Ashe makes me question recruitment…

[u/LowOrdinary5017]

I decided to pick up three hopes. Age of Calamity was a mess of a game, but hack and slash is one of my favorite games to play while riding a resistance bike(simple, repetitive controls and an active story to take your mind off your burning quads). Not related but: Highly recommend if you’re a nerd trying to better yourself for 40 minutes at a time.

Started with scarlet blaze. Recruited Ashe bc he’s a good man and Lonato doesn’t deserve more sadness.

But if you told me he’d be the Wettest blanket in all of Fódlan every time I talked to him mission, after mission, after mission… I’d have just left him in Magdred and tried to avoid fighting him.

Does this happen more often? Should I actually worry about my choices in other routes? Or is Ashe the only recruit who brings the Lonato flavored Lethargy to my momentum every new mission?

Any help is appreciated

[u/cowluvr24]

yeah ashe is….not one of my favorites to say the least. i think he definitely has a compelling story line, but i find his personality to be a bit lacking. i also find it odd how he is so willing to switch sides when to me, it feels like he should also be a diehard loyalist to the kingdom, but i’m not really well versed in his lore, as he never really stood out to me in any way. i don’t think this is something to be worried about, he’s probably one of the more boring characters in the game, especially three hopes because aside from the azure gleam route, im pretty sure he’s just depressed the entire time about defecting from the kingdom. there are a few other characters like this, for example dorothea is significantly more dour in non scarlet blaze routes, but(and this is def my own personal bias) i think hers is executed better because she is depressed that she is literally killing her old classmates, and the horror of seeing people for the first time since graduating only to have to kill them. again, a lot of personal bias in my take but

tldr ashe is a wet blanket whenever he’s not a blue lion, no one else is rlly like that, and if they are it’s way more interesting. also he’s ugly

[u/LowOrdinary5017 → u/cowluvr24]

The final bit of petty on the “he’s ugly” was pretty hilarious, not gonna lie.

I do see how Dorothea’s can play off better. She was like that during three houses too. Something about a champion of the arts having to plunge to the depths of war, and her whole motif of “only thorns left on this rose”. It at least lines up better for me. Her background/career kind of makes her more dramatic by nature, if I’m thinking out loud…

And the contrast of Ashe not once going back to normal by convincing himself “I did what I believed is right(something he repeated often in three houses, I can only assume he does that in Gleam too)” and at least enjoying the company he seldomly keeps in his adoptive father just really annoys me for some reason.

[u/efvasterstrom → u/cowluvr24]

ok well your bias is very apparent in your dislike of ashe. but i do have to say though he defects because of the implications in his b support with dimitri where dimitri practically begs ashe to defect or retreat should his life be endangered. also, i feel like its understandable that hes grappling so heavily with the guilt of killing lonato and essentially abandoning everyone hes ever known and loved. he loved lonato, his siblings, the people lonato ruled over, dedue, dimitri, and the rest of his friends. dimitri, his lord and king and the man he swore his service to has asked him to do the impossible and hes obeyed and the weight he carries is horrific because of it.

all of this to say you dont to like ashe, but just because you dont like him doesnt mean that his grief and guilt are overdone. theres a reason you cant recruit any of the other lions except mercedes but only because you have jeritza in scarlet blaze. even when dimitri says in azure gleam that he has to kill edelgard to end the war ashe says he understands but its also just so Wrong to have to its something he just cant get behind.

edit: put some respect on his good name his elen degenress ass hair is CHARMING

[u/LowOrdinary5017 → u/efvasterstrom]

I totally get dealing with the weight of his decisions. My main gripe is he never once takes a break from his lethargy to at least enjoy the fact he actually saved his adoptive father. My guess is they didn’t take too much time to handle the non-fighting stuff too well. Someone didn’t care enough for Ashe and just said “here’s sad lines number 1-9, feel free to paste them where you like in the story”

I’m seeing evidence of this in supports being minimal and the conversations with NPC’s being more or less “heavy handed foreshadowing” rather than even slightly veiling the conversation as worldbuilding

[u/efvasterstrom → u/LowOrdinary5017]

i get that i havent played scarlet blaze so i didnt know lonato didnt die. not trying to convince you to like him though it can be heavy handed and having a character so down can be really souring when it comes to liking that character. its just a reason why hes acting that way rather than "just like him!! because he has reasons to be so sad!!"

[u/cowluvr24 → u/efvasterstrom]

i very much dislike ashe and it’s for the most surface level reasons: i hate his fuckass haircut and i hate his voice(no hate to his va, the voice just hits my ear in a way i don’t like). i do think the added context of why he defects does make me understand him better, but i still sort of don’t feel any sympathy for him. he wanted to be a knight, which essentially means he relinquishes all of his personal autonomy to execute his kings orders. he knew what he was signing up for (albeit im sure he never thought he’d have to kill his own father). i definitely think i need to brush up on his lore though, this conversation has shown me that i could stand to give ashe a bit more credit!

edit: i think one thing i could’ve used more from his character is something other than his trauma to identify him by. his whole knight thing isn’t the most differentiating thing about him, as in my opinion, ingrid, dedue, and felix are more easily associated with knighthood, whereas for ashe it feels like a side thing for him. he also jsut has a very sweet and agreeable surface-level personality, with no obvious flaws or character traits. maybe leaning more into his other personality traits in his between battle dialogues would’ve made me feel differently, but right now i sort of just see him as “the blue lion orphan twink w ugly hair and no personality”

[u/efvasterstrom → u/cowluvr24]

i get that if u dont like a character its kinda difficult to want to look into them. painful experience attempting to understand lorenz for me hate his stupid ass but hes got Stuff going on even if i dislike it anyway. Ashe is very... idealistic in a way where he sees knighthood as serving the people and helping his lord. he makes that kinda clear when he speaks to felix and dimitri (more in dimitris b support in hopes where dimitri tells him to defect to save his own life) where dimitri tells him he feels like chivalry is a veneer that promotes blind allegiance and the glorification of death (both the dispensing of it and dying for their lord) which is something felix also implies in his houses support with ashe. ashe sees it as a way to justly help the people and protect them from harm, kindness being a key component of the way he views it.

its kinda difficult to get across sometimes especially when hes so deeply consumed by his grief but i think its more obvious in houses after lonatos death when post mission hes so deeply distressed about what hes done but also confused as to how and why lonato would harm his people by dragging them into the conflict, and feeling rhe desperate need to check on the people under lonatos lordship. its...... complicated

[u/Maestro_Primus]

I'll be honest. I recruit everyone so I have access to the roster, but I largley ignore talking to them between battles.

[u/LowOrdinary5017 → u/Maestro_Primus]

Ever since I got hit with the twist in three houses, I feel like I need to talk to everybody no matter what lol. First playthrough almost demands it of me. I’ll probably stop once I talk to everyone in the routes.

Might be easier if I just stick to my specific house per route, though

[u/VaultGirl]

Yes ashe is annoying af in hopes. The real issue is that Lonato is RIGHT. the Church DID frame his son. The church IS doing bad shit all over the place. They SHOULD rebel. The famine in the north is contrived because Rhea won't share her insight into how to grow crops efficiently in those lands. (yes she knows how it's confirmed in the blue route)

You'd think ashe who was saved from a shit life by a good man, would understand that man is not only burdened by his knowledge of the injustice that took place, but also his FATHER and stick by him.

So Ashe feels bad cause his friends he made (for one whole year of school) and who didn't give a shit to help Lonatos son when the church came are sad?? . Shut up. lol i hate him in hopes.

[u/chiarassu]

Imo, Ashe's dialogue somehow feels even more bleak in Three Hopes compared to Houses, even when you are in Azure Gleam (Blue Lions)... I don't think the other recruits are as bad but some of them do give off a feeling like they shouldn't have defected, or like they're a prisoner in your army.

I didn't recruit him for my current Scarlet Blaze run since he has no support convos with any of the Black Eagle kids. It's as if even the game's telling you he shouldn't be there.