Southern Church

The Southern Church is a branch of the Church of Seiros in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.

Overview[]

The Southern Church is a branch of the Church of Seiros located in Enbarr, capital of the Adrestian Empire. In the year 1065 of the Fódlan calendar, the Southern Church instigated an insurrection that spread throughout the Empire and was subsequently quelled. Following this incident, the Adrestian Emperor exiled the Bishop of the Southern Church and forced the Southern Church itself to shutter. A Ministry of Religious Affairs was established to replace it with command under House Varley.

Following the closure of the Southern Church, the Empire's relationship with the Church of Seiros grew more distant, but was not entirely severed. Though heirs of the imperial royal family stopped attending the Officers Academy, with Edelgard being the first member of the imperial line to attend in generations, individual nobles such as Volkhard von Arundel remain faithful to the Church and submit regular financial donations.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes[]

In the Three Hopes timeline, Edelgard reestablishes the Southern Church as the Empire-sanctioned denomination of the Church of Seiros after ascending to the imperial throne in 1180. She names the current Minister of Religious Affairs, Count Grégoire von Varley, the new Bishop, with the knowledge that doing so will immediately make Grégoire a target of the rival Central Church. After taking Garreg Mach Monastery through military force in 1182, Edelgard moves Grégoire to the monastery, where he continues to serve as Bishop of the Southern Church, as well as a target of continued hostility and attempted assassination.

As Bishop, Grégoire is a cowardly man that puffs up his own self-importance as a vital piece of the Empire's war effort. However, he is a deeply unpopular and loathsome man, and he remains oblivious to the fact that Edelgard named him Bishop in part as a means to punish him for various transgressions, including his participation in the Insurrection of the Seven and the near lifelong abuse of his daughter.