Dimitri Alexandre Bladdyd: A Fire Emblem Character Analysis

A character analysis focused on my favorite character from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Dimitri. This is my first time making something like this so let me know what you thought of the video and if you'd like more videos like this one on Three Houses or maybe other games.

[@blueshadeseraphim6926]

In my opinion, Dimitri is the most beautifully written character in Three Houses. Perfect? No. But in a game filled to the brim with some brilliantly written characters, Dimitri manages to stand tall as the most interesting. Of course, I must emphasize I am biased because I’m a Blue Lion myself. That said, I have played every route, and my standings remain unchallenged on that front. And I imagine that’s because Azure Moon really gives him the best treatment in terms of fleshing out his character. In Verdant Wind the story centers more on Claude’s dreams than the man himself. In Crimson Flower, it’s more about seeing Edelgard’s future to fruition rather than who she is as a person. And the less said about Silver Snow, the better. But Dimitri’s route gave him everything he needed to spotlight his characterization. Whether you agree with him or not, you at least perfectly understand what he stands for and why. I do not regret my decision to choose the Blue Lions first. And to those who prefer a different route, I hope you feel equally content with your allegiance.

[@ordinaryunits4341]

I agree, I love tons of the characters in three houses, but Dimitri really stood out to me in particular and is one of my favorite fictional characters. I'm glad that so many people can find other characters that they enjoy a ton too, which is what I think makes this game great. Thanks for the comment!

[@shizachan8421]

I don't know, I feel like there isn't really much of a consistent character do Dimitri. I never felt like he developed much, compared to Claude and Edelgard in their own routes which were less flashy in their moments but had consistent characterization. Instead, it felt like instead he just jumped in character depending on what the plot needed at the moment and what would convey an emotional character moment. there is also the problem that I kinda feel like there are just uncomfortable implications in his character, him painting his privelege as victimhood during his parley scene with Edelgard, in which he shames her for being self-reliant, when it is the result of her having nobody to rely on while Dimitri is enabled by the fathers of his best friends on every step of the way. I wanted to see him grow into the savior king everyone promises, but in the end I kinda feel like he came off as nothing but self-obsessed and most of his speeches basically riddled with pathos and defeatism. Like, he is against forcing ones values on others, yet tries to force his values on Edelgard. He fully remembers his past with Edelgard and that he was the person who told her to cut her way into the future she wants, yet never engages with the implications of him punishing her for doing exactly what he told her to do and there is never a sense of him trying to understand others outside of how they emotionally relate to him and make him feel. Like, in VW there is this sense of Claude respecting Edelgard and after her death fighting to finish what she started. In AM on the other hand, Dimitri never attempts to understand Edelgard and even when he is fixed, he does not seem to care about Edelgard but instead of focussing on her as the scapegoat for all of his personal problems to a projection for his own personal nostalgia. It generally never feels like Dimitri treats others as humans but instead as objects to project his own needs into. I feel like Dimitri is predominantly popular because he is a bishonen framed as your conventional FE Lord but with manpain and edge, while remaining rather flat under closer inspection. I think the biggest issue in that regard is that AM is the worst written route with the biggest production value, which probably would have served the Golden Deer with their more complex cast of characters and their intended identity as this politically scheming lose alliance of noble houses better, as AM would have just as well worked as a recolored Silver Snow route, which VW ended up being. It after all is solely about rushing Dimitri from one emotionally manipulative scene into another.

[@blueshadeseraphim6926]

@@shizachan8421 Thank you for providing your input. It brought up some interesting points I hadn’t thought of before. However, I still feel confident in my perception of these characters. And hopefully you might find my perspective on the matter to be insightful in some way. Even if only a little. I do believe that he strove to understand Edelgard. After all, that’s precisely why he sought to meet with her before the final battle. Sadly they aren’t really able to get very far in terms of diplomacy because Edelgard is very cryptic regarding her reasons for starting the war. And that’s understandable considering Edelgard tends to avoid reflecting on the past as much as possible. It’s part of her grieving style. Though her reasons for starting the war are sincere, on some level her revolution also serves as a means to occupy her mind so she doesn’t have to confront the unresolved emotional turmoil the loss of her family instilled in her. So as a result of her being unable to open up about her full feelings on things, naturally Dimitri is left grasping at straws as to what the best way to approach the issue is. All he was really able to gather from her was “I will change the world because the world needs to be changed.” And without context, that assertion sounds like circular reasoning. Even when he’s defeated her in her Hegemon form, he still wishes to show her mercy. However, she chooses not to accept it. As for what you said about Dimitri shaming her for being self-reliant, that wasn’t what he meant. He was instead saying that it’s not Edelgard’s right to force people to undergo struggle and turmoil simply because she herself has overcame far worse. Edelgard was able to hold true to her will to press on despite the excruciating torture and loss she faced because she didn’t have a choice. To give up before she could leave her impact on the world would effectively make all the suffering she faced pointless. And so she steeled herself to move forward no matter what to make certain it wouldn’t all be in vain. But not everyone has been through the same experiences she has. And therefore, not everyone possesses that same strength and fortitude to weather whatever misfortune may befall them. To assume otherwise is basically projecting her own endurance onto the entirety of Fódlan. We see with people like Marianne pre-timeskip how they’re barely hanging on due to the circumstances they already find themselves in. And their faith is the only thing that gives them any hope to soldier on. No one is obligated to extend a hand of compassion to these individuals, so the last thing they’d need is for even more pressure or stress to be exerted onto them. For those who teeter on the brink of despair, all it takes is for a certain threshold of disaster to be reached for them to lose their balance entirely. And as one final thing I’d like to weigh in on, Dimitri giving her the dagger and saying the words he did to her was simply an innocent gesture for her to hold onto hope, in the face of any bleak circumstances she may find herself in. He was not saying to start a war, and throw Fódlan into chaos and destruction for the sake of her ideals. That’s one of the messages of AM: sometimes you can help people to the best of your abilities, give them all the resources they need to live a just and fulfilling life, and they’ll still go down the wrong path all the same. We’re shown this in Dimitri’s A support with Byleth where he explains the orphans he taught swordsmanship went on to become bandits, and cause harm for a great many people. Despite his best intentions, they took the wrong lessons from his charity. It goes to show that the temptation to place one’s needs and wants above everyone else’s is very easy to succumb to. And just as Dimitri is able to build people up with his kindness, he must be willing to tear them down when they’ve crossed the point of no return. So the point of him continuing to fight Edelgard isn’t him trying to force his own ideals on her. It’s to stop her from doing the same to all of Fódlan. Edelgard would never abandon her ambitions, given how much she already sacrificed to get where she is now. And so she never would’ve ceased her conquest until all of Fódlan belonged to Adrestia. And the real tragedy is it didn’t have to be that way. We see in White Clouds how she has a great many people who would love nothing more than to be there for her, and support her as her friend. But due to Edelgard knowing she’s gonna have to be willing to betray all of them, she’s already closed herself off emotionally from her peers. Only through Byleth being her professor can she come to let people in, and really come to connect with her. We even see this desire to bond with her classmates in her song, as well as her reluctance to take that first step to do so. Though her goal is noble on paper, and her intentions are genuine, this tunnel-vision of hers proves to be her hamartia in the non-CF routes.

[@shizachan8421]

@@blueshadeseraphim6926 The issue is that the entire first part of your reply relies on the assumption that Edelgard does not has a precise idea of what she is trying to accomplish, is very willing to share this idea with others and has as we know send out a political manifesto to the noble houses of Fodlan. Dimitri would just need to read it. I would also argue that her ideas of ending the political control the church occupies in Fodlan and creating a meritocracy in which the competent rise up into positions of power instead of people like Dimitri, despite being legitimately unfit on a personal, moral and psychological level, being entitled to positions of privelege, wealth, power and enablement purely for being born right. Dimitri could easily learn that, if he would not immediately start his self-righteous moral outrage and talk about how people are inheritly weak and rely on the church to survive, going on to shame Edelgard for being a victim of abuse without a support system, framing himself as a victim because he is enabled by a support system of the most powerful men of his nations, all filled with platitudes about people just coming along and understanding each other, instead of honestly engaging with Edelgards arguments. Which he can't because he lacks political vision and conviction, most of the war he blames Edelgard for his people being racist monsters who nearly wipe out an entire people just for being racist. Because in the end the problem with Edelgards Vision is, that who would be harmed by positions of power not being distributed by birth but by competency? The only ones who would be harmed by it would be the aristocrats, who would suddenly face the possibility of downwards mobility. People like Dimitril, who rise up not due to their own merits but by being enabled despite doing nothing but being an active threat to people surrounding them and their entire nation, are the weak who would suffer under Edelgards new system. Most people would live as they do, only that instead of being basically the property of feudal lords, they are citizens ruled by civil servants chosen among the competent. Thats the issue. Edelgard is only threatening the rich, the powerful and the entitled with her revolution, nobody else. Do you think she will expect a shoemaker to suffer and be strong or else she will personally forbid him from making shoes? Do you think she will stop the common farmer from plowing his fields if he isn't strong enough? The people who will fail and fall due to not posessing the required strength, competency and fortitude are the people who would occupy positions of high levels of authority and responsibility. And yeah, if Dimitri can't keep his shit together, he shouldn't be king. He can do basically anything he would be competent enough for, become a soldier, become a farmer, anything, but if he can't keep it up and is basically forcing everyone around him to constantly enable and take care of him to halfway function and not turn into a sadistic psychopathic serial killer, then no, he should not hold the highest level of administrative power of a nation. And yeah, thats why Edelgard turns into the Hegemon solely in Azure Moon and why she actively rejects his mercy, while expressing sentimentality and regret in VW and SS when Byleth kills her.Because in her eyes, Dimitri standing in Enbarr is the worst possible scenario. Dimitri across his entire route goes never further than the softest form of mild reform and charity, he to the end full on upholds and supports feudalism, the aristocracy, the rule of crests and the subjugation of the masses under a fake church. For somebody like Edelgard, who dedicated her entire life for the sole purpose, that never again a single person would ever suffer due to the rule of crests and corrupt nobility, the world Dimitris victory creats is not a world worth living in. It is a world in which we will see children being still rejected and throwin away because they possess no crest, Commoners still being never capable of fulfilling their potential if they aren't rich enough or sell their bodies and women being still sold off like cattle to breed crest babys. Thats Dimitris happy end. Because he ultimately does not care for what is right and benefits everyone, but what he himself is comfortable with and what makes him feel good. Even his show off mercy is a total case of him never being able to empathize with Edelgard, because he never tries to. He does not want to. She exists for his great moral postering or to feed his nostalgic construct of El, somebody Edelgard is not and probably never was. Name me one thing of worth that Dimitris future creats, Edelgards future wouldn't make better? And really, tell me how her war is that much worse than the status quo across Fodlan, which Rhea and compacent entitled agents of hers like Dimitri enforce. We know that women get sold like cattle to become breeding slaves while sons get barely treated better as breeding stuts. Basically the only people who just regularily can afford upwards social mobility are members of the merchant class, Ashe is only in Garreg Mach because he had the luck of being adopted, Leonie had AN ENTIRE VILLAGE go into student loan debt and its heavily implied that Dorothea had to engage in sex work. Kids like Dorothea also get just legally thrown away like trash, if noble masters sleep with their servants and they don't popp out a crest baby. Children get rejected and set aside or thrown out for not having crests. The church is supressing technological and scientific advancements, including the printing press, and also has its own private military to supress any resistance against it. Fodlans is racist as shit and its relations with other countries are solely build on war. Faerghus is the worst, its like basically full on a mandate of heaven colonialist crusader state that engages in genocide and conquest. Like, its implied that basically everything north of Galatea was Sreng once. Fodlan is one big shithole and we know that it can only get worse because crests get more and more rare and we already have examples of women being literally sold as cattle and a man attempting to rape and forcefully marry his step-daughter. And the sad thing is, a majority of these problems in Fodlan are the most pronounced in Fodlan, yet Dimitri still upholds the system. Thats the reason why Dimitris route isn't only kinda badly written, its outright disgusting.

[@blueshadeseraphim6926]

@@shizachan8421 Edelgard is aware of what she’s trying to accomplish, but the brutal irony is while her system would technically change things, it would ultimately not resolve the core issue that plagues Fódlan: the abuse of power. And that’s because that isn’t a problem caused by society itself. It’s caused by human nature. The issues caused by the crest system aren’t necessarily the result of the way things are run so much as the greedy and selfish people who game the system for their own benefit. People like Ludwig Von Aegir, Mercedes’s father, and others like them who have an inflated sense of ego, and a lack of compassion for those around them. The horrible treatment the people of Duscur received was due in large part to the machinations of Thales, and the power-hungry western Kingdom nobles like Viscount Kleiman. But it was also the byproduct of the people of Faerghus simply having moral indifference towards the residents of Duscur. Had the Empire been in the same situation with say Brigid, they would’ve done the exact same thing. Because it’s just an inherent flaw of mankind, to take any and every excuse to assert dominance and superiority over others. But back to the topic at hand, I believe a meritocracy has the exact same problems as the crest system, just in a less blatant manner. First of all, “merit” is a very subjective term. Even if Edelgard were to define it in a way that wouldn’t allow for any loopholes, who’s to say that wouldn’t change following her death if someone of malicious intent were to find themselves in a position of power to alter her vision for their own gain? And on top of that, merit doesn’t have a moral alignment. We see in the Coven System in Owl House, and in the Archduchy of Aesfrost from Triangle Strategy exactly why meritocracies always fail, sooner or later: merit only considers those with talent, and skill. And those who are willing to sink to any low to get what they want, those who are willing to treat others as disposable and abandon morality at the drop of a hat, those are the people who would almost always end up in power. Because after all, being able to con and take advantage of others for your own selfish ambitions is a talent as well, yes? But even if such conduct was against the law, there’s no means of proving with 100% accuracy if such foul play was enacted. Most people of this nature aren’t stupid, and they know how to ensure nothing can be traced back to them if there was even the possibility they could be caught. So in the end, nothing has changed. The strong still exploit and abuse the weak, and if you don’t have the merit to get in a powerful enough position to overrule them, then you’re just out of luck. A much better means of governing is a constitutional monarchy, and that’s exactly what Dimitri appears to be making Faerghus into upon the end of AM. After all, he does believe the people should have the right to change the world. Not rulers, who can easily become caught up in their own greed or vices. Though it’s true that his means of getting rid of the crest system is more gradual, it is nonetheless progress. And progress that I can see much more practicality behind. Especially because Faerghus doesn’t have to put up with as much civil unrest, on account of the fact they haven’t gone out of their way to anger the populace by launching unprovoked invasions, and destroying long-held spiritual institutions by force. The only real resentment from the population I could see them realistically facing is from the former Adrestian territory. As well as maybe some Alliance citizens who are angry that their country basically surrendered their independence.

[@shadowsquid1351]

Dimitri is a classic case of “Empathy without boundaries is self-dustrction.” he goes against his own values in order to inact justice for innocents, driven by empathy & shaped by the cruelty of war & massacre. This is such a good video, it was very fun to watch! He's such a well written character & I hope Fire Emblem continues to write characters this good again.

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Thanks! I definitely agree that Dimitri is an excellently written character. I think what's really interesting is how the relationship you point out causes Dimitri's typical noble attributes to corrupt into something destructive and ignoble.

[@shizachan8421]

He is not empathetic though. Even to the end, he is incapable of viewing others in any other way but how they make him feel or what he needs out of them.

[@yellowluma101]

Dimitri I personally feel is easily the most complex character in the game. This video is a amazing way to show that. You are extremely talented!

[@shizachan8421]

How so? He basically jumps in character depending on what the plot needs him to be and all of his attributes post redemption are informed abilities, while we never see him being empathetic, understanding on others and wisened, most of his dialogue is a mix of pathos, defeatism and contrarian whataboutisms. He is a great character to imply complexity and creat the illusion of a character arc, but I think in the end kind of shows how aesthetics can be a surrogate for substance.

[@calebjp8904]

⁠@@shizachan8421That’s really just jot accurate at all. We see throughout White Clouds that Dimitri has that dark personality, as at first it is hinted at by Byleth’s assessment and Felix’s observations, and as you progress through White Clouds further, you actively see his facade of care and kindness fading to give way to his ruthless and vengeful side. On top of that, his self-deprecating side was in his character throughout the story. He can never say good things about himself in White Clouds, he goes so far as calling himself a rat and deserving of death in Azure Moon, and contains immense regret and guilt post-redemption. He doesn’t change in character at all. He was always ‘the boar’, but when he had a specific target in Edelgard, exacerbated by the sense of betrayal he would have felt about her, he was no longer able to keep up the facade. Then, we see his second character arc in his redemption. His redemption itself worked well, brought on by his relief in seeing Dedue survive (removing one of the voices that tormented him about their deaths), and in Rodrigue’s sacrifice and his act of absolving Dimitri of blame, not only for himself, but everyone else that tormented him. Not only that, but these drastic events don’t even cause his transformation as easily as they could have. He doesn’t have some sudden snap to his redemption, but it bust be brought on by Byleth’s comfort. The one person who cared for Dimitri completely unconditionally. It is only through the long, emotional conversation with them that Dimitri undergoes his change. Finally, there is post-redemption. When you say that everything post-redemption is informed, it’s really just not true. In his words, of course he mostly displays his own self-loathing since, as I mentioned, that’s the most consistent aspect of his character. Where the real redemption lies is in his actions. It is exemplified in all of the decisions he makes post-redemption. Pre-redemption, he only wanted to kill Edelgard no matter the cost. Post-redemption, he immediately turns his back on that and marches to Fhirdiad. It is further exemplified when he decides to save Claude, and when he attempts to parley with Edelgard. Of course he wasn’t ‘back-to-normal’ post-redemption, and how could anyone possibly believe he would after all he’s been through? That was quite long, but I just wanted to make it clear how all of this created a fluid character arc that completely fits and is consistent with his personality traits and the story that he goes through. Dimitri really is a complex character, and you can always pinpoint exactly why he does what he does, whether it be the Tragedy, his relationships with Edelgard, Dedue, Rodrigue, and Byleth, or in his own paradoxical worldview, which was definitely intentional design as well. The dynamic of wanting to save everyone while feeling the need to put down monsters is clearly an intentional decision, and is both addressed and ultimately solved throughout the story via his arc.

[@shizachan8421]

@@calebjp8904 Its kinda flat, but I can see how somebody who likes popular Isekai Shows like Rising of Shield Hero or Redo of Healer would like Dimitri, as his writing and character is very close to an Isekai protagonist. Including how for some reason, his random minor crest of hobo dragonbabykiller #5 is the strongest of them all, because he has to have the strongest powers. He is a good self-insert for teenage boys who prefer darker and more edgy storytelling in this point of their lifes and I think he does this role not even good, but outright better than the isekai heroes I mentioned.

[@soniamaria-od8rn]

have you read Dimitri's supports with Hapi? it's the only time he learns about TWSD and about why his step-mother did what she did.

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Not yet, I'm actually in the middle of playing my second blue lions playthrough and I'm trying to get those supports. But it sounds like it could be interesting so maybe I'll make a video on it.

[@Mangs1337]

This is a pretty good video for being one of your first. Seeing as I'm about to make a spotlight on him, I found it very insightful!

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Thanks for watching Mangs! I'm looking forward to seeing your spotlight on Dimitri and I'm glad that you took away some things from my video.

[@wackko300]

Great video! I really liked Dimitri after Claude!;)

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Thanks!

[@UnaChicaconInternet]

I really love your analysis! I never thought that perspective from the Dimitri & Byleth support, it explains a lot of things to me. What do you think about his sadistic side? It's a trauma's result? o he always had it?

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that my analysis of their supports made Dimitri's character more clear. And to answer your other question it's certainly an interesting one to explore and I could probably talk about that for a while too, but I'll give a short answer. I do think that Dimitri's dark side was exaggerated because of his trauma, but it also seems like Dimitri inherently gets pleasure from enacting punitive justice. In Ashe's B support with Dimitri, Dimitri tells Ashe that he respects him because Ashe is able to remain positive despite negative circumstances, while Dimitri finds himself unable to. So I think that it can be safe to say that Dimitri's sadism has always been a part of his personality, but the tragedy of duscur made it into a primary issue of Dimitri's.

[@toriwork8891]

@@ordinaryunits4341 Only problem with that analysis is Dimitri's already suffering from mental trauma by the time he has that discussion with Ashe. We don't really see enough of pre-Duscur Dimitri to know, but I don't think any dialogue during flashbacks or support discussions indicate any sort of proclivity to violence. School Dimitri definitely suffered with an unhealthy relationship with violence, but an un-traumatized Dimitri, we'll never really know but I'm inclined to say no.

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Fair enough, as you said its impossible to make a definitive statement on that as we only get select glimpses into his childhood. I just thought its narratively interesting for dimitri to have two parts of his nature in conflict in one another. And for him to learn to reconcile the two was really interesting, but I think that your interpretation could be correct too.

[@thalesxmanfroyshipper2781]

Insightful analysis. I hope they flesh out the lore further of Fodlan’s world as they did with Archanea, Jugdral, and Ylisse existing in the same world. What do you think a United Kingdom of Faerghus would look like with Dimitri as king? The ending talks a little about it but doesn’t mention how Faerghus deals with the Agarthans or Crest issues.

[@ordinaryunits4341]

I know I'm interested in seeing more of Three Houses world too, maybe the next game could explore other continents like Dagda. As to how Faerghus is after the ending, I think that the Agarthans are weakened after the Kingdom killed most of their leaders and that they won't be acting out for a while, but they weren't thoroughly destroyed like in the other endings which I found to be unsatisfying. I also think that with the new government crest issues won't be as pronounced as before because of the decreased aristocratic power, but they will continue to exist leaving some of their benefits.

[@about50pyros55]

@@ordinaryunits4341 i think with hapi ending they mention that they beat twsitd

[@Quentonic]

Very cool video, I think your break downs are done very well

[@ordinaryunits4341]

I'm really glad that you enjoy them, thanks for the kind feedback!

[@DelArcadia]

I had recently gotten FE3H and wanted to see some Discussions in it as the topics are really interesting, and I really enjoy your stance on it! I really adore Dimitri's characterization and development and the closing sentiment made me realize some personal develop regarding Trauma and moving on from the past and likely a factor in my adoration for the Blue Lions route (So far beat it, CF, and hit Time Skip for SS)

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Thank you so much for the comment! I'm glad that you enjoyed my take on Dimitri, and if you want to see a more refined version of it I made it a video called the philosophy of Dimitri. Dimitri is probably one of my favorite characters of all time so I totally feel you on his characterization and development. I hope that you're enjoying the other routes so far!

[@DelArcadia]

@@ordinaryunits4341 I'll definitely be giving it a watch! Personally between CF, SS, and AM, I prefer AM with CF just not hitting for me. I had watched your Edelgard/CF videos as well, where I definitely agree, I just personally side more with Dimitri and finding Edelgards rush to change and means something that didn't sit right with me and with Dimitri's route being a lot more charactercentric .

[@ordinaryunits4341]

@@DelArcadia Totally, I thought crimson flower was interesting to play through because of how different it was from Azure Moon. But the aggression of it made it feel less righteous than azure moon. Characters are what always interested me in most stories too, so I like azure moon for the same reasons.

[@mistigrix]

Good job ☺️

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Thanks!

[@ekans9193]

democracy

[@ordinaryunits4341]

Possibly