in your opinion , what was the biggest moment of growth for edelgard?
the thing about edelgard is that she’s a pretty static character when it comes to growth. this isn’t a bad thing in terms of characterisation, though ! it’s actually pretty interesting, and this refusal to change is her fatal flaw. as the other characters grow and change, edelgard’s ideals, views, motivations and determination stay the same. naturally, she matures, and learns, and grows stronger, but she never really… drastically changes. this is because she’s so relentlessly determined to achieve her goals that she’s not willing to change, at all.
the route where she has the most change is black eagles, where she softens considerably due to the protagonist’s presence. i’m not sure ‘softens’ is the right word, but she’s more willing to accept criticism and take risks, but it’s hardly straying from her core… self.
edelgard’s complexity comes not from her growth or her character development, but from the horrific experiences and moral dilemmas that present themselves in her unique and awful situation. in truth, i don’t think we ever see her biggest moment of growth. it happens when she is 9-11 years old, and she manifests the crest of flames in the basement of enbarr castle, surrounded by the bodies of her siblings and civilians alike, knowing, for certain, that she is the only one of them who will be able to survive. it happens just after that, when she is taken out of there and dressed in silk and bandaged up, and told that she is now heir apparent to the throne of adrestia. it’s her mother, with haunted eyes, turning her back on her as her uncle lays his heavy, hot hand on her shoulder and smiles all dark. it’s the knowledge that she will likely not live until thirty if she is lucky, from all the hurt done to her. it is the knowledge that she has the power to change the world for the better at her fingertips, but that it will cause immense amounts of bloodshed, but she knows that she will be dead in just 20 years . she does not have time to play the long game. if she does not want her uncle to use her as a puppet like he has her father - if she wants to use this power she has been given - if she wants to make her siblings and all others sacrificed for her deaths count - she will have to spill blood.
she cries for weeks once she has realised this, inside her room as her body aches and burns from the crest in her flesh, thinking about what she must do. what no one else can do.
she kills her first assassin, sneaking in through the window to attack the new heir apparent, a week later, and the blood stops worrying her soon after.
and from that moment on, she resolves never to be weak again. never. to be weak, to falter, would be an insult for those who have died for her. she shall have regret, and she will punish herself and allow herself to be punished for all the sins she shall commit, but…
she has no other choice. she never did. and she never will.
