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Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes looks to expand upon the story of Fire Emblem: Three Houses by giving a brand new version of the narrative. Nintendo has confirmed that this will serve as a completely different path through the game from any of the four paths in Three Houses and will therefore change the character's outcomes significantly.
What's unique about the path in Three Hopes is that it has already shown off new elements to the story that were nowhere to be seen in Three Houses, meaning the story could veer wildly off the path from the originals. It's a risky, yet interesting take on one of the most popular JRPGs of the last decade. Whether or not this is good remains to be seen, but the fanbase is already rife with speculation.
8 Byleth Doesn't Miss 5 Years Of War
One of the biggest features of Three Houses' story is the time skip, which happens part-way through the game. It allows the war to progress without the player's input, and the player gets to see how all of their students have grown and changed in the intervening years.
The Three Hopes trailer shows that, while some time definitely does pass, the new "grown-up" versions of the characters are much younger than in Three Houses, implying Byleth doesn't miss such a large chunk of the war as they did in the original. They may be around for the entire thing, helping their students grow throughout.
7 The Timeline Splits Earlier
In Three Houses, regardless of what route the player takes, the timeline always splits just after Edelgard declares war on the church. Byleth falls in battle and sleeps at an unknown location for 5 years whilst the war rages on around them.
If there is no time skip in this game, then it's entirely possible that doesn't need to happen. All of which suggests that this new path could branch off from the plot of Three Houses much earlier than in the original. While Edelgard still has to wait a while to declare war, other forces could intervene or force her hand much sooner.
6 Byleth Can Broker A Peach Between The Lords
One of the most frustrating parts of Three Houses, especially when playing the Blue Lions or Golden Deer route, is how unwilling the other lords are to work together. Both Dimitri and Claude seek the same goal and share Edelgard as a common enemy, yet they refuse to work together.
Three Hopes has already suggested that there won't be as much conflict between the Lords this time around, one shot in particular showing Dimitri and Claude fighting back to back. Hopefully, with Byleth around to participate in the war, things won't spiral so far out of control, and alliances can be formed.
5 Other Nations Get Involved In The War
It's stated many times throughout Three Houses that other nations are not only around Fodlan but actively part of the country's politics. Brighid is a puppet state of the Empire, with the Empire is holding Petra as a sort of political hostage, and Dagda has a score to settle with the Empire after they helped Brigid drive off their invasion. Yet neither nation is anywhere to be seen in the war.
The only involvement any other nation has is in Verdant Wind, where Claude forms an alliance with Almyra, and they fight against the Empire. It'd create a much more intricate political web for every character if more foreign armies got involved in the conflict.
4 Those Who Slither In The Dark Are The Main Antagonists
Those Who Slither In The Dark are a strange factor in Three Houses. They're set up as the ultimate evil of the game, and yet barely any of the routes address their existence. It can make for quite an unsatisfying ending when the big bad faction doesn't factor into the plot at all.
Silver Snow addresses their threat, but the plot is weirdly cut short so Rhea can have a mental breakdown. Crimson Flower and Azure Moon address it in passing, which leaves Verdant Wind as the only route to properly wrap up that story thread, with the climax involving a fight against Nemesis. Hopefully, Those Who Slither In The Dark will be used properly in Three Hopes, perhaps as a way to bring the lords together.
3 The Ashen Wolves Play An Active Role
As this small house was only added by Three Houses' DLC, they don't have any significant involvement in the game's plot. They have their own story and can be recruited by Byleth in the main story, but outside of support scenes with the main cast, they have very little input.
Three Hopes has been developed after they were already released, which hopefully means the game will be able to give them something to do. It's unlikely they'll be a super important factor in the story, but anything is better than the nothing they get in Three Houses.
2 New Characters
As the cover art for the game makes clear, Three Hopes isn't just recycling all the characters from Three Houses, it's bringing original ideas to the table as well. Very little is currently known about the purple-haired man Byleth crosses blades with, but the figures standing over them on the box art imply he is involved with some sort of rival deity to Sothis.
It's fair to assume that this won't be the only new character the game introduces. The church will likely gain some new allies if they are to play a bigger role as one of the game's factions, although what form this could take is as yet unclear.
1 Everybody Lives, Just This Once
It seems the biggest hope fans have for Three Hopes is that this will serve as the "golden route" they desperately wanted in Three Houses, where all the major players survive the conflict. In Three Houses, no matter which route the player chooses, at least one of Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, or Rhea end up dead.
These characters are all beloved by fans for a variety of reasons, and all of the death scenes are sad occasions, so it's only natural for players to want to save them all. Fans are holding onto the hope that if this game's plot is so drastically different from Three Houses, maybe all of their favorite characters can get their happily-ever-after. It's not a somewhat common trope for modern JRPGs, so players can only wait and see.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes releases June 24, 2022, for Nintendo Switch.