#edelgard and grima are absolutely nothing alike

[iturbide]

I'm actually a touch surprised you don't like Edelgard! With as much sympathy as you have for tortured villain figures (I've read. so much of your stuff on Grima over time), I thought there'd be a bit more of that "they're wrong for the violence, but they have good inside and can be taught better" approach. Homegirl watched like 29374 siblings be tortured to death and had horrific experimentation done to make her fit into a broken, abusive system. It seems a touch double-standardy, suppose.

Let me assure you, there’s not a double standard going on here.  Because there are several very key differences between Grima and Edelgard: namely intent, regret, and growth. 

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Grima is, in every way, a tragic figure: they gave their all for humanity, only to be used and abused until it grew too much to bear, at which point they snapped from the grief and the pain and went on a blind rampage that only ended when they were stopped by force...at which point, they settled, and realized what happened, and regretted their loss of control.  Grima, by my personal estimation, never wanted to be raised by the Grimleal, never wanted to destroy the world (Lucina’s doomed timeline was an unfortunate consequence of the Risen horde that swept across the land following Validar’s execution of Plegia’s entire populace to feed his ritual at the Dragon’s Table; or the one she went to fix), and even in Askr never raised a hand to harm anyone, preferring solitude until the Summoner started getting through to them and bringing them around.  And once they did start coming around, they turned their attention toward personal atonement and ensuring that what happened back then never happens again, protecting those they care for even if it means taking wounds themselves.  They do not expect forgiveness from those they wronged, but they consistently strive to learn, to grow, to do and be better than they were.

Edelgard, meanwhile, certainly has a tragic backstory: she had ten siblings who she watched die as a consequence of the Twisted experiments they were subjected to, isolated from her father who was stripped of any power and authority to aid them and who eventually wasted away into little more than a hollow vestige of the man she knew, and forced to bow to the wills of not only the Imperial nobles who controlled the Empire but the Twisted creatures who tortured her.  Her solution, though, was to take power in the Empire and then launch a crusade where she ordered her people onto the killing fields to fight for her ambition, considering them worthy sacrifices for her ‘higher cause,’ never backing down or ever considering that there might be another way to reach her goal without so much loss of life.  She doesn’t care at all how high the death toll climbs, because no sacrifice is too great in service to her personal goal -- and she is never shown to second guess herself, reconsider her objective or her means, and she never once faces consequences for her actions in her own route.

Grima did not intend to kill.  They lost themselves in grief and rage, and in the process they took countless lives -- something they regretted once they came back to their senses, and vowed never to repeat.  Initially they did this through isolation, but with help and support -- something they initially refused, but eventually came to not only appreciate but be grateful for -- they eventually integrated themselves into society and continously work toward personal growth, doing no harm to others unless someone else attacks them or theirs first.  Edelgard, meanwhile, specifically set out to kill, and made a point before she ever became Emperor that lives lost on her own side were ‘necessary sacrifices for a higher cause.’  She never shows remorse for her choices or her actions, and in fact resists change at every turn, refusing potential alliances or peaceful means to an end and writing off her fellow Lords -- including her own step-brother -- as lost causes.  Edelgard does not listen, she surrounds herself instead with enablers and those who share her personal belief system rather than reaching out and trying to find other options, other methods, other ways that might not entail so much bloodshed. 

So yeah, I do love me a tortured villain.  But Edelgard’s not a tortured villain: she made her choice, just the way that Validar did when he decided to use his child as nothing more than a vessel to Grima -- and by his own words during the battle at the Dragon’s Table, he was willing to beat Robin within an inch of his life to succeed in his selfish ambition to raise Grima (”There is no damage I can do your body that the fell dragon cannot repair!”).  To her, the ends justify any means, no matter how bloody, and I will not condone that.