Gautier son, the Elder
aka why I think Miklan contextually, damns himself with his own actions
So this guy, Sylvain's older brother that is a mandatory boss in White Clouds. He's a bit of a bellweather for the fandom in that, to some he's a blorbo full of infinite possibilities and to others he's an example of Fodlan's inconsistent writing. I fall a bit more to the latter in opinion, but also think within the og Three Houses game we're given several concrete reason as to why I find Miklan to be a villain through and through.
Edelgard says he's a capable leader, Claude remarks the bandits picked a good hideout as well as being impressed someone without a Crest wielded a Hero's Relic, and in a vacuum these statements could be compelling for sympathy. Except when playing the Blue Lions introduction to this map, Dimitri talks about how Miklan has been ransacking the citizenry on Gautier lands. AKA all of the laypeople he would've grown up with, who would've shown him and his family deference and pledged loyalty. That is a people group specifically vulnerable to the Gautiers, to him, people he would've been raised knowing their family was meant to protect. And he chooses to target and exploit them during his stint as bandit leader. A ruling family tormenting those directly under their power is a medieval boogeyman that's ingrained into fictional stories, both during and after its time. Here in the high fantasy fictional FE game, we might recognize such a depiction more with villains like FE7's Erik and Lord Darin(1), FE4's MacBeth of Anphony(2)- Nobles who'd wielded their powers to abuse those vulnerable under their authority. But Miklan's actions as a bandit leader, are the same flavor as these men, no matter that he's 'destitute' and struck from the family registry.
One of Sylvain's signature critiques of the Crest system is the belief that women only want him because he has one(3), but in the context of a world where Hannamen tells us how women from a Crest bloodline can be forced into over-birthing children to the detriment of their own health, men castigating the ambitions of female ladder-climbers reads as a very entitled concern.
Similarly, Miklan's blame at the prioritization of Crests for inheritance, feels very much like someone in dysfunction denial. Largely because the player gets a first hand look at the 'supplanter' in question, and despite the difference being determined by genetic lottery, Sylvain himself is highly capable and one of the biggest forces for societal change regarding Crests in the epilogues. With Miklan, how he might've contributed to the future was lost with his death, but his actions in the present and recent past were reprehensible. When presented with someone helplessly young, Miklan again attacks that vulnerability. His claim to inheritance is seemingly nonsensical as well, "firstborn son", as if primogeniture matters when the Crest System is decried with the same breath? (mostly it's clear he wishes Sylvain had never been born)
Personally, Three Hopes' lore retcons also cemented the fact that Miklan's home situation isn't as tragic as fans might've believed.
Before Three Hopes, many believed Miklan suffered as the unwanted child because of his lack of Crest, but the Warriors writers almost over-corrected. Making Miklan not only the child of Matthias Gautier's first love, but also "loved" by his step-mother, and sent to the premier Academy attended by the most influential children on the continent. However, being disinherited by a younger sibling was apparently, something Miklan refused to accept. A bar too far. Time to throw the child down the well, and leave him on a frozen mountainside.
Nevermind that Miklan lived with the luxuries of a wealthy noble family, with loving parents; his jealousy fueled attempts at murder- which his father didn't seemingly discipline him for, and Three Hopes establishes that Miklan disowned himself. All of that stacked together, means is was Sylvain who was the neglected child even while having the pressure of learning to be heir alongside his brother's hatred. We see first hand Lord Gautier trying to send Sylvain on a seeming suicide mission alone. Oh the irony!
BTW I do think the og Three Houses depicts ever off-screen Lord Gautier as a bad dad, and here are my receipts.
(1) FE7's Erik and Lord Darin are kidnapping attractive young women against their will, highlighted by Priscilla's introduction. (2) FE4's MacBeth of Anphony sends 'bandits' to pillage his own territory's villages, wanting to illicitly collect their money and valuables. (3) Sylvain's claim ignores the fact he is a man of status also both handsome and rich, things young women would've been attracted to regardless of the additional fictional priority advantage. (4) in the DLC Yuri has serious accusations, but in Three Hopes they deny it as fact, so I consider it a flip-flop wash. (5) FEH writing seems to be continuing 'sad backstory' vibes with Miklan
