#Edelgard: *literally shows AND tells that she's not empathetic*

[butwhatifidothis]

after having to kill civilians

days after Byleth had their father murdered in front of them and die in their arms

in her A support with Byleth, the penultimate support that could potentially be the closest she gets to them on a personal level

talking about other countries

talking about her war

look at all that empathy bein' shown here, clearly that's why she started her war

I saw someone say that Edelgard started a war out of empathy

aint no way

[butwhatifidothis]

I think the Dimitri stuff feels so bad because it’s so blatantly hypocritical. Giving Edelgard all kinds of mental health issues and treating them with the utmost importance - nothing wrong with this. Doing that, and also going with Dimitri being CRAAAYYYYZEEEEEEE and an evil man and needing to be put down - bad!

FOR FUCKIN' REAL DUDE LIKE

Dimitri is literally everything Cap'n wants Edelgard to be. Compassionate and empathetic to a genuine fault? Check. Feels immense guilt for things out of his control? Check. Has hurt others close to him and makes a genuine effort to make up for it and redeem himself? Check. Has his mental health issues be a real, visible part of his life that he must learn to not let consume him? Check. Kind and caring? Check. Cares for the people under him? Check. Has multiple close relationships that help ground him and better himself? Check.

LITERALLY ALL OF THIS is what he is trying to portray with Woobiegard, but she can't hope to match up to canon!Dimitri because Dimitri had to actually face the consequences of his actions. He had to actually grow as a character. He had to actually own up to everything he did. His mental health issues actually affect him and are actually integrated into his character.

He's not just a pile of traits that never collide with anything or interact with anything, he is a character whose traits are woven into everything he does. His trauma isn't tucked away only to be used for big, dramatic moments - like, for example, he can rarely ever taste things and that is present in his mealtime and teatime conversations, it's present in his relationships with Dedue and Flayn, it doesn't magically go away when it's inconvenient in his uwu romance with anyone. His strength is present in his supports with multiple people and is consistently presented as something that he must keep an eye on or else he'll break something/hurt someone on accident. Again, this doesn't go away as soon as any romantic scene comes up.

Cap'n takes a look at all of this and says "oh, he has flaws? He has to grow? That must mean he is a morally inferior person to those around him." BECAUSE LIKE, even if we take his stupidass "Dimitri is rude because pronouns" shit that is already based on a misunderstanding of an entire language, he makes "is kind of rude to people" and turns it into "actually he has no mental illness, it's all toxic masculinity and his arc as a character is to stop being a toxic person" like bro what?? How do you get that from a guy being kinda rude??

So seeing Dimitri portrayed as someone he "truly" is, as someone with his "mask off" - as in, a maddened beast with SPITTLE FLYING OUT OF HIS MOUTH - when Dimitri never does anything half as heinous as Woobiegard does IN HIS OWN FIC, it's more than a little blood boiling. Dimitri is damn near the reason it takes so long to read this damn thing, because when he crops up I legit have to stop reading for hours at a time to take a break from just how excruciatingly horrible Dimitri is.

ESPECIALLY WHEN HE'S RIGHT LITERALLY ALL OF THE TIME AND IS ALWAYS PORTRAYED AS THE ONE IN THE WRONG that's just the cherry on top oh my fuckin' god. Dimitri tells Sylvain that he has a responsibility as both a noble and one who bears a Crest to protect the people under his care - that gets turned into "Dimitri thinks people should be used like tools." Dimitri tries to pardon Sylvain and Ingrid by convincing their families to take them back if the two of them apologize for betraying their people, family, and homeland - that gets turned into "Dimitri doesn't care about how his friends' families treat them." Dimitri points out that Woobiegard is showing more care for Miklan that for Miklan's victims - that gets handwaved away entirely to make it about how Dimitri "cares more about the state of the Relic than about his friend." Dimitri says that he hates Woobiegard for her involvement with the Tragedy, something that she has by WORKING WITH THE PEOPLE WHO DID THE TRAGEDY - that gets handwaved away entirely to "reveal" how "truly crazy and obsessed" Dimitri is. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN Dimitri is right and is then shat on for daring to be right meanwhile I'm just over here bein' like "I'M WITH YOU KING CALL ALL THEIR ASSES OUT"

[fireemblems24]

hey if you uh 👀 wanna share that essay on dimitri 👀 i'm sure more than one of us will be happy to read it... 👀👀👀 (dont mean to pressure you or anything! just joking around but in all seriousness your metas are 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼)

This feels a bit like someone asking me to indulge in my favorite food.

I’m a bit stuck right now with no new content for Dimitri, and with that shocking personality turn, I’m dying to know where this all goes, and you bet there will be some massive Dimitri analysis coming. 

But for a “short” breakdown of why he’s my favorite so far:

He’s that kind, empathetic, diplomatic lord I always go for, but avoids being too vanilla because he’s allowed to have faults. It’s also so nice to see a character who goes through trauma and see it realistically affect them, and not just in a romantic tool kind of way either. You see it in literally everything Dimitri does and how he interacts with everyone. It’s an excellent case of “tragic backstory” done right.

It’s almost unfair how many complex relationships Dimitri has on the other main characters. It takes the Byleth pandering edge off a lot when he’s got these deep, rich connections to Felix, Dedue, Ingrid, Rodrigue, Sylvain, Gilbert, and even Annette and Catherine. It’s such a leg up on the other main characters that he gets to skip over awkward intro C-Supports and jump right into the drama. 

He surprises you. I fully expected Dimitri to be kind of boring, but instead he just made me . . . fall in love with him? Like, I’m closer to 30 than 20. I have not done this over a character since high school. Like what is this?

The trauma is interesting and well-done and all, but even without it Dimitri’s a character who I would’ve gone for. He’s so awkwardly adorable and gets so easily excited when you talk about his favorite sword or whatever. But then he’s also so composed and confident at times.  

I also love how traditionally “feminine” his strengths are. He’s kind, empathetic, wants to compromise rather than punch his way through his problems, and he’s still totally a guy. Many times these “softer” male characters are written super feminine, but it’s nice to see these traits in a character who is still traditionally masculine. It’s refreshing because it shows these things don’t have to be one or the other. You can be a guy’s guy and still be emotional, considerate, and caring. Like his hobbies are swordplay and sowing, and he’s allowed to just like both and no one makes a big deal of it one way or the other.

Dimitri embraces his leadership role. You can tell it takes a toll on him, and that he’d probably really rather not have to take on all this burden. But he does. I’m so sick of entitled leader characters play the “but I never ASKED to be XXXX!!!” Dimitri just embraces it and wants to use it to help others. For all of Dimitri’s trauma and how center-stage it takes, you literally never hear this guy complain about anything. The headaches? You know know because of Felix and Dedue. Same with the sleeplessness. Dimitri never says a word because he’s just so ingrained to take on all the burdens and lead everyone else. It’s to an unhealthy level, but oh my God it’s so refreshing after dealing with so many heirs and chosen ones that come across like spoiled brats. 

There’s a few key moments in the story that Dimtiri really stuck out to me too. 

Post-Lonato - This was the scene where his character really caught my attention. So often fantasy glorifies war. Kings and chosen ones fight for their ideals against some dark overlord and it’s all rah, rah!!! And it’s all good and fun, but I can’t ever help but wonder what any of these stories look like from the common man’s POV. Dimitri gets that. He’s not about some high and might cause. He’s always focused on how the common man is getting hurt by their leaders. He does this with Miklain too. Of all the lords, he’s the only one who noticed how Miklain mistreated all the nearby commoners. That was what he talked about. It’s what he’s always talked about. And it really resonates with me. Leader characters with admirable ordeals are a dime a dozen when you read as much fantasy and historical fiction as I do, but ones who set that all aside and their ultimate goal is to serve the people - now that’s interesting. 

Post-Jeralt - This was one of the few times I felt kind of self-inserted in the game. I don’t care too much for Byleth or Jeralt. But after Jeralt did his thing, I got Edelgard’s harsh treatment, than Claude’s complete disregard, and I was honestly feeling so put out. I really expected the game to play this up given how much they love to pander to Byleth. I was especially shocked to see Edelgard be so dismissive of Byleth’s feelings when she’s so hung up on Byleth. It’s like Claude and Edelgard ask so much from Byleth - both openly wanting to use Byleth to achieve their own goals - and the single time Byleth shows weakness, is faltering, neither care enough to bother. By the time I got to Dimitri, I expected nothing. But when he showed up instead of Alois (sooner than the other two), I was a bit taken off guard. And then I finally got to see someone really care about Byleth for Byleth’s sake, and not only what they thought Byleth could end up doing for them later. He was so kind and considerate. He didn’t belittle Byleth for grieving, he offered to cover for anything Byleth needed. And it really got to me, because we’ve all been there. We have people we think we’re good friends with, but when you need them they’re just . . . not there. And then that one person who is there just really ends up sticking out so much more. 

I really expect this list to get so much longer after seeing the time skip. He’s clearly going to get some massive character development, and I’m so excited to see all the sides of Dimitri explored - even - especially - the not so good ones. So it’s slightly torturous that I’m stuck replaying the route I saved over and not seeing anything new and smarts even worse because Dimitri’s (and Dedue who coincidentally is another favorite) are literally the only characters I’ve seen 0 final supports for and I’m just . . . really dying over here.