Jump to content

Did Byleth REALLY have to be a Professor?


Recommended Posts

Seriously, why couldn't they just be Jeralt's TA or something? 

It was brought up in the thread talking about which Byleth people prefer, but them being a Professor really doesn't seem to change anything (There's only a few situations in supports when it even comes up, and there's no real ability to 'be a teacher' in those scenarios). For pretty much every route, your students just say "Hey, we're going to treat you like one of us," and your response can't be anything other than "Oh, okay, sure." The only other professional colleagues you have are; Rhea, Seteth (Who completely distrusts you for most of Part 1), Manuela (Who's got both a drinking problem and self-destructive tendencies), Hanneman (Who keeps trying to collect bits of you for study purposes), Catherine (Who's jealous of you and Rhea), Shamir, and Alois. 

... Actually, yeah! We should have more opportunities to hang out with Shamir and Alois. They're both pretty great. 

You can give your students 'advice,' which in a lot of cases mostly amounts to playing to their characters rather than actually teaching them anything. 

I feel like the game wouldn't have been changed in any significant way if Jeralt was the professor - and you were either a student, or an assistant (So you could run lectures, but with the caveat that he's out on a mission or something. Or hung-over. Man likes his drink). The player could still have control over Goals and Instruct and stuff. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does it matter if you are a teacher or a teaching assistant? Rhea decided to make you a teacher and Jeralt the captain of the knights, and that's just how it went down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who cares? It's not something that will change the story drastically if you were originally a TA .

 

You're meant to be more experienced in battle than the students, growing up as a mercenary. You also are known as the Ashen Demon (though that is hardly brought up) due to your skill on the field. It's pretty much established from the beginning that you're a skilled combatant and were taught by the best knight in Seiros history. You're even acknowledged by Felix (who is pretty much the most skilled student in terms of actual combat skills).

Edited by Eltoshen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In case you didn't notice, the teaching aspect is an integral part of the progression system.

Just because it isn't talked about much in the story doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  It's like all the arguments for ignoring story!Xander and considering only supports!Xander when talking about the quality of Xander's character in FE Fates.  You simply can't do that, as story!Xander is still Xander.  Much like how the stuff that happens during gameplay actually is stuff happening in the story.

And besides, it doesn't really make all that much sense for Jeralt to become a teacher.  For one thing, he's better served as captain of the Knights of Seiros.  For another, when Jeralt's own kid comes into Gareg Mach Monastery not even knowing about the religion or major political powers of the continent, I think you see just how bad Jeralt is at actually teaching things beyond simply how to swing a weapon.

Also, do you think a mere teacher's assistant would have the kind of bonds with the classroom students that an actual teacher would?  It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility, but it's very unlikely.  Nor would some random knight or merc foster that much of a bond with the students, nor would they have that particular mentor-student bond.  Even if you don't see Byleth doing much instruction within supports, you still can't deny that they all view Byleth as the person who teaches them everything they know about combat.

 

If the question is a matter of "would the church reasonably choose Byleth as the new professor?"... well, for one thing, the choice was entirely Rhea, who absolutely has her own reasons for being biased towards Byleth - the fact that Alois recommended Byleth probably demonstrated further to her that she's making the "right" choice.  And for another, consider the other candidates.  Firstly, they can't just take one of the Knights of Seiros or monastery staff away from their duties - that's why you only ever see the likes of, say, Seteth or Shamir instructing during weekends; they can't instruct outside of those days.  Secondly there's Jeralt, who I've already explained why he can't be a captain (and again, it was Rhea's choice).  Thirdly, there's Jeritza, who is probably the shadiest guy walking around on monastery grounds - there's no way in hell they'd have him be their new instructor.  So really, Byleth is their last best option - a person tied to a man that can be trusted, and who has a substantial amount of combat experience, enough that they've earned their own title as the "Ashen Demon".

In the end, it really just comes down to "Rhea made the decisions she made", and she obviously has her own designs for Byleth.  If I were to harbor a guess, I'd say the thing that makes her biased towards Byleth is the very thing that makes her think that Byleth is the best option for guiding a class of nobles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most reasonable outcome would be for Byleth to just join as a student. If your parents get a new job in different city and you're still of school age, what do you expect to happen?

That said, the monastery is hideously understaffed to the point of unbelievability. Hell, it has a Cardinal's room but not a single Cardinal. Just ...what? Seteth is the only one who performs Cardinal-like duties, the poor guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I am glad that Byleth is not a student. We have countless stories with students. And maybe only a few stories with actual teacher. Great Teacher Onizuka, Hell Teacher Nube and Assassination Classroom come to mind, there are some more, but compared to those exchange student stories they are less. As for Games.. Persona has student and Trails of Cold steel has it. I am glad that Fire Emblem Three houses differs here...

Of course they could have done a better job on Byleths case as a teacher. But this should be done with improving the role as a teacher and not giving him a different role.  

Edited by Stroud
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Stroud said:

Personally I am glad that Byleth is not a student. We have countless stories with students. And maybe only a few stories with actual teacher. Great Teacher Onizuka, Hell Teacher Nube and Assassination Classroom come to mind, there are some more, but compared to those exchange student stories they are less. As for Games.. Persona has student and Trails of Cold steel has it. I am glad that Fire Emblem Three houses differs here...

Of course they could have done a better job on Byleths case as a teacher. But this should be done with improving is role as a teacher and not giving him a different role.  

Oh, yeah, I have no interest in actually playing as a student, just pointing out the more realistic outcome. That said, I'd probably be happier with Byleth as a student, but Byleth is an NPC and we play as Jeralt. Obviously the target audience of the game means something like this would never happen though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Humanoid said:

Oh, yeah, I have no interest in actually playing as a student, just pointing out the more realistic outcome. That said, I'd probably be happier with Byleth as a student, but Byleth is an NPC and we play as Jeralt. Obviously the target audience of the game means something like this would never happen though.

Oh, From this point it would be interesting if we could have played Geralt. They still could have keeped the relationships from Byleth and have made the Situation regarding Geralt better... maybe they could also have made it this way that we play Geralt in the first half and Byleth in the second half. 

Also now that it was scratched here, which is also an interesting point. I agree that they could have made Manuela and Hanemann better. So far I like both of them, I just think the relationships between them and their corresponding classes came short. Its like they have developed no kind of bond with the students compared to Byleth. Which may be for convenience for the first part. But somehow it was just not as I expected first. Also while I liked the supports with Manuela, Byleth I wished they would have showed more of her strong points why she is a teacher. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Hell, it has a Cardinal's room but not a single Cardinal.

Says you, those physic wielding fuckers made killing the white beasts take far longer than it should have.

 

At the end of the day it came down to

Rhea: mommy is best mommy, mommy will be best teacher

and so we went to war Byleth becomes a teacher.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's because the significant plot reason, it's reflected by Rhea's argument with Seteth

Seteth has the reasonable objection, he didn't know you or Jeralt, especially that Jeralt was chief suspected to set fire in the church 20 years ago and you didn't even know your age or anything about Jeralt.

But Rhea knows exactly who you are, she just need you to prove it through trials. She said "Flow of Time brought you here" the moment Byleth walked in.

(Hence you unlocked her support chain once you got Sword of Creator)

Edited by Timlugia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

The most reasonable outcome would be for Byleth to just join as a student. If your parents get a new job in different city and you're still of school age, what do you expect to happen? 

That said, the monastery is hideously understaffed to the point of unbelievability. Hell, it has a Cardinal's room but not a single Cardinal. Just ...what? Seteth is the only one who performs Cardinal-like duties, the poor guy. 

Oh yes. The Catholic bishops are in the Vatican there whole life. Of course. Cardinals don't life at the church. They have their own life and places. Mostly they are bishop in other cities which keeps them away from the Vatican until there is a meeting. It will be the exact same here. There is no reasons for the Cardinals to life in Garreg Mach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand the game needs you to be a teacher, but seriously if we speak rationally, byleth would have been in the knights under jeralt, not a teacher.  It's not like byleth was leading the mercs, he was under jeralt.  Now the argument for student while justified, I don't think holds up as well as a knight does.  I mean until recruited, Cyril isn't even a student, so why should some nobody Merc be a student in the "prestigious" academy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/9/2019 at 6:20 PM, Nihilem said:

Of course he has to be. The whole teaching system wouldnt make any sense without it.

This. The entire game was made from the ground up with the player taking the role of a teacher. If Byleth doesn't become a teacher, he can't be the player character and must be replaced by someone else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/9/2019 at 3:41 PM, Wolfen09 said:

I understand the game needs you to be a teacher, but seriously if we speak rationally, byleth would have been in the knights under jeralt, not a teacher.  It's not like byleth was leading the mercs, he was under jeralt.  Now the argument for student while justified, I don't think holds up as well as a knight does.  I mean until recruited, Cyril isn't even a student, so why should some nobody Merc be a student in the "prestigious" academy.

Because Rhea is an authoritarian and makes the final decisions. That's a main part of the story.

Edited by Eltoshen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, baticeer said:

Yes because if they weren't then everyone wouldn't call you "Professor", which is how the game gets around being fully voiced but also letting you change your character's name. 😛

I'd have been fine if they just forced you to be named Byleth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NEED? No... Nobody need to be a professor but they are for a lot of different reasons.... Opportunity, love or talent for teaching or researching, available job, etc ...

--

In Byleth's case she/he has relations with  Rhea, Jeralt and Alois that were influential patrons. Those connections provided the job of teaching a subject in which Byleth was a prodigy. It was the first time as a professor but there was room for improving like every first job. 

 

It's a fantasy medieval time, in historic times people didn't need PHD to teach and even today most careers are build through connections. 

Edited by Mylady
Link to comment
Share on other sites

...I'm really missing what the issue is? Yes, Byleth has to be the professor. Jeralt is a knight, he doesn't have the time or the interest in dealing with the bunch of brats, as he calls them.

Honestly, if Byleth was just a student, it would make the game much worse because there'd be no logical reason for the students to place that much trust in a normal student enough to TURN THEIR BLADES ON THEIR HOMELANDS. It makes sense for a professor to have that kind of influence. As well as to be making the tactical decisions they do in SS and VW. Edelgard has so much respect for Byleth with the whole "my teacher" thing, like I really don't see how you can say that nothing of significance would have been changed if Byleth wasn't the professor. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TBH I find it a bit odd how Byleth has the ability to teach despite being only a mercenary who's ignorant about a lot of things and has no experience being a teacher. I dislike this kind of handwaving. I do agree that maybe he could've started out as a teacher's assistant or something and following Manuela's hospitalization or something he's thrust into the professor role. Of course this would require rewrites (I personally think the timeskip is the best and worst aspect of the story that would need the the length of the time skip significantly reduced, but that's a story for an other day)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, redlight said:

TBH I find it a bit odd how Byleth has the ability to teach despite being only a mercenary who's ignorant about a lot of things and has no experience being a teacher. I dislike this kind of handwaving. I do agree that maybe he could've started out as a teacher's assistant or something and following Manuela's hospitalization or something he's thrust into the professor role. Of course this would require rewrites (I personally think the timeskip is the best and worst aspect of the story that would need the the length of the time skip significantly reduced, but that's a story for an other day) 

Because it's a military academy and not a school. And as mercenary he has a lot of experience in military stuff. He he was a mercenary becoming teacher in a high school I would agree with you, but he is teacher in a military academy.

Edited by Hauke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Hauke said:

Because it's a military academy and not a school. And as mercenary he has a lot of experience in military stuff. He he was a mercenary becoming teacher in a high school I would agree with you, but he is teacher in a military academy.

Manuela is a nurse and Hanneman a scholar. The teachers in this game seem like homeroom teachers I guess, but it could've done a better job at that. Also, are all the teachers supposed to be knowledgeable in each skill field?

Byleth has martial prowess, but that's on par with Jeritza being a fencing instructor. It's not made too apparent before becoming a professor that he's some kind of tactician. If anything, Jeralt was the one giving orders during the prologue.

Edited by redlight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...