#edeleth ask

[lady-byleth]

Prologue of the game: Byleth: *Completely destroys some bandits* Dimitri and Edelgard: "This woman is perfect for the Empire/Kingdom" Claude: "Now I know how my dad felt when he saw my mom"

The next few months

Mitya and Edie: 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Claude: she's great but I wouldn't like do anything for her

Post timeskip

Mitya and Edie: my feelings don't matter you're my enemy now

Claude: you know what, teenage me was an idiot, imma give this woman TWO kingdoms

[lady-byleth]

Edelgard and Dimitri: *lovesick sighs* Claude: haha suckers Byleth: *smiles* Claude: *nervously sweating* oh fuck

Claude realizing he's a sucker too

[lady-byleth]

Your thoughts and feelings about Edeleth in comparison to Dimileth and Claudeth?

Ah, well...hm...how do I put this...

Okay, let's just pull an Edie and forge right ahead

My take on those three relationships is that they all start of at different places.

Claudeth distinguishes itself by being a friendship first and foremost. Claude is the only one out of the three who doesn't develop a crush on Byleth early on. Instead he takes his time to really get to know her, tries to earn her trust and eventually returns that trust wholeheartedly. He builds a friendship with her, then a partnership. They both lead the army, they both decide what happens, he confides in her, she in him, he makes an effort to show her she's appreciated by helping her achieve her goals on the side while she does the same. It's an equal relationship from start to finish and them becoming a couple seems like another small step, a logical conclusion. He also doesn't keep nearly as many secrets as he pretends to. He even comes right out and says he's using her and makes up for it by being absolutely supportive of her the entire time. They stand on the same level the whole game, which is not something that can be said about the others.

Dimileth starts out with a pretty obvious crush on Dimitri's part. He's eager to please and support her while she doesn't seem to realize that at all. He's very open about his trauma, about his past and his goals. But he does keep some pretty heavy secrets, like his hallucinations and chronic nightmares and inability to taste. While they both trust each other he doesn't like himself enough to open up completely and that's what leads to the eventual fallout in a way. By keeping secrets and not letting Byleth in on what he's actually doing for most of the Academy Phase, he deprives himself of the mental support. And come the war phase he hates himself so much he can't even fathom why she would stick around. Meanwhile she abandons her own goals, her hunt for answers, to be there for him no matter how much he tries to push her away. Their relationship is a lot of pushing and pulling and tightrope walking because there's trust and appreciation there but it all gets buried under tragedy for a long time. They do eventually manage to find common ground, but getting there requires a lot of effort. On both ends. Letting someone see you at your lowest and then grabbing their hand is incredibly hard, speaking from experience.

Edeleth...well, that's a tricky one cuz while Edie very obviously has a huge crush on Byleth during the Academy Phase, she doesn't make an effort to build trust between them at all. She lies and manipulates and evaluates and actually kind of demands Byleth trust her without really giving a good reason. To me it feels like Edie is the driving force behind the relationship, that there's again a push and pull there but Edie does all the pushing and Byleth let's herself be pulled. To me, it doesn't feel equal. It feels like Edie has all the power there and drags Byleth along with her. That's not necessarily bad, some people are passive and let their more dominant partners lead them, but considering Byleth never keeps secrets and Edie keeps a lot of them - and big ones, like planning a war - but doesn't bother to let Byleth in on them, it doesn't get me nearly as invested in it as Claudeth or Dimileth

That's not to say I don't like Edeleth, I just don't like it nearly as much as the other two. It's not build oh mutual trust because Edie doesn't give me a single reason to trust her. The other two...they give me reasons. And I trust them.

Idk if I answered that question well or not, I just kinda rambled there 😅

[lady-byleth]

Byleth fell asleep in a secluded part of the garden and one of the house lords finds her. Who will: 1: Put a blanket of sort on her so she won't get cold. 2: Moved her to a better position to sleep, maybe use their lap or shoulder as her pillow. 3: Sit/lay down beside her and sleep as well because it's a good spot to sleep and the weather is nice.

Edie, Dimitri, Claude, in that order

[lady-byleth]

Whenever Edelgard says "I need to discuss something with the professor in the meeting room" she actually means she wants to take a stroll through the gardens with Byleth and for everyone else not to interrupt them.

Edie, everyone knows. Edie, you're not slick. Just say it like a normal person, Edie.

[lady-byleth]

(previously angsty Edie anon) After the war, Edie got bogged down in so many work, and paperwork, that she barely had time to relax. She’s always so busy almost from dawn break to late at night, her sleep cycle is a mess - the nightmares didn’t help - and her fatigue became more obvious, and still she refused to stop. One day, Byleth barged into Edie’s office, grabbed the paperwork she was working on and shoved them into Hubert’s waiting hands, and picked up the Emperor while casually told (1/2)

YES THIS IS BETTER GOOD NONNY

[lady-byleth]

I kinda wish the Edeleth romance took a thing or three from Claudleth, where you actively have to break down her walls and build trust with her; instead of—y’know—her falling for Byleth right off the bat, and the game going out of its way to beat you over the head with it. She’s an ice queen revolutionary with delusions of grandeur! Wouldn’t it make more sense for her to keep Byleth at arm’s length, initially viewing them as an (expendable) pawn, wary they’d get in the way of her ambitions??

I just wish it actually felt like it went anywhere. Instead it's just Edie not telling Byleth anything while pining, Byleth doing whatever Edie says and then bam, suddenly they're married?

Where's the trust, where's the friendship, the genuine emotions instead of a token "I painted a portrait of you cuz I missed you omg this is embarrassing"?

Haven't found it yet, unfortunately.

[lady-byleth]

At first I thought Edie x Byleth would seem like a ship I'd like but then after some spoilery things happen I can't say something like that anymore and I never felt like this about a ship before umless it was actually problematic :/

I'm mostly ambivalent about it but I bought the game 100% settled on romancing her. The fact that I haven't should tell you enough about where I stand now. I don't like being lied to and manipulated.