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What are your thoughts on Edelgard? *SPOILERS*


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Edelgard is definitely a controversial character, and while a lot of players downright HATE her, I’ve seen some who believe she is one of the best written lords/antagonists in the series.

It’s definitely hard to stomach her methods (she’s rather snakey and calculated), but her reasons for doing so are what interest me. The Church of Seiros certainly isn’t sunshine and rainbows and hides a dark past itself. I see her as a misguided youth who eagerly awaits the day she can use her power to rid the world of a broken system that has caused harm to herself and others. Ironically, these ambitions cause Fodlan even greater harm in the long run. 

What were your feelings towards Edie?

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I haven't played the game but just reading about her made her my second favourite character in the series. Her worldview and philosophy is more deep compared to all the FE lords or villains IMO. 

I also love her blunt personality, charisma, ruthlessness and design. 

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I haven't played the game yet but from what I've seen and read she seems a lot like Daenerys Targaryen.  Her time skip outfit reminds me of Albedo from Overlord.  I'm on the fence whether I like her or not due to these similarities. 

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I don’t hate her, but I still don’t think what she did was right, especially after playing Golden Deer. I’m expecting to hate her once I’ve played Blue Lions, because playing her route right now still isn’t swaying me to thinking her plan was the best. In fact I’m getting worried I’ve missed something, her route still isn’t swaying me. 

She’s an excellently written character. Very nuanced and the fact that she causes so much controversy is also a good sign of a well made character people can identify with or hate. 

That said, ironically, I’m a bit disturbed by those who outright completely hate her or love her and refuse to change their mind or get upset at other people’s opinions. She is a villain in most routes, but some people don’t see that mainly because they s support her. On the other hand, some people write her off completely and aren’t even willing to see her point of view. 

Edit: wow my keyboard is having a bad day 

Edited by Brimney
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I had my doubts about Edelgard as a character since I was honestly expecting Fates quality writing going into Three Houses, but I'm glad I was wrong. My worry was that since she was being built up as the biggest of the 3 lords that she would always be painted as the hero no matter what happened and would never grow or change, much like Corrin. However, they pretty much went in the opposite direction by making her the villain which was a welcome surprise in my book. I've only seen up to the first chapter post time skip, but I'm really hoping the game continues to subvert my expectations in positive ways.

Edited by TheGoodHoms
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I'm still musing it over but she's probably one of my favorite lords, hell she might become my favorite (I still need to finish GD). She has a fantastic backstory, she's a really amazing unit and a really endearing personality. I just can't help how determined she is to see her ideals through no matter who stands in her way. 

She's just so refreshing as a FE lord, there's no FE lord quite like her.

 

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Overall she's a well written character. I don't like her one bit though. I don't like neither her personality nor her methods. She thinks she's better than Rhea/Church, but she's actually the same, if not downright worse.

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She trying solve wrong problems using wrong methods and lot of her motivation stem from being salty over Alliance and Kingdom getting independent. She is not complete monster but at least half of everything was done out of revenge and selfish reasons.

That's pretty cool.

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So i've only played the Crimson Flower route and while i have heard about Edelgard being more villainous in other routes, i think there's a reason for that, which i'll get into later. First of all though, i'm definitely going to echo the fact that she's a very well written character. I haven't seen her in the villain role yet but when she's the protagonist, he's one of the series best Lords, if not the best. Her motivations make sense and she has this sort of villain protagonist vibe where she believes she's doing the right thing and shows you why she thinks she's doing the right thing but it may not actually be the right thing. It's all a matter of perspective, which, if Crimson Flower is any precedent, is what this game's about. No one's truly right or wrong, no one's truly good or evil (no, Those Who Slither in the Dark don't count).

On the subject of Edelgard being more villainous in other routes, i think that has to do with Byleth not being there. Again, i haven't played the other routes but i'm gonna make a comparison to Walhart here. I don't remember who said it in Awakening but it's said that Walhart was the kind of person Alm could've become if he didn't have a compassionate person at his side (Celica). In all routes but Crimson Flower, Edelgard is the Walhart. But in Crimson Flower, Edelgard has her Celica in the form of Byleth, and as such, she is Alm. Now of course, Edelgard and Alm, as well as Byleth and Celica have distinct personalities but you get the point here.

34 minutes ago, Brimney said:

I’m a bit disturbed by those who outright completely hate her or love her and refuse to change her mind or get upset at other people’s opinions. She is a villain in most routes, but some people don’t see that mainly because they s support her. On the other hand, some people write her off completely and aren’t even willing to see her point of view. 

I've been seeing a lot of this on Twitter, particularly from people who started with the Blue Lions. People who utterly despise Edelgard because of her actions in other routes and refuse to see her route and that kind of upsets me because the point of the game is to see everyone's perspective.

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I think this is an excellent social experiment in how different narratives can totally warp people’s views.

Basically, people who only play her route on Black Eagles only seem to view her as good, ignoring some outright atrocities she commits, while people who play blue lions see her as pure evil and don’t see any reasons for her actions.

What disturbs me more, personally, is the extent to which people are willing to overlook her actions.

I mean, she’s a great character, but at the end of the day... guys, she IS evil.

Edited by dragonlordsd
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Good villain, garbage lord. Arvis expy does her job nonetheless (I have issues with him as well, maybe one day a analysis of him). I find some of the stuff she says incredibly stupid and naive, but that's highlighted by following her route. People defend her when she's called crazy, but she isn't sane either.

I think what really blemishes her for me is the forced writing and showcase of her character's issues in BE loyalist route. If they'd have cut that out I'd have had a more favorable impression of her. It also doesn't help what is achieved in other endings for far less bloodshed. Church reforms as well, but TWDITD was the real culprit for most bad stuff that happened. I wonder if she approached her problem the wrong way😝

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The impression I get is that, you either have Edelgard stans wearing their "Edelgard did nothing wrong t-shirts" and will fall all over themselves to defend every action of hers. I've also seen many folks call Rhea a lunatic/evil to argue that Edelgard isn't a bad person etc etc. Then on the flipside, you have folks who hate her guts  and act like she's this 100% evil dictator, with no redeeming qualities.

 I think it goes without saying, but Edelgard's gender is a big factor when it comes to the folks who stan her. I have seen a couple folks point out that: unless you don't S support her, you may not like her as a character which of course makes sense, since S supporting her would make it easier to take her side 100%. 

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Only know what I read from spoilers but I don't mind what I've seen at all. Hell, even if her motivations were pure conquest, I still would be supportive if I was on her route. FE is too often bound by modern morality and ignores the reality of the era it purports to depict. In a dog-eat-dog world, survival depends on being the biggest dog.

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Great character. Perfect gray-and-gray character for a story about gray-and-gray morality.
I was expecting goody-two-shoes character, but I wasn't expecting TS to have the balls to create a character to have that much balls.

... Many people go crazy about her, and not the 'good' kind of crazy, more like the cringe kind.
Pretty funny at first, pretty annoying after.

4 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Only know what I read from spoilers but I don't mind what I've seen at all. Hell, even if her motivations were pure conquest, I still would be supportive if I was on her route. FE is too often bound by modern morality and ignores the reality of the era it purports to depict. In a dog-eat-dog world, survival depends on being the biggest dog.

Oof. You just destroyed Fire Emblem, you have no idea. 😛 
The same could be said for many franchises who pretend that everything is alright and stuff tough.

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I really like Edelgard as a character. I was really impressed by her. At first, I thought she would be the boring, righteous lord based on how much IS promoted her. However, after playing the game, I actually find her one of my favorite characters, if not the most favorite.

Based completely on my preference, I dislike "good" characters. I've always preferred morally-gray characters, villains, and anti-heroes. Edelgard nails that aspect.

She might be viewed as a complete villain in almost every route, except for hers, where she seems more of an anti-villain. I can justify some of her actions, but some of them are totally unjustifiable. She is nowhere a good guy, but definitely not plainly evil. She has good intentions, but her methods are very questionable, or atrocious, even. She shows emotions, regrets, and sadness at different times in the story, but she never gives up on her ambitions in any route. That's how much of a complex character she is. I actually appreciate IS for having the balls to make a lord like her.

In the end, Edelgard honestly made me like the Black Eagles route a lot, and it's my favorite so far. I still have to finish Golden Deer route, but I doubt that will change my mind.

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She’s an interesting character.

I mentioned this in another thread, but her biggest flaw is not explaining her actions. In the the prologue, she tries to have Dimitri and Claude killed without trying to make an alliance with the them and Dimitri wouldn’t be as obsessed with her if she explained her actions. 

It seems to me that Edelgard is partially motivated by her own arrogance, as in “only I can change the world” or “only I am right”. And she expects everyone to instantly agree with her. It ironically makes her very similar to Rhea/Seiros.

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Without trying to sound like one of THOSE guys. Edelgard is a rather complex character as several people above have said.

She's villainous, emotionally cold, and bullheaded about her goal are the aspects one could describe her... if you plays the other routes.

According to my mild research, outside of her route, only two other routes show her as a somewhat sympathetic villain at her end where the last other route outright shows her as absolute evil.

Regarding Edelgard herself.

Spoiler

In her route, she learns to trust you, confide in you, shows you the proof of her past, in hope that you understands her. She get embarrassed, nervous, anxious while walking her bloodstained path with you because she learned to not lock away her feelings, and you were the one who taught her that, despite the hilarious irony on the fact you don't have any emotions to really show. She spoke to you about her future plan, implying that she was intending to really change the world, and you understood that, either by agreeing or disagreeing (choices are fun). Her confiding in you reveals that she has the same crest as you do going as far as revealing it, showing innumerable trust she has for you, and this wasn't even during the latter part of pre-skip, this was very early on before the turning point I believe it was right before CH7.

If you had sided with her on chapter 11, she shows absolute shock, disbelief and anxiety and to a degree relieve. She knew you knows her reasons, and thought you would be opposed to her regardless of your stance because going with her meant becoming a sinner in the history. After battling the archbishop the chapter before timeskip begins, she realizes you disappeared during the final blast from Rhea and mourns your status of MIA. Once you came back after five years, she shows uncontainable joy and even hugs you crying.

Throughout the route she's shown to be more involved with you instead of being out doing shady things as she had 6 years prior.

And after she had thought you dead once more because of path leading to Rhea's end, she shows regret, believing that she may had chose the wrong path because she truly loved you as a professor (and romance interests inhibited within her.)

As far as I'm concerned, she's a well-meaning person who simply chose a path that she had no choice in taking. Her path was forcibly laid out in front of her by her past and the scheming conspiracy hidden beneath it. If Sothis was capable of rewinding even further back before the game's start, I believe an alternate route would be possible that leads to her happiness proper without the bloodstained path being present, but alas, Sothis isn't that almighty. However I am glad that Edelgard is the character they chose for this role.

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I love Edelgard. She's ambitious, driven, powerful, and carries some serious emotional baggage. A huge step up from such daft damsels as Celica and Eirika.

 

I also completely agree with her goals. I do not see her as a villain at all. The Church should fall. It's corrupt, tyrannical, and meets any opposition with violence and damnation.

 

Frankly, Edelgard's only fault is using TWSITD. And that's a fault of the story as a whole. TWSITD feel like an arbitrary extra plot element that harms the overall story (like Anankos in Fates) and only exists because church path requires something to fight.

Edited by Etheus
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Putting aside her intentions, her choice of path was dumb. As cold she get it was decided based on emotions alone without thinking beyond destruction ahead of her.

 

Kill dragons

Destroy crests

???

Profit.

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9 minutes ago, Tenzen12 said:

Putting aside her intentions, her choice of path was dumb. As cold she get it was decided based on emotions alone without thinking beyond destruction ahead of her.

 

Kill dragons

Destroy crests

???

Profit.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

Have you seen the BE ending? She unified Fodlan, defeated TWSID and destroys the entrenched system of nobility. 

She also steps down as emperor and appoints a successor so it does seem like she thought these things through. Or are you saying it's bad that some of her choices were based on her emotions? 

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I think she is interesting, however having played her route second with siding with the Empire I find her glaring hypocrisies and holier than thou attitude towards her enemies, to be extremely extremely annoying. I wish Byleth would set her straight because her ego is wicked inflated. Also the whole hypocrisy of not taking responsibility for those she works with. Like nah, you choose to enable them to do their wicked deeds you're no better than Rhea, well, except that Rhea hopefully learns and changes from being an ego maniac slaughtering all her enemies where as Edelgard just has this behavior enabled. Overall I like her, I guess I'm more frustrated with how the cast treats her rather than I am with her, herself.

Edited by EntireInternet
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