I... don't like Chrom lmao
But that's because I've played all the other FE games released in English and Chrom just sorta... fails as a main lead in many regards. Maybe I'm too spoiled on Ike who is such a great character with huge development (and the fact that he's from a poor background NOT a royal and never BECOMES a royal) but Chrom just felt, well, WEAK. I mean the plot needs a lord, that's a staple of the fire emblem series, but there's nothing about Chrom that makes him stand out and he doesn't really CHANGE that much throughout the game. YOU, the avatar, are the one with all the development. The game hinges on YOU and Chrom just felt like background noise half the time. And don't get me started on how stupid the Female Avatar supports are. The male avatar ones are actually pretty nice and get some good character but aRG the female ones annoy me.
I dunno, I like a good, solid, developed character. And Chrom just isn't that. He feels flat in comparison to pretty much everyone else. Ike, Eliwood, Hector, Lyn, the twins, and Marth are all better heroes. And I really think Chrom's weakness comes somewhat from the game design, because none of the other games had an Avatar in the way that FE:A does and in the end you, as the avatar, end up taking the spotlight and the importance. YOU change everything, YOU move the plot forward, HECK YOU ARE THE DANG PLOT. And when it came down to it Chrom just... didn't need to be there for the game to progress, I felt, other than being a plot point because he was of royal blood.
I mean he's not like... a terrible character, he's just flat and suffers from the fact that he isn't that important when you get down to it. None of the other lords have that issue, so it's not entirely Chrom's fault. And I don't HATE him, I just don't really find him that interesting or special.
ALSO I'M EVEN MORE SPOILED BECAUSE OH GOD DOES AWAKENING HAVE HELLA ANTAGONISTS. Or maybe I'm just bias because I married one of them. I'm be bias for a second okay. Yeah. Character development wise Gangrel blows Chrom out of the dang water. Combine both the supports with the avatars, which show both understanding and remorse for his actions AND taking fault instead of pushing the blame off on others AND recognizing that he needs someone to keep him in line and that he's flawed. And the conversation in Summer Scramble with Emm, hooooooly heckie character development it tears me up (in a good way). Gangrel was really well done in how the game handled a fall from grace and instead of recruiting him as just another antagonist you actually do get a polished, well-written character reform.
Now Chrom doesn't have to go through any 'reform' per say, but there's nothing that says that in a story this long, this complicated, and this good that he couldn't have changed. It really struck me in the very last chapter, to be honest, when he makes you PROMISE not to sacrifice yourself. He never learned to deal with loss and sacrifice, he never really took anything from Emm's actions and didn't ever really understand WHY she did it. And he makes the same mistake with you when you go up against a situation that, maybe for the better, you should make a sacrifice. I mean no one will be HAPPY that you left but he never even took the time to see you side of things or how you were feeling about the matter, and that just kinda bugged me in the end. Yeah it's a minor detail but I dunno??
I spend way too much time thinking about things and I'm sorry this is long I just never get to talk about why I don't like Chrom because the fandom loves him lmao
