Wow, she is LITERALLY me!

_{(Originally written August 2023 )}

Table of contents:
Maud Pie - Bernadetta - Marianne - Merrin

I don't have a funny intro. This is just a tongue-in-cheek "kinnie" page.

Maud Pie

I still don't know if this is an un/popular opinion, but I prefer the later seasons of Friendship is Magic. Maud Pie's debut episode was in season four, and I was hit like a brick the first time I saw this episode. There is no way in hell that Maud is not autistic-coded. The specific interest, social awkwardness around others, literal-mindedness, the flat effect tone, the (visible) lack of emotion... Even my younger sister watched this episode and agreed (that Maud comes off as autistic and is #Me). What a nice and humanizing (ponifying?) episode...

Maud is a recurring character in the later seasons, and while the original writer of her debut episode appeared to be a one-hit wonder, I really liked her further developments! Maud later on becomes friends with the redeemed ex-cult leader Starlight Glimmer and her childhood friend Sunburst. She also likes stand-up comedy and can play the guitar (somehow). Maud also has a cameo in Equestria Girls!!!

A little confession... Rarimaud was a guilty pleasure ship I had for reasons you can imagine. Their IDW issue together was so good!!! Then in season eight, Maud got a boyfriend - an ugly and annoying one at that. He's not even autistic-coded in a funny way (Maud does stand-up, you know), he's akin to Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. UGH! Ship sunk. Well, that's where Sparkler comes in.

Bernadetta Von Varley

(contains unmarked spoilers for Three Houses, it's a four year old game...)

Jesus fucking Christ.

2019. Going through one of the worst periods of my adult life with little support that any sane person would need some kind of distraction from. Yeah, okay, let's just play the new Fire Emblem for that purpose. I saw Bernadetta and initially thought her first appearance was funny because she's such a shut-in... I was still a NEET when I played this game. Awww, and she appears to be kind of nerdy too... but as it is with Fire Emblem, some characters aren't entirely what they appear to be on the surface. It quickly turned out that Bernadetta's existence is a call out against me in more ways than one!!!

I have a lot of technical issues with Three Houses after my second, third, fourth, (etc...) runs, but I appreciate how most its cast are the logical conclusion of Fódlan being a shithole. It's a mixed bag in practice, but I like the attempt at trying to show a wider spectrum of experience. Tragic backstories and mental illness up the wazoo... (It could've been better, but it could also be a lot worse.) Bernadetta appears to be a textbook case social anxiety on her introduction. Ah...but that's one of the failures of psychiatry, it zooms in on and diagnoses a sole symptom and ignores the root of the actual problem. As you find out in Bernadetta's B support with Byleth, she's not just "just" anxious, she had a horribly abusive upgringing!!!! Later supports with others go into more detail, but it all suddenly makes more sense...

I'm aware this is going in an uncomfortable direction. But Bernadetta is a sadly accurate portrayal of a form of PTSD. She's a shut in because being socially isolated by her father made her get used to it. (Also, poor Yuri... I know the full story, but still... ) She jumps at others raising their voice. She's suspicious of compliments. Petra compares her to a prey animal because she's hyper-vigilant. It's sad, since Bernadetta "has potential" with her hidden talents of drawing, writing, crafts, and sewing. (We were robbed of an A support with Sylvain...) Also, she likes carnivorous plants. Hey, why not!

I personally don't have a problem with Bernadetta being shown in a humorous light sometimes. Or rather, I accepted it. You have to learn to laugh at yourself. I initially had an issue when the game was first out, but not only is this sadly not the first time an abusive backstory was played for laughs, Bernadetta has plenty of moments that are serious and humanizing. It was pretty weird though how the localization had to remove a line about her backstory via a patch update... But the internet never forgets.

_{What's also weird is the line that replaced this is closer to the original script. Makes you wonder if someone at Treehouse was venting...}

Seeing Bernadetta's A support with Byleth post-timeskip made me wonder if I would leave my room one day... I was several years older than Bernadetta then, so it was only a matter of time. I exited NEETdom shortly after the Cindered Shadows DLC, and at one point I looked back on Bernadetta and laughed. "That's not me anymore!"

But here's the thing.

Bernadetta isn't (and arguably never was) a NEET, she goes to school.

I'm not a NEET anymore...but I tend to just go home after work.

UGH!!!

Marianne Von Edmund

(more unmarked spoilers for Three Houses...)

Marianne is a similar case. Actually, I think a hot take I had when I first played Three Houses was that "Marianne is if Bernadetta was treated with more respect"... Technically true? Marianne is also among the long list of characters in Three Houses who is canonically mentally ill in some way. Marianne is a textbook case of depression. Horribly pessimistic, low self-esteem, insomniac, suicidal, self-isolating, the whole nine yards.

But wait - as I mentioned earlier about Bernadetta's "anxiety", this didn't come from nowhere. Marianne avoids others and sees herself as a burden because of her Crest is literally the Beast. Yikes!!! It's seen as a curse. It's speculated that her parents went missing because of it. Her adoptive father literally paid the monastery to keep it a secret. She's not allowed to tell anyone, and purposely stays away from others to avoid being found out. This can be read as analogous to 5 different things at the same time - I'm personally not as attached to Marianne as I am with Bernie, but I might as well hit my own crackpipe. To me this felt like a period-typical psychiatic metaphor, even though I highly doubt that was intentional.

What if constantly hiding over having the Crest of the Beast turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy? Is having the Crest of "the Beast" really a curse, or is it based off myths and what adults drilled into your head when you were young? Does it really inherently doom you to never be understood and unable to live a functional life? No, it doesn't. If you complete the relevant paralogue, the rumors of Marianne being a monster are dispelled and her Crest isn't a secret anymore. Like Bernadetta, Marianne gets a happy ending and a visible glow-up in the timeskip. (Check out her support chain and ending with Dimitri for a good development.)

By the way, while I skipped Three Hopes, I'm very aware that Marianne and Bernie have a support! YAY!

Merrin

On a less serious note, the most recent Fire Emblem had a character who is #LiterallyMe in a sillier way. I briefly touched on it before but to reinterate... Merrin is literally just me when I was a tween. Or the personification of what I thought was cool when I was 10-13 years old. A wolfaboo. A literal furry whose casual wear has a stupid fucking tail. Obsessed with critters and literally dehumanized Alear in their support chain. Look at her stupid fucking claws. She does not give a shit. Merrin is living out her definition of "cool" and no one can stop her!!!

A fun twist of irony is I was also incredibly homophobic when I was a tween. Meanwhile, Merrin's design takes a page from Haruka Tenou's book and her support chain with Chloe is a blatant ship tease. So while I was being a complete hater, Merrin got a little girlfriend that she roleplays Neopets with.

And there you have it. Isn't that a cool and interesting peek into someone's mind/personality? I sure think so.