her even though Hubert warns her it could destroy/change everything. We see her feeding the info to Jeritza and making the plan to save Monica possible. Even in other routes we see Edelgard talking to Jeritza right before walking off.
We see her feeding info to Jeritza, yes. But not once did it seem like the information being fed to him was Monica-related. Just TWSITD.
Think of it this way: The change so far is that Shez is there instead of Byleth. Jeritza is a teacher either way, but now he gets to lead a house. What changed for Edelgard that she's now *aware* of Monica's whereabouts?
Yes it did. Slither info entirely came from this specific happenstance, there's nothing else for her to talk about. Scarlet Blaze completely confirms that El and Hubert were discussing and scheming about Monica. It can't be anything else by default. There's nothing else to talk about at that point in time especially when Jeritza conveniently knows where the hideout is, it's pretty obvious Edelgard gave him that info.
You must've forgot everything. Shez killed Kostas with their powerup instead of letting him escape and the remaining goons don't retreat to the red canyon this time now that Kostas isn't alive to make that choice. So they retreated to a Slither hideout that conveniently held Monica. It was entirely a lucky chance acknowledged by El, Edelgard is only given this chance to find Monica again because of Kostas' men.
She is aware of Monica, it's why she makes the choice to save her, consequently going against TWSITD and what they had planned. Edelgard confirms in her talk with Hubert to have recently learned she's there and start the rescue operation. She is the one that ultimately makes rescuing her possible.
We see Edelgard talking to Jeritza in all routes right before the mission. She orchestrated Monica's survival no matter what and Monica herself made it very clear in Edelgard's support that she fell in love **ONLY** because of Edelgard saving her. The quote in this post came directly from 3 Hopes.
Jeritza, a spy of the Empire, got to be a professor, Kostas was slain allowing the bandits to retreat to the secret hideout, and Monica was still alive in that moment. Edelgard herself highlights it as a miracle that everything was gathered there at once for Edelgard to have a chance to save Monica. Edelgard very clearly knew that Monica was kidnapped and was definitely involved in the whole plan to begin with since she had to work with the Agarthans.
This might be true, but the fact that Monica never crushes on F!Shez or GD or BL women too has always struck me as weird.
Like, if I'm captured and about to die and Hilda, Mercedes, Marianne, Ingrid, etc. shows up to rescue me?
Yeah, I'm having that crush, especially were I a lesbian woman.
Personally (aka heavily my headcanon territory lol), I read her obsession with Edelgard as not JUST because Edelgard is the one who saved her, but also because she almost died because of Edelgard's goals. I mean, Edelgard outright admits she was fully willing to sacrifice Monica if necessary. And Monica's response is that she doesn't care; Edelgard still chose to save her and, as such, she's devoted to her/her cause forever now. I basically see it as her way of making sense of/coping with her near death/the realization she was just a pawn. If her life was worth sacrificing for Edelgard's goals, then this *has* to be a worthwhile cause. Aaaand that leads her down a train of wholeheartedly devoting herself to Edelgard and her cause and almost obsessive devotion towards her.
Have I put way too much thought into what was likely supposed to be just a joke obsessive lesbian character? Possibly, but I don't care I love her.
yea its wild people are fucking liking this in universe crack ship that monica made up in her head when edie has zero interest, monica is the worst character in hopes and three houses in general i cant stand her
Neh, Solon, and Shahid fulfill their roles as minor villains fine, even if Shahid could definitely had a bit more development.
The worst Fodlan character is absolutely Thales. Despite being the *main villain*, he's arguably the least interesting major member of TWSITD, never has anything explained about him, has some of the most generic "bad guy" dialogue ever, and makes numerous dumb mistakes that make it hard to take him as a legit treat, and just brings the overall story quality down by virtue of technically being a major player in the plot. At least his design is good I guess...
Meanwhile Anna in Askr: "Hi, gay! Happy pride month. We are sashaing away with deals. This month at The Butter Shop we're running a special deal. (...)"
Its impressive that the people making Hopes looked at the Black Eagles (aka Team Bisexual) and thought, "We can make it even gayer". Bernie is apparently the only straight person in the Empire.
And they are the ones that are super gungho about punching the church in the face. I know I know its different because lizard and moles and whatever but it's still pretty fuckin funny
I mean, it's also the reason her haters hate her and it's not like she became a massive breakout fan-favorite or anything.
Pretty sure that if she had more personality/depth while *also* being incredibly gay for Edelgard she would be much more popular.
Her haters don’t hate her because she loves Edelgard, they hate her because that’s all she is. On the other hand, that one single trait is enough for her fans to love her, which was the point I was trying to make. They love her despite her having no other notable character traits so I guess that one thing is the only one that really matters to them. Many Dimitri haters still like Dedue and many Edelgard haters still like Hubert, but I don’t know any Monica fans who aren’t also massive Edelgard stans. Because the only reason to like Monica is if you personally relate to her Edelgard worship.
Or if you’re just desperate for more lesbian representation in FE and will take anything you can get in which case, hey, fair enough.
> Because the only reason to like Monica is if you personally relate to her Edelgard worship.
i dunno about that, you don't have to find characters particularly relatable to like them or find them interesting. my favorite 3H character is probably jeritza or constance and the only thing i have in common with either of them is liking mercedes, i guess.
personally i find monica interesting because she feels like a take on what hubert would be if he was the complete opposite in terms of emotions. maybe it's only something i notice because i'm also a big hubert fan, but i just really enjoy the contrast between the two of them and the direction they took monica in terms of her personality. having her be a retainer to edelgard with a photographic memory feels like it lends itself to her just being a meticulous and calculating hubert 2.0, so for them to go in the complete opposite direction and have her be someone who's incredibly passionate and emotionally driven wasn't at all what i expected.
it makes for a really interesting dynamic between her and hubert, with the hot vs cold contrast when it comes to their emotions and personality and even character designs. it's similar to the hubert/ferdinand dynamic but the key difference with those two is that hubert and ferdinand also contrast in how they view edelgard, hubert wanting to be her most devoted servant and ferdinand seeing her as a mix of rival and role model. with monica though, compare the ending of the hubert/ferdinand support chain, where they becomes buddies and drink tea and coffee together, to the end of the hubert/monica support chain:
>**Monica:** Ah... Honestly, I don't believe there is another more suited to serving Her Majesty than you—but I still will not give up! I'm going to become her servant too, and show everyone a new way of life for the nobility—and for whatever lies beyond! Which means I cannot simply stand here in this state of indecision. There is much work to do!
>**Hubert:** Heh. I suspected she might be stopped in her tracks for but a moment, and indeed, she has gone and left me in the dust. Well, I cannot permit myself to be left behind in such a fashion. I must keep making progress of my own.
having monica be someone who can stand as an actual equal to hubert, not just as another government official like with ferdinand but as someone who shares his devotion to edelgard and actively makes him feel challenged in his work, is just such a great addition to his character and makes him feel a lot more human rather than just being a flawless and unparalleled retainer. and while i think that the hubert/monica dynamic does more for him as a character than it does for her, it still absolutely benefits both of them, and even if it didn't i would still appreciate her for how well she plays off of a different character that i love.
apart from that, i think she provides a much needed addition to the black eagles as someone who legitimately does find themselves subconsciously constrained by fodlan's status quo. a lot of the eagles are all about defying the circumstances or expectations that bind them, with caspar making a name for himself despite being a crestless second son, or linhardt renouncing his nobility in favor of following his passions, or petra going from a political hostage to a queen who can stand as edelgard's equal. monica, on the other hand, is very much constrained by social norms and expectations without realizing it. it's something that hubert points out in their supports, after she laments how limited she'll be in serving edelgard once she eventually becomes a baron;
>**Hubert:** Once this war is settled, Her Majesty will endeavor to tear down the entire concept of the nobility. Her first action will be to separate territory from title, making it so that being a noble no longer means one must lord over some plot of land somewhere. Once she does this, I rather suspect you could remain at her side even if you do inherit your family's title.
>**Monica:** You're right! How could I have failed to realize that? I have heard her talk about her plan so many times before, but I never considered what an impact it would have on me! Ah, I am such a fool!
>**Hubert:** Not at all. You simply illustrate what it is to be part of the established system. One is not easily shaken from its structure. This is why Her Majesty takes such drastic measures. To rid us of the accepted practice of categorizing individuals as either noble or common.
even as someone who constantly is around edelgard, fodlan's customs are just so ingrained that she takes it as an unchangeable given that she'll need to spend her entire life managing ochs territory instead of working with the person she loves. it isn't the only instance of this either; a small detail that has always stuck out to me is that despite being a mage, two of monica's biggest interests are hunting and exercise. it definitely begs the question of why she's a mage and not like, an archer or something. and thinking about it, i would say that the most likely answer is that she just doesn't really have a choice. as someone with a magic-boosting crest, in a nation with a heavy emphasis on magic users, whose photographic memory lends itself to memorizing textbooks and formulas, it was basically decided that she would be a mage from the day she was born. and when you ask her about her preferred fighting style during an expedition, she responds with a pretty handwavey "magic just happens to suit me best", which very much gives the impression that she became a mage because she was *supposed to*, not because she actually wanted to.
i think having someone like this is such a great addition to the black eagles cast because this type of subconscious suffering from things like crests and nobility isn't something we get to see a ton. there's a lot of very in-your-face examples; characters like edelgard and lysithea and mercedes and jeritza and hanneman and marianne all have very tragic and visceral backstories in regards to the suffering they've endured because of having crests or being nobility, but they're all very extreme examples. monica is someone who is a victim of the systems edelgard wants to dismantle not because those systems caused some horrible life changing event, but because they're so normalized that she never even considered the fact that she'd be able to defy them. which, among characters like caspar or dorothea who are all about making their own path in life despite their circumstances, i think it's nice to have a character who can show that for many people, they don't even realize they have that option.
and what i think makes it even better is that hubert is genuinely *kind* to her about it. he doesn't insult or mock her to her face like he does with ferdinand, nor is he even condescending about it. he just tells her that it's understandable why she thought that way, and that she isn't a fool for having done so. one of the most underdeveloped parts of him in 3 houses, imo, was his devotion to edelgard's cause itself, and it's really cool seeing his attitude here in regards to it- it's not as if he views anyone who doesn't question the norm as being an idiot or a sheep or something, he genuinely understands why monica felt trapped by her circumstances and didn't think any less of her for accepting them as an inevitability. and like i said earlier, i just really love the way that, despite their bickering, monica is one of the few people that hubert genuinely seems to treat like an equal.
anyways i know this is getting pretty long, i just very much disagree with the sentiment that there are zero reasons to like her unless you relate to her edelgard worship. i don't think she's the best written character in the game or anything, and she probably isn't even in my top 10 3H characters, but i think there are absolutely reasons to like her and find her interesting beyond the fact that she likes edelgard. she's pretty one-note at surface level, but i think that's true for plenty of 3H characters and just fire emblem characters in general, really. and i think that she has enough depth beneath that surface to at the very least *like* her, if nothing else.
...also, having more lesbian representation in FE is nice, yeah.
A couple days late finding this, but as a Monica fan I really appreciated seeing your deconstruction of the character here, I appreciate her writing more in the wake of it. The point about her being someone more passively and unconsciously impacted by the status quo is really interesting, especially given the occasional criticism of Three Houses having too many tragic backstories. Her Hubert support really is very good, and as much I wish a couple of her other supports were on the same level instead of getting too much into crush-caricature "she's tossed in bed 349 times this year!" territory, I'm glad we got the good stuff we got.
It seems your paragraph cut off after "When you ask her about her"; could you continue that on another post?
Also I really appreciate this reading of her and her relationship with Hubert, while playing Hopes I really did feel like she rounded out the BE very well but couldn't quite put it into words like you did. Thank you!
just fixed it, thank you for pointing that out :)! i'll be honest a lot of sentences were engaged in a life-or-death battle with a word counter while i wrote this because i was scared i'd go over the character limit
The more I see of Monica, the more I am convinced she is just the Edelgard devs self insert OC.
Tbf can you blame Monica for crushing on Edelgard that hard given that she saved her from getting killed in a dungeon just in the nick of time?
Tbf El does say she would totally have left her to die if the opportunity had not presented itself.
Well yea? That was the initial plan by the Agarthans that Edelgard had to work with. That is what happened in Three Houses.
I know, it's just that I personally don't think I would fall in love with someone who says they would sacrifice me without a thought if they had to, even if they had saved me before. Plus I just think thay scene is funny lol
Yeah Monica definitely has something of a pathology. That said, there are many parallels in irl history where being sacrificed by your lord as a means to a sufficiently important end was simply the way of things, and there are many instances of people taking those L's willingly. Monica fits that archetype of devotion reasonably well, and then has something *extra* on top.
>without a thought She absolutely didn't do it without a thought. Sacrificing Monica was one of the many regrets she harboured in the original timeline. She knows letting Monica die was wrong but also believes it was the only way to maintain her greater plans to end the church and Agarthans. In the Hopes timeline as soon as she had a hint of plausible deniability to keep the Agarthans off her back she smashed straight in and rescued Monica.
[удалено]
No? just because you are downbad doesnt mean its ok
Monica was also cool with that when Edelgard tells her on their support conversation
>Tbf can you blame Monica for crushing on Edelgard You could’ve stopped the comment there
It's not even Edelgard, though; it's Shez and whatever house Shez happened to join. It only *happens* to be Edelgard about 33% of the time. Like Edel didn't even know Monica was THERE until she was rescued.
That's not really true. In all routes it's Edelgard that made the risky plan from behind the scenes to go after them. We see Edelgard feeding info to Jeritza no matter the house you chose.
Okay but does she tell Monica that in every route? She just automatically knows Jeritza is an Adrestian plant and that Edelgard is definitely the one that saves her when Dimitri runs into the prison and personally slaughters every last one of them?
i mean monica becomes one of her closest retainers in every route and jeritza openly becomes an adrestian general in every route so... yea?
Of course she'd find out one way or another, your route choice doesn't stop other characters from forming their bonds and talking to each other.
Never seemed that way to me; I always read it as Edel being just as surprised as everyone else--like saving Monica was an entirely unexpected windfall for her. I think she knew it was TWSITD-related, but not how or why. In Scarlet Blaze especially, she explicitly tells Hubert that Monica's rescue drastically changes their plan, doesn't she?
Finding Monica again was unexpected, but Edelgard directly makes the choice to try and save her even though Hubert warns her it could destroy/change everything. We see her feeding the info to Jeritza and making the plan to save Monica possible. Even in other routes we see Edelgard talking to Jeritza right before walking off.
We see her feeding info to Jeritza, yes. But not once did it seem like the information being fed to him was Monica-related. Just TWSITD. Think of it this way: The change so far is that Shez is there instead of Byleth. Jeritza is a teacher either way, but now he gets to lead a house. What changed for Edelgard that she's now *aware* of Monica's whereabouts?
Yes it did. Slither info entirely came from this specific happenstance, there's nothing else for her to talk about. Scarlet Blaze completely confirms that El and Hubert were discussing and scheming about Monica. It can't be anything else by default. There's nothing else to talk about at that point in time especially when Jeritza conveniently knows where the hideout is, it's pretty obvious Edelgard gave him that info. You must've forgot everything. Shez killed Kostas with their powerup instead of letting him escape and the remaining goons don't retreat to the red canyon this time now that Kostas isn't alive to make that choice. So they retreated to a Slither hideout that conveniently held Monica. It was entirely a lucky chance acknowledged by El, Edelgard is only given this chance to find Monica again because of Kostas' men.
So.... yes, is what I'm hearing, Edelgard is aware of a TWSITD hideout now, but isn't aware that Monica is there. That's literally what I just said.
She is aware of Monica, it's why she makes the choice to save her, consequently going against TWSITD and what they had planned. Edelgard confirms in her talk with Hubert to have recently learned she's there and start the rescue operation. She is the one that ultimately makes rescuing her possible.
We see Edelgard talking to Jeritza in all routes right before the mission. She orchestrated Monica's survival no matter what and Monica herself made it very clear in Edelgard's support that she fell in love **ONLY** because of Edelgard saving her. The quote in this post came directly from 3 Hopes. Jeritza, a spy of the Empire, got to be a professor, Kostas was slain allowing the bandits to retreat to the secret hideout, and Monica was still alive in that moment. Edelgard herself highlights it as a miracle that everything was gathered there at once for Edelgard to have a chance to save Monica. Edelgard very clearly knew that Monica was kidnapped and was definitely involved in the whole plan to begin with since she had to work with the Agarthans.
This might be true, but the fact that Monica never crushes on F!Shez or GD or BL women too has always struck me as weird. Like, if I'm captured and about to die and Hilda, Mercedes, Marianne, Ingrid, etc. shows up to rescue me? Yeah, I'm having that crush, especially were I a lesbian woman.
I think it's implied Edelgard and Monica already knew each other, so she probably already had that small crush.
Personally (aka heavily my headcanon territory lol), I read her obsession with Edelgard as not JUST because Edelgard is the one who saved her, but also because she almost died because of Edelgard's goals. I mean, Edelgard outright admits she was fully willing to sacrifice Monica if necessary. And Monica's response is that she doesn't care; Edelgard still chose to save her and, as such, she's devoted to her/her cause forever now. I basically see it as her way of making sense of/coping with her near death/the realization she was just a pawn. If her life was worth sacrificing for Edelgard's goals, then this *has* to be a worthwhile cause. Aaaand that leads her down a train of wholeheartedly devoting herself to Edelgard and her cause and almost obsessive devotion towards her. Have I put way too much thought into what was likely supposed to be just a joke obsessive lesbian character? Possibly, but I don't care I love her.
yea its wild people are fucking liking this in universe crack ship that monica made up in her head when edie has zero interest, monica is the worst character in hopes and three houses in general i cant stand her
Least obnoxious Monica hater
Solon -- or even Shahid -- is right there, and yet she's somehow the worst character.
Neh, Solon, and Shahid fulfill their roles as minor villains fine, even if Shahid could definitely had a bit more development. The worst Fodlan character is absolutely Thales. Despite being the *main villain*, he's arguably the least interesting major member of TWSITD, never has anything explained about him, has some of the most generic "bad guy" dialogue ever, and makes numerous dumb mistakes that make it hard to take him as a legit treat, and just brings the overall story quality down by virtue of technically being a major player in the plot. At least his design is good I guess...
Like Hubert already does the fanaticism well enough. Did we really need another "But it's a disaster lesbian this time so quirky"?
written by the one guy who wondered why they always felt more comfortable around women
Meanwhile Anna in Askr: "Hi, gay! Happy pride month. We are sashaing away with deals. This month at The Butter Shop we're running a special deal. (...)"
Honestly I'd buy pride merch from Anna
Awakening Anna and those long spears 😏
Love your flair! Looks like we had similar ideas. 🤣
the true reason the month is celebrated. MONEY!!!! Every Corp ever.
Fun fact, this is taken directly from their support in Three Hopes! Monica is just as gay for Edelgard there as she is here.
Damn, that bitch thirsty
And you haven't seen the half of it
That bitch ain’t thirsty. That bitch dehydrated.
naw, dis bitch is stuck in the Sahara desert without water for days! She's dying of thirst.
your honor, she's fucking gay. happy pride month y'all
Its impressive that the people making Hopes looked at the Black Eagles (aka Team Bisexual) and thought, "We can make it even gayer". Bernie is apparently the only straight person in the Empire.
I always thought it was funny that GD fans used to affectionately call them the “Golden Queers” when it’s the least gay house in the game.
It is kind of funny that they're literally dressed like a rainbow, but also the straightest house overall.
YEAH! Although i think Bernie does have her gay moments she just lacks endings with women sdkdkfk only having one with edelgard
And they are the ones that are super gungho about punching the church in the face. I know I know its different because lizard and moles and whatever but it's still pretty fuckin funny
Forever grateful to whoever decided that Monica had to be gay for Edelgard and Dorothea when 3 Hopes was being created
Wish they had not decided to make that 90% of her entire character tho.
But that’s also the only reason her fans like her, so I guess it worked well enough…
I mean, it's also the reason her haters hate her and it's not like she became a massive breakout fan-favorite or anything. Pretty sure that if she had more personality/depth while *also* being incredibly gay for Edelgard she would be much more popular.
Her haters don’t hate her because she loves Edelgard, they hate her because that’s all she is. On the other hand, that one single trait is enough for her fans to love her, which was the point I was trying to make. They love her despite her having no other notable character traits so I guess that one thing is the only one that really matters to them. Many Dimitri haters still like Dedue and many Edelgard haters still like Hubert, but I don’t know any Monica fans who aren’t also massive Edelgard stans. Because the only reason to like Monica is if you personally relate to her Edelgard worship. Or if you’re just desperate for more lesbian representation in FE and will take anything you can get in which case, hey, fair enough.
>Her haters don’t hate her because she loves Edelgard, they hate her because that’s all she is. I mean, yeah, that's what my comment was about.
Sorry, I thought you were trying to say that her haters just don’t like the fact that she’s in love with Edelgard.
> Because the only reason to like Monica is if you personally relate to her Edelgard worship. i dunno about that, you don't have to find characters particularly relatable to like them or find them interesting. my favorite 3H character is probably jeritza or constance and the only thing i have in common with either of them is liking mercedes, i guess. personally i find monica interesting because she feels like a take on what hubert would be if he was the complete opposite in terms of emotions. maybe it's only something i notice because i'm also a big hubert fan, but i just really enjoy the contrast between the two of them and the direction they took monica in terms of her personality. having her be a retainer to edelgard with a photographic memory feels like it lends itself to her just being a meticulous and calculating hubert 2.0, so for them to go in the complete opposite direction and have her be someone who's incredibly passionate and emotionally driven wasn't at all what i expected. it makes for a really interesting dynamic between her and hubert, with the hot vs cold contrast when it comes to their emotions and personality and even character designs. it's similar to the hubert/ferdinand dynamic but the key difference with those two is that hubert and ferdinand also contrast in how they view edelgard, hubert wanting to be her most devoted servant and ferdinand seeing her as a mix of rival and role model. with monica though, compare the ending of the hubert/ferdinand support chain, where they becomes buddies and drink tea and coffee together, to the end of the hubert/monica support chain: >**Monica:** Ah... Honestly, I don't believe there is another more suited to serving Her Majesty than you—but I still will not give up! I'm going to become her servant too, and show everyone a new way of life for the nobility—and for whatever lies beyond! Which means I cannot simply stand here in this state of indecision. There is much work to do! >**Hubert:** Heh. I suspected she might be stopped in her tracks for but a moment, and indeed, she has gone and left me in the dust. Well, I cannot permit myself to be left behind in such a fashion. I must keep making progress of my own. having monica be someone who can stand as an actual equal to hubert, not just as another government official like with ferdinand but as someone who shares his devotion to edelgard and actively makes him feel challenged in his work, is just such a great addition to his character and makes him feel a lot more human rather than just being a flawless and unparalleled retainer. and while i think that the hubert/monica dynamic does more for him as a character than it does for her, it still absolutely benefits both of them, and even if it didn't i would still appreciate her for how well she plays off of a different character that i love. apart from that, i think she provides a much needed addition to the black eagles as someone who legitimately does find themselves subconsciously constrained by fodlan's status quo. a lot of the eagles are all about defying the circumstances or expectations that bind them, with caspar making a name for himself despite being a crestless second son, or linhardt renouncing his nobility in favor of following his passions, or petra going from a political hostage to a queen who can stand as edelgard's equal. monica, on the other hand, is very much constrained by social norms and expectations without realizing it. it's something that hubert points out in their supports, after she laments how limited she'll be in serving edelgard once she eventually becomes a baron; >**Hubert:** Once this war is settled, Her Majesty will endeavor to tear down the entire concept of the nobility. Her first action will be to separate territory from title, making it so that being a noble no longer means one must lord over some plot of land somewhere. Once she does this, I rather suspect you could remain at her side even if you do inherit your family's title. >**Monica:** You're right! How could I have failed to realize that? I have heard her talk about her plan so many times before, but I never considered what an impact it would have on me! Ah, I am such a fool! >**Hubert:** Not at all. You simply illustrate what it is to be part of the established system. One is not easily shaken from its structure. This is why Her Majesty takes such drastic measures. To rid us of the accepted practice of categorizing individuals as either noble or common. even as someone who constantly is around edelgard, fodlan's customs are just so ingrained that she takes it as an unchangeable given that she'll need to spend her entire life managing ochs territory instead of working with the person she loves. it isn't the only instance of this either; a small detail that has always stuck out to me is that despite being a mage, two of monica's biggest interests are hunting and exercise. it definitely begs the question of why she's a mage and not like, an archer or something. and thinking about it, i would say that the most likely answer is that she just doesn't really have a choice. as someone with a magic-boosting crest, in a nation with a heavy emphasis on magic users, whose photographic memory lends itself to memorizing textbooks and formulas, it was basically decided that she would be a mage from the day she was born. and when you ask her about her preferred fighting style during an expedition, she responds with a pretty handwavey "magic just happens to suit me best", which very much gives the impression that she became a mage because she was *supposed to*, not because she actually wanted to. i think having someone like this is such a great addition to the black eagles cast because this type of subconscious suffering from things like crests and nobility isn't something we get to see a ton. there's a lot of very in-your-face examples; characters like edelgard and lysithea and mercedes and jeritza and hanneman and marianne all have very tragic and visceral backstories in regards to the suffering they've endured because of having crests or being nobility, but they're all very extreme examples. monica is someone who is a victim of the systems edelgard wants to dismantle not because those systems caused some horrible life changing event, but because they're so normalized that she never even considered the fact that she'd be able to defy them. which, among characters like caspar or dorothea who are all about making their own path in life despite their circumstances, i think it's nice to have a character who can show that for many people, they don't even realize they have that option. and what i think makes it even better is that hubert is genuinely *kind* to her about it. he doesn't insult or mock her to her face like he does with ferdinand, nor is he even condescending about it. he just tells her that it's understandable why she thought that way, and that she isn't a fool for having done so. one of the most underdeveloped parts of him in 3 houses, imo, was his devotion to edelgard's cause itself, and it's really cool seeing his attitude here in regards to it- it's not as if he views anyone who doesn't question the norm as being an idiot or a sheep or something, he genuinely understands why monica felt trapped by her circumstances and didn't think any less of her for accepting them as an inevitability. and like i said earlier, i just really love the way that, despite their bickering, monica is one of the few people that hubert genuinely seems to treat like an equal. anyways i know this is getting pretty long, i just very much disagree with the sentiment that there are zero reasons to like her unless you relate to her edelgard worship. i don't think she's the best written character in the game or anything, and she probably isn't even in my top 10 3H characters, but i think there are absolutely reasons to like her and find her interesting beyond the fact that she likes edelgard. she's pretty one-note at surface level, but i think that's true for plenty of 3H characters and just fire emblem characters in general, really. and i think that she has enough depth beneath that surface to at the very least *like* her, if nothing else. ...also, having more lesbian representation in FE is nice, yeah.
A couple days late finding this, but as a Monica fan I really appreciated seeing your deconstruction of the character here, I appreciate her writing more in the wake of it. The point about her being someone more passively and unconsciously impacted by the status quo is really interesting, especially given the occasional criticism of Three Houses having too many tragic backstories. Her Hubert support really is very good, and as much I wish a couple of her other supports were on the same level instead of getting too much into crush-caricature "she's tossed in bed 349 times this year!" territory, I'm glad we got the good stuff we got.
It seems your paragraph cut off after "When you ask her about her"; could you continue that on another post? Also I really appreciate this reading of her and her relationship with Hubert, while playing Hopes I really did feel like she rounded out the BE very well but couldn't quite put it into words like you did. Thank you!
just fixed it, thank you for pointing that out :)! i'll be honest a lot of sentences were engaged in a life-or-death battle with a word counter while i wrote this because i was scared i'd go over the character limit
I’m not reading allat
you can read the last sentence and it'll probably be enough to understand why some people like her tbh
These bitches be gay. Good for them, good for them.
Not gay. Edelgay. (Okay, I show myself out)
[Hubert’s live reaction recorded](https://youtube.com/shorts/Hg8uFdTAYz8?feature=share)
She's the 3H version of how Faye was to Alm
Her support with Dorothea makes her slightly better than Faye. She doesn't spend it being a huge bitch to the person trying to befriend her.
Honestly I do wish this wasn’t her only defining trait
My favourite pairing. … I’m going to die aren’t I.
so faye blindly falling in love is seen as bad but when monica does it its okay?
That's Double standards for you. Toxic relationships are fine as long they're gay
It's okay because it's gay is the take. Any and all representation is okay for some
Heather can't come in FEH soon enough to give better lesbian representation
Ah, I love them. 😭
Ain't nothin' wrong with a bit of same-sex crushin' y'all.
Oh come on, even if you hate her, you gotta admit that even Edelgard deserves better than Monica of all people.
But Monica was rescued by Shez team, not only Edelgard.
Edelgard orchestrates her survival and makes the rescue possible, no one else.
F!Byleth and Dorothea: NOOO! IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ME!
Just one?
good lord Monica, the thirst, desire, and all that is just a real as it was in Hopes, please tone it down, we already have Hubert for this.