With the release of Fire Emblem: Three Houses I was somewhat disappointed about the lack of same sex relationships available for the main character. The Female Byleth (main character) has five female characters to choose from; Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, Rhea and Sothis. The Male Byleth has Linhardt, Alois, Gilbert, Jertiza and the newly added Yuri. Only five of them are students, and three of them are girls.
My biggest complain about the list above is that two of the characters are MARRIED and not actually a romantic attachment. Alois talks about his wife from time to time and Gilbert is not only married but Annette, one of the Blue Lions, is his daughter. These would have been better off being a A+ rank as an option rather than using S-Rank.
Sothis is not only a goddess but she’s a part of Byleth. And she’s only around for the first part of the game, while it is a bit sad to see her go, by the time you choose who you want to S-Rank the option is just a pleasant surprise. While she counts in the list I have to wonder if the writers decided to use her to cheat the number of same-sex relationships for the game.
Here’s another issue I take with this. Both of the romantic males that are available for Male Byleth have a few feminine traits. They both have longer hair, thin. Linhardt looks almost dainty and gets woozy at the sight of blood, kinda like the stereotypical female long ago. And Yuri is a gender neutral name, who has purple hair and wears eyeliner. The character designers kept the male players in mind rather the female players.
What’s also annoying is that there is a male character that would make a good option for male Byleth. The Golden Deer Leader, Claude Von Riegan. He’s a flirt, comes to rely on Byleth forming trusting relationship, and in a cutscene he invites Byleth to dance no matter the gender. If the Black Eagle Leader, Edelgard is available as a same-sex marriage than it would be nice to have a male leader be bisexual as well.
As earlier stated, the Archbishop, Rhea, is available as a romantic option for FByleth. But considering the circumstances that surrounds her relationship with Byleth, I almost find it just plain weird and bizarre. In the side story Cindered Shadows, Byleth’s mother Sitri, saw the Archbishop as her mother. Learning what you do about Rhea and Byleth in Verdant Wind, is far more complicated than just. She is a complicated character and I find it hard to decide if I like her or hate her.
But even with the questionable relationships and missed opportunities with characters it is a step in the right direction. In Fire Emblem Awakening there were only male and female relationships romantic and platonic. Fire Emblem Fates only had to two options for same sex relationships one for each sex of the avatar. So between Fates and Three Houses having such an increase in options is amazing. Now if only Nintendo can decrease the number of feminine males.
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