Characters / Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Black Eagles Part Two

aka: Fire Emblem Three Houses Bernadetta

Fire Emblem: Three Houses characters index
Main Characters: Byleth | Edelgard | Dimitri | Claude | Rhea | Other Main Characters
Houses: The Black Eagles (Part One, Part Two) | The Blue Lions (Part One, Part Two) | The Golden Deer (Part One, Part Two)
Garreg Mach Factions: The Ashen Wolves | The Church of Seiros | Officers Academy Instructors and Staff
The Three Nations of Fódlan: The Adrestian Empire | The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus | The Leicester Alliance
Other: Historical Figures | The Flame Emperor Army | Those who slither in the dark | Other Characters

Dorothea

Dorothea Arnault

Class: Commoner → Monk → Mage → Warlock (Three Houses), Monk → Mage → Gremory (Three Hopes)

Age: 18 (9/29)

Height: 170 cm

Voiced by: Juri Nagatsuma (Japanese), Allegra Clark (English)

^{Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)}

^{Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)}

Mystical Songstress / Beloved Heart

"Anyway, I'm not just playing games with these boys. This is for my future. You have no right to object. I very much want to find a good partner here at the academy. Someone who will take care of me for the rest of my life."

A former songstress who enrolled in the Officers Academy. She was once in the Mittelfrank Opera Company and admires Manuela, who was her senior at said company. She's the only commoner in the Black Eagles, but she tries to treat her classmates as equals.

Her personal ability, Songstress, restores the HP of any allies adjacent to her at the start of the turn.

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• Accidentally-Correct Writing: In-Universe example. In her support with Edelgard, her improv opera verse ends up flustering Edelgard, not because of her pipes, but because Dorothea's joking attempt at melodrama hits way too close to home.
• Adaptational Modesty: Her post-timeskip outfit in Three Hopes removes the boob window she had in Three Houses and no longer shows off her bare shoulders.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Downplayed. Her Sugary Malice towards Ferdinand is mostly gone in Three Hopes and she's on more cordial terms with him, going so far as to tease and flirt with him and even caring about his feelings when Linhardt brings up his father's death in his presence. This is because, in her Support with Ferdinand, she overhears him telling Edelgard about the "water nymph" he saw in Enbarr and realizes he ran because he was embarrassed, not disgusted like she thought.
• All Lesbians Want Kids: In the Japanese version of the game, her paired ending with female Byleth reveals that they ended up adopting and raising many kids together.
• All Take and No Give: Dorothea is looking for a spouse she can grow old with and flirts with many noble characters for this reason, but while she has several criteria for them to meet for her to consider them as a potential match, Dorothea seems to think that being beautiful is the only thing she's required to contribute to the relationship. Her supports with Lorenz show how, when confronted by someone who has the same goal of finding a spouse, but one who has something to offer his family, her motives are ultimately shallow and selfish. She does start to mature out of this mindset post-timeskip as thanks to the war, she's changed her views on what she wants.
• Babies Ever After: In her paired endings with Ferdinand and Hanneman. Also in her endings with both of the Byleths in the Japanese version.
• Battle Couple: With Felix on the Azure Moon route, where she throws herself into battle alongside him when his role as right hand of the King inevitably causes him to get into a scuffle.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Zig-zagged. Her artwork doesn't show any scars or blemishes, but her supports reinforce that she has had a tough life despite her natural beauty. Her support with Monica explains that she does have scars, they're just not on parts of her body that are easily exposed or readily talked about.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: In her supports with Felix, where he's irritated by her pushiness and she's irritated by his jerkish behavior. However, after a bout of sparring, they develop respect for each other, and start having tea together. Naturally, they can get married.
• Best Friend: With Edelgard, implied in Three Houses and stated outright in Three Hopes. Notably this does not prevent Dorothea from potentially being recruited to another house or faction in either game. They do repeatedly reaffirm their bond, however, and are apologetic and understanding if they come into conflict. Additionally, both are also open to the idea of a romantic relationship between them.
  • In Three Hopes, Dorothea reveals in Chapter 4 camp dialogue that Edelgard even told her about her plans for the war long before they started.
• Bond One-Liner:
  "All roses have thorns!" (pre timeskip)
  "Only thorns left on this rose..." (post timeskip)
  "This is my stage, now." (post timeskip)
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In one monastery conversation, Dorothea mimics the Gatekeeper's catchphrase of "Nothing to report!"
• Brainy Brunette: While she did some "buttering up" (which not only has the usual implication, but more unsavory things thanks to Manuela's application of the same phrase) to some nobles to get her foot in the door, she also studied and aced all of her entrance exams to the academy. Her most powerful talent is Reason, and she shows a great deal of skill at social manipulation outside of simple seduction. In some of her endings she takes various roles in government and ends up being amazing at it, most notably if she becomes Petra's lover, where her diplomatic skills and advice make her irreplaceable for Petra's rule over Brigid.
• Breakout Character: Thanks to her Penny Among Diamonds status and refusal to mince words, it's no wonder she's as beloved as she is. This is best shown in the fact that she is often the most recruited character, as well as being one of the most deployed units.
• Broken Bird: After the timeskip, it's clear from her quotes in battle that the past five years of constant warfare have not been kind to her mental state; she keeps it together well enough out of combat, but her battlefield lines have gone from cheerful and somewhat sassy before the skip to sounding weary and worn down afterward.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Subverted in her support with Manuela. A hungover Manuela reveals how proud she is to be Dorothea's primary inspiration and that she does her best to set a good example for her, but is ashamed of her faults and the bad reputation she had even back with the Mittelfrank Opera Company. Manuela is stunned and dismayed by the knowledge that Dorothea was aware of her reputation, but Dorothea laughs it off, telling her that everyone has their faults and that she hasn't lost any respect for her at all.
    Dorothea: What I mean to say is... You're my inspiration. I really do admire you.
  • Played straight should they come to blows after the timeskip, where Manuela asks Dorothea if she's ready to kill her for what she believes in. Dorothea admits that she isn't, but attacks regardless.
• Brutal Honesty: Dorothea does not hold back at all when she wants to tell people how she truly feels. In her support with Ferdinand for example, when he asks if she hates him, she very bluntly comments that yes, she does, and assumed he was too stupid to notice.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Dorothea's academy outfit, post-timeskip outfits, and her bikini in Heroes all show off her ample cleavage, and given how much she flirts with men, it's clear she's using her assets to her advantage.
• The Cameo: Appears alongside Edelgard and Petra on the Garreg Mach Monastery DLC stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, watching the fight as it moves into the Reception Hall.
• Cannot Spit It Out: More like won't, but she refuses to explain to Ferdinand why she doesn't like him and instead cryptically tells him he reminds her "of a bee," something that puzzles Ferdinand greatly. She only gives him a proper reason once they reunite after the timeskip: She thought that he glared at her as a child and then ran off, so she now believes his kindness as a noble is a hypocritical front, and he's only nice to her now that she's a beautiful songstress instead of a street urchin, like a bee attracted to a flower in bloom—that's why she compared Ferdinand to a bee. But it actually turns out Ferdinand stared at her as a child because he was entranced by her, and he only ran off because he was embarrassed.
• Character Development:
  • At the start of the game, Dorothea was only interested in finding a rich spouse who'd be able to provide for her. Despite being one of the most kind and empathetic characters in the game, Dorothea acknowledges that her goals are selfish and hates herself for it. She wants a genuine relationship and someone to grow old with, but fear of returning to the streets makes her focus on only finding a rich spouse. After the timeskip, Dorothea has stopped focusing on only finding a rich spouse and wants someone who'll genuinely love her.
  • Because of her mistreatment by the nobility, both as a street orphan and as a songstress, Dorothea is very prejudicial and sour against nobles, especially males (though in her B-Support with Hanneman, she says she only hates nobles who are obsessed with their status). This is most evident in her supports with Sylvain for his womanizing and Ferdinand and Lorenz for their pompousness. After the timeskip, Dorothea has learned to let go of her prejudice (mostly) and treats her noble allies more kindly.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome:
  • In both Three Houses and Three Hopes, Dorothea is in the rare scenario of having no duty to participate in war on any side, but still refuses to leave whatever side she has chosen. When fighting for other factions, it's implied she just wants to see the war end quickly, whoever wins.
  • In Three Houses on the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard offers her (and everyone) an opportunity to walk away. In Dorothea's Three Hopes supports, Edelgard, Hubert, and Monica all remind her she doesn't have to fight alongside them, and could easily serve in other ways if she wished. Dorothea's response to all of this is that her rationale is that Edelgard is fighting on the front lines for what she believes in, and she wants to fight by Edie's side. Additionally, her conscience wouldn't let her be at peace not fighting for her life while others are. But even more, Dorothea confirms that she wants to be the definitive example of Edelgard's goal of commoners and nobles working hand-in-hand.
• Closet Gay: Inverted. Out of all the characters she is the one that is the most open about her bisexuality and unlike most other Gay Options it is not limited to Byleth as she also hits on Edelgard and Ingrid in her support conversation with them. In Three Hopes she casually mentions during an expedition with Shez that her hopes for the future include finding a handsome husband or a beautiful wife.
• Combat Medic: By default, Dorothea's proficient with swords and offensive magic, and while she starts out with a low growth in faith, the skill used for healing, it also doubles as her hidden talent, which converts it into a high growth rate after some work.
• Cool Big Sis:
  • She acts this way towards Bernadetta in their support, telling Bernadetta she's proud to be her commoner friend, and that if her father tried to attack Dorothea, she'd return the favor and beat him up even harder.
  • She’s caring and protective of Ingrid in the “Rumored Nuptials” paralogue, assisting Ingrid in the battle to prevent her from being forced into an Arranged Marriage with a shady merchant, though her attitude is decidedly more flirtatious than "sisterly".
• Cuteness Proximity: Dorothea clearly finds Caspar to be absolutely adorable. In their support in Three Houses, Dorothea gushes and calls him a "cute little boy" after she makes him call her "big sis", to his annoyance. In Three Hopes, she thinks of him as a "cute baby brother whose cheeks [she] wants to pinch".
• Dark and Troubled Past: Dorothea believes that she was the illegitimate child of an affair between a noble and a lady-in-waiting. Because she didn't have a Crest, she was tossed out of the household along with her mother who died shortly after. Dorothea grew up alone on the streets while being mistreated by the nobles and outright stated that some of them even physically hurt her. Even after joining the Mittelfrank Opera Company and becoming the Mystical Songstress, she was still objectified by the nobles and viewed only as a beautiful woman to be won rather than a person. It is implied that several people attempted to kidnap her for themselves.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dorothea can be hilariously snarky and sassy at times, particularly towards Ferdinand and Caspar.
• Death from Above: She is one of three units that are capable of learning Meteor, a long-ranged spell that deals damage to the target and deals map damage to adjacent enemies (the others being Hanneman and Anna).
• Depraved Bisexual: Inverted. She's openly bisexual and is one of the most kind, supportive and empathetic characters in the game.
• Does Not Like Spam: Dorothea dislikes most fish-based dishes in the dining hall, and during the fishing tournament in Chapter 7, expresses a distaste for fish.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Part of the reason she dislikes Ferdinand. When she was poor as a child living on the street, she was washing herself in a fountain when he walked in on her. When he saw her, he stared, then ran away. She assumed he was disgusted by her and her poverty, and is disgusted with him playing the egalitarian noble who respects everyone when she believes she knows it's all a front. When she finally mentions it to him, Ferdinand reveals that he was actually smitten with her as a child. So much so he thought her beauty was so great that he lost his nerve and ran away. By the time he worked up the courage to see her, she had left the fountain. He, in fact, didn't make the link that the unearthly beauty he saw as a child was Dorothea when the two met at the Monastery until she mentioned it. Dorothea is understandably rather shaken at the reveal, touched to the point of tears and admitting she had for some time wanted to believe in him, but also admitting she has a lot to let go of regarding her past perceptions of him.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Dorothea has two female marriage possibilties (Petra and Byleth), Edelgard openly discusses being open to a relationship with her, Manuela's paired ending with her states that their relationship was "full of light and love", Monica in Hopes pines for her almost as much as she does for Edelgard, and even Bernadetta remarks that she finds Dorothea "pretty" and "dazzling".
• Everyone Has Standards: Dorothea rather shamelessly flirts with any noble regardless of gender. However, she makes no attempts to woo Bernadetta, recognizing that the poor girl needs a good friend more than she needs a lover. While the two get along remarkably well, their support caps at B.
• Fanservice Pack: Her bust goes from the 6th biggest pre-timeskip to the 5th biggest post-timeskip, surpassing Marianne.
• First-Name Basis: Since she and Manuela were in the same opera company, Dorothea addresses her without the "Professor" title, something Byleth makes note of when asking Dorothea for information in Chapter 6.
• Flower Motif: Commonly compares herself to a rose, ephemeral and beautiful to look at, but packing a thorny side beneath the petals.
• Friend to All Children: Post-timeskip on the Silver Snow route, she says she was looking after kids who lost their parents, and if recruited on the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes, near the end of the game, she says that they have to make a world where children can grow up safe and happy.
• Gold Digger: Downplayed. She has a habit of flirting with different people, but it's because she believes she needs to find someone before her youthful beauty fades away into old age and no one will be interested in her. A lot of her supports in the second half of the game is realizing she was taking it to a self-destructive degree, particularly Petra's. Felix calls her out on it.
• Grow Old with Me: Her ultimate goal in finding someone. Her ending with Sylvain even mentions that his promise to do so with her is what convinces her to accept his proposal. Of her 14 possible partners, her only English endings that neither explicitly confirm marriage or growing old with someone are with with Edelgard, Hubert, and Yuri (and even then, Edelgard confirmed in their B support that she's open to it).
• Happily Married: She is this in the majority of her endings. Notably even in her solo ending she still finds love, with her solo ending citing this trope word for word.
  • Dorothea is one of only ten characters to have two possible titles at the end game. Dorothea's title "Devoted Heart" ("For the Sake of Her Beloved" in Japanese) is reserved only for endings that explicitly confirm a marriage, with two exceptions: She does not get that title with Lorenz, despite the ending stating they married, and she does get that title with Petra even though their ending is a little bit more ambiguous.
• The Heart: Dorothea is one of the most openly kind and supportive members of the Black Eagles, and also voices the most concerns addressing the morality of their actions. She often finds herself sympathizing with the enemy, and is greatly conflicted after the timeskip when she must take up arms and potentially kill her old classmates.
• Heroic Bastard: She never knew her father, and believes him to have been a noble who slept with her maid mother, but she's a genuinely kind, thoughtful and well-meaning woman, who, depending on the route, fights to destroy a corrupt system, liberate the Kingdom and Alliance from an invasion, or destroy the yoke of those who slither in the dark.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Dorothea's dislikes include herself.
• Hypocrite:
  • When it comes to nobles, Dorothea tends to be very judgmental and harsh towards them even though she frequently displays behavior she criticizes them for, such as being angry with Lorenz for stating he would only marry a noble who can improve his house's standing, even though she came to Garreg Mach to catch herself a wealthy spouse to raise her standing. Luckily, she (mostly) grows out of this mindset after the timeskip and becomes more polite, recognizing that her views were wrongly placed in most of her Supports.
  • It's downplayed, but she will mention in her B-Rank support with Byleth that she doesn't actually like talking to them because she feels like Byleth is silently judging her and seeing through all of her insecurities. Which again, given her treatment of Lorenz, Sylvain, and Ferdinand, is quite the dissonance.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: While thrilled when Byleth proposes in their S-rank, she needs confirmation that a war hero would really want to be with someone like her.
  "Even though I'm not a songstress anymore? And I don't come from a noble family or have any wealth or land to my name? You won the war. You could pick anyone in the world. Why would you..."
• I Just Want to Be Loved: In her A-support with Byleth, Dorothea recounts her time with the Mittelfrank Opera Company, surrounded by high-status people who saw her as a spectacle to be admired and cared only for her beauty and status. She reveals that she desires someone to love and accept her for herself, rather than her superficial qualities.
  Dorothea: That's why I keep searching for someone who will love me. Someone unaware of the songstress, who can love a girl that used to be scared and alone on the streets of the capital...
• Incompatible Orientation: Played for Laughs. The second she goes from friendly discussion over Ingrid's appeals to straight up flirting Ingrid shuts her down.
  Ingrid: Permission not granted. Ever.
• Interclass Friendship: With most of the cast considering most of them are nobles, but this is especially the case with Edelgard, as they consider each other "dearest friends." In Three Hopes, Dorothea states to Hubert and Monica that part of the reason she is fighting on the front lines and not leveraging her capacity as a celebrity diva is to be the model example of Edelgard's goal - the Emperor and a former street urchin commoner working "side by side and hand in hand."
  Dorothea: I want to be here fighting as a representative of the peasant class. However selfish it might be, I feel this is the best way to help Edie as she tries to erase the gap between nobles and commoners.
• Irony: Dorothea dislikes nobles, yet she's in a house almost entirely comprised of them - she is the only commoner in the Black Eagles. Plus she herself possibly has some noble ancestry on her father's side.
• Jack of All Trades: As far as the mages in Three Houses go, Dorothea is one of the most versatile, having access to Physic for long-range healing, Thoron and Meteor for long-range attacks, and Agnea's Arrow for sheer power. She also has an affinity for swords and high Charm (making her ideal for the Dancer class), and her Songstress personal skill lets her heal adjacent allies for free each turn. Having Meteor also allows her to contribute Linked Attack and Gambit Boost bonuses to allies from an extreme distance, and her large number of Support chains allow her to give bonuses to a good portion of the cast. However, she isn't as potent at raw damage as other designated spellcasters like Lysithea or Constance, with her growths being rather average in terms of mages, making her decent overall but not very specialized. She also is not as potent as designated healers like Mercedes or Flayn, nor does she get utility spells like Silence, Warp, etc., which other characters like Manuela can acquire.
• Jerkass to One: She's normally a friendly person, but she holds a level of contempt towards Sylvain, Lorenz, and especially Ferdinand. She views Sylvain as a misogynist while she believes both Lorenz and Ferdinand fall into the Aristocrats Are Evil, due to her own bad experiences with nobles.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: She gains a default outfit post-timeskip for the Mage, Warlock and Dancer classes that is essentially a gorgeous ballroom gown and adorned with jewelry.
• Lady of Black Magic: A beautiful and flirtatious songstress who styles herself with an elegant air. Her preferred classline is the Mage line, and as a Mage and Warlock post-timeskip she wears a bejeweled ballroom gown.
• Lethal Chef:
  • In her supports with Petra, Dorothea offers to make her a Brigid-style meal to ease any feelings of homesickness. Petra politely declines, as Dorothea's cooking is, to put it lightly, "horrendous."
  • If Dorothea is selected to help with food prep at the monastery, she reveals she's of the "it's all the same in your stomach" mindset when it comes to cooking. Though with Byleth's help, she's not entirely hopeless.
• Like Brother and Sister: Her support with Caspar reveals she sees him like a little brother, and she teasingly reveals doesn't mind him calling her "big sis." She reveals in their A-Support a potential subversion in that while she still sees him that way, however, she wouldn't mind the idea of spending the rest of her life with him if neither find a significant other.
• Lipstick Lesbian:
  • Downplayed. She is very feminine in her appearance and is also bisexual as she can end up married to either a man or a woman and she openly flirts with Edelgard during one of their support scenes. She also tries flirting with Ingrid but is quickly rejected by her.
  • In Three Hopes she laments that the Officers Academy shutting down means that she lost her best chance to meet a Mr. Right... or Ms. Right. Moreover, if Shez goes on an expedition with her and asks about her hopes for the future she will mention wanting a roguishly handsome husband or a beautiful wife.
• Long-Range Fighter: Several of her magical spells allow her to attack from an extra space away. This makes her useful at sniping enemies without fear of being hit back, and softening up enemies for her allies. If given a staff that increases the range of her magic, she can attack from several tiles away with her basic spells, and her Thoron essentially turns into a Sniper's regular several square range attack in terms of range options. And Meteor can let her hit enemies (potentially multiple enemies) from far across the battlefield.
• Magic Music: Implied. Dorothea is a skilled singer as well as a mage, and her Songstress personal skill results in any adjacent ally regaining 10 percent of their maximum health back.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Downplayed. If she gets a paired ending with Petra their ending card states that the people of Brigid were initially skeptical of Dorothea but warmed up to her over time.
• Maybe Ever After: Dorothea flirts with Edelgard (who is also bisexual) by suggesting that they may end up together during their support conversation and Edelgard appears to like the idea but their paired ending is ambiguous as it doesn't mention whether their relationship is romantic or not.
• Ms. Fanservice: On par with Hilda for being the biggest provider of Fanservice among the Three Houses cast, being a buxom beauty who, post-timeskip, wears a dress that shows off her well-endowed figure. Even pre-timeskip, she wears her uniform jacket partially open, showing plenty of cleavage and her shapely thighs. And that's not even getting into how she debuted in Heroes in a bikini, or how she wears a very revealing Sultry Belly Dancer outfit in another form in Heroes. However, this trope is deconstructed in that she fears that suitors only see her as eye-candy and don't care about who she is beyond her physical beauty. She wants to marry someone who would love her even when she's old and grey.
• Musical Assassin: Her unique ability in Three Hopes is "Prismatic Resonance", spawning musical notes around Dorothea when she attacks. She can then attack the notes to detonate them into shockwaves of random elemental damage.
• Naked First Impression: Her dislike of Ferdinand was caused by this. He saw her bathing in a fountain in Enbarr and ran away, making her believe he was disgusted when in reality he was both entranced and embarassed. She only learns the truth in their A support in Three Houses and B support in Three Hopes when Ferdinand tells her outright or she overhears him respectively.
• Nay-Theist: Dorothea has no love for the Church of Seiros since their Crest System is the cornerstone upon which the nobility she despises reinforces its influence. She does acknowledge the existence of the Goddess, but admits that she isn't devout. This is reinforced by the fact that the Goddess Statuette is one of her dislikes. Interestingly enough, during tea time, Dorothea says that her ideal partner is religious, but only just.
• Never My Fault: As an enemy on the Verdant Wind route, she will declare that she can never respect the goddess if their destiny is to kill each other, meaning that Dorothea considers all of the killing the Goddess's fault, conveniently ignoring that the Empire she's fighting for started the war to destroy the Church.
• Nice Girl: While she's initially a Jerkass to One towards Ferdinand, Dorothea's otherwise pleasant (if flirty) to be around, though she is prone to being somewhat passive-aggressive and snarky on occasion, especially in her supports with Lorenz and Sylvain. Despite this, she's one of the most kind, supportive and empathetic characters in the game.
• The Nicknamer: She calls everyone in her house sans Petra by a shortened version of their name - Edie, Hubie, Ferdie, Monnie, Lin, Bern, and Cas. Outside the Black Eagles, Yuri is "Yurikins".
• Non-Elemental: Although she starts with Thunder spells, Dorothea is notable for being the only character to learn all three spells labeled as non-elemental^note Sagittae, Meteor, and Agnea's Arrow.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: She leaves her jacket open, exposing her cleavage, as well as a unique hat and some jewelry.
• Not So Above It All: Though Dorothea likes to put on elegant airs and styles herself as a Cool Big Sis, she can be quite immature on occasion herself, such as refusing to explain to Ferdinand why she hates him in their C-Support.
• Odd Name Out: The nickname Dorothea gives Bernadetta, "Bern," is a notable aversion to her pattern. She names "Edie," "Hubie," and "Ferdie," but does not call Bernadetta "Bernie," despite Bernadetta calling herself that.
• Old Maid: While she's not old yet, she's absolutely terrified of becoming unmarriagable. As such, Dorothea wants to marry someone before she becomes old and gray.
• Penny Among Diamonds: She's the only proper commoner among the Black Eagles, and one of two if you count Petra, who's considered a commoner in the Empire but is royalty in Brigid. She's very sensitive about that fact, and tends to be a bit hostile to those who are of nobility for what she sees as them flaunting their status.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  "That's my cue!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "More fighting..." (Post-timeskip)
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "This is going to hurt, okay?" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Take me seriously!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "You can't stop me!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "I can't go easy on you!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "One of us has to die!" (Post-timeskip)
  "I'll strike you down!" (Post-timeskip)
  "Time for your last dance!" (Post-timeskip)
  "I'll leave you breathless!" (Post-timeskip)
• Rags to Riches: Dorothea was born the illegitimate daughter of a noble and his maid, and as a child grew up on the streets of Imperial capital Enbarr, lonely and destitute. She joined the Mittelfrank Opera Company and became a successful, popular opera singer, rubbing elbows with other performers and nobles, to the point where her enrollment in the Officers Academy was paid for by one of those nobles. Still, she retains her dislike of the superficial nobility, some self-loathing and anxiety over her future, and whether she'll find someone genuine to settle down with.
• Rain of Arrows: She can learn Sagittae upon reaching B in Reason.
• Recurring Element: She's a Penny Among Diamonds with a background in the performing arts with a fanservicey outfit. The only thing she's missing to be the game's main Dancer character is the class itself, which she stands a fair chance of winning given her high Charisma growth. The game even hints she should take the class, with her stats and weapon affinities lining up correctly as well as Dancer being one of three classes that lets her wear her default outfit to battle post time-skip.
• Reluctant Warrior: Unlike many other characters she doesn't have much taste for battle. She frequently makes comments during battle that indicate that she's reluctant to go into battle and to have to kill others to survive.
• The Scream: She lets out quite a horrifying scream when she is killed post-timeskip.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If she is defeated pre-time skip in Classic Mode, she flees the war with her opera troupe and doesn't come back.
• Secret A.I. Moves: As an enemy unit post-timeskip, she knows Unsealable Magic, a skill no playable unit can ever learn.
• Secret Relationship: With Hanneman in their ending, mainly to avert the scandal the difference in their ages would cause.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: Her canon post-timeskip outfit features a luxurious ball gown with a low cut collar that totally exposes her upper and lower back save for a thin strip that keeps the dress on her, and her bra strap.
• She Knows Too Much: In her and Ingrid's shared paralogue, the merchant who wants to marry Ingrid hires bandits to kill her and the player's party after she digs too deep into said merchant's sordid dealings.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • In her C-support with Bernadetta, she's enthralled when she thinks Bern has a crush on someone and has clear intent on helping her with it.
  • On the Azure Moon route, she comments that an opera featuring Byleth and Dimitri would likely have the two being lovers.
  • When spoken to on the Crimson Flower route, she suggests a future play about Edelgard would have Byleth as the love interest, whether or not that wound up being historically accurate.
  • In Three Hopes, she ships Bernadetta and her commoner friend Yuri when she reveals that they were alive the entire time.
• Shock and Awe: The first few Reason spells she learns are electricity-based. Her talent in swords and magic make her a good candidate for the Levin Sword.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Downplayed, but present. After the timeskip, five years of war have very obviously taken their toll on Dorothea; she exhibits the most obvious suffering of any of the playable characters, even in her battle quotes, which have gone from spunky to sour. While exploring at the monastery she frequently stands somewhere by herself, gazing at the sky or scenery, and often has dialog where she ponders the cost of war and the people dying because of it.
• Sleeping Their Way to the Top: Dorothea admits to "buttering up" a noble to get her foot in the door at Garreg Mach (and given the way an associate of hers uses the term, that's almost certainly sexual). Once there, she's an open Gold Digger looking to secure her future by marrying one of the rich young nobles that attend. However, she makes it very clear that she hated having to do this in order to secure her future, and hates herself for it. It's also explicitly stated that she studied her ass off and aced the entrance exams fair and square, so nobody disputes the fact she earned her place. While she readily will use her beauty and other charms to get the attention of a potential suitor, simple seduction of random rich nobles isn't really her goal as she wants to find someone she genuinely cares about/likes enough to spend the rest of her life with, and someone who cares about her for the long term, unlike her and her mother's past experiences.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: In her B-support with Sylvain, both turn on the superficial charm and flirtatiousness when they agree to go out to dinner together. Both end up needling the other, poking at the ulterior motives each has for agreeing to spend time with the other, but agree to go out to dinner anyway:
  Sylvain: And to be clear...the reason you chose to spend time with me is my family, yes? Or is it my Crest? Both?
  [...]
  Dorothea: Actually, I have a question of my own. Say I was a hoarse-voiced old hag... Would you still be flirting with me? Would you still want to hold my hand and whisper sweet nothings?
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Dorothea knows she's very beautiful and has used her beauty to help herself in the past. Unfortunately, she's also attracted the unwanted attention of nobles who see her only as a beautiful woman for the taking rather than a person. It's heavily implied that attempts have been made on her life, including attempted murders and kidnappings.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: Should she get killed as an enemy, Dorothea will ask Edelgard to forgive her.
  Dorothea (enemy death quote): Edelgard, forgive me... I can't...
• Squishy Wizard: Dorothea’s talents make her an effective magical nuker, but her physical defense growth is among the worst in the game. ^note 15% and a base of 4, beating only Lysithea.
• Statuesque Stunner: Very beautiful, and is tied with female Shez for the tallest of all the female students at 170cm tall, and only trails Manuela, Rhea, and Catherine amongst the female cast. This is best shown via the class introduction movie, where Dorothea is shown to stand eye-to-eye with Ferdinand (who is 175 cm) and towers over Edelgard.
• Sugary Malice: When speaking to Ferdinand in their C-support, she retains her usual cheerful, light-hearted manner of speaking and even calls him "Ferdie," while flat-out telling him she hates him. If you recruit Dorothea and not Ferdinand and kill the latter, she'll later remark how upset she is about it. Moreover, if the two meet in battle under the same conditions, she'll mention that she had "real hopes" for him. It's strongly hinted in this case that she doesn't hate him nearly as much as she says and wants to be friends. This is mostly dropped in Three Hopes as in her and Ferdinand's B-Support the misunderstanding is cleared up and she's more flustered about the fact that Ferdinand was entranced by her during their Forgotten First Meeting.
• Surprise Incest: Both implied and averted. In her support conversations with Hanneman, Dorothea reveals she is actually of noble birth, but she and her mother were discarded because she was not born with a crest. When she became famous and a beloved songstress, one of the countless men that flirted with her was her own father, oblivious she was the very daughter he cruelly abandoned years ago.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel:
  • In the Azure Moon and Crimson Flower routes, Dorothea thinks that in the future, someone will write a play about Byleth and Dimitri/Edelgard. In the latter's case, she thinks that the writer will make the story a little historically inaccurate by making Byleth and Edelgard lovers.
  • In her support with Bernadetta in Three Hopes, Dorothea is ecstatic to hear that Bernadetta's childhood friend (Yuri) is still alive and thinks that one day, there will be a play called the "Bernadetta Saga" detailing the reunion of two childhood friends of different social classes which blossoms into love, much to Bernie's embarrassment.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: In her support with Ingrid, she’s excited about giving Ingrid a makeover and dressing her up nicely to attend an opera. Ingrid is much more reluctant, as she’s unused to getting dressed up and putting on makeup.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Post-timeskip, she may be seen aimlessly staring up at the sky while exploring. If you speak to her, she is clearly conflicted over her participation in the war.
• Took a Level in Cynic: In Part I, she's cheerful and upbeat. In Part II, she's sarcastic and weary. Best exemplified with these two battle quotes.
  Part I: All roses have thorns!
  Part II: Only thorns left on this rose.
• Worthy Opponent: To Felix, which is the only reason he starts to warm up to her.

Bernadetta

Bernadetta von Varley

Nationality: Adrestian Empire

House: Black Eagles

Class: Noble → Fighter → Archer → Sniper

Age: 17 (12/12)

Crest: Indech (Minor)

Height: 150 cm (pre-timeskip) -> 165 cm (post-timeskip)

Voiced by: Ayumi Tsuji (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)

^{Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)}

^{Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)}

^{Click here to see Bernadetta in Fire Emblem Heroes}

Eternal Loner

"I'm just gonna hide in the fort and cheer everyone on. There... um... is a fort, right?"

The only daughter of the Count of Varley. She's extremely shy and only feels comfortable at home or in her dorm room, where she hides and engages in her hobbies when not attending lectures.

Her personal ability, Persecution Complex, boosts her attack whenever she is below full health. She bears the Minor Crest of Indech, which will occasionally allow her to attack twice during combat.

---

• Abusive Parents:
  • Her dislikes include "Overbearing Parents", implying that her parents were not exactly good parents for her. In game she mentions that her father used to tie her to a chair for entire days as a means to "teach her to be a good submissive wife" he'd be able to marry off for profits. He would also discourage her from trying to make friends, and was especially brutal towards commoners she tried to befriend. She even smiles when mentioning that Edelgard put him under house arrest for opposing her in Three Houses. In Three Hopes, meanwhile, Bernadetta perks up at the possibility Edelgard arrested her father during her coup only be disappointed at learning otherwise, ends up quite cheerful about how her father is reduced to a Nervous Wreck due to his Bishop position putting him in the crosshairs of assassination attempts, and on Scarlet Blaze, their unique dialogue when Count Varley needs to be protected from death is mutually awkward with Bernadetta almost completely unaffected and sounding almost relieved if Gregoire dies.
  • Her mother put her into a bag and sent her off via one of their attendants, and she had no idea because she was asleep at the time. In fact, she only attended the monastery because said bag was dropped off at the monastery. It's unclear exactly why her mother sent her away, but after the time-skip and the news that her father was among the corrupt nobles put under house arrest when Edelgard became Emperor, she shows at least a little more concern for her mother's well-being compared to her father (which is none at all). Fortunately, Three Hopes reveals that this is averted with her mother, as Bernadetta herself states that she has a healthy and loving relationship with her.
  • Many of her interactions with others go well beyond merely being shy and show that Bernadetta seems to constantly expect she'll be physically harmed by others if she displeases or fails to meet expectations. These all hint to her father having been physically abusive with her when she displeased him.
• Achievements in Ignorance: In her supports with Felix, she manages to accidentally disarm him while fleeing in terror. Her movements completely took him by surprise and he chases her down to learn what that "technique" was.
• Admiring the Abomination: Of a sort. In Three Houses, near the end of the Silver Snow, when the party discovers the underground Agarthan city of Shambhala, she is the only member who isn't outright creeped out or unsettled by the place. In fact, she even starts to express some positive feelings toward living underground safe and isolated... but, likely noticing how everyone else is disturbed, quickly says it would be "Uh... really awful!" In Three Hopes, she says the same in her paralogue with Monica, only being dissuaded because the structure isn't entirely stable.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: More like "much too quick to beg." Virtually all of her interactions with others start with her begging them not to hurt or kill her. Even when they tell her that they aren't going to hurt her, she often proceeds to beg them to get it over with quickly and painlessly.
• Ancestral Weapon: The Inexhaustible, a sacred bow linked to the Crest of Indech. Amusingly, Bernadetta isn't involved at all when it comes to getting the bow, being obtained by Leonie and Linhardt in their Paralogue.
• Animal Motifs:
  • She often gets compared to a bear due to hiding in her "den". It even reaches the point where in her unmarried ending it's mentioned she "hibernates" when not managing her territory and she even earns the nickname "Bear of Varley" due to her habits.
  • Petra compares her to a scared bunny in the grass and tries to teach her to be a hunter. Hilariously, the actual bunny she tries to hunt proves to be fearsome and chases her.
• Apologetic Attacker: One of her critical hit lines is "I'm sorry, but this is war!"
• Apologises a Lot: She has a tendency to fly into hysterical begging for mercy whenever she thinks anyone is remotely upset with her.
• Arranged Marriage: She learns from Ferdinand in their A-support that their parents had originally considered this between the two of them, though it never went through. Of course, she's quite shocked but also pleased privately to learn this, especially since he follows the reveal up with talking about how glad he is they were able to become such close friends. It is possible for them to do end up getting married. Ironically, before marrying Ferdinand, Bernadetta cuts ties to her family house, meaning that her father did see his daughter marry the powerful noble he wanted, but he gets none of the benefits he hoped for.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • It's entirely possible for her to wield the Inexhaustible, but due to the healing, this can potentially counteract her personal skill Persecution Complex, meaning that unless one is willing to sacrifice some damage for survivability, it's better to give to another Archer who can wield it, because since it's a sacred weapon, the non-crest user won't suffer any drawbacks from wielding it, such as Shamir.
  • Using Relic or Sacred weapons with Bernadetta in general. The HP restoration of Sacred Weapons is at complete odds with her personal skill, and that Bernadetta has a Crest at all means that she can't take advantage of the recoil damage that Relics inflict on the Crestless.
  • Her spell list contains two of the most unique spells in the game; Rescue and Fimbulvetr, and with her spell list including great spells like Thoron and Physic, she has potential to have great magic utility. However, her Magic growth is awful, and she has no strengths or weaknesses in either magic type, meaning it's an uphill battle for her to learn them, and not worth it long term.
• Babies Ever After: With Caspar, and Hilarity Ensues when he mistakes her for one of their children.
• Badass Adorable: Bernadetta is a shy, gentle, and cute girl who can easily develop into a deadly archer.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • With Jeritza, minus the murdering people for lust part.
  • In Three Hopes, Bernadetta gets along extremely well with Marianne, fitting as the two are the most socially reclusive students in the game, and have many other shared interests and personality traits as well. In fact, their supports mention how comfortable they are talking to each other as opposed to recusing themselves when dealing with anyone else.
• Bittersweet Ending: In most of her endings, she remains something of a recluse her whole life, in some endings (such as Felix's non-Azure Moon endings), she becomes even moreso as the years pass. However, this is averted on other endings where she grows more self confident due to her ending partner one way or another. And even many of the endings where she remains a recluse don't necessarily treat it as a horrible ending for her, usually due to the support of her spouse.
• Bond One-Liner:
  "Can I go now?" (pre timeskip)
  "Bernie's unstoppable!" (post timeskip)
• Boring, but Practical: What makes her such a useful character in every route. She only has one ideal class path unless you're using New Game + to give her more eccentric classes like Wyvern Lord or Great Knight, but all she really needs is Sniper and Bow Knight to become one of the most valuable members of the army. Why this is comes down to her equally boring but practical Combat Arts; Deadeye gives Bernadetta a very safe method of drawing aggro, and Encloser stops an enemy from moving entirely. In Normal and Hard these are useful tools compounded by Bow Knight's ability to move after attacking, but in Maddening Encloser is a lifesaver, since the ability to effectively delay an enemy's turn means one less enemy to worry about on enemy phase, whether or not they die. This also applies to monsters; Bernadetta can just sit still for four turns keeping a monster from doing anything while her allies rip into the enemies the monster was protecting. It won't be particularly flashy, but Bernadetta gets the job done.
• Bothering by the Book: If Bernadetta and Ferdinand get a paired ending, it becomes this trope: by marrying Ferdinand, Bernadetta is technically choosing the path her father wanted, as Ferdinand is the same powerful noble her father was going to arrange a marriage to. But first, Bernadetta renounces her claim to House Varley, so now her father doesn't get any additional status or wealth out of it.
• Breakout Character: Bernadetta's tragic backstory and personality have won the hearts of many fans, who will try and recruit her as early as possible. It's small wonder why she is tied with Sylvain and Lysithea for having the most supports in the game, with each DLC and updates giving her additional supports. Even during gameplay she's no slouch, being one of the best archers by default. In a poll conducted by Famitsu Magazine, Bernadetta ranks first for female characters, ahead of both female Byleth and Edelgard, and fourth for overall character (lower than the three house leaders but higher than Byleth). Bernadetta cemented this status by winning Choose Your Legends 8 in Heroes by a landslide with 6000+ more votes than the next highest voted character.
• Broken Ace: While it can be hard to see The Ace beneath all the broken, Bernadetta is shown throughout the game to posses an impressive range of talents. In addition to her ability as an archer, various characters are shown praising her skill as a seamstress, painter, author, cook, musician, and gardener. Her paired ending with Yuri also notes her talent as governor of the Varley County, and she's implied to have similar success as an administrator in her endings with Ferdinand, Raphael, and (on Azure Moon) Felix.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: With four different characters: Hubert, Felix, Jeritza and Yuri all play Brooding Boys to Bernie's Gentle Girl, with her timidness encouraging them to be gentler in their interactions, and Bernie becoming slowly more open and talkative around them.
• The Cameo: She appears in Engage as one of Byleth's Bond Rings.
• Cathartic Chores: She isn't just good at cooking; she actually enjoys it, and it's one of the few things she's confident about doing after her disastrous upbringing.
• Character Development:
  • Bernadetta starts off overwhelmingly anxious and reclusive, though over the year makes small steps towards opening herself up more, most easily seen through her interactions with Byleth. Post-timeskip, she is much more well-adjusted.
  • In Part II of Crimson Flower, she is frequently seen outside her room and is vocally more courageous and optimistic than before, though still carrying a good deal of anxiety.
• Character Tics: She tends to bring her hands up to her chin and shake her head when she's feeling especially anxious or when she's offended someone.
• Childhood Friends: With Yuri, being that she met him when he worked for her family as a child. This evolves into a Childhood Friend Romance in their paired ending.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Maybe with Yuri due to the tone of the ending. While it’s unambiguously a happy ending for Bernadetta, due to her going down in history as an excellent lord, the ending implies that it was more of a Marriage of Convenience due to Yuri being the only one able to make her close the distance between her and the villagers. This is more apparent in the original text, where it’s stated to that the marriage was perplexing not only to the villagers, but to Yuri most of all, going as far as to state that Yuri had to drag her into the city to manage her people. Coupling this with the fact that they only married because she wouldn’t let him go, it leans the ending more on a humorous note than anything overtly romantic, befitting of their established dynamic.
• Chronic Self-Deprecation: Any slight towards her, real or perceived, will usually result in Bernadetta lamenting how completely worthless she is.
• Commonality Connection: She forms a bond with Jeritza due to believing that they both had a dark past and developed unhealthy coping mechanisms as a result of it.
  Bernadetta: I...wasn't entirely honest with you just now, about the whole kindred spirits thingy...
  Bernadetta: Want the real truth? I actually think we are. You and I have a whole lot in common.
  Bernadetta: We both had a dark, troubling past. We both built walls around ourselves in response to that, to keep people out.
  Bernadetta: Me, I take all my past hurts out on myself, but you... Jeritza, you take yours out on the world.
• Covert Pervert: In the Japanese version of their S-support, Bernadetta immediately assumes Byleth took her to the Goddess Tower to do "it" with her, then follows by saying she'd be up for that.
• Cowardly Lion: Post-timeskip. She becomes a general in the army she supports, and while still timid, has resolved to see the war through. This is also reflected in supports and gameplay; in almost any support with a trained warrior, such as Felix and Leonie, Bernadetta makes it a point to talk about how useless she is, but almost every time the person she's talking with will retort by explaining to her how a skill she has recently shown them makes her a creative threat, and in the case of Felix's support, it's shown that she can even enter a state of concentration through her terror that allows her to effortlessly disarm one of the best swordsmen in Garreg Mach. In gameplay, she's at her strongest when in a state of anxiety or fear, as reflected by her personal skill, Persecution Complex, which gives her a massive melee buff if she's as little as one point off her maximum HP value.
• Critical Status Buff:
  • Not exactly critical, but her personal skill Persecution Complex gives her a 5 point boost to Attack if she isn't at full health.
  • She learns the Vengeance combat art upon reaching Lance C+, which increases damage based on her missing HP. Combined with her already active personal skill, she'll do very high damage when she is very low on HP.
• Depending on the Artist: While her eyes are consistently colored gray in Three Houses itself, other official artwork, like her Heroes portrait and some of her Cipher cards show them with more of a lavender color, matching her hair.
• Determinator: Even though she tends to run away in fear every day - whether it's justified or otherwise - she always unconsciously tries again. In her own words, despite everything she's gone through, "[I'm] still here, still breathing."
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • Her less-than-average stat spread and axe bane (making it hard to get into the Brigand class for Death Blow) make her unappealing at first glance. However, she possesses extremely powerful combat arts in Vengeance and Encloser, the former of which synchronizes well with her personal skill, so if you know how to use her, she hits like a runaway freight train (to the point of even melting the Death Knight).
  • Additionally, her budding abilities in both magic types. Building it up to a decent level may take some time and dedication, but once one gets her into a class that can take advantage of her built up magical ability, such as a Dark Flier, one can easily start wiping the floor with any opposition in Bernadetta's way.
• Dismissing a Compliment: Thanks to her father's upbringing giving her an incredibly low self-esteem, Bernadetta assumes any compliment directed towards her is secretly a lie or part of a scheme to get close to and hurt her. That's not to say she doesn't appreciate them, but it's hard for her to accept them.
• Does Not Like Spam: All of her disliked dishes contain some form of meat or in them.
• The Dog Bites Back: Her endings with Ferdinand (Crimson Flower), Felix (Azure Moon), and Seteth (all routes except Crimson Flower) have her renounce her ties with House Varley, meaning her father got his wish, but gained nothing for it. In Three Hopes, she can be recruited on the Azure Gleam route, and potentially execute her wicked father herself. Even on Scarlet Blaze, should her father perish in battle, Bernadetta doesn't respond beyond an almost-relieved "Oh", and can even ignore trying to help him if the player so chooses.
• Dude Magnet: Not directly referenced in the game itself, but she does have a very large pool of potential husbands: Byleth, Hubert, Caspar, Linhardt, Ferdinand, Raphael, Felix, Seteth, Yuri and (possibly) Jeritza.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Her paired ending with Raphael mentions that he encouraged her to train her social skills by talking to people which was a humiliating experience for her. However, it ends up paying off as Bernadetta eventually fully overcomes her social anxiety and becomes a very confident and social individual.
• Establishing Character Moment: During the cutscene introducing the houses and students, Bernadetta is hiding under a table away from her housemates, with a book over her head.
• Everyone's Baby Sister: Because of her shy and timid nature, she is treated as such by the other students despite some of them like Petra and Caspar are younger than her. Dorothea and Felix for example will defend her from anyone trying to harm her while Leonie and Raphael will encourage her to be more confident.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Her hair is noticeably neater after the timeskip, reflecting her character growth.
• Expressive Ears: The bunny ears on her Spring Eternal variant in Heroes is drooped down, fitting for the Nervous Wreck that she is.
• Face Your Fears: Most of her supports have her housemates helping her get over her neuroses and open up more. In her S-rank ending with Byleth, she accompanies him on his many expeditions to stamp out those who slither in the dark, apparently toughening up so much that nothing could scare her anymore.
• Fainting: Of the emotional fainting variety. When Hubert scares her a bit too much in their C-Support, she outright passes out while standing. Hubert muses at this then carries her back to her room. She also faints when she has a chance encounter with the Death Knight, though thankfully Jeritza simply carried her to the infirmary.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: She is pretty feminine and is one of the best available cooking partners for Byleth. Raphael also praises her cooking during their A rank support conversation.
• Foil: To Ferdinand. Both are the kind, multi-talented children of high ranking nobles of the Adrestian Empire, who's respective fathers are corrupt individuals who took part in the Insurrection of the Seven and look down on the commoners, seeing no issue with abusing or oppressing them for their own ends. Ferdinand however is a proud and boastful individual, who puts all his effort into excelling in any field he puts his mind to, and who cares greatly for his father, a feeling that is revealed in Three Hopes to be reciprocated. Bernadetta however is a shy and panicky individual who's too afraid of judgment and ridicule to openly display her talents, an attitude that came about due to horrendous abuse her own father put her through, who she fears and hates as a result. This is also reflected in their personal skills, with Ferdinand's giving him extra Hit and Avoid when at full HP as a sign of his pride, whereas Bernadetta's increases her damage if she's even 1 HP down from her maximum, representing her perpetually panicked disposition and tendency to overreact to anything she perceives as even slightly threatening or hostile.
• Forbidden Friendship: Her father forbade her from making friends with commoners. She confides to Dorothea that although she wants to be friends with her, she's worried that Dorothea would be beaten to a pulp like the last commoner friend she made. Dorothea actively defies this and tells Bernadetta that she'd return the favor to him if he tried.
• Fragile Flower: She's incredibly timid, prone to panicking, and struggles with life on the battlefield. Because of her anxious nature, she is one of the few people that Dorothea, Sylvain and Yuri don't try to flirt with. Her support with Edelgard ends with the Literal Metaphor of a flower about to bloom.
• Fragile Speedster: Her stats lean heavily towards Dexterity and Speed, at the expense of her Strength, Magic, Defense, and Resistance growths (though her Personal Skill and Crest can compensate for her damage by boosting her attack and occasionally letting her attack again).
• Friendless Background: Enforced, as her parents didn't want her making friends. This was especially the situation with commoners.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: The Armored Bear Stuffy is one of her favorite gifts.
• Glass Cannon: Like most Archers, Bernadetta starts out lacking in much power but over time grows to compensate with her ability to proc Critical Hits, but she's not suited to close-quarters combat due to her low HP, Defence and Resistance growths. This gets further emphasized by her Personal Skill that increases her damage by a flat 5 when not at full HP, encouraging you to not heal her unless absolutely necessary.
• Golden Ending: Her paired ending with Raphael is this as it is the only ending where she manages to fully overcome her crippling social anxiety and becomes a social and confident person thanks to Raphael's encouragement. Plus, the ending strongly implies that she and Raphael end up getting married.
• Good Parents: In complete contrast to her horribly abusive father, Bernadetta's mother is described to be a genuinely kind and loving mother, and Bernie herself states in Three Hopes that she has a healthy relationship with her.
• Grew a Spine: While she doesn't completely shed her anxiety, she becomes less timid after the time skip. It's particularly noticeable on the Crimson Flower route; she leaves her room far more often and can hold seminars (unlike the other routes), and she makes it her mission to befriend Jeritza, even though she knows he's the Death Knight.
• Hates Their Parent: Her father, specifically. She at least has some concern for her mother. In Three Hopes, the Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire routes have optional missions to protect Count Varley. If he lives, she states "I'm glad he survived. No matter how much I hate him, he's still my father."
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: As a result of her abusive upbringing, Bernadetta has a hard time accepting praise, and always thinks of herself as useless.
• Hero-Worshipper: Towards Edelgard. She follows Edelgard around, thinking that if she watches her long enough, she can learn to be strong and confident as well.
• Hidden Buxom: Downplayed, but datamining in Three Houses reveals that she goes from having one of the smallest chests pre-timeskip to being more buxom than Edelgard post-timeskip... not that you could tell given her usual way of dressing and shy attitude.
• Hidden Depths:
  • She's got a penchant for various artistic skills such as cooking, singing, painting and writing, but her paranoia and shyness make her downplay her skills and often panic if anyone praises her over them.
  • She reveals her favorite type of flowers are carnivorous plants as, according to her, she admires how they just lie in wait for food to come to them without ever having to move around.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Downplayed. Bernadetta's abusive father and miserable childhood was the main factor towards her present day social anxiety and constant belief that everyone is out to get her. However, her over-thinking and freak outs strain her relationships with her classmates at first, and annoys her less patient allies such as Edelgard and Yuri. While most of her friends reassure her they understand her situation, Bernadetta herself admits in some of her supports that they aren't wholly wrong in their criticisms of her. As such she resolves to become a little braver and less paranoid as time goes on.
• Horse Archer: She starts proficient in lances and bows and can develop proficiency for riding through training, making her ideal for the Bow Knight class. In fact, her base iteration in Heroes is a Colorless Bow Calvary unit.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: If paired with the absolutely massive Raphael. Hubert also looms over her.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: In her S-Rank with Byleth, she's astonished that he'd give her a ring and asks what kind of ring is it. When she finally realizes that yes, he is in love with her, she accepts while crying Tears of Joy.
• An Ice Person: Learns Blizzard and Fimbulvetr if trained in Reason. Her unique ability in Three Hopes is "Personal Space", creating a zone that freezes all enemies that enter it, and increases Bernadetta's critical rate while she's in it.
• Idiot Hair: It's subtle, but there's one lock of hair on top that stands up as such.
• I Got Bigger: Bernadetta has probably one of the more dramatic growth spurts of the characters post-timeskip, growing 15 cm. For reference, she was the second-shortest character of the main cast pre-timeskip, and post-timeskip she's taller than Edelgard and Petra. This does coincide with her Character Development, as she's managed to overcome most (though not all) of her social anxiety.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: In her conversations with Byleth and Dorothea, Bernadetta reveals that she's always wanted to have friends but her father would never let her. He was especially terrible towards commoners, beating a young commoner boy she had befriended nearly to death for trying to make friends with her. This feeds into her belief that no one would ever want to be her friend and that they'd all be better off without her, even though she desperately wants someone who can understand her. Dorothea is very justifiably furious when she learns of this.
• Interclass Friendship: Bernadetta wants to be friends with Dorothea, who is a commoner. The reason for this is her father specifically forbade her from making friends with commoners, and had one that did become friends with her violently beaten, though it turns out that it was because said friend was caught by her bedside seemingly ready to kill her. Bernadetta is defying her father's wishes by becoming friends with Dorothea.
• In-Universe Nickname: She tends to refer to herself as "Bernie." Dorothea also calls her "Bern." Post-timeskip, others have started calling her "Bernie-Bear," referring to how she often hides in her "den."
• Ironic Name: In some ways. Her name is the feminine form of Bernard, which translates as "brave bear". In other words, probably the least fitting name for someone so small and timid. This meaning of her name also adds to the irony of her "Bernie-Bear" nickname described above. However, in some (but not all) of Bernadetta's paired endings, two examples including Byleth or Raphael, Bernadetta is able to get past her fears and become more courageous; thus, the "brave bear" meaning of her name becomes descriptive after all.
• Irony:
  • Bernadetta's personal skill activates when her HP is less than full. On paper, this means that she can just use a Relic weapon to damage herself. However, because Bernadetta has a Crest, the weapons cannot damage her.
  • She's one of the most timid characters in the story, yet she's the only person other than Byleth to have supports with Jeritza without knowing him as Emile.
  • For such an anxious girl, she really seems to attract intimidating suitors, especially Hubert, Felix, Yuri and Jeritza and she's one of the only girls who can romance the latter. (The other two being Byleth and Constance.)
  • Despite how much Bernadetta worries about angering her, Edelgard is the only same sex friend Bernadetta can achieve an A-support and paired ending with.
  • A lot of her childhood suffering was down to her father attempting to suppress her creative talents to make her a "proper" quiet, submissive wife. Her support chains with noble classmates make it clear that her affinity for such feminine pastimes only serves to make her quite a catch for the upper echelons.
  • She's not a fan of meat dishes but, if Raphael is to be believed, she cooks meat incredibly well.
• It's All My Fault: She blames herself for the savage beating her commoner friend Yuri received. Not only was she not at fault for it, it was completely justified since Yuri was about to assassinate her, had he not hesitated.
• Just Eat Gilligan: Bernadetta often considers…morbid solutions as means of resolving her own conflicts with troublesome strangers, though she quickly backpedals her thoughts, figuring out just how absurd they sound.
• Kiddie Kid: She acts in a lot of situations in ways that border on childish despite being seventeen years old. Though less frequent, she's still prone to this behavior even post-Time Skip, which makes her more of a Womanchild.
• Lethal Joke Character: She has a mediocre strength growths and an abysmal magic growth, and her weakness in Axes makes accessing the Brigand class, and it's all-important Death Blow.^note A skill that grants a flat attack bonus whenever the unit attacks. If you read a guide for any non-magic character, they will suggest mastering Brigand for this skill. difficult. Story-wise, most of her lines and supports emphasize that she has a crippling anxiety disorder which makes the idea of sending her into combat either upsetting or laughable. Despite this, her personal skill^note Granting a +5 to damage as long as she's below full health, just below Death Blow's +6 and unique combat arts^note Encloser, which stops a hit unit from moving during its next turn, and Vengeance, which deals bonus damage based on how much damage the user has taken- note the synergy with her personal skill mean that if you know how to use her, she can become a pillar of your team.
• Like Brother and Sister: Has this dynamic with Yuri when she finally becomes comfortable around him. In their paired ending, they end up married.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Played for laughs during her supports with Jeritza, as Bernadetta's one of the very few members of the army unaware that he's the Death Knight.
• Mage Killer: While her Defense is low at 20%, her Resistance growth of 35% is one of the highest of any non-magically-inclined character. Combined with the below-average Defence of enemy casters, Bernadetta can fight mages on better terms than most physical units.
• Magically Inept Fighter: While Bernadetta has a good spell list, including ice magic and the rare Rescue, her Magic growth is a mere 20%, forcing her into physical classes.
• Making a Splash: Her Crest is associated with water.
• Maybe Ever After: With Jeritza in their paired ending, as both their support and epilogue have no explicitly romantic undertones.
• Messy Hair: Her hair is unkempt and full of cowlicks, possibly due to her staying in her room most of the time. She admits in a tea party discussion that she doesn't really think about her hair much. However, after the Time Skip, her hair does become neater. Three Hopes show her with even more unkempt hair where she has to tie her bangs over her head to keep them from covering her face.
• Modesty Shorts: As a student, she wears shorts under her uniform.
• Nervous Wreck: Bernadetta, especially pre-timeskip, always acts like she's about a second away from a panic attack when thrown into a situation she's not comfortable with.
• Nice Girl: Once Bernadetta becomes relatively comfortable around people, she proves to be a pleasant person. Edelgard makes note of this trait when introducing Bernadetta, describing her as "a gentle soul."
• Nightmare Fetishist: A relatively mild example, but Bernadetta really likes carnivorous plants, a fact that weirds out Byleth of all people.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: She wears a hoodie underneath her uniform jacket and wears Modesty Shorts instead of the usual tights.
• Noodle Incident: Whenever someone approaches Bernadetta, she typically reacts with panic and will vehemently deny that she was up to anything. Occasionally, it's a Suspiciously Specific Denial, and other times, she leaves out some details.
  Bernadetta: What? Me? I-I've seen nothing! I w-wasn't even there! You have no proof! And even if I was there, it's not a crime to find people's hobbies fascinating! I'll forget everything! I'll never tell a soul where I found them or what they were wearing or any of it!
• No Social Skills: As a result of her upbringing she's a nervous wreck who immediately overreacts to anything negative anyone says, assuming it to be a threat of violence. She also constantly assumes the worst out of any conversation. Most of her C-Rank Support conversations have her panicking over nothing and thus cutting short any social interaction she's involved in.
• Odd Couple: Shy, sensitive, panicky Bernadetta has a remarkable ability to attract and end up in romantic relationships with some of the most intimidating men in Fodlan, including Hubert, Felix, Raphael (albeit he's a Gentle Giant), Seteth, and in Three Hopes, even Dimitri.
• Odd Friendship: On the Crimson Flower route, anxious and jittery Bernadetta can support the stoic and antisocial Jeritza a.k.a. the horrifying Death Knight.
• Older Than They Look: Would you believe she's actually older than Petra?
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The first time she voluntarily comes out of her room for something that's not absolutely necessary - class, shopping, etc. - is to plant flowers on Jeralt's grave in Chapter 10.
• The Paranoiac: She has an extreme persecution complex, to the point where she will entirely misinterpret and twist even compliments from others into violent threats, though this is usually played for laughs. Yuri reveals to her that because she was the daughter of a powerful house, she was a frequent target for assassins, adding another layer to this.
• Playing Sick: If you talk to her in the Monastery during Chapter 8, she'll feign having a cold. Calling her bluff actually raises her support points with Byleth.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  "Oh no..." (Pre-timeskip)
  "I do this for all of us." (Post-timeskip)
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Stay away!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Why is this happening?!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Get back!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Sorry!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Sorry, but this is war!" (Post-timeskip)
  "Okay, I'm gonna do it!" (Post-timeskip)
  "Guess I've got to!" (Post-timeskip)
  "It's life or death, Bernie!" (Post-timeskip)
• Properly Paranoid: It is unknown if Bernadetta herself knows this, but Yuri reveals to her that because she was the daughter of a powerful household, she was a frequent target for assassination, including by Yuri himself.
• Reluctant Warrior: It goes without saying that Bernadetta does not enjoy fighting or being exposed to danger, and is very vocal about it. Even after the timeskip and five years of war, she often reminds herself she'll be "home again soon" after taking out a foe.
• Running Gag: There seems to be a common theme in her Supports of people picking her up and carrying her places she doesn't want to go, much to her embarrassment and dismay.
• Secret A.I. Moves: As an enemy unit, she knows Stealth, which is a class skill of the Assassin rather than Archer/Sniper. Additionally, as an enemy unit on the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes, she knows Magic Bind, normally a latent ability of some monsters.
• She Is the King: She is referred to as "Count Varley" in her paired ending with Yuri.
• Shock and Awe: Learns Thunder and Thoron if trained in Reason.
• Shrinking Violet: She's extremely shy towards strangers, and she spends most of her time cooped up in her room. Deconstructed in that her supports reveal the reasons why, and it’s anything but played for cute or laughs, and is a sign of serious mental trauma caused by her Abusive Parent. In Three Hopes, her B support with Marianne even begins with the two of them trying to overcome this shared trait of theirs in order to have a conversation with each other.
• The Shut-In:
  • If she had a choice, she'd spend all of her time cooped up in her room and would only come out for meals and class. Most of her supports have her trying to overcome her crippling fear of the unknown and get her to go outside. She also can slowly be seen opening up over the course of the story if you talk to her, going from not allowing you into her room at all, to being willing to allow you to enter when Flayn goes missing as an example. Sadly she never gets over it in many of her endings. In her paired ending with Felix on the Crimson Flower route, for instance, she becomes even more reclusive as time passes, leaving Felix to take up the duties of running her house's political duties.
  • Subverted in her paired ending with Felix on the Azure Moon route; she takes up many of the duties of running the Fraldarius lands, with her shut-in nature being blamed on being unused to Faerghus' cold, but she still handles things for Felix when he's out serving the king and "always rushes out to greet him" when he returns home.
  • Played straight before ultimately being subverted in her paired ending with Raphael. At first, she reverts back to her shut-in, reclusive tendencies once she inherits control over House Varley, but Raphael's encouragement to work through her fear of socializing with people eventually changes her into becoming more "outgoing and authoritative"—and Happily Married to him. Similarly, Yuri also helps her out of her shell, enabling her to become a more effective leader.
  • If she is not paired with anyone but has A-rank support, she earns the nickname "Bear of Varley" due to her taking complete control of her house's affairs but still being prone to long "hibernations".
• Sins of Our Fathers: Bernadetta assumes that Yuri is going to take revenge on her for the beating her father gave him. The latter insists repeatedly that he has no intention of doing that, and if he did, she'd be six feet under already.
• Stunned Silence: When Sylvain inadvertently picks up a book she wrote and left in the library in their C-Rank Support, Bernadetta is left agape in shock, unable to process that someone actually read her manuscript while Sylvain keeps praising her writing.
  Sylvain: Uh, your mouth's hanging wide open. Bernadetta? Are you OK?
• Supreme Chef: She's the only student in her house who is good at cooking, thus she provides a boost when cooking together with Byleth.
• Tarot Motifs: Her Crest of Indech represents Temperance. When reversed, it can symbolize extremes, discord, and recklessness, among others. This is in line with Bernadetta's abysmal self-esteem, skittish behavior, and her bad habits of assuming the worst of intentions from those around her.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: She likes to embroider and knit as a hobby. As a result, she's also good at mending clothes, which she does for Leonie.
• That Came Out Wrong: If she is talked to in chapter 6, she will yell out that Flayn is not in her room in a very paniced voice. Sounding like she is keeping Flayn inside, she quickly realizes that this means she is gonna have to let Byleth inside to show them that she is serious.
• Took a Level in Badass: While she's still anxious, she's more confident post-timeskip.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Cake. She's one of the students particularly good at baking and her favorite meals are sweets. One of the gifts she reacts the most to are Baked Sweet Treats. Several of her conversations involve cake (including her denying she's secretly eating cake in her room when Byleth visits her there). Byleth can coax her out of her room by mentioning someone left her a cake outside her door.
• Third-Person Person: She sometimes refers to herself in the third person, such as saying "Bernie's unstoppable!"
• Utility Party Member: If made a magic class, she can use Rescue and Physic to support her team, while using Encloser to lock down singular enemies, giving her utility outside of combat. As noted under Awesome, but Impractical, its difficult to do so.
• Verbal Backspace: When Edelgard declares war on all of Fódlan, Bernadetta initially wants to go home and not be anywhere near the fight. But after learning that her father was placed under house arrest, she quickly decides that she'd rather be anywhere but home.
• Violation of Common Sense: Because her personal skill activates whenever she takes damage (even at 1 HP!), anyone who opts to use her will most likely put her into a hazard that allows her to get the right amount of non-fatal damage to maximize survivability and damage output.
• Weak, but Skilled:
  • Her Strength stat is one of the lowest for a physically-inclined character, and unlike fellow archers Ashe ^note Has a proficiency in axes, meaning he can easily reclass to Brigand for Death Blow, and later Wyvern Rider/Lord, all of which improve his Strength growth. and Ignatz, ^note Has a budding talent in Reason and a passable Magic growth, plus several utility skills. Bernadetta's four skill weaknesses mean she'll have a hard time accessing classes that can fix her weakest stats. However, Bernadetta also has access to Encloser to lock down an enemy for a turn, Vengeance to synergize with her personal skill, and while Ashe also has Deadeye, Bernadetta has higher Dexterity than Ashe. In fact, Bernadetta trails only Claude and Lysithea in Dexterity.
  • While not recommended for optimal play due to her low magic growth and cap, she has a good spell list that includes Thoron, Physic, Fimbulvetr and Rescue, and her personal skill also applies to magic attacks as well.
• Woman on Fire: If she's not recruited on the Azure Moon or Verdant Wind routes, Edelgard sets the hill she is stationed at on fire (that is, all the tiles around her except the one she is on), as a scripted event. One could assume she almost certainly dies this way unless you kill her beforehand, which the game expects you to do. Because of this, nobody in-game ever acknowledges the fact that it is possible for Bernadetta (or a replacement character) to be in the burning Ballista, not even Bernadetta herself. The funny thing about this whole situation is that it's completely unintentional; it is a product of some sequence breaking, tie tile Bernadetta starts on is not on fire nor does she take damage, and it's even possible to lure Edelgard to that location so that she sets herself on fire. Nonetheless, the possibility for this has been turned into a meme.
• You Remind Me of X:
  • She's surprisingly comfortable around Alois because his cheerful and kind personality reminds her of her dear, deceased uncle, the only person who ever cared about her as a person before she came to the monastery.
  • She tells Yuri that she's uncomfortable around him because he reminds her of her childhood commoner friend when she was young, and he was beaten to within an inch of his life. Ultimately subverted because he is that child.

Caspar

Caspar von Bergliez

Class: Noble → Fighter → Brigand → Warrior → War Master (Three Houses), Fighter → Brawler → War Master (Three Hopes)

Age: 16 (7/01)

Height: 159 cm (pre-timeskip) -> 173 cm (post-timeskip)

Voiced by: Satoru Murakami (Japanese), Ben Diskin (English)

^{Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)}

^{Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)}

Hotheaded General/Wandering Instigator

"Now, let's break the ice with a training session. I want to see our new teacher in action!"

The second son of Count Bergliez. As he does not stand to inherit the title, he decided to make a name for himself through martial ability, training hard at the Officers' Academy. His hotheadedness holds him back, but he has a strong sense of justice that makes him hate lies and unfair treatment, and overall he has a very honest personality.

His personal ability, Born Fighter, reduces the Avoid of any enemies adjacent to him during combat.

---

• Always Someone Better: Caspar's father is this to him, as post-time skip chapters have him mention how his father had always been a better fighter to him and on the Verdant Wind route, he laments and wonders if he'll ever be as strong as his father was at one point.
• Ancestral Weapon: Zigzagged in Three Hopes. While he lacks a Crest, his father passes down the Jarngreipr to him, a pair of sacred gauntlets associated with the Crest of Cichol. As it's a Sacred Weapon, Caspar can wield the gauntlets safely anyway.
• Anime Hair: His hair is incredibly spiky in Three Hopes, befitting his Hot-Blooded disposition.
• Babies Ever After: His endings with Bernadetta and Hilda result in having many children.
• Badass Adorable: Caspar is quite adorable especially pre-timeskip, with his short height and incredibly energetic personality, and is also quite the proficient fighter. Just don't say it to his face. Post-timeskip he grows taller, but still retains his adorable charm.
• Badass Normal: He doesn't have a Crest and his magical ability is lacking, forcing him into physical classes. He's no less capable for it. In his A support with Edelgard in Hopes, they spar to the point where Edelgard says that he really kept her on her toes, despite the fact that she has two crests.
• Battle Couple: A defining trait of the relationship if he marries Catherine or Shamir. If he's paired with Catherine then the two (depending on Rhea's fate) either become Rhea's bodyguards and spar with each other daily, or live as travelling heroes, their exploits becoming famous either way. If he is paired with Shamir they likewise become crusaders of justice and sources of amusing anecdotes for future generations.
• Berserk Button:
  • Downplayed, but he really doesn't like attention being drawn to his height.
  • He's really pissed after Jeralt's death, especially since the students were backstabbed again by someone they trusted - first Tomas and then Monica.
• Big Eater: He's noted to shovel down a lot of food, to the point Linhardt scolds him for barely chewing and also eating with his mouth open.
• Big "NO!": In chapter 4 of Golden Wildfire, Caspar will let one out if Linhardt is killed before swearing to avenge him and becoming more powerful as a result.
• Bond One-Liner:
  "Right makes might! Right?" (pre timeskip)
  "Might makes right!" (post timeskip)
  "Big win!"
  "You're all going down!"
  "Attack at your own risk!"
• Book Dumb:
  • The Black Eagles' introductory cutscene shows him struggling and scratching his head while reading a book. In the story itself, he's shown to not be much of a thinker, but a dedicated warrior.
  • This is played with in he and Dorothea's C-support in Three Hopes, where he shows himself to be remarkably self-determined to study because it'll make him a better commander on the field. Dorothea is impressed and offers to help him.
• Character Death: If not recruited on the Verdant Wind path, failing to defeat the Death Knight before he escapes in Chapter 18 changes the map's objective to rout all enemies, meaning you're potentially forced to kill Caspar off to end the chapter. Even if you do manage not to directly kill him, his chances of surviving the javelin of light attack afterwards are unfortunately rather slim.
• Character Development: He's still Hot-Blooded after the timeskip, but is more tempered and reflective as well.
• Charged Attack: His unique ability in Three Hopes is "One for the Books", allowing him to hold down the strong attack button when performing finishers to increase its range and damage.
• Chaste Hero: Pretty much anything relating to dating or sex goes completely over his head. In Three Houses, Hilda especially has to take note of his lack of understanding, and Dorothea effectively friend-zones him out of not wanting to corrupt him. In Three Hopes, this extends to metaphors or even concepts regarding dating. He doesn't understand why the "impregnable" fortress Arianrhod is known as "the Silver Maiden", and the others give up trying to tactfully explain it to him. In his support with Balthus, when Balthus suggests competing over ladies, Caspar figures the only way that would make sense would be "to dress up in ladies' clothes and compete to see who looks better."
• Childhood Friends: With Linhardt, the two meeting when they were 6.
• Comically Missing the Point: The main source of comedy from his supports, since he's often too dense to pick up on people's signals.
• Curtains Match the Window: His hair and eyes are both cyan.
• Cute Bruiser: He's cute as a button and packs quite the punch.
• Defector from Decadence: If recruited on a default path, he decides not to return to the Empire after the fall of Garreg Mach, and instead spends the next five years wandering and battling the Empire.
• Dumbass Has a Point: While not the brightest individual, Caspar gets irritated at Edelgard in their C-support seemingly pitying him for being a second son with no inheritance and outright tells her off for both being thoughtless about his feelings on the matter and making everything about her. The Azure Moon route in particular shows that the traits Caspar called her out on are the same ones that prevent Edelgard from agreeing to end the war peacefully because she believes herself to be the only one capable of changing Fódlan, considering the countless bystanders harmed by the war a necessary sacrifice as long a better Fódlan is born in the end.
• Dumb Muscle: He's the heavy hitter of the Black Eagles and has a hard time with his studies. He's also extremely oblivious to girls who show an interest in him like Hilda and Bernadetta.
• Fear of Thunder: Thunder is listed as one of his dislikes, and one of his lost items is a Grounding Charm, something said to keep lightning away. If taken on a expedition in Three Hopes, he will say that this fear comes from it reminding him of his father whenever Caspar screwed up.
• Foil: To Hilda, since they come from important noble families that hold an important seat in their respective territories and are often overshadowed by their older siblings, with Caspar's older brother being the heir, while Hilda's older brother Holst is The Ace and the reason she is a Lazy Bum. Caspar is hot-headed, a bit dense and very passionate while Hilda is lazy, cunning and prefers to let other people do the work for her. They have a Pink Girl, Blue Boy scheme going on as a duo and both have unique requirements to be recruited - Caspar is the only student who requires a Brawling proficiency to join another House, while Hilda is the only student to require Axes. They can even get married if you complete their support chain.
• For Great Justice: A big believer in the concept, and "injustice" is listed as one of his dislikes.
• Freudian Excuse: Though he's remarkably more well-adjusted than some of the other students who are also overshadowed by their siblings, it's implied that Caspar's impulsive, reckless tendencies stem from being ignored so much at home.
• Glass Cannon: Caspar has high offense potential with great speed, strength, and luck growths, with a lacking defense and resistance growths meaning he takes a lot of extra damage, though his HP Growths are generally high enough to take a hit.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Caspar inexplicably has a scar on his forehead in Three Hopes.
• Height Angst: It's hinted that he has a bit of an issue with his lack of height, though it doesn't seem to bother him as much post-timeskip. He's still the shortest male of his house even after the growth spurt, though.
• Heroic Build: Post-timeskip, he's broad-shouldered and stands a full head above many of his female housemates. He also fills out considerably to match his suit of heavy armor.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Caspar's B-support with Ferdinand shows that he's capable of planning when the situation calls for it. After seeing an elderly shopkeeper on the verge of being robbed, Caspar decides to give his money to the thief and threatens him not to come back, which works out in his favor, giving Caspar the opportunity to chase the thief down, beat him up, and take the money back.
  • His C-Support conversation with Edelgard shows that he can be insightful in regards to people, and he calls out Edelgard for having an It's All About Me attitude.
  • His supports with Shamir and Petra show that he feels a lot of responsibility for his father's history of military campaigns, and feels he owes both of them an apology for what happened. No doubt due to not fully agreeing with his father, he tries to apologize for what happened, showing maturity for something he doesn't even have to apologize for.
  • His C-support with Dorothea in Three Hopes has him acknowledge that he needs to study as well if he's to be a proper strategist in battle, so he tries to read two or three "chappers" a day.
• Hot-Blooded: He's very hotheaded, to his occasional detriment. Caspar often jumps headlong into situations or comes to a conclusion without thinking things through.
• Hunk: After the timeskip, he's gotten muscular, well-built, and handsome.
• I Got Bigger: He grows considerably during the timeskip, although he's the second-shortest male character, only being taller than Ignatz.
• Innocently Insensitive: He's frank and tends to jump to conclusions without thinking, much to the chagrin of his housemates. He often has trouble figuring out what he's doing wrong until it's pointed out to him, like when Bernadetta gets huffy at him for dragging her around like a piece of luggage because he was too excited to show her a place with a nice view.
• Irony: During Part I, Caspar can be found in the monastery complaining about how much he despises the Death Knight for his actions and how he wishes to catch him. In three out of four routes, he ends up working alongside the Death Knight for the Adrestian Empire during Part II, even directly reporting to him during a cutscene in Azure Moon/Verdant Wind (if he wasn't recruited before the timeskip) once Byleth's chosen faction arrives into Fort Merceus.
• It's All My Fault: In Caspar's support with Byleth, he discovers a suspicious man that Byleth is shadowing. Upon noticing the man heading towards the town square, where a group of children are, he immediately goes after him despite Byleth telling him not to. A Knight of Seiros admonishes him for his action, bringing up the possibility that the man may belong to a group of bandits due to possessing a scorpion tattoo, but were unable to investigate the matter further because the man committed suicide when Caspar confronted him. Caspar looks back on the incident with shame after the Time Skip, and sure enough, the knight was correct as a soldier informs Byleth that they suffered casualties from dealing with bandits all bearing a scorpion tattoo, proving Caspar's fears.
• Leeroy Jenkins: He's not much for strategy and would much rather take on his opponent in a frontal assault.
• Like Brother and Sister: His support with Dorothea reveals she sees him like a little brother, and Caspar himself is embarrassed but doesn't mind returning the favor by calling her "big sister." In their A-support, he reveals that he really does see her close like family. He also provides a potential subversion in the same support: he admits he wouldn't mind spending his life with her (and vice-versa), assuming neither of them can find a significant other.
• Literal-Minded:
  • In Three Houses, during his support with Raphael, Caspar wants to 'get bigger' (read: taller) but soon finds that Raphael's advice isn't working how he wants it to. As they discuss this, he realizes that he also appreciates Raphael's "size of your heart" (read: kindness), and states that he should do the same if he wants to get bigger like Raphael.
  • At the end of his and Linhardt's paralogue in Three Hopes, after Shez says that they are the type of warrior that lets their sword do all the talking, Caspar believes they literally got a talking sword.
• Malaproper: As part of his Book Dumb status, he occasionally mispronounces words, with "chapper" (chapter) being one.
• Magically Inept Fighter: He comes with a good 9 base strength but an abysmal 3 magic. His growths also heavily lean him toward physical classes like Fighter due to his poor magic and resistance growths on top of his very limited spell list.
• Master of None: Among the available martial characters, Caspar is more of a generalist, not particularly exceeding in defense, strength, or speed, like Raphael and Felix, and not having any particularly exciting Combat Arts or a standout Personal Skill, like Ferdinand and Bernadetta.
• Might Makes Right: After the timeskip, one of his victory quotes has him namedrop the trope as an Ironic Echo to his previous Right Makes Might beliefs.
• Military Brat: The von Bergliez family has a long history of military service and leading the Empire’s Ministry of Military Affairs, Caspar is no exception with his solo Crimson Flower ending having him becoming a general and even on Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, he's present for the assault on Fort Merceus as an enemy commander.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: In Three Hopes, he’s not playable outside of Scarlet Blaze; thus he cannot fight alongside Dimitri, Dedue, Felix, Ingrid, Sylvain, Annette, Claude, Hilda, Holst, Seteth, Flayn or Catherine.
• Nice Guy: He's extremely approachable and friendly. Hot-headed as he may be, he cares deeply for all his friends.
• Oblivious to Love:
  • He's incapable of realizing in almost all of his romantic A-supports that someone is in love with him with the exception of Dorothea, though the two admit that they'll only go through with it if they don't find anyone else.
  • He doesn't understand why Bernadetta always wants to be alone with him, and Hilda eventually decides to tell him that he's coming to her room to carry luggage because he's too dense to understand that she wants to go there to have sex with him.
  • In his Goddess Tower Event cutscene, he mentions a girl wanted to see him in the tower but told her he'd be busy eating and dancing. The girl got upset and he doesn't know why.
• Odd Friendship: Despite being Hot-Blooded and prone to leaping before looking, he's good friends with the calm, thoughtful Lazy Bum Linhardt from the start, and he can develop a strong friendship with the stoic, professional Shamir.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If he is an enemy on Azure Moon and Verdant Wind and engages a former Black Eagle, he will become noticeably angry, demanding to know how many of their former friends and comrades they cut down to get this far.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's fairly short before the timeskip at 159 cm, and is frustrated when Linhardt's assessment that a taller person would win a fight assuming all other things are equal proves correct. Despite this, he has relatively high strength, Dexterity, and Speed growths and eventually wins his fight as planned thanks to Linhardt's advice. Averted after the timeskip, where he's become notably taller at 173 cm (though still the second shortest of all the male students).
• Playing with Fire: Learns Fire and Bolganone if trained in Reason, which is not recommended.
• Powerful, but Inaccurate: Caspar can learn the Wild Abandon combat art at C+ rank in axes. It let him deal 10 additional damage and has 30 extra critical hit at the cost of 30 accuracy.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  "Put me in there!" (Said in different tones pre and post-timeskip)
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Don't try and stop me!"
  "This'll do it!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Here we go!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "I'll send you flying!" (Pre-timeskip)
  "Hope you're ready!" (Post-timeskip)
  "I'm not going down!" (Post-timeskip)
  "I'll have your head!" (Post-timeskip)
• Recurring Boss: In Three Hopes, he is fought twice on both Azure Gleam and Golden Wildfire.
• Recurring Element: He has elements of the Bord and Cord archetype. He's a cyan-haired, hot-blooded axe fighter that favors health and skill, contrasting Hilda, the rose-haired, apathetic axe fighter with greater focus on speed and defense.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • He's the excitable, loud and energetic Red Oni to Linhardt's calm, analytical and relaxed Blue Oni.
  • He and Ashe are polar opposites should they be recruited to the same house. Ashe is level-headed and prefers reconciliation to retribution, while Caspar rushes in and goes for the kill with reckless bravery. In their paired ending, the two travel the world together as wandering knights, rescuing each other time and again with their own strengths.
• Right Makes Might: One of his victory quotes in Part I has him namedrop the trope. By Part II, he's moved on to Might Makes Right.
• Screaming Warrior: His C-support with Hubert has Hubert complaining about this, which Caspar claims help energize him and he wouldn't do it in a real fight or covert operation, to which Hubert responds that intentionally or not, he will fall back into it because he trained that way. Then their B-Support reveals that's exactly what happens, which causes Caspar to crack down on it and become quieter...only for Hubert to admit that the team has grown so used to his shouting as both a signal and a comfort that the lack of it is actually affecting their performance.
• Secret A.I. Moves: As an enemy unit on the Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes, he can know Pass, a skill that he is unable to obtain as a playable unit.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Edelgard mentions that Caspar's older brother is lazy and greedy, something Caspar pretty much agrees with. Caspar himself is hard-working and selfless.
• Sins of Our Fathers: A recurring theme in his supports is that, because his father played a large role in the military campaigns of the Empire, he feels a sense of responsibility for his father's actions. His supports with Petra and Shamir reveal that he feels guilty due to his father's actions in the Empire's war against Brigid and Dagda, and attempts to make amends to them both for what he sees as his family's actions towards them.
• Skippable Boss: In chapter 14 of Azure Gleam, he must be killed if the Kingdom army wants a chance at catching Duke Aegir because Caspar will be guarding a gate that will block the army once Duke Aegir has passed it. However, if the player manages to seize the area that's supposed to be Aegir's escape, the mission will end once he is killed without the need to fight Caspar.
  • Can also be this post timeskip of the original Three Houses. As long as the Death Knight is defeated before he can escape Fort Merceus, Caspar can walk away without needing to be fought.
• Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: The Nice Moron to Linhardt's Smart Jerk.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: If he's killed in Classic mode, he blames himself for being weak.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Despite not being one of the protagonists, Caspar takes clear influence from this archetype. He's a Hot-Blooded, somewhat naïve and Book Dumb pure young man with a big appetite, a strong sense of justice and a strong desire to get stronger. The overlap between that trope's key elements and Caspar's is almost perfect, except that he doesn't have Instant Expert potential. His Three Hopes support with Ferdinand suggests he does have The Gift for combat, however.
• Taking the Bullet: In his B+ Support with Shamir, he does this for her in the middle of a fight, and he comes dangerously close to dying as a result. Shamir grills him for this when he wakes up, telling him her life is worth no more than his, but admits she owes him one for this.
• The Power of Friendship: Caspar namedrops this trope in Shez's paralogue against all three houses in Three Hopes, and expresses to Leonie and Felix his belief that this is the only way the Triangle Strike can work.
• Uncertain Doom: If not recruited on the Verdant Wind path but he survives the assault on Fort Merceus, it's unclear if he survives its subsequent destruction by the "javelins of light" or is killed.
• Walking the Earth: Several of his endings involve him giving up his nobility and traveling the world. For example, in his paired ending with Annette, he travels the world and ends up saving her while she was traveling, resulting in their marriage after. Only some of his Crimson Flower endings avoid this, since he usually becomes a general in the Empire. His ending with Petra, even outside the Crimson Flower route avoids this as he goes to Brigid with her.
• Weight Woe: In his C-Support with Raphael, Caspar takes up his method of bodybuilding, more training and a lot more eating. By the B-Support, however, Caspar laments that he's not grown taller, just wider.
• We Used to Be Friends: He's good friends with Linhardt at the beginning of the game, but it's possible for them to end up on opposite sides of a war should you recruit one or the other to the Blue Lions or Golden Deer.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never elaborated on as to what happens to an unrecruited Caspar on the Azure Moon route if he survives the battle at Fort Merceus.

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