#shout out to moeblob for their help here

[indigowallbreaker]

So I'm sending you this ask because I hope you'll be kind about answering it, but what exactly is it that is so appealing about Dimitri? I've played both VW and most of CF, but even after spoiling myself on the specifics of his character arc, Dimitri is just...wholly uninteresting to me as a character. It doesn't help that I'm in general not a fan of the "[character] does horrible things but is sad about it and/or I hate their counterpart and therefore they are a soft uwu bean who can do no wrong" sort of vibe I get from most of his fans here on tumblr. But I do want to try and keep an open mind. So, as someone who does like him, I'm curious what about him is interesting to you?

First I want to clarify that I may not be the best person to ask. I’m a bigger Black Eagle fan than I am a Dimitri fan. That said, I DO like Dimitri, as he is a very good boy with a easy to swallow story line. 

I’ve tried answering this about 7 times now because I keep starting with “here’s why people probably like Dimitri in general” -- But your question boils down to “what about him is interesting to you?” 

So here first my serious answer aka the part that was at risk of becoming an essay:

Dimitri’s supports with Marianne and Mercedes perfectly capture my favorite thing about Dimitri-- He’s trying his best. That’s not me saying “he does horrible things but is sad about it etc etc” (I know there is a part of this fandom that thinks this way but I think they’re the minority.) I really do feel that at the end of the day, Dimitri wants what he thinks is best for the world. And he will do what it takes to make that happen. 

Dimitri wants the people of Duscur to live better lives, he wants to atone for what has become of Felix’s family, he wants Edelgard to stop the war before he has to kill her. He wants to be a good person so so badly even with his trauma putting ghosts in his head. Dedue says it best after Gronder:

Dedue: Everyone is saying His Highness is back to his old self, but I do not think that is accurate. What he was until recently is what he had been for as long as I've known him. So tortured by his compassion for the fallen that it had driven him mad. He has always been too kind to be king. He has always felt too much for the weak and the dead. That is exactly why I look up to him.

Reading up on his plot is one thing. But if you really want to give Dimitri a chance, I suggest playing his route. Feeling the ups and downs, being part of the Hero’s Journey-- it’s not a bad route if you want a traditional Fire Emblem story. As stated, I’m more an Eagles fan, but I use his route as a feel-good reprieve when I want to save as many characters as possible.    

Now for some less heavy handed reasons. Aka the ones I think about when I write Dimitri:

He tricks Ashe into talking about good candy so he can go buy Ashe some, much to Ashe’s embarrassment.

Just so freaking bad at sewing. He snaps needles and scissors all over the place, the big brute. 

Annette knows tons of embarrassing young-Dimitri stories and he hates that.

This kid b e g s Byleth not to sign him up for the White Heron Cup. If selected he says “Curse you, Professor. I will of course accept, but know that you have damned us all." lmao the drama. It’s fantastic.

Likes horses and riding but his canon classes don’t make him a riding unit and that saddens me.

Laughs at Alois’ puns. Bless his heart.

Love kids, as seen in his C and B supports with Byleth, and even post skip is kind to orphans. 

“That’s why his cloak so big-- it’s full of secrets.”

Chris Hackney is just a fantastic voice actor. Pre-skip voice is different from Pre-Gronder voice is different from Post-Gronder voice. And all well done.

His supports with Dedue. Particularly the line: “Listen, Dedue... Perhaps you consider me to be someone special. But I think the same of you. You are irreplaceable. Cherished. So stop saying that we cannot be friends. Stop saying such awful things.” Dimitri doesn’t want vassals he wants FRIENDSSSSS

Offers a girl he likes a dagger (because this is a good idea. the Kingdom is wild, my dude) and Sylvain takes every single opportunity to mention it. Dimitri hates that he does this. I freaking love it.

(Male Byleth passes out in Sealed Forest) “It will be faster if I just carry you back.” (Female Byleth passes out in Sealed Forest) “I’m sorry, I am SO sorry, I have to pick you up to get back, I have no choice [flustered Proper Prince noises].” I’m barely exaggerating.

I hope this helps even a little bit! At the end of the day, Dimitri is a character in a video game. If you don’t really like him, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s plenty of FE characters I don’t like. You don’t have to love every character to love the game. As much as I say ‘play the Blue Lion’s route to give Dimitri a chance’ you don’t have to do that either. Play what makes you happy! 

[indigowallbreaker]

“Match Du Jour”

@moeblob gave me this idea a while back and here it is finally fleshed out! Enjoy some Felix/Ferdinand here or on ao3. Reblogs and/or comments are appreciated! 

–

Ferdinand whistled as he took the long route to the dinner hall. A nice walk in such fine weather would do wonders for his appetite. He wondered whose company he should eat in today. Perhaps a fellow Black Eagle, that they may compare lecture notes? Or one of their newest recruits? Or maybe, just maybe, a certain someone would finally come to the dining hall…?

A series of shouts interrupted Ferdinand’s musings. They were coming from the training grounds. Not unusual, given the typical activities there, but the shouting had petered out to whining. Sylvain whining. And where there was a whining Sylvain there were usually only two culprits.

Hoping his guess was right, Ferdinand made his way to the double doors of the fighting grounds and opened one just enough to stick his head through. There indeed was Sylvain, sitting on the ground, broken lance at his side. He was rubbing his arm and wincing. “Alright, you’re faster and better than me in every way. Can you please come to dinner?”

In the center of the arena, proving Ferdinand’s suspicions correct, was Felix. He scoffed at Sylvain and rested his wooden sword on his shoulder. “The deal was that if I beat you in a match, you would leave me alone to train. I won. Go away.”

“You have to eat, Felix!”

“You sound like Ingrid. Get lost, Sylvain. I’m busy.” With that, Felix started walking away towards the training dummies.

Ferdinand’s  chances at having dinner with that certain someone were growing smaller. He stepped properly into the training grounds and cleared his throat. “Good evening!” He called.

Sylvain jumped and turn to stare at Ferdinand. Felix didn’t react beyond stopping in his tracks. Thinking on his feet, Ferdinand surged forward. “You will not eat until someone defeats you, correct?”

That did make Felix look at him. “Yes.”

“Then permit me to give it a try!”

Felix narrowed his eyes. “Why were you eavesdropping?”

“You two were rather loud. I could not help being curious.”

“You mean nosy.”

Ferdinand scowled. “A proper noble is never nosy.”

Behind him, Sylvain snorted. Ferdinand sent him a glare as Sylvain gathered the lance pieces and scuttled off to the side. He was still holding his arm awkwardly so maybe his whining before had some credence behind it.

Felix shrugged. “Why not? I accept your challenge.”

“Wonderful!” Ferdinand grabbed a fresh lance and met Felix in the center of the ring. Felix readied his sword. Privately, Ferdinand was glad for this chance to fight Felix. It was for a good cause and watching Felix fight was always a treat to Ferdinand. His grace with a sword was unmatched by the other students.

Outwardly, Ferdinand fixed on a determined expression and got into his familiar stance. At Sylvain’s call, the two moved.

Felix aimed a jab at his side, which Ferdinand dodged smoothly. He took a few steps back. Lances were better with a bit of distance and Ferdinand had a plan. Three more times he dodged like that, just staying out of reach and spinning away when necessary.

A near-feral growl scraped out of Felix’s throat. “Stop dancing!” He snapped, swiping at Ferdinand’s chest. Ferdinand lifted the lance horizontally to catch the wooden blade. The shock of the impact made his fists vibrate and his boots slid back a bit in the dirt. He pushed the blade up and crouched to sweep Felix off his feet with the harmless end of his lance. Felix toppled over with a curse.

Just as Felix rose to his elbows, Ferdinand twirled the lance around and pointed the tip under Felix’s chin. He heard Sylvain let out a loud, relieved sigh. Felix, for his part, just stared at the lance.

Grinning, Ferdinand lowered the weapon and offered his hand instead. “So. Dinner?”

Chest heaving for air, Felix turned his flushed face to Ferdinand. Ferdinand tried not to enjoy the sight too much. Finally, Felix let out a tsk and got to his feet unassisted. “Fine,” he grumbled, all but throwing his practice sword at the rack. He stomped away towards to the doors.

Sylvain raced over to clap Ferdinand on the back. “Thank you,” he hissed in Ferdinand’s ear. “I don’t even know if he had lunch today. We were getting worried.”

The pair watched as Felix stomped to the training ground’s doors. “He seems grumpy enough to have missed today’s meals,” Ferdinand observed.

“Hey!” Felix whirled around, hair sticking out of his bun and still trying to catch his breath. “Are we eating or what?!”

Sylvain practically skipped over. He said something Ferdinand couldn’t hear but which made Felix stamp on Sylvain’s foot. Laughing but wincing, Sylvain exited. Ferdinand placed his lance back on the rack and set Felix’s sword back properly. A win always felt nice and this particular win felt even better. The fact that Felix needed this kind of encouragement to eat was troublesome. Ferdinand resolved to pay closer attention to his friend’s eating habits from now on. Even if it meant having to spar again. Actually, Ferdinand thought with a smile, that might not be so bad.

When he turned around to leave, Ferdinand was surprised to see Felix still at the entrance. His arms were crossed and he was watching Ferdinand with a stiff expression. “Ah, did you need something, Felix?”

Felix frowned. “I was waiting for you.”

“Oh.” Ferdinand busied his hands by straightening his jacket sleeves. “Apologize. I did not realize I was invited to dine with you all.”

“You don’t have to,” Felix said gruffly. “I just. You won so I figured you should sit with me. Us.”

Ferdinand couldn’t stop the grin that spread over his face. Not that he tried hard. “Very well then!” He jogged to the doors while Felix rolled his eyes. Felix led them out of the training grounds and towards the dining hall. Ferdinand tried to savor the evening— a walk with Felix with the promise of a shared meal at the end? How often would such a thing occur?

Quite often, as he would find out.

–

“I still don’t understand this part.”

“Question ten? Caspar, we started with this one.”

“Yeah. I don’t get it.”

“Why did you not speak up earlier?”

Caspar shrugged. “At first I wasn’t really thinking about studying. I was thinking about lunch. But now I want to figure this out! Can we start again?”

It took all of Ferdinand’s upbringing not to hit his head against the desk. His stomach was also more focused on lunch than anything else but he couldn’t leave Caspar so ignorant of the day’s material. “Alright,” he said, sitting up straighter. “This part here is—”

The doors to the classroom banged open. Felix stood there, his glare frightening and determined. “Ferdinand!” He barked. “Spar with me!”

Without missing a beat, Caspar jumped from his chair. “I’ll do it! I’m always up for a fight.”

“Not you!” Felix leveled his sword at Ferdinand. “Him.”

Caspar pouted in a way unbecoming of the Black Eagle house. “Rude.” He leaned over to whisper to Ferdinand, “Why does he look ready to murder you?”

Ferdinand didn’t answer. There was no reason to be nervous to fight Felix again. But the way Felix’s jaw was set and his sword, not wooden but steel, was pointed, it was clear Felix didn’t intend to lose this time.

“Um,” Ferdinand began elegantly. He stood up and tried again. “If Caspar does not mind stopping for the day—”

“Don’t mind at all,” Caspar put in, taking his test from the desk and crumpling it into his pocket.

“— then I would be more than happy to spar with you.”

That changed Felix almost instantly. His eyes widened and a grin, more excited than malicious, spread across his face. If Ferdinand didn’t know any better, he would liken it to a puppy being given a treat. Apart from the sword it’s an adorable sight.

Well, I’m doomed, Ferdinand thought as Felix took off towards the training grounds. “If I win!” Ferdinand called brazenly, running to catch up, “then you have to eat lunch with me!”

“If I win,” Felix called back, “you have to have lunch and dinner with me!”

Ferdinand felt a broad smile lighting his own face. Oh yes, he was quite doomed indeed.