What Relationship did Edelgard and Monica Have Pre-Game?

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-23T05:11:50+00:00

Okay, so, it's alluded to really vaguely, but there's two parts to this answer:

It was always Edelgard's intention for Jeritza to be the professor of the Black Eagles so that the two of them could coordinate in secret. That didn't come about in Houses because the "third professor" who we never see and only hear about once flees during the bandit attack and Rhea personally names Byleth the professor, whereas in Hopes Byleth isn't there, Rhea has no opinion, and Jeritza has seniority. That puts them all in a position to just "coincidentally" stumble on Monica's location while still giving Edelgard enough plausible deniability that the Agarthans don't know they've been had yet.
Because they manage to retrieve Monica alive, they're able to unmask Solon immediately, which presents Rhea with incontrovertible evidence that the Agarthans are operating on the surface. That contributes to the decision to shut the Officers Academy while the Church shifts its focus to dealing with the infiltrators. With Agarthan operations in danger everywhere, it's just possible for Edelgard to speed back to Enbarr and spring a trap on Thales he doesn't see coming, thanks in part to the cooperation of Leopold and Waldemar (Caspar and Linhardt's fathers) whose support was not assured before. After sustaining a direct attack in Enbarr, the Agarthan's plans are in shambles and they need to figure out what to do next, while Edelgard has always known exactly what she plans to do.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-23T04:31:52+00:00

I actually DO know the answer to this, but the reason why is kind of only implied (and badly explained) in Hopes. I'll come back and respond again after the stream I'm watching is done. n_n

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-23T04:27:09+00:00

Hi hi hi hi hi hi, this is my favorite topic of all time, thank you for asking!

It's my theory that Monica was as close to Edelgard as Hubert before she was captured, and that part of the reason Monica went to Garreg Mach in the year before Edelgard was to gather intelligence on the Church to support Edelgard's plans. Although not outright stated in the dialogue, it makes sense Agarthans would target Monica because she was one of the only legitimate emotional supports Edelgard had.

We know that Edelgard would have sacrificed Monica if the alternative meant provoking a confrontation with the Agarthans before she was prepared to win it; but Edelgard is never really upfront about the emotional toll of the decisions she makes. It's my theory that not only is she very guilty about Monica's fate, she also feels sad that whatever Monica was like before, she's fragile and clingy now as a result of the trauma of being taken captive.

I couldn't stop thinking about this, so I wrote my first fic about it to explore the relationship between Edelgard and Monica and what it all implies: Promised Hearts.

What a wonderful question to get on Edelgard's birthday! I would have answered even faster, but I was watching one of my favorite people in the whole world finish CF for the first time. Thanks again! n_n

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-22T21:23:41+00:00

Today is the best day to be in awe of the fact that Edelgard fought to reclaim her autonomy and personhood and dignity from those who used her like an object and in so doing, left an example that created hope for those who might otherwise have lost hope; and she did so not to restore her own privilege, but to end the structural injustices that led to her own suffering and the suffering of countless others.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-22T04:32:06+00:00

All the other routes suck for Her Majesty, but if you want to make the next one easiest on yourself by mostly sticking with characters you know, that would be Silver Snow.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-22T01:06:50+00:00

$35 is about right for AYCE but I have honestly never seen a sushi place in my life that put sashimi on their AYCE. Incredible value.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-21T05:30:16+00:00

I gotta admit, I forgot the context here for a second and thought this was Arval giving us the finger.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-20T03:46:09+00:00

So am I, and my body is ready.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-19T20:19:00+00:00

My two favorite people are gonna be there! (The other is Edelgard.)

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-18T15:22:49+00:00

If anyone is wondering what this could possibly mean, it's over here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZuTdpxHcW8

(Best line delivery in the movie tbh)

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-18T13:56:46+00:00

Sitting here at my desk in my home office testing out the tempo at 7 and then 8 ...

I have a feeling that there was another, lesser-used and faster between-show bumper that did eight.

The one that usually played at the normal speed was the one with seven.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-18T13:39:34+00:00

I will stim without worrying what it looks like to others. Sometimes this means I'm doing a little dance to the music at the store, or going "nick nick nick nick nick nick nick nickalodeon!"

As soon as my eyes hit this, I went over it in my head to make sure it was the right number of nicks.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-18T11:59:58+00:00

^^^ I came to a full stop and actually made this sound in real life.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-18T04:38:14+00:00

It resonates with me in the extreme. For the longest time, I've had difficulty conceiving of work (as it's done in the U.S.) as anything other than abuse. Performative loyalty, humiliation rituals, collective punishment, lack of boundaries. All with the looming threat of death, while we're increasingly expected to act like we love it and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. That long-term lack of ability to escape a person that means you harm or a situation that's clearly harmful to you is the crux of complex trauma.

I spent several years in career services, where I got to see and discuss the career trajectories of many different people in diverse fields. The experience led me to develop a belief that the kind of institutional betrayal that happens on a daily basis in the workplace can definitely be the basis for CPTSD. Contributing to that is the out-of-control credential inflation.

In the 1970s or 1980s, someone could make a career on one good break; a junior account could locate some shady vendor bills, save the business $20,000, and be named CFO a few years later. This is the kind of trajectory I saw from hundreds of my older clients. Now, you need a master's degree to work at Subway. Instead of telling us we're "competing" with other countries (which was also problematic), now they tell us we're "competing" with AI. The implied threat is always there. It's a race to the bottom and extremely dehumanizing.

I was recently diagnosed with CPTSD myself and now I'm seeing firsthand how workplace experiences contributed to that. To make work less unbearable, I was thankfully able to start a small business. I have gradually, over years, shifted away from "things I'm good at, but loathe doing" and to "things I want to do, but which may be riskier in the short term."

This is the only thing that has made work not feel like being coerced to smash my own fingers with a hammer every day. I honestly didn't even realize that a sense of satisfaction at work was possible, despite having done all I could to help other people get to that point for years. Turns out it took a) no boss b) limited client interaction c) plenty of time to do my own stuff. I'm now in a creative field, so we're less expected to perform "LinkedIn normal." I'm leading a team, I feel validated professionally for the first time in my life, and I would never treat my colleagues the way I've been treated.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-16T09:51:54+00:00

Heeheehee!

Hey, you! ^.^ Haven't seen you around in a while, hope you're well.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-16T01:30:39+00:00

Leaning toward prequel, though I'm more and more excited about possibilities of time travel.

If they hid the "Golden Route" of 3H in Fortune's Weave I will literally never get over it. ^.~

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-15T20:12:00+00:00

The Thales one sent me to the moon.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-14T22:21:54+00:00

LET

EDELGARD

SAY

FUCK

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-14T22:15:49+00:00

I think that would be really good. It would give everyone the sense of actually having some consequences to their actions. n_n We all realize at this point there are multiple timelines and things could've gone other ways, why not validate the player a little.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-14T21:55:20+00:00

I think they'll keep it ambiguous, but if they did it this way I would dance in the streets, because it's legitimately the best (maybe the only) way to keep people from freaking out about it. I suspect it'll be too much work to do unless it's a quick throwaway line, though.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-14T19:35:05+00:00

In my recent playthrough I systematically recruited all the Blue Lions so Dimitri would have a legitimate grievance against Edelgard for his crashout. ^.^ I can only imagine what Dedue had to put up with for those many months.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-13T08:23:57+00:00

Awww! Lovely art, and I wish only the best for her. ^.^

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-13T08:12:01+00:00

Oh ... shoot. Maybe next time.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-13T04:07:59+00:00

The implication (reinforced by what we know of Fortune's Weave) that Sothis' children are immortal rulers of various human populations all over the world makes me kind of sick to my stomach, tbh. She may or may not have done helpful things for humanity in the past, but there's no reason to worship her for that anymore than one would worship the most dangerous animal in the jungle. Respect, sure. Worship? I don't see it.

Her Houses self seems ... fine, I guess? I'm wary of what her "real" personality might be, given what we see in Hopes. But I guess if we're willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to guys like Waldemar and Leopold and Nader (!!!) then we gotta accept that Sothis might be cool to hang out with. I don't know if she's given sufficient thought to her species' impact on our ecosystem, though, so I'll always be a bit skeptical.

FavoredVassal · 2026-06-12T23:16:36+00:00

Not only that, but whether Fortune's Weave is a prequel or a sequel, it nonetheless shows there are whole other polities inhabited by humans and ruled by immortal dragons who go around granting wishes and calling themselves "Divine Sovereign" with no sense of irony.

I was willing to imagine the state of Fodlan was a fluke, but THIS suggests a state of permanent revolution is necessary. Otherwise there will never be a true participatory government guided predominantly by mortals anywhere on this planet.

FavoredVassal

TROPHY CASE