#and while theyre stuck cleaning up after twsitd as a warrior they're never quite the same - not quite back to where they started

[themoomoorn]

Fashionably Late and Silly FEH Brave Series Analysis on Byleth because I have brainrot so help me Glob

This has been scratching my brainbox for a while, so now I'm gonna let it out into this hellvoid.

While the main gimmick of the Brave Unit series is the annual voting poll determining who gets one, they nevertheless follow the same two consistent themes: Legacy, and Growth. The costumes that these Brave Chosen(tm) don are either the pinnacle of their promotions from their games, or they don clothing hearkening to a parent, hero, or an ancestor whose deeds they are trying to emulate.

In order by year, we have:

Brave Ike: Wears Greil's outfit. Part of Ike's development is inheriting his father's mercenary company, and thus his legacy - something he had been reared to do for years. His legacy begins when he accepts taking Princess Elincia under his mercenaries' protection, and because of the outcome of the Mad King's War, the mercenaries under Ike become legendary within a mere three years.

Brave Lyn: Invokes her Blade Lord promotion, but instead wields the bow Mugalir, as bows are bestowed upon her as her secondary weapon. Mugalir is also the Divine Weapon tied to Sacae, and a big point of Lyn's development is embracing her Sacaean pride even when being thrust into the world of the Lycian nobility.

Brave Roy: Wearing his father Eliwood's outfit. Like his father, Roy comes to save his homeland on a grand scale and become the new Marquess Pherae - and he goes even further than his father as his ideal ending not only rids the land of Bern and Zephiel, but also frees the dragon Idunn from her fate as a soulless War Dragon, and also learns the full truth of what mankind had done to dragons during ancient times.

Brave Lucina: Wearing her Great Lord outfit and donning a spear (secondary weapon), signaling the growth she has when spent out of her doomed future with Chrom and the Shepherds. Lucina's gambit of time travel pays off, even when things seem doomed to repeat themselves - as sparing Robin turned out to be the contradictory key to averting Grima's reign of terror.

Brave Hector: Wearing his brother Uther's outfit. Hector is initially reluctant taking on the duties his noble title bears, but once Uther dies, he has no choice but to replace him - and he does so proudly, going above and beyond to protect both his friends and his home. It speaks volumes that he is willing to bear the axe Armads' curse of an early death if it means he can protect those he cares about.

Brave Ephraim: Wearing his father Fado's outfit. Similar to Hector, Ephraim is an irresponsible prince who is forced to reconsider his views on the world and behavior once the Grado Empire is driven out of Renais - one poignant scene is how Seth reminds him that the people of Renais are displeased to have him back, and their cause for celebration is that their puppet ruler (a man named Orson) is dead. The truth about Lyon's turn to darkness further reinforces Ephraim's need to change for the better.

Brave Veronica: This is a rendition of Veronica that lacks the pronounced childish behavior that her story rendition carries, as the "main" Veronica's main goal is the conquest of Askr via enslavement of Heroes, and is willing to side with dangerous, powerful beings to do so. She is still ruthless, but not as destructively so compared to her story counterpart - the only holdover is her love for her older brother Bruno.

Brave Micaiah: Wears the robes of her third-tier class (Light Priestess) and also has Yune, the Goddess of Chaos, residing within her. Micaiah's good intentions of freeing Daein from Begnion leads her down what could have been a dark path, courtesy of the ensnarement of a Blood Pact Pelleas had made with Begnion. Her bond with Yune and the crisis caused by Ashera's awakening steers her in a better direction, allowing for her to help break the pact. Her love of Daein also has her ascend as its queen instead of taking up the position of Begnion's Apostle that was her initial birthright.

Brave Eliwood: Here he's wearing the outfit from his coronation (seen in Blazing Blade's epilogue), and the description invokes his father; He also has elements of his Knight Lord promotion with his horse and his lance (gained as a secondary weapon). While his growth is on a smaller scale, Eliwood nevertheless grows his muster and determination even when his loved ones are killed (quite traumatically!), and it's his kindness combined with his bravery that allows for him and his army to defeat Nergal.

Brave Camilla: This is a Camilla who actually steps up as Nohr's Queen - something that never happens in her home game, as on Birthright she finds herself unsuited to rule and has Leo take up the role as reigning King. Nevertheless, she still grows on Conquest once Garon's true nature comes to light, and she is the fourth of Corrin and Azura's siblings to join their cause on Revelation, accepting the presence of Valla/Touma with relative ease. It isn't farfetched to believe she'd make for some decent kind of leader, given her combat prowess and maternal instincts.

Brave Edelgard: Wears her third-tier class dress, the Emperor (or Kaiserin for maximum imagery if you're playing the Japanese version of the game). Unlike most of the characters here, Edelgard, being the Red Emperor of her game, does not grow as a person - indeed, having Byleth by her side only seems to reinforce her view of the Nabateans needing to be dead, and she has someone with Nabatean blood to hold under her thumb. As it were, her "growth" on Crimson Flower is her actually getting to succeed in her conquest of Fódlan and live a life of luxury afterward, getting to keep both that as well as succeed where her power-hungry father failed.

Brave Dimitri: Wears his third-tier armor of his Great Lord Class. Dimitri's growth among Houses' lords is the most dramatic: After five years of torture, exile, and auditory hallucinations, he is made to atone for his prior misdeeds, but also learns that yes, he is allowed to live for himself and desire for himself, and it's these two traits hand-in-hand that allow him to become the kind yet strong king his father once was, instead of a man whose heart bled so strongly that he grew behaviors that drove him to s*icidal ideation.

Brave Claude: Wears his third-tier armor of his Barbarossa class, which is explicitly cited to be Almyran in its description. Claude maintains some unsavory aspects in achieving his goals, but on Verdant Wind, his fixation on finding truths leads him to a revelation that actually forces him to take pause and determine whether or not he's wholly justified in his approach, especially considering what the Emperor he's fighting against wants. He may still tout some mental superiority and trust issues, but he also shows signs of actually opening up about his Almyran heritage, especially with this armor.

Brave Lysithea: Wears a Gremory dress in her favored colors of purple and white, with said class being most suited to her. Lysithea's growth (or lack thereof if poached on Crimson Flower) is not dramatic, but she nevertheless opts to at least try to fight for a better future, even if it is mainly for her parents' sake. Through her bonds with others, this growth goes further when some come forward to offer her even more, or better yet, help her solve her conundrum with her two Crests.

Brave Marth: Wearing the garb of his ancestor (and idol), Anri. Marth has a classic hero's journey par excellence, beginning as a naïve prince who nevertheless is distraught over the pillaging of both his home kingdom Altea and his adopted home of Talys (with the original games having him almost be more childish, even), growing into an effective and charismatic army leader, then Prince of a suzerain state forced to acknowledge the tyranny of Archanea's new Emperor, to two-time savior of the continent. And unlike his ancestor, whose life ended in tragedy and loneliness, Marth lives on as both lover and beloved.

Brave Eirika: Wears an outfit evocative of her brother Ephraim, but with elements of her own Great Lord promotion. Eirika is forced to grow from a sheltered, peaceful, negotiable princess into a warrior and leader fast, and she adapts with an enviable amount of skill and speed. Even when ensnared by the Demon King's wiles and everyone casting doubt on her, she stands proudly on her own, and in a way, is more deserving to lead Renais than her brother.

Brave Chrom: Wears his Great Lord promotion and dons a spear, much like his daughter Lucina. While Chrom is cited to be a strong, firm militia leader at the start of his journey, he is also brash and can even be cruel. His companionship with Robin and the rapidly changing circumstances around him - especially that of when Plegia invades Ylisse, and there's also that mysterious masked youth to consider - force him into a leadership role where he must cast aside his overly-strong hand in exchange for temperance. Robin's presence assists, and this growth continues two years later with the Valm campaign and the resurrection of Grima.

Brave Seliph: Wears his father Sigurd's Knight Lord garb. If Sigurd's tale is a deconstruction of Marth's story, Seliph's is a full-blown rebuild done to set things right. He has his family's legacy thrust upon him, and the ills of war and imposter syndrome plague him at every corner. He does so proudly, even growing a little along the way when it comes to vengeance.

Now we get to the odd ones out. Brave Alm (rises up from disgruntled resistance leader to kindhearted king) and Brave Celica (rises from devoted to a dangerous degree to more balanced and even braver than before) are more meta in their legacies in that they're wearing their Gaiden outfits but are designed by the artist for the remake (Hidari). For something more technical, their regular promotions or overclasses from Echoes would fit, but I can't complain when these fits arguably almost look better than their default remake fits, especially Celica's.

Brave Tiki almost goes backwards in that she's an adult wearing the same clothes she wore as a child; something like Naga's gown or even Bantu's cloak would probably be more appropriate, given that Awakening-era Tiki has grown up to be quite the spiritual leader after millennia of fear and isolation - the fact that she can be a bit silly at times doesn't deter from that fact either.

Brave Marianne is using a class that has absolutely nothing to do with her character or growth (Dancer), and she's using a random tome instead of using Blutgang, her bloodline's ancestral weapon (This is especially silly if we consider that the main weapon for Dancers in both 3H and most other games is, in fact, swords...). While her default line makes her a Gremory, given her boons with swords, magic, and cavalry, something like a Holy Knight would fit better.

The Gatekeeper was more or less botted into the game. At least we get some serious flexing from the great Akihiro Yamada out of it.

All that leaves at this time is Byleth. I've heard complaints that this Brave Byleth is in Sothis' regalia, and not wearing an outfit evocative of her father Jeralt. Why is she "forced" into this legacy? After all, two Byleths were up for voting, and the pre-fusion, teal-haired Byleth won. Clearly, she was better off as a mercenary, right?

Yeah, no.

Through a career change, learning about her heritage (as messed up as parts of it are), and an exposure to faith, even if cursory, Byleth grows from a listless, unemotive sellsword with no prospects to a teacher loved by their community, and later on an (accidental) spiritual leader. While their opinion on the matter is limited by the lack of voice, Byleth is quite content as a teacher and takes no issue with their newfound leadership as long as they're given some due thanks. She isn't just happiest with her students either, but she's also quite happy whenever Sothis speaks to her, and she is saddened immensely once Sothis vanishes forever.

(Ignoring the fact that this is an S-Support, Byleth is saddened when Sothis vanishes, and here she says she was lonely without her. And lest we forget she cried into Sothis' arms after Jeralt died?)

In contrast, she despises her title as "the Ashen Demon." You know, the same "badass" title that many fans seem to think she'd be better off with?

Byleth may be inspired by Ike, and Jeralt Greil, but they are neither. Byleth's journey is extremely dissimilar to Ike's. And Jeralt, on top of just plain being shallower as a character, is nowhere near the father Greil is, nor would he ever hope to be.

Byleth's life would've been miserable and reductive had she continued to be a mercenary.