Why Crimson Flower Is The Best Fire Emblem: Three Houses Route
Spoilers for Fire Emblem: Three Houses follow
In Fire Emblem, Three Houses, your most important decision comes near the beginning of the game. After the prologue, you, the son of the mercenary Jeralt, end up being hired to teach at the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery, and must choose one of the game's eponymous three houses to teach. Your choices are the Black Eagles, which consists of students from the Empire of Adrestia, the Blue Lions, whose students are from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Golden Deer, which is for students from the Leicester Alliance. Your choice determines which of the game's three Lords you will fight alongside, which other students join your army and which route the story will take (There is an additional choice in the Black Eagles path, one that I will discuss later).
Unsurprisingly, people have strong opinions as to which path is best. My personal choice is the Black Eagles route, which is known as Crimson Flower, and I will discuss my reasons for this choice, comparing this route with the other three- Azure Moon(Blue Lions), Verdant Wind(Golden Deer) and Silver Snow(choose the Black Eagles but refuse to join Edelgard) in how it handles certain aspects of the story.
White Clouds
No matter which house you choose, the first act of the game, White Clouds, is essentially the same. It begins with Byleth, your character, meeting the three Lords, and ends with Edelgard becoming emperor of Adrestia and declaring war on the rest of Fodlan. For example, while your respective Lord reacts to the events in Chapter 8 that sheds light on his or her personal struggles, the events remain the same. Still, the choice is nevertheless significant.
The main reason why the Black Eagles route is the best choice for the first act of the game boils down to one simple reason- the revelation that the Flame Emperor's true identity is none other than Edelgard, the Lord of this route. Said revelation then forces you to make a choice- side with Edelgard and make an enemy of the Church (which will result in Flayn leaving your army forever), or stay loyal to the Church, and fight against Edelgard, her retainer Hubert and the rest of Adrestia. The twist is foreshadowed well, and forces you to think long and hard about what the right course of action is.
Of course, one shortcoming compared to the Blue Lions path (see below) is that the Black Eagles house members have backstories that show more about the country's history, but are less closely tied to the narrative than the Blue Lions. Several of the students are children of some of Adrestia's highest-ranking nobles, who were responsible for conspiring against Edelgard's father Ionius, while Dorothea and Petra provide the perspectives of an Adrestian commoner and a princess of the vassal state Brigid, respectively, but there are few cases in which any of the students besides Edelgard and Hubert are directly involved in the story.
Now, I will compare it to the other routes. The Blue Lions version of White Cloud is probably the better of the two, and is superior to the Black Eagles version in some ways. For one, each of the Blue Lions has a connection to the story, not just your Lord, Dimitri. Ashe is the adopted son of Lord Lonato, the antagonist of Chapter 3. Sylvain's older brother Miklan is the one who steals the Lance of Ruin in Chapter 5, while Gilbert, the knight who assists you in that mission, is Annette's estranged father. The Death Knight turns out to be Mercedes' younger half-brother. Dedue, Ingrid and Dimitri were all affected by the Tragedy of Duscur, which resulted in Dimitri's parents and Glenn(Felix's brother and Ingrid's fiance), as well as the persecution of Dedue and others from Duscur. Edelgard is built up as having a connection to Dimitri, so the revelation that she is the Flame Emperor, as well as (supposedly) the one responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. Of course, the impact is lesser considering that she is a side character, and there is no choice- you continue opposing her.
The Golden Deer, however, have the weakest White Clouds experience. In this case, the Flame Emperor's revelation comes with the least fanfare; after the Flame Emperor is defeated in Chapter 11, his portrait is replaced by Edelgard's, while the game continues. Compare the Blue Lions route, in which the revelation (and Dimitri's subsequent breakdown) happens in a rather memorable cutscene, or the Black Eagles route, in which Edelgard announces her true identity to her shocked classmates.
One shortcoming of the game is that Part 1 is largely identical across routes, which makes the first halves of subsequent playthroughs feel less interesting, even if the first part is an important part of the story. The differences, however, matter, and the Black Eagles version does several things noticeably better than the other two versions.
Your Lord
The Crimson Flower route can be thought of as Edelgard's route, so its success or failure depends on the strength of Edelgard as a character. While a full analysis of Edelgard would require its own essay, her scenes with Byleth and supports with the other members of the house effectively show why Edelgard believes what she does and helps show her becoming closer to her fellow students. Edelgard has some subtle but noticeable character development, much of which relates to how she could have turned out had Byleth and the others not been there for her. Without them, she would have become even more ruthless and under the sway of Those Who Slither In The Dark, but in her route, she remains focused on her ideals, and is eventually able to betray and dispose of those who had planned on using her for their own ends.
Now for the other routes. Dimitri is also a well-written character who goes through a compelling .arc, learning to let go of his desire for vengeance and become a better king for his people. His character arc is quite compelling, as well as one of the stronger aspects of Azure Moon.
Claude, unfortunately, is the least interesting of the three, possibly because he's the least flawed. He becomes somewhat more proactive in his route, trusting Byleth to unite all of Fodlan under their leadership while he takes the Almyran throne, but it's far less significant than the changes the other two undergo. Perhaps this is because, in the end, the conflict is mainly between the Kingdom and the Empire, with the Alliance as a third party of lesser importance.
You may be wondering- if you choose to oppose Edelgard on the Silver Snow route, who becomes your Lord? The answer is: no one does. Seteth serves as your second-in-command, like Hubert on Crimson Flower, Gilbert on Azure Moon or Hilda on Verdant Wind, but he has relatively little impact on the narrative. Rhea, as leader of the Church, would be your Lord, but she spends most of Silver Snow imprisoned, and barely plays a role in her own route.
It was a difficult choice between Edelgard and Dimitri, but since Edelgard is my favorite Three Houses character, I naturally enjoyed her route the most.
The Other Lords
Crimson Flower probably does the best job of incorporating the other two Lords, both of whom become secondary antagonists. Claude's primary goal is the survival of the Leicester Alliance, but his scheming nature leaves him as a possible wild card who must be dealt with if Edelgard wishes to take her war to the Kingdom and the Church. Dimitri seethes with a desire for vengeance against Edelgard, but since he did not experience the traumatic years between the other routes, he is relatively stable. As a result of his understandable but misguided quest for revenge, Dimitri and Edelgard are at odds, and tragically, he must be killed if Edelgard is to free Fodlan from Rhea's control.
Now for the other routes. In all three of the non-Crimson Flower routes, Edelgard is the main antagonist until near the end (or for the entire route, in Azure Moon), and will be discussed in the next section. This section will mainly focus on Dimitri and Claude.
Dimitri is not as well used in the non-Azure Moon routes. In Verdant Wind, he is brutally killed offscreen after the battle of Gronder Field, an event that has a great impact on his former housemates, but is seldom mentioned after that. Something similar happens on Silver Snow, save for his ghost seemingly appearing before your character.
Claude is used somewhat better in Azure Moon, eventually agreeing to have the Alliance join the Kingdom against the Empire, but rather than officially join the fight, he leaves for Almyra. In addition, he makes the uncharacteristically foolish decision of rushing into the fray at Gronder Field, resulting in him unnecessarily having to fight the Kingdom forces, as well as the Empire. As for Silver Snow, he helps provide reinforcements at Ailell, then is never seen again. Again, this is most likely largely due to the Alliance's lower importance in the narrative.
Once again, Crimson Flower handles the supporting characters the best, not just its main character.
The Villain
One might imagine that if Edelgard is my favorite Lord, I might hate Rhea, the main antagonist of Crimson Flower, but this is not the case. While I believe Rhea has done terrible things and that Fodlan would be better off under Edelgard's rule, I feel as though Rhea is actually the best of the main antagonists for each route..
For starters, Rhea has a deeply personal connection to Byleth. It is revealed late in Part 1 that Jeralt had a child with a priestess, and Lady Rhea honored Byleth's mother's wish to save the child's life by implanting Sothis' crest stone into the child, with the hope that one day, the child would become a resurrection of Sothis herself. One could imagine that Byleth's decision to join Edelgard was motivated by disgust over what Rhea did to them, and the ultimate showdown with Rhea can be seen as a logical conclusion to this storyline.
Rhea also makes a good foil to Edelgard, since while both of them have suffered at the hands of Those Who Slither In The Dark, Rhea is determined to return to the past by resurrecting her mother, while Edelgard seeks to make a future free of the Crests and the church. As a result of their opposing ideals, they are naturally enemies.
Rhea undergoes a significant amount of development over the course of the Crimson Flower route, becoming gradually more unhinged as a result of Byleth's betrayal. She also has the greatest presence in the story on that route, and unlike Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, it is easy to see the entire game as building up to the confrontation with her.
Now compare Rhea's presence (or lack thereof) on the second half of the other routes. On Azure Moon, Rhea is held prisoner in Enbarr for the entire game, and is freed offscreen after Edelgard's death. The same goes for Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, to a certain extent, although Rhea does return for the excursion into Shambhala, saving Byleth and the others from the javelins of light. In the former route, Rhea provides some exposiiton, whereas in the latter, she becomes the final boss.
While Edelgard works well as the main antagonist of Azure Moon, the other two do not fare nearly as well. In Verdant Wind, Edelgard is defeated in the third to last chapter, resulting in Byleth and the Alliance taking on the task of tracking down Those Who Slither In The Dark and rescuing Rhea, at which point Nemesis is introduced in the aftermath to serve as the final boss. Silver Snow is similar, with a last-minute final boss fight against Rhea.
This is another case in which both Azure Moon and Crimson Flower were mostly comparable to each other, but the latter ultimately prevailed.
Those Who Slither In The Dark
Those Who Slither In The Dark, the shadowy group responsible for most of the problems in the story, are a major antagonistic force, but surprisingly, there are few battles against them after the end of White Clouds.
While Those Who Slither are ostensibly Edelgard's allies, she has no true loyalty to them, and intends to betray them once she is finished. Hubert's Paralogue hints at future conflict when he ends up having to save some scientists from their out of control experiments, and learns that the group has produced a weapon that is on par with a Hero's Relic. Similarly, if Byleth is paired with Jeritza, they will be shown attacking Shambhala and fighting Those Who Slither.
One may wonder why Those Who Slither were not dealt with during the main campaign, but the answer is that it would not make any sense to. From a writing perspective, the battle against Rhea is the climax of the campaign, so an additional confrontation after that would be anticlimactic. From an in-story perspective, Edelgard still has a use for them, and has no desire to betray them until the rest of her enemies are dealt with.
Now for the other two routes. The penultimate missions of the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes feature invasions of Shambhala, in which Thales, the group's leader, is the boss who must be defeated. As good as it is to be able to confront Those Who Slither, it also makes the ending feel a bit drawn out after Edelgard's defeat, especially with yet another mission after that.
As for Azure Moon, Those Who Slither do not play much of a part. Thales ends up being killed while in his Lord Arundel persona during the battle of Deridru, while some Those Who Slither members fight alongside Hegemon Edelgard in the final battle.
In conclusion, one could argue that Those Who Slither did not get as much screentime or focus on in the plot as they deserved, and that while Crimson Flower is no less guilty of this than the others, it is the only route with a proper justification for delaying the battle against Those Who Slither.
The Second Half
If you played the other three routes, you may realize that the first few missions of the second halves are exactly identical to each other. This time, I will start with the other three, and discuss what they have in common.
As for Crimson Flower, the part in which you reclaim Garreg Mach does not take place, since it has been in the Empire's possession for the past five years. Since the Empire has all the troops it needs and both of the other nations are its enemies, it does not need to go to Ailell for reinforcements and risk an enemy ambush; with Byleth back, it can go east across the Great Bridge of Myrddin and attack the Alliance (granted, the maps are the same as Chapter 16 of the other routes, and Chapter 19 of Azure Moon, respectively). The only mission that is the same as the first half of other routes is the defense of Garreg Mach, but it features the Church as the enemy, rather than the Empire, and has some slight differences in how the battle progresses.
Once you have defeated the Alliance and successfully defended Garreg Mach, the end comes relatively quickly. After taking the fortress of Arianhod (which, admittedly, is a Paralogue in the Azure Moon route), you proceed to the two-part final battle- against Dimitri on the Tailtean Plains, and against Rhea in Fhirdiad. Some may complain that the route is shorter than the others, but it is also the most efficiently paced, and none of the missions feel extraneous. For this reason, Crimson Flower's second half is the most enjoyable part of the game.
Miscellaneous
One complaint about Crimson Flower that I will concede is that it generally relies on CG stills rather than animated cutscenes for key moments, notably Rhea turning into a dragon, Byleth's reunion with Edelgard, and Dimitri's death; Edelgard and Byleth finishing off Rhea is the only exception. It lends some credence to the idea that Crimson Flower was an afterthought, but considering that Silver Snow is largely a rehash of Verdant Wind, I would argue that this route is the afterthought, being mainly a way to let the players choose the Black Eagles without being forced to become party to Edelgard's plans.
On a more positive note, there is also a greater element of choice in Crimson Flower compared to other routes, not just the fact that you must choose whether to take this route. It is possible for you to spare Lysithea, Claude, Flayn and Seteth under various circumstances, not to mention how you can avoid defeating enemies who are not required for the mission objectives. Perhaps none of the choices you make in Part 2 change what happens in the story (e.g. you never see Claude again even if you spare him), but your choices still feel meaningful.
Conclusion
Crimson Flower has its flaws, but in many ways, is the best of the four routes in Three Houses. It is the most distinct from the other three, makes the best use of its characters and plotlines, and actualy gives you a choice after the initial hours of the game. Because of that, I recommend that anyone who plays Fire Emblem Three Houses choose this as their first route.
In Fire Emblem, Three Houses, your most important decision comes near the beginning of the game. After the prologue, you, the son of the mercenary Jeralt, end up being hired to teach at the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery, and must choose one of the game's eponymous three houses to teach. Your choices are the Black Eagles, which consists of students from the Empire of Adrestia, the Blue Lions, whose students are from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Golden Deer, which is for students from the Leicester Alliance. Your choice determines which of the game's three Lords you will fight alongside, which other students join your army and which route the story will take (There is an additional choice in the Black Eagles path, one that I will discuss later).
Unsurprisingly, people have strong opinions as to which path is best. My personal choice is the Black Eagles route, which is known as Crimson Flower, and I will discuss my reasons for this choice, comparing this route with the other three- Azure Moon(Blue Lions), Verdant Wind(Golden Deer) and Silver Snow(choose the Black Eagles but refuse to join Edelgard) in how it handles certain aspects of the story.
White Clouds
No matter which house you choose, the first act of the game, White Clouds, is essentially the same. It begins with Byleth, your character, meeting the three Lords, and ends with Edelgard becoming emperor of Adrestia and declaring war on the rest of Fodlan. For example, while your respective Lord reacts to the events in Chapter 8 that sheds light on his or her personal struggles, the events remain the same. Still, the choice is nevertheless significant.
The main reason why the Black Eagles route is the best choice for the first act of the game boils down to one simple reason- the revelation that the Flame Emperor's true identity is none other than Edelgard, the Lord of this route. Said revelation then forces you to make a choice- side with Edelgard and make an enemy of the Church (which will result in Flayn leaving your army forever), or stay loyal to the Church, and fight against Edelgard, her retainer Hubert and the rest of Adrestia. The twist is foreshadowed well, and forces you to think long and hard about what the right course of action is.
Of course, one shortcoming compared to the Blue Lions path (see below) is that the Black Eagles house members have backstories that show more about the country's history, but are less closely tied to the narrative than the Blue Lions. Several of the students are children of some of Adrestia's highest-ranking nobles, who were responsible for conspiring against Edelgard's father Ionius, while Dorothea and Petra provide the perspectives of an Adrestian commoner and a princess of the vassal state Brigid, respectively, but there are few cases in which any of the students besides Edelgard and Hubert are directly involved in the story.
Now, I will compare it to the other routes. The Blue Lions version of White Cloud is probably the better of the two, and is superior to the Black Eagles version in some ways. For one, each of the Blue Lions has a connection to the story, not just your Lord, Dimitri. Ashe is the adopted son of Lord Lonato, the antagonist of Chapter 3. Sylvain's older brother Miklan is the one who steals the Lance of Ruin in Chapter 5, while Gilbert, the knight who assists you in that mission, is Annette's estranged father. The Death Knight turns out to be Mercedes' younger half-brother. Dedue, Ingrid and Dimitri were all affected by the Tragedy of Duscur, which resulted in Dimitri's parents and Glenn(Felix's brother and Ingrid's fiance), as well as the persecution of Dedue and others from Duscur. Edelgard is built up as having a connection to Dimitri, so the revelation that she is the Flame Emperor, as well as (supposedly) the one responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. Of course, the impact is lesser considering that she is a side character, and there is no choice- you continue opposing her.
The Golden Deer, however, have the weakest White Clouds experience. In this case, the Flame Emperor's revelation comes with the least fanfare; after the Flame Emperor is defeated in Chapter 11, his portrait is replaced by Edelgard's, while the game continues. Compare the Blue Lions route, in which the revelation (and Dimitri's subsequent breakdown) happens in a rather memorable cutscene, or the Black Eagles route, in which Edelgard announces her true identity to her shocked classmates.
One shortcoming of the game is that Part 1 is largely identical across routes, which makes the first halves of subsequent playthroughs feel less interesting, even if the first part is an important part of the story. The differences, however, matter, and the Black Eagles version does several things noticeably better than the other two versions.
Your Lord
The Crimson Flower route can be thought of as Edelgard's route, so its success or failure depends on the strength of Edelgard as a character. While a full analysis of Edelgard would require its own essay, her scenes with Byleth and supports with the other members of the house effectively show why Edelgard believes what she does and helps show her becoming closer to her fellow students. Edelgard has some subtle but noticeable character development, much of which relates to how she could have turned out had Byleth and the others not been there for her. Without them, she would have become even more ruthless and under the sway of Those Who Slither In The Dark, but in her route, she remains focused on her ideals, and is eventually able to betray and dispose of those who had planned on using her for their own ends.
Now for the other routes. Dimitri is also a well-written character who goes through a compelling .arc, learning to let go of his desire for vengeance and become a better king for his people. His character arc is quite compelling, as well as one of the stronger aspects of Azure Moon.
Claude, unfortunately, is the least interesting of the three, possibly because he's the least flawed. He becomes somewhat more proactive in his route, trusting Byleth to unite all of Fodlan under their leadership while he takes the Almyran throne, but it's far less significant than the changes the other two undergo. Perhaps this is because, in the end, the conflict is mainly between the Kingdom and the Empire, with the Alliance as a third party of lesser importance.
You may be wondering- if you choose to oppose Edelgard on the Silver Snow route, who becomes your Lord? The answer is: no one does. Seteth serves as your second-in-command, like Hubert on Crimson Flower, Gilbert on Azure Moon or Hilda on Verdant Wind, but he has relatively little impact on the narrative. Rhea, as leader of the Church, would be your Lord, but she spends most of Silver Snow imprisoned, and barely plays a role in her own route.
It was a difficult choice between Edelgard and Dimitri, but since Edelgard is my favorite Three Houses character, I naturally enjoyed her route the most.
The Other Lords
Crimson Flower probably does the best job of incorporating the other two Lords, both of whom become secondary antagonists. Claude's primary goal is the survival of the Leicester Alliance, but his scheming nature leaves him as a possible wild card who must be dealt with if Edelgard wishes to take her war to the Kingdom and the Church. Dimitri seethes with a desire for vengeance against Edelgard, but since he did not experience the traumatic years between the other routes, he is relatively stable. As a result of his understandable but misguided quest for revenge, Dimitri and Edelgard are at odds, and tragically, he must be killed if Edelgard is to free Fodlan from Rhea's control.
Now for the other routes. In all three of the non-Crimson Flower routes, Edelgard is the main antagonist until near the end (or for the entire route, in Azure Moon), and will be discussed in the next section. This section will mainly focus on Dimitri and Claude.
Dimitri is not as well used in the non-Azure Moon routes. In Verdant Wind, he is brutally killed offscreen after the battle of Gronder Field, an event that has a great impact on his former housemates, but is seldom mentioned after that. Something similar happens on Silver Snow, save for his ghost seemingly appearing before your character.
Claude is used somewhat better in Azure Moon, eventually agreeing to have the Alliance join the Kingdom against the Empire, but rather than officially join the fight, he leaves for Almyra. In addition, he makes the uncharacteristically foolish decision of rushing into the fray at Gronder Field, resulting in him unnecessarily having to fight the Kingdom forces, as well as the Empire. As for Silver Snow, he helps provide reinforcements at Ailell, then is never seen again. Again, this is most likely largely due to the Alliance's lower importance in the narrative.
Once again, Crimson Flower handles the supporting characters the best, not just its main character.
The Villain
One might imagine that if Edelgard is my favorite Lord, I might hate Rhea, the main antagonist of Crimson Flower, but this is not the case. While I believe Rhea has done terrible things and that Fodlan would be better off under Edelgard's rule, I feel as though Rhea is actually the best of the main antagonists for each route..
For starters, Rhea has a deeply personal connection to Byleth. It is revealed late in Part 1 that Jeralt had a child with a priestess, and Lady Rhea honored Byleth's mother's wish to save the child's life by implanting Sothis' crest stone into the child, with the hope that one day, the child would become a resurrection of Sothis herself. One could imagine that Byleth's decision to join Edelgard was motivated by disgust over what Rhea did to them, and the ultimate showdown with Rhea can be seen as a logical conclusion to this storyline.
Rhea also makes a good foil to Edelgard, since while both of them have suffered at the hands of Those Who Slither In The Dark, Rhea is determined to return to the past by resurrecting her mother, while Edelgard seeks to make a future free of the Crests and the church. As a result of their opposing ideals, they are naturally enemies.
Rhea undergoes a significant amount of development over the course of the Crimson Flower route, becoming gradually more unhinged as a result of Byleth's betrayal. She also has the greatest presence in the story on that route, and unlike Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, it is easy to see the entire game as building up to the confrontation with her.
Now compare Rhea's presence (or lack thereof) on the second half of the other routes. On Azure Moon, Rhea is held prisoner in Enbarr for the entire game, and is freed offscreen after Edelgard's death. The same goes for Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, to a certain extent, although Rhea does return for the excursion into Shambhala, saving Byleth and the others from the javelins of light. In the former route, Rhea provides some exposiiton, whereas in the latter, she becomes the final boss.
While Edelgard works well as the main antagonist of Azure Moon, the other two do not fare nearly as well. In Verdant Wind, Edelgard is defeated in the third to last chapter, resulting in Byleth and the Alliance taking on the task of tracking down Those Who Slither In The Dark and rescuing Rhea, at which point Nemesis is introduced in the aftermath to serve as the final boss. Silver Snow is similar, with a last-minute final boss fight against Rhea.
This is another case in which both Azure Moon and Crimson Flower were mostly comparable to each other, but the latter ultimately prevailed.
Those Who Slither In The Dark
Those Who Slither In The Dark, the shadowy group responsible for most of the problems in the story, are a major antagonistic force, but surprisingly, there are few battles against them after the end of White Clouds.
While Those Who Slither are ostensibly Edelgard's allies, she has no true loyalty to them, and intends to betray them once she is finished. Hubert's Paralogue hints at future conflict when he ends up having to save some scientists from their out of control experiments, and learns that the group has produced a weapon that is on par with a Hero's Relic. Similarly, if Byleth is paired with Jeritza, they will be shown attacking Shambhala and fighting Those Who Slither.
One may wonder why Those Who Slither were not dealt with during the main campaign, but the answer is that it would not make any sense to. From a writing perspective, the battle against Rhea is the climax of the campaign, so an additional confrontation after that would be anticlimactic. From an in-story perspective, Edelgard still has a use for them, and has no desire to betray them until the rest of her enemies are dealt with.
Now for the other two routes. The penultimate missions of the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes feature invasions of Shambhala, in which Thales, the group's leader, is the boss who must be defeated. As good as it is to be able to confront Those Who Slither, it also makes the ending feel a bit drawn out after Edelgard's defeat, especially with yet another mission after that.
As for Azure Moon, Those Who Slither do not play much of a part. Thales ends up being killed while in his Lord Arundel persona during the battle of Deridru, while some Those Who Slither members fight alongside Hegemon Edelgard in the final battle.
In conclusion, one could argue that Those Who Slither did not get as much screentime or focus on in the plot as they deserved, and that while Crimson Flower is no less guilty of this than the others, it is the only route with a proper justification for delaying the battle against Those Who Slither.
The Second Half
If you played the other three routes, you may realize that the first few missions of the second halves are exactly identical to each other. This time, I will start with the other three, and discuss what they have in common.
- Chapter 13: Reclaim Garreg Mach from the bandits squatting inside it.(Personally, this is my least favorite mission in the game, since you only start out with Byleth and your Lord, and your only reinforcements are the units from your House, but that is beside the point)
- Chapter 14: Defend Garreg Mach from Randolph's strike force.
- Chapter 15: .Meet up with reinforcements in Ailell. The only difference is that you meet Rodrigue on Azure Moon, and Judith on Verdant Wind and Silver Snow.
- Chapter 16: Cross the Great Bridge of Myrddin, going east to west.
- Chapter 17: Fight in Gronder Field. This mission is not present on Silver Snow, but you hear about the aftermath.
As for Crimson Flower, the part in which you reclaim Garreg Mach does not take place, since it has been in the Empire's possession for the past five years. Since the Empire has all the troops it needs and both of the other nations are its enemies, it does not need to go to Ailell for reinforcements and risk an enemy ambush; with Byleth back, it can go east across the Great Bridge of Myrddin and attack the Alliance (granted, the maps are the same as Chapter 16 of the other routes, and Chapter 19 of Azure Moon, respectively). The only mission that is the same as the first half of other routes is the defense of Garreg Mach, but it features the Church as the enemy, rather than the Empire, and has some slight differences in how the battle progresses.
Once you have defeated the Alliance and successfully defended Garreg Mach, the end comes relatively quickly. After taking the fortress of Arianhod (which, admittedly, is a Paralogue in the Azure Moon route), you proceed to the two-part final battle- against Dimitri on the Tailtean Plains, and against Rhea in Fhirdiad. Some may complain that the route is shorter than the others, but it is also the most efficiently paced, and none of the missions feel extraneous. For this reason, Crimson Flower's second half is the most enjoyable part of the game.
Miscellaneous
One complaint about Crimson Flower that I will concede is that it generally relies on CG stills rather than animated cutscenes for key moments, notably Rhea turning into a dragon, Byleth's reunion with Edelgard, and Dimitri's death; Edelgard and Byleth finishing off Rhea is the only exception. It lends some credence to the idea that Crimson Flower was an afterthought, but considering that Silver Snow is largely a rehash of Verdant Wind, I would argue that this route is the afterthought, being mainly a way to let the players choose the Black Eagles without being forced to become party to Edelgard's plans.
On a more positive note, there is also a greater element of choice in Crimson Flower compared to other routes, not just the fact that you must choose whether to take this route. It is possible for you to spare Lysithea, Claude, Flayn and Seteth under various circumstances, not to mention how you can avoid defeating enemies who are not required for the mission objectives. Perhaps none of the choices you make in Part 2 change what happens in the story (e.g. you never see Claude again even if you spare him), but your choices still feel meaningful.
Conclusion
Crimson Flower has its flaws, but in many ways, is the best of the four routes in Three Houses. It is the most distinct from the other three, makes the best use of its characters and plotlines, and actualy gives you a choice after the initial hours of the game. Because of that, I recommend that anyone who plays Fire Emblem Three Houses choose this as their first route.
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