in defence of Byleth
Jan. 14th, 2023 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikogalateaThis somewhat-belated rant is brought to you by fandom putting Byleth down more than ever while praising Shez's full voice acting and personality, particularly around the time Three Hopes first came out (though I think Shez may have come off their pedestal a bit since Hopes's honeymoon phase ended).
Following Engage's announcement and with its release day now rapidly approaching, this rant is also brought to you by people using Alear being fully voiced as another weapon to bash Byleth.
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I've seen a lot of people claim that Byleth "finally has a character" in Hopes. To that, I say Byleth in Houses and Byleth in Hopes are the same damn character!
Byleth's characterisation in Hopes lines up near-perfectly with the impression of them I got in Houses, and it confirmed a lot of things I already knew or suspected about them. Even without full voice acting, it could already be seen in Houses that Byleth was generally quiet, calm, stoic, laconic with their words, deadpan even when joking... granted, the dialogue options did offer some wriggle room with regards to interpreting their exact character, especially when it came to the various romances the player could pursue, but there were still clearly things Byleth definitely wasn't; they were never hotblooded or hyper-cheerful, for example. If it's possible for Byleth to be out of character in fanworks, then, that surely suggests they did always have at least some semblence of a character.
One scene in Hopes that had me thinking back to certain things about Byleth in Houses is the one where Sothis forcibly took control over their body. I found this scene pretty shocking when I reached that point in Scarlet Blaze, and it's clear that Byleth themself didn't like it, given that they wrested control back from Sothis and then fretted to Jeralt about the matter later.
That scene gave me a lot of fresh appreciation for the scene in Houses where Sothis fused with Byleth. That fusion was completely consensual, it was done to save Byleth, it had nothing to do with Byleth ~fulfilling their destiny as a souljar~ or anything like that, and Sothis was the one who willingly sacrificed herself and disappeared.
The above two scenes really ought to make more of the fandom realise just how horrific it was that Rhea wanted to basically inflict death of personality on Byleth. Honestly, I find it horrific regardless, because Byleth was just starting to discover their own humanity over the course of the academy phase in Houses and Rhea intended to erase all that for her own purposes.
On that note, I've always found the extent to which Byleth's haters dehumanise them very disturbing. I've even seen people talk about Jeralt fleeing Garreg Mach with baby Byleth as if he "stole Sothis's crest stone from Rhea", as if he wasn't rescuing his goddamned child from an environment he couldn't trust! Regardless of if people like Byleth or not, and regardless of whether those people think they have much of a character or not, they're still a fucking person in the context of the story! Talking about them like they're literally just a souljar for Rhea to make use of grosses me out to no end.
Byleth's status as a near-silent protagonist also did not set a bad precedent for future FE protags, as has now been made abundantly clear by both Shez and Alear. Given their backstory and character and role in Houses, being near-silent worked for Byleth and very specifically for Byleth, and by this point it's become very obvious that the devs recognise this. The fandom can lay off on them now.
And the ultimate irony of people using Alear to bash Byleth at this stage? Byleth has a speaking role in Engage! Not only that, but in the dialogue that's been shown with them so far they seem to be just as calm and stoic and laconic as ever, which is again consistant with their established character from the Fódlan games!
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Speaking of Engage, it's hard to believe it's less than a week away now...
Following Engage's announcement and with its release day now rapidly approaching, this rant is also brought to you by people using Alear being fully voiced as another weapon to bash Byleth.
-
I've seen a lot of people claim that Byleth "finally has a character" in Hopes. To that, I say Byleth in Houses and Byleth in Hopes are the same damn character!
Byleth's characterisation in Hopes lines up near-perfectly with the impression of them I got in Houses, and it confirmed a lot of things I already knew or suspected about them. Even without full voice acting, it could already be seen in Houses that Byleth was generally quiet, calm, stoic, laconic with their words, deadpan even when joking... granted, the dialogue options did offer some wriggle room with regards to interpreting their exact character, especially when it came to the various romances the player could pursue, but there were still clearly things Byleth definitely wasn't; they were never hotblooded or hyper-cheerful, for example. If it's possible for Byleth to be out of character in fanworks, then, that surely suggests they did always have at least some semblence of a character.
One scene in Hopes that had me thinking back to certain things about Byleth in Houses is the one where Sothis forcibly took control over their body. I found this scene pretty shocking when I reached that point in Scarlet Blaze, and it's clear that Byleth themself didn't like it, given that they wrested control back from Sothis and then fretted to Jeralt about the matter later.
That scene gave me a lot of fresh appreciation for the scene in Houses where Sothis fused with Byleth. That fusion was completely consensual, it was done to save Byleth, it had nothing to do with Byleth ~fulfilling their destiny as a souljar~ or anything like that, and Sothis was the one who willingly sacrificed herself and disappeared.
The above two scenes really ought to make more of the fandom realise just how horrific it was that Rhea wanted to basically inflict death of personality on Byleth. Honestly, I find it horrific regardless, because Byleth was just starting to discover their own humanity over the course of the academy phase in Houses and Rhea intended to erase all that for her own purposes.
On that note, I've always found the extent to which Byleth's haters dehumanise them very disturbing. I've even seen people talk about Jeralt fleeing Garreg Mach with baby Byleth as if he "stole Sothis's crest stone from Rhea", as if he wasn't rescuing his goddamned child from an environment he couldn't trust! Regardless of if people like Byleth or not, and regardless of whether those people think they have much of a character or not, they're still a fucking person in the context of the story! Talking about them like they're literally just a souljar for Rhea to make use of grosses me out to no end.
Byleth's status as a near-silent protagonist also did not set a bad precedent for future FE protags, as has now been made abundantly clear by both Shez and Alear. Given their backstory and character and role in Houses, being near-silent worked for Byleth and very specifically for Byleth, and by this point it's become very obvious that the devs recognise this. The fandom can lay off on them now.
And the ultimate irony of people using Alear to bash Byleth at this stage? Byleth has a speaking role in Engage! Not only that, but in the dialogue that's been shown with them so far they seem to be just as calm and stoic and laconic as ever, which is again consistant with their established character from the Fódlan games!
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Speaking of Engage, it's hard to believe it's less than a week away now...
tl;dr incoming
Date: 2023-01-14 07:06 pm (UTC)One of my "favorite" arguments from TVT is that they "wasted Byleth" in Three Hopes by not giving them all of the supports outside Shez and Jeralt...when Three Hopes isn't their fucking story! They already had their spotlight as the one who could support and hook up with whoever they pleased, this is Shez's story! Byleth still plays a major role, you're just looking at her from a different perspective!
Or the idea that Byleth "wasn't good enough" in Houses because they were a plot-mandated blank slate, as if their subtle development just wasn't Enough. You're right in that they are the same character in both games. I've taken Byleth on enough expeditions and gotten their supports. It's like the supports Byleth gets in Houses with others that remark on their smile or their emotions or opinions. It's just from a different viewpoint!
Holy shit, yes. Sothis is a lot more forceful and bloodthirsty in Hopes because she senses Arval, aka a member of those who want to erase her from existence and killed her the first time. From her perspective, Byleth has zero emotional development, so she's more comfortable with forcibly hijacking their body. In Houses, Arval's not on her radar/doesn't exist any longer, and she sees Byleth developing emotion and comes to care for them. That's the REAL reason the takeover doesn't work, imo - not the Flame Emperor's interruption. Rhea goes "oh, it didn't work" moments before the Imperial Army shows up. Sothis used her power to keep Byleth alive and left, because she didn't want someone who'd become like her child to suffer a personality death.
Re: tl;dr incoming
Date: 2023-01-15 02:44 pm (UTC)I always assumed that the reason Sothis didn't take over Byleth's body at the Throne of Knowledge was because she had already granted Byleth her power, and thus whatever plans Rhea would have had for them were made redundant. Claude says as much in the Golden Deer version of the events before the Flame Emperor fight.
Re: tl;dr incoming
Date: 2023-01-15 02:46 pm (UTC)