They're All War Criminals

[@intydee994]

Wow... Thank you so much for watching and commenting. You all have absolutely made my entire week if not month!

[@goatslayer3160]

Dedue gave crest stones to the kingdom soldiers to transform into demonic beasts in Crimson Flower. Does that count?

[@nessdbest8708]

Dedue actually can get one war crime as he can use fire magic

[@mauroramondo5855]

@@goatslayer3160 and he transformed himself into a demonic beast as well

[@valencia5572]

Dedue commits a war crime in the second to last chapter of Crimson Flower in taking and giving his soldiers crest stones. While this wasn't forced upon them, I can't see this not being a crime

[@sebastianpijov8708]

There's a few obscure crimes you can also consider 1. All rout maps are technically actions of no quarter drawn and should be considered as war crimes for those that enforce it. 2. Looting civilian and church sites is also a warcrime, so you can add a potential charge there. 3. Reah orders the death of the members of the Western Church without trail, a potential warcrime. 4. Byleth can use fire magic, and his canon unique class can use magic, so into prison he goes. 5. Edelgard is likely not involved in the kidnapping of Monica, and Remire village is in the territory of Arundel, an empire noble, so you can argue that she isn't guilty here. But she does attack a religion, attempt to loot church artifacts at least 2 times, attempts to regicide on multiple occasions, and unless stopped by Byleth will attempt genocide against Reah's people. 6. Both Seteth and Claude attempted to destroy the Agarthians, and if not for Thales suicidal nuke could be charged for genocide. 7. The use of holy relics and weaponry can be considered here, given that the crestless cannot use these without biological mutilation, and those with crests could have undergone unethical experimentation. 8. Anyone who uses demonic beasts can be charged with waging war without regard for incidental damage or loss of life occured. 9. Bringing someone back to life probably should be a crime against humanity, and using unethical experiments in order to do so merely reinforces the idea that it is a criminal act, so Reah and the Agarthians are culpable, with the rest of the church and Edelgard technically innocent. 10. In most routes, Edelgard will aid Cordelia in usurping the throne of the kingdom of Fargeus, so regicide. 11. Byleth is potential a child soldier, so Jeralt should at the very least should be investigated. And most importantly of all, Dimitri's most famous line is a criminal offence.

[@famguy292]

Lorenz’s hair is a war crime.

[@l.n.3372]

Hey! His post time skip hair is fine! Pre time skip tho ...

[@southparkking2]

Don't dis the land squidward. His memecut is chad. .3.

[@d_mon9631]

his barber is guilty of causing unnecessary suffering

[@alpha_c.]

resisting the urge to commit warm crimes upon you rn

[@shirokatta4051]

Lorenz’s personality is a war crime

[@tiger5869]

Seteth is basically a war crimes hero. He not only gets the whole squad to come get in on the war crime action, but also announces a war crime verbatim and commits the most war crimes of a non Edelgard faction member! What a guy

[@constrainedanacronysm1370]

Based Dragon Dad.

[@intydee994]

He really is, Dedue may have won in least war crimes, but Seteth won the real hero award

[@nightscout9979]

Silver Snow is unintentionally funny at times because of Seteth. Byleth will say a brief, basic statement and Seteth will draft an entire battle plan and act like that's what Byleth is secretly thinking. He'll also speculate if, should Edelgard's mysterious allies (the Agarthans) be part of an organized group or nation, Byleth's forces will have to kill every last one of the Agarthans. I hear this stuff and think "Seteth, dude, I know you're just throwing comments at the wall, but you can't be saying this kind of stuff. Your sister at least doesn't think about war crimes until she's insane from trauma, dang."

[@Lokiiru]

@@nightscout9979 LMFAOOO YEAH I remember this one part where Byleth said to go back to Garreg Mach instead of proceeding immediately to Enbarr (i think?) and Seteth was like.. "I see... You're saying we should retreat so that the Imperial army thinks that we...." and i was like "what? no we just go back to the monastery at the end of each month"

[@yoshiking6027]

This is why seteth is the best

[@Neonlight3934]

Dedue is a Chad, 0 War crimes, the most humble person in the Game.

[@Timothy_-ve2zp]

A pure soul, indeed

[@Rexis102]

Dedue suffered as a result of a war crime, a genocide, so he would not wish that pain on anyone.

[@SuperGiga64]

Would dedue attempting to kill edelgard without trial in VW be considered a war crime?

[@danie8944]

Dedue's turning in a demonic beasts during crimson flower could be considered biological warfare- BOOM warcrime

[@Rexis102]

@@SuperGiga64to be fair… Edelgard has refused surrender multiple times leading up to that final attack. And Dedue technically can’t kill her, he always leaves her at 1HP so he is technically sparing her.

[@HouseOfAlastrian]

One other point regarding Byleth committing the war crime of employing child soldiers... that one can also be pinned on Rhea and Seteth, as these missions Byleth sends their class on are officially sanctioned by the Church of Seiros. In fact they're the ones who put Byleth up to it.

[@xtcarnagerocks8915]

You could also argue that they force Byleth to do it since even Jeralt states that you can't just run from the church.

[@HouseOfAlastrian]

@@xtcarnagerocks8915 that is most definitely true. He feared Rhea after what happened to Sitri and how Byleth came out of that with no heartbeat. But when the Knights of Seiros caught up with him in Three Houses, he knew he could not reject them... even though it was soft-hearted Alois who was the one who was responsible for dragging him back there. In Three Hopes, Jeralt makes it a non-negotiable condition of his employment that he not ever be placed anywhere near the Knights of Seiros... especially in Azure Gleam where the Kingdom is sheltering the Church. And he especially doesn't want Byleth to be anywhere near Rhea under any circumstance. Yeah... whenever the Church sees you as a resource valuable to their cause, then Goddess help you if you should ever say no to what they ask of you.

[@MsAnimefan95]

Well, it IS a military academy, and none of the students can actually die until after the timeskip. They only officially become soldiers when the war starts, and the church tells the students (even the Black Eagles) that they're free to leave.

[@HouseOfAlastrian]

@@MsAnimefan95 it doesn't matter that it's a military academy or that none of the students can officially die until after the timeskip... the Church is still sending underaged students on officially sanctioned military operations.

[@MsAnimefan95]

@@HouseOfAlastrian Students... at the military academy? The ones training to become mercenaries/soldiers/just learning combat? Not to mention that it's stated that the knights accompany the students on every single mission, ostensibly to step in if it ends being more than the students can handle. The missions are more or less training for the students, and they are not officially soldiers until the war starts, and every single one of them has the option to return home.

[@herooftwilight5534]

Lysithea committed more war crimes than Dimitri 😂

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Dimitri: Rules that are in my way will be trampled over Lysithea: Rules are in my way

[@wolftamerwolfcorp7465]

In fairness all of those war crimes were her spell list and thus disappear if she doesn’t ever use magic where Dimitri’s are a lot harder to wave away. Still go against her all the same because she’s canonically a mage but like.

[@l.n.3372]

@@wolftamerwolfcorp7465 No, one of the war crimes for Lysithea is going along with Claude's plan at Fort Merceus. Aka disguise as the enemy to get into the fort.

[@shivermetimbers9908]

Can’t believe you didn’t even count every single poison strike archer in maddening and give points to their faction leader

[@Odin-me4er]

Stop triggering my PTSD

[@lpfan4491]

That's IS' warcrime.

[@Princetopher_]

The "no quarter" part just made me realise that Xander from Fates commits a war crime every 1 in 4 times he crits and every 1 in 2 times he pairs up

[@AzureLlama]

And I've realized that it might mean that the Order of No Quarter from Shovel Knight is a war crime in itself.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

No. Xander is just broke

[@l.n.3372]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 He gives no quarters. He's only got pennies.

[@mogscugg2639]

No quarter or quality writing

[@slothfulquagsire199]

To be fair Cyril was already a Child Soldier before Byleth as the only reason he is in Fodlan is because he was left behind by the Almyran Army during a failed attack on Fodlan's Locket... he was then taken in as a Servant of House Goneril (effectively a PoW).

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

PoW *and* possible enslavement, since that's also a war crime

[@skyrocker11ify]

what is pow?

[@slothfulquagsire199]

@@skyrocker11ify Prisoner of War

[@rakurai4953]

Despite going clinically insane, Dimitri is actually not as bad of a war criminal as I thought. I thought he'd at least hit double digits.

[@nonmagicalwitch]

"Don't let a single one escape!" And somehow, even Bernie is more of a war criminal

[@wingedbluj1674]

Well, during the time skip, Dimitri murdered Imperial troops so brutally, that many believed that it was the work of some wild beast. No reasonable person would assume a human could be so monstrous.

[@GigiBranconi]

Thats just normal war though. ​@@wingedbluj1674

[@Heccct]

Metodey uses a Venin Edge in Chapter 12 when you fight him. He's under Edelgard's command. Another one for the pile.

[@nightscout9979]

He also talks about how he intends to cannibalize the people he kills, which might count as another war crime.

[@cosmictraveler1146]

@@nightscout9979 wh-what?? He’s a cannibal?? I know he looks like a snake but damn

[@M0D776]

@@nightscout9979 I mean, do cannibalism or desecration of a corpse count as *War* Crimes? cannibalism isn't really a crime (depends on where you live) but the latter is definitely a crime, but are they specifically *War* Crimes? Otherwise we can't really count it.

[@Shalakor]

@@M0D776 I mean, you're either desecrating a corpse in the process of cannibalism or inflicting undue pain and torture eating them alive.

[@Saddawg-cz7yw]

I wonder if Dedue transforming in CF could potentially loophole-d into being counted as a war crime That said, I find it absolutely hilarious that Lysithea some how managed to edge out Dimitri.

[@Heccct]

Well, it was Dedue who had the idea to crack open the vault and distribute Crest Stones.

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

@@Heccct very true, Dedue should be hit with some war crimes, they're a dime a dozen with these games anyways.

[@claraclenky9843]

@@Heccct but he claims they asked for it and as we have no evidence to contradict nor support this, it would be nigh impossible to successfully get this action considered a war crime

[@FrostedMike]

I consider this as an unconventional weapon. He also intended to use it for harm.

[@AshenDust_]

⁠@@FrostedMike so hitting someone with a chair is a war crime?

[@Siplick]

This video was hilarious but also very informative. I laughed when the "unless Ignatz is your favourite character" part came in because he is, followed by Dedue, funnily.

[@gg_sam7847]

Based Ignatz enjoyer

[@charlieseen]

Does Claude setting Acheron's mansion on fire count as a war crime? If so, the legal defense for his actions is "It was very funny".

[@quirinoguy8665]

The only kind of legal defense that is acceptable.

[@lpfan4491]

"It was Acheron's mansion." "Ok, dismissed, he deserved it."

[@cosmicfails2053]

I think it would yes as it is a non-military objective, thus basically destruction of civilian property. but on the other hand. it was Very Funny.

[@GigiBranconi]

​Our client pleads "Lmao"

[@grace4535]

step 1: choose a house step 2: violate the geneva conventions

[@lilymartin7585]

I always assumed that Edelgard's "It's more terrible than I expected" was in reference to whatever she may have been told by Rhea or Byleth before heading out on the mission since revealing to all of her house-mates that she WAS expecting something at the village would implicate her as an accomplice, as you mentioned

[@Eric_Pham]

War Crime Daddy Seteth 😍 Also killing medics is a war crime, so killing healer adds one to someone, I think a character said to go after a healer once, its my favorite crime.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Not exactly, since nearly all healers are armed. With Nosferatu.

[@makotonaegi4419]

Are doctors in war not provided with a single gun to protect themselves.

[@Eric_Pham]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 medics are allowed to fight back if attacked

[@cristobalarminanibarra6890]

There can't be a Geneva convention if there isn't a Geneva in the setting.

[@ariburdulis]

That's why this game's characters were so relatable to me

[@magicfish8213]

r/holup

[@minimalbstolerance8113]

Modern onlookers: "NOOOOOO you can't do this long list of things it's a war crime!" Adrestian onager crewmember: "Hey, Karl! I bet you 1000G that you can't level that orphanage with one shot!"

[@ungulatemanalpha]

Remire Village is in the Adrestian Empire, so it isn't 'territory of the Church of Seiros'. Obviously there's a long list of crimes that the Agarthans and Edelgard as their accomplice commit there, but it's not an invasion of another state - or if it is, it's hostile action from the Agarthans towards the Adrestian Empire, which has been ongoing in Three Houses for years by the time the game's plot starts. The Church's exact role is left deliberately slightly vague, but their de facto territory is Garreg Mach and its immediate surroundings. Remire might be nearby, but there's no indication that it's under their control (and frankly, if it was, I doubt Jeralt would be willing to spend time there like he does at the start of the game).

[@intydee994]

Stop, no, wait! You're making me look stupid! But yeah that means Edelgard, Hubert, and Jeritza get 2 or 3 less war crimes... damn

[@Eric_Pham]

@@intydee994 so just normal authoritarian government abuse then?

[@lukestarford7608]

@@Eric_Pham Not really, Edelgard doesn't have any control over the empire at this point due to the Insurrection of the Seven. Both her and her Father are powerless as majority of the power belong to Arundel / Thalas and Ludwig von Aegir until Edelgard coronation where she get some power back from Aegir. Everything she does within WC is manipulating certain character to do her work. She pay's both Kostas and Metoday to do a job that they are expected to die in since she doesn't inform them of everything like the fact that the Knight of Seiros is there within the remire camp. Remire village is actually within Arundel terratory I believe.

[@DarkAdonisVyers]

@@Eric_Pham "authoritarian". Want democracy? Join a pirate crew or a goblin tribe.

[@laughingseagull000]

@@intydee994 I think the Agarthans have their own country technically, right? And Thales is the ruler? So she is still the crown princess(or whatever the term for the heir apparent is for Empires) of the Empire and aiding a hostile country in experimenting on her own citizens in order to start a war with the Church. So that still counts, right?

[@camusreviews6877]

The “using poison weapons” is also potentially applicable to anyone since weapons like the venin edge and several battalions can apply the poisoned condition to enemies. In the chapter where the flame emperor (Edlegard) invaded the holy tomb, one of their allies always carries a venin edge so at least Edlegard and Hubert are accomplices to that.

[@DarkAdonisVyers]

Plot twist: No one committed war crimes because those laws aren't invented yet. Crimes are only a thing when those laws are supposed to be adhered to to begin with.

[@duchessofburgundy3576]

I should think that if people are born with _rights_ that are unalienable regardless of whether governments choose to protect them, then it is also fair to say that a "crime" can be committed regardless of whether the perpetrator can be charged under any prevailing legal code.

[@DarkAdonisVyers]

@@duchessofburgundy3576 A crime is a breaking of law. One should not be expected to walk on eggshells that may or may not even be there.

[@duchessofburgundy3576]

@@DarkAdonisVyers I would expect you as a fellow human being to understand intuitively when you're about to violate another person's rights, regardless of what the law says is right or wrong.

[@DarkAdonisVyers]

@@duchessofburgundy3576 Wearing the military uniforms of adverse organizations is a war crime. Where's the "intuition" in that? kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYqvqWl3d7ytd6s Crimes are punished via law. Different people have different "intuitions". That's why the law is often abstract. You sound like someone who would change a country's Constitution out of emotional knee-jerks.

[@DarkAdonisVyers]

@@duchessofburgundy3576 Intuition? What's that? Ah, perhaps, Mr. Reaper Man can explain: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5_EgouAotWqg5Y

[@eemelikorteniemi3966]

0:32 I mean, Edelgard kills 20%-60% of all Nabateans and one can assume the Agarthans are eradicated in all but one path almost if not to the last

[@squares4u]

Her intent is not to kill them for being Nabateans though. Her intent is to dismantle the church, and the only way to logically do that is to take out its leadership (who would refuse to surrender anyway.) so no, not genocide, just… church-icide

[@eemelikorteniemi3966]

@@squares4u fair. a good question is if she knows they are lizard people. Still, my point about the agarthans stands

[@laughingseagull000]

Shambala is just one of the Agarthans’ settlements, I believe. You see a huge city in the distance in the background of the small Shambala map. You kill the leader of the Agarthans and a bunch of their soldiers, though. I kinda forgot, did Thales nuke his own city, or did the player cause it?

[@nightscout9979]

@@laughingseagull000 Thales nukes Shambhala out of sheer spite toward Sothis. If not for Rhea, the full barrage would have likely rained down straight into Shambhala itself and detonated, guaranteeing the deaths of everyone there. Even then, Shambhala is likely devastated, and the portion of the barrage that still does damage causes major cave-ins. That said, if Thales still intended for the Nemesis plan to occur, then either there was a lower area of Shambhala that would survive the unmitigated barrage or another Agarthan fortress/city with troops and tech.

[@eemelikorteniemi3966]

I mean, after the war, Edelgard definetely makes an attempt at eradicating TWSITD, even if she cannot find all of them. Assuming this means it contains all of the Agarthans, it would indeed be a genocide as her aim is indeed to destroy them

[@michaelthex2684]

I'd argue that the Claude and Seteth one should only get that one to affect the Golden Deer and Black Eagles and Church since the blue lions are 100% optional

[@billvolk4236]

Also, there is a lot of precedent for false flag operations not counting as war crimes, as long as they are not using protected symbols (like the UN or Red Cross) and not fighting while still disguised. For example, ships are allowed to fly flags of an enemy power as long as they show their true colors before firing a shot.

[@boring7007]

not sure if i agree with lumping the blue lion students in for claude and seteths' big group war crime, since you have to go out of your way to recruit them, and make them a war criminal, causing the situation that you were attempting to avoid with gambits and magic for non-canonical mages that aside, very cool video

[@IchHassePasswoerter]

"Kill every last one of them" kinda fits too, though.

[@l.n.3372]

Yeah I agree. Canonically, the Black Eagles are the SS students and the Golden Deer are the VW students. So it doesn't really make sense to hold Blue Lions accountable for routes they canonically don't join.

[@candlegrave]

big fan of the decision to showcase edelgard tea parties while describing what war crimes are

[@AnalogVernacular]

This is magnificent. So glad to see where my boy Dedue landed in all of this. Always knew he was the realest! Great video.

[@AlexT7916]

20:30 I am surprised you didn't also give Dimitri one for his "Kill every last one of them !" line

[@riahime5227]

The amount of effort and attention to detail that went into this has me shook. Also, i teach international relations so seeing someone talk so extensively about the Geneva Convention in conjunction with my favorite game made me want to shed tears of joy. Your humorous commentary was the cherry on top too. Thank you good sir.

[@Titan360]

"Dedue has 0 war crimes" *cough cough* Crest stones *cough* Field of Revenge *cough*

[@lyncario5515]

Congraculations to Lysithea for getting a spot in the top 10 war criminals of Fodlan.

[@nodot17]

she's also a war crime victim herself iirc given how she got 2 crest.

[@constrainedanacronysm1370]

Would Byleth or Edelgard get extra Warcrimes for killing helpless, injured or and or surrendering combatants? There are several surrendering and heavily injured people in the Crimson Flower Route that Byleth can choose to execute or spare/ press gang into their army. In CF there is also Claude who is the surrendering political figurehead of a sovereign nation and which Byleth can choose to execute... and which Edelgard allows to be executed without formal trial or formal process. In CF as well Edelgard also definitively executes a helpless enemy commander and leader of a Sovereign ruler of a nation in the form of Dimitri. Without formal trial or respect to the fact that he has been rendered too injured to be an enemy combatant. In regards to Dimitri I should also mention the incident he supposedly committed in all routes according to Felix that earned him the title of "Boar." If I recall correctly supposedly before he leaves for the academy Dimitri leads an military action against rebels and ends up potentially killing surrendering combatants and otherwise going too far in Felix's view. And there is also Byleth executing a helpless and heavily injured Enemy Sovereign in the form of Edelgard in two routes without formal trial or process.

[@angel_aeon]

Dimitri wasn't exactly surrendering which effectively makes him a threat given his raw strength lmao and if you defeat Dedue before he transforms then defeat Dimitri a special 'cutscene' plays out with Dimitri and Dedue passing away from their wounds together instead of getting executed. Again, Dimitri's CF death is very debatable but it really just feels like a death in combat that happens to be played out dramatically because the game obviously has to have a special moment between those two. Claude's biggest war crime is CONSTANTLY being called a schemer and a master tactician and barely doing anything to earn the title in the game, I like the dude but his character is so 'tell not show'.

[@scottrauch1261]

@@britbuttmcbooty9221 Claude: I dont trust the church or anyone in it. Also claude: the church want me to fight for it, sounds good to me.

[@constrainedanacronysm1370]

@@angel_aeon I never said Dimitri did surrender, unlike some of the others. Like Edelgard in the two routes mentioned though he was absolutely not state to fight back and was completely helpless to resist being executed while in the power of an enemy commander. And in the case of the regular Edelgard scene with Dimitri and not Dedue it really really doesn't seem like combat played out dramatically. Dimitri goes on an broken down tirade about Edelgard for nearly a minute in which he lying on the ground incapable yet clear wanting to attack Edelgard. He is helpless or as good as. Which is reinforced that by Edelgard instead of immediately striking him down decides to respond to his tirade in kind and length and tries to justify her executing him. I know it's supposed to be a impactful ending but in what we were shown there was time and opportunity for Edelgard to do anything but an expedient execution in the scenario given. She could have called in soldiers to restrain him while he was raving, kicked his weapon he was limply holding away or moved immediately to kill or disable him as soon as he started raving. If Edelgard or, in her case Byleth during her executions in other routes, had wanted they could have taken them prisoner. But instead they decided to execute an helpless enemy leader for the sake of wartime expediency rather than taking them prisoner, holding trial or otherwise formally processing them or using them as leverage or hostages to lessen the severity of enemy resistance and suffering. It was an execution of expediency and convience to the conquering power, nothing more nothing less.

[@angel_aeon]

@@constrainedanacronysm1370 I still don't agree Dimitri in that situation counts as a helpless enemy commander but I don't think lengthening this argument is going to get either of us anywhere, it's also so debatable because you pretty much have to interpret whatever the fuck happens because they didn't give CF any cutscenes sans final battle.

[@constrainedanacronysm1370]

@@angel_aeon Fair enough. And yeah, the lack of resources they put into CF does make it hard to interpret alot of the narrative decisions in CF. However, the seemingly ludicrous length of the exchange between the two and the fact that you atleast mechanically defeat Dimitri push me toward interpreting it being mostly an execution of someone Edelgard considers inconvenient and decidedly distasteful. I do wish there had been a cutscene though to make it clearer like with Edelgard's defeat execution in Golden Wind and White Snow though.

[@jakyllbased7270]

omg youre so right ignatz is my favorite character

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

I felt so seen when he mentioned Ignatz fans. Like it's OUR fault we stan a good boy.

[@mobgabriel1767]

War criminals?!? In my -war crimes simulator- fire emblem game? IMPOSSIBLE!

[@baileybox218]

This is a fun idea for a series! Would love to see a path of radiance/radiant dawn war crimes list!

[@darkespeon7402]

7:29 what she was referring to is how she had heard about what was happening by the church, just like the other students

[@jaycee1205]

I did some research about FE warcrimes a while back and I realized that if you consider map's chests "public property" then technically anyone who can open them (with locktouch or a key) is a war criminal, which immediately indicts many characters across the entire series.

[@BlazeIgnitus]

I wouldn't really use the Geneva Conventions when talking about Cyril's recruitment, given this is meant to be more or less medieval period: boys were made pages as young as 7 years of age to start on the path of knighthood, and became squires at the age of 14.

[@paulman34340]

Especially when he came from a country where he was conscripted in his past and was pretty untrained till Shamir gave him some training.....AFTER he was brought into the church so he was LITERAL CANNON FODDER

[@davidstone7257]

The more terrifying than expected comment is because her class was assigned the tenure village case at the beginning of the month and the mission happens at the end, so she knew there was fighting in remire but she didn’t necessarily know TWSITD did it. Though I’m sure she would have pieced it together

[@ungulatemanalpha]

It's not clear to me that any magic in Three Houses qualifies as a war crime, considering that the game has status effects to connotate poison and the like, and none of the spells apply them. There isn't really anything indicating that getting hit with a spell, even a fire spell, is any worse or causes more undue suffering than being shot with a gun would be, let alone getting stabbed, slashed, pierced or smashed with a melee weapon. If we allow that fire magic necessarily counts as a war crime, however, I think you'd need to extend that to every other magic type that does something that can be reasonably compared to real life - being struck by lightning IRL is extremely painful if you survive it, and the damage you can suffer from frostbite or getting sandblasted by strong winds is immense too. Light and dark magic are the only ones where their effects are vague enough that there's no good comparison - and if Luna really is comparable to a dark hole, that might be one of the *least* painful ways to die, considering that you'd cease to exist too fast to feel anything.

[@leokokiri]

I guess Meteor could count since it leaves like some kind of fireblast after effect that may hit the adjecent enemies from the target enemy; but then again Meteor is on the siege weapons used on individuals part

[@jareddavidson6654]

Incendiary weapons are specifically a war crime, in and of themselves. You specifically can't light someone on fire.

[@icewaterstan9454]

Seteth was merely trying to escape the mcdonalds play area with flayn... any and all actions completely justified

[@christianquintanilla6476]

I’m not 100 percent sure if you can plead insanity in warfare but dimitri is clinically insane. The guy hears voices in his head and you may be able to maybe a genuine argument that his actions aren’t entirely his fault and just needs physiological treatment

[@notimportant4329]

I’d be interested to see a comparison video of Edelgard and Rhea. I love all the controversy

[@Water_lemon]

The death knite never kidnapped Monica actually, it was solon. But I guess in the end that still makes edelgard and Hubert responsible

[@orange6259]

Damn Edelgard is hella based. So many war crimes she gets half the video. Maybe one day I can have as good a record as her ☝️.

[@Lokiiru]

Do... Do you want to commit as many war crimes as Edelgard?

[@maximaldinotrap]

@@Lokiiru I think the joke has to do with their username.

[@chickenbacon5197]

@@Lokiiru The Geneva conventions are like a travel guide. A convenient list of fun things to do during war! obviously a joke.

[@PsPmoddedOUT]

Its not a war crime if you win the war lol

[@churchA.I]

I'd argue edelgard committed genocide against the church but sure that's arguable

[@jjjj4rd]

Nicely done video, pretty informative for those not familiar with military law and good deadpan comedy delivery!

[@codladhbeag3167]

At 7:35 I'm pretty sure she says that bc they were told about what was happening but didn't expect it to be as bad as they thought, that's my interpretation anyways. Edit: By they I mean the class not Edelgard and Hubert.

[@nightscout9979]

Yeah, Edelgard might have just been referring to what she heard as a student, though the dialogue leaves open the possibility that she might have also slipped and referred to something she knew as the Flame Emperor.

[@bmomgrimm6242]

Dedue probably committed a war crime when he transforms in CF. He turns himself into a monster with no real control that could cause undo pain onto others.

[@matthewsimon6170]

Actually, he has control over himself. He never at any point can attack his friends, and, since he does it himself, he consents to the treatment, dodging that crime too

[@Eliseo_Garcia726]

He gives the people who want to become beast crest stones, he never forces anyone to become one.

[@gg_sam7847]

Would it count as a suicide bombing?

[@dullededge1395]

i mean unless byleth steps in edelgard murders flayn seteth and rhea which is basically a genocide considering how few nabateans are left.

[@twagetomato]

It is worth noting that Remire Village, the place attacked and burned by Solon, is actually in Empire territory. This probably makes it an internal domestic affair, not an international one. Remire village is not within the territory of the Church of Seiros.

[@schmae3503]

Also there were reports of hostilities in remire when the month began, and the entire Monastery was in the know about it for the entire month, meaning while Edelgard's line could still mean she's in the know about the plan, it also could mean that she simply learned in the same period of time as the others. Supporting the second is the fact that in Chapter 4, she relinquishes control of DK to Arundel. Chapters 6 and 8 by proxy are dubiously related to her, with both chapter's battle dialogue against DK with Hubert and Edelgard pointing to them not knowing what is going on. It's all super vague and we don't have anything fully definitive, but I dunno if I feel quite right with the retire war crimes going to Edelgard (not that it'd really effect her ranking)

[@SentaiYamaneko]

Solon is associated with Shambala, which is technically a separate country. So, in this case, it would be the crown princess allying with a foreign country in experimentation on her own people. That would be considered international, right?

[@lpfan4491]

@@schmae3503 I still can't believe the scene of her handing over the death knight exists. It would literally make more sense if that didn't happen.

[@aryaraswanto68]

"edelgard is a warcrime speedrunner" 😂

[@lucastacchi4385]

to be fair, Edelgard didn't order either Remire Village invasion nor Flayn's or Monica's kidnapping. She wasn't aware Kronya was replacing Monica (which was probably done to keep Edelgard in check, since Kronya could spy on the Emperor to see if she was still on their side) and it is said that the Death Knight was working directly under Thales when Flayn got kidnapped.

[@bld9826]

I'm worse than a war criminal - I skipped to the end of the video to see the list at the end! (I'll go back and watch it later tonight I swear officer). Based to see that my 2 bestgirls are at the bottom of the list. Granted, Anna's only so low because she barely has enough presence in the game to do ANYTHING, so I'm actually sort of proud of her for managing to get in the single war crime she did. When you look at it that way, Anna's actually got a really high war crime density.

[@l.n.3372]

Anna is a war profiteer. Not technically illegal or a war crime. But I'd argue she has no moral ground to stand on anyway.

[@adnanilyas6368]

Anna should get dinged for arming people known to commit war crimes.

[@letsgoshuckles266]

A slight mistake I noticed. Byleth doesn't actually conscript Cyril into the armed forces. Catherine beat them to the punch with that war crime by making Cyril their squire beforehand.

[@ultraginge1990]

When you asked said out loud “I dare you to try and pin anything on Dedue” lol :)

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

Is Dedue not an accomplice to anything on Azure Moon that Dimitri didn't specifically do on his own, like when him and Felix were young?

[@johnasamoah8668]

I’m really happy that this video absolutely blew up for you. Congrats

[@insufferableanarchist]

personally my favoritew war crimes always include needless suffering as well as experimentation. there's just something about it that makes me feel excited when I think about them.

[@-hypnos-2273]

Please why was this so interesting-

[@romitalia3088]

Edelgard did not order Jeritza to kidnap Flayn and Monica. There’s a scene before Flayn is kidnapped that shows Edelgard “lending” the Death Knight to TWSITD. It was their order and their plan, her and Hubert were not aware, though obviously they knew TWSITD were planning something. Jeritza also did not kidnap Monica; it was Solon. As for Edelgard’s line in Remire, about it being worse than she expected, I’m pretty sure she meant it was worse than she expected from what the students heard before arriving in Remire. She again did not know what Solon would do and she again was not controlling Jeritza at that point. Also, if this was incriminating dialogue, it wouldn’t be said in front of everyone without being acknowledged.

[@chickenbacon5197]

That's still Edelgard assisting in War Crimes via lending her own subordinates and being allied with those committing the war crimes. Let's be honest though, at the end of the day it's just a drop in the war crime ocean that is Edelgard.

[@Taleow]

Mr. Bloodphobia lindhart has a higher score than I’m ok with killing Caspar

[@naurrr]

at 23:53 I think you meant to say the Kingdom's royal family, but yep Dedue deserves better in the story, my beloved big man ;_; I love himb

[@DaakkuuYRS]

I'm really suprised that Dimitri has the same ranking as Claude. Edelgard in first place was obvious, but fans always say that "golden deer doesn't have insane lord" (compares to blue lions).

[@antoniohumberto5510]

Three hopes pretty much debunks that 😂😂😂

[@l.n.3372]

Claude was always a morally grey character tho. People just memed on him to make Dimitri and Edelgard look better. But Claude legit says in chapter 13 hunting by daybreak, that it's ok to kill bandits as warm up practice after eating lunch.

[@mysteriousdestiny6672]

...I mean compared to the other two lords I'd say he's on the less violent side? He's obviously capable of doing such acts, but he isn't exactly as ruthless as Dmitri or Edelgard is. Even in three hopes, he isn't doing any of the murdering because he wants to, neither does he get any joy from it. I wouldn't call any of the lord insane, but pretending that Claude is on the deep end as far as Dmitri just isn't true.

[@l.n.3372]

@@mysteriousdestiny6672 Claude is unquestionably a villain in GW. Insane? Perhaps not. But what he does is unexcusable in GW. His war crimes increased overnight with Hopes.

[@mysteriousdestiny6672]

@@l.n.3372 If he's a villain, then what are Edelgard, Rhea and Dmitri in three houses? Calling Claude a villain or really any of these characters one is entirely missing the point of the game. Claude always was willing to kill people, he was always cunning and crafty. I don't know why people are calling him a villain for acting in a similar way the other lords have been in both game installments

[@latenitewaffles7926]

Dedue committed 0 war crimes? Best boy indeed!

[@qxtuvoslays]

oh he definitely did in crimson flower, he stole crest stones and turned people into monsters. that’s like endangering something i forgot what the war crime that would be

[@Odin-me4er]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants a world with child colosseums

[@AshenDust_]

Don’t Edelgard & Gang count as doing a genocide by killing all of the Children of the Goddess in Crimson Flower?

[@schmae3503]

Both Indech and Macuil are still alive by the end no matter what you do, and Seteth and Flayn can be spared without any anger from Edelgard about it. Admittedly it is locked behind obscure dialogue in 3H, but Three Hopes reinforces the idea that Edelgard would prefer to have Rhea live, just stripped of her power, BUT is also perfectly willing to settle for her death in her routes (though not outside of those routes since she doesn't have the god powers of the protagonists and thus plans to use Rhea as a deterrent against TWSITD according to a House Vestra spy in Abyss). Stuff could most definitely be conveyed better, but ultimately Edelgard's not taking an active role in killing all the dragons, at least not in either game before the credits roll.

[@ioneoval7668]

You can say that Edelgard only kills one but in percentaje is 20%.

[@amf9797]

@@schmae3503 If I remember correctly in the Linhardt Leonie paralogue, if you play on Crimson flower you can't deploy Edelgard and Hubert, and after the paralogue Linhardt tells you to not talk to Edelgard about what happened there, so it's safe to assume that post timeskip 3houses Edelgard would definitely kill Indech if she finds out where he lives.

[@Chi-yj6nz]

I was talking with my friend and we remembered Dedue does give Crest stones to transform his soldiers in Crimson Flower so I think that would be a war crime.

[@SentaiYamaneko]

They apparently volunteered for it.

[@andrewwilliams8951]

What Claude shoot up super high if he does a Three Hopes sequel.

[@hustuha]

wait, doesn't in chapter 17:blood of the eagle and lion dimitri say "kill every last one of them" at the starting cutscene? being that declaring no quarter will be given?

[@TheGyldenaut]

I personally wouldn’t classify the Fire Spells as Fire Based weapons; and there’s a good reason for that. I think they’re more like explosives rather than solely incendiary, as they each explode upon impact with the target and do the bulk of the damage, rather than inflicting a Burn condition. You wouldn’t classify a grenade causing something to catch fire after the explosion to be a fire based weapon in warfare.

[@kassidyryzer2909]

Dimitri could also be given the no quarter rule as his line, you know THE Dimitri line, basically implies that no quarter will be given to his enemy.

[@shadowdragun]

8:12 "Edelgard obviously ordered" Yeah lets just forget that Jeritza was working Directly for Thales and Solon here and Edelga4d basically had no imput in the matter that seems to happen a lot

[@turtel65]

It's so weird to me that Hapi and Mercedes actually comitted war crimes

[@winter945]

Bernie as well

[@samash.32]

dimitri also declares that no quarter will be given, due to his most famous line, kill every last one of them. also edelgard literally fire a bunch of fireballs in that same cutscene

[@lordkommissarpetitt8022]

Me a battletech fan who stumbled on this by accident: These are rookie numbers, we need to pump them up

[@woop3896]

i wonder how the rankings would change if this was in the three hopes universe claude will probably have more than 4

[@NichtcrawlerX]

The Merceus Fortress situation is probably very similar to Yang's takeover plan for Iserlohn. Highly questionable, but they reveal the truth before any serious injuries occur. Considering how much Three Houses was inspired by LoGH, I suddenly realize this was probably one of those instances where it also seeped into the plot.

[@zdelrod829]

18:50 I'd say it's more of a mercy killing. As in giving the general the mercy of not being tortured by the "not mentally unstable" "Boar" King Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd.

[@nightscout9979]

16:00 "Which amusingly means that Edelgard actually gets to dodge a war crime for once!" Not so; in smuggling Adrestian soldiers, disguised as merchants and pilgrims, into Garreg Mach and its territory for a full year during White Clouds, Edelgard also committed perfidy. Furthermore, based on her personal servant, the Death Knight, knowing that the Javelins of Light existed and were heading toward Fort Merceus, that means Edelgard likely knew that the Javelins of Light existed before one was ever used, as well as knowing that the Agarthans were willing to use them at all times. Edelgard even takes Rhea prisoner in three out of four routes, long before the Agarthans use a Javelin of Light, in the hopes of having Rhea as an anti-air defense against these missiles. As such, Edelgard knew years in advance exactly what would happen to Arianrhod in Crimson Flower when she attacked it to kill "Cornelia." Edelgard thus got an entire city, civilians and all, killed on purpose, thereby equaling Rhea's "burn Fhirdiad" war crime. One also might be able to argue that Rhea was insane from sheer trauma at the time, but Edelgard was as sane as she ever gets with the Arianrhod war crime. Furthermore, because Edelgard knew Arianrhod would only be bombed after she conquered it, not only was Arianrhod no longer an enemy city in regard to a military purpose, but Edelgard never evacuated it despite having control of the city and knowing that the attack was imminent. Additionally, the Agarthans most likely already knew that Edelgard knew the Javelins of Light existed, since they probably told her about them in the first place. As such, Edelgard had nothing to gain by not evacuating the city, as she wouldn't be fooling the Agarthans whatsoever. Hubert could have tried tracing the launch point of the missiles whether or not there were civilans to kill with them. Edelgard also proceeds to lie to her own troops about the missiles and blames the church for it, further aggravating war tensions. Additionally, with Edelgard being in charge of the plan to have the Death Knight kidnap Flayn, she might be liable for Flayn's blood samples being forcibly extracted, which could count as harm in addition to kidnapping. The abduction plan was also intended to smuggle Kronya into Garreg Mach disguised as the civilian Monica, another case of perfidy, and Edelgard has knowledge of the overall plan to bait Byleth into Zahras. Edelgard even has a misgiving just before the Sealed Forest chapter begins, surprising Hubert in the process. Since Hubert is hardly a character to normally be surprised by a general misgiving, this implies that Edelgard and Hubert always knew about the Zahras plan and thus are responsible for trying to have Byleth murdered, and likely even for having Jeralt murdered in an earlier chapter, making Byleth seek revenge and thereby charge into the Sealed Forest. Hubert's Crimson Flower paralogue reveals that Adrestia still lets its Agarthan allies do experiments on kidnapped people, thereby constituting more war crimes even as Edelgard is getting more independence from the Agarthans and can clearly call shots of her own (though the Kostas plan was already her scheme 100%). Shifting to Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, Edelgard's dialogue to Seteth and Flayn implies that she knows something happened to the Nabateans, and this ties into what she says to Byleth in private just before CF's final mission begins. Between these and several other moments, Edelgard might have already learned that the Nabateans were genocided and where the Crests and Relics really come from. As such, Edelgard might be hit with more war crimes if she knows her reasons for declaring war are false, along with attempted genocide due to the Nabatean population being so low. She also comments (to Seteth/Flayn in VW/SS) that Nabateans must not be allowed power over (other) people, excluding them from government and/or society at large. By the way, in Edelgard's private CF talk with Byleth just before attacking Fhirdiad, she states her intentions to obliterate the church and those associated with it. This can perhaps be taken as an admission that her stated intention to accept a surrender later on is a lie, though that might be a stretch in this case. Basically, Edelgard's title as the Queen of the War Crimes is even more warranted than one might think. On the flip side, Dedue might have a war crime to his name, since he works with his loyal troops in CF's Tailtean Plains mission to mutate into Crest Beasts, and against Faerghus and the church's orders to boot. As for spells, while you make a great case for them being war crimes, some basic fiery and explosive spells and gambits might be analogous to explosives and other munitions that are allowed for infantry combat according to the Geneva Conventions. Sorry for the rambling, but I just wanted to chime in since you did an excellent, thorough job with this video. Great work!

[@Azardea]

As mentioned by an NPC in Verdant Wind, Dedue "destroys" Edelgard's corpse (possibly decapitated her to put her head on Dimitri's grave or something, but that's just guesswork). That's likely a warcrime, no?

[@raviolibirb8009]

If the body's already been dead more than 5 seconds, i think it should be legal regardless

[@juliahoffman6205]

I can help with Dedue. If we count transformation via crest stone, he does that to several people in the army at least in CF (during Tailtean Plains). That is at least 1

[@aoer6848]

It was shocking to suddenly find a video saying these people are war criminals, truly a day.

[@diooverheaven6561]

"it's not Warcrime if you rule the continent"

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

This post was made by Rhea, who seems to have accidentally left out "turning into a dragon to immolate swathes of helpless soldiers, inflicting undue mental trauma on those not incinerated outright, and doing so with a concealed delivery system" from the laws of war. Oops, how did that happen?

[@darkmage7752]

I enjoyed every second of this

[@TheVera800]

Poison coated weapons like the venin (venom? Idk) axes

[@davidstone7257]

The more terrifying than expected comment is because her class was assigned the tenure village case at the beginning of the month and the mission happens at the end, so she knew there was fighting in remire but she didn’t necessarily know TWSITD did it. Though I’m sure she would have pieced it together. There’s also nothing that implies edlegard would order the kidnapping of Flayn, as she didn’t order Monica’s kidnapping either, both again independently planned by TWSITD. The flame emperor comes in to stop the fight but I don’t think she knew it was happening just that Dimitri or Claude alert the knights when they take Manuela to the infirmary in their routes.

[@hectormackie3654]

Is when dimitri saying kill every last one of them a war crime. Does it count as declaring to give no quarter

[@masterchiefofhalo4525]

I mean using a siege weapon against one person wouldn’t really hurt that much given that the siege weapon is meant to be used to break heavy fortification. Unless the individual is extremely sturdy or very unlucky to survive it they would die before they can suffer from the attack.

[@UmbraX1]

This vid would be great for a drinking game. Take a shot everytime the phrase “war crime” is used

[@relic5752]

No genocides? Pretty sure Edelgard is heavily anti-Nabatean and if given the chance then poor Flayn and Seteth would be getting the axe both proverbial and otherwise

[@winrina-00]

she's anti crest, not nabatean. You can literally spare Seteth and Flayn and not to mention if you chose Edelgard then after the holy tomb fight she let Flayn leave without taking her hostage or anything of sort

[@GoldenRose116]

@@winrina-00 "children of the goddess can not be allowed any power over people" Sure they can live as slaves... Plus letting Flayn leave... Edelgard had to flee, Flayn choose not to join that traitor

[@winrina-00]

@@GoldenRose116 That still doesnt mean she hates Nabatean lmaoo, she doesnt want them to rule over people. Before going inside Fhirdiad she even gave Rhea a chance to surrender. And like I said you can literally spare Seteth and Flayn. Your point of Edelgard busy fleeing has nothing to do with being unable to hold Flayn captive since she has an entire army 🤷‍♀️

[@laughingseagull000]

To be fair, there are only shown to be five remaining Nabateans, and three are actively trying to kill you (in a war Edelgard helped start but fair is fair)

[@nightscout9979]

@@winrina-00 Only Byleth can spare Seteth and Flayn, and it's because they already resolved to flee if Byleth is the one who encounters them on the battlefield. Literally anyone else, Edelgard included, will kill Seteth and Flayn, and Leonie's paralogue prevents Edelgard and Hubert from participating since they'd probably try to kill Indech for being a Nabatean.

[@zdelrod829]

Who's the biggest war criminal, and why does Edelgard deserve multiple death penalties?

[@mynedracobirn9245]

Shouldn't Edelgard explicitly aiming to kill Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn count as genocide due to her knowing they're the last ones of their race? Similarly I suppose everyone in Silver Snow and Verdant Winds should get smacked with genocide of the Agarthans.

[@33link333]

There are also Indech and Macuil, both of whom survive CF. Though that is only due to Edelgard not knowing about them, she would 100% hunt them down otherwise. Linhardt even says specifically not to mention Indech to Edelgard due to fear of what she would do with that information. On a completely unrelated note, I vote to absolve the Blue Lions of the crime of flying enemy colours, since they aren't normally part of the offending armies.

[@Bryan875]

Edelgard is actually trying to get Rhea to step down through diplomacy, She even asks you what terms she should impose if Rhea actually accepts the surrender that has been demanded of her. The option that gets you support points with her is one that says to strip her of her titles and position of office, not anything like killing her, because Edelgard doesn't actually desire their deaths.

[@mythos6308]

Dedue is truly the perfect character

[@MudhutStudiosOfficial]

Would setting fire to the ballista in the battle at grounder be considered a war crime? If so, that would be a war crime for Edelgard, Hubert, and, for taking advantage of it if not recruited, possibly Petra aswell. Maybe I missed something, but eh.

[@SentaiYamaneko]

If we were going by all forms of international law (not just the Geneva Convention), then even if Dedue committed a war crime, it wouldn't count. As a refugee from Duscur living in the country that invaded his, he'd be protected under the Refugee Act. So any war crimes he committed, as long as they were done in the service of Faerghus, would be considered self-preservation.

[@dragonslibrary9207]

I believe that only the Golden Deer, Knights of Seiros, and Black Eagles should be held responsible for the disguise war crime, as canonically everybody else sides with their original faction. You defer to canon with regard to gambits and magic, so I feel like it's only fair to defer to canon with regards to what side of the conflict the character is actually on.

[@OptimusPrime-mr8jz]

Gatekeeper did nothing wrong, change my mind.

[@pixnclix8619]

Ok hear me out Jeritza would not be responsible for Monica’s kidnapping depending on how Canon you count three hopes as since in that game Solon is responsible

[@l.n.3372]

Jeritza is still responsible as is Edelgard. Hopes is an AU.

[@xtcarnagerocks8915]

@@l.n.3372 that has the timeline split after remire meaning that Solan still kidnapped Monica and not the death knight in houses...

[@l.n.3372]

@@xtcarnagerocks8915 Say it with me: 3 Hopes is an AU. It's not the main canon.

[@maximaldinotrap]

@@l.n.3372 Fire Emblem is essentially a confirmed multiverse at this point to Three Hopes is just as canon as Three Houses.

[@l.n.3372]

@@maximaldinotrap The devs actually say fans don't need to take Hopes as canon. If the devs say that, idk why you'd argue otherwise