who dares question me

[impostorsyndrome]

QUESTION FOR A QUESTION MEME

We all like hearing about each other's characters! We all like talking about our own characters! With this groundbreaking new meme, now you can finally do both, for the very first time in DWRP history!

The Guidelines:

• Post a toplevel listing the characters you play! If you have any boundaries you want to set re: questions you might receive (e.g. "No NSFW questions for this character"), do that here too.
  
• Tag other people asking them questions about their characters. What kinds of questions? Up to you! Canon questions, headcanon questions, meta questions, some random thing you've wondered since that thread you had two months ago, it's all fair game.
  
• Need ideas? I was passed this excellent gallery of various questions memes, so feel free to crib from these or just use them as inspiration.
  
• Answer the questions you receive, and, once you've done that, hit the person back with a question of your own about their character(s) too!
  
• You can end it there, or continue to go back and forth asking questions until you're out.
  

Now get to askin'!

Comments

[lunarchain]

I dont have time to play games anymore, so LET ME ASK QUESTIONS about him feel free to enlighten me with spoilers. Why is he treated as the 3rd path that just sits there and basks in everyone fighting each other(ive seen so many memes with him)? Does he have a purpose in 3hs? Like a goal? Or a want? Does this extend into Avalon in anyway?

slaps a big ol 3h spoiler warning on this for anyone scrolling through

[leicesters]

This is a really good question! In the simplest terms, he's treated as the 'neutral' party of the three lords because the central conflict is between Edelgard/the Adrestrian Empire, and the Church of Seiros, the main religion in the game. The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, Dimitri's homeland, stays loyal to the Church or is absorbed by the Empire at the war's outset in every route, while the Leicester Alliance, which Claude leads, is an independent league of nobles who aren't loyal to either the Kingdom or Empire.

Aside from the political setup being good for Claude playing neutral, he's also a very cunning and manipulative character who isn't interested in dramatic Fire Emblem battles to the death so much as being a politician who plays literally every outcome to his advantage, and so he canonically survives all the routes. In Crimson Flower (Edelgard's route), she invades the Alliance and Claude minimises the fighting, surrenders, and leaves Fódlan altogether on relatively good terms with Edelgard. (The player can choose to either kill or spare him, but sparing him is canon.) In Azure Moon (Dimitri's route), Dimitri rescues him from an Imperial invasion, and Claude responds by... leaving the Alliance in Dimitri's hands so it can be absorbed into Kingdom territory, and once again he leaves Fódlan and the conflict altogether.

If you play his own route (Verdant Wind), it's revealed he has less stake in the conflict because he's not from Fódlan but the neighbouring kingdom of Almyra -- if Fódlan is fantasy Europe, Almyra is basically analogous to a combination of Turkey and Iran. Because Almyra has poor relations with Fódlan and is constantly launching attacks on the border, he was forced to hide his real identity to avoid facing discrimination.

His true identity is Prince Khalid of Almyra, and his mother, originally from House Riegan in the Leicester Alliance, ran away from Fódlan to marry the King of Almyra. However, because Khalid was born biracial and a child of the "enemy", his life was pretty much marred by constant abuse and assassination attempts from the people around him. Eventually the mistreatment was so bad that when he realised there was a chance to become the heir to House Riegan of the Leicester Alliance, he ran away from home and rebranded himself as Claude von Riegan, enrolling at the Officer's Academy to get a Fódlan noble's education and keeping his past a secret. That's where the player first encounters him in the game in all the routes.

He gets memed on because he's a funny character who doesn't take any situation seriously and really does just seem to be there to popcorn and watch the drama unfold, but it's actually an image he tries to cultivate on purpose so people drop their guard around him and are more inclined to like him. In reality, he doesn't trust anyone because of his past, and he's very manipulative. His own actual goal is to dissolve the border between Fódlan and Almyra (either by force or by diplomacy, though he tends to prefer the latter), and eventually, all national borders so that people of any race, ethnic group, belief system etc. no longer experience discrimination for where they're from. He's pretty much the most ambitious character in the entire game because the scope of his wants waaaay exceeds the actual scope of the story itself -- he gets a bit shafted in his own route where he allies with the Church to take down the Empire, then once again leaves Fódlan in the protagonist's hands so he can take the throne in Almyra and work on his dream of merging his homeland with Fódlan.

There's enough there that he really needed his own game that has nothing to do with Edelgard's conflict, but heyooo Nintendo wanted a game where you choose a Lord like you pick a Pokémon starter, so here we are, :')

FINALLY as for how his goals extend to Avalon, he's also very invested in ensuring people get along and cooperate in Avalon, so everyone can save their worlds and go home with minimal conflict. So a few months ago he spoke out against the vote to invade Celliwig as he felt declaring war on the fae was wrong, later he organised a big feast so everyone could get together and build friendly relations with each other, and most recently he made a network post suggesting people should trust Gwion and go save Arthur in the Hall of Mirrors, etc etc. In general he's been developing a lot of broad CR and making as many friends and allies as he can try and guide outcomes to his favour. He wants to be a great unifier who brings people together just like in canon. He just won't outright admit anything if asked, because again, he's distrustful and cagey about being open with others.

I hope that explains everything properly! He's the most memed on character in 3h and he likes it that way, but it's just to hide how serious and complex he actually is :') Feel free to ask if anything's unclear and you have more questions!

[lunarchain]

omg holy crap yes that did this was so amazing I feel so fed. And extremely satisfied now when reading others threads etc. I can understand more of the relationships going on, and generally what is trying to be established!!

I know there was new dlc with a new house involved - did he get any? Showcase there either or was he basically more or less treated the same with their involvement? What are his opinions on the fact that people were more or less forcibly dragged here? Does he believe everything that King arthur has told them? Does he believe other things are going on behind scenes?

[leicesters]

The DLC's story is mostly around the fourth house, the Ashen Wolves, but he's still a playable story character in the DLC and gets a bit of background that establishes Claude is a fake name, and a support chain with one of the Wolves, Balthus, which offers more background about Claude's mother.

As for his opinions on Avalon stuff, he doesn't think they were 'dragged' here by anyone but believes the story that their familiars brought them, because he trusts his familiar and hasn't seen any evidence to the contrary. He also trusts Arthur as he's had a chance to meet him in person and gauge his character; he's also seen the Calamity at the edge of the world so he has proof that his claims are genuine. If anything happens to raise his suspicions that can change, but for now, it all seems legit!

[lunarchain]

Oh thats neat! I didnt know he had NPC cr, even more important for him to echo and establish to others to have faith in who brought him here. I love it for him!!

I love what you do with claude, and I love the series & humor I see you work with him!! I look forward to writing with you in the future more!