#yuri ask

[askhubertvonvestra]

Hey there Hubert. Still brooding as always, I see…

We each take to the shadows in our own natures, Yuri. What you deem brooding is simply my method. But I’m confident you knew as much already.

I see you are making your typical rounds. If you require support from my network, you need only ask.

[lady-byleth]

Also I know a lot of people consider Edie to be the game’s de facto “anti-hero” (which is a big ol’ can of worms) but I personally* feel like Yuri is a much better example of that. Yeah, he’s clearly willing to do bad stuff (most of which involves taking advantage of the nobility, because fuck ‘em ) in order to protect the people of Abyss, but he at least knows where and when to draw the line.

I actually was just thinking about that. Yuri does what Edie thinks she's doing.

He protects the little people by doing things that other people would consider morally questionable, but it does actually benefit more people in the end than it hurts.

Edie believes she can save people by starting a continent wide conflict but doesn't really consider that the people she's trying to protect are the ones who end up on the front lines.

It's the low ranks that die first, the ranks made up of the less fortunate people who try to make a little money working for the military at the risk of their own lives, and it's exactly those people she says she wants to protect

And I don't even think she realizes this, since she's surrounded by the nobility and trusted people that follows her orders so she probably hasn't thought about where all those troops that her generals lead came from. Which again speaks of how damn sheltered she is, despite what she's been through.

Yuri has the right of it, he risks himself to protect people, but he never risks them

In a way, even Dimitri is closer to the truth than she is. He doesn't once pretend like he isn't fully aware that he's killing people who don't really have a choice but to fight. He even calls Randolph out on this when Randolph tries to beg for mercy cuz he's got a family.

Yuri is the one who has experienced both sides of this enough times to know what the hell he's doing, Dimitri experiences it first hand during the time skip, but Edie thinks she's experienced all there is to see when she hasn't.

[lady-byleth]

Yuri’s idea of “helping the little people” works because he IS the little people. Everything he does is done out of necessity, because Abyssians are very much a marginalized group. Doing bad stuff, in Yuri’s case, is a means of survival because someone like him has little other choice. Edie, however, does Bad Tings™️ in order to get power and enforce her messiah complex on all of Fódlan, DESPITE having other options available to her.

I don't know if I would word it quite like that but yeah, Edie thinks she's the only one who can change things and that her way is the only way. It's hard to tell how much of that is her being naive and sheltered, the Agarthans manipulating her and how much is her genuine belief that there are no good people

That's probably also why Dimitri gets such a warm welcome in Fhirdiad despite the things he's done. Because he was basically downgraded to living on the streets for a while so he actually knows what's what and they know he knows this.

And Claude has had to fight for a place at the dinner table his whole life too, despite being born a goddamn prince. I mean, he's a master poison brewer at age 17, he knows how shitty life can be.

As for Yuri, he has been bouncing back and forth from little to big for almost two decades, and he's used that knowledge and influence to help those who actually need it. He can flawlessly inset himself into any company he wishes.

Edie doesn't have that, she doesn't really know the difference between herself and the little people. She probably thinks being on the opposite end of the "food chain" is what happened to her and her siblings so she believes she knows better than she does

And because she can't imagine that Dimitri or Claude would understand it better than she does, which they do cuz they've both had their share of bad both before and during the game, she doesn't think they'd be able to enact the changes that are needed.

She lacks the insight needed to actually do what's right, but she doesn't know it. The other house leaders, and especially Yuri, do but unfortunately they're not the ones who decide where the story goes.

[lady-byleth]

Surprised how much I want a Yuri/Dimitri support. I mean, Yuri/any lord supports would be great, but I think they’d have an especially good dynamic. They were born on the highest and lowest rung of Faerghus society and have both suffered in very different ways. At the beginning Dimitri has trouble with moral grey areas and would likely feel uncomfortable working with a mob boss, while Yuri would see Dima as another worthless rich kid who ruins things. But they do have quite a bit in common.(1/2)

Ooooh that's good, I hadn't thought about that yet but you're absolutely right. They have things in common and differences that could balance them nicely, what a wasted opportunity :(

[lady-byleth]

Any headcannons on what you think the three (four, hi Yuri) Lord's would behave and act around Sitri is she was somehow alive, but instead of remaining at the church she and Jeralt did flee like in game and came back with Byleth as a professor, and Jeralt as the captain once more... Maybe Sitri was designated to be one the three houses/students den/house mother? I need some Sitri in my life, she did not deserve to just be the dead mom of three houses 😭

Oooooh that's a good one! Let's see...

Dimitri and Edie would be absolutely perfect manners at all times. In part because that's just how they were raised, for Edie in part so she doesn't draw attention, and because they both have huge crushes and if that's what Byleth looks like when she's older then WOAH MAMA! It's basically half "I'm royalty and act like it" and half "I'm a disaster with feelings". Also Sitri is unfailingly kind to them and they want to return that. She's so full of love, it makes them soft

Yuri is charming beyond belief, batting eyelashes and making compliments left and right. Sitri is the wife of a living legends, she's got to know a lot of people and Yuri is always up for new connections. Also, she's a dear and makes him feel protective, not to mention that it's hilarious to watch Dima and Edie fall all over each other to please her when you really just have to be nice. And Yuri is very good at playing nice when he has to. And even better when he wants to (Sitri makes him want to).

Claude is probably torn between ADORING Sitri and being absolutely TERRIFIED by her. Byleth can already read him better than anyone and if she got that from her mother then Sitri can probably tell him things about himself he didn't know. But she's such a sweetheart he can't help but sit with her for tea and ask for all the juicy details about Byleth as a child and Jeralt's escapades.

Sitri is sweet and attentive and makes everyone feel like they matter, no matter how much they may hate themselves, and they feel at ease around her. She's not really the Academy mom but...she's a lot like Byleth, only softer and less eagle eyed, and the students adore Byleth so of course they adore Sitri too.

[lady-byleth]

Edelgard: (Sees Claude looking extremely uncomfortable with a conversation he's having, turns to Dimitri) Begin Escape Plan A. Dimitri:(Nods silently, walks over and just picks up Claude in one arm.) I apologize, but I'm afraid Princess Edelgard just called an emergency House Head meeting. Excuse us. (Turns to Yuri, who was about to intervene himself when Dimitri came over.) You too. We need a class roster of the Ashen Wolves. Professor Byleth will be providing Tea.

Yuri:......Direct action, I like it

[lady-byleth]

One of Yuri’s lost items is his fuckin’ eyeshadow brush and that cracks me up more than it should.

Yeah, I found that too and I legitimately face-palmed. Like...you use that thing every day, how is it UP TOP and not IN YOUR DORM

[lady-byleth]

I find Yuri has quite a few fun parallels with all the lords *grumbles about missed support opportunities* but another one with Edie is that they both had crests implanted, but while it was a selfish act at Edie’s expense and it ruined her life, it was a successful attempt to save Yuri’s and it’s kind of implied the elder gave his life to do so. Not sure exactly what it means, but I thought it was interesting.

I think it's in part to show how different circumstances can make a person turn out differently. Yuri is a very unqiue person, all the house leaders are, and he has experienced things that resemble what they've been through but because they played out differently, he's turned into a vastly different person

Edie has to suffer for that Crest, lost people to it who she loved and who weren't ready to go, but for Yuri it was an act of love and so the impact is very different

It's not too difficult to see how the Lords all were victims of circumstance, and how those circumstances affected their decisions later on

Yuri kinda shows how their choices could have differed if things had been tweaked just a touch