#god i got SO PISSED OFF when i read the “byleth was unhappy before they came to garreg mach” meta

[eisbyl]

i must say it does annoy me when i see people implying byleth's life "got better" after she came to the officer's academy, that her life was "empty" before because she was "just a mercenary" who traveled from place to place for jobs (and also implying that she was unhappy and unfulfilled??? ok...), just completely disregarding the fact that before her arrival to garreg mach she'd spent her entire 20 yrs of life with her father+fellow mercs in their troupe. idt people think about byleths past a lot when they make their "byleth as the archbishop is the BEST ending" metas. she was barely at the monastery for a year before she fell from that cliff. in that year, her father was killed. she was (supposedly) completely disconnected from the rest of their merc troupe because she was tasked with teaching/had no time to do anything else. (not even accounting for the entire situation concerning her stillbirth/her mother's life and death and why that happened the way it did.) idt that's as easily disregardable as some of the metas ive read imply. idt it's unreasonable to assume byleth would harbor resentment for the establishment that resulted in her entire life being upended in an, ultimately, very negative way. the reason byleths past (and personal feelings) is so disregarded in the game is because they're reduced to a figurehead/a tool to be used in aid of someone else's aspirations/plans and it's executed very well. it's very deliberate (imo). the reason that some people like the "byleth goes back to being a merc" ending route despite how unforgiving that lifestyle is because it's the route in which she retains the most agency over her body/life. ironically enough, despite being born into a merc group, the mercenary life is one of the only things she was able to "choose" for herself