What is Your Interpretation of Azure Gleam's Ending?

[MadBoar]

Major spoilers for Azure Gleam and Azure Moon, and possibly Crimson Flower and Scarlet Blaze. I have not played Claud's route in three hopes. 

What made Azure Gleam's (and Azure Moon) ending so interesting is that it can be interpreted differently by different players. Here are two different of my interpretations.

1. When Edelgard calls out to Dee, she reached out for help because she went through extreme amount of trauma. Reaching out for help is completely out of character for her, so Dimitri sees the Edelgard he knew as dead. So, he ignores her. In azure moon, Byleth nudges him forward when he glances back at her body. In both routes, Dimitri lives for the living and not the dead at the end of the game. In this interpretation, Dee ghosts that haunt him disappear after getting revenge against Thales. 

2. The boar is fighting for the dead, as he only cares about revenge. We know this based off of his speech before the final battle. After killing Thales, he got his revenge, and so no longer has interest in Edelgard and the war. We know that the Agarthans are fighting for revenge for events that took place like 1000 years ago. The boar becomes just like them. In a way, the Agarthans win the war, as it is a never ending cycle of vengence. And Dimitri no longer has any hopes and dreams. 

What is your interpretation?

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by MadBoar

[Fabulously Olivier]

My interpretation is simple. Dimitri's personal motivations are fulfilled. The empire is broken and poses little threat at this point. Edelgard has suffered enough, and he *allegedly* agrees with her ideals (even though he does everything in his power to oppose them).

[Dark Holy Elf]

In Azure Moon, Dimitri reaches his hand out to Edelgard, which symbolizesthat he is no longer consumed by grudges or revenge; this is a woman he swore to kill, and he now clearly has no interest in doing so. Azure Moon is a story about Dimitri overcoming his personal demons and the revenge that consumed him, about him learning to live for the present and not the dead, and this moment was an important symbolic moment for him. (Edelgard, of course, was not interested in his mercy/pity or living once she can no longer fulfill her goals, as is consistent with her on VW/SS, but that's not really the point here.)

The fact that Dimitri does not extend his hand to Edelgard in Azure Gleam, to me, shows that he hasn't gone through that development. If anything he has more reason to forgive her in AG - after all, Edelgard hasn't been his enemy since Chapter 9 - but the Dimitri we see in AG is still obsessed with revenge (talking about it even in the final chapter), still talking about being consumed by the expectations of the dead. He recognizes that Edelgard is not a target for his revenge, so it makes sense that he doesn't try to kill her, but it doesn't leave me feeling very good about him that he just walks away from her when she's in distress. I can't see end-of-Azure-Moon Dimitri doing that.

[MadBoar]

On 9/3/2022 at 8:45 PM, Dark Holy Elf said:

The fact that Dimitri does not extend his hand to Edelgard in Azure Gleam, to me, shows that he hasn't gone through that development. If anything he has more reason to forgive her in AG - after all, Edelgard hasn't been his enemy since Chapter 9 - but the Dimitri we see in AG is still obsessed with revenge (talking about it even in the final chapter), still talking about being consumed by the expectations of the dead. He recognizes that Edelgard is not a target for his revenge, so it makes sense that he doesn't try to kill her, but it doesn't leave me feeling very good about him that he just walks away from her when she's in distress. I can't see end-of-Azure-Moon Dimitri doing that.

When Edelgard called out "Dee," Dimitri emotionally gasped. This leads me to my first interpretation, as he cares about Edelgard, but the Edelgard he knew no longer exists. However, his speech about revenge leads me to my second interpretation. What's your opinion on Dimitri's gasp? I feel like his gasp is a very important piece of this puzzle. 

By the way, do you have any ideas of why Dimitri regressed into the boar during part 2? When the citizens were being held hostage in part 1, Dimitri refused to fight back against Cornelia to protect the living. 

[Archeleon]

Just finished AG for the first time a bit ago. I was honestly surprised by Dimitri's disposition towards Edelgard. I expected him to kill her. I didn't expect him to offer a hand, but he just leaves her be. Dimitri at the end of AG has fulfilled his all-consuming objective. He understands at that point that Edelgard has had no meaningful influence in anything that has happened over the last 6 months nor in the ToD and so his hate for her has just evaporated, he no longer has any interest. Edelgard calling out to him might have saved her life if only because he is too shook and exhausted to go through killing someone who is defenseless.