The Dimitri Documentary. [Fire Emblem: Support Science #21] Fire Emblem: Three Houses 

Incoming long and emotional comment: Hi everyone. Whether you just finished watching this video, or partially through and reading the comments... I just wanted to say thank you for simply just taking a gander at it. This year has been particularly hard for me - not just because of 'Rona. I got laid off from work in February and have honestly been struggling to figure out my next career move. Trying to sort out my real life, understandably, caused my passion like writing and videos to slow down. In saying that, thank you so much to all of my Patrons and stream donators who continue to support me while I figure out the next steps. Your financial contributions have been truly unreal, boss. I've been working on this video on and off for the past eleven months. One of the several reasons why it took so long was because Three Houses is uniquely different to write longform analysis on because hardly any scripts are transcribed. Unlike my other Support Science videos, I had to play and record much of the scenes myself and make inferences based on the scenes and not on the text. So, that was hard and time consuming. I also went through writer's block a ton of times throughout the year. It was really difficult to figure out what I actually wanted to write about. I REALLY like Dimitri's character, but there was so much to talk about so as to be overwhelming at times. I didn't just want to recite a timeline in this analysis. Just reciting facts that don't answer anything or don't try to persuade an audience to any one side is pretty lame. Something I absolutely love about analysis is the way you can create a story with narratives, themes and arguments. That's what Support Science is all about. It was tough to find out what I wanted this video to be. But hey... 12 000 words later, we got 'er done. There's so much more around Dimitri that I wanted to talk about, but I felt it would detract from the core discussion I had in mind - things like Cornelia's villainy (which could be its own video) and other support conversations Dimitri had that I decided that his other supports could already address. In the end, I'm really happy that I can FINALLY publish this video. What's next? I don't know! But I want to focus on scripted content moving forward. Which means more character analysis, whether shortform or longform. While that's happening, I've also been really having fun streaming every weekday. If you want to see more Support Sciences, or other scripted content from me, please subscribe! Clicking subscribe honestly shows me that this is the content you want. Please leave a like and comment as well. I'd love to read what you think of Dimitri also! Deuces. Subscribe: goo.gl/1xHJzR Patreon: www.patreon.com/GhastPatreon Twitter: twitter.com/ghaaast Instagram: instagram.com/keegandmeyer

PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It also stands for Post Time-Skip Dimitri. Both are correct.

I think we can all agree that Chris hackney voice acting is what really sold this character. Because good writing will only get you so far. This man takes Dimitri to whole other level. Honestly one of my favorite lords with Claude Leif and Ike for me.

"You can never truly turn back the hands of time" Byleth: *looks away conspicuously

You really think i'll listen to a guy talking about Dimitri for one hour and half??? Hell yeah, sign me in.

minimitri, acadimitri, ptsdimitri, dimitrimentary

The true waifu

When Rodrigue died for Dimitri, he said to tell him it wasn't in vain One of redeemed Dimitri's battle quotes is "I swear it wasn't in vain"

That ending cutscene of Dimitri offering his hand to Edelgard will never not make me cry.

I can finally learn why we shouldn’t eat the weeds.

Its a shame you never mentioned such a minor line but its still so impactful. Theres a random monk that will talk to you between the War phase and Redemption phase that mentioned he saw Dimitri care for an orphan and warn her of danger. It shows that even despite his distaste for the living during this time, he still cares for them, or at least enough to not want to see young children get hurt.

Alternate title: Explaining why Dimitri is best man for an hour and a half

I cannot even imagine how much time and effort you put into it. Congratulations buddy.

“Your hands are so warm... Have they always been?” That line gets me every time. I adore it so MUCH.

There's 5,116 seconds of this video talking about Dimitri. And you know what I'm gonna do? WATCH EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!

“You can never truly turn back the hands of time” Sothis: 😬

Still honestly SHOCKED Dedue’s return is optional. Seemed like the most pivotal moment in Dimitri’s recovery aside from Rodrigue.

When it comes to Dimitri’s redemption, I think Dedue says it best in Chapter 18. Dimitri isn’t back to normal. He isn’t suddenly cured of his mental health issues, that isn’t how it works. The Dimitri that longed for revenge was the Dimitri Dedue always knew, but now Dimitri is beginning to heal. I don’t think Dimitri ever truly completely heals, at least not during the course of the story. Gilbert, Felix, Byleth? They all play some part in Dimitri’s redemption, though very minor in Byleth’s case. But like Dimitri says in his A support with Dedue, Dedue is the one person that kept him going. Out of all of the retainers (Hubert, Dedue, and Hilda), I believe Dedue and Dimitri have the closest personal connection, though Hubert and Edelgard are a close second. Looking back, I wish the story of Azure Moon and by extension Dimitri’s redemption had been at least a little more different if Dedue’s paralogue had not been completed in the academy phase. Dedue is one of two people who play the largest part in Dimitri’s redemption, and it’s why I adore their dynamic and relationship, not just as liege and retainer, but as brothers and close friends, even if not biologically related.

Does anyone else tear up Everytime the warm hands line comes up or is it just me?

Just one note-- I think you could have mentioned that it's Dedue's "death" that really helps push Dmitri down his path of madness, since he believes that his best bro sacrificed himself for Dmitri's sake (adding to the number of people he considers as having died /for/ him)

I will simply say this, playing the Blue Lions route in Three Houses was the most emotionally involving (and devastating) experience I've ever had in a video game. It was actually painful for me to see what was happening to Dimitri, because he was no longer the wonderful, kind hearted boy I once knew. I so desperately wanted him to let go of revenge and every time I heard one of his darker voice lines after killing an enemy or leveling up I was heartbroken. I began to dread the coming levels because I was worried Dimitri would do something horrible. And this is also why I was so happy when he finally let go of the hate and remembered the kindness that was always in his heart. Even better, he found it in himself to forgive Edelgard, to give her a chance. That final cutscene really says it all. She might not have taken his hand, but at least he held it out. And that's all you can really ask of a man.

I think it was weird when I heard you bring up Dimitri's mental health and people's criticisms of how its not realistic, because wether that's true or not a lot of really die-hard Dimitri fans I've seen, including myself, would say that his story actually helped them deal with their own trauma and issues. I think its because his story teaches us that our trauma and pain make our actions understandable, but its still up to us to look to the future, learn from it and grow as better versions of ourselves, and I think that's a really beautiful message.

Dimitri's story was loved by many people because his path was created using the "Hero's Journey" narrative template. He goes through his journey, faces tragedies & danger, loses his way then at his darkest hour meets with the "wise man" (Rodrigue & his death), reflects on his path & finally finds his way & rightful place again. Humans generally resonate with personal struggle in fiction & inspirational stories of overcoming the impossible odds. Many fans consider Blue Lions to be the best path when it comes to stroy & characters even though Blue Lions was the least chosen path (probably since most ppl chose BE the most). The developers themselves were surprised by how popular Dimitri is compared to the other 2 who were both highly popular too. There are 2 main driving forces behind Dimitri's character: empathy & justice, ironically these 2 qualities go directly against each other, that is exactly the reason for his turmoil & suffering. He feels too much for the weak, the innocent, the dead & even his enemies, but he's a soldier, in a land forged by conflict & a country that idiolizes strength, military force & vengeance, while he idiolizes peace, freedom of speech & discussion. He doesn't want vengeance but believes it is what his dead loved ones want & deserve, since it's natural to seek justice for the victims of a massacre even if it goes against his own beliefs, this is how empathy can be toxic & he learns that in his journey. He's a naive idealist who has to put these ideals to test against real war horrors. He can't rationalize or justify killing for any cause & regards all who kill no matter the reason to be monsters, even himself. He has a strong sense of justice coupled with intense empathy & that is why he demonizes criminals who kill for a "cause" because it's the only way he can bring himself to kill them, although he doesn't mind using violence himself to deal with injustice & criminals, peace through violence was his mentality in the "war phase" when we meet him after the timeskip afterall. Dimitri doesn't really change much after the timeskip from his academy days, I mean specifically "punished" Dimitri, his core motivators are still the same from before; vengeance & empathizing with the weak/innocent, he just becomes very antisocial due to years of isolation & fighting a one man hopeless guerilla war against the invading empire for 5 years. His mantra is still protecting the weak/innocent; "someone must put a stop to the cycle of the strong trampling the weak" since by logic war of aggression/conquest is the oppression of the strong over the weak. He kills the bandits who kill people for a living in chapter 13, like he did in Remire in part 1 where innocents were killed by TWSitD, yet even as punished Dimitri he still feels bad about killing enemies, you can see that after the bridge mission fighting Ladislava, just like he felt in part 1 after Lonato's death or after the rebellion suppression before the academy days when he was barely 15. He empathizes with everyone, the dead, criminals, enemies & innocents. After Rodrigue's death he never really "magically heal" he just gets over it with sheer will power, friends & people's support and soon he changes his course. Afterwards he doesn't stop hating Edelgard suddenly, he tells you how he still has much hatred for her, but he gets over it & extends a hand to her twice. He still has hatred for the people responsible for the massacre too, but this time he deals with them in a way that *he* wants & believes in not how he's expected to by his country/laws, even Gilbert was surprised that he put the convicted man in prison & not excute him, even though the confessing man was a criminal who killed/conspired against innocent people & was personally involved in killing Dimitri's loved ones, not to mention how even now he still thinks he did the right thing by participating in the massacre, but true to his words Dimitri sought discussion & peace even in the face of a hated criminal. In essence small young Dimitri before the Duscur massacre is essentially the "redeemed" Dimitri we see after chapter 17, this is who he is at his core, this is who Felix remembers him as back when they were small, the 1 he said had died in the massacre, has never really died but was burried under the weight of grief, injustice & trauma. He came a full circle from the little kid before the massacre to the academy student living only for vengeance, to the vicious war soldier, to finally the redeemed king who acts on his own ideals & beliefs through the darkest times. What I find interesting about Dimitri as well is how there are 3 different points of view about him after the timeskip in BL: the empire views him as a vicious one eyed demon, his people view him as a hero sweeping Fearghus killing off evil invaders during the war & finally how he views himself; a monster who desrves to die, his already plummeting self worth since his academy days doesn't help here either, the self depricating doesn't stop. Guilt is a huge pain when it comes to how Dimitri feels about himself, he feels guilty for anything & everything, from a small talk to killing enemies to surviving a massacre. That is why his final scene with Rodrigue is the most important scene for Dimitri's 1st few steps to heal & get his act together. Rodrigue in his dying words absolves Dimitri of his 3 biggest guilts: his guilt about surviving the tragedy of Duscur, his guilt about killing in the war & his guilt for Rodrigue's death. Rodrigue was too significant & loved to Dimitri to the point where he reevaluated all his decisions up to that point & changed the course of his life, I'd even say Rodrigue was the most important person in Dimitri's life & the only one outside of Dedue to truly understand Dimitri. He looked up to Rodrigue mainly because of how kind Rodrigue was as a person, he told Byleth how he wanted to become a man like Rodrigue one day & not even like his own father who he loves dearly. Dimitri didn't mind dying at Grondor by Fleche, but he was horrified when Rodrigue got stabbed, he cares more about rodrigue than himself. That incident was the main reason for Dimitri to break the walls he built around himself, finally break down in order to heal & did what he always wanted & believed in from that point onward. One of my favorite scenes in the game & one that portrays Dimitri's straight forward & blunt personality is his apology, he straight up apologized for his behavior, promised to do better & just... did. He didn't try to justify his behavior (which he could if he wanted), he didn't play the victim card (again he easily could), didn't scapegoat or shift the blame to anyone/group. The choice of words was good as well, he corrected himself when he said it's what he *should* do going forwad, instead he said it is what he *chooses* to do, so now we know his upcoming choices & deeds are based on his own personal ideals, beliefs & morals not anyone else, living or dead. Dimitri is a well done or a more "realistic" depiction of the usual 2 archetypes of the FE lords: Marth/seliph/Eliwood archetype & Hector/Leif/Ike archetype albeit more violent. He merges these 2 archetypes really well having the empathy & idealism of the former & the viciousness & eagerness to fight in the latter. He goes from the upright idealistic kid with PTSD issues to a vicious soldier in war 5 years later, to a human character with faults, virtues & an unforgettable past. He learned his lesson, let go of his pain, made peace with his past, chose to live in the present & became stronger. Compared to other key characters in the game such as Rhea who was mostly still tied to her past except at the very end of her S support & Edelgard who was always chained by her past in every path & let it dictate her entire life leading her to unleash her anger towards an entire continent. His final act of reaching out to Edelgard in the end even after all the war & suffering she commited is a show of true strength of character, to reach for someone you still hate & completely disagree with, try to understand her & try to co-exist even though you have the upper hand against the aggressor who started it all is truly inspirational! Dimitri at that point conquered himself, his past, the empire & became a great king! All while still suffering from all the losses & mental scars. From the start we see Dimitri suffering from self deprication, survivor's guilt, PTSD, psychosis, insomnia, headaches, violent behavior & suicidal tendencies which are all part of his character after the tragedy of Duscur. His kind heart, sensitive nature, empathetic soul & idealistic beliefs made all of that even worse than if another less sensitive person suffered through the tragedy. Sad thing is he's getting triggered again & again throughout the story, by the criminal acts in part 1 (Remire among others) & by the war in part 2. Taking all that in consideration as well as his inability to taste anything, his fear of breaking delicate objects because of his strength, all add up to make one of the most tragic heroes in a videogame & one of the best written characters in Fire Emblem. The reason why Dimitri was affected by the the tragedy of Duscur far more than Rodrigue, Felix or Ingrid is because he alone was there at the massacre & witnessed it thus the PTSD. Anyway I hope the future FE games continue to present compelling characters like Dimitri & good writing like in BL, 3 Houses in general has plenty of great characters so I hope their quality get higher in the future.

Having chosen Dimitri in my very first playthrough of the game, and having managed to fully enjoy it, avoiding spoilers... I can say one thing: BLUE LION FOREVER! That poor dolt didn't deserve the shit he endured...

And here I thought I was done crying about Dimitri. I thought that there couldn't possibly be more to cry about. And yet here I sit, proven wrong. No single character from any work of fiction has ever made me cry this much, running the whole spectrum from tears of sadness and despair to ones of joy and pride. Thank you for this epic of a video, I must now resume my most recent Blue Lions playthrough.

Dimitris title in german is "erlöser" wich means saviour but had also implications of "messiah" and i think it fits both. A messiah sacrifieces themself to save others. Dimitri lived his life as king to protect the weak and to help them, but he also left his humanity behind to "save" the dead and was willing to die because of what he did

additionally the way of philosophy in faergus is you are condemned for eternity if you die with regrets. In a twisted way, Dimitri's vengeance in his mind is saving the dead from eternal torment, while condemning himself to the same.

Dimitri's supports with Marianne are some of my favourites by far.

Dimitri's basically the archetypal lord that Fire Emblem's re-used time and time again. Like Marth, Seliph, and Leif, his home is invaded and he is forced into exile because of it. Like Ephraim/Eirika, he's betrayed by a good friend and that betrayal breaks him. Like Elincia (and Sigurd/Seliph really), the person who invaded their home and jumpstarted a war in order to brute-force social change on the whole continent. So basically if you want to summon Dimitri as a Fire Emblem character up in one sentence, it's "Okay, so what if you take the main lord and deconstruct them and give them PTSD?" It's a new twist on an old formula and probably why it works so well as a character drama.

In regards to Byleth forming the last push for Dimitri's turn, I'd like to believe that the words 'Live for what you believe in' are not only the reflection of Rodrigue, but the reflection of himself. As you've established, Dimitri gave that exact advice to Byleth when they lost Jeralt. To hear those words from Byleth may not only trigger the recent memory, but also an old one. With that comes the fact that 'living for what you believe in' is shown to already be an ideal of Dimitri long before he starts to lose his compassion for the living. So, Byleth would form the last push because they had the emotional connection over this 5 years ago. And here they return the favor, not by doing something major, but just reminding Dimitri of what was inside of him all this time.

I think part of the reason people empathize with Dimitri so passionately is because his route is written from a more psychological perspective with the focus being his internal struggles rather than how Claude and edelgards routes are more motivated by sociological story telling; mainly being pushed by broader social norms and their consequences so as a result I think many people never develop the same level of attachment or empathy with them as they do with dimitri. TL;DR: dimitri’s story is one of personal struggle which we as human beings have an easier time empathizing with as opposed to more abstract concepts like historical revisionism, institutional corruption as well as flaws of feudalism and the consequences it carries for the for everyone who isn’t at the top.

_You dropped this, King-_ 👑

Don't mind me, just commenting to help this masterpiece survive the algorithm

You know what's the bad thing about playing Azure Moon? It made me reluctant to play any other routes where you have to fight Dimitri. Being Chosen as the new Brave Hero AND win the Voting Gauntlet in FEH, I say he deserved it all, and he deserves to be the next Legendary Hero, albeit as the King of Vengence.

Byleth’s “Here is something to believe in!” Gonna hit different now

7:00 super appreciate this disclaimer.

I kid you not, were Dimitri a character from some great work of literature, this could be considered a bona fide piece of literary criticism. (Whether or not video game narratives should be considered as such is an issue for another time, but I digress.) Excellent work, I enjoyed this thoroughly.

I'm going to be forever salty that the dimitri's talk about hearing the voices in his head going on for the rest of his life as well as his wishing to change the world in his own way is locked to his S-support with Byleth. Not everyone wants to S-support him and I feel it's such an important part of his story that it should have been more accessable. I'm also curious that you didn't bring up that once he starts recovering you can ask him if he still wants revenge, but he goes to say that revenge is something he never wanted and instead was something he felt obligated to obtain on the behalf of those that had died. But overall this was well worth taking the time to listen to, thank you for doing this ghast.

byleth and dimitri are very well suited romance wise but I also wish byleth had more of a personality

Made my senior quote “is this some kind of twisted joke” dedicated to the king himself

I like how Dimitri has so much empathy and compassion that other people's regrets and suffering become his own, to the point where literally drive him insane. I think you did a great job analyzing that part of his personality. Even at his lowest, he's still fighting for the weak. From Yuri's freetime dialogue, we learn that common people in Faerghus treat him as a folk hero who fights the imperial soldiers and protects them from invasion. Even though I disagree with a few of your points (e.g. Byleth not being crucial to Dimitri's redemption arc/could be replaced by Felix/Dedue), it is always refreshing to see different interpretations of the same story and characters. Like you said, there are a lot more to him than what was included in the video, which just shows how deep and complex Dimitri is. Dimitri truly deserves his popularity! Thanks for putting so much thoughts and efforts documenting his journey in this video.

the way they portrayed dimitri's route is just... poetic in a way. I found myself replaying that ending cutscene with edelgard so many times. For a scene with no words, every action spoke volumes.

Good. You just removed me from the job of writing an essay everytime someone asks "Why Dimitri?" This work of yours is a monumental treasure, man.

So glad I played BL first, felt like Dimitri was the most interesting FE lord in the last decade

I feel like Dimitri's Fodlan is the best outcome of all three routes

I like to believe Dimitri also learned the true meaning of mercy. Mercy for Edelgard, and for himself. Maybe it ties with the compassion for the living you highlight through out this analysis. Amazing job Faerghast! I really love Dimitri's character, and this doc does him justice. Long live the BL!!

The conversation with Rodrigue at Ailell in the English version of the game differs slightly from the one in Japanese. Where Rodrigue reminds Dimitri that "There are those who take up the sword in the name of revenge, and yet along the way, lose the strength and composure to follow through" in English, the Japanese version goes "There are those who don't have the strength and resources to take up the sword in the name of revenge in this world." It is a great foreshadowing of Dimitri's choice to fight for the weak and the dispossessed, and Rodrigue's death certainly adds more weight to the message. It seems to me that the English version focuses more on Dimitri's personal revenge, while the Japanese version appeals more to his compassion. I find the difference very interesting.

I'm not usually one to write RU-vid comments (most of the time, I assume they're not read because, y'know, that old adage about not not reading the comments and YT comment section makes that adage ring true), but watching this longform analysis, I had to take the time to jot something down because the attention to detail in this well-thought out analysis deserved it (plus writer's block is no joke). I always loved that Azure Moon never shied away from the pain it causes seeing Dimitri in his worst state post-skip (I honestly don't remember the last time a video game gave me those kinds of feels) and that even when he starts recovering it's a process like you said and he accepts that he will always hear voices but he will try his best to not let them suffocate and rule him. He is better but still changed and I also like that the game will tell you that his compassion is both his greatest asset and liability as well as the idea that you can be a nice person and a 'beast craving blood' and they're not mutually-exclusive. It's rare to see a game not deal in absolutes (then again, flawed perspectives and narratives is the whole basis for FE3H) and I think your analysis is bang-on because I agree with everything. And while I'd come to the same conclusions in my playthrough of Azure Moon, it's nice to see an argument why Byleth & Felix's approaches alone could not reach Dimitri regardless of how Dimitri seems to gravitate towards the former and agree with the latter before he shuts out everyone. Adding in Gilbert's perspective was a nice touch because I never end up getting that support chain because...well, I hate heavy armour units and not a fan of how he abandoned Annette, but that's here nor there for this particular topic. Anyway, all and all, thank you for the video! I enjoyed it a lot.

God I hope Marianne’s support science is even as half as detailed as this. This is insane!

“Your hands are so warm… Have they always been?” I still remember that moment years later

One of my favourite Dimitri's supports is his conversations with Marianne, they have such a genuine connection about viewing themselves as monsters and dangerous and watching them tell each other that they don't have to pretend like everything is ok around each other. Seriously watch their supports if you haven't

I love blue lions as female byleth because the progression of S ranking him feels so natural. By the end of the story, I feel like marrying him is just a part of the route. And i LOVE that

It’s been 10,000 years and we’ve finally got it

I don’t understand why everyone says Dimitri just keeps the status quo. Dimitri is debatably the most revolutionary. You don’t solve inequality by creating a meritocracy. You solve inequality through bringing the people at the bottom up. You solve inequality by giving people at the bottom the ability to participate in government. This is what Dimitri does. Claude and edelgard fail to realize this.

Finally. Your magnum opus has arrived. I'm so excited to watch. *Pops popcorn*

The Azure Moon route is this game's magnum opus. All the devs that worked on this game should be proud of the story they created and the characters they gave us. Dimitri is one of the best protagonists we've ever seen in a FIre Emblem game.

I think you did a terrific job breaking down Dimitri’s character. I personally love Dimitri as a character. I think he’s well-written, exceptionally well-acted, and his story is well executed in terms of mental illness. I can’t speak for everyone, but as someone familiar with many struggles involving mental illness and personal demons, I don’t see Dimitri’s character as problematic at all. I feel that his violent rage isn’t directly caused by his *presumed* psychosis, but by the circumstances of the war and, as you explained, his empathy for the dead overshadowing his concern for the living. I think that his S-support ending especially encapsulates a VERY important issue for many struggling with their mental health. He explains that the voices in his head have not just “gone away”. They’re still there, and he will likely have to suffer with this for all his life. His journey in overcoming his demons isn’t one of “fixing” his mental illness, but of learning to live with it and not let it consume him. I think that, compared to a lot of media portrayals of mental illness, Three Houses did a pretty great job of demonstrating the lifelong struggle and how you must learn to live with it and cope with it in order to find happiness.

Azure Moon is definitely the most well put together route in this game, no contest

I sure hope some of the VAs from 3H see this. Your Support Sciences might be the greatest content to come from the community, and I'd like for them to see how they inspire.

If I had to choose a "canon", it'd definitely be the Blue Lions path - Dimitri was my favourite lord and his arc was incredible. Awesome video!

“We should always live in the present. We owe it to those who have died.” “If someone had said that to me five years ago, I would have been a different man now."

I personally never interpreted dimitri as having psychosis, but rather severe ptsd... His breakdowns really only happen because of the triggers. Without the support of the professor, he falls more and more into darkness, unable to have a healthy support system.

I love how the three lords and their paths are this, building a better FUTURE, living for the living in the PRESENT, and facing the sins of the PAST.

As a writer, I adore when effort is taken to add symbolism to a story. The crests in Three Houses line up with the Tarot Arcana, and most characters that have a crest also display traits that correspond with that Arcana. Edelgard and Rhea have the High Priestess tarot, which represents mystery and hidden wisdom, but also secrets and deception. Dimitri's tarot is Justice, which of course represents justice, fairness, and equality, as displayed in his brighter moments as a classic Fire Emblem lord. But it also represents the spurning of those values. Timeskip Dimitri was so consumed with revenge for the dead that he temporarily rejected the justice of his people and ignored the needs and concerns of his comrades. Sorry for also making a Jojoke, but in Part 3, Justice is a Stand that manifests as a dark fog, able to puppet the bodies of the dead to torment and attack the living.

This one long support science if it’s this long and a lot of hard work was put into this. Dimitri is a great character overall.

A few things to point out: Even in the final cutscene, Dimitri thought of returning to Edelgard's corpse. That always stuck with me, showed where his mindset was, but in the end he leaves her. To improve Byleth's part in Dimitri's change while keeping the character the same, just let them reiterate the advice Dimitri gave them. Or rather, remind Dimitri that he had an answer to his plight back when Byleth lost Jeralt.

I love Dimitri so much. Blue Lions is my favorite route, with my favorite characters and favorite plot. I thought I understood Dimitri, but I was so wrong. I never got far in the Gilbert Dimitri support, so I cried when I saw it for the first time here. Thank you for this video, Ghast. It was incredibly well written and organized.

Fun fact: Claude and Annette's B support is what Dimitri is been through on Azure Moon route. Also an honorable mention: Dimitri's support conversation with Hapi where Dimitri learns the truth about the Tragedy of Duscur

What I have learnt about the comment section is that a lot of us relate to Dimitri due to the traumas we hold, we see him both as a goal and as a warning, a goal to learn how to manage our traumas so we can live our lives the best way we can and also to find forgiveness for us and a warning that show us how deep can we go if we don't take action and if we're not helping ourselves. This is my point of view and it's obviously not the same for everyone, but having a spiraling-down moment with anxiety the last months of 2020 and not trusting even my parents to tell them what was a I feeling and what was keeping me awake all night just showed me how easy it is to fall. I'll always find confort in Dimitri, I consider my traumas really small, and if someone who suffer so much as him can make progress, can fight those ghosts that kept him awake all night then I'm able to do the same. We just need to keep going, and if we fall, we need to recover, because healing is not a straight path, is full of downfalls and hills.

Dimitri's hidden chapter 8 quote is just... mwah

Honestly Mercedes could easily fill Byleth's role as his therapist with how sweet she is hell she can be my therapist

I fully agree with your assessment of Academy Dimitri. He was never normal but the time he came to the academy he had vengeance on the mind and clearly has severe self loathing and PTSD.

Dimitri's story is very well written, it makes me cry. I like Edelgard as a character, though I do not agree with her ways. I used to have a very very strong disliking for her, but I admit I like her much more now. Though, Blue Lions will forever be my favorite house, I love Dima and Felix too much, but I love the other houses a LOT. Honestly, Fire Emblem needs more love. It is such an amazing game, amazing storyline, even though I have only PLAYED Azure Moon, I've watched play throughs and researched the story. Aight I'ma be quiet now uwu

Dimitri and Marianne were my favorite characters from 3 houses. It surprised me how someone was able to tell such amazing stories for these two.

I watched this thinking I would only watch it for a minute, but I ended up watching the whole thing. Dimitri is the best written character in a video game imo, and he resonated with me on a personal and emotion level when I played my first playthrough of Three Houses. Your analysis is so great and engaging. Thank you for making this video

Blue Lions was my first route and I proudly concluded that Dimitri was the best lord in the game, and I still think that is true. Thank you Ghast, for making this video to show your love for one of FE's most interesting and cooler lords in the series.

Wow, I never really thought I would like Dimitri even more than do now lol.

After watching the video, I disagree with the point that Byleth didn’t do a whole lot to help him. While yes, Rodrigue and Dedue certainly had more of an early impact on him, I think that Byleths help came especially in the scene where him and Byleth were talking after Rodrigues death. Byleth was there for him while he was rambling about how all these 9 years were just for revenge, which was a very integral point for his development in my opinion. In this cutscene he talks about whether or not he has the right to live for himself after being the sole survivor of the Tragedy of Duscur. Byleth was there for him during this, and is the person who ‘takes him by the hand’ and leads him to see his own humanity and his value for human life again. I personally feel like only Byleth could have been the person in this cutscene, since Felix would only continue to argue with him and Gilbert wouldn’t be as compassionate as Byleth. Byleth is also the first person from his class who finds him in the clutches of the voices in his head, at the ruins of the monestary, obviously a turning point for the story. Tl dr: Byleths help came more after other characters like Rodrigue, Felix, or Dedue, and they impacted them about as much as said characters.

Fantastic work, Ghast! Dimitri was very popular at release, and I have no doubt that he still is overall. That said, the tone among the more active fans I've interacted with lately seems more critical, beyond what one would expect after the end of the honeymoon period. Some of it is deserved (for example, while I think the Fleche scene has great emotional payoff, the actual setup for how it plays out is admittedly a bit contrived), but there's a couple of criticisms that come up a lot that I think this video addresses nicely: 1. The idea that Dimitri's redemption arc is "loud" but shallow. That his psychosis can be summed up by "edgy" crit quotes that he just magically heals when the game needs it, while Edelgard and Claude have much more subtle depth. I think the other lords are also well-written and have their development, but I would hold that those journeys are less complex than Dimitri's. And that's okay, because their routes are less focused on the lord's development, covering things like lore or themes of choice and revolution. Dimitri's arc isn't made bad by its scale. I mean, this video is 1.5 hours long of great content, and like you said, there's still SO much about Dimitri's character that could be discussed. 2. Like I briefly mentioned before, the idea that Dimitri is "magically" healed back to normal from an irredeemable monster after one conversation with Byleth. For one, that ignores the fact that he is already clearly on the uphill at least since his reunion with Rodrigue, well before Gronder. Even at his worst, Dimitri still shows compassion for the weak (though his terrible behavior should not be glossed over). I also don't understand how anyone can hear redeemed Dimitri's battle dialogue and A Supports and somehow think this is a guy that is "healed". I think you did a great job demonstrating his continual struggle. It's best to not let the opinion of some person on the internet to negatively affect your enjoyment of a character, but I admit that it's still really nice to hear someone else who had a similar experience as I did after exposure to somewhat exhausting dialogue. Watching this brought back some of those feelings I had when first playing Azure Moon. I look forward to more quality content!

Dimitri is hands down the best lord of all fire emblem don't @ me

just finished watching this video, it was damn beautiful. all my thoughts on dimitri in one video, and explained so well that- truly- congratulations. i'm so glad to know dimitri is getting so much attention these days, he's a beautiful, well-written character, and my favorite lord so far, surpassing both hector and ike. my heart warms up to the thought of so many people understanding his character better thanks to this video. thank you, ghast, for this. and thank you all of the fellow blue lions for keeping me company in this comment section

36:28 This idea of using Dedue or Felix to be the story-relevant character that makes Dimitri get his act together is simply not possible in a game where those characters can perma-die before those scenes. I feel like the avatar-centric and lord-centric stories in Fire Emblem are direct consequences of the constraints that perma-death in gameplay imposes on storytelling.

I don't know exactly why but I started crying near the end.

I’ve been excitedly waiting for this, and it didn’t disappoint! I feel like the 3h fandom has a tendency to dive so deep into headcanon that people forget what the canon is, and it’s so refreshing to see a solid, well thought out analysis of canon Dimitri. He’s a truly fascinating character. Keep up the great work!

One of my favorite Fire Emblem characters of all time. Can't wait to watch this video!

I always thought that dimitri’s more violent lines from the academy phase, like remire, and clear examples of the bloody battlefield triggering his ptsd... like u can clearly see him reliving the events in his head

I'm crying... Dimitri has been through shit. He needs hugs. Several of them. Perhaps a fluffy blanket. I need hugs too... I wanna hug Dimitri so badly... T^T

I love how this game shows Dimitri at his best and his worst you see him try to mask his negative tendencies such as his desire for revenge over the academy phase but eventually he can’t hide it any longer and bam we get beginning of post timeskip dimitri. But over the post timeskip we see him truly grow out of this, face his demons and regain his humanity. And All of this is played to perfection by Chris Hackney can’t praise this character enough for his writing and his portrayal

Who thought it was ok to make me cry like this I live Dimitri so much..

I doubt anyone will read this, but Dimitri is now tied with Shulk from Xenoblade as my favorite character of all time. Something that I genuinely didn't think could happen. They both are such well done characters, and gives me hope for writing in video games. Dimitri will probably always be my favorite lord now, and I'm okay with that.

And that's the long explanation on why I use a Dimitri skin on Minecraft.

I am honestly so glad I chose the Blue Lions. I was grieving my own father at the time. And seeing this video game blonde boy turn into a monster, but come back into the light with the worst of it helped me motivate to keep going today. I will be always thankful for that. That’s why Dimitri is a great character to me.

This video is incredibly well executed. From its discussion of mental health, treatment of all branches of Three Houses' story, and insightful and nuanced looks into Dimitri's interpersonal relationships, it is clear that this video was created with great care and passion. Keep on doing what you're doing, Ghast. This is fantastic work.

Finally. It's been 3000 years.

I'm not gonna go into some long thing about why I think Dimitri is an amazing character and how I think he's one of the most impactful characters in anything I've ever seen. You already did that. So I'll leave you with a simple: Great job! 👍 I really enjoyed this!

Blue Lions are the best! 10+ min in and I'm already excited. This is beautifully written and narrated. The edition flawless, the voice acting dynamic. Can't wait to watch it entirely! YOU FAERGHAST are the most passionate FE fan and we love you for it. Good Job!

The only problem I've ever had towards Dimitri is S-Supporting someone other than him during a Blue Lion's play-through. It's so painfully apparent he has a major crush on Byleth, that I feel kinda horrible for romancing/platonic(ing) it up with anyone else.

I finished Dimitri's route as my first playthrough recently. He is easily one of the most well written characters of any medium of all time, rivaling even General Caesar from Fallout: New Vegas. This video helps to further cement that opinion. Well done

Dimitri is one of the best characters in the game in my opinion, his story is so well told and his relationship with Edelgard is interesting to

Out of all of them Dimitri is the best written in my opinion. He is a character that suffers multiple anxiety disorders such as PSTD(yes he has it, he shows almost all the symptoms from nightmares to headaches ect.) and quite possibly scizophrenia which often does occur together with PTSD. Depending what route you pick he sadly dies or you manage to bring him back into the light out of the darkness.