The Character Files
02. Our Favorite Golden Deer
Hello everyone! And welcome to The Character Files, a weekly article that delves into analysis's of popular characters! Last week, I covered Katniss Everdeen, from the Hunger Games. Now, after roughly a hundred hours of playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I’ll be covering the Embodiment of Distrust himself, Claude von Riegan. Just a head’s up, there’ll be spoilers for Three Houses, especially meaning only, since I haven’t finished the other routes yet for the Golden Deer/Verdant Wind route. ¡M┴Ⅎ ɹǝǝp uǝploפ
 |
| From the Prologue of Three Houses |
A Mysterious Past
“After all, you’re easily the student with the most secrets… Who is your father? And why did you appear so suddenly, as if from nowhere?”
-Edelgard to Claude, White Clouds (Golden Deer version) Chapter 5
Claude keeps his past close to his chest, all though if it’s pretty obvious. (at least, to the player. No one else even guesses at his heritage) I mean, come on, the clues where there from the start: For one, his skin tone and hair color is the same as Nader’s and Cyril’s, the two other Almyrans in the game. (This can be refuted by the fact that Judith also shares those traits, and she is from Fodlan. Judith is secretly part Almyran confirmed? Second, his favorite tea is Almyran Pine Needles. That’s not even trying to be subtle. Not to mention, Nader slips up and calls him “kiddo”.
To any NPC readers out there, Claude is half Almyran. His mother was the daughter of Duke Riegan, and his father was a high ranking Almyran. Shocker, I know.
His childhood was full of prejudice (due to his Fodlan heritage), murder attempts, and questionable parenting. Because of this, he became distrustful of everyone else, and earned his reputation as a schemer. In his and Byleth’s C-Support, Claude states: “As a kid I spent a lot of time licking my wounds and coming up with schemes, trying to keep my nose out of trouble while plotting against my enemies. My parents always told me I wouldn’t grow stronger if I didn’t learn to fight my own battles. And so, in the end, I did. And I grew up to be as independent and self-reliant as my parents always wished for me to be. Lucky me, right?” To summarize, the reason Claude developed his poisons and “tactical retreats” was because it was necessary to survive as a child. He doesn’t allow himself to trust anyone else, either.
Claude’s B-support with Hilda also gives some insight into his childhood. His parents taught him to toughen up, although he doesn’t seem to hate them. In fact, he seems to admire them, specifically his mother, who he calls “not your average duchess”.
Claude’s childhood also gave him his dream. His homeland, Almyra, absolutely hates Fodlan, which they say is full of cowards. Fodlan, in turn, hates Almyra, and says that it is full of war-loving ruffians. Claude, loving both his parents very much, left to Fodlan to see the other side for himself. He saw, yet again, the rampant prejudice towards other lands. But, he also saw that there was good in both Almyra and Fodlan, as well similarities between the two. He began dreaming of not only a unified Fodlan, but of a unified world, where there would be no hatred of one another’s origins; a world where cultures and perspectives could mix freely. You could say that his vision is similar to Edelgard’s, and he’d even agree with you to some extent. But there is one thing, above all, that sets him apart. Edelgard sacrificed countless many to reach her goal, believing that the ends justified the means. Claude did not. There is another thing too that separates Claude from not only Edelgard, but also Dimitri: positive character growth.
Mr Leader Man
“Yet we have the strength to scale the walls between us, to reach out our hands in friendship so we can open our true hearts to one another. That's how we win!”
-Claude, Verdant Wind Chapter 22
Unlike Edelgard and Dimitri’s descents into insanity, Claude’s timeskip is not only positive, but much more subtle. Claude at the beginning of the game was someone who could not trust nor be trusted. He’s also cowardly, to some extent. Post-timeskip, he’s much more honest and compassionate, even wiser. Compare and contrast his first and last battle. In his first, he made a ‘tactical retreat’ and laments the fact that the bandits decided to go after him (thanks to Dimitri and Edelgard). In his last battle, he deliberately gets Nemesis' attention by firing an arrow and giving an anime-esque friendship speech. Additionally, it should be noted that Claude does not want to be leader of Fodlan, (as seen in his support with Lorenz) and yet does a remarkable job of leading the Alliance at war anyway. The Alliance during the war is small, and not unified at all. Claude was the one who kept the Alliance together, under the banner of the Crest of Flames. With Byleth’s help, he convinces every lord (or nearly every lord) in the Alliance to back his cause.
Another way you can clearly see Claude’s character growth is through his quotes both pre and post time skip. He says his miss quotes much more somberly, losing the exclamation marks. For his critical quotes, "Don't hold this against me, okay?" becomes "Hold a grudge if you must!" and ”Enough is enough!” turns into “Leave, now!”. For his defeated enemy quotes, "Sorry, but victory is mine." changes to “"Sorry, but I must." and “"Never underestimate an outsider." is replaced by "We're all a little desperate." Post timeskip, Claude has become much more sympathetic to his enemies, understanding that they have their own reasons to fight. “ Leave, now!” shows that he gives warning, likely trying to stop unnecessary bloodshed unlike a certain red emperor I know. He kind of reminds me of Caeda from the Archanea Fire Emblem games, actually.
Just like with everyone else, Claude has changed, and grown, from the war. He just doesn’t show it as obviously.
Very Dear Deers
“Here in the East, we’ve no need for kings, especially when we have each other.”
-Claude, “Welcome to the Golden Deer House” Video
I’ve already established that Claude is very distrustful of other people; his charisma and friendliness are a facade. However, there are a few people he is genuinely close to. Obviously, there is everyone he can support with. But, for today, I’ll cover his (arguably) four most important character relations: Byleth, Hilda, Judith, and Nader.
Claude does not seem to trust Byleth, at least at first. He actually admits to wanting to use them for their power, specifically the ability to wield the Sword of the Creator. However, as the times pass by, he begins to open up and rely on Byleth. To show this, he goes from calling them “teach” to “my friend”. The two grow kind of dependent on each other, in a way. While Byleth needs Claude to scheme and create plans, Claude needs Byleth to carry out his plans, including his dream.
Hilda is easily the odd one out of three “retainers”. While both Hubert and Dedue were deeply loyal to their lords right from the start, Hilda didn’t meet Claude until he arrived at the Officer’s Academy! She can also be recruited on other routes, something Hubert and Dedue refuse to do. Hilda’s importance and loyalty to Claude really only shows after the timeskip, when she and Claude seem to be the best of friends, and she helps out with the war-effort quite a bit, by finding supplies, charming others, and helping create plans. She’s also one of the only characters than can see through Claude’s smile, according to their A-support.
“Claude: Well, you're always fake-crying, aren't you? Getting all misty-eyed to make people think you're a delicate flower.
Hilda: What?! You're awful! I only cry when I'm sad!
Claude: Claim what you like, but I can spot real tears from fake tears any day of the week. Fess up.
Hilda: Hm. If you understand me so well, maybe it's because you're no different.
Claude: How's that?
Hilda: When you smile or laugh, it's not sincere. I can tell. I've only seen you genuinely smile a handful of times. Like when you're talking to the professor.”
The two are very similar in their use of their charisma and their lies, and in the fact that they eventually learn to see right through each other’s masks. All in all, Hilda is very unique as far as retainers go.
Judith and Nader, on the other hand, knew Claude since before the game started. When we first meet him, Nader introduces himself as Nardel, Claude’s retainer. Judging by the fact that he accidentally calls him “kiddo”, it is implied that Nader knew Claude back when he lived in Almyra. Judith met Claude when he first enters Fodlan, and was likely the first person from Fodlan that Claude became close with (who wasn’t his family). She makes fun of Claude a lot, but will always help him out.
Conclusion
I’ll admit it, I married Claude. So perhaps I am slightly biased. But, in my opinion, Claude is one of the best characters in the game, or at least his route since I haven’t finished the others. As the situation in Fodlan gets worse and worse while Byleth’s off taking a nap, he becomes a better and better person. All three lords in Three Houses wish to see a better world: Edelgard wants to dismantle the Crest system, Dimitri wants to kill every last one of them wants to end the cycle of the strong trampling the weak, and Claude wants to end racism. These three ideals are all very similar because they all aim for equality, but all three characters have their own ways to achieve them. Claude is by far the least willing to shed blood for his dream, and comes off as both the most suspicious character (pre-timeskip) and also the most sane (post-timeskip) of the three.
Wyverns are also broken, so yeah.
“Me, you, Golden Deer? We could be great together,”-Claude, “Welcome to the Golden Deer House” Video
Up Next...
Thanks for reading this week's Character File! Unfortunately, it came out later than I’d like. Whoops?
Tune in next week where I’ll cover Lenny and George from of Mice and Men, and what they symbolize. And yes, I actually do mean next week this time.
Comments
Post a Comment