Rhea has been something of a controversial character for fans of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Throughout the story, regardless of which route you choose, she’s constantly treading a morally gray path in pursuit of her goals.
Some of it is necessary and for the benefit of her people, but at times it seems unusually cruel or entirely selfish. While there are some acts that paint her as an unmistakable villain there are times when she is a force of great good. To help you decide whether you see Rhea as the villain or not here are some things you should consider.
10 Main Villain: Created Life To Serve As Vessels For Her Mother
Since her mother’s death, Rhea has been tirelessly trying to devise the means to resurrect her mother. For roughly one thousand years she creates a number of living vessels to ultimately act as hosts for her mother.
There’s a strange area between natural life, artificial life, and necromancy that Rhea is dabbling in and using to create beings. It’s also grotesque to think that she’s creating these beings that are for all intents and purposes human, but ultimately sees them as objects meant to give her mother life.
9 Isn’t: She’s Incredibly Tolerant
It’s hard to see Rhea as a villain given how peaceful, prosperous, and happy the empire is before and after her mother’s death. While a villain or tyrant could produce a prosperous nation it’s hard to create one where citizens are free to have their own ideologies and even religions.
Granted anything that opposes the Church or the people isn’t tolerated, but if a new church is established that doesn’t threaten the people or cause problems they’re free to do and live as they wish.
8 Main Villain: Uses Byleth
Byleth, her twelfth creation, is strong enough that Rhea believes he/she could reasonably house her mother. Whether you see this as Sothis literally taking over the host’s body or co-inhabiting the same body either scenario is deeply unsettling.
In the end Byleth and Sothis share a body and many fans wonder how willing Byleth was for this to happen, given his/her entire existence was specifically created for this moment. How much of this was free will and how much was programmed in by Rhea?
7 Isn’t: Save’s Byleth As A Baby
When Byleth was stillborn and his/her mother begged Rhea to do something. Rhea was fully capable of creating another being to house her mother and could have called it a wash, but instead did whatever she could to help him/her live.
Granted this may have been done for selfish reasons, but why risk the vessel you have for one that may not survive? Why bother at all when you can merely start over? It was a loving act done for the mother to protect the child.
6 Main Villain: Rewrote History
After the death of her mother the land would have been in absolute turmoil over her death, the slaughter of the Children of the Goddess, and the nature of the crests. To avoid answering these questions and keep the region placated she rewrote history.
She changed why things happened the way they did, she changed the nature of the actors behind the scenes, and the body parts used to create objects of power become gifts from the gods that were willingly given to the people. A much more convenient scenario for Rhea to begin her experiments without the distraction of a distraught and panicked populace.
5 Isn’t: Sacrifices Herself To Save Byleth
Byleth was meant to be the vessel for her mother and Rhea willingly sacrifices her own life to ensure not only the safety of him/her but all those who proved loyal and faithful to her and the Church. Some could argue that she did this to protect whatever part of her mother was now inhabiting Byleth, but this doesn’t explain the sacrifices she makes for others.
The whole point behind bringing her mother back was to be with her, sacrificing her life for those not housing her mother makes little sense in this context if she’s a heartless villain.
4 Main Villain: She Set Fire To Fhirdiad
Rather than lick her wounds, admit defeat, and try to find some way of coexisting with Edelgard for the good of the people she does the unthinkable. She sets fire to Fhirdiad to send her enemy a message. She knowingly directed her most faithful subjects to set fire to the homes of those under her wing out of spite.
It’s a diabolical and selfish mindset to think that torching your own people is more preferable than allowing them to live life as best they can under another’s rule. These people would have hardly been subjected to unspeakable evil under Edelgard’s vision of utopia, you could argue they might have been just as well off if not better, so it’s hard to imagine why widescale slaughter was preferable.
3 Isn’t: Gives Her Own Blood To Benefit Others
Whenever an empire sought to align themselves with the Church a ritual would be carried out where Rhea uses her own blood to seal the deal by gifting them with their own crest. The power of these crests enables these rulers to thwart enemies and better serve their own people.
You could say that this is done to incentivize other nations to ally themselves with the church to increase her power and resources, but to give a crest to anyone who pays lip service to her is incredibly dangerous, especially if they wind up in TWSITD hands. This had to have been reserved for those she could trust and knew had good hearts.
2 Main Villain: Constantly Lying For Her Own Benefit
The main argument suggesting Rhea is a villain is the fact that she never stops lying. She lies about the history of the crests and the Church, she lies about her actions constantly, she lies about Sitri’s fate, she lies to Byleth repeatedly, and more.
It’s only on her deathbed that she finally comes clean about everything. If she was going to be honest with anyone it would have been the potential host for her mother, but instead she strings together a number of tall tales, fibs, and manipulative statements to ensure her ends are met.
1 Isn’t: Gives Up Her Power In The End
When Edelgard and the majority of TWSITD are destroyed and peace seems apparent she gives up her power. She abandons her quest to fully resurrect her mother, she walks away from her experiments with the crest, and gives Byleth authority over the Church.
She could’ve continued trying to bring her mother back and maintained a firm grip over the region, but in the end she realizes that the mistakes she’s made have caused as many problems as she’d tried to solve. Rhea removes herself from the equation in order to give humanity a chance.
NEXT: Fire Emblem: Which Three Houses Character Are You Based On Your Zodiac Sign?
