#FE as a series never said romantic love must always end up in marriage

[randomnameless]

Then why don't Dimitri marry Dedue 😕? This ain't about avatar-centricity it's about whether or not characters are written in a way that suggests the traits people claim they have are intentionally part of them. And I think "I'll get with a person but not their literal genderswap" is the single most definitive way to characterize sexual orientation. But then I've never found the concept of "sexual orientation" a helpful way to understand ppl or even myself.

Anon,

I don't think characters have to be written "in a way" to suggest if they are bi or not.

I have watched enough stuff from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s to know that when people wrote someone coded as "queer" it was an excuse to fit as many offensive tropes as possible onto them.

I guess we both agree on this, so, on the main topic.

Dimitri and Dedue follow a tradition of "very devoted knights and their lieges" from the saga, you can trace them back to Finn and Quan from Jugdral, to Elphin and Percival from FE6 and the weird... fixation Frederic has with Chrom, if you want to reach a bit.

They blush when they call each other's name, they rub ointment on the other's body, Dimitri calls him "cherished and irreplacable" and Dedue lit says he cannot fathom a life where he is not by his side.

It is way closer to Siggy "a fate without deedee is not a fate I will accept" than, say, "hey Cousin Seliph, I know I suck because I'm not a Crusader, but I'll do my best to help you so we will put an end to this war together".

Dedue is burried next to Dimitri in their ending, and if we don't even want to take Dedue into account, Dimitri has a deep and meaningful bond with Felix, that is so important to Felix that he cries more than Dimitri's wife when Dimitri dies!

So while I do not think it is purely a discussion and concept about Dimitri's sexual orientation, if the label straight could have been misleading (maybe Fodlan doesn't really have the same notions about sexual orientations, a bit like what happened in Rome it's just two people holding hands, one has his hand being held, while the other holds the hand), Dimitri definitely has "strong romantic feelings" for at least 2 male characters, and I suspect they're holding hands in his royal chambers.

Dimitri can have strong feelings for women and men - as for why he doesn't marry men, part of me wants to say they did not want to put "important male characters" in a bi relationship because, even in 2019, "peepee on peepee" action is still seen as uncomfortable by some people around the world, unlike "pure girls with pure girls giggling" which is, idk, more acceptable because sexism. So IS, a company from Japan, makes a lot of circumvolutions to avoid saying Dimitri'n'Dedue married, even if they take care of orphans, have their "eternal rest" next to each other and are on a first name basis while blushing like school girls.

For real life examples, it's just like Emperor Hadrian and his "friend" Antonin. They were not married, not at all, and historians from a certain era really really tried to paint them as friends.

But then morals evolved, so History was revised.

Other part is because Dimtri takes the Mandate from House Hresvelg - thus he must create a dynasty and that is just the way it is in FE.

Tl; Dr : while sexual orientation is, imo a trait and not a character, Dimitri is heavily coded to have "strong feelings" for both men and women, even if he doesn't marry his two male "love interests".

[fictionalcharactermbti]

2018 Follower Favorite ENTP Winner:

A quick clarification on Elizabeth Bennet. Yes, as you can see in the pictures I do not make a distinction between her character in films, tv series, or the books. I have seen them and read the book. Elizabeth Bennet across the board is interpreted much as she was in the book. Her core as an ENTP is seen across mediums. She does not change type from medium to medium. Are there slight differences? Yes. Enough to completely change her character that she is unrecognizable as the character from the books warranting a different type? No.

1. Dominant Extraverted iNtuition (Ne)

Elizabeth loves a good and novel idea. She plays in the abstract world. We see time and again that she has a rather hard time sticking in the present and being aware of her actual surroundings. She can be so in projecting her ideas on the world that she forgets herself. 

Ms. Bennet is described as having, “a lively playful disposition that delighted in anything ridiculous.” She projects her ideas and enthusiasm outside of herself. It is why the INFJ typing is so odd to me. Elizabeth revels in the world outside of herself. She is not focused on mastery like a dominant Ni/Si, but is more of a renaissance woman. She dabbles in so many skills and hobbies, moving from one to the next. She clearly is quick to understand them, but doesn’t stick to any of them long enough to be considered the best of her sisters at any of them. Just enough to hold her own. 

2. Secondary Introverted Thinking (Ti)

Elizabeth prides herself on her cool-headed and logical approach to the world. She is actually very logical when it comes to how she judges and makes decisions. While others talk of romance and decorum, Elizabeth often stands idly by, unable to speak her truth at times. She has a clear derision of the roles of women and the frivolity of leading with feelings like Fe and Fi users. We see this in her judgement of her sisters. Though she loves them, she often is quick to see the flaws in their approaches to romance and really everything. 

Due to the time in which she is born she is not always able to be her true Thinking self in front of others, but especially when given moments in the book in which her internal judgments are clear, her preference for Thinking Judgement rather the Feeling Judgement becomes quite apparent. She does not first consider the norm or the feelings of others. 

Her Ne dominance with secondary Ti explains many of her slip ups with Darcy. She is quick to call him out and argue with him. She abhors his INTJ detachment at times, but she understands his coldness. Elizabeth in classic ENTP fashion often finds herself in predicaments because she spoke her judgments aloud first, before reflecting. She often doesn’t know her true stance till the conversation has ended and what was said, was said. 

Elizabeth is an incredibly competitive person who enjoys a challenge and a good debate. One of the most memorable scenes from the book to me is when she is playing cards. She is playing two games in this moment. One of wit in conversation (getting information) and the card game itself. She revels in the games and is more comfortable in the “male arena” of recreation than that of the women.

To really nail in the point of secondary Thinking rather than feeling (ENFP/INFJ, the most common mistypes of Elizabeth Bennet) we must look to her younger sister. Lydia is a clear open hearted ENFP. She always sees the best in people, her head in the clouds, and she rashly jumps into a relationship without thinking of long-term consequence. This is not to say that this is all ENFPs, but this is a trope among the naive ENFP archetype. This is something that an ENTP would never do. Be rash, yes. Be rash to diving into a relationship believing the best in someone with zero skepticism, no.

3. Tertiary Extraverted Feeling (Fe)

What many see as a more dominant form of Feeling traits in Elizabeth are in fact her tertiary function at play. I think we can all agree that although Elizabeth can be quite a romantic deep down, it is not an arena she is comfortable with. Elizabeth can be bold and harsh, often being regretful of hurting others after the fact. But Fe is by no means a trait that is at the forefront of her person’s.

Fe not being one of her strongest points, she has a very hard time prioritizing the point of marriage at this time; which was the security of her family social status and wealth. Fe even in a secondary position understands the obligations involved within social rules. While Elizabeth understands this, it is hard for her to embody; her Ti independence coming out revolted by this idea of marriage and not understanding the validity of the stance. 

Elizabeth’s skepticism and poking fun is guided by her unhealthy tertiary use of Fe. It focuses her Ti judgments more outward towards people and about people. One of my favorite descriptions of Elizabeth comes from the Jane Austen Wiki Page, “Elizabeth was depicted as being personally proud of her intelligence and her sense of discernment, and took pleasure in laughing at or ridiculing the follies of others.” In classic ENTP fashion, she is quick to use her wit to jab at others. She sees their follies quickly and can forget that others are not as thick skinned as she. 

4. Inferior Introverted Sensation (Si)

When things seem to be going wrong, in true ENTP fashion, Elizabeth gets bogged down with rather meaningless details. She starts to over analyze Mr. Darcy and other suitors. Although she is quick to observe other people, when the obvious is right in front her, she just can’t seem to see it.