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In the first week Volume 5 came out, Hotaru no Yomeiri sold 60,046 copies. 52,095 sales are from Volume 5 alone, putting it in the top five best selling mangas for the week.

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FEW3H NPC Analysis Pt. 2 - Churches of Fodlan

With the churches of Fodlan playing a pivotal role during the war in 3 Hopes, it begs the question: what do 'the people' actually think about it? Are some churches viewed as more oppressive, corrupt, kind, or helpful than others by your average citizen? Do they support their local church, the Central Church, or something else altogether?

In this analysis, I take a look at clergy and non-clergy NPCs in each region to see how they feel about the way religion shapes their lives in Fodlan.

Disclaimer: This is just for fun. The data was manually tagged & compiled, so may have errors. Dataset used

Analysis Background

I've combined "Support" and "Neutral" sentiments to keep the numbers easier to understand. Neutral in this context means "I don't mind if this thing exists" or "I have no drive to destroy or reform this institution." I also combine sentiments about the leader of the organization (e.g. Rhea, Count Varley) and the organization itself for both analytical usefulness and to reflect the game's framing. The "Artifacts/Secrets/Symbols" row refers to any lines wanting to pursue 'mysteries' of the church.

Line counts are split by whether it's the clergy or non-clergy from that region who have that sentiment. Azure Gleam is special, using "Fodlan" instead of "Kingdom" to denote their non-clergy because there's an Alliance line included about the church. They also have Duscur as a separate category because there are Duscur soldiers that have their own, unique religion from the rest of Fodlan.

Summary

Everyone hates the Western Church. There is not a single supporter within the army's NPCs in any path.

There is some Central Church support in all paths, though very minor in Scarlet Blaze. The Southern Church that was recreated by the Empire is generally disliked by everyone, however it sees some mild support alongside its criticism in Scarlet Blaze. On the other hand, the Eastern Church seems to be considered toothless and pretty good where it's mentioned.

Scarlet Blaze

Scarlet Blaze has the most negative opinions of the Central Church from all paths and the most distrust of churches in general, including their own Southern Church. There is also more mention of the Central Church having mysteries or secrets than the other paths. However, it talks about the churches the least despite their oppression being the official reason for the Empire's war.

Interestingly, there is some dislike of attacking the Central Church from the people, although sentiment about the Central Church is still mostly negative. The small Southern and Eastern Church support comes from the clergy. In fact, it's only the clergy that talks about the other churches at all.

Golden Wildfire

Ironically, Golden Wildfire has the most neutral/supportive sentiment about the Central Church in non-clergy members out of all paths, including Azure Gleam, who are actual allies with them. It is also the most opposed to the Southern Church despite their arrangement with the Empire. The Eastern Church is generally well-liked and seems to provide mostly emotional support as it has no military.

This is the only path which doesn't mention anything about the secrets of the church, in stark contrast to Verdant Wind. There seems to be more focus on the politics and bloodshed involved with the believers being displaced or killed. Wiping out Rhea and possibly the Central Church in chapter 16 is viewed with concern, in contrast to the lack of unrest that's touted by the main storyline.

Azure Gleam

Azure Gleam is odd because it does have strong positive Central Church sentiment, but that is mostly from the Central Church itself. The rest of the Kingdom army are fairly neutral about Churches across the board, with some positivity about the Central Church and mild negativity about the Western Church.

This is the only path where NPCs talk about specific actions the Church has taken, both violent (punishing anyone who takes a bribe or commits crimes) and benevolent (giving shelter to the homeless). The one "distrust" of the Central Church I've noted is because an NPC didn't want to take in the Church and start a war very early on (Chapter 4) rather than any particular issue with the Church itself.

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optics 🧪