The Best New Characters In Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Who do we think are the coolest new characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses? We give you a hint: there is going to be a lot of representation from the Black Eagles.

I will not be talking about which characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses are the best in terms of character stats within the game. Instead, I will be listing out the coolest characters in terms of personality and role in the story. I usually pick the characters that I think are coolest anyways, rather than which characters have the best stats.

Most of the characters in Three House are fully developed and very likable. You do care a lot for the main characters, and you do become invested in their struggles. The designs for all the characters are also less exploitative than Fire Emblem Fates, a game that was heavily criticized on focusing more on objectifying the characters rather than developing them. While the characters in Three Houses are the typical good-looking young men and women we expect to see in these games at this point, they feel more three-dimensional than Fates’ characters.

The Coolest New Characters In Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Three Houses forces players to pick one of three houses in a military academy. Players from all over have their own favorite house, with their own favorite set of characters. People couldn’t get enough of these likable lads and ladies, evident by the amount of fan art that can be found on the internet. I, of course, have my favorites, which I’ll share with you all. But first, let’s talk about the honorable mentions.

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FULL GAME

Honorable Mentions

Even though there are plenty of gamers who love the cast of Three Houses in its entirety, I do think there are some lame ducks within the cast. I found a lot of the members of the school’s faculty to be uninteresting. Though you will find one of them on this list, and Shamir is also pretty cool, the rest I couldn’t get into. Not only that, but I also thought Ignatz from the Golden Deer to be the blandest student character in the entire game.

With that said, I do love most of the student characters in the game. I liked Sylvain, Ingrid, Annette, and Leonie. However, my honorable mention goes to Marianna. A woman with little words, Marianna’s self-deprecation makes her a very sympathetic and tragic character. She also has a love for animals and is religious, which makes her more fleshed out. She isn’t as cartoony than Bernadetta, who is so over-the-top with her anti-social personality, but it makes Marianna more unique and grounded.

I’ll also give another shout-out to Dimitri, the only student leader not to be on this list. I think Dimitri is secretly the most tragic main character in the entire game. However he isn’t as interesting or complex as Edelgard, nor is he as likable or charming as Claude. Its unfortunate Dimitri ended up on the short stick, yet I still find him fascinating. I think the Blue Lions route, AKA Dimitri’s route, is more interesting than the Golden Deer route, so there’s that.

Seteth

Seteth is a strange case. Initially, Rhea’s right-hand man in the Church of Seiros, Seteth was at first antagonistic towards the player at the beginning of the game. He didn’t trust the player avatar Byleth, and he comes off as unlikable. Then it turns out he has a very crazy backstory. He is one of the church’s four saints, a group of people who took part in the War of the Heroes, an ancient war. His adorable sister Flayn is his daughter, and she is also a seemingly immortal saint.

He eventually grows to trust Byleth, and you realize he is a good person. Seteth would continuously give the player optional quests throughout the game. His constants request would ultimately turn into a meme, and it made him more enduring to fans.

Claude

Claude, the heir to Leicester Alliance, is more than meets the eye. The student leader of the Golden Deer, Claude is one of the main protagonists in the game. Of the three student leaders, Claude is the most likable. He comes off as naturalistically charming, and his constant flirting made him a popular character to ship with. He is more than his layback demeanor shows; he has a complex past and is secretly smarter than most people give him credit. While it often seems like he takes a back seat to the greater conflict, especially when other characters have more crucial roles in the story, he is undeniably necessary to ground the story. Without Claude’s charm, what would be the point fighting in the first place?

Bernadetta

I’m going be honest, the remaining three characters on this list are all from the Black Eagles house. The Black Eagles were the first house I played through, and contain some of my favorite characters. The Black Eagles seem to be the most popular house in general, so it shouldn’t be too surprising.

I had my Byleth romance Bernadetta from the Black Eagles in my first playthrough. Bernadetta is an anti-social girl, who would rather stay in her room all day than go out and talk to people. She overreacts towards almost every interaction she has, often panicking if she thinks the other person dislikes her, and she constantly thinks people hate hers. Even though she could be quite over-the-top, her anxiety and lack of confidence are very relatable. A lot of us feel as if people don’t like us, and we would rather spend time in our rooms than go out. She may act hysterical most of the time. However, she does grow throughout the story. She does become a more confident person, and we all cheer for her to the very end.

Dorothea

When Dorothea’s design first showed up, the first thing I thought of was Camilla from Fire Emblem Fates. Camilla, at least to me, was a character with an outrageous design that is meant to bring in the sex appeal. Camilla ended up being a reasonably popular character, yet I always felt the character was superficial. That is what I was expecting with Dorothea, even though admittedly Dorothea has a more grounded design compared to Camilla.

That didn’t end up being the case, Dorothea is not nearly as superficial as Camilla is. Dorothea is cool. Originally a songstress for an opera company, she is the type of girl who doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone. She stands up for some of the female characters in the game and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She is a big-time flirt, but she does it because she knows her beauty won’t last forever. She needs to find a rich noble so that she can be taken care of when she’s older. Most importantly, though, is that she has a good heart and is affectionate towards all her classmates and professor. She is the type of friend you want in real life, which makes her one of the most loved characters in the game.

Edelgard

The student leader of what is arguably the most famous house in the game, Edelgard is in many ways more of the face of Fire Emblem: Three Houses than any of the other main characters, including Byleth. Not only is her design the most interesting in the game, both before and after the timeskip, she is also arguably the most important character in the plot.

It turns out that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor, the main antagonist of the game up to that point. She goes to war with the Church of Seiros. She ends up being a villain in most of the routes, including the route where you choose the Black Eagles. Her overall motives come off as egomaniacal; she wants to conquer the whole continent so that it will be one empire. But it’s the fact that we got to know Edelgard before the rug was pulled under our feet. We got to talk to her, hang out with her, and even grew to like her. She may have acted stern. However, she also seemed like a good person.

However, her betrayal stings in all the routes you chose, but none harder than the Black Eagles route. As the student leader of the Black Eagles, Edelgard was friends with all the other students. Not only does she betray them, but she also betrays them with unflinching conviction. She believes in her goal no matter what, and while she does care for her old class, she isn’t going to let anything stop her. That is what makes Edelgard the most interesting, and, in my opinion, the coolest character in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.