Imani Simmons

Mr. Ward

Apollo

September 27th, 2022

The Political Triad

The political compass tool is a political spectrum put into an x and y chart. It ranges from

liberal and republican political views. Authoritarian at the top and Libertarian at the base. The

compass has eight divided political ideologies. These eight are anarchism, communism,

conservatism, environmentalism, fascism, feminism, liberalism, and nationalism (Political

ideologies in the United States). A compass like this charts politicians, video game characters,

or celebrities. Here is in the context of video games. A political compass is a tool but also a

theory. In video games, satire versus solemnity is critical to understand. A Game such as Mr.

President is a perfect example of humor. This game is a joke based on Donald Trump, being

president Rump, and having to save him from assassination attempts. Compared to Life is

Strange 2, which covers political issues like immigration and gun violence (Nove). Whether

noticeable or not, many games have political undertones. It all comes in how characters

represent these issues. Games like this typically come in the forms of Political Violence,

Power, or Religion.

In the game Fire Emblem Three houses, a political compass is handy when graphing

characters. This game is about three views to choose from, leading to an eventual war. Every

path leads to a different political stance and has different types of decisions. Here we have

Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude. Three houses is a game where the main character you play

meets three individuals in an academy as a teacher. You, the MC, have the choice of one of the

students to join and begin training them and leading them to battle. The students are Edelgard,

Dimitri, and Claude. They are the leaders of their houses, the Black Eagles, the Blue Lions,

and the Golden deer. Along with the houses, the player is part of the Church of Seiros, a
religious aspect within it all. In the story, you find that Edelgard finds the church corrupt and

opens up a fork in the road. There is a choice to side with the church or the other two houses.

Then there is a five-year time skip. After waking up and rediscovering the reasoning, or context

of the war, you get to reunite the students that are now five years older. Each character wants

something different for the outcome of the war.

Edelgard is the leader of the Black Eagles. She wanted humanity to be liberated from

control and to eliminate the noble system. Though she comes off as liberating humanity, she

wants power to be in her hands. The phrase Ends justify the means is the method she uses in

the story to reach her goal. This phrase is a philosophy that means morally wrong procedures

are allowed if the overall goal is good. By becoming Emporor, she would have the power to

destroy all social constructs. On the chart, she comes off as a left Economic Authoritarian,

defined as blind submission to authority (LibertiesEU). Edelgard's views that the rich should be

stripped of their status directly reflect Left-wing authoritarians. Edelgard's views that the rich

should be stripped of their status directly reflect Left-wing authoritarians. The foundation of her

personality is rooted in authoritarian and communistic tendencies, both meaning that a single

party is in charge (authoritarianism).

Like Edelgard, Dimitri has views that reflect an authoritarian standpoint. Specifically

right-wing Economic Authoritarian. Dimitri believed that all commoners, nobles, and races

should get along. He follows the philosophy, The strong should protect the weak. Unlike

Edelgard, Dimitri desired to continue the traditional way of ruling. Dimitri's ideas reflect

democratic yet authoritarian views. He is the central source of power and command while still

giving opinions to the kingdom. His ultimate goal was to stop Edelgard from succeeding and

gradually take down the social construct of nobility. Dimitri's way of ruling his kingdom comes off

as a president in real life. While still having an authoritarian rule, like Edelgard.

Claude wanted to tear down the borders and race and allow cultures to exchange. He

represents an economic libertarian, a moral philosophy based on the rights of an individual. His
end goal is to open up the borders between the neighboring country of Fódlan for the

betterment of people. He represents an Alliance, a formal agreement between two parties to

work together. Libertarian views are autonomy and political freedom, reflecting Claude's belief of

wanting the borders to be open. During the war, he represents civil rights movements and

freedom of expression. He doesn’t quite agree with Edelgard or Dimitri but will side with one to

get his agenda accomplished. Further establishing his Alliance stance and libertarian

standpoint.

The main character, Byleth, gets to see this unfold in three different ways. The selected

house wins and has its goals fulfilled. The political compass in this game is important, the views

of each character have context behind them that alludes to why they think this way. Here there

are two economic authoritarians, both left, and right-leaning, their ideas being are similar. Just

like real-life politicians, they fight for what they believe is right. Both are ready and willing to tear

down the other side and fight against one another. Fire Emblem Three Houses are heavily

influenced by real events, each side representing something different. Claude and his Alliance is

named after one of England's oldest cities and reflects the Hundred Years' War. This is a war

between England and France in 1337 - 1453, England's military and Claude's reflect one

another. Back in that period, bows were widely used in war (Hickman). Claude's route is heavily

inspired Libertarian Party in the UK (LPUK). Edelgard and Dimitri are based upon the German

nation, coming from their authoritarian attitudes and the representation of the eagle and lion.

Dimitri specifically, and the kingdom of Fódlan are also believed to be based in Germany. Many

characters from this region use their surname von which has German ties to nobility (Israel).

Things such as the church and such were also based upon German churches and monks there.

These characters are prime examples of how political views and examples are in video games.

Authoritarian and Libertarian standpoints are stressed in the plot and communicated throughout

the story. This game is an example of political violence–Physical and phycological actions to

hurt the enemy.

 Persona 5 is a story about the seven deadly sins personified into people. Set in Japan,

Masayoshi Shido is one of the main antagonists of Persona 5. He represents the sin of pride.

The first impression of him seems well-spoken, passionate, and believable. He preaches that

Japan is in severe financial trouble and has a diplomatic weakness. To many others, only he

can save Japan by voting him as prime minister. His rule is the only one who can lead japan and

lead it to a happy future, as he says. The story progresses, and he strays farther and further

from his facade. Shido represents toxic politicians, and his actions reflect those of Donald

Trump. Soon enough, Shido's true intentions begin to come out. Truly, he is selfish, arrogant,

and self-centered. Shido also has a savior complex, meaning he feels like he needs to fix all

problems. In the game, he sees Japan as a sinking ship, him being the captain. Shido’s selfish

actions throughout the story make his views extremist. To run for prime minister, Shido left the

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to have the power to himself, after he secretly caused chaos in

Tokyo to pin on his opponents and eliminate them. Making everyone else look weak and making

himself look like a savior. His goal throughout the story is to direct all the power to his hands.

Shido is a right-leaning authoritarian populist who is also a nationalist, though he advocated and

was part of the LDP. To be a nationalist means to identify with one’s nation and support its

interests. To be an authoritarian means to want power in one party and for everyone else to

blindly follow. At the end of his arc, the player gets Shido to confess what he has done and his

true personality. This action makes no real difference. On the compass, Shido is an authoritarian

populist. A populist means that one only cares about themselves and is hostile to those in the

lower class (Liddard). Shido is compared clone of Trump, with his arrogance, lying, and

nationalistic tendencies. His slander in the game is similar to Trump, making his arrogant-like

declaration at 2016’s Republican convention. Both claim that they can fix the problems of the

nation. Much like any other politician, Shido hinges on appealing to the older folk and

disregarding the young adults and kids in the world. What he did is slander his other

candidates, further incriminating himself as a toxic and unfit politician. Just like the ones in
society today. Much like Trump, the citizens think he does no wrong and continues to support

him. While being so similar to Trump, Shido is also like Putin in a way. He is seen getting rid of

anyone who opposes him and being an extremist in his viewpoints. His power-hungry

personality reflects reality today, with more and more politicians turning into him.

Xenoblade 2 is a game with lots of different elements inside it. Amalthus is one of our

main antagonists. For over 500 years, he put himself in political power during a war and wasn't

dare dethroned. For some background, In this game, there is a race of people called Blades.

They are born from something called a core crystal. There are two legendary blades called the

Aegis. They sat unawaked and nonsentient. One core is evil and cracked, which was awoken by

Amalthus. He had awakened the core due to his hate for the world. The now awakened Aegis,

Malos, caused chaos. Addam, a protagonist, awakened the second Aegis, Mythra, to stop

Malos. The 500-year war began. As a political leader, Amalthus ruled as an Economic

Authoritarian on the compass. The religious impact of god in this story comes in the form of the

Architect. The Architect is the god of creation and is highly respected and worshiped. The

Architect has capabilities beyond any mortal being, abilities like recreating life in the form of core

crystals. In the game, his significance is of a god, having many worship him. Amalthus, much

like others, worshiped the Architect and desperately wanted to meet him. But due to his hate of

society, this infatuation turned into a need for power. His ultimate goal is to take the Architects'

strength to create a new world over the one he hated so much. To reach these goals, Amalthus

went through great heights. He views himself as an agent of the Architect, developing a cruel

god complex. Previously he masked himself with the personality of a kind and friendly man.

Behind closed doors, he describes everyone as a pawn in his grand plan to become a god. In

the story, you see him take devastating actions to make himself the only influential power in all

of Alrest. The setting in this story takes place. Things like slaughtering, enslavement, and

making himself immortal, all for his plan to become something he admired most. His control of

his people relates him to his Authoritarian views. Such as taking away political freedom from his
subjects. Like any authoritarian politician today, they want power and to rule everything.

Amalthus reflects thinking called Malthusianism, which is where he got his name. Malthusianism

is a theory, that the population will overgrow the food supply, so there should be limits on

reproduction (Agarwal). In his quest for power, Amalthus controlled the spreading of core

crystals to control the population. He did this to manage the number of rare crystals that could

potentially have the strength to overturn him, a direct connection to Malthusianism. This theory

was created by Thomas Malthus, who is an economist. Amalthus's religious obsession stems

from real life. Though religion and government are said to be different, they both run parallel.

Christian views impact the government, as shown in real life and the game. There are issues as

recent as Roe v Wade that have religious undertones. Many politicians hinge their campaigns

on Christian values, which directly affect their way of how things should go. Amalthus and his

connection to religion is a perfect reflection of such.

Political Violence, Power, and Religion are the three main pillars of government today. In

video games, there are always political undertones in the story. Most games are based on

real-life events, like Call of Duty covering World War II. Fire emblem Three houses represent

political violence. Persona 5's main antagonist depicts the toxicity and power-hungry

personalities in politics. Xenoblade 2 reflects religious control and power. There is more of an

influence than most think. Concepts like these come from real life and are recontextualized into

games. Settings, events, and even people have their impact. Just like real people, in-game

characters have their own opinions and values. Their political awareness is just like that of our

society. The political compass theory is a way to categorize these characters in our government.
 Works Cited

“Authoritarianism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

www.britannica.com/topic/authoritarianism.

Hickman, Kennedy. “Hundred Years' War: English Longbow.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 2 Mar.

2020, www.thoughtco.com/hundred-years-war-english-longbow-2361241.

“Is Populism Really a Problem for Democracy?” Wilson Center,

www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/populism-really-problem-for-democracy.

Israel, Stefan. “The Clues Hidden in ‘Von’ and ‘Van.’” Unlock Your History, 21 Sept. 2018,

www.unlockyourhistory.com/post/2018/09/17/the-clues-hidden-in-von-and-van.

Platform, European Liberties. “Why Is an Authoritarian Government Bad?” Liberties.eu,

www.liberties.eu/en/stories/authoritarian-government/43519.

“Political Ideologies in the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Sept. 2022,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_ideologies_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Besides modern

conservatism and liberalism,socialism, monarchism, and nationalism.