#which is why I can buy Dorothea willingly following Edelgard because she seems to genuinely agree with her and want to follow her

[butwhatifidothis]

Well thats the thing about the war: You think its unjust, meanwhile the characters probably don't. Plus you could probbably apply the crimson flower routes reasons for why theyd join. Casparr doesn't want to end up fighting his dad, Lindhardt just feels like fighting Edelgard's pointless, ferdinand wants to guide edelgard etc. Only odd one out really is Petra.

While I do also think the war is unjust, I’m not only saying that because I, personally, think that. I genuinely don’t think many of the BE would think the war was started for a just cause, mostly because of how they react to other events and what they stand by in other routes.

Caspar not wanting to fight his dad might incentivize him to join Edelgard, but you have to remember that he fears fighting him for the man’s fighting capability, not only for the personal connections he has with the man. Caspar, in his supports with Petra and Shamir, shows that he feels guilt over the death and destruction that his father laid onto Brigid and Dagda during the war the Empire had with them. He also expresses no joviality over fighting during the other routes. Taking that into account, does this seem like a consistent moment for his character in CF?

Even the game itself is questioning Caspar over his excitement to fight the Kingdom forces given his second line. He looks forward to inflicting the same sort of destruction to the Kingdom as his father did to Dagda and Brigid - those actions which he feels such immense guilt for that he is genuinely shocked that Petra and Shamir don’t hate him for his father’s actions. Is that consistent? 

Linhardt feels like fighting Edelgard is pointless? Then why stay at all? Hell, if he falls pre ts this what his end card says happened to him:

He escapes the Empire. He doesn’t stay home and either becomes ill (as this is what happens to many characters if they fall pre ts) or become a recluse (like Bernadetta) nor does he fall in a different battle - he straight up does leave the entire nation and goes missing. Him staying on the side of the war that instigated the fighting he loathes makes little sense, especially considering that he shows no particular interest in Edelgard’s ideals whatsoever - if anything he doesn’t like them. 

Look at these parts of their B support, the farthest you can get during pre ts:

He finds her not only annoying, but to be an active detriment to his own wants and goals, as well as being too inconsiderate to those who follow her. He sees her browbeating methods of getting people to do things and does not like it. So on top of hating to fight and being willing to run away from the Empire if given the chance (even stealing from his family’s funds to help with fighting against Edelgard in SS, the route where the only way he doesn’t fight her is if he’s dead), he does not even agree with Edelgard. What would his motivation be then? When he puts in so much effort when against Edelgard?

As for Ferdinand, there’s a difference between wanting to guide someone to do better, and enabling someone who exhibits traits similar to someone else you’ve condemned as being a monster. Edelgard being revealed as the Flame Empeor means that he - along with the rest of the BE - knows that she is complicit in kidnapping Flayn and is connected with those who’ve committed the atrocity at Remire as well as the Death Knight, someone known to sporadically kill innocents for funsies. That is actively putting the innocent in the way of danger and allying with those who are a direct threat to the well-being of civilians

You mention he believes it’s his duty to guide Edelgard, and to an extent that is true. But look at his words when he criticizes Dimitri in VW, after Gronder:

“I used to call Edelgard my leader, and now she is running amok. I am duty-bound to stop her.” Not guide her, but to put an end to her actions. He sees that there is a point in which merely guiding Edelgard is not enough. But now, during CF, he’s apparently fine with merely offering the occasional rebuttal - but mostly in their supports and with the caveat that Edelgard isn’t necessarily wrong - instead of putting forth any effort he deems should be necessary in stopping her from engaging in the needless conflict she is driving everyone to do, which is not something he does on all the other routes.

Petra is only the odd one out because of her explicitly negative ties with the Empire itself, but no one - save for maybe Dorothea - would willing fight for Edelgard or would genuinely think that the war was just if they were consistent with their ideals, behavior, and goals as they are in every other route