That's not a rage out of nowhere, that's 4 years of headache, insomnia, and hallucination, guilt, and loneliness even when he's just a student. That's out of control. And once he did manage to control his emotion basically by himself(cause to be honest nobody offered help that's even helpful except for Rodrigue), he didn't even at least mad at El. He clearly had mental problems and didn't get enough help.
Don't forget the whole thing you just mentioned actually started 4 years before the game even starts (I think), so that makes 9 years or nearly a decade.
I think dimitri is so great because of how he is so very human. You see his socially awkward quirks from the beginning, which is one character flaw few lords have in the entire series, which is common among many people in real life. But then, he literally becomes a murderer. He kills people because he feels that it is the only way to end his trauma and he seeks vengeance on people to rid himself of his PTSD. It becomes an obsession for him, which ultimately comes back to bite him with the death of Rodrigue, whom Dimitri lost because of his own failures and killings. He sees this and begins to break down even more because he feels that there is no way for him to keep moving forward and that he cannot rid himself of his trauma nor can he protect the people he cares about. It's just so satisfying and beautiful to see someone who would be deemed unforgivable by most people become such a good person and learn how to live. It just truly gives you hope and inspires you.
I'm not convinced that he was ever deemed unforgivable. An interesting thing is that even at his worst, he limited his killing to those who had themselves chosen to prey on others first. Bandits and the soldiers in an invading army. I'm not convinced that it's unforgivable for the defending side to be ruthless in harming on the soldiers invading them in the same way that we can judge the side that chose to invade.
@@Aquilenne In fact, people tend to talk about Dimitri as some kind of psycho who attacked innocent people, when the guy only was aggressive towards bandits and imperials who were trying to hunt him down.
@@VeritasEspiritoria I think its because he seems to relish in the mayhem that people think he is a psycho and he does seems on the edge of psychosis all the time.
As someone who played Lions 3rd and as such I had zero reasons to have a bias for lions route and Dimitri, I ended up liking Dimitri most out of 3. That being said, the thing I did not like is that if you didn't play a female and if you didn't S rank Dimitri, then you would miss an important part to his said development. He reveals in his S support that he is still hearing those same voices and that they still demand blood, but that he has decided to confront them instead of letting them take over him again. This was a very nice touch to his development and it shows that he didn't magically get better like some people think, after all. It's such a shame that developers hid this said development behind S support because those who didn't play as female and those who couldn't/didn't romance him, won't know about it and they get the wrong impression that he magically got over his PTSD. Speaking of it, another thing that I'd thought it was interesting is that Dimitri dies in the majority of his paired endings due to headache (even if Dimitri wasn't paired with anyone, Dedue's solo ending also mentions that Dimitri got ill and died. Which means that Dimitri dies by default due to illness). This is interesting since he said that he had headaches ever since Duscar (ever since his PTSD), which shows that in the end battling with his PTSD took a heavy toll on him. Overall, nice vid. You earned a subscriber.
I think Dimitri lives a very long life in most of his paired endings and dies when he is an old man, you know, like most people do, but in the ending when he’s paired with Byleth, it’s implied that they stay young forever and are immortal or sth. If you pair Byleth with Flayn, then you will know Byleth does not get old and stays young forever, and it’s likely the same thing happens here.
@@soniatsui7606 I think you are mixing Flayn/Byleth ending with Dimitri/Byleth ending there. Dimitri never becomes immortal + Dedue's solo ending always mentions his death, which would contradict such a thing in the first place if it ever happened (which it doesn't). Dimitri/Byleth ending is a simply one of the few endings that don't mention directly his death. That he got ill and died. Dedue's solo ending, again, still will mention it though. Unless you pair up Dedue with somebody to pretend such a thing won't happen, but that's not the point. As for when he exactly died, we don't know. Time of his death wasn't the point as well though. The point was that endings that mention his death imply that he died to his headache, which connects to his PTSD and how he said how he had issues with headaches ever since Duscar. That was the thing what I was trying to highlight.
@@user-zq1rn1tr3j What I mean is that Byleth is the one who's always immortal, and it's implied in several endings that whoever paired with him/her stays immortal as well, like Felix and some others, so that's probably also what happens with Dimitri here too. Anyway, Dimitri lives a good and long life in all of his endings and I am happy with that, just saying there's a theory(?) that he stays immortal with Byleth. Maybe Rhea forcefeeds Dimitri some of her blood to make him immortal as well so that her mom/granddaughter won't have to live alone for thousands of years, who knows?
Agreed! I feel like Dimitri probably only succumbed to illness at an older age (maybe mid 60s to early 70s), but considering the physical and mental torture he's been put through that's not that surprising that it would come back to bite him when age begins to wear his superhuman strength down.
From the broken man you see Dimitri as after the battle of Garreg Mach, to the triumphant King of Faerghus. His is an incredible hero's journey of redemption and forgiveness. What an amazing and compelling character
@@DemonicMonkey88 his whole route is about acceptance and forgiveness. You don't get a lot of the story when it comes to the crests or the church, but you get a deeply character driven narrative that works for this House
@@MHChang2014 You also have the fact that the mole people are still a threat, despite being leaderless, and are likely biding their time. I mean, it's a good route but it leaves the most loose ends.
@@DemonicMonkey88 To be fair, you killed actually do end up killing all their main leaders in the BL route (even if the last few were by accident) and the leaderless remnants ended up just siding with the Empire who you ended up demolishing anyway. So, effectively, you have dealt with the threat, you just didn't realize it. Even if there are any low level scrubs skulking around, the BL ending resolves with Dimitri ruling a united Fodlan, Byleth reforming and handling the church, and Claude (your ally in this route and, unlike in BE, leaves you on good terms) becoming the king of Almyra. Those remnants wouldn't last a chance against a united front.
@@Sakurabliss7 You kill the leadership, but leave the vast majority alive. Worst part? You don't even know that they exist. They up and leave the instant Myson dies, so even if you kill all the mages before focusing on him it's pretty clear that there's plenty of these worms left. They're also really patient from what we've seen. It's arrogant to believe these remnants wouldn't stand a chance when the "united front" doesn't even know about them, where they are, or what power they wield.
Dimitri is damaged, flawed and ultimately broken as a person. A lot of us can see ourselves in him, feeling hopeless or having to put on a brave face for the sake of others while we internalise our pain. He's definitely a guy I can relate to, and it's why he's my favourite Lord in the franchise now, bar none. Chris Hackney did a phenomenal job voicing this character.
He is like luke skywalker. A bland character at first but with a lot of growth to it. Claude isnt bad either but there isnt much going for him other than wanting to stop the war between fodlan and Almyra since he is half almyran hinself. Edelgard however is the least interesting of the three. By siding with her you are essentially siding with those who slither in the dark.
@@terron7840 Not the best comparison imo, even before the story of the game starts Dimitri already went through a lot and while he initially seems bland, his whole demeanor is a mask to cope with his issues.
Dimitri went from a character I kinda liked, then the time skip happened and he became one of my favorite lords in the series up there with Alm and Hector. He's also a total boar on the battlefield, his growths and crest make his damage output stupidly high!
The blue lions is for those who favor a focused story over lore. It's definitely the most emotional out of all the paths (for me at least) while also being the one without the focus of Reah or TWSITD and what they bring to the overarching plot. There's really not much to add beside: yeah this character is perfectly written, the story has good pacing and great characters, and his relationship with everyone in his House, especially with Dedue, just added to the weight of his actions and to the ending. Also Female Byleth X Dimitri is the true ship for this path and you can't change my mind
I totally agree with this. Blue lion I feel like have the most emotional depth out of the 2 other houses. I wished to have Edelgard and Claude have more character development like Dimitri.
This is exactly why I love this path so much. The Rhea/TWSITD/Nemesis stuff in the other routes just seems almost tacked on. But the truth is...I don't really need those answers to enjoy the story. The Blue Lions never focus on it, and they (smartly) left out any of that stuff in favor of focusing only on the character interaction, dimitri's character arc and relevant plot. The Blue House is so normal but when you get to the supports, you realize how much more drama their is between them than any other house. I've seen some people go from Red/Yellow to Blue and be stunned by the way these characters intereact with one another.
Female Byleth x Dimitri is definitely her true ship in the game as far as I’m concerned (Even though I love my boy Claude) Dimitri really needs Byleth to be the person he was meant to be, plus he adored her❤️
@@sj4iy While I don't think those elements were quite to that level I can see where you are coming from, especially with Rhea, who seems to be used as a plot device for the BE route ( Mostly to give Edelgard justification when normally she'd have none) or as a random final boss on the church route.I agree with everything else though, though the BL was originally my first choice, I wound up doing it second thanks to hearing about and doing the church route first and had that reaction you described when I did get around to BL. I also find it funny that Dimitri unknowingly defeated the TWSITD, avenging his family in the process.
@@hahafunny698 after rewatching the cutscene, I think he might've done both on two separate dudes? Like the first [crunch sound] was him breaking a dude's neck and the last [crunch sound into close-up pan] was him crushing the skull. Before the pan, he has his fingers on the soldier's skull, around his eyes, and it's assumed that he just.....gripped hard enough to break bone? That's how I read the scene.
I love Dimitri so much it's now one of my favorite characters EVER because he hits in a lot of points in me: from his design to his personality and journey. There's a lot of him that keeps me thinking and connecting dots even waaay after finished the game. One of the things that fascinantes me it's his kind and fragile heart compared to his great and almost incontrolable physical strength, a very dangerous match. I don't regret picking blue lions firs because it filled me with a lot of different surprises and emotions, like the flame emperor's reveal and the timeskip. Watching this genuinely kind, gentle and modest guy falling into darkness more and more made feel fear, sadness, worried and also frustrated. The weight of his guilt it's so MASSIVE it affected everything in his life; his selfsteem, his goals in life to the point he believed he was only worthy of living to revenge the dead and he didn't had a future at all, and futhermost, his guilt created the voices on his head that tortures him everyday. A lot of people said his route it's incomplete and it doesn't reveal anything of the world, but I think that's wrong, His route it's just focused more in "reallity " that in fantasy, no much of Gods and relics and all that, it's just people fighting to end war the way they can. Yes in the end crests are still there, but Dimitri's reign as king of Fodlan was one of democracy, and EVERYONE had a voice. crest where just one more power to keep protecting Fodlan but nobles of crest were not more important than the rest of the people. It's not that I don't like the fantasy aspects of the game but his route it's a more "reallistic" take of war and It's as valid as the others routes' ends. For me Dimitri represents a lot of what is human and how we go on in life together helping eachother as people to a brigther future, even with our flaws and the weight of our sins in our backs.
I agree that it's not incomplete, but rather focused on his own character arc, instead of Fodlan's lore, Rhea, TWSITD or Byleth's origin. The other extreme is Claude, whose route explains almost everything about Fodlan's lore and has TWSITD as the main villains, but at the cost of locking his own character arc in few Supports, making his own character feel less relevant than Dimitri and Edelgard.
When I first saw Dimitri back in the original E3 trailer he was the one that caught my interest the most. When houses were revealed and it was shown that you could pick a side, well, it was an obvious choice to me from the start about who I should join. Then the timeskip was revealed, and I was confused. I straight up did not recognize that it was Dimitri until someone told me. That's when my already present curiosity and interest grew tenfold. I wanted to find out what made Dimitri become this boar who shouted "Kill every last one of them!" -- and find out I did. Found out that he was that person from before the story even started. Found out many things, but that's for a different time. Dimitri very quickly became my favorite lord in the series. He has the kindness and slight naivete of Marth and Eliwood, equivalent in power with the likes of Ephraim and Hector, and in someways... has a story akin to Leif's. Dimitri became a character that I've become very fond of because of his rise from despair, and while that despair still clings on to his boots he will march on towards the future seeking redemption for all of his actions. No longer must he hind behind a mask and act as though he was fine all along. He can finally accept some simple mercy and kindness -- and truly start living. Blue Lions for life, hail the Savior King.
Q I kinda chose the BL for superficial reasons (my last name means lion, my favorite color’s blue, I thought it had the best boys (and girl I see now) to romance) but I am glad I did it, though I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play the Black Eagles now
One of the main reasons why I like Dimitri that most is because he is the only one that didn’t mention anything about Byleth’s Sword of Creator. Claude and Edelgard are like, “ With the Sword of Creator on our side, we can stop anyone who tries to stop us.” Which is sooo annoying. Dimitri actually tells Byleth how much he appreciates them so much.
Dimitri really looks up to Byleth, so it checks out. He's given a bluntly justified reason why he's following Byleth like a duckling to its mom: he looks up to them because he wants to learn to fight better from them, and you are literally a fighter, and he is also a fighter who enjoys what he does (except the killing part). He becomes a kind of family to Byleth, I'd say. I'd argue he's their son.
I think these are all very good points, but one more thing I think would be great to touch on is that post time skip, no one necessarily forgives Dimitri for his "kill every last one of them" behavior (although Dedue still seemed to be on his side for the most part). Around the monastery, most of the other Blue Lions like Annette and Gilbert fear the path that Dimitri walks, and Felix is outright disgusted with him. It's only after chapter 17 that Dimitri finally wakes up and lives for himself that he apologizes to the other members, and not once feeling like he deserves forgiveness from them. He knows he has to earn forgiveness through his atonement and the other members slowly side with the new Dimitri through their supports and story. I'm normally not a fan of characters who are written as "dark edgy sad bois" because they're usually written from this idea of "if you just love them enough, you can fix them". But with Dimitri, I feel it's a bit different in that he has his friends that help help him when he needs it but also takes the initiative to fix himself for the sake of his friends, his kingdom, and finally for himself.
It’s also nice that you can legitimately get Dimitri to pull off a max damage (999) crit in three houses. Character development is beautiful..but stats and numbers are EVERYTHING mwahahahahaha.
I have psychosis and Dimitri is the one character that actually makes me feel heard. his struggle and symptoms were painfully accurate and seeing him describe the voices made me cry because of how it reminded me of what I suffered through before I had medications
His hatred for Edelgard is indeed justified: he doesn't blame her because he thinks she took part in the Duscur tragedy, but he blames her because (as Thales says), all of those sacrifices were made in order to make her stronger. All those people died for her. He hates her because she is involved and he deeply cares for her, not because she is directly responsible. (edit: typos)
And the worst is Dimitri thinks Edelgard’s mom (his stepmom) was sacrificed to make Edelgard stronger and that Edelgard feels no remorse and regret over this fact.
@Genji Shimada as I said, she may have had nothing to do with that (meaning that yes, Edelgard didn't take part personally in the tragedy nor had any decisional power) but still those people were killed FOR HER. To make her stronger. Even if she is against it (Which she indeed is as she says multiple time during the story) that doesn't change the fact that all the people Dimitri loved died for Edelgard's sake.
@Genji Shimada Well, in the middle ages 13 is not really that young. Some people during that time married at 13 and most crown princes and princesses were already learning to run a country and even led wars at the age of 13 in the past. Btw, since Edelgard is older than Dimitri by a few months, and Dimitri was 14 at the time, Edelgard was almost 15 at the time, which makes her a few months away from being a legal adult during that time period, so you can't blame Dimitri for thinking Edelgard was part of the mastermind behind that.
@Genji Shimada Um, but he did? And she explained herself by saying what? "Stay out of my way" after she literally ordered her soldiers to kill his friends for the crest stones as the flame emperor? Which sounds like she is admitting she is guilty? Can you blame anyone of sane mind (which Dimitri isn't) for thinking Edelgard is the evil mastermind for everything after she literally tried to kill you and your friends, who are like your family since your whole family is dead, not once but many times? Really, the whole war could have been avoided/ended peacefully if these two thickheads could sit down and talk.
Dimitri's hatred of Edelgard is 100% warranted. Whether directly or indirectly, both Edelgard (The Flame Emperor) and her mother (Dimitri's stepmother and the only mother figures he's ever known who he placed his complete trust in and then abandoned him) helped orchestrate the Tragedy of Duscur alongside Cornelia and Those That Slither in the Dark. Edelgard is also his stepsister, and the person now leading the Adrestian Empire. Him trying to understand why his stepsister and mother did these horrible things (Not to mention trying to pin the blame on an entire peninsula of innocent people and never regretted doing so) is a major part of his character development. His initial instinct is to simply kill Edelgard in cold blood, but after the death of Rodrigue at the hands of a child seeking revenge, he comes to the realization that vengeance alone won't give him or his fallen loved one's redemption. Even in the tides of a civil war, Dimitri is trying to come to understand what world his sister is trying to create, even if he 100% disagrees with her, and has no choice but to kill her to protect his kingdom and his loved ones.
No, it's not. Edelgard was about as old as him when the tragedy happened. Blaming her for her mother's actions is like blaming Dimitri for the actions of his people on Duskr. It's stupid. Dimitri trying to understand why Edelgard is doing what she's doing, and why his step-mother would do what she did, is a major part of his story, yes. Also, it's the Adrestian Empire, not the Relgelion Empire, you'll find that Edelgard is justifiably against Fodland's major religion that promotes isolationism, racism, and classism. The crests are to blame indeed. Anyway, while Dimitri comes to understand the world Edelgard is trying to create, he disagrees with her for the wrong reasons. That alone is what ruined whatever chance of reconciliation the two had. She tried to kill him until the bitter end because she neither wants nor needs his pity. Why do you think she accepts her death in GD and the *Church* route? Dimitri was pretty patronizing in the last act. Finally, half the things you blamed Edelgard for weren't actually done by her. Please stop it, or i'll start pointing out the fact that Dimitri has a lot more blood on his hands than Edelgard, or did you forget the years he spent slaughtering people who were just doing their jobs, or thieves?
DemonicMonkey88 *Fixed error with Rigel Empire. Please forgive me, I’m doing a play through of Shadows of Velentia at the same time as my Three Houses play though and got them mixed up. Anyway: Regardless of the route you pick, Edelgard literally sets the continent on fire and forces nations at swordpoint to join her or die by overwhelming military might, but yeah, Dimitri killing a few people is just monstrous. To be honest with you, all three territories have blood on their hands. I don’t think it’s fair to say that any one of them is less guilty than the other. War is war no matter how noble the cause is. I just personally feel that even in the Black Eagles route Edelgard path, she’s driving an entire nation of people into war to justify her “survival of the fittest, screw the weak, abolish the monarchy and let me rule instead!” bs that she tosses at the player. Her weak ass justification that the Church is evil and so the Kingdom and Alliance have to fall under her iron grip for the “greater good” and “the ends justify the means as long as I get what want” mindset is just a sloppy justification in my eyes. Maybe you disagree. Going back to my original point, Dimitri associates Edelgard with his childhood innocence and his mother, which are now shattered by their direct actions both in the past and in the present. It’s not a stretch to see why the reveal of Edelgard being the Flame Emperor would make him deeply upset throughout his story path. I would argue that by the end of his route he’s stopped hating Edelgard and blaming her and is now trying to understand her point of view. His initial hatred was, in my opinion, completely justified, but was handled extremely poorly. Dimitris major character flaw I would argue is his inability to separate his royal obligations from his personal morality. The reveal of Edelgard is the moment in the story that breaks him. He’s struggling to decide whether his familial obligations should outweigh his royal responsibilities. He then becomes a shell of a man until Byleth enters back into the story and puts him on the right path.
@@Jamick98Geass No problem, we all make mistakes, it's what makes us human :) _Regardless of the route you pick, Edelgard literally sets the continent on fire and forces nations at swordpoint to join her or die by overwhelming military might, but yeah, Dimitri killing a few people is just monstrous._ Well, yeah... Edelgard is doing what is to be expected, what do you think war is? She's trying to unite the continent, fighting is a natural result of that. Dimitri on the other hand is just killing anything that's wearing imperial uniforms or looks at him funny. _To be honest with you, all three territories have blood on their hands. I don’t think it’s fair to say that any one of them is less guilty than the other._ I'm not saying that, but I agree with you. _War is war no matter how noble the cause is._ Yeah, but it doesn't really change the necessity of it :( _I just personally feel that even in the Black Eagles route Edelgard path, she’s driving an entire nation of people into war to justify her “survival of the fittest, screw the weak, abolish the monarchy and let me rule instead!” bs that she tosses at the player._ But that was Dimitri's opinion. It's the reason why reconciliation was impossible for the two of them! The misunderstanding is what caused the tragedy that was their final bout DX _Her weak ass justification that the Church is evil and so the Kingdom and Alliance have to fall under her iron grip for the “greater good” and “the ends justify the means as long as I get what want” mindset is just a sloppy justification in my eyes. Maybe you disagree._ I do, because it's not sloppy. Going against the church would automatically make her enemies in the Alliance and Kingdom. Rhea isn't a good person, why do you think the game makes you go out of your way to redeem her with the D? _Going back to my original point, Dimitri associates Edelgard with his childhood innocence and his mother, which are now shattered by their direct actions both in the past and in the present. It’s not a stretch to see why the reveal of Edelgard being the Flame Emperor would make him deeply upset throughout his story path._ Obviously, it's a pretty deep wound. _I would argue that by the end of his route he’s stopped hating Edelgard and blaming her and is now trying to understand her point of view. His initial hatred was, in my opinion, completely justified, but was handled extremely poorly._ Not really. He basically had a mental breakdown. Despite the annoyance, it's understandable. _Dimitris major character flaw I would argue is his inability to separate his royal obligations from his personal morality. The reveal of Edelgard is the moment in the story that breaks him. He’s struggling to decide whether his familial obligations should outweigh his royal responsibilities._ No, he's just trying to get the voices in his head to stop screaming at him. It isn't until after he gets a little better that he's thinking things rationally. _He then becomes a shell of a man until Byleth enters back into the story and puts him on the right path._ This happens way before the stuff you mentioned. Dimitri's biggest flaw was his his inability to comprehend why Edelgard would do what she did. He thought he understood, but in the end he really didn't. And that final cutscene makes me think that he realized that.
@@amylee2636 Have you played any route besides Blue Lions? Because I started on Golden Deer (objectively the best route, fite me!) before moving on to Blue Lions. Currently on Black Eagles. Edelgard's information was *partially* true and even then it doesn't matter. Why? Because what she was trying to change was a clear problem. The information she had merely made her a little bias at best. It didn't magically create problems that weren't there.
Dimitri is as good of a protagonist as Edelgard is an antagonist, that being: Among the best in the entire franchise. He's a kind soul who had to live through a life defined by his many tragedies, and had his love & empathy for others as well as his hatred of those who abused their power for selfish gains drive him to the point of insanity and leaving him an aimless & sociopathic wreck by the time you meet up with him in the timeskip. If you told me before I played 3H that a character with "cares too much" as a character flaw would be one of the best-written characters in Fire Emblem, I would have laughed at you. But Dimitri stands before me, as a living testament to how wrong I was. Despite all this however, I am still a loyal follower of the almighty Joe Zieja & the Golden Deer.
Myy100 yeah in the golden deer path he practically isn’t there like after the time skip you fight him once then he is just gone with like no diologe and it’skinda sad but understandable
While I do not LOVE that Dimitri never lasts beyond Chapter 17 in any route that isn’t his own (which in BE means less for it ending on Chapter 18 - take that as you will), I understand why the choice was made. After all, if not for Fleche’s attempt on his life, Rodrigue’s sacrifice, and Byleth finally reaching him (none of which happen outside BL), as GD shows he would simply chase Edelgard, collapse from exhaustion, and get put down like the rabid beast he’s reduced to - the wild boar Felix long accused him of being. The Church route at least has his spirit reach out to Byleth, showing he was able to realise after death that he went too far, but... Mind, I still wish he could have at least survived one of the other two routes, but I understand the bittersweet irony of how his death is almost inevitable without people to pull him from the brink.
@@borjankosarac3645 It is so sad, but true. Byleth is the turning point for the war in each route and basically the only person who can save Dimitri from his misdirected hatred.
I do not have survivor’s guilt, nor do I know anyone who does, but Dimitri’s expression of survivor’s guilt in tandem with his sense of justice and indomitable spirit really made me feel it. Blue lions for life.
as someone who suffered from it as a teenager: he's very spot on. it genuinely unsettled me just how much he reminds me of my younger self. I won't get into the details, of course, but I can tell you his portrayal is right on the money.
Golden Deer is my favourite house but Dimitri alone ensured his route had the most memorable story. It's just a rollercoaster of emotions about a man pulling himself back from the brink and rising above it all. One of my favourite moments is when he learns the truth about his step mother's relation to the tragedy of Duscur and looks like he's going to lose it again but when you ask him about it he says he's done with thoughts like that and lets it go. Really shows how much Byleth's presence changed him for the better.
I love Dimitri's character, I really do! It's just that this route feels like Byleth is in love with Dimitri, which shows even more in the more expressive Female Byleth.
I'd argue Dimitri actually shows a good side earlier than Rodrigue's death. You can hear the happiness in his voice when Dedue comes back, if just for a moment, it's still there.
@William E He just might be my favorite. He's everything I like in a character. I just want to give him a nice warm hug. I'm replaying Blue Lions because I miss Dimitri after doing the other three routes. I'm going to use female Byleth, name her after me and marry Dimitri.
@William E Cloud doesent really have any PTSD, atleast not to the same extend Dimitry has. Aeriths death just scared him mentally but he made his peace with it quickly. He was broken for sure but not unhinged like Dimitry thought it would have made sense if cloud decided to brutally kill sephirot for this.
He's what we needed because he was perfect to us in his imperfection. 🦁💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙🦁 We have too many Lords in the franchise who show little signs of regret or anger, he's a reminder that even the kindest of hearts can become the most ruthless of men. And that even heroes can fall from grace but can also be redeemed. I like Claude for his determination but I resonate with Dimitri more because like me just because you had a good family doesn't mean all your problems are solved, as humans sometimes we lose our will to even continue living, a problem I had years ago but when we manage to get up and keep going it's really inspirational to others even if they won't tell you face to face, they were watching and they were impressed.
Dimitri is best boy and zaddy and ten times more interesting than most characters in the game. Loved the blue lions route and was a bit disappointed in black eagles afterwards. I missed my beautiful unstable prince.
Nick N I can no longer do the Black Eagles route (I feel no remorse in doing the Golden Deer). I can’t help but feel regardless of what happens, Edelgard is the bad guy (she has good intentions and justified motivations, but those build the road to hell)
@@dragonstouch1042 so true! I like Edelgard but she cray. Wish I could convince her to join Dimitri and take down the church in a less drastic fashion lol
If I do the other routes after I complete the BL I'm playing as MByleth because I can't bring myself to romance anyone else because I'll feel like I'm cheating on my lion prince ._.;
I think people are misunderstanding Dimitri's hatred toward Edelgard. At that point everyone in his family is dead and Dimitri was still dealing with the trauma. Even though Edelgard isn't a blood relative, he still sees her as family. As children they spent a year of their life in Fhirdiad and she even thought him how to dance. To see Edelgard as the Flame Emperor causing all the trouble across the monastery and Fodlan shatters any hope that Dimitri had of rekindling their relationship."Cut a path to the future you wish for." Dimitri thought by becoming the Flame Emperor she had given up on that, when in reality it was the opposite
I know right? Who wouldn't be angry if one of their own family members betrayed them? And she didn't just betray them, Edlegard declared war on anyone who wasn't the Empire and already killed several people. Dimitri has every reason to be angry at her.
And not to mention that although she wasn't directly involved in many of the events that happened, but the biggest reason for this hate is that Edelgard was a willing accomplice and enabler. She let TWSITD, do what they did and did nothing to stop them. Even after they kill Jeralt (Something she obviously didn't appreciate them doing), she sided with them. That is the final nail in the coffin for me: She doesn't take any action against TWSITD (And thus continued being their enabler) and in every route where you don't join her, she admits to wanting you to even after Jeralt died. I find that unforgivable in my eyes...
To be completely honest, Dimitri’s struggles really hit home. While I have never killed a person, I have suffered from a lot of trauma that happened about three years ago. I have diagnosed anxiety and I’ve been depressed from a young age. To this day, I always blamed myself for my father’s sickness(he is alive and well) even though I couldn’t control it. And about a year later, a family members’ death opened my eyes. And to be quite frank, it took me playing this game to understand that I have PTSD. So Dimitri’s character has made me realize that I shouldn’t hide this. Also, one of the main ways I started to realize my PTSD was the anger Dimitri always felt, the guilt of living, how self-critical he was, and in a way, I felt as if I was living vicariously through him. When Dimitri talked about continuing on, even though he would still have his mental illness made me realize I could live with my mental illnesses and shouldn't hide them. One more side note, I still do struggle with my PTSD. And semi-recently had a breakout about worrying if one of my family members would die again. And I was hyperventilating.
I picked up Three Houses on release day because I knew friends would be playing, and chose the Blue Lions because I'd heard enough gushing from those friends about Claude and Edelgard wasn't doing much for me. I was between wave after wave of depression while I played, eventually putting it down before hitting the timeskip and letting my mental health wreak havoc on my emotions without much enjoyment. Months later I came back to it, and seeing what Dimitri was going through with close friends and family deceiving him, changing hiw he views those around him, anxiety and PTSD through the roof, I really felt for him; the root of those depressive waves were lies and betrayal from my closest friends. It was so engaging that I finished the game in about a week from that point, and I couldn't be more glad I did. Dimitri is now one of my favorite characters in FE and while I know I'm not past all my depressive thoughts, I can look to Dimitri and see that I can come out with my head held high. Hail to the King of Faerghus
I love Dimitri’s character because the focus on the story is on improving on *yourself* first, rather than others. It was only when Dimitri started to turn his life around and atone, that Födlan began to improve. He killed people to avenge those that had already been killed, because he thought it would get rid of his guilt. In the end it was his guilt that made him want to change. It’s such an inspiring story, and is one of the reasons I think he is a better person than Edelgard. He accepts and feels guilt about his flaws and tries to make them right, instead of just saying that it had to be done, and justifying it. Really didn’t expect the BL route to be my favourite one, but in the end the story and message was so emotional and really hit hard.
I love that still-image at 4:09. Dimitri has been wallowing in the darkness for the past five years (all his life, arguably), and Byleth is his savior. Byleth is the light in his life, and Byleth reaching their hand out to help him, not just in this instance, but in the scene after Rodrigue's death (in the rain) and after Edelgard's death as well helps to signify that. I like the last scene with Edelgard's death specifically because Byleth holds Dimitri's hand to keep him from looking back at Edelgard, his once best friend, dead on the floor by his own hands. It told me that you shouldn't focus entirely on your worst mistakes, but rather cling to the light in your life to keep moving forward. Dimitri's my favorite lord of the three. Dimitri x F!Byleth is canon btw
I love DImitri x Byleth so much. I like calling them canon because well, their relationship even outside of supports is amazing. As you said, Byleth is quite literally the light in his life, his saviour, the one who reached out their hand. And lowkey, Dimitri is such a sweetheart in academy phase he sounds like he has a bit of a crush on his professor haha. There's enough canon content for me to ship M!Byleth/Dimitri too, but ofc F!Byleth can do the S-support - which felt so natural! Their S Support just felt like an extra cutscene after the ending, and it's so smooth that it just feels canon
Dimitri’s hatred toward Edelgard, over Duscur specifically, is justifiable. Did 11 year old Edelgard order the massacre? Of course not. Did Edelgard choose to work alongside those directly responsible for it? Yes. Edelgard’s choice makes her complicit in the actions undertaken by the Agartheans; however, she is the type of person who leaves the dirty work to her uncle and Hubert without assuming responsibility for her choices. Edelgard is just as unscrupulous as Hubert but since she is a master at avoiding moral responsibility, many fans treat her as some kind of saint.
The story of a very tragic man, Byleth really is the miracle of his life and there is also the loss of Rodrigue that push him back into the right road. He really does value Byleth for helping him throughout this darkness of desires for revenge he had been suppressing even through his school days. He's a man who grew out of the pits of despair and prevailed, sure he's a beast in the battlefield but there really is no such thing as a one man army, he got to where he wanted to go with the help of the people who care for him. His story is one that hits home, what a man he is.
Dimitri has easily become one of my favorite characters in the series. He's a tragic hero and I really love that about him, that's not really a Direct Fire Emblem has gone many times before. The only other protagonist that I could really consider a tragic hero before him is Celica. Now of course they deviate from most tragic heroes in that it all works out again, but in both instances an aspect of the character's personality leads to them taking a fall, almost unable to return. I don't know. I consider Dimitri a tragic hero at any rate. And honestly Edelgard could be considered a tragic hero as well, as well as an anti-villain.
Even if Edelgard isn't responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. Dimitri is still justified in disliking Edelgard considering she works extremely close with the Slitherers, who were responsible for his life going to shit, and she helps them out multiple times throughout the story.
Edelgard went to war out of misinformation and half truths, tho she had good intentions she ended up being a pawn of Thales and his followers, she always moved foward without questioning her own rightiousnes, or her sources behind what she learned. Being experimented on/tortured for years and her family being slaughtered, to give her the crest of flames, symbol of the goddess, made her despise the goddess and everything related to it, without the proper knowledge of it all (origin of the crests, why the church rewrote History...)She was shapped from A to Z by TWSITD and she never realized it, not fully. The war was indeed the better way to change Fodlan, but she had to loose in order for her vision to pass without being perverted. She is a tragic and compelling characterer, but destined to be a villain (#Arvis throwbacks^^)
@@GaeaRage0798 Doesn't mean that they didn't make his life absolute hell. Even if you disregard Duscur, she made his life an absolute nightmare. Because of Edelgard's war, Dimitri was falsely accused of murder, imprisoned, about to be executed, and had to become a fugitive from his own kingdom for 4.5 years while all his friends thought he was dead. Meanwhile, his PTSD and hallucinations are cranked up to an 11. He literally lost everything and broke. Also keep in mind that Edelgard intended for Dimitri and Claude to be assassinated in the prologue chapters. It was only happenstance that Byleth and Jeralt were able to protect them. She may have good intentions, but her methods are absolutely flawed and cruel.
@@Sakurabliss7 Dimitri's exile was Cornelia's fault, and just like with Jeralt's death, TWSITD had their own agenda, in fact, Edelgard and TWSITD tried to manipulate each other.
Bruh I actually love both Dimitri and Edelgard the same. I can see their contrast to each other and I can understand their actions from each character pov. Personally I liked Dimitri because of his VA, his arc from prince charming (the ideal fairy tail prince) to a vessel and finally lion king (his design reflects that for me). Also I'm a sucker for fallen princes whose beliefs are challenged.
Ah, a rarity in this fandom, people who like and appreciate both sides. Honestly, I love them both. Why can't we get DLC where all my wonderful children get along. That would be great
@William E I don't think he is necessarily religious. If anything, the Goddess Tower conversation in part one reveals him to be something of a deist. He's just saying that the church is helpful to some and some people need it, and we shouldn't take that away from them.
@@veiotisligon9140 The church isn't all bad no, Seteth is actually pretty good at his job. It's Rhea that's the problem. But that's what makes her such a tragic character! But no, I wouldn't say humanity owes them anything. It's thinking like that, that caused Edelgard's goal.
I started this game without any Spoilers, and as all the house leaders introduced their class members to me it became pretty clear to me that I must choose the Blue Lions. At first I thought Dimitri was a stiff character, a bit socially awkward, but always trying to do his best (which is a character trade I totally share with him) so I started to like him a lot. But I also need to say that he frickin scares me in this Cutscene after revealing the Flame Emperor. After the Timeskip I felt so sorry for him and wanted to help him so badly. And aftsr Rodriguez' sacrifice he became such an honest person towards Byleth. So in conclusion I have to say Dimitri is such a well written character that it hurts. And definitely my favorite Fire Emblem Three Houses Character.💙
He's has by far the best character arc of the three lords. We see him at his highest and lowest, and we see him helped through the low points to be the man he's meant to be. It's a wonderful redemption arc and realization of potential. Edelgard is too stubborn to admit she's wrong and change her ways in any path. Claude is fun and easy to be around, but a pretty static character.
The person who said Edelgard would have been 11 at the time is wrong. She would have been 13 or 14 at the time (since she is 18 in the game, and the tragedy of Duscur happened 4 years ago). Dimitri led troops in battle at a similar age, so I don't see why the age argument would apply.
@Genji Shimada Keep in mind that Dimitri led at army as a commander at the age of 15. You can't use real world logic here. These kids are literally bred to live and breathe politics and combat. They're not normal kids, they're effectively born to be soldiers.
@Genji Shimada in his defense, why would he believe a word she says when it is plain to see that she KNOWS what he is talking about, but instead of explaining, she simply denies any knowledge. Not ONCE does Edelgard attempt to explain her actions, not even as Flame Emperor. EDELGARD is the reason for all of the death in each route, simply because she believes she needs to bear the burden alone and never once attempts to explain or even just talk.
@Genji Shimada i am not placing the blame soley on Edelgard. I am saying that all of the death and destruction during the timeskip is on her in every route but her own. She never gave anyone a choice except Byleth, and even then it was a false choice. She immediately saw Claude and Dimitri as enemies that have to die, never gave any option for cooperation, explanation or even surrender. Edelgard is in full knowledge of what happened to Dimitri's family, but never even attempted to talk to him or even mention it. She treated Dimitri and Claude from the very start like enemies and wore a false face the whole time. I mean. I can at least somewhat understand why she would see Dimitri as an enemy, but Claude? He is literally someone trying to do the same thing as her in uncovering the truth. Yet not once did she ever do anything but try to kill him. Yes, Edelgard and Dimitri are both terribly broken people, but Edelgard is not an idiot. She knew TWSITD were a massive threat. She even had plans to deal with them. So why would she not once, even in secret via proxy, mention that to anyone? It isnt that she could not trust them, she literally decides from the start that they are enemies to be destroyed
Not to mention out of everyone, she is by far the least responsible in her duties. She allowed those who helped her get to surpreme power free reign, allowing them to completely abuse the citizenry, gave TWSITD free reign, and let the lands she conquered descend into chaos. All to fuel a war that nobody but those who serve her had any idea even had a purpose. She became a despot ruler when she did not need to
@Genji Shimada granted, this is all different in her own route, as though even the past were different. In her own route, quite literally everything plays out differently.
My top characters in 3H: Dimitri - Sylvain Bernie Félix - Lysithea Edelgard would be here too, but after playing BL I can't really get myself to like her again. Honestly I got really immersed in that route Edit. Holy shit I forgot ma boi Claude. He's tied with Bernie.
Yay! Someone who likes Sylvain! Same opinion for Edelguard, cause I am on the BE route and I just can't seem to understand why I don't like her like other people do. What's funny is how he says dimitri is like Eliwood, when in my eyes, Dimitri reminds me of Ike. Ike went through two whole games to defeat the man who killed his father, and it was only until Ike killed him that he realized that he had a kind of respect for the Black Knight since he was the embodiment of his father's teachings. I just love both Dimitri's and Ike's arcs. Unfortunately, Ike's story arc is just short of Dimitri's which is why Dimitri is now my favorite lord (and that isn't easy to do). Also, are we gonna ignore the fact that Dimitri is our first blonde haired FE Lord (not including Warriors or Nanna from Thr776)
@@ResurgentRaven Actually, a lot of streamers and people who play 3H in general likes Sylvan, but he's one of those characters who you can only love or hate, nothing in between.
I mean, her motives make sense in BL. Dimitri was being patronizing, without even knowing it. Honestly, it's the saddest part of the route. They truly couldn't understand each other, and honestly didn't even bother to meet each other half-way.
I chose Blue Lions first and I kind of regret it only because it was my favorite route so far. I'm on my third playthrough, and running another BL alongside it, because I just can't get enough of Dimitri (and the story line as a whole). Also, it was probably a bad choice to choose to do the Black Eagles route last, because I am dreading having to ally with Edelgard
Yea. The other routes don't look so good. I wanted to play GD but i cant manage to go through. I like BL more but I want to play the other routes just dont like edelgard
Oh man that's so true. I hated Edelgard's route. It's so bland compared to the other two. Blue Lions in general has the best dynamics among the houses. Everyone compliments each other and are important to each other, even FELIX! And this comes from a guy who thinks Golden Deer is the best. Blue Lions, to me, is just centimeters to be just as great as Golden Deer.
I played Blue Lions for my 2nd route as I was curious about Dimitri's story after Golden Deer, as he got little spotlight. I was surprised with how much this deals with lots of psychological aspects (me pursuing psychology as a field of study) The psychological aspect of Dimitri's rage against Edelgard makes sense to me. His rage isnt against Edelgard. You first gotta remember he doesnt know specifically who did the Tragedy of Duscur... That is until he met Solon and Kronya. Those who Slither in the Dark. When he saw Edelgard working with him, it broke his heart and triggered his 4 years of pent of rage that he had no control of. Not to mention Survivor's guilt with Hallucinations. The dying words of his father crying out to kill them all, thr list goes on And in the end.. To see him overcome thise, despite still having to live with it, is so powerful to me, and makes me hope that maybe I might be able to make such an impact to someone's life one day like that in my career field
Actually Dimitri does have a reason to hate Edelgard and think she is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. There is a pre timeskip scene in which he and Byleth spies on the Flame Emperor, Monica and Thales. In that conversation we overhear the Flame Emperor saying there is no salvation for those responsible for such gruesome deeds in Embarr and Duscur. Dimitri logically interprets this as if they were related to the Tragedy of Duscur and considering Edelgard sided with them, well that’s where his hatred comes from
Genji Shimada Keep in mind that she is allied with TWSITD at the time, maybe she wasnt completely related, but who is to say that she didnt let them do the dirty work in her stead?
Genji Shimada All you said is true, but thing is how would Dimitri know, she is in the side of the villains, why would he trust Edelgard when she says she had nothing to do with Duscur when she is clearly working with the ones related to the Tragedy, the only moment Dimitri can trust Edelgard’s words is when he overhears the conversation because she has no reason to lie. Dimitri hates Edelgard for supporting the ones who killed his family and friends, as well as for being the reason they were killed. Past this point he thinks she was cooperating with TWSITD from the very beginning since it would be logical. Edit: Dimitri doesnt know about the whole white hair thing either
Genji Shimada would have been really cool to see Byleth have a moment in which he tried to help Dimitri overcome his problems, pre timeskip I mean. Also one of favorite things in this game is that nobody is either right or worng, Edelgard has good intentions but is willing to let people die in this war, while Rhea, even though she has done several questionable stuff, she managed to keep peace in Fodlan and even cares for those who lost their parents. Also thanks for the pic’s compliment :)
So far, I only have played Blue Lions route but I feel Dimitri is a very Human character. I also agree that his very relatable and likeable character. I love how his very earnest person and I feel that people who have played BE or GD should give Blue lions a shot.
I chose the Blue Lions route first. And I didn’t regret it. Dimitri was an interesting and great character to the point that I didn’t want to turn the console off, let alone choose a different house. He quickly soared up to one of my favourite characters ever mainly due to how is character progressed over the course of the game as well as how much time you spend with him. I’m currently playing the Golden Deer route as my second run and being a little disappointed at how little you interact with Claude at the start. Dimitri has set a very high standard for main characters across all types of games for me, and as a new Fire Emblem fan, is currently my favourite lord.
Look, there is a LOT I could say about Dimitri but the one thing that stands out most to me is when the man who had a hand in Duscur told his truth to Dimitri and Dimitri chose not to kill him right then and there, instead /literally choosing to think on the man's meaning of justice/ despite that this man had a hand in /literally ruining his life and sanity/. Dimitri went from being vicious and hateful, wanting the deaths of people involved in that incident, to not even killing the man on the spot and instead choosing to take the time to think about why the man believed those horrific things were the right thing to do. The whole idea of what makes Dimitri a perfect character to me is that he's a perfectly written human being. He's /deeply/ flawed but he comes out the other end and continues doing what he /really/ wanted to do: protect innocents who can't fight and fend for themselves. Save the less fortunate. His compassion won out against his desire for revenge but his path to get there was horrible for him. To me, he's also inspiring. He'd fallen so low and yet he still had it in him to get back up. After all that, he was able to /get better/. He'll probably never be perfect mentally, but he got /through/ it. I won't write everything I think about Dimitri and the Blue Lions route because it'd be a goddamn fuckin' essay and a half, but just know I love Dimitri. Also, Chris Hackney's voice acting is some of the absolute BEST in this game and it /really/ adds to the experience with Dimitri imo.
Also never forget that Edelgard hired Kostas(?) the bandit leader that literally tries to kill them all at the beginning of the game. She was out for Claude and Dimitri from the start, like damn I knew she planned ahead, but WAY AHEAD?
I find it crazy how, if any of the other male FE lords were thrust into Dimitri's circumstances in their games, they would probably end up like him. For instance, imagine (SD prologue) Marth having to keep it together after he sees his kingdom fall, his sister sacrifice herself so he could escape, and having to sack off one of his men just to keep off his pursuers. It's just something that I keep thinking of.
loved the way you ended the video with great relation about your life. thats what makes fire emblem so special because there is always one character we can relate to
He is probably my favorite lord in 3 Houses (dare I say it he may be my favorite 3 Houses character). I don’t struggle with mental issues but I felt as though he and I were very similar but while I was able to notice my anger and darker side and keep it controlled thanks to my father he was not able to. So we started from the same place but took different paths. I really liked his arc in 3 Houses and loved seeing how he’d handle what was going on.
Why do we love Dimitri? His over powered stats, naturally. Joking of course. He’s a very well written antagonistic protagonist. By that I mean, even in his own route he acts the villain in some ways. Going against what is best for his own personal revenge. Until he gets the mother of all wake up calls and develops beautifully as a character.
I like the part that dimitri is a nice guy but at the same time he has flaws that the game doesn't try to turn around it as also a good part of him, like pretty much the majority of the lords of being too good for the sinful earth they live, even this game edelgard who is selfcentered is seen as a possible good thing, tho i would say the game saying out loud that he has a dark part of himself after just talking him for the first time for 5 minutes is stupid
The person who wrote that only Dimitri needs the professor, he's right. That was I thought when I played the 4 routes. And thanks for you advice at the end... I'm depressed sometimes and it feels good to hear I'm not alone. (Sorry for my bad English, I don't have the time to search the mistakes I made)
Playing part 2 of the BL route, I felt a mixed bag of emotions. Part 1 did a good job at establishing Dimitri's kinder side, which made the first few chapters of part 2 more painful. Had they not established him so well, I might have gotten annoyed and wished Byleth could go help the Alliance. I know I sound heartless, but I, as a player, took a view similar to Felix. It likely took everything Byleth and Gilbert had to keep Dimitri from leading them all to their deaths. Interestingly, I find that the BL shows Byleth's character development pretty well because of their interactions with Dimitri. They go from the stony faced emotionless mercenary to the caring professor and eventually the Archbishop and advisor to the King. The fact that Byleth stood by him, in spite of how horribly Dimitri acted towards the professor and allies, and tried so often to help him, showcases a human side of the professor better than the GD or church routes (haven't finished CF yet). Byleth reached out their hand to him and he finally took it. Yet, I felt so happy when Dimitri found a reason to live. I felt relieved, but I felt suspicious. Like Felix said, Dimitri must atone for his actions if he is truly sorry. It isn't easy to regain trust that is lost. Seeing Dimitri's newfound lease on life though allowed me to forgive and gave me the will to continue helping him. It made me happy that the professor stuck with him. I know this conversation is about Dimitri, but I felt it was important to note that because of his amazing character arc, we get to see the very limited character development Byleth gets.
Byleth in Azure Moon forever imbued the impression on me that Byleth was the team mom. They really felt like a patient and kindhearted mother/father to Dimitri who wanted to help their son through his crippling mental health problems. We need more team mom protagonists in video games. Byleth suffers from never having much of a voice. I'd love a team parent protagonist with a voice someday. or Byleth to just adopt Dimitri as their kid lmao
@FED, my first route was the Blue Lions, and I could easily relate to Dimitri. As a young kid, I got diagnosed with anxiety, and I got depression later on (even though it still hasn’t been properly diagnosed yet) This hits close to home for me because Dimitri’s struggles with mental health are similar to mine, which makes him one of my top favorite characters in FE3H. He is route compared to the other 2 routes I’ve done, only Dimitri’s has made me cry multiple times, as his character makes me feel like I’m gazing through a mirror. (Without all the killing.) While I’ve not lost my parents, my father had gotten sick with cancer 2 years ago. I felt useless because there was nothing to do but watch, and hope that my father got better. He’s doing a lot better now, but I relate to Dimitri, because I’ve almost lost one of my parents, and I can’t imagine how it feels to lose both. Wow... this was really emotional for me, but I wanted to share my experience because Dimitri has become a thing to help me through depression and anxiety because he’s felt the same way. Also: I’m in a way better mental state now, so no need to worry. Even though I deal with anxiety (and sometimes depression) daily
Dimitri is my favorite FE character of all time now. I have to say about his hatred for Edelgard does seem unreasonable because you know he’s crazy. The way Dimitri sees it Edelgard being the Flame Emperor and working with TWSITD and Thales saying that the bad stuff they have done is for her, all of the tragedies caused by them is for Edelgard so Dimitri sees it as her fault for the death of his family, for the Kingdom’s hatred for the people of Duscur who are innocent and for the people of Reimre and possible many more. Then Edelgard continues to work with them so Dimitri needs to kill her to avenge the fallen to “End the cycle of the strong trampling the weak” His story doesn’t expand on lore but I don’t mind because it’s the most personal story told in Three Houses which is why I can see people liking more because you just get invested into Dimitri
Dimitri is definitely my new favourite Lord, I kinda like how he's almost a subversion of the classic "good" FE Lord like Eliwood or Eirika in that he starts being similarly kind and noble albeit less trusting and definitely more competent but the addition of his tragic backstory makes him that much more interesting especially as you then see his fall and redemption arc. To be honest I'm surprised I like him as much as I do since I was about ready to write him off as another generic "Gary Stu" Lord similar to Ephraim whose one of my least favourites. Unless he ends up being bad in all other pathways as I've not played them yet I think he'll be my favourite for quite a while. As someone who rarely feels much in modern FE stories with only FE7 and Echoes getting me truly immersed in the world I was nervous about the story of 3H. While I can't speak for the other 3 routes, the Blue Lions route brought me back to the GBA games and actually made me care for the main plot, glad that Echoes wasn't a fluke, hell I almost teared up at the end and that's almost never happens when I play games, it was the first time in a while I've felt genuinely proud of a character. Oh I am really not looking forward to killing Dimitri now.
He's barely in the other pathways, as Byleth's interference is pretty much the only thing that saves him. Think: without Byleth, or Rodrigue's sacrifice, he continues his rampage, charging into battle senselessly, consumed with rage and vengeance. It's a real shame, but it shows how all he needed was someone to bring him back from the brink that he fell over.
I personally chose the BL path first because of the students. It was the group of characters surrounding Dimitri that I actually wanted to see grow. And after the timeskip, I actually thought i had chosen the wrong path. I didn't want to interact with Dimitri because he didn't want to interact with anyone. But I remembered the awkward and kind kid he was, and his friends were all there (minus one exception who I was heartbroken to see was missing) routing for him, even Felix who I knew hated this Dimitri. But right at the moment with Rodrigue, things got more personal, and as that final scene played I couldn't help but tear up. Dimitri had come so far, he even offered a hand to the person he hated the most. And it was beautiful. I'm glad i played BL story first.
Unwarranted? Even with the fact Dimitri was wrong about Edelgard's involvement she still threw Foland into war and chaos, killing hundreds if not thousands of people over false information she had about the church, while allying with the true big bads of the game. Its why Rhea only goes insane on the BE route because if she didn't, even with Byleth joining her and mellowing her out she'd still be a anti-villain otherwise thanks to who most of her enemies are.
Wrong. Edelgard, despite all her suffering, is power hungry and stubborn. She thinks she is the only one who can lead Fodlan and if not then she has no reason to live.
TheSwordsman100 she also worked with the woman who got daddy Jeralt killed and raided the monastery regardless of the innocent students still inside. And people wonder why she’s the only lord you can betray
I think Edelgard has her heart in the right place, but she has bought entirely too much into her own hype. I agree with her on the stance of the church, and it's not like she's actually siding with Those Who Slither. She says it's a temporary alliance brought out of necessity, and at the end of her route that is proven to be true; Edel, Hubert, and Your character's ending lines are about wiping them out entirely and retiring in peace. Hell, I think the only real bad guys of the game are *some* members of the church and Those Who Slither, this game is very morally gray (which is something I love). I played the Lions route first, and was so disgusted with Edel's actions that I had to play the game from her perspective to understand what the fuck led to her plunging the continent into anarchy. After playing both, I can't really say she's in the wrong either.. Definitely not in the right, but she has a LOT of good points.
@@deadseven3474 The thing about the BE route though is the events of the BE route are vastly different to the other routes (BL, YD and CoS keep the establishing events of phase 2, war against her and characterization consistent) and that in the BE route you are dealing with a Rhea who has been driven insane. Rhea (when sane which is 90% of the game) and the church despite having their flaws are defiantly on the side of good. It also doesn't help that despite Edelgard's information on the church being wrong (YD, more so, and CoS routes are lore dumps) Rhea's death removes crests form the world even though she didn't make them and every other time she dies in the other routes, nothing of the sort happens. Also just because Edelgard plans to betray TWSID doesn't suddenly make working with them null and void, she also did numerous evil actions on her own, which is why she is on most routes a anti-villain, only becoming a anti-hero if you do BE.
I picked blue lions because everyone else was picking golden deer and black eagles surprise was spoiled for me. AS excited as I was for edelgard, as the other axe lord in FE is not only the chillest dude, but the best dad next to piccolo, I had high hopes for her, but figured the BL route would be the more traditional route. And I am so glad to be wrong, It was hard to pick a different route for subsequent playthroughs, as much as I adore Hilda or Marianne or even claude, Dimitri feels like the most well developed character. Claude doesn't need any, hes just a good person and any growth in his case would probably be a negative, and Edelgard is just written to be a misguided villain that is pretty much irredeemable. But you watch Dimitri descend into madness, into wrath, to straight dismissal of everything, true nihilism. All to bring it back around and be more like Ephraim or Ike than anyone else. Hell even in his ending hes willing to embrace his half sister, whom just a few months ago, he wanted to slaughter like an animal. Real development there. Was nice. Shame she spit in his face, but I guess not everyone can get a good ending all the time. Which ironically was also kinda nice.
I'm glad I played BL first. Edelgard's reveal was a heavy punch to me, and hit home just how broken he was from the start. You don't focus on changing the world, you focus on moving past the damaged mental state of these lovely individuals. And I couldn't be happier to say that they were may favorite route. (Even after playing all four.)
I do think Dimitri is one of my favorite characters in FE. Mostly because they took what could be considered a fairly common trope in FE (IE a young lord looking to avenge his loved ones, right injustices, and restore his kingdom) and make the young lord NOT perfect, where the struggle is not from overcoming his enemies or hardships, but overcoming himself.
I was going to pick GD as my first route since I found Claude to be pretty interesting but because I summoned Dimitri in heroes (2nd try) and no one else I went with Blue Lions instead on a total whim (he would never stop giving me his hearts in forging bonds as well so I had to). Now I can't even think of playing the other routes because I know no matter what I do Dimitri will always DIE and I just can't ;w; I've grown too emotionally attached to him, I'm on my third playthrough of Blue LIons on maddening mode and I regret nothing. I will watch other people play the other routes tho cause I still am genuinely curious, just not enough to kill Dimitri myself or any of the BL kids. never.
Sometimes I'm like "Hmmm maybe ill recruit all the other BL kids so I dont have to kill them" bu then i realize Dimitri would be alone and betrayed and I cant save him anyways so... jut cant bring myself to play other routes!
@@jas8288 Same!! ;;w;; I feel like if I DID play the other routes I wouldn't be able to recruit the kids just so Dimitri wouldn't be alone, at least not his childhood friends
Yeah, I understand how you feel. I wanted to do the other routes but I didn't like the idea of being Dimitri's enemy and killing him because he's my favorite character in Fire Emblem Three Houses and always will be, after everything that's happened to him to be his enemy is just awful. I don't think you kill Dimitri in every route but from what I've seen in the Black Eagles alternate route is making me not want to do the alternate route of Black Eagles, I even moved the main character next to Dimitri so she's fighting along side him in all the Blue Lion maps. Not just Dimitri but I also care about the other Blue Lion students as well, I don't like the idea of killing them ether. I don't like the thought of killing Ashe, Mercedes and Annette since I care a lot about those characters. I am doing the Golden Deer route but it still pains me to know I will be Dimitri's enemy later on, it makes me want to avoid fighting him on the battle field if it's possible but probably not :(
After Rodrigue died, I have no shame in admitting I wanted to give Dimitri the biggest hug I could give him, and I was Male Byleth. Out of literally 99% of the other lords in the series, Dimitri easily has the most depth and development.
Yah. Never thought it would ever happen but he dethroned my favourite lord in the series and replaced him. Heck, he's probably my favourite character in the entire series now. Definitely would replay his route again now that maddening difficulty has been added. Also even though Blue Lions route doesn't reveal a lot, its still my favourite out of all 4. I think it's okay that it left out the other things. Those things aren't the focus of his route after all. And also, just like in real life, you can't have all the answers when you're only looking from one side of the story.
I think why he hates Edlegard so immensely is because he thinks she either helped gather information to help Arundel orchestrate the coup that led to the tragedy of Duscur. That in combination with his extreme survivors guilt and you have one terrifying but broken guy that wants to let his family rest. It doesn't help that he was so close with Edlegard as a child. He and Edlegard are opposites in the blue lions route, Dimitri, starting out willing to sacrifice anyone or anything to get revenge while slowly cooling down to become a collected and determined man willing to die for his country throwing away his desire for vengeance. While Edlegard starts cold and calculating and believing she will win to growing more and more desperate as the game draws to a close and throwing away her humanity to try to get the power to stay ruling the world. But in the final scene when Dimitri tries to spare Edlegard, in my opinion and contrary to popular belief, deliberately didn't kill Dimitri with the dagger, she wanted to die because she caused so much death and destruction only for it to be for nothing and knowing if she made it look like she wanted to kill him then he would finish her off without thinking, that might be why she has a weak smile even as she slumps over from her wound.
I don’t even have a productive comment to add I just want to say I started playing FE when I was 10, Dimitri is my favorite character in the entire franchise and I fucking love him
Dimitri reminds me so much of Guts from Berserk, down to his armor, missing eye and just his attitude after the time skip. Doesn't help Edelgard remind me of Griffith so much, a white haired person following their dream no matter what...
When i played this game i originally wanted to start with Black Eagles but my bf picked her route first so i picked Blue Lions and by far fell in love with the route. I could gladly say i love this route because like everyone else we all strugle with the WORST of the WORST and playing this game gave me a reminder to not carry the weight on your shoulders, because gddam my boy Dimitri i wanted to fcking jump in the scenes and scream NO MOE FOR MY PRINCE. Im glad the character develpment brought people close to relate Hence with such a lovely redemption
I have a family member who goes through something similar to Dimitri with hearing voices and sometimes seeing things that aren't there. It was sad to see a character go through a lot without proper help. But that's why I loved this route. They didn't make him this bad guy, they made him the co protagonist and let us fight to help him out. I have a soft spot for Dimitri because I know what he's going through is hell and isn't fixed but he's trying to cope with it all.
A big reason I personally appreciate dimitri is because he is very unique from other fire emblem lords. All these other lords are often portrayed as selfless and perfect. So many of them never truly change in their adventures but dimitri changes drastically.
Blue Lions the most REWARDING route of the 4 routes in FE3H! I enjoyed the story, the characters and the ending. It's high time that a character with PTSD/mental health issues can not redeem themselves but eventually get better in time and heal. It's such a message and one that strikes a cord with many people!
I have an essay. I hope someone would read it. It is long. It compares Edelgard and Dimitri, spurred after seeing people arguing about them. Anyway, Thank you for reading. Everyone is a slave to their conditions, experiences, and their past. Not only that, they are also slaves to their own character. Edie's past and her own personality (partially developed out of her experience, and partially out of her natural traits as even Dimdim had mentioned that she was "initially cold and aloof" who took some time to warm up when he first met young Edie, which was _before_ those experiments). She _does_ have an extremist mindset and a savior complex, which was why despite her ideals being quite commendable (I personally agree with her in a lot of things, and yes, as an atheistic humanist, her thing against reliance on gods *is* my kinda jam), I do not like her methods, her "my way or the highway" attitude (more pronounced in other routes though), and her lack of awareness to the fallacies of human thinking-such as not actually trying to check the "history" and "facts" that she had been given, unlike Claude, the skeptic extraordinaire), among others-and overall, if it wasn't the fact that her war did end up ushering Fódlan to a golden age (and the ironic thing is: _any_ of the victors could do it. Edie could do it, Dimdim could do it, Byleth could do it), her war _would_ have just been a tragedy that killed millions and left the continent in an extensive period of chaos and turmoil (refer to real world countries after a war, such as Germany after WWII). Still, you can find her flaws linked to her painful experiences and the situation she was thrusted into (notably, TWSITD had her hands pretty tied and I understand that when you weigh your goals and think they are worth everything, working together with shady ass-whom you think you will be able to backstab once all is said and done-is not beyond reasons). Keep in mind that she also has a reduced lifespan _with_ dramatically increased superpowers due to the experiment, which would explain why she chose starting a war-the shortest route to rebuilding Fódlan and something her superpowers will be of great advantage (she does quite a deal of the fighting _personally_ too). Even her story is shorter... Which is her very ideal. It's all within reasons. Now to Dimdim. His trauma and associated psychological disorder(s) play a role in his fucked up attitude, but keep in mind it's also related to his nature and personality. Some had argued that Edie had suffered just as much trauma and yet she kept herself under wraps, while Dimdim is "weak" (Or something like that). But bear in mind that even under the exact sort of stress, _different people will _*_still_*_ react differently, because no one person is exactly the same after all._ Dimdim's naturally sensitive, is extremely empathetic and sympathetic to others (termed "soft hearted" in game)-a trait he displayed in his past childhood self, academic self, and even his older self, near the end of Azure Moon. This may explain why his take on his trauma had him ended up developing psychological issues (while Edie, I'll argue, developed *personality* issues). Keep in mind that at the beginning of the game, he is just as composed and under wraps as Edie is, playing the role of the sort of idealistic person he aims to be for the people he empathizes with. Just like Edie, he is putting on a mask as well, and he only steadily broke down since the Remire village incident and so forth. Dimdim also has a trait he isn't proud of at all-his boar side. I still don't know if that side is developed out of overcompensation to his inability to save anyone in the Tragedy of Duscur AND the genocide of Duscur afterwards; Or if it's just his natural trait, since he has been commented multiple times that he's "only" good in fighting; Or just both. Either way, it's an authentic part of him as much as his compassionate side (he outright admits it in Felix's A support), which is why when the betrayal chapter happened and his mask cracked (he literally stepped on a mask and cracked it too, even if it's Edie's mask), his true natures are displayed. Still, notice that even while he's in his boar state, his primary motivation is still his compassion for the dead and _not himself._ He isn't avenging because he is angry at being trusted into this trauma, he is avenging for the sake of those who _had_ suffered. He's obsessive with his vengeance to the exclusion of other things, including taking back his own fucking kingdom (perhaps he planned to do that after he finishes his business, seeing as how angry he also is for Cornelia and her ilks, but we'll never know). He lets the dead rule him first and foremost and ignores himself (though not as pronounced as Marianne's, Dimdim has a great deal of self-loathing which only gets worse after timeskip; His assholesery is really him denying himself the comfort and care of others out of said self-loath; Even after he's better, he still doesn't like himself). Ironically if he had even a modicum of Edie's self affirmation, he would have been much clear-headed and be able to keep his demons at bay. He might not end up being such a wreck and just be the Marth archetype that he superficially resembles. Understandably, he puts some players off, yet that really _is_ his intention. Whether his allies and us are with him or not, his plan to kill Edie will always happen, so being friendly with us is not a priority. He doesn't even think he deserves any company. Yea, it's fucking self-destructive and frustrating, but not at all stemmed from nowhere. People who suffer from various mental issues display this sorta behavior too, and as a self-trained counsellor since my childhood (the adults in my life were not... Very good), yes, they did push me to my edge many times. Made me wanna give up and just pull them out of their misery... But I personally can't come to that. It seems that I'm pretty patient after all, which is be why the boar didn't bother me too much and why seeing him get better made me happy, as it echoed my real-life experience of seeing people getting better after patiently tending to them for a long while. However, I'm well aware and understand that not everyone can actually stomach people like this-not everyone can be a counsellor or a therapist. It's very, *very* understandable to hate Dimitri, even with his sob story in mind. Really, just as disagreeing with Edie's methods and/or personality don't invalidate her _ideals_ (if you want to invalidate them it's fine; But your arguments should center on ideals and not her personality), finding Dimdim's lapse in "normal, acceptable attitude" annoying/frustrating doesn't invalidate his struggles and his recovery from anguish. Maybe it's just my perspective as a counsellor and advisor in my real life, but ultimately, as I can trace their reasons and actions to unfortunate circumstances and their humanity, she's not a monster and he's not an animal to me. They are kinda just human.
An addendum: a lot cite Dimdim's redemption as rather abrupt and so it demerits the story's quality. I agree it's may be even better if it can become more gradual, but the current one we have is not at all bad or even abrupt. I am probably in the minority now, but I actually don't think Dimdim's boar bloodthirsty side post timeskip is a direct _symptom_ of his mental issues. Rather, I'm inclined to believe the latter colored his rationale; they influenced his decision making process and mindset. In other words, I don't think he was being psycho; I think he was sound in mind(he did survive five years of vagrant lifestyle _alone_, instead of say, drown in a river like Ophelia or whatever). So rather than say he's suddenly "switched back to being a good boya" like boom, issue solved! I'll say it just changes his mindset and rationale, which his decisions-on the army's next plan right down to his demeanor-reflect. His issues are clearly still with him, and whether other characters outwardly state their skepticism or not, he himself clearly hasn't forgiven himself (he doesn't even allow himself to join in merriment and openly expresses doubts on him being king). Hence, to me, to say that he got cured by Rodrigue's death is not true; I see it as someone with a sound (enough) mind, upon seeing the extent of his deeds, starts to doubt his approach and mindset-which leads to him asking for advices in the rain from Byleth. He started completely succumbing to his boar side since escaping Fhirdiad and hasn't suffered an impact as great as this one to force him to question himself, after all. He perhaps thought that his old restrained self is the reason why so many had died while the "sinners" are left unpunished, and so if he fully let loose his other side, he will finally be able to mete out true justice, only to have Rodrigue died *_because_* of this very attitude. Hell, Fleche's action even mirrors his own, and Fleche is _just_ a child... A weak spot that he has never discarded even while being a boar (a monk in the monastery would mention seeing him patting an orphan, *post timeskip and pre-redeemed* ). Ergo, it's not strange that he is suddenly shaking out of his delusion. It's also no wonder he was so confused in the rain as to what he could do at all-since he failed again. After that, all he had been doing is, well, trying to be better. He is willing to learn the grey areas in what right and justice mean, as seen in his reaction to a complicit in the Tragedy of Duscur and his attempts to work with Edie, and even separating his feelings for Edie as a person and Edie's ideals (he is downright amicable in the dagger part of their exchange). It's something the past Dimitri didn't do at all-in other words, his character grows, and he does so as a part of his redemption.
@@AdamWithFED * /head explodes in Bernadetta screams* I... Don't have discord!! I'm too shy for Discord!! I don't think I can write any better than this, it was all in a whim, really!!! /screams Um, actually, I don't mind if you use this in your script. I don't mind it even if it's word by word (though I'm sure you'll come up with better ways to say it!). I'm just stoked that you did read it, Senpai, and even thought it's good! That alone made my day... Thank you!
Lyndis S. I read all of your replies, and I totally agree with you! I love Dimitri’s character, but I disagree when people say that his change was abrupt. You can see smaller hints that Dimitri’s mindset is changing in the chapters before the battle of Gronder Field (an especially notable example is Dimitri’s response to Dedue being alive after the battle at the bridge if Dedue’s paralogue was done). I think that Dimitri’s improvement is minor and subtle at first, and I disagree when people say that it was abrubt. If you pay close attention to Dimitri’s behavior, the signs are there. They may be minor improvements, but they are improvements. Seriously, the post-bridge battle scene is a clear example of Dimitri’s changing mindset. He is clearly torn about killing Edelgarde’s soldiers who gladly die for her. In any case, thanks for the interesting analysis!
In all honesty, I played black eagles first (silver snow and then crimson flower), then blue lions, I think that azure moon is the true route of fire emblem three houses. As you can see in the battle of the eagle and lion along with blood of the eagle and lion, each house’s color on the battlefield matches with their primary color. Dimitri as the protagonist’s choice is in blue. Edelgard is in her red, and Claude is in his yellow, it is also the only route it seems where both dimitri and claude survive, with edelgard being killed for obvious reasons. However I do wish edelgard took dimitri’s hand at the end.
This made me cry... thank you for this wonderful analysis. FE3H came out at a time where I regularly dealt with heavy depression and anxiety. I chose the Blue Lions house first and it's safe to say that this route and especially Dimitri helped me a lot through this hard time. This character will always have a special place in my heart.
Dimitri is a very human character. First we see a nice and noble young prince with a socially awkward side to him. A boy, who cares for his comrades and friends. After finding out about the Tradegy of Duscur und the involvement of the ones who slither in the dark, you can see the first notes to his "dark past". In his support conversations you are asked how you live with the fact of killing others, killing friends of others. It gives you a brief sight into his thoughts about murder and guilt. In the battle against Tomas/Solon in Remire, his "boar" side ist first shown, a part of his rage. On forth he shows him suffering of his constant headaches, his PTSD and the voices in his head to take revenge on someone. On the other hand, again, you learn more about his relationship with Edelgard, his stepsister and his beloved friend, amd his unusual gift for her, a dagger. In the scene where Byleth and Dimitri are eavesdropping on the Flame Emperor and Thales, he gets said gift back. It's a moment you can almost see his nice and sane demeanor crumble for sure. As for the reveal of the Flame Emperor, his sanity bursts as the uncontrollable voices in his head command him to go for the kill, even pushing Byleth away, the person who he actually sees more as a close friend than a teacher. His reaction is justified, as he finds the one who is the main reason why the Tragedy of Duscur happened, to make Edelgard stronger. After the timeskip, we see a broken man, fallen into isolation, depression, hatred and revenge, a man who surrounded himself with corpses and darkness, followed by roaming ghosts and bitter souls. With the death of Dedue he lost a pillar to get his sanity back together. As for the next chapters he isolates himself and only thinks about killing Edelgard. Here we see his rage as fuel to go forward, even in his Strength Stat, as it can be seen as a symbol of his rage and hatred. Even Felix, a very close friend who knows him better than the other Blue Lions, is baffled and concerned about his actions and decisions at one point. This is the point we see a man walking more and more into the darkness of depression and revenge. As Rodrigue dies in his hands, he realizes that revenge calls for more revenge, only keeping the wheel of murder spinning. In the scene of him standing in the rain, looking like skin and bones, questioning his reason to keeping to move forward, to keep on living, like thinking to end his live if that's his destiny, that is his deepest point and hits really hard. But with Byleth's help and Rodrigue's last words he tries to get out of this dark hole and reach fot the glimpse of light. In his final scene with Edelgard, he holds out his hand to Edelgard, the person he has sworn to behead, hoping for her to talk it out or come to a compromise. It's the moment she throws the dagger towards him, again, that he thinks that bad people might not ever change and must live in this painful state. As he and Byleth walk towards the enlightened door/gate Dimitri hesitates and attempts to go back, to Edelgard perhaps. But Byleth pulls him to the light, symbolizing to him that he indeed deserves better and to not stay in the dark past he is reminded of. Symbolizing him he has a reason and the right to live a life of joy and light. The S support reveals that the voices in his head haven't stopped, but h now wants to accept the voices and get them out of his mind instead of locking them inside his head and falling for their screams and hatred, showing that he still hasn't freed hinself of the PTSD and depression. As for his endings without F!Byleth, shows him dying of illness. Maybe he could no longer live with the voices in his mind and ended his own life... We may never know... The Blue Lions Route is a story of a man falling into his hatred, depression, losing trust and suffering PTSD to a man, learning to accept his past, atoning for his sins and moving forward in life while his PTSD is sitting on his shoulders and tries to bring him down again. It is what it is, it happens for all of us, we fall, we suffer but with help and support we can get back up and get better, if the support is present. That are my thoughts about Dimitri and his path throught the lingering darkness that surrounds him that hits so close to home for many of us players.
Even though I'm Team Golden Deer, Dimitri really was an inspiration to me and really impact me to change for the better. He and Marianne are my favorite characters in FE3H. With FE3H being my first Fire Emblem game I got to say I'm impressed and am glad I choose this game instead of Pokemon SnS. Really looking forward to what IS is gonna do with the franchise going forward as I have become a huge fan.
![The Dimitri Documentary. [Fire Emblem: Support Science #21] Fire Emblem: Three Houses](/img/1.gif)
That's not a rage out of nowhere, that's 4 years of headache, insomnia, and hallucination, guilt, and loneliness even when he's just a student. That's out of control. And once he did manage to control his emotion basically by himself(cause to be honest nobody offered help that's even helpful except for Rodrigue), he didn't even at least mad at El. He clearly had mental problems and didn't get enough help.
Don't forget the whole thing you just mentioned actually started 4 years before the game even starts (I think), so that makes 9 years or nearly a decade.
Best comment.
And then frikin Rodrigue has to die
M A I feel as though neither of the characters are villains.
@@BrickMaezo because they aren't villains they are people going through war
This entire comments section is just everyone gushing about Dimitri and I love it.
It's what he deserves!
Sarah Is a Strawberry by the way you have a beautiful profile picture. I fricken love it😂
@@somenerd849 awwe thank you 👍👍
*gush gush gush*
I think dimitri is so great because of how he is so very human. You see his socially awkward quirks from the beginning, which is one character flaw few lords have in the entire series, which is common among many people in real life. But then, he literally becomes a murderer. He kills people because he feels that it is the only way to end his trauma and he seeks vengeance on people to rid himself of his PTSD. It becomes an obsession for him, which ultimately comes back to bite him with the death of Rodrigue, whom Dimitri lost because of his own failures and killings. He sees this and begins to break down even more because he feels that there is no way for him to keep moving forward and that he cannot rid himself of his trauma nor can he protect the people he cares about. It's just so satisfying and beautiful to see someone who would be deemed unforgivable by most people become such a good person and learn how to live. It just truly gives you hope and inspires you.
I'm not convinced that he was ever deemed unforgivable. An interesting thing is that even at his worst, he limited his killing to those who had themselves chosen to prey on others first. Bandits and the soldiers in an invading army. I'm not convinced that it's unforgivable for the defending side to be ruthless in harming on the soldiers invading them in the same way that we can judge the side that chose to invade.
@@Aquilenne In fact, people tend to talk about Dimitri as some kind of psycho who attacked innocent people, when the guy only was aggressive towards bandits and imperials who were trying to hunt him down.
@@VeritasEspiritoria I think its because he seems to relish in the mayhem that people think he is a psycho and he does seems on the edge of psychosis all the time.
As someone who played Lions 3rd and as such I had zero reasons to have a bias for lions route and Dimitri, I ended up liking Dimitri most out of 3.
That being said, the thing I did not like is that if you didn't play a female and if you didn't S rank Dimitri, then you would miss an important part to his said development. He reveals in his S support that he is still hearing those same voices and that they still demand blood, but that he has decided to confront them instead of letting them take over him again. This was a very nice touch to his development and it shows that he didn't magically get better like some people think, after all. It's such a shame that developers hid this said development behind S support because those who didn't play as female and those who couldn't/didn't romance him, won't know about it and they get the wrong impression that he magically got over his PTSD.
Speaking of it, another thing that I'd thought it was interesting is that Dimitri dies in the majority of his paired endings due to headache (even if Dimitri wasn't paired with anyone, Dedue's solo ending also mentions that Dimitri got ill and died. Which means that Dimitri dies by default due to illness). This is interesting since he said that he had headaches ever since Duscar (ever since his PTSD), which shows that in the end battling with his PTSD took a heavy toll on him.
Overall, nice vid. You earned a subscriber.
I think Dimitri lives a very long life in most of his paired endings and dies when he is an old man, you know, like most people do, but in the ending when he’s paired with Byleth, it’s implied that they stay young forever and are immortal or sth. If you pair Byleth with Flayn, then you will know Byleth does not get old and stays young forever, and it’s likely the same thing happens here.
@@soniatsui7606 I think you are mixing Flayn/Byleth ending with Dimitri/Byleth ending there. Dimitri never becomes immortal + Dedue's solo ending always mentions his death, which would contradict such a thing in the first place if it ever happened (which it doesn't). Dimitri/Byleth ending is a simply one of the few endings that don't mention directly his death. That he got ill and died. Dedue's solo ending, again, still will mention it though. Unless you pair up Dedue with somebody to pretend such a thing won't happen, but that's not the point.
As for when he exactly died, we don't know. Time of his death wasn't the point as well though. The point was that endings that mention his death imply that he died to his headache, which connects to his PTSD and how he said how he had issues with headaches ever since Duscar. That was the thing what I was trying to highlight.
@@user-zq1rn1tr3j What I mean is that Byleth is the one who's always immortal, and it's implied in several endings that whoever paired with him/her stays immortal as well, like Felix and some others, so that's probably also what happens with Dimitri here too. Anyway, Dimitri lives a good and long life in all of his endings and I am happy with that, just saying there's a theory(?) that he stays immortal with Byleth. Maybe Rhea forcefeeds Dimitri some of her blood to make him immortal as well so that her mom/granddaughter won't have to live alone for thousands of years, who knows?
Agreed!
I feel like Dimitri probably only succumbed to illness at an older age (maybe mid 60s to early 70s), but considering the physical and mental torture he's been put through that's not that surprising that it would come back to bite him when age begins to wear his superhuman strength down.
Well, it may have also been an actual brain injury.
From the broken man you see Dimitri as after the battle of Garreg Mach, to the triumphant King of Faerghus. His is an incredible hero's journey of redemption and forgiveness. What an amazing and compelling character
If only the same could be said about his route~
@@DemonicMonkey88 his whole route is about acceptance and forgiveness. You don't get a lot of the story when it comes to the crests or the church, but you get a deeply character driven narrative that works for this House
@@MHChang2014 You also have the fact that the mole people are still a threat, despite being leaderless, and are likely biding their time.
I mean, it's a good route but it leaves the most loose ends.
@@DemonicMonkey88
To be fair, you killed actually do end up killing all their main leaders in the BL route (even if the last few were by accident) and the leaderless remnants ended up just siding with the Empire who you ended up demolishing anyway. So, effectively, you have dealt with the threat, you just didn't realize it. Even if there are any low level scrubs skulking around, the BL ending resolves with Dimitri ruling a united Fodlan, Byleth reforming and handling the church, and Claude (your ally in this route and, unlike in BE, leaves you on good terms) becoming the king of Almyra. Those remnants wouldn't last a chance against a united front.
@@Sakurabliss7 You kill the leadership, but leave the vast majority alive. Worst part? You don't even know that they exist.
They up and leave the instant Myson dies, so even if you kill all the mages before focusing on him it's pretty clear that there's plenty of these worms left. They're also really patient from what we've seen.
It's arrogant to believe these remnants wouldn't stand a chance when the "united front" doesn't even know about them, where they are, or what power they wield.
Dimitri is damaged, flawed and ultimately broken as a person. A lot of us can see ourselves in him, feeling hopeless or having to put on a brave face for the sake of others while we internalise our pain. He's definitely a guy I can relate to, and it's why he's my favourite Lord in the franchise now, bar none. Chris Hackney did a phenomenal job voicing this character.
He is like luke skywalker. A bland character at first but with a lot of growth to it.
Claude isnt bad either but there isnt much going for him other than wanting to stop the war between fodlan and Almyra since he is half almyran hinself.
Edelgard however is the least interesting of the three. By siding with her you are essentially siding with those who slither in the dark.
@@terron7840 Not the best comparison imo, even before the story of the game starts Dimitri already went through a lot and while he initially seems bland, his whole demeanor is a mask to cope with his issues.
GuyNamedGray I see my self like Edelgard
Willing to do whatever it takes to take down tyrannical religious group
GuyNamedGray the man’s only human after all
@@w0Mbol0Gy which one? Scientology?
Dimitri went from a character I kinda liked, then the time skip happened and he became one of my favorite lords in the series up there with Alm and Hector. He's also a total boar on the battlefield, his growths and crest make his damage output stupidly high!
OwO I don’t think anyone can kill my Dimitri anymore
How to explain time-skip Dimitri in a nutshell gameplay-wise:
"Out of my way!"
The blue lions is for those who favor a focused story over lore. It's definitely the most emotional out of all the paths (for me at least) while also being the one without the focus of Reah or TWSITD and what they bring to the overarching plot. There's really not much to add beside: yeah this character is perfectly written, the story has good pacing and great characters, and his relationship with everyone in his House, especially with Dedue, just added to the weight of his actions and to the ending.
Also Female Byleth X Dimitri is the true ship for this path and you can't change my mind
I totally agree with this. Blue lion I feel like have the most emotional depth out of the 2 other houses. I wished to have Edelgard and Claude have more character development like Dimitri.
This is exactly why I love this path so much. The Rhea/TWSITD/Nemesis stuff in the other routes just seems almost tacked on. But the truth is...I don't really need those answers to enjoy the story. The Blue Lions never focus on it, and they (smartly) left out any of that stuff in favor of focusing only on the character interaction, dimitri's character arc and relevant plot. The Blue House is so normal but when you get to the supports, you realize how much more drama their is between them than any other house. I've seen some people go from Red/Yellow to Blue and be stunned by the way these characters intereact with one another.
Female Byleth x Dimitri is definitely her true ship in the game as far as I’m concerned (Even though I love my boy Claude) Dimitri really needs Byleth to be the person he was meant to be, plus he adored her❤️
I liked Marianne x Dimitri
@@sj4iy
While I don't think those elements were quite to that level I can see where you are coming from, especially with Rhea, who seems to be used as a plot device for the BE route ( Mostly to give Edelgard justification when normally she'd have none) or as a random final boss on the church route.I agree with everything else though, though the BL was originally my first choice, I wound up doing it second thanks to hearing about and doing the church route first and had that reaction you described when I did get around to BL. I also find it funny that Dimitri unknowingly defeated the TWSITD, avenging his family in the process.
HE KILLED THE grunt BY CRUSHING HIS FACE WITH ONE HAND
Samuel RJP and we expect him to hold a sewing needle without breaking it?? no way not with that strength growth rate
Go watch his C support with Raphael. Things are explained there
@@madeleine8274 Yeah. He has a Saitama-like training regime.
Actually, I think he broke his neck.
@@hahafunny698 after rewatching the cutscene, I think he might've done both on two separate dudes? Like the first [crunch sound] was him breaking a dude's neck and the last [crunch sound into close-up pan] was him crushing the skull. Before the pan, he has his fingers on the soldier's skull, around his eyes, and it's assumed that he just.....gripped hard enough to break bone? That's how I read the scene.
I love Dimitri so much it's now one of my favorite characters EVER because he hits in a lot of points in me: from his design to his personality and journey.
There's a lot of him that keeps me thinking and connecting dots even waaay after finished the game. One of the things that fascinantes me it's his kind and fragile heart compared to his great and almost incontrolable physical strength, a very dangerous match. I don't regret picking blue lions firs because it filled me with a lot of different surprises and emotions, like the flame emperor's reveal and the timeskip. Watching this genuinely kind, gentle and modest guy falling into darkness more and more made feel fear, sadness, worried and also frustrated. The weight of his guilt it's so MASSIVE it affected everything in his life; his selfsteem, his goals in life to the point he believed he was only worthy of living to revenge the dead and he didn't had a future at all, and futhermost, his guilt created the voices on his head that tortures him everyday.
A lot of people said his route it's incomplete and it doesn't reveal anything of the world, but I think that's wrong, His route it's just focused more in "reallity " that in fantasy, no much of Gods and relics and all that, it's just people fighting to end war the way they can. Yes in the end crests are still there, but Dimitri's reign as king of Fodlan was one of democracy, and EVERYONE had a voice. crest where just one more power to keep protecting Fodlan but nobles of crest were not more important than the rest of the people. It's not that I don't like the fantasy aspects of the game but his route it's a more "reallistic" take of war and It's as valid as the others routes' ends. For me Dimitri represents a lot of what is human and how we go on in life together helping eachother as people to a brigther future, even with our flaws and the weight of our sins in our backs.
ZeroSuitSnow don’t forget that in the Crest issue Sylvain gave a hand to solve it
I agree that it's not incomplete, but rather focused on his own character arc, instead of Fodlan's lore, Rhea, TWSITD or Byleth's origin.
The other extreme is Claude, whose route explains almost everything about Fodlan's lore and has TWSITD as the main villains, but at the cost of locking his own character arc in few Supports, making his own character feel less relevant than Dimitri and Edelgard.
When I first saw Dimitri back in the original E3 trailer he was the one that caught my interest the most. When houses were revealed and it was shown that you could pick a side, well, it was an obvious choice to me from the start about who I should join. Then the timeskip was revealed, and I was confused. I straight up did not recognize that it was Dimitri until someone told me.
That's when my already present curiosity and interest grew tenfold.
I wanted to find out what made Dimitri become this boar who shouted "Kill every last one of them!" -- and find out I did.
Found out that he was that person from before the story even started.
Found out many things, but that's for a different time.
Dimitri very quickly became my favorite lord in the series. He has the kindness and slight naivete of Marth and Eliwood, equivalent in power with the likes of Ephraim and Hector, and in someways... has a story akin to Leif's. Dimitri became a character that I've become very fond of because of his rise from despair, and while that despair still clings on to his boots he will march on towards the future seeking redemption for all of his actions. No longer must he hind behind a mask and act as though he was fine all along. He can finally accept some simple mercy and kindness -- and truly start living.
Blue Lions for life, hail the Savior King.
Q I kinda chose the BL for superficial reasons (my last name means lion, my favorite color’s blue, I thought it had the best boys (and girl I see now) to romance) but I am glad I did it, though I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play the Black Eagles now
One of the main reasons why I like Dimitri that most is because he is the only one that didn’t mention anything about Byleth’s Sword of Creator. Claude and Edelgard are like, “ With the Sword of Creator on our side, we can stop anyone who tries to stop us.” Which is sooo annoying. Dimitri actually tells Byleth how much he appreciates them so much.
Dimitri really looks up to Byleth, so it checks out. He's given a bluntly justified reason why he's following Byleth like a duckling to its mom: he looks up to them because he wants to learn to fight better from them, and you are literally a fighter, and he is also a fighter who enjoys what he does (except the killing part).
He becomes a kind of family to Byleth, I'd say. I'd argue he's their son.
I think these are all very good points, but one more thing I think would be great to touch on is that post time skip, no one necessarily forgives Dimitri for his "kill every last one of them" behavior (although Dedue still seemed to be on his side for the most part). Around the monastery, most of the other Blue Lions like Annette and Gilbert fear the path that Dimitri walks, and Felix is outright disgusted with him. It's only after chapter 17 that Dimitri finally wakes up and lives for himself that he apologizes to the other members, and not once feeling like he deserves forgiveness from them. He knows he has to earn forgiveness through his atonement and the other members slowly side with the new Dimitri through their supports and story. I'm normally not a fan of characters who are written as "dark edgy sad bois" because they're usually written from this idea of "if you just love them enough, you can fix them". But with Dimitri, I feel it's a bit different in that he has his friends that help help him when he needs it but also takes the initiative to fix himself for the sake of his friends, his kingdom, and finally for himself.
It’s also nice that you can legitimately get Dimitri to pull off a max damage (999) crit in three houses. Character development is beautiful..but stats and numbers are EVERYTHING mwahahahahaha.
I have psychosis and Dimitri is the one character that actually makes me feel heard. his struggle and symptoms were painfully accurate and seeing him describe the voices made me cry because of how it reminded me of what I suffered through before I had medications
So sad I couldn’t hug this boy even once in this game. He definitely needs all the hugs he can get. (Hug every last one of them!)
Too bad that if he hugs you back He would probably break your spine... Whatever its worth it
His hatred for Edelgard is indeed justified: he doesn't blame her because he thinks she took part in the Duscur tragedy, but he blames her because (as Thales says), all of those sacrifices were made in order to make her stronger. All those people died for her. He hates her because she is involved and he deeply cares for her, not because she is directly responsible. (edit: typos)
Makes me wonder if he also spies that conversation in the other routes.
And the worst is Dimitri thinks Edelgard’s mom (his stepmom) was sacrificed to make Edelgard stronger and that Edelgard feels no remorse and regret over this fact.
@Genji Shimada as I said, she may have had nothing to do with that (meaning that yes, Edelgard didn't take part personally in the tragedy nor had any decisional power) but still those people were killed FOR HER. To make her stronger. Even if she is against it (Which she indeed is as she says multiple time during the story) that doesn't change the fact that all the people Dimitri loved died for Edelgard's sake.
@Genji Shimada Well, in the middle ages 13 is not really that young. Some people during that time married at 13 and most crown princes and princesses were already learning to run a country and even led wars at the age of 13 in the past. Btw, since Edelgard is older than Dimitri by a few months, and Dimitri was 14 at the time, Edelgard was almost 15 at the time, which makes her a few months away from being a legal adult during that time period, so you can't blame Dimitri for thinking Edelgard was part of the mastermind behind that.
@Genji Shimada Um, but he did? And she explained herself by saying what? "Stay out of my way" after she literally ordered her soldiers to kill his friends for the crest stones as the flame emperor? Which sounds like she is admitting she is guilty? Can you blame anyone of sane mind (which Dimitri isn't) for thinking Edelgard is the evil mastermind for everything after she literally tried to kill you and your friends, who are like your family since your whole family is dead, not once but many times? Really, the whole war could have been avoided/ended peacefully if these two thickheads could sit down and talk.
Dimitri's hatred of Edelgard is 100% warranted. Whether directly or indirectly, both Edelgard (The Flame Emperor) and her mother (Dimitri's stepmother and the only mother figures he's ever known who he placed his complete trust in and then abandoned him) helped orchestrate the Tragedy of Duscur alongside Cornelia and Those That Slither in the Dark. Edelgard is also his stepsister, and the person now leading the Adrestian Empire. Him trying to understand why his stepsister and mother did these horrible things (Not to mention trying to pin the blame on an entire peninsula of innocent people and never regretted doing so) is a major part of his character development. His initial instinct is to simply kill Edelgard in cold blood, but after the death of Rodrigue at the hands of a child seeking revenge, he comes to the realization that vengeance alone won't give him or his fallen loved one's redemption. Even in the tides of a civil war, Dimitri is trying to come to understand what world his sister is trying to create, even if he 100% disagrees with her, and has no choice but to kill her to protect his kingdom and his loved ones.
No, it's not.
Edelgard was about as old as him when the tragedy happened. Blaming her for her mother's actions is like blaming Dimitri for the actions of his people on Duskr. It's stupid.
Dimitri trying to understand why Edelgard is doing what she's doing, and why his step-mother would do what she did, is a major part of his story, yes.
Also, it's the Adrestian Empire, not the Relgelion Empire, you'll find that Edelgard is justifiably against Fodland's major religion that promotes isolationism, racism, and classism. The crests are to blame indeed.
Anyway, while Dimitri comes to understand the world Edelgard is trying to create, he disagrees with her for the wrong reasons. That alone is what ruined whatever chance of reconciliation the two had. She tried to kill him until the bitter end because she neither wants nor needs his pity.
Why do you think she accepts her death in GD and the *Church* route? Dimitri was pretty patronizing in the last act.
Finally, half the things you blamed Edelgard for weren't actually done by her. Please stop it, or i'll start pointing out the fact that Dimitri has a lot more blood on his hands than Edelgard, or did you forget the years he spent slaughtering people who were just doing their jobs, or thieves?
DemonicMonkey88 *Fixed error with Rigel Empire. Please forgive me, I’m doing a play through of Shadows of Velentia at the same time as my Three Houses play though and got them mixed up. Anyway:
Regardless of the route you pick, Edelgard literally sets the continent on fire and forces nations at swordpoint to join her or die by overwhelming military might, but yeah, Dimitri killing a few people is just monstrous. To be honest with you, all three territories have blood on their hands. I don’t think it’s fair to say that any one of them is less guilty than the other. War is war no matter how noble the cause is. I just personally feel that even in the Black Eagles route Edelgard path, she’s driving an entire nation of people into war to justify her “survival of the fittest, screw the weak, abolish the monarchy and let me rule instead!” bs that she tosses at the player. Her weak ass justification that the Church is evil and so the Kingdom and Alliance have to fall under her iron grip for the “greater good” and “the ends justify the means as long as I get what want” mindset is just a sloppy justification in my eyes. Maybe you disagree.
Going back to my original point, Dimitri associates Edelgard with his childhood innocence and his mother, which are now shattered by their direct actions both in the past and in the present. It’s not a stretch to see why the reveal of Edelgard being the Flame Emperor would make him deeply upset throughout his story path.
I would argue that by the end of his route he’s stopped hating Edelgard and blaming her and is now trying to understand her point of view. His initial hatred was, in my opinion, completely justified, but was handled extremely poorly. Dimitris major character flaw I would argue is his inability to separate his royal obligations from his personal morality. The reveal of Edelgard is the moment in the story that breaks him. He’s struggling to decide whether his familial obligations should outweigh his royal responsibilities. He then becomes a shell of a man until Byleth enters back into the story and puts him on the right path.
@@Jamick98Geass
No problem, we all make mistakes, it's what makes us human :)
_Regardless of the route you pick, Edelgard literally sets the continent on fire and forces nations at swordpoint to join her or die by overwhelming military might, but yeah, Dimitri killing a few people is just monstrous._
Well, yeah... Edelgard is doing what is to be expected, what do you think war is? She's trying to unite the continent, fighting is a natural result of that. Dimitri on the other hand is just killing anything that's wearing imperial uniforms or looks at him funny.
_To be honest with you, all three territories have blood on their hands. I don’t think it’s fair to say that any one of them is less guilty than the other._
I'm not saying that, but I agree with you.
_War is war no matter how noble the cause is._
Yeah, but it doesn't really change the necessity of it :(
_I just personally feel that even in the Black Eagles route Edelgard path, she’s driving an entire nation of people into war to justify her “survival of the fittest, screw the weak, abolish the monarchy and let me rule instead!” bs that she tosses at the player._
But that was Dimitri's opinion. It's the reason why reconciliation was impossible for the two of them! The misunderstanding is what caused the tragedy that was their final bout DX
_Her weak ass justification that the Church is evil and so the Kingdom and Alliance have to fall under her iron grip for the “greater good” and “the ends justify the means as long as I get what want” mindset is just a sloppy justification in my eyes. Maybe you disagree._
I do, because it's not sloppy. Going against the church would automatically make her enemies in the Alliance and Kingdom. Rhea isn't a good person, why do you think the game makes you go out of your way to redeem her with the D?
_Going back to my original point, Dimitri associates Edelgard with his childhood innocence and his mother, which are now shattered by their direct actions both in the past and in the present. It’s not a stretch to see why the reveal of Edelgard being the Flame Emperor would make him deeply upset throughout his story path._
Obviously, it's a pretty deep wound.
_I would argue that by the end of his route he’s stopped hating Edelgard and blaming her and is now trying to understand her point of view. His initial hatred was, in my opinion, completely justified, but was handled extremely poorly._
Not really. He basically had a mental breakdown. Despite the annoyance, it's understandable.
_Dimitris major character flaw I would argue is his inability to separate his royal obligations from his personal morality. The reveal of Edelgard is the moment in the story that breaks him. He’s struggling to decide whether his familial obligations should outweigh his royal responsibilities._
No, he's just trying to get the voices in his head to stop screaming at him. It isn't until after he gets a little better that he's thinking things rationally.
_He then becomes a shell of a man until Byleth enters back into the story and puts him on the right path._
This happens way before the stuff you mentioned. Dimitri's biggest flaw was his his inability to comprehend why Edelgard would do what she did. He thought he understood, but in the end he really didn't.
And that final cutscene makes me think that he realized that.
DemonicMonkey88
You do realize Edelgard started a war on information that wasn’t fully true? Have you played any route other than Black Eagle?
@@amylee2636 Have you played any route besides Blue Lions?
Because I started on Golden Deer (objectively the best route, fite me!) before moving on to Blue Lions. Currently on Black Eagles.
Edelgard's information was *partially* true and even then it doesn't matter. Why? Because what she was trying to change was a clear problem. The information she had merely made her a little bias at best. It didn't magically create problems that weren't there.
Dimitri is as good of a protagonist as Edelgard is an antagonist, that being: Among the best in the entire franchise. He's a kind soul who had to live through a life defined by his many tragedies, and had his love & empathy for others as well as his hatred of those who abused their power for selfish gains drive him to the point of insanity and leaving him an aimless & sociopathic wreck by the time you meet up with him in the timeskip. If you told me before I played 3H that a character with "cares too much" as a character flaw would be one of the best-written characters in Fire Emblem, I would have laughed at you. But Dimitri stands before me, as a living testament to how wrong I was.
Despite all this however, I am still a loyal follower of the almighty Joe Zieja & the Golden Deer.
Dimitri became my favorite FE character through his story arc and route. Too bad he is almost irrelevant in the other routes.
Everyone is only relevant in their own routes, unless they are Edelgard tbh.
Myy100 yeah in the golden deer path he practically isn’t there like after the time skip you fight him once then he is just gone with like no diologe and it’skinda sad but understandable
While I do not LOVE that Dimitri never lasts beyond Chapter 17 in any route that isn’t his own (which in BE means less for it ending on Chapter 18 - take that as you will), I understand why the choice was made. After all, if not for Fleche’s attempt on his life, Rodrigue’s sacrifice, and Byleth finally reaching him (none of which happen outside BL), as GD shows he would simply chase Edelgard, collapse from exhaustion, and get put down like the rabid beast he’s reduced to - the wild boar Felix long accused him of being. The Church route at least has his spirit reach out to Byleth, showing he was able to realise after death that he went too far, but... Mind, I still wish he could have at least survived one of the other two routes, but I understand the bittersweet irony of how his death is almost inevitable without people to pull him from the brink.
@@borjankosarac3645 It is so sad, but true. Byleth is the turning point for the war in each route and basically the only person who can save Dimitri from his misdirected hatred.
@@user-zq1rn1tr3j or Claude.
I do not have survivor’s guilt, nor do I know anyone who does, but Dimitri’s expression of survivor’s guilt in tandem with his sense of justice and indomitable spirit really made me feel it. Blue lions for life.
as someone who suffered from it as a teenager: he's very spot on. it genuinely unsettled me just how much he reminds me of my younger self. I won't get into the details, of course, but I can tell you his portrayal is right on the money.
Golden Deer is my favourite house but Dimitri alone ensured his route had the most memorable story. It's just a rollercoaster of emotions about a man pulling himself back from the brink and rising above it all. One of my favourite moments is when he learns the truth about his step mother's relation to the tragedy of Duscur and looks like he's going to lose it again but when you ask him about it he says he's done with thoughts like that and lets it go. Really shows how much Byleth's presence changed him for the better.
I love Dimitri's character, I really do! It's just that this route feels like Byleth is in love with Dimitri, which shows even more in the more expressive Female Byleth.
I'd argue Dimitri actually shows a good side earlier than Rodrigue's death. You can hear the happiness in his voice when Dedue comes back, if just for a moment, it's still there.
Truth!
He also tells Byleth "GET DOWN!" if Randolph attacks them. Man's still attached to his loved ones, as much as he vehemently denies it.
I personally like Dimitri a LOT! He's one of the better written lords of FE. He's awesome! ^.^
@William E I love both Cloud and Dimitri.
@William E He just might be my favorite. He's everything I like in a character. I just want to give him a nice warm hug. I'm replaying Blue Lions because I miss Dimitri after doing the other three routes. I'm going to use female Byleth, name her after me and marry Dimitri.
@William E Except Dimitry isnt a goofball like cloud nor an emo like in Advent children.
@William E Cloud doesent really have any PTSD, atleast not to the same extend Dimitry has. Aeriths death just scared him mentally but he made his peace with it quickly. He was broken for sure but not unhinged like Dimitry thought it would have made sense if cloud decided to brutally kill sephirot for this.
@Wil E but Cloud is kind of short and Dimitri is really tall
He's what we needed because he was perfect to us in his imperfection.
🦁💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙🦁
We have too many Lords in the franchise who show little signs of regret or anger, he's a reminder that even the kindest of hearts can become the most ruthless of men.
And that even heroes can fall from grace but can also be redeemed.
I like Claude for his determination but I resonate with Dimitri more because like me just because you had a good family doesn't mean all your problems are solved, as humans sometimes we lose our will to even continue living, a problem I had years ago but when we manage to get up and keep going it's really inspirational to others even if they won't tell you face to face, they were watching and they were impressed.
Dimitri is best boy and zaddy and ten times more interesting than most characters in the game. Loved the blue lions route and was a bit disappointed in black eagles afterwards. I missed my beautiful unstable prince.
Nick N I can no longer do the Black Eagles route (I feel no remorse in doing the Golden Deer). I can’t help but feel regardless of what happens, Edelgard is the bad guy (she has good intentions and justified motivations, but those build the road to hell)
@@dragonstouch1042 so true! I like Edelgard but she cray. Wish I could convince her to join Dimitri and take down the church in a less drastic fashion lol
If I do the other routes after I complete the BL I'm playing as MByleth because I can't bring myself to romance anyone else because I'll feel like I'm cheating on my lion prince ._.;
I think people are misunderstanding Dimitri's hatred toward Edelgard. At that point everyone in his family is dead and Dimitri was still dealing with the trauma. Even though Edelgard isn't a blood relative, he still sees her as family. As children they spent a year of their life in Fhirdiad and she even thought him how to dance. To see Edelgard as the Flame Emperor causing all the trouble across the monastery and Fodlan shatters any hope that Dimitri had of rekindling their relationship."Cut a path to the future you wish for." Dimitri thought by becoming the Flame Emperor she had given up on that, when in reality it was the opposite
I know right? Who wouldn't be angry if one of their own family members betrayed them? And she didn't just betray them, Edlegard declared war on anyone who wasn't the Empire and already killed several people. Dimitri has every reason to be angry at her.
And not to mention that although she wasn't directly involved in many of the events that happened, but the biggest reason for this hate is that Edelgard was a willing accomplice and enabler. She let TWSITD, do what they did and did nothing to stop them. Even after they kill Jeralt (Something she obviously didn't appreciate them doing), she sided with them. That is the final nail in the coffin for me: She doesn't take any action against TWSITD (And thus continued being their enabler) and in every route where you don't join her, she admits to wanting you to even after Jeralt died. I find that unforgivable in my eyes...
To be completely honest, Dimitri’s struggles really hit home. While I have never killed a person, I have suffered from a lot of trauma that happened about three years ago. I have diagnosed anxiety and I’ve been depressed from a young age. To this day, I always blamed myself for my father’s sickness(he is alive and well) even though I couldn’t control it. And about a year later, a family members’ death opened my eyes. And to be quite frank, it took me playing this game to understand that I have PTSD. So Dimitri’s character has made me realize that I shouldn’t hide this.
Also, one of the main ways I started to realize my PTSD was the anger Dimitri always felt, the guilt of living, how self-critical he was, and in a way, I felt as if I was living vicariously through him. When Dimitri talked about continuing on, even though he would still have his mental illness made me realize I could live with my mental illnesses and shouldn't hide them.
One more side note, I still do struggle with my PTSD. And semi-recently had a breakout about worrying if one of my family members would die again. And I was hyperventilating.
I picked up Three Houses on release day because I knew friends would be playing, and chose the Blue Lions because I'd heard enough gushing from those friends about Claude and Edelgard wasn't doing much for me. I was between wave after wave of depression while I played, eventually putting it down before hitting the timeskip and letting my mental health wreak havoc on my emotions without much enjoyment. Months later I came back to it, and seeing what Dimitri was going through with close friends and family deceiving him, changing hiw he views those around him, anxiety and PTSD through the roof, I really felt for him; the root of those depressive waves were lies and betrayal from my closest friends. It was so engaging that I finished the game in about a week from that point, and I couldn't be more glad I did. Dimitri is now one of my favorite characters in FE and while I know I'm not past all my depressive thoughts, I can look to Dimitri and see that I can come out with my head held high. Hail to the King of Faerghus
I love Dimitri’s character because the focus on the story is on improving on *yourself* first, rather than others. It was only when Dimitri started to turn his life around and atone, that Födlan began to improve. He killed people to avenge those that had already been killed, because he thought it would get rid of his guilt. In the end it was his guilt that made him want to change. It’s such an inspiring story, and is one of the reasons I think he is a better person than Edelgard. He accepts and feels guilt about his flaws and tries to make them right, instead of just saying that it had to be done, and justifying it. Really didn’t expect the BL route to be my favourite one, but in the end the story and message was so emotional and really hit hard.
I love that still-image at 4:09. Dimitri has been wallowing in the darkness for the past five years (all his life, arguably), and Byleth is his savior. Byleth is the light in his life, and Byleth reaching their hand out to help him, not just in this instance, but in the scene after Rodrigue's death (in the rain) and after Edelgard's death as well helps to signify that.
I like the last scene with Edelgard's death specifically because Byleth holds Dimitri's hand to keep him from looking back at Edelgard, his once best friend, dead on the floor by his own hands. It told me that you shouldn't focus entirely on your worst mistakes, but rather cling to the light in your life to keep moving forward. Dimitri's my favorite lord of the three.
Dimitri x F!Byleth is canon btw
I love DImitri x Byleth so much. I like calling them canon because well, their relationship even outside of supports is amazing. As you said, Byleth is quite literally the light in his life, his saviour, the one who reached out their hand. And lowkey, Dimitri is such a sweetheart in academy phase he sounds like he has a bit of a crush on his professor haha. There's enough canon content for me to ship M!Byleth/Dimitri too, but ofc F!Byleth can do the S-support - which felt so natural! Their S Support just felt like an extra cutscene after the ending, and it's so smooth that it just feels canon
AmazingJD you couldn’t convince me otherwise, they have the best supports and it makes sense storywise
Dimitri’s hatred toward Edelgard, over Duscur specifically, is justifiable. Did 11 year old Edelgard order the massacre? Of course not. Did Edelgard choose to work alongside those directly responsible for it? Yes. Edelgard’s choice makes her complicit in the actions undertaken by the Agartheans; however, she is the type of person who leaves the dirty work to her uncle and Hubert without assuming responsibility for her choices.
Edelgard is just as unscrupulous as Hubert but since she is a master at avoiding moral responsibility, many fans treat her as some kind of saint.
FINALLY SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS IT...
@@stan8479
Except that he does not.
Perfectly said 👍👍
The story of a very tragic man, Byleth really is the miracle of his life and there is also the loss of Rodrigue that push him back into the right road. He really does value Byleth for helping him throughout this darkness of desires for revenge he had been suppressing even through his school days. He's a man who grew out of the pits of despair and prevailed, sure he's a beast in the battlefield but there really is no such thing as a one man army, he got to where he wanted to go with the help of the people who care for him. His story is one that hits home, what a man he is.
Dimitri has easily become one of my favorite characters in the series. He's a tragic hero and I really love that about him, that's not really a Direct Fire Emblem has gone many times before. The only other protagonist that I could really consider a tragic hero before him is Celica. Now of course they deviate from most tragic heroes in that it all works out again, but in both instances an aspect of the character's personality leads to them taking a fall, almost unable to return. I don't know. I consider Dimitri a tragic hero at any rate. And honestly Edelgard could be considered a tragic hero as well, as well as an anti-villain.
Edelgard is the most complex.
Claude is the most inspirational (and funniest).
Dimitri is the most emotionally moving.
Rhea is... Meh. Character Development.
@@DemonicMonkey88 Rhea likes you for who you are - on the inside
(I'm funny I swear)
@@emmareiman64 Hilarious.
When I saw that post-time skip cutscene I thought "There you are you poor boy you're safe with me now."
Even if Edelgard isn't responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. Dimitri is still justified in disliking Edelgard considering she works extremely close with the Slitherers, who were responsible for his life going to shit, and she helps them out multiple times throughout the story.
Butttttt her reasons of doing so was justified as well, but I won't be going into that.
It was just a temporary alliance due to common interests (defeating Rhea and the Church).
Edelgard went to war out of misinformation and half truths, tho she had good intentions she ended up being a pawn of Thales and his followers, she always moved foward without questioning her own rightiousnes, or her sources behind what she learned. Being experimented on/tortured for years and her family being slaughtered, to give her the crest of flames, symbol of the goddess, made her despise the goddess and everything related to it, without the proper knowledge of it all (origin of the crests, why the church rewrote History...)She was shapped from A to Z by TWSITD and she never realized it, not fully. The war was indeed the better way to change Fodlan, but she had to loose in order for her vision to pass without being perverted. She is a tragic and compelling characterer, but destined to be a villain (#Arvis throwbacks^^)
@@GaeaRage0798 Doesn't mean that they didn't make his life absolute hell. Even if you disregard Duscur, she made his life an absolute nightmare.
Because of Edelgard's war, Dimitri was falsely accused of murder, imprisoned, about to be executed, and had to become a fugitive from his own kingdom for 4.5 years while all his friends thought he was dead. Meanwhile, his PTSD and hallucinations are cranked up to an 11. He literally lost everything and broke.
Also keep in mind that Edelgard intended for Dimitri and Claude to be assassinated in the prologue chapters. It was only happenstance that Byleth and Jeralt were able to protect them. She may have good intentions, but her methods are absolutely flawed and cruel.
@@Sakurabliss7 Dimitri's exile was Cornelia's fault, and just like with Jeralt's death, TWSITD had their own agenda, in fact, Edelgard and TWSITD tried to manipulate each other.
Bruh I actually love both Dimitri and Edelgard the same. I can see their contrast to each other and I can understand their actions from each character pov. Personally I liked Dimitri because of his VA, his arc from prince charming (the ideal fairy tail prince) to a vessel and finally lion king (his design reflects that for me). Also I'm a sucker for fallen princes whose beliefs are challenged.
Ah, a rarity in this fandom, people who like and appreciate both sides. Honestly, I love them both. Why can't we get DLC where all my wonderful children get along. That would be great
Reason why everybody likes dimitri: he kills everybody on a scooter
So we can all agree that clearly Claude is the most sane out of everyone in Fodlan. And he’s not even from Fodlan.
probably BECAUSE he's NOT from Fodlan :))
Dimitri is a character in the right direction, great depth and actual reason on why he is this way
William E the church isn’t bad, just wanted balance and honestly humans owe them a lot like in Echoes
@William E I don't think he is necessarily religious. If anything, the Goddess Tower conversation in part one reveals him to be something of a deist. He's just saying that the church is helpful to some and some people need it, and we shouldn't take that away from them.
@William E That's probably what convinced Edelgard to not bother with him.
@@veiotisligon9140 The church isn't all bad no, Seteth is actually pretty good at his job. It's Rhea that's the problem.
But that's what makes her such a tragic character! But no, I wouldn't say humanity owes them anything. It's thinking like that, that caused Edelgard's goal.
DemonicMonkey88 Edelgard isn’t wrong, just wrong on how she did it. I can’t say more with out spoiling as much
I started this game without any Spoilers, and as all the house leaders introduced their class members to me it became pretty clear to me that I must choose the Blue Lions. At first I thought Dimitri was a stiff character, a bit socially awkward, but always trying to do his best (which is a character trade I totally share with him) so I started to like him a lot.
But I also need to say that he frickin scares me in this Cutscene after revealing the Flame Emperor.
After the Timeskip I felt so sorry for him and wanted to help him so badly.
And aftsr Rodriguez' sacrifice he became such an honest person towards Byleth.
So in conclusion I have to say Dimitri is such a well written character that it hurts.
And definitely my favorite Fire Emblem Three Houses Character.💙
Selia Grace pretty sure you’re meant to be scared in that cutscene
He's has by far the best character arc of the three lords. We see him at his highest and lowest, and we see him helped through the low points to be the man he's meant to be. It's a wonderful redemption arc and realization of potential. Edelgard is too stubborn to admit she's wrong and change her ways in any path. Claude is fun and easy to be around, but a pretty static character.
The person who said Edelgard would have been 11 at the time is wrong. She would have been 13 or 14 at the time (since she is 18 in the game, and the tragedy of Duscur happened 4 years ago). Dimitri led troops in battle at a similar age, so I don't see why the age argument would apply.
@Genji Shimada
Keep in mind that Dimitri led at army as a commander at the age of 15.
You can't use real world logic here. These kids are literally bred to live and breathe politics and combat. They're not normal kids, they're effectively born to be soldiers.
@Genji Shimada in his defense, why would he believe a word she says when it is plain to see that she KNOWS what he is talking about, but instead of explaining, she simply denies any knowledge.
Not ONCE does Edelgard attempt to explain her actions, not even as Flame Emperor.
EDELGARD is the reason for all of the death in each route, simply because she believes she needs to bear the burden alone and never once attempts to explain or even just talk.
@Genji Shimada i am not placing the blame soley on Edelgard. I am saying that all of the death and destruction during the timeskip is on her in every route but her own.
She never gave anyone a choice except Byleth, and even then it was a false choice.
She immediately saw Claude and Dimitri as enemies that have to die, never gave any option for cooperation, explanation or even surrender.
Edelgard is in full knowledge of what happened to Dimitri's family, but never even attempted to talk to him or even mention it.
She treated Dimitri and Claude from the very start like enemies and wore a false face the whole time.
I mean. I can at least somewhat understand why she would see Dimitri as an enemy, but Claude? He is literally someone trying to do the same thing as her in uncovering the truth.
Yet not once did she ever do anything but try to kill him.
Yes, Edelgard and Dimitri are both terribly broken people, but Edelgard is not an idiot.
She knew TWSITD were a massive threat. She even had plans to deal with them.
So why would she not once, even in secret via proxy, mention that to anyone? It isnt that she could not trust them, she literally decides from the start that they are enemies to be destroyed
Not to mention out of everyone, she is by far the least responsible in her duties.
She allowed those who helped her get to surpreme power free reign, allowing them to completely abuse the citizenry, gave TWSITD free reign, and let the lands she conquered descend into chaos. All to fuel a war that nobody but those who serve her had any idea even had a purpose.
She became a despot ruler when she did not need to
@Genji Shimada granted, this is all different in her own route, as though even the past were different.
In her own route, quite literally everything plays out differently.
My top characters in 3H:
Dimitri - Sylvain
Bernie
Félix - Lysithea
Edelgard would be here too, but after playing BL I can't really get myself to like her again.
Honestly I got really immersed in that route
Edit. Holy shit I forgot ma boi Claude. He's tied with Bernie.
Yay! Someone who likes Sylvain!
Same opinion for Edelguard, cause I am on the BE route and I just can't seem to understand why I don't like her like other people do. What's funny is how he says dimitri is like Eliwood, when in my eyes, Dimitri reminds me of Ike. Ike went through two whole games to defeat the man who killed his father, and it was only until Ike killed him that he realized that he had a kind of respect for the Black Knight since he was the embodiment of his father's teachings. I just love both Dimitri's and Ike's arcs. Unfortunately, Ike's story arc is just short of Dimitri's which is why Dimitri is now my favorite lord (and that isn't easy to do).
Also, are we gonna ignore the fact that Dimitri is our first blonde haired FE Lord (not including Warriors or Nanna from Thr776)
@@ResurgentRaven Actually, a lot of streamers and people who play 3H in general likes Sylvan, but he's one of those characters who you can only love or hate, nothing in between.
I mean, her motives make sense in BL. Dimitri was being patronizing, without even knowing it. Honestly, it's the saddest part of the route. They truly couldn't understand each other, and honestly didn't even bother to meet each other half-way.
@@ResurgentRaven We're ignoring Claude and Edelgard, so yes.
@@DemonicMonkey88 Dmitri tried right before their final battle, but Edelgard refused to try it his way.
I chose Blue Lions first and I kind of regret it only because it was my favorite route so far. I'm on my third playthrough, and running another BL alongside it, because I just can't get enough of Dimitri (and the story line as a whole). Also, it was probably a bad choice to choose to do the Black Eagles route last, because I am dreading having to ally with Edelgard
Same
Yea. The other routes don't look so good. I wanted to play GD but i cant manage to go through. I like BL more but I want to play the other routes just dont like edelgard
I did be last as well and it was so bad for my emotions
Oh man that's so true. I hated Edelgard's route. It's so bland compared to the other two. Blue Lions in general has the best dynamics among the houses. Everyone compliments each other and are important to each other, even FELIX! And this comes from a guy who thinks Golden Deer is the best. Blue Lions, to me, is just centimeters to be just as great as Golden Deer.
i feel you
I played Blue Lions for my 2nd route as I was curious about Dimitri's story after Golden Deer, as he got little spotlight. I was surprised with how much this deals with lots of psychological aspects (me pursuing psychology as a field of study)
The psychological aspect of Dimitri's rage against Edelgard makes sense to me. His rage isnt against Edelgard. You first gotta remember he doesnt know specifically who did the Tragedy of Duscur... That is until he met Solon and Kronya. Those who Slither in the Dark. When he saw Edelgard working with him, it broke his heart and triggered his 4 years of pent of rage that he had no control of. Not to mention Survivor's guilt with Hallucinations. The dying words of his father crying out to kill them all, thr list goes on
And in the end.. To see him overcome thise, despite still having to live with it, is so powerful to me, and makes me hope that maybe I might be able to make such an impact to someone's life one day like that in my career field
Actually Dimitri does have a reason to hate Edelgard and think she is responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. There is a pre timeskip scene in which he and Byleth spies on the Flame Emperor, Monica and Thales. In that conversation we overhear the Flame Emperor saying there is no salvation for those responsible for such gruesome deeds in Embarr and Duscur. Dimitri logically interprets this as if they were related to the Tragedy of Duscur and considering Edelgard sided with them, well that’s where his hatred comes from
Also Thales says in response to the Flame Emperor that everything he and his associates did was to give her more power.
@@philipedwards8398 not only that, but the dagger.
Genji Shimada Keep in mind that she is allied with TWSITD at the time, maybe she wasnt completely related, but who is to say that she didnt let them do the dirty work in her stead?
Genji Shimada All you said is true, but thing is how would Dimitri know, she is in the side of the villains, why would he trust Edelgard when she says she had nothing to do with Duscur when she is clearly working with the ones related to the Tragedy, the only moment Dimitri can trust Edelgard’s words is when he overhears the conversation because she has no reason to lie. Dimitri hates Edelgard for supporting the ones who killed his family and friends, as well as for being the reason they were killed. Past this point he thinks she was cooperating with TWSITD from the very beginning since it would be logical. Edit: Dimitri doesnt know about the whole white hair thing either
Genji Shimada would have been really cool to see Byleth have a moment in which he tried to help Dimitri overcome his problems, pre timeskip I mean. Also one of favorite things in this game is that nobody is either right or worng, Edelgard has good intentions but is willing to let people die in this war, while Rhea, even though she has done several questionable stuff, she managed to keep peace in Fodlan and even cares for those who lost their parents. Also thanks for the pic’s compliment :)
So far, I only have played Blue Lions route but I feel Dimitri is a very Human character. I also agree that his very relatable and likeable character. I love how his very earnest person and I feel that people who have played BE or GD should give Blue lions a shot.
I picked Blue Loins for my first Three Houses playthrough, was not disappointed. Dimitri made it all worth it.
I chose the Blue Lions route first. And I didn’t regret it. Dimitri was an interesting and great character to the point that I didn’t want to turn the console off, let alone choose a different house. He quickly soared up to one of my favourite characters ever mainly due to how is character progressed over the course of the game as well as how much time you spend with him. I’m currently playing the Golden Deer route as my second run and being a little disappointed at how little you interact with Claude at the start. Dimitri has set a very high standard for main characters across all types of games for me, and as a new Fire Emblem fan, is currently my favourite lord.
Look, there is a LOT I could say about Dimitri but the one thing that stands out most to me is when the man who had a hand in Duscur told his truth to Dimitri and Dimitri chose not to kill him right then and there, instead /literally choosing to think on the man's meaning of justice/ despite that this man had a hand in /literally ruining his life and sanity/. Dimitri went from being vicious and hateful, wanting the deaths of people involved in that incident, to not even killing the man on the spot and instead choosing to take the time to think about why the man believed those horrific things were the right thing to do.
The whole idea of what makes Dimitri a perfect character to me is that he's a perfectly written human being. He's /deeply/ flawed but he comes out the other end and continues doing what he /really/ wanted to do: protect innocents who can't fight and fend for themselves. Save the less fortunate. His compassion won out against his desire for revenge but his path to get there was horrible for him. To me, he's also inspiring. He'd fallen so low and yet he still had it in him to get back up. After all that, he was able to /get better/. He'll probably never be perfect mentally, but he got /through/ it.
I won't write everything I think about Dimitri and the Blue Lions route because it'd be a goddamn fuckin' essay and a half, but just know I love Dimitri.
Also, Chris Hackney's voice acting is some of the absolute BEST in this game and it /really/ adds to the experience with Dimitri imo.
Also never forget that Edelgard hired Kostas(?) the bandit leader that literally tries to kill them all at the beginning of the game. She was out for Claude and Dimitri from the start, like damn I knew she planned ahead, but WAY AHEAD?
I find it crazy how, if any of the other male FE lords were thrust into Dimitri's circumstances in their games, they would probably end up like him.
For instance, imagine (SD prologue) Marth having to keep it together after he sees his kingdom fall, his sister sacrifice herself so he could escape, and having to sack off one of his men just to keep off his pursuers.
It's just something that I keep thinking of.
You know I really like (in a sarcastic way) that Rodrigue never mentions his own son Felix during his death, even if he's alive.
loved the way you ended the video with great relation about your life. thats what makes fire emblem so special because there is always one character we can relate to
How funny you're Shirou Emiya another character with survivors guilt, Shirou and Dimitri got some things in common
respect for you for knowing about this. seems like you are a big fan of ingrid. curious how you relate to her
@@EmiyaHilson Ah well you can find out yourself if I ever find you on discord. But yeah thanks!
im joe madden on discord. show yourself!
He is probably my favorite lord in 3 Houses (dare I say it he may be my favorite 3 Houses character). I don’t struggle with mental issues but I felt as though he and I were very similar but while I was able to notice my anger and darker side and keep it controlled thanks to my father he was not able to. So we started from the same place but took different paths. I really liked his arc in 3 Houses and loved seeing how he’d handle what was going on.
Why do we love Dimitri? His over powered stats, naturally. Joking of course. He’s a very well written antagonistic protagonist. By that I mean, even in his own route he acts the villain in some ways. Going against what is best for his own personal revenge. Until he gets the mother of all wake up calls and develops beautifully as a character.
.... So he's an anti-hero?
I like the part that dimitri is a nice guy but at the same time he has flaws that the game doesn't try to turn around it as also a good part of him, like pretty much the majority of the lords of being too good for the sinful earth they live, even this game edelgard who is selfcentered is seen as a possible good thing, tho i would say the game saying out loud that he has a dark part of himself after just talking him for the first time for 5 minutes is stupid
The person who wrote that only Dimitri needs the professor, he's right. That was I thought when I played the 4 routes.
And thanks for you advice at the end... I'm depressed sometimes and it feels good to hear I'm not alone.
(Sorry for my bad English, I don't have the time to search the mistakes I made)
Playing part 2 of the BL route, I felt a mixed bag of emotions. Part 1 did a good job at establishing Dimitri's kinder side, which made the first few chapters of part 2 more painful. Had they not established him so well, I might have gotten annoyed and wished Byleth could go help the Alliance. I know I sound heartless, but I, as a player, took a view similar to Felix. It likely took everything Byleth and Gilbert had to keep Dimitri from leading them all to their deaths. Interestingly, I find that the BL shows Byleth's character development pretty well because of their interactions with Dimitri. They go from the stony faced emotionless mercenary to the caring professor and eventually the Archbishop and advisor to the King. The fact that Byleth stood by him, in spite of how horribly Dimitri acted towards the professor and allies, and tried so often to help him, showcases a human side of the professor better than the GD or church routes (haven't finished CF yet). Byleth reached out their hand to him and he finally took it. Yet, I felt so happy when Dimitri found a reason to live. I felt relieved, but I felt suspicious. Like Felix said, Dimitri must atone for his actions if he is truly sorry. It isn't easy to regain trust that is lost. Seeing Dimitri's newfound lease on life though allowed me to forgive and gave me the will to continue helping him. It made me happy that the professor stuck with him. I know this conversation is about Dimitri, but I felt it was important to note that because of his amazing character arc, we get to see the very limited character development Byleth gets.
Sparky Bolt you cannot convince me F!Byleth and Dimitri are not canon
Byleth in Azure Moon forever imbued the impression on me that Byleth was the team mom. They really felt like a patient and kindhearted mother/father to Dimitri who wanted to help their son through his crippling mental health problems.
We need more team mom protagonists in video games. Byleth suffers from never having much of a voice. I'd love a team parent protagonist with a voice someday.
or Byleth to just adopt Dimitri as their kid lmao
10/10 voice work from that one guard yelling "stop right there!"
@FED, my first route was the Blue Lions, and I could easily relate to Dimitri. As a young kid, I got diagnosed with anxiety, and I got depression later on (even though it still hasn’t been properly diagnosed yet) This hits close to home for me because Dimitri’s struggles with mental health are similar to mine, which makes him one of my top favorite characters in FE3H.
He is route compared to the other 2 routes I’ve done, only Dimitri’s has made me cry multiple times, as his character makes me feel like I’m gazing through a mirror. (Without all the killing.)
While I’ve not lost my parents, my father had gotten sick with cancer 2 years ago. I felt useless because there was nothing to do but watch, and hope that my father got better. He’s doing a lot better now, but I relate to Dimitri, because I’ve almost lost one of my parents, and I can’t imagine how it feels to lose both.
Wow... this was really emotional for me, but I wanted to share my experience because Dimitri has become a thing to help me through depression and anxiety because he’s felt the same way.
Also: I’m in a way better mental state now, so no need to worry. Even though I deal with anxiety (and sometimes depression) daily
Dimitri is my favorite FE character of all time now. I have to say about his hatred for Edelgard does seem unreasonable because you know he’s crazy. The way Dimitri sees it Edelgard being the Flame Emperor and working with TWSITD and Thales saying that the bad stuff they have done is for her, all of the tragedies caused by them is for Edelgard so Dimitri sees it as her fault for the death of his family, for the Kingdom’s hatred for the people of Duscur who are innocent and for the people of Reimre and possible many more. Then Edelgard continues to work with them so Dimitri needs to kill her to avenge the fallen to “End the cycle of the strong trampling the weak”
His story doesn’t expand on lore but I don’t mind because it’s the most personal story told in Three Houses which is why I can see people liking more because you just get invested into Dimitri
Dimitri is definitely my new favourite Lord, I kinda like how he's almost a subversion of the classic "good" FE Lord like Eliwood or Eirika in that he starts being similarly kind and noble albeit less trusting and definitely more competent but the addition of his tragic backstory makes him that much more interesting especially as you then see his fall and redemption arc. To be honest I'm surprised I like him as much as I do since I was about ready to write him off as another generic "Gary Stu" Lord similar to Ephraim whose one of my least favourites. Unless he ends up being bad in all other pathways as I've not played them yet I think he'll be my favourite for quite a while.
As someone who rarely feels much in modern FE stories with only FE7 and Echoes getting me truly immersed in the world I was nervous about the story of 3H. While I can't speak for the other 3 routes, the Blue Lions route brought me back to the GBA games and actually made me care for the main plot, glad that Echoes wasn't a fluke, hell I almost teared up at the end and that's almost never happens when I play games, it was the first time in a while I've felt genuinely proud of a character. Oh I am really not looking forward to killing Dimitri now.
He's barely in the other pathways, as Byleth's interference is pretty much the only thing that saves him. Think: without Byleth, or Rodrigue's sacrifice, he continues his rampage, charging into battle senselessly, consumed with rage and vengeance. It's a real shame, but it shows how all he needed was someone to bring him back from the brink that he fell over.
@@jas8288 Rhea is the reverse of this.
I personally chose the BL path first because of the students. It was the group of characters surrounding Dimitri that I actually wanted to see grow. And after the timeskip, I actually thought i had chosen the wrong path. I didn't want to interact with Dimitri because he didn't want to interact with anyone. But I remembered the awkward and kind kid he was, and his friends were all there (minus one exception who I was heartbroken to see was missing) routing for him, even Felix who I knew hated this Dimitri. But right at the moment with Rodrigue, things got more personal, and as that final scene played I couldn't help but tear up. Dimitri had come so far, he even offered a hand to the person he hated the most. And it was beautiful.
I'm glad i played BL story first.
Unwarranted? Even with the fact Dimitri was wrong about Edelgard's involvement she still threw Foland into war and chaos, killing hundreds if not thousands of people over false information she had about the church, while allying with the true big bads of the game. Its why Rhea only goes insane on the BE route because if she didn't, even with Byleth joining her and mellowing her out she'd still be a anti-villain otherwise thanks to who most of her enemies are.
Wrong. Edelgard, despite all her suffering, is power hungry and stubborn. She thinks she is the only one who can lead Fodlan and if not then she has no reason to live.
@@kellyjohana516
Did you post on the wrong comment? Mine is also anti-Edelgard.
TheSwordsman100 she also worked with the woman who got daddy Jeralt killed and raided the monastery regardless of the innocent students still inside. And people wonder why she’s the only lord you can betray
I think Edelgard has her heart in the right place, but she has bought entirely too much into her own hype. I agree with her on the stance of the church, and it's not like she's actually siding with Those Who Slither. She says it's a temporary alliance brought out of necessity, and at the end of her route that is proven to be true; Edel, Hubert, and Your character's ending lines are about wiping them out entirely and retiring in peace. Hell, I think the only real bad guys of the game are *some* members of the church and Those Who Slither, this game is very morally gray (which is something I love).
I played the Lions route first, and was so disgusted with Edel's actions that I had to play the game from her perspective to understand what the fuck led to her plunging the continent into anarchy. After playing both, I can't really say she's in the wrong either.. Definitely not in the right, but she has a LOT of good points.
@@deadseven3474
The thing about the BE route though is the events of the BE route are vastly different to the other routes (BL, YD and CoS keep the establishing events of phase 2, war against her and characterization consistent) and that in the BE route you are dealing with a Rhea who has been driven insane. Rhea (when sane which is 90% of the game) and the church despite having their flaws are defiantly on the side of good. It also doesn't help that despite Edelgard's information on the church being wrong (YD, more so, and CoS routes are lore dumps) Rhea's death removes crests form the world even though she didn't make them and every other time she dies in the other routes, nothing of the sort happens. Also just because Edelgard plans to betray TWSID doesn't suddenly make working with them null and void, she also did numerous evil actions on her own, which is why she is on most routes a anti-villain, only becoming a anti-hero if you do BE.
I picked blue lions because everyone else was picking golden deer and black eagles surprise was spoiled for me. AS excited as I was for edelgard, as the other axe lord in FE is not only the chillest dude, but the best dad next to piccolo, I had high hopes for her, but figured the BL route would be the more traditional route. And I am so glad to be wrong, It was hard to pick a different route for subsequent playthroughs, as much as I adore Hilda or Marianne or even claude, Dimitri feels like the most well developed character. Claude doesn't need any, hes just a good person and any growth in his case would probably be a negative, and Edelgard is just written to be a misguided villain that is pretty much irredeemable. But you watch Dimitri descend into madness, into wrath, to straight dismissal of everything, true nihilism. All to bring it back around and be more like Ephraim or Ike than anyone else. Hell even in his ending hes willing to embrace his half sister, whom just a few months ago, he wanted to slaughter like an animal. Real development there. Was nice. Shame she spit in his face, but I guess not everyone can get a good ending all the time. Which ironically was also kinda nice.
I'm glad I played BL first. Edelgard's reveal was a heavy punch to me, and hit home just how broken he was from the start. You don't focus on changing the world, you focus on moving past the damaged mental state of these lovely individuals. And I couldn't be happier to say that they were may favorite route. (Even after playing all four.)
I like punching things in the face with 87 STR with high SPD and decent DEF to back it up.
That's what I like.
Blue Lions route: a summary
T E A R S
I do think Dimitri is one of my favorite characters in FE. Mostly because they took what could be considered a fairly common trope in FE (IE a young lord looking to avenge his loved ones, right injustices, and restore his kingdom) and make the young lord NOT perfect, where the struggle is not from overcoming his enemies or hardships, but overcoming himself.
The best lord in the game, hands down.
I was going to pick GD as my first route since I found Claude to be pretty interesting but because I summoned Dimitri in heroes (2nd try) and no one else I went with Blue Lions instead on a total whim (he would never stop giving me his hearts in forging bonds as well so I had to). Now I can't even think of playing the other routes because I know no matter what I do Dimitri will always DIE and I just can't ;w; I've grown too emotionally attached to him, I'm on my third playthrough of Blue LIons on maddening mode and I regret nothing. I will watch other people play the other routes tho cause I still am genuinely curious, just not enough to kill Dimitri myself or any of the BL kids. never.
Sometimes I'm like "Hmmm maybe ill recruit all the other BL kids so I dont have to kill them" bu then i realize Dimitri would be alone and betrayed and I cant save him anyways so... jut cant bring myself to play other routes!
@@jas8288 Same!! ;;w;; I feel like if I DID play the other routes I wouldn't be able to recruit the kids just so Dimitri wouldn't be alone, at least not his childhood friends
Yeah, I understand how you feel. I wanted to do the other routes but I didn't like the idea of being Dimitri's enemy and killing him because he's my favorite character in Fire Emblem Three Houses and always will be, after everything that's happened to him to be his enemy is just awful. I don't think you kill Dimitri in every route but from what I've seen in the Black Eagles alternate route is making me not want to do the alternate route of Black Eagles, I even moved the main character next to Dimitri so she's fighting along side him in all the Blue Lion maps. Not just Dimitri but I also care about the other Blue Lion students as well, I don't like the idea of killing them ether. I don't like the thought of killing Ashe, Mercedes and Annette since I care a lot about those characters. I am doing the Golden Deer route but it still pains me to know I will be Dimitri's enemy later on, it makes me want to avoid fighting him on the battle field if it's possible but probably not :(
@@lunastar7245 I wish you all the emotional luck in the world ;;w;; I dont have the strength to do it at least not for a very long time
After Rodrigue died, I have no shame in admitting I wanted to give Dimitri the biggest hug I could give him, and I was Male Byleth. Out of literally 99% of the other lords in the series, Dimitri easily has the most depth and development.
Dimitri first going full boar in the mausoleum is hands down my favorite cutscene in the game.
He's my favorite lord, and he deserved better in the other routes than his own...
Dimitri needs a hug.
There's a reason I spent $100 on a Dimitri+Byleth doll set.
(Yes, I've played Blue Lions 3 times. Yes, I married Dimitri every time.)
Yah. Never thought it would ever happen but he dethroned my favourite lord in the series and replaced him. Heck, he's probably my favourite character in the entire series now. Definitely would replay his route again now that maddening difficulty has been added. Also even though Blue Lions route doesn't reveal a lot, its still my favourite out of all 4. I think it's okay that it left out the other things. Those things aren't the focus of his route after all. And also, just like in real life, you can't have all the answers when you're only looking from one side of the story.
I think why he hates Edlegard so immensely is because he thinks she either helped gather information to help Arundel orchestrate the coup that led to the tragedy of Duscur. That in combination with his extreme survivors guilt and you have one terrifying but broken guy that wants to let his family rest. It doesn't help that he was so close with Edlegard as a child. He and Edlegard are opposites in the blue lions route, Dimitri, starting out willing to sacrifice anyone or anything to get revenge while slowly cooling down to become a collected and determined man willing to die for his country throwing away his desire for vengeance. While Edlegard starts cold and calculating and believing she will win to growing more and more desperate as the game draws to a close and throwing away her humanity to try to get the power to stay ruling the world. But in the final scene when Dimitri tries to spare Edlegard, in my opinion and contrary to popular belief, deliberately didn't kill Dimitri with the dagger, she wanted to die because she caused so much death and destruction only for it to be for nothing and knowing if she made it look like she wanted to kill him then he would finish her off without thinking, that might be why she has a weak smile even as she slumps over from her wound.
Blue Boy, Best Boy.
10/10 would kill Edelgard again.
I love Dimitri he's the best boy of three houses
I don’t even have a productive comment to add I just want to say I started playing FE when I was 10, Dimitri is my favorite character in the entire franchise and I fucking love him
This comment is Fucking relevant, and if I could give a love instead of a like I would 😂😂😂
You posted good video. You are going to gain subscriber!
Dimitri and his route is definitely the best part of the game!
Dimitri reminds me so much of Guts from Berserk, down to his armor, missing eye and just his attitude after the time skip. Doesn't help Edelgard remind me of Griffith so much, a white haired person following their dream no matter what...
I said the exact same thing too lol I always said Edelgard is Griffith's long lost sister!
@@themagicalfox6 Dimitri-Edelgard relationship is more....deep, Edelgard un God,s Tower Say Dimitri was his first true love.
Dimitri is one of the best Lords I've known in Fire Emblem history, and that's a huge feat.
When i played this game i originally wanted to start with Black Eagles but my bf picked her route first so i picked Blue Lions and by far fell in love with the route. I could gladly say i love this route because like everyone else we all strugle with the WORST of the WORST and playing this game gave me a reminder to not carry the weight on your shoulders, because gddam my boy Dimitri i wanted to fcking jump in the scenes and scream NO MOE FOR MY PRINCE.
Im glad the character develpment brought people close to relate
Hence with such a lovely redemption
I have a family member who goes through something similar to Dimitri with hearing voices and sometimes seeing things that aren't there. It was sad to see a character go through a lot without proper help. But that's why I loved this route. They didn't make him this bad guy, they made him the co protagonist and let us fight to help him out. I have a soft spot for Dimitri because I know what he's going through is hell and isn't fixed but he's trying to cope with it all.
A big reason I personally appreciate dimitri is because he is very unique from other fire emblem lords. All these other lords are often portrayed as selfless and perfect. So many of them never truly change in their adventures but dimitri changes drastically.
Blue Lions the most REWARDING route of the 4 routes in FE3H!
I enjoyed the story, the characters and the ending.
It's high time that a character with PTSD/mental health issues can not redeem themselves but eventually get better in time and heal.
It's such a message and one that strikes a cord with many people!
I have an essay. I hope someone would read it. It is long. It compares Edelgard and Dimitri, spurred after seeing people arguing about them. Anyway, Thank you for reading.
Everyone is a slave to their conditions, experiences, and their past. Not only that, they are also slaves to their own character.
Edie's past and her own personality (partially developed out of her experience, and partially out of her natural traits as even Dimdim had mentioned that she was "initially cold and aloof" who took some time to warm up when he first met young Edie, which was _before_ those experiments). She _does_ have an extremist mindset and a savior complex, which was why despite her ideals being quite commendable (I personally agree with her in a lot of things, and yes, as an atheistic humanist, her thing against reliance on gods *is* my kinda jam), I do not like her methods, her "my way or the highway" attitude (more pronounced in other routes though), and her lack of awareness to the fallacies of human thinking-such as not actually trying to check the "history" and "facts" that she had been given, unlike Claude, the skeptic extraordinaire), among others-and overall, if it wasn't the fact that her war did end up ushering Fódlan to a golden age (and the ironic thing is: _any_ of the victors could do it. Edie could do it, Dimdim could do it, Byleth could do it), her war _would_ have just been a tragedy that killed millions and left the continent in an extensive period of chaos and turmoil (refer to real world countries after a war, such as Germany after WWII).
Still, you can find her flaws linked to her painful experiences and the situation she was thrusted into (notably, TWSITD had her hands pretty tied and I understand that when you weigh your goals and think they are worth everything, working together with shady ass-whom you think you will be able to backstab once all is said and done-is not beyond reasons). Keep in mind that she also has a reduced lifespan _with_ dramatically increased superpowers due to the experiment, which would explain why she chose starting a war-the shortest route to rebuilding Fódlan and something her superpowers will be of great advantage (she does quite a deal of the fighting _personally_ too). Even her story is shorter... Which is her very ideal. It's all within reasons.
Now to Dimdim. His trauma and associated psychological disorder(s) play a role in his fucked up attitude, but keep in mind it's also related to his nature and personality. Some had argued that Edie had suffered just as much trauma and yet she kept herself under wraps, while Dimdim is "weak" (Or something like that). But bear in mind that even under the exact sort of stress, _different people will _*_still_*_ react differently, because no one person is exactly the same after all._ Dimdim's naturally sensitive, is extremely empathetic and sympathetic to others (termed "soft hearted" in game)-a trait he displayed in his past childhood self, academic self, and even his older self, near the end of Azure Moon. This may explain why his take on his trauma had him ended up developing psychological issues (while Edie, I'll argue, developed *personality* issues). Keep in mind that at the beginning of the game, he is just as composed and under wraps as Edie is, playing the role of the sort of idealistic person he aims to be for the people he empathizes with. Just like Edie, he is putting on a mask as well, and he only steadily broke down since the Remire village incident and so forth.
Dimdim also has a trait he isn't proud of at all-his boar side. I still don't know if that side is developed out of overcompensation to his inability to save anyone in the Tragedy of Duscur AND the genocide of Duscur afterwards; Or if it's just his natural trait, since he has been commented multiple times that he's "only" good in fighting; Or just both. Either way, it's an authentic part of him as much as his compassionate side (he outright admits it in Felix's A support), which is why when the betrayal chapter happened and his mask cracked (he literally stepped on a mask and cracked it too, even if it's Edie's mask), his true natures are displayed. Still, notice that even while he's in his boar state, his primary motivation is still his compassion for the dead and _not himself._ He isn't avenging because he is angry at being trusted into this trauma, he is avenging for the sake of those who _had_ suffered.
He's obsessive with his vengeance to the exclusion of other things, including taking back his own fucking kingdom (perhaps he planned to do that after he finishes his business, seeing as how angry he also is for Cornelia and her ilks, but we'll never know). He lets the dead rule him first and foremost and ignores himself (though not as pronounced as Marianne's, Dimdim has a great deal of self-loathing which only gets worse after timeskip; His assholesery is really him denying himself the comfort and care of others out of said self-loath; Even after he's better, he still doesn't like himself). Ironically if he had even a modicum of Edie's self affirmation, he would have been much clear-headed and be able to keep his demons at bay. He might not end up being such a wreck and just be the Marth archetype that he superficially resembles.
Understandably, he puts some players off, yet that really _is_ his intention. Whether his allies and us are with him or not, his plan to kill Edie will always happen, so being friendly with us is not a priority. He doesn't even think he deserves any company. Yea, it's fucking self-destructive and frustrating, but not at all stemmed from nowhere. People who suffer from various mental issues display this sorta behavior too, and as a self-trained counsellor since my childhood (the adults in my life were not... Very good), yes, they did push me to my edge many times. Made me wanna give up and just pull them out of their misery... But I personally can't come to that. It seems that I'm pretty patient after all, which is be why the boar didn't bother me too much and why seeing him get better made me happy, as it echoed my real-life experience of seeing people getting better after patiently tending to them for a long while.
However, I'm well aware and understand that not everyone can actually stomach people like this-not everyone can be a counsellor or a therapist. It's very, *very* understandable to hate Dimitri, even with his sob story in mind.
Really, just as disagreeing with Edie's methods and/or personality don't invalidate her _ideals_ (if you want to invalidate them it's fine; But your arguments should center on ideals and not her personality), finding Dimdim's lapse in "normal, acceptable attitude" annoying/frustrating doesn't invalidate his struggles and his recovery from anguish. Maybe it's just my perspective as a counsellor and advisor in my real life, but ultimately, as I can trace their reasons and actions to unfortunate circumstances and their humanity, she's not a monster and he's not an animal to me. They are kinda just human.
An addendum: a lot cite Dimdim's redemption as rather abrupt and so it demerits the story's quality. I agree it's may be even better if it can become more gradual, but the current one we have is not at all bad or even abrupt. I am probably in the minority now, but I actually don't think Dimdim's boar bloodthirsty side post timeskip is a direct _symptom_ of his mental issues. Rather, I'm inclined to believe the latter colored his rationale; they influenced his decision making process and mindset.
In other words, I don't think he was being psycho; I think he was sound in mind(he did survive five years of vagrant lifestyle _alone_, instead of say, drown in a river like Ophelia or whatever). So rather than say he's suddenly "switched back to being a good boya" like boom, issue solved! I'll say it just changes his mindset and rationale, which his decisions-on the army's next plan right down to his demeanor-reflect. His issues are clearly still with him, and whether other characters outwardly state their skepticism or not, he himself clearly hasn't forgiven himself (he doesn't even allow himself to join in merriment and openly expresses doubts on him being king).
Hence, to me, to say that he got cured by Rodrigue's death is not true; I see it as someone with a sound (enough) mind, upon seeing the extent of his deeds, starts to doubt his approach and mindset-which leads to him asking for advices in the rain from Byleth. He started completely succumbing to his boar side since escaping Fhirdiad and hasn't suffered an impact as great as this one to force him to question himself, after all. He perhaps thought that his old restrained self is the reason why so many had died while the "sinners" are left unpunished, and so if he fully let loose his other side, he will finally be able to mete out true justice, only to have Rodrigue died *_because_* of this very attitude. Hell, Fleche's action even mirrors his own, and Fleche is _just_ a child... A weak spot that he has never discarded even while being a boar (a monk in the monastery would mention seeing him patting an orphan, *post timeskip and pre-redeemed* ).
Ergo, it's not strange that he is suddenly shaking out of his delusion. It's also no wonder he was so confused in the rain as to what he could do at all-since he failed again. After that, all he had been doing is, well, trying to be better. He is willing to learn the grey areas in what right and justice mean, as seen in his reaction to a complicit in the Tragedy of Duscur and his attempts to work with Edie, and even separating his feelings for Edie as a person and Edie's ideals (he is downright amicable in the dagger part of their exchange). It's something the past Dimitri didn't do at all-in other words, his character grows, and he does so as a part of his redemption.
This is well written! I am actually looking for some help writing scripts for my character videos. If you are interested, DM me on discord!
@@AdamWithFED
* /head explodes in Bernadetta screams*
I... Don't have discord!! I'm too shy for Discord!! I don't think I can write any better than this, it was all in a whim, really!!! /screams
Um, actually, I don't mind if you use this in your script. I don't mind it even if it's word by word (though I'm sure you'll come up with better ways to say it!). I'm just stoked that you did read it, Senpai, and even thought it's good! That alone made my day... Thank you!
Lyndis S. Alright! If you change your mind feel free to email me using the email on my about page. I would love your perspective here at FED!
Lyndis S. I read all of your replies, and I totally agree with you! I love Dimitri’s character, but I disagree when people say that his change was abrupt. You can see smaller hints that Dimitri’s mindset is changing in the chapters before the battle of Gronder Field (an especially notable example is Dimitri’s response to Dedue being alive after the battle at the bridge if Dedue’s paralogue was done). I think that Dimitri’s improvement is minor and subtle at first, and I disagree when people say that it was abrubt. If you pay close attention to Dimitri’s behavior, the signs are there. They may be minor improvements, but they are improvements. Seriously, the post-bridge battle scene is a clear example of Dimitri’s changing mindset. He is clearly torn about killing Edelgarde’s soldiers who gladly die for her. In any case, thanks for the interesting analysis!
In all honesty, I played black eagles first (silver snow and then crimson flower), then blue lions, I think that azure moon is the true route of fire emblem three houses. As you can see in the battle of the eagle and lion along with blood of the eagle and lion, each house’s color on the battlefield matches with their primary color. Dimitri as the protagonist’s choice is in blue. Edelgard is in her red, and Claude is in his yellow, it is also the only route it seems where both dimitri and claude survive, with edelgard being killed for obvious reasons. However I do wish edelgard took dimitri’s hand at the end.
His voice acting is great and him yelling during part 2 during fights was 10/10. OUT OF MY WAY!
Dmitri is my favorite FE "lord" now, Blue Lions best house.
Dimitri nearly has Zuko level redemption! (Also is that Octopath Traveler OST in the background? Superb taste!)
Oh my I’m still in the blue lions route ahh it’s going to be so hard to play the others
This made me cry... thank you for this wonderful analysis. FE3H came out at a time where I regularly dealt with heavy depression and anxiety. I chose the Blue Lions house first and it's safe to say that this route and especially Dimitri helped me a lot through this hard time. This character will always have a special place in my heart.
Dimitri is a very human character. First we see a nice and noble young prince with a socially awkward side to him. A boy, who cares for his comrades and friends. After finding out about the Tradegy of Duscur und the involvement of the ones who slither in the dark, you can see the first notes to his "dark past". In his support conversations you are asked how you live with the fact of killing others, killing friends of others. It gives you a brief sight into his thoughts about murder and guilt. In the battle against Tomas/Solon in Remire, his "boar" side ist first shown, a part of his rage. On forth he shows him suffering of his constant headaches, his PTSD and the voices in his head to take revenge on someone. On the other hand, again, you learn more about his relationship with Edelgard, his stepsister and his beloved friend, amd his unusual gift for her, a dagger. In the scene where Byleth and Dimitri are eavesdropping on the Flame Emperor and Thales, he gets said gift back. It's a moment you can almost see his nice and sane demeanor crumble for sure. As for the reveal of the Flame Emperor, his sanity bursts as the uncontrollable voices in his head command him to go for the kill, even pushing Byleth away, the person who he actually sees more as a close friend than a teacher. His reaction is justified, as he finds the one who is the main reason why the Tragedy of Duscur happened, to make Edelgard stronger. After the timeskip, we see a broken man, fallen into isolation, depression, hatred and revenge, a man who surrounded himself with corpses and darkness, followed by roaming ghosts and bitter souls. With the death of Dedue he lost a pillar to get his sanity back together. As for the next chapters he isolates himself and only thinks about killing Edelgard. Here we see his rage as fuel to go forward, even in his Strength Stat, as it can be seen as a symbol of his rage and hatred. Even Felix, a very close friend who knows him better than the other Blue Lions, is baffled and concerned about his actions and decisions at one point. This is the point we see a man walking more and more into the darkness of depression and revenge. As Rodrigue dies in his hands, he realizes that revenge calls for more revenge, only keeping the wheel of murder spinning. In the scene of him standing in the rain, looking like skin and bones, questioning his reason to keeping to move forward, to keep on living, like thinking to end his live if that's his destiny, that is his deepest point and hits really hard. But with Byleth's help and Rodrigue's last words he tries to get out of this dark hole and reach fot the glimpse of light. In his final scene with Edelgard, he holds out his hand to Edelgard, the person he has sworn to behead, hoping for her to talk it out or come to a compromise. It's the moment she throws the dagger towards him, again, that he thinks that bad people might not ever change and must live in this painful state. As he and Byleth walk towards the enlightened door/gate Dimitri hesitates and attempts to go back, to Edelgard perhaps. But Byleth pulls him to the light, symbolizing to him that he indeed deserves better and to not stay in the dark past he is reminded of. Symbolizing him he has a reason and the right to live a life of joy and light. The S support reveals that the voices in his head haven't stopped, but h now wants to accept the voices and get them out of his mind instead of locking them inside his head and falling for their screams and hatred, showing that he still hasn't freed hinself of the PTSD and depression. As for his endings without F!Byleth, shows him dying of illness. Maybe he could no longer live with the voices in his mind and ended his own life... We may never know...
The Blue Lions Route is a story of a man falling into his hatred, depression, losing trust and suffering PTSD to a man, learning to accept his past, atoning for his sins and moving forward in life while his PTSD is sitting on his shoulders and tries to bring him down again.
It is what it is, it happens for all of us, we fall, we suffer but with help and support we can get back up and get better, if the support is present. That are my thoughts about Dimitri and his path throught the lingering darkness that surrounds him that hits so close to home for many of us players.
Even though I'm Team Golden Deer, Dimitri really was an inspiration to me and really impact me to change for the better. He and Marianne are my favorite characters in FE3H. With FE3H being my first Fire Emblem game I got to say I'm impressed and am glad I choose this game instead of Pokemon SnS. Really looking forward to what IS is gonna do with the franchise going forward as I have become a huge fan.