↪ ZODIAC HEADCANONS / @sanctivus / NO LONGER ACCEPTING .
⊹ — SCORPIO . ≻ what is your muse's most transformative experience
||. Byleth has had quite a few experiences that completely changed her life. Some are more... overt than others (see: her father's death, and her subsequent ascension into her true power). Some are more jarring (see my meta on how Edelgard's betrayal affected byleth too.), but of all of Byleth's most transformative experiences, becoming appointed as a professor of The Officer's Academy is the most important.
Meeting the three lords and saving their lives (even at the potential cost of her own), was a choice that completely redefined everything that Byleth ever thought she knew... and brought to light everything she did not know. It is the crux of Three House's gameplay, and Byleth's "inciting incident", if you will.
Were I to choose a specific moment within that year's time-frame, it would be saving Flayn's life in White Clouds, Chapter Six: Rumours of a Reaper.
In this chapter, Byleth (and the rest of the monastery) are tasked with helping to search for Flayn, who by Byleth's sixth month of being a professor at the Academy is someone Byleth would have grown close to. In this chapter alone, Byleth exercises her care for all people of the monastery, and her compassion even towards those who have previously treated her callously. (Looking at you, Seteth, my beloved.)
She demonstrates quick thinking, strengths in the way of leadership and teamwork, and is successfully able to discover Flayn's whereabouts and recover the missing girl with the help of her house. It's after their success, and ONLY after their success, that Byleth's true colors ring loud, clear, and true to everyone she had worked with... Dispelling all thoughts of a callous, uncaring nature, and doubts about her willingness and ability to help and protect all of those in need. Not just to Seteth and the Church staff... but also in the eyes and hearts of her own students!
It is also the first time that she is stated to truly smile.
