you know what i don’t get… people who say they love a character but then hate everything about them in canon…. what do you even like then…..

eg: i like shouto bnha a lot but i wouldn’t call him my fave because i dislike his narrative blackhole family’s plotline so much and he’s shackled to them 80% of the time, i only really enjoy shouto’s plotline when he’s freed from them…

also probably is painfully obvious but this is how i feel about dedue. i think canon dedue is fascinating. i don’t get people who only like him when they turn him into a different character….

I'm rarely a fan of Edelgard these days strictly because of how forceful her fanbase is about their distracting different take on her character (her and Claude).

As an Edelgard fan, it can get annoying at times seeing others act as if literally everything she does is 100% a good thing. It ultimately takes away from her character and it's ironic how people do this and want to speak about nuance

i’m surprised the fire emblem gacha hasn’t done kid units with edelgard and dimitri yet considering both of them have canon (very cute) kid designs+they love giving alts to the fódlan lords

Next year along with Kid Byleths trust the process, first came the Robins then the Corrins. So hopefully that means Byleths come next. Would like up with them getting yearly(and some change) alts. And it would be good for Byleth to have them as their first friends earlier than usual

byleth in early AM is acting as a regent for the kingdom when you think about it...i feel like you could make a canon divergence fic where byleth ends up with a decent claim to the throne because of this

Byleth being ☹️ and 😠 at Dimitri's behavior in early AM as they pretty much are required to take charge or else Dimitri will drag them on a suicide mission

i like how there’s a month in AM where byleth looks like this because she’s mad at dimitri

Despite being a Dimileth enjoyer, I do have to admit that it is understandable for some to see it that way

i learned recently there was discourse amongst edelgard stans back in the day about whether or not it was okay to read her as bi and not gay…. wild

People trying to go

"Oh Edelgard's relationship with Byleth only works if Byleth is a woman" or some other

Like listen, I love these two, but Edelgard honestly could give less of a shit about what form Byleth takes. Man? Woman? She's grows to be in love with them regardless. It's not hard to just say you got a preference and leave it there

Say Something Nice About- Female Byleth!

Over the years, flat affect characters have grown on me and Byleth Eisner is straight up my absolute favorite of the bunch, and just about my favorite fictional character period, I think.

Not only is the reasoning for their behavior not so simple, but their behavior itself is often misunderstood, both in and out of universe, so it leaves me conflicted at times.

Their upbringing was a double-edged sword due to the stagnation of being a merc since childhood as well as the dehumanization they faced, but they still came out the end being a very caring and attentive person despite these setbacks and what they outwardly display.

Going into their role as a professor and what it does for them and other things would make this longer than I want it to be so uhhh......her ample bahonkers are a neat plus

byleth in early AM is acting as a regent for the kingdom when you think about it...i feel like you could make a canon divergence fic where byleth ends up with a decent claim to the throne because of this

Byleth being ☹️ and 😠 at Dimitri's behavior in early AM as they pretty much are required to take charge or else Dimitri will drag them on a suicide mission

Silver Snow being the least popular route with also means there aren't going to be many think pieces that try to discuss whatever positives it may have.

Always seemed a bit unfair to me that the only response is to....make it a completely different route instead of improving on what it tried to do

It's double telling when you realise it's Byleth's route. And the one where they get to shine the most. It's pretty much the most mask-out off where fans unintentionally or intentionally admit they want Byleth to be either subservient to another lord or just to be a completely different character.

I’d say it’s more mask off about players viewing Byleth as an extension of themselves rather than their own character. It’s why we had so many people going nuts about how Byleth by default sides with the Church against Edelgard at the end of White Clouds, because that’s not what those wanted to do. Instead they began claiming that Byleth was brainwashed by the Church and that Edelgard frees them, which in turn was used as a knock against Moon and Wind because Byleth never turns on Dimitri or Claude like they do Edelgard.

They don’t like what this. For one, it makes it clear that Byleth would not support Edelgard at the end of White Clouds after everything that has happened. By Byleth having their own path, this is made clear but it also discredits the idea that the point of the game was Byleth being a positive influence on their lord figure. Byleth’s path rejects Edelgard’s methods and brings her down, that is the end result of their character development. In turn, this also means that the game isn’t morally grey.

It all results in people diminishing the fact it’s Byleth’s route, instead calling it the Church route despite Byleth being the leader of the Church and their forces in Moon and Wind as well. They want to keep the illusion of this being about factions and moral greyness alive (despite claiming the other routes are bad endings because Byleth is brainwashed into fighting Edelgard) rather than admit that each class leads to Byleth being a warrior pope against Edelgard, and doing this is their path. The path they have chosen, not one forced upon them.

I’ve even seen people try to diminish Byleth by calling them too stupid to lead Fodlan. We have people saying that it’s the status quo ending, or that Byleth has been lied to. People project so much onto Byleth they fail to see who they really are, how Flower goes against their beliefs and the hints that Edelgard’s influence has left them with such self-loathing over their heritage they believe they should be killed if they can’t maintain their “humanity.” Hopes showed us characters miserable fighting for Edelgard if recruited, so it makes sense that a Byleth who had their character development would be as well as it meant tossing aside the job they liked and their character growth. It means that in Flower, Byleth is regressing due to the player rejecting the story and making them act out of character.

Some people are not prepared to engage with this intellectually or emotionally, they simply want their wish fulfillment even when the game makes it clear they are doing a horrible, horrible thing.

While I may not necessarily agree on the whole "Byleth regresses by following Edelgard" and there could be ways to improve on some things in their relationship despite my love for it, yea a bunch of fans really will act like "CF is the correct path" "Byleth is the church's dog" etc. Honestly I fell victim to this at one point, then I played the other routes again and realized it's a pretty flawed way of thinking imo.

It's one thing to enjoy a route alongside Byleth's relationship with a House Leader for many reasons....but it's another thing entirely when people start acting like "Byleth needs a house leader to bounce off of" or "SS is only a bad end bc no Edelgard etc". Like these are not objective issues, it's just a problem of some people putting a bit too much importantance on the House Leaders and gaslighting themselves of thinking Byleth isn't actually the protagonist

Say something nice about- Jeralt!

He can't mess up Byleth anymore.

The way Hopes just solidifies that if he kept Byleth as a mercenary they'd never grow as a person, or worse, die unceremoniously.

As well as him even more explicitly acknowledging his screw up in raising Byleth despite still loving them and understanding them more than most

wondering why byleth doesn’t complain about rhea making them work such absurd hours and then i remembered this was byleth’s average work day pre garreg mach

And that's without getting into how they're regularly treated as a merc than as a professor

Interesting how this interview specifically mentions Byleth not getting to grow as a person in 3Hopes. Almost as if this timeline is not exactly the best for them

It's really weird when some people try to act like Hopes is somehow a better timeline when...none of the characters, Byleth included, get to be fully realized people by the end of the game.

The game is not supposed to try and make a better ending than Houses, even if Houses isn't perfect, bc it just doesn't work like that. Byleth is the primary protagonist of this particular continent and yet some people think things can fully work without them