#Edelgard is SUCH a blatant villain like it's almost funny

[butwhatifidothis]

"Why does the context that makes this event look horrible matter? Just take it at face value and never use or gather any information from the other routes. Only information on CF matters when talking about things." Why are Edelstans like this?

It's an attempt to make it to where Edelboo totally isn't the villain - no, see, on every single other route in the game EdeIgard is absolutely nothing like she is on CF! Forget that neither of the other lords or Rhea have this apply to them, and that the routes that aren't their focus have them manifest aspects of their personality in different ways than their focus route does (for better or worse) for them - that doesn't apply to Edelgard! Without Byleth's guidance she is TOTALLY COMEPLTELY NOTHING LIKE SHE IS and anything off of her route shouldn't be taken into account when analyzing her!

Like, to an extent I get it, right? Cuz like, while Dimitri isn't not Dimitri on non-AM routes, it's undeniable that the fullest feel for his character is the one we get on his route. Same with Claude and VW, and Rhea and (the end of) SS. So like, yeah, sure, the best and fullest feel we can get for Edelgard would be on CF.

You know.

The route where she explicitly says that she wants to eliminate the Church, Kingdom, and Alliance.

And wants to make complete Imperial control of Fodlan a reality.

And lies about the Church blowing up Arianrhod and never comes clean.

And calls Nabateans creatures that merely masquerade as human.

And says that Rhea's "true self" (the Immaculate One, as in the form she can take specifically because she is Nabatean) is a "cruel beast."

And calls Nabateans something that has "plagued humanity."

As well as monsters.

And vile.

And, being generous, ignorantly calls a genocide a "simple dispute."

And proposes that Rhea and her family controlled Fodlan and humanity after killing Nemesis.

And can never spare any Nabatean in battle, unlike Byleth.

And says that she wants to kill Rhea and the Nabateans (more explicitly, in the JPN ver.), regardless of whether Byleth sided with Rhea.

And rejoices in the fact that there are no more Nabateans in her S support.

And gives control of the Alliance over to Count Bergliez, an Imperial general, after she kills/forcefully exiles its leader - something that is said to have been planned beforehand.

And lets Thales collect the Alliance Relics.

And doesn't reprimand Hubert in any way for suggesting they use their own allies as hostages against the Kingdom forces.

And implicitly denies the notion that she's ever "unleashed atrocities upon the world."

And lies about giving Garreg Mach time to evacuate - yes, one can surmise this even from just playing CF. Shamir's report on the other routes is not needed.

And still uses Demonic Beasts.

And orders the death of her friends.

All of this. In just post timeskip. Likely isn’t even everything. Is almost completely what specifically Edelgard does/believes (and the rest being what she condones). And exactly 0% of which she ever grows out of doing/believing, or redeems herself from, or apologizes for, or feels regret for.

Which is possibly what fucks me up the most about this idea that "You should just look to CF for Edelgard's character" because, even ignoring how the other two lords + Rhea don't get this treatment, CF is where we learn most of the still very evil things Edelgard does or believes. At best, you knock off the fact that we know she knows who actually committed Duscur (as that's AM exclusive) and so this scene has no real impact on Edelgard specifically. Oh, and that she Totally Feels Super Bad for murdering all of these innocent people. For her war that she admits is meant to put Fodlan back under complete Imperial control. After we add on all of the other shit CF reveals about Edelgard. Oh yeah, so much better than the other routes!

And also, it's just objectively bad to get the lore of Fodlan from just CF, because Edelgard says that her loredumps were based on what’s passed down from emperor to emperor. So, you know. She got her information from her father. Her father who is hard-confirmed to have lied to Edelgard about shit before. Vs getting Fodlan’s lore from Rhea, someone who was literally there herself while the shit was happening. Which is more reliable: something that AT BEST came from a thousand year game of Imperial Telephone (and AT WORST came from flat out lies), or something that came from a direct witness of the events in question? The take is just, like.. bad, all around lol