What are your thoughts on the BE relationship to trauma and mental illness?
There’s so many places you can go with this lol. I will say I’m gonna stray away from using actual mental illness diagnoses because idk enough about that so I’ll more so focus on just generally unhealthy mental habits/patterns. Also for the less traumatized characters I’ll just talk about general struggles so I can have something to say. And sorry this’ll end up being long lol.
Edelgard: Her trauma has been discussed to hell and back so I’m not sure I have much unique to say in regards to her. Obviously her trauma is largely what motivates her throughout the story, she doesn’t want anyone to suffer how she did. Edelgard is also someone who longs for familial connection. She had all her siblings stolen from her at a young age and I think that’s part of why it’s so meaningful to her when all the Black Eagles stay in CF. She starts to view them as the family she never had (or more accurately the family she had but lost) and she was fully prepared to lose her ‘family’ a second time after her rebellion against the church. But this family stays! And that’s part of why she needs to succeed, she can’t have her new family die for her the way her siblings did. She also struggles to trust people. She’s used to being alone and besides Hubert has not really had a true ally since the experiments. And we see this in her early interactions with Byleth. She desperately wants Byleth on her side, and keeps trying to subtly reach out her hand but whenever Byleth probes farther, she dismisses it (such as after the red canyon when she hints that another people inhabited that space earlier, or after Byleth gets the sword if the creator and she’s like “you could definitely take on the knights if seiros with that” and when Byleth asks what she means she instantly backtracks and pretends she never said anything). She’s also a character who’s pretty good at masking. On the surface, she doesn’t seem heavily traumatized. She’s a pragmatic and confident leader.
Hubert: Tbh I’m not the most knowledgeable person on Hubert lore but I do think he has some left over trauma from Edelgard suddenly disappearing and coming back heavily traumatized. I think this is a part of why he tends to put up a wall between people. Then, once he finally views someone as a friend, he tends to be a bit protective over them in his own Hubert way (like trying to force Lysithea to eat her vegetables). I think there’s a part of him that feel like he could’ve done more to protect Edelgard and maybe then everything would be different. I also feel like one of his post time skip advice box entries kind of touch on this topic. He talks about fearing “zealots and grudges of the living” and his preferred answer is one where Byleth says reality “is most frightening.” Hubert is someone who primarily works in the darkness, he is someone who is constantly exposed to the worst of humanity and this impacts the way he is able to view reality. He also makes a comment in his tea time discussion about how most people who talk to him become “bored and depressed.” This shows how he expects most people to have negative view of him and because of this, he tends to lean into this evil persona. We do see, though, that Hubert has issues with this persona he’s felt the need to take on.
Ferdinand: I think Ferdinand is someone who is deeply in denial about a lot of how his life sucked. Now I wouldn’t really describe Ferdie before the story as traumatized, in fact I think if you asked him he would say his life is pretty great. But I do think he had a pretty bad home situation. I think growing up his dad treated him as a super special little boy contributing to his large ego, but his dad also placed heavy pressure on him to be the best at everything, hence why Ferdinand is so desperate to beat Edelgard (or at least part of the reason). Also idk where this came from, but I always had the head canon that Duke Aegir is the type of man to really look down on his wife and view her as disposable and I think to distract from her depressing life she ended up doting on and really babying Ferdinand making him feel even more special. Ferdinand’s actually trauma comes around the time skip when his dad is arrested and he’s stripped of his noble title. Until then, Ferdinand very heavily defined his identity by his nobility so losing this forced him to completely reconsider who he was as a person.
Linhardt: I don’t think Linhardt is a traumatized person (at least pre time skip, everyone’s traumatized post time skip I mean they literally fought in a war). I think one of his main struggles as a kid was his dad being too strict. He doesn’t like when people have high expectations of him and in his ideal world he would just do what he wants when he wants, and his dad would not allow this. This is a large factor in what caused Linhardt’s demand avoidance. I also think Linhardt is one of the characters who has a harder time adjusting to life at the academy where he consistently has to go to combat. We see in his dialogue after his first kill he is very disturbed by death and he is overall one of the most pacifist characters.
Caspar: This is another character I don’t see as really being traumatized. He does have an unhealthy tendency to feel guilt for his family’s action, which we see explored in his Petra support, but ya know he’s a pretty well adjusted guy.
Dorothea: Now we get back to characters who do have traumatic backstories. Dorothea is someone who has experienced rejection from the moment she was born (from her own father) and this is something that has had a significant impact on her self worth. She has a hard time believing other people could care deeply for her and deflects a lot of her insecurities with her flirty nature. This also causes her to accept being treated poorly as we see in her Caspar support where she talks about going on dates with “tolerable” men and seems to think that’s normal. It’s also heavily implied that she had a lot of bad experiences with noble men once she became a diva and I think this caused her to have a sort of reflexive distrust towards a lot of noble men and she can often be callous and cold towards them. Also the obvious thing that she grew up in poverty and is afraid of being in the same situation so she spends her time looking for a way (or person) to help her get a more secure future.
Petra: This game really does not give Petra the attention she deserved and because of this her trauma and its impacts are pretty under developed compared to other characters. She was taken as a political hostage as a young child and surrounded by racist nobles who looked down on her. Petra is aware that Adrestians view her people as inferior to them and she is desperate to prove them wrong. Because of this she is one of the most ambitious characters in the game, always trying to learn new skills and improve herself. She also knows that she is likely one of the few people from Brigid many Adrestians would interact with so she knows she can make a difference in shaping Adrestians’ perspective towards Brigid. Because of this, she is in a position where she has to constantly play the game and act like she’s happy to be there and is respectful of every noble because if she makes them mad she can risk Brigid’s safety. Furthermore, I believe she has a very complex relationship with Edelgard due to this. Edelgard is the heir/leader of the country that oppresses her country. Even if she doesn’t hold ill will against Edelgard personally, she knows Edelgard has the power to decide what happens to Brigid so I can’t see there not being tension between the two. Petra also feels the need to prove that she is Edelgard’s equal as that would, in a way, also prove that Brigid is Adresta’s equal.
Bernadetta: Saving the most obviously traumatized (and probably most poorly handled) character for last. I’m not gonna lie, I was kinda dreading this because I don’t like how Bernie’s trauma was handled and because of that I don’t particularly enjoy discussing it. But I’ll do my best. Bernadetta was taught by her father her whole life that her sole worth laid in her ability to be a good wife, that there was no value in her as an individual. Because of this, she has a hard time believing people could actually like Bernie the person (such as in her supports with Dorothea and Edelgard). Furthermore, she is so used to rejection that she feels like it would be easier to just hide in her bedroom and not face the world than risk being abused again.
Could you do prompt 9 for like…..all the Black Eagles??
Sure! So prompt 9 is could you be roommates with this character.
Edelgard: I think I could manage. I feel like she’d be a fine roommate but also very strict. She’s the type of girl who would write up a roommate contract and insist we follow the rules very closely. She’d probably try to meddle in my business a little too much (looking at you Caspar and Linhardt supports) but I think if I just went in my bedroom anytime she got too intense that would fix the issue because she’d be like “okay that’s your space I’ll stay out of there.”
Hubert: NO. I’d constantly be fearing for my life and I’d be like “um Hubert, why is there a noxious handkerchief on the floor” and he’d just casually be like “oh I dropped that thanks for returning it.” And then Edelgard would come over every single day and I’d have to be like “this is a small apartment if your friend wants to be here 24/7 she needs to pay rent” and he’d say something ominous and I’d need to call the leasing office about ending out lease early because I’m fearing for my life.
Dorothea: Probably the best roommate of all the black eagles (maybe even of the entire cast…). We see in her Caspar support she’s very thorough with her cleaning which is good for me because I love having a roomie who cleans. Sure, she can’t cook but I can do enough of that for the both of us. She’d also be a great wing woman anytime you needed some help with that. And I think she’d get plenty of party invites so anytime there’s a lull in your social life she’d be like “I got you girl.” Or she’d just whip out a bottle of wine one day and spill the craziest tea ever to you. The only issue is you would have to deal with her singing practice, but I think she’d keep her practice hours to like the afternoon so she’s not keeping you up at night. Oh and you also might have to deal with some stalkers showing up to your house so maybe have the police on speed dial…
Petra: Another top tier roommate I think. I feel like I’d slowly introduce her to trashy reality tv and at first she’d be kinda weirded out by it but after a month or so she’s following all those people on social media and she runs into your room and is like “guess who’s pregnant” and I’m guessing people we know and she’s just like “no this person from a show we watched five months ago and haven’t talked about since!” I also think Petra would be very fair about splitting chores and would likely come up with a chore chart to make sure there’s no arguing about it. She’d also be the designated bug killer, thanks girl. I think her issue would be that she wants to use these animal skins to decorate your apartment (in her room in the game you see an animal skin as her rug) and that would freak me out so I’d probably make her confine it to her room.
Bernadetta: Nope, I could not handle it. She’d probably stay in her room 90% of the time so there wouldn’t be much of an issue but I do not have the emotional strength to deal with the number of panic attacks she would be having. Also if she’s not leaving her room she’s definitely not contributing to household chores. And anytime I wanted to have a friend over she’d have a mental breakdown.
Caspar: So I don’t think I could handle it, but I don’t think he’d be by definition a bad roommate. I think he’d be kinda your stereotypical guy roommate with a sink full of dirty dishes and a “beer wall” where he displays empty beer bottles. He watches sports every night and probably also bets on them but he does it really poorly so you always hear him loudly complaining about how much money he lost. He also has his bros over a lot where they play stupid drinking games which usually ends up with one of them passed out in the lawn and another one just went missing but you know they’ll probably find him tomorrow.
Linhardt: Definitely not. He’s so lazy he’d make you do every single chore and if you tried to confront him about it he’d go on and on about something unrelated in an attempt to distract you from the topic at hand. He’d also do all his research at ridiculous hours so you’d wake up at 2 AM to a loud noise and leave your room still half asleep and groggy and he’d be like “oh I’m doing something for research I’ll be done by 6.”
Ferdinand: Oh Ferdinand. I feel like he’d be annoying but bearable. Like I could handle a 1 year lease with him but we would not be renewing it. We see in his Hilda support that he’s easy to trick into doing the chores and I think he’s the type of guy that when he’s friends with someone he stands by them so you’d get his support, but you would also hear him talk about the same three topics every. Single. Day. He’d also make me tea every day and ask me what I think then I’d have to pretend to like it and say “good” and he’d insist I go more in depth so I just start making stuff up about the flavor profile and he corrects me because tbh I have no idea what I’m saying. But between all the Eagle men, I would have to choose him lol.
Adelheid von Hevring is the countess of Hevring territory, wife to Waldemar, and mother to Linhardt. She is viewed by many as a peculiar woman, she never had much concern for her physical appearance. Save for her hair. She has the signature green hair of those in Hevring territory, although slightly darker than the rest of her family’s, that reaches to her waist and she enjoys elaborately styling. She was actually the one who pushes for Linhardt to have long hair growing up and she spent a lot of time fussing over how it looked.
But she’s peculiar in ways other than looks. She doesn’t care much for politics and rarely attends balls with her husband, after all she hates going through the charades of social niceties.
Speaking of her husband, she never wanted to marry Waldemar. She doesn’t hate him, he typically lets her do her own thing, but she had no interest in this life style and only did it to make her parents happy. They don’t spend much time together nowadays, in fact Countess Hevring’s sleep schedule closely matches Linhardt’s, although for different reasons. She realized early on that if she stayed up into the early hours of the morning and slept during the day, hers and Waldemar’s sleep schedules would be opposite and she’d never have to share a bed.
She likes to spend a lot of time locked away in a little study she set up for herself. She always loved plants and had originally seen herself becoming a horticulturist. She always dreamed of finding ways to modify plants to make them more abundant or more nutritious, but the chances of her being able to do that became very slim once she married a noble and had other responsibilities. That’s why she’s so insistent to Linhardt that he follow his own passions and not worry about what society wants from him, she doesn’t want Linhardt to make the same mistake she did.