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Edelgard is a playable character and one of the protagonists in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. She is the princess and heir apparent of the Adrestian Empire. Possessing both a minor Crest in Seior and major Crest of Flames. In the officers academy, she is the house leader of the Black Eagles.

Biography

Early life

Born in Imperial Year 1162, Edelgard is the fourth daughter of Emperor Ionius IX, the princess and heir to the Adrestian Empire, and a student at the Officers Academy in Garreg Mach Monastery. She is also the house leader of the Black Eagles.

In Imperial Year 1171, at the age of 9, she and her mother, Patricia, were taken by her uncle, Lord Volkhard von Arundel, to Fhirdiad in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus during the Insurrection of the Seven. Volkhard was one of the key conspirators against Edelgard's father, and with his help Duke Aegir stripped the emperor of much of his power. Though her mother eventually married King Lambert, Edelgard continued to live with her uncle.

She later met and befriended Dimitri, the crown prince of Faerghus, though he did not learn that she was his step-sister until years afterward. The two spent much time together with Edelgard teaching him how to dance. Edelgard returned to the Empire in 1174 without her mother. Before she departed, Dimitri gifted her a dagger, which she held onto since, but forgot how she obtained it.

Edelgard's childhood afterward was much more traumatic. Upon her return to the Empire, she soon found that her father had been reduced to nothing more than a political puppet. Alongside her ten siblings, she was subjected to painful Crest experiments by Those Who Slither in the Dark with the of the Adrestian nobles. Though her father objected, he could do nothing to stop them. As a result, most of her siblings were driven mad from the experiments or died from exhaustion. By the end of it all, only Edelgard was able to survive and retain her sanity, leaving her the sole success. As a result she bore a second Crest, the Crest of Flames, however the second crest turned her hair white.

These events would forever color her view of Crests, the Church of Seiros, and the caste system of Fódlan.

Academy phase

In 1180, she arrived at Garreg Mach Monastery to complete her education, and was resolved to reclaim what her father had lost.

Sometime before meeting Byleth, Edelgard took on the guise of the Flame Emperor. The suit used Agarthan technology to heavily distort her voice to protect her true identity. As the Flame Emperor she employed bandits led by Kostas to assassinate Dimitri and Claude, believing that eliminating the future leaders of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance would make her plans to unify Fódlan against the Church of Seiros easier. However, that failed due to Byleth's intervention. After being saved by Byleth, she came to hold interest towards them while also staying cautious. She formed an alliance of convenience with Those Who Slither in the Dark, as they both oppose the church, though she despises them for their callous attitude towards collateral damage. During the attack on Remire Village, as the Flame Emperor, she encounters Byleth and Jeralt and offers an alliance. When Byleth refuses, the Emperor had expected the reaction but warns about their decisions in the future.

Within the school year, she asks the students of the Officers Academy to hold a reunion five years later on the eve of the monastery's millennium festival. Eventually, she convinces Ionius IX to abdicate and assumes the Adrestian throne, an event Byleth can witness if they are her professor.

After being unmasked as the Flame Emperor in the Holy Tomb, Edelgard formally declares war on the Church. She launches a full-scale invasion of Garreg Mach Monastery, and the monastery is overrun and Byleth goes missing.

War phase

Crimson Flower

If Byleth chooses to desert the Church to remain with Edelgard, she and Hubert are extremely grateful. Edelgard organizes her former classmates into an elite task force known as the Black Eagle Strike Force. After the Battle of Garreg Mach, Archbishop Rhea takes refuge in Fhirdiad and Edelgard spends the next five years locked in a bitter stalemate with the Kingdom and the Alliance.

Eventually, Byleth returns in Imperial Year 1185, and with their aid Edelgard is swiftly able to conquer Leicester and either kill Claude or force him into exile. After beating back an attempt by the Church to retake Garreg Mach, Edelgard begins military operations against Faerghus in earnest.

She first conquers Arianrhod, a fortress on the western border between Adrestia and Faerghus. Afterwards, she begins a direct march for Fhirdiad. Dimitri and Rhea move to intercept her at the Tailtean Plains, but Rhea is driven off and Dimitri is slain in battle. The group finally arrives in Fhirdiad, and Rhea orders the city burned to the ground in order to slow them down and transforms into her ultimate form, the Immaculate One. Edelgard, Byleth, and the Black Eagle Strike Force engage her in battle. Ultimately, the Empire emerges victorious and Rhea is slain. With all of Fódlan under Adrestia's dominion, Edelgard finally begins the reforms she always wanted to bring to the nobility and the Crest system and begins a silent war against "those who slither in the dark".

Silver Snow

If the Church route is chosen, she accepts her defeat by Byleth's hands and asks them to grant her an honorable death. Right before Byleth's blade cuts her down her last words are of how she wishes they could’ve walked their path together.

Azure Moon

The evening of the Ball, the Flame Emperor is seen conversing with Thales. When The Flame Emperor teleports, a dagger is left behind, one that Dimitri recognizes. In the Holy Tomb, the revelation that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor causes Dimitri to snap, immediately slaughtering her accompanying troops with utter brutality. Though forced to retreat, with her identity now revealed, Edelgard formally ascends the throne of the Adrestian Empire and declares war on the Church of Seiros. Her first battle involves her forces attacking Garreg Mach Monastery. Though the students and Knights of Seiros are able to repel the initial wave, more soldiers arrive, now with Demonic Beasts under Empire command. As a result of this, Rhea, despite transforming into a Dragon, is captured and imprisoned in the Empire while Byleth goes missing.

Over five years, the Adrestian Empire has gained control of the Monastery, sending most of the Knights of Seiros into hiding. Dimitri is ousted from his rightful place as heir to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and forced into hiding while a woman by the name of Cornelia becomes Queen and aligns with the Empire, making Faerghus a puppet country.

By 1185, Adrestia has all but conquered all of Fódlan. However, Byleth reappears after their five year disappearance and is able to find Dimitri. In Great Tree Moon 1185, the armies of the Adrestian Empire, Faerghus rebel army accompanied by the Knights of Seiros, and the Leicester Alliance meet at Gronder Field much like the mock battle held at the Academy five years prior. Edelgard personally leads the Adrestian forces, but is eventually defeated by Byleth and Dimitri, forcing her to retreat. As she gathers her troops, especially once Dimitri reclaims Faerghus from Cornelia and after he captures Fort Merceus, she receives a message from Dimitri to meet him in private. Accompanied by Hubert she converses, with Dimitri about their past. Though the prince tries to see eye to eye with her, she refuses to give up her ambitions. At an ime, Dimitri returns the dagger she dropped five years ago, the one he had gifted her when they were children. The two depart, but acknowledge the next time they would meet would be in battle as enemies.

During the Verdant Rain Moon, 1185, the Kingdom of Faerghus invades the capital of Adrestia, Enbarr, killing Hubert. Left with the Adrestian Castle as her only defense, she willingly unleashes the power of her two Crests, transforming her into a Hegemon Husk, a monstrosity of immense power in a last ditch effort to stop Byleth, Dimitri, and their army. Despite her fierce attacks and her remaining loyal soldiers laying down their lives for her, she is eventually defeated by Dimitri and Byleth. As her monster form dissipates, Dimitri offers his hand to the weakened emperor. Refusing to accept his mercy, Edelgard throws the dagger into Dimitri's shoulder just as he stabs her with Areadbhar in retaliation, killing the emperor and ending her ambitions. With her death, Adrestia merges into the now united Fódlan under the rule of its first united ruler, King Dimitri.

Verdant Wind

If the Golden Deer's path is chosen, she is defeated by the combined forces of the Knights of Seiros, the Alliance military, and Almyra military. She accepts her defeat by Byleth's hands and asks them to grant her an honorable death. Right before Byleth's blade cuts her down her last words are of how she wishes they could’ve walked their path together.

Personality

Edelgard holds herself with a dignified air, but full of melancholy and solemn wistfulness. As heir of the Adrestian Empire, she is an exemplary student and a natural leader. She keeps a modest front, rarely cutting loose and maintains formality. Her colleagues express great surprise whenever she does relax. While generally a private person, she does recognize the importance of her duties and expresses confidence and faith in the abilities of her allies.

She is a capable dancer, having taught Dimitri at a young age and has a talent for drawing portraits, though she is embarrassed to show them to others. She has a personal nickname, El, of whom she only allows very close individuals, namely family, to call her.

Edelgard is far more complex than she initially appears as she is ambitious, cunning, and ruthless. There are few lines, if any, that she is unwilling to cross in order to achieve her objectives. She is willing to sacrifice others for the greater good, ally with people she despises if it will give her an advantage, and manipulate others for the sake of her goals. She is responsible for or at least accomplice to many of the schemes that occur before and during the Academy Phase of the game, although outwardly she feigns ignorance. While she is allied with Those Who Slither in the Dark, she does so begrudgingly and expresses no grievances for their deaths, even planning on betraying them immediately after her war is over.

Edelgard strongly believes that the ends will justify the means if she were to win the war. She states in the Azure Moon route that she went to war after weighing all options and determined that it would be much faster with far fewer casualties than to continue on in the continent's current state. She despises the structure of Fódlan society and believes that someone needed to put an end to it. She also desires not to remain Emperor forever as she readily gives it up to a worthy successor in many of her shared endings.

Dimitri has had a significant impact on her life as the two are step-siblings when her mother Patricia married King Lambert. In their childhood, neither were aware of their relationship to each other, but they were close nonetheless, with Dimitri affectionately calling her "El" which only those particularly close to her are allowed to call her. Dimitri gifted her a dagger which she held well into the present despite not ing how she obtained it. The dagger symbolically was given to her to carve out her own ideals and face the numerous hardships she had to endure up until the present. If met at the Goddess Tower during the Academy Phase, she its that her first love was a Faerghus noble, implied to be Dimitri. Despite her feelings towards him, it does not spare him from her ambitions as she is willing to sacrifice him as early as the Prologue to gain an advantage in her plans and is the one to personally execute him in the Crimson Flower route, albeit begrudgingly. In the Azure Moon route, she accepts Dimitri's invitation to parley on a whim. While she refuses to end the war peacefully, she is nonetheless able to express her gratitude to him for the dagger and the strength it provided her when he reminds her that it was a parting gift from him.

In truth, Edelgard's personality and ambitions are a result of tragedies that painted her view of the world. The traumatic imprisonment of her siblings and herself due to the experiments of Those Who Slither in the Dark created her hatred of Crests. She also despises most nobility, especially the Adrestian Nobles, as they are partially responsible for the circumstances leading to said experiments, but also due to the fact that Crests are used as societal leverage by most nobles as a sign of their prestige when they themselves have shown nothing worthy to earn such respect. She even shows sympathy and pity to Miklan, whom she praises for becoming a leader despite being disowned for not inheriting his family Crest, finding his death "to be a waste." One of her main goals is the dismantle the current nobility system and having the people earn their position by merit rather than birthright.

Her radically opposing view of the Church of Seiros is a result of her belief that the Church is largely responsible for Fodlan's current state. She argues that the Church has considerable political power and that they eliminate anyone who opposes them. However, while she's largely correct about the Church's influence over Fodlan and the truth behind Nemesis and Seiros's conflict, she is completely ignorant to the circumstances behind said conflict, does not realize the Church values peace above all else and thus why they refuse to use the influence they have to take more control of the continent, and she makes Rhea out to be an unrepentant monster as a result. She refuses to even entertain the idea of compromising with Rhea as a result, seeing her as both a threat and someone who holds humanity back. Despite this, she does not dismiss spirituality as a whole on the Crimson Flower path. While she does not care for it, her s with Manuela showcase a willingness to at least understand why people are devoted to religion. She herself its that she has not made an enemy of the faith itself, but Rhea, and a few the Crimson Flower endings reveal that the Church has been restored, albeit under the Empire's supervision. This is not the case on the other routes, where her intolerance leads all worshipers to flee any territory under her control due to her opposing their worship. Ultimately she believes that humanity is strong enough to create their own future without the need of a higher being to dictate it.

Edelgard's relationship with Byleth greatly affects her fate in the war. If Byleth sides with her, Edelgard its in a that she feared that she would have become "a harsh ruler with a heart of ice" if she had to walk her path alone. In the other routes where she is not taught by them or where Byleth sides with the church against her, she becomes exactly so, even willing to become a literal monster in the Azure Moon route for the sake of her ambitions. Even defeated and weakened, she stubbornly chooses to attack Dimitri with the very dagger he gave to her, prompting him to kill her. However, should they choose to her into the Crimson Flower Route, she has a far easier time expressing kindness and regret over her actions over the course of the game. She will opt to force her enemies to surrender instead of wiping them all out, and will even offer to spare Rhea at the end of her route. She also has several fleeting moments of peace and happiness, even drawing a portrait of Byleth, though she will hide and try to deny it when they catch a glimpse of it.

She appears to have an attachment of sorts towards Byleth. In the Black Eagles route, she makes several attempts to get Byleth to understand her world view, even as Hubert advised her that would not be wise. She also invites Byleth to her coronation. In the Crimson Flower route, Dorothea notes that among the Black Eagles, Edelgard was the most emotionally affected by Byleth's disappearance. Edelgard's fondness for Byleth goes so far as to encourage Byleth to call her El and even let Byleth give her orders on the battlefield despite her hatred of not being in control.

Interests: Reading, solitary exploration

Likes: Talented individuals, debating historical viewpoints and strategic nature, beautiful scenery.

Dislikes: Outdated values, Crests, rats, chains, swimming, loosing control.