Characters / Verdant Moon Azure Wind Main Characters

The Savior King, the Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation Main Character Page Main Characters | Officer's Academy | Allies | Antagonists | Agarthans | Einhejar (HEAVY SPOILERS) |

The main protagonists and viewpoint characters of The Savior King, the Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation.

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Claude von Riegan

• Actually Pretty Funny: His reaction upon seeing Ren von Riegan's Flipping the Bird moment towards Thales? Unabashed hysterical laughter.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The repeated assassination attempts Claude experienced in his childhood as a child of two worlds have much more visibly left him emotionally scarred. One of his memories shows the aftermath of him narrowly surviving drowning in a river after a couple of boys pushed him in and struggling not to break down in tears, wondering what he'd done wrong and why they hated him. He's so used to being used or for the people who are kind to him having ulterior motives that he's frequently stunned silent when he's confronted with genuine, sporadic gestures of kindness. In his lowest moments, Claude ponders if Seiros's Scriptures are true and that he shouldn't have been born. It results in him completely breaking down when Sothis disputes that and tells him she never rejected him.
• Adaptational Badass: Claude gets to show more of his tactical acumen in this story, making him even more of a strategist than his canonical counterpart was.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Though Claude in Three Houses is generally pleasant and charming, he can be very incensitive (especially when he wants to know something), and tends to irritate others freely. Claude in this fanfiction is more openly and genuinely charming and gets along better with people right from the start, particularly with Dimitri.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • In canon, while Claude and Dimitri are perfectly friendly, their interactions are strictly professional when there's any back and forth involved. Claude notes in Azure Moon that he and Dimitri are very different people, and indeed Dimitri tends to either take Claude's teasing at face value or get angry at it, leading to their interactions having a noticeable lack of playfulness. This is in contrast to Edelgard, with whom Claude jabs much more naturally. The pair interact on a more even level, and even flirt semi-seriously should they meet in battle. In this story, Dimitri's considerably more receptive to Claude's teasing and interacts with him in a more overtly friendly way, eventually leading to a shared romance. This is because of the nail effect of Dimitri learning of Claude's Almyran roots early and become his Secret-Keeper, earning Claude's trust.
  • In canon, Edelgard and Claude have a cordial relationship and both agree that they share similar ideals, particularly a disdain toward the Church of Seiros. In this story, Edelgard loathes Claude as her chief obstacle, while Claude is the most openly contemptuous of her actions out of the three leads.
• Affectionate Nickname: Claude calls Dimitri 'Mitya', while Byleth is both 'Teach' and less frequently 'By'.
• And Then What?: Demands to know what exactly Lonato plans to do with his rebellion, and how he plans on making any of his goals a reality, in Chapter 8:
  "So a militia half the size of the Knights of Seiros is going to walk up to one of the most strategic locations in Fódlan and...do what, exactly? Force your way in, past their stockpiled weapons, past the reinforcements they'd have plenty of time to call upon before you reached them, past the ballista and the magical defenses, and kill the archbishop? Please. No. You want her to look ruthless. You want her to look savage. What better way to do that than have her slaughter villagers armed with woodcutter's axes and fire pokers because a bereaved father wanted answers from her?"
• Armor-Piercing Question: Being much more adept at and willing to use psychological warfare than Dimitri or Byleth, Claude has used several to devastating effect.
  • After Lonato attacks Ashe in a fit of rage when the latter tries to talk him down, Claude steps in and, incensed, throws one after another at him.
    Claude: I'm sorry, is there a prettier word for a man who'd kill his own son?
    Claude: I dare presume he loved Ashe in spite of him being adopted? In spite of him being a commoner? I dare presume he was a decent, kind man who disapproved of the killing of children?
  • In chapter 71 when Rhea persists in describing the institutionalized racism against foreigners she created as Necessarily Evil to stop Agartha, Claude loses his temper and responds with two:
    Claude: So I should have just laid there and let that nurse suffocate me for being a godless half breed when I was eight?!
    Claude: I thought y-you, of all people, would understand...being rejected and hated because of how you were born! H-how could you, of all people, do this to me and everyone who came before me?
• Badass Bookworm: Just like Canon, he’s easily the best example of this in the setting considering his incredible thirst for knowledge and information that is a prominent character trait in him. Outside that, he easily comes off as being one of the most voracious reader in the series (he spends a great deal of time in the Garreg Mach Monastery library researching for the sake of learning and his own room in the Monastery is filled with books all over his bed, shelves and floor), is apparently quite the Master Poisoner who has no difficulty creating new ones, is deeply erudite, observant and analytical in several conversations and shows to have a love of tactics and "schemes". This of course evolves into transforming him into someone who is considered The Ace in terms of war strategies to the point that almost everyone who interacts with him after show great admiration towards his intellect, to the point that even Thales himself considers Claude a Worthy Opponent due to his intelligence. And of course, as one of the main three characters in the story he’s one of the most skilled and powerful fighters among our heroes and not someone who just stands back in the battlefield.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Dimitri defending both Cyril and Claude when the two were harassed by a foot soldier for their Almyran heritage which he then promises to keep secret is why Claude comes to completely trust Dimitri.
• Becoming the Mask: Claude, at the beginning, thinks of having Byleth as his professor in fairly utilitarian terms; only to slowly find himself trusting her as a friend, and eventually, a loved one.
• Big Brother Instinct: Already quite A Father to His Men from the get go, Claude is particularly protective of Bernadetta (basically adopting her as his little sister and having nothing but absolute seething hatred for Maximus Varley to the point he’s gleeful at the idea of ruining the older man’s life in every way possible), Marianne (always making a point of making her laugh as much as he can and absolutely refusing to let anyone mock her faith) and Lysithea (he shares a teasing older brother/exasperated young sister dynamic with her that nevertheless is filled with mutual respect and familial love and he’s borderline homicidal in his fury when learning firsthand about her Dark and Troubled Past with the Agarthans in chapter 78 and vows to not only do everything in his power to cure her but also make those responsible for her condition pay).
• Birds of a Feather: He and Yuri almost instantly hit it off due to their shared abilities as The Chessmaster and similarly playful/irreverent attitudes.
• Break Them by Talking: Claude uses this tactic on to Lord Lonato after the latter tries to attack Ashe. He starts off calmly questioning Lonato's motives before poking flaws in his plans and pinning down his true intentions, all the while playing him as easily as a fiddle. Claude breaks Lonato so badly that the grieving lord doesn't react at all as Claude kills him with an arrow.
• The Chains of Commanding: Once the war begins in earnest, Claude constantly feels the pressure of being the main strategist and being personally responsible for thousands of lives from two countries.
• Closet Key: Dimitri and Claude serves as this for each other.
• The Charmer: Easily the most socially adept of the three protagonists, Claude has no problem flirting with and teasing people to get information or just for the fun of it.
• Constantly Curious: Just like in Canon, Claude’s immense curiosity and thirst for knowledge is one of his biggest character traits. He takes genuine and absolute delight in learning about other cultures, history and secrets others might have. And while sometimes he can be a bit insensitive and capable of utterly discarding manners when particularly interested in a subject, most of the time his curiosity and fascination about other cultures is considered a very good thing: Petra’s grandfather, Indech and Atra are all notably charmed and more than willing to talk about their cultures with Claude and find his interest quite refreshing
• Cool Big Bro: Claude finds himself taking Bernadetta under his wing, using his people skills to make her comfortable and encouraging her to open up socially. Eventually he's sufficiently attached to her that he offers to straight-up adopt her into his Almyran family, which she happily accepts.
• Culture Clash:
  • Claude muses after Atra tells them about the Tragedy of Duscur and her role in it that in Almyra, where being a Worthy Opponent was the highest ideal one could strive for, it's much easier and more frequent for former enemies to meet on neutral ground, become friends, or even marry unless you had done something truly beyond the pale. So he has little reservation forgiving the clearly-repentant Atra, who had both been a child and not fully aware of her leader's plans, unlike Dimitri or Rodrigue. To be fair, Claude wasn't personally affected by what Atra did.
  • Almyra practices three-way marriages as a matter of course, so Claude has no problem effectively proposing to both Byleth and Dimitri in chapter 36 while Dimitri is much more flustered by the idea.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His parents fell in love and married despite everything standing against their relationship. But despite being the Crown Prince of Almyra and a scion of House Riegan, Claude suffered from racism and repeated assassination attempts that wore away his ability to trust anyone other than his parents. One of said assassins was his own cousin, proving that even some of his own family would never accept him.
• Deadpan Snarker: No matter the situation, Claude almost never runs out of dry, witty remarks to mock his enemies or distract his friends from panic or worry.
• Did They or Didn't They?: After the three protagonists finally confessed their feelings for each other, certain chapters are rather ambiguous on whether they went all the way in intimacy, such as Dimitri and Claude going to visit Byleth in her dorm room days before the war starts. Chapter 47 gives a confirmation that they did.
• Foreign Fanservice: Claude's exotic skin color is noted as a point of attraction for both Byleth and Dimitri. See also Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive below.
• Freak Out: Has a nasty emotional breakdown when Sothis tells him that the scripture calling mixed-race children like him was a falsehood, and that she accepts him.
• Friendly Address Privileges: After The Reveal of his Almyran heritage several characters have taken to call him by his real name, Khalid: from Byleth and Dimitri, to Mercedes to Lysithea, to Felix to the rest of his fellow True Companions. Every time he hears the name being uttered by those close to him he’s incredibly touched because it represents the fact that they all accept him as he is without hesitation.
• Good Parents: Both Tiana and Kirah are this to him and he absolutely adores them for it. He proudly and without hesitation calls his mother the bravest person that he knows, all his memories show just how much they love each other and his reunion with her in chapter 79 is one of the very few moments where he cries Tears of Joy while in her embrace. All the memories he has of his father are incredibly fond as well and show that he holds him in very high esteem, making it clear that he considers Kirah both an incredibly loving and protective father and also someone whose wisdom, intellect and sage advice are greatly respected by Claude.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Barely hidden, at that. Byleth, Marianne and Bernadetta all discuss at one point that for all of Claude's arguments that he's shiftiness incarnate and that he should not be trusted, he's actually a young man with an immense amount of compassion, kindness, and desire to help others. Later Dimitri pointblank states that Claude has always been a good man, but his Dark and Troubled Past forced Claude to either hide his heart or push other away to avoid being hurt. Despite being a victim of brutal Half-Breed Discrimination for being half-Almyran, Claude believes that people from different countries, classes, races, and ethnicities can get along if they are given a chance. His overall goal is to facilitate said union in the most peaceful way possible. To be honest, none of his True Companions are fooled by his façade, and they all know that behind all his manipulations and personality Claude has one of the gooiest hearts among the cast.
• Humble Hero: He is dumbfounded to learn that his tactical prowess places him on the same level as Byleth on the villains' list of important people to kill. Later he is absolutely confused as to why Yuri, Ignatz, Ashe, and Hapi all seem to perfectly understand why they consider him so dangerous.
• Hypocrite: Condemns Edelgard as imperialistically trying to reconquer the rest of Fódlan, only to later on consider installing Judith or Rhea, neither of whom are from the region, to govern the conquered Adrestia.
• Informed Ability: Due to rampant Hollywood Tactics, his supposed talent for tactics and strategy ends up being this. Broadly, his tactics tend to consist of simply splitting up the main characters into small groups and telling them to do the same things in every fight. On the strategic side, the war simply follows the path outlined in the game itself - meaning little more than a direct fight from Garreg Mach to Enbarr via the Great Bridge. A particularly notable instance of his tactics not living up to the narrative's praise is the Battle of Garreg Mach, in which he makes no apparent effort to hold the monastery's outer wall, resulting in the battle very quickly breaking down into a disorganized brawl in the city. This leaves the monastery's defenders separated into small and isolated pockets of resistance and wholly reliant on Byleth's newfound godly powers to remain viable. When reinforcements arrive, Byleth has to explain to Claude in very clear terms that the need to flank the Imperial army, as the Empire still has the advantage in a direct fight between them and the Alliance/Kingdom coalition.
• Innocently Insensitive: Inadvertently drives Bernadetta to tears over memories of Yuri's 'death' when prodding her for her backstory. He immediately lampshades it.
  Claude: I feel like I just kicked a baby wyvern in the wing for the fun of it.
• Milholland Relationship Moment: Claude goes through many of these as all of his friends and allies react to discovering his Almyran heritage with unconditional support.
• Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive: Both Dimitri and Byleth see Claude's distinct skin color and eye color (which in combination points toward his mixed Almyran/Fódlish ancestry) as points of attraction.
• Modest Royalty: Mercedes playfully points out in Chapter 71 after Claude openly reveals that he's actually the Almyran royal heir and prince that he does not carries himself at all like Dimitri or with the same trappings of someone of his rank, something that amuses Claude.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Claude constantly outsmarts, outfoxes, and outmaneuvers his enemies and very often is several steps ahead of them strategically. But his enemies almost always fail to see how incredibly intelligent and cunning he is due to the fact that he has mastered this, often acting like "a fool playing at things he [doesn't] understand."
• Oblivious to Love: Claude isn't that bad compared to Dimitri and Byleth as he is more social savvy of the three, but his trust issues make him selectively oblivious at times as a result of some of the assassination attempts on his life which includes being poisoned by a girl he slept with before. He knows whenever someone's flirting with him and isn't afraid to flirt back, but genuine romantic feelings being reciprocated are new to him. Claude's the first among the three to recognize his feelings for Byleth and Dimitri, but it takes him a while to realize that Dimitri's odd behavior around him is because the prince is in love with him. Claude calls himself out on this in Chapter 35.
• One-Hit Polykill: During the battle of Hrym, Claude uses Fallen Star to kill nineteen soldiers with a single arrow.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Says this to Dimitri word-for-word while Edelgard's army is marching on Garreg Mach, and Dimitri has been reserved and aloof after his breakdown in the Holy Tomb. Dimitri promises.
• Polyamory: With both Dimitri and Byleth, as all three form the main Official Couple in the series.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: After Dimitri impulsively gives Claude his First Kiss, he's left in a dazed, stunned, and distracted state until the ball starts in the evening.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives these out frequently to his adversaries. They can go on for paragraphs, even while in combat.
• Selective Obliviousness: Despite how people savvy he normally is, Claude remains oblivious to Dimitri's love for him for a startlingly long time due to his low-self esteem rationalizing it away and insisting that the other prince couldn't possibly be romantically attracted to him.
• Side Bet: Claude muses to himself that he has 15 gold pieces riding on Leonie not confessing to Lorenz before they reach Enbarr.
• Sniper Duel: In chapter 76, against Ren Von Riegan, while Dimitri runs assistance. Byleth describes the duel as being like a "dance" due to the skill of both combatants.
• The Strategist: Effectively becomes this to the Kingdom-Alliance-Church army after Edelgard starts the war at just eighteen. He's very capable, but it's mildly deconstructed in that he's very stressed out by the role and frequently seeks emotional support from his Love Interests. That said, his in-story reputation does clash with the story's use of Hollywood Tactics.
• Stepford Smiler: He's definitely a depressed type at the start. Even as he comes around to the idea that the Golden Deer have his back and truly are his friends, along with Byleth and Dimitri's clear and honest care for him, Claude still represses sadness, anger, and confusion under a cheerful mask because his experiences has taught him to never show weakness no matter what. Despite how lazy and irrelevant he behaves, inside he's painfully lonely, which is why Dimitri's almost offhanded compliment on his Almyran features had such a profound impact.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Claude often dips into long breaking monologues when squaring off against major characters in battle. They're as long as multiple paragraphs when against Lonato, and he even does it against Edelgard.
• This Is Unforgivable!: When Claude discovers that Edelgard has let Count Varley loose on Hrym's civilians, he declares that he is tearing her off her throne if it's the last thing he does.
• Tranquil Fury: Claude reacts to the massacre in Hrym with what is described as "a calm you only felt when you reached the far side of fury".
• Worthy Opponent: It’s outright confirmed in chapter 80 that the Agarthan top brass of Thales, Myson and Odesse consider him this due to this intellect, cunning and sheer ability to search for the truth. Both Thales and Myson show genuine disappointment that Claude’s incredible mind was “enslaved by the Fellstar” and Odesse, after being utterly shocked at learning of Claude’s intelligence, feels bitterly disappointed. Heck, it’s stated that Solon himself saw great potential in Claude.
• You Are in Command Now: Claude ends up taking command of the armies of the Alliance from his grandfather in Chapter 53 when the latter decides that the war would be too taxing on him, which also handily gives him Failnaught. Claude lampshades this in his own special way.
  Claude: It would take a continent-wide war to make gramps finally decide he was too old for this shit.
• You're Insane!: Holst affectionately calls Claude "the maddest lord to ever grace Fódlan's landscape" in a letter sent after he calls in his Almyran brethren to save the Alliance from Imperial forces.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: In Chapter 40, Claude drops his typical nickname of "Teach" and refers to Byleth directly by her given name when warning her to be careful when she goes after Kronya.

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

• Adaptational Angst Downgrade:
  • Due to having Claude as a Morality Chain and not losing Byleth for five years, this version of Dimitri doesn't go through the downward spiral into homicidal insanity that canon Dimitri did on all routes save Crimson Flower.
  • Dimitri, though outwardly polite, is privately very guarded and quietly suspicious in the original game, while in this fanfic he is instantly friendly around Claude and the Golden Deer, even revealing sources of trauma he kept long-buried much later into the the canonical Azure Moon story. This goes so far as to border on Adaptational Personality Change in part due to Adaptation Relationship Overhaul.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • In canon, while Claude and Dimitri are perfectly friendly, their interactions are strictly professional when there's any back and forth involved. Claude notes in Azure Moon that he and Dimitri are very different people, and indeed Dimitri tends to either take Claude's teasing at face value or get angry at it, leading to their interactions having a noticeable lack of playfulness. This is in contrast to Edelgard, with whom Claude jabs much more naturally. The pair interact on a more even level, and even flirt semi-seriously should they meet in battle. In this story, Dimitri's considerably more receptive to Claude's teasing and interacts with him in a more overtly friendly way, eventually leading to a shared romance. This is because of the nail effect of Dimitri learning of Claude's Almyran roots early and become his Secret-Keeper, earning Claude's trust.
  • In canon, though she's forgotten about him thanks to her trauma, Dimitri cares for Edelgard a great deal and thinks warmly back to the time they shared when they were children. In this fanfic, though he still acts as though he cares about her in his narration, he rarely thinks about her, making his supposed lingering love for Edelgard as his sister more of an Informed Attribute.
• Amazon Chaser: Easily admits to being very enamored with Byleth's combat prowess from when they first met, musing that he might have proposed to her right then and there if it weren't for her offputting Stoicism.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: In response to the Empire declaring war on everyone, Dimitri assumes the throne of Faerghus.
• Ax-Crazy: His PTSD episodes include violent fits of rage, which he's deeply ashamed of and tries to repress.
• Berserk Button:
  • Dimitri despises racists, not at all helped by the Tragedy of Duscur and his guilt over not being able to prevent it. The story is kicked off by him catching a guard harassing Claude and Cyril, losing his temper and flooring him with one punch.
  • He also hates nobles who abuse their power and harm the common people. Learning that Lord Gloucester has been running a False Flag Operation on his own people for his personal gain leaves him lightheaded with rage.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Dimitri is a genuine kind, sensitive young man despite his fits of mania. That doesn't mean he won't punch you through a tree if you're fighting a war to conquer his people. Nearly kill one of his friends, meanwhile, and he'll bring out Areadbhar to end you.
• The Big Guy: Edelgard sees Dimitri as this among the other faction leaders.
  Edelgard: It was obvious that he was the weak link among the leaders; half mad (his laughter in the chamber, manic behavior in battle, and absurd fixation on the idea that she had somehow 'betrayed' him made that clear) and likely reliant on Claude for strategy and Byleth to keep himself alive in battle. He was a destructive monster to fight, however. Anyone who wielded Areadbhar was.
• Blood Knight: Whether or not he's consumed by rage while on the field, Dimitri admits that he's comfortable in combat and enjoys it to a certain extent.
• Closet Key: Claude is this for him, bordering on If It's You, It's Okay. Dimitri had never been attracted to other men before him, and even now shows no signs of interest in men other than him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In chapter 15, an enraged Dimitri vs the Death Knight ends up with Dimitri absolutely wrecking Jeritza with disturbing ease, first breaking his scythe with casual ease and then delivering a powerful crest empowered blow that pretty much brings him down for the count. The fight is over in mere seconds, and the Flame Emperor even points out that they should have expected someone with the power of the Crest of Blaiddyd to come out on top.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not initially, but being around Byleth and Claude causes him to pick this trait up from them, with some notable examples of it coming about during the battle with Lord Hevring.
• Did They or Didn't They?: After the three protagonists finally confessed their feelings for each other, certain chapters are rather ambiguous on whether they went all the way in intimacy, such as Dimitri and Claude going to visit Byleth in her dorm room days before the war starts. Chapter 47 gives a confirmation that they did.
• Freak Out: Aside from his canonical reaction to the reveal that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor and the massacre at Remire, Dimitri has a few, despite him gradually moving into a better mental state. When Atra admits her role in the Tragedy of Duscur and apologizes, Dimitri is consumed by grief, shock and rage, demanding to know why. Then he throws a dagger at her, grazing her cheek, before fleeing to the monastery cathedral.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: Dimitri's jealousy towards Yuri flirting with Claude, culminating in the former giving a playful kiss to the latter, is what made him realizes that he has romantic feelings for Claude.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Dimitri frequently refers to himself as 'the boar' in his own mind, seeing very little of worth in himself due to a mix of Survivor's Guilt and his Ax-Crazy tendencies in battle.
  Dimitri: (to himself) She's too good for a man like me. She deserves someone whole, not a boar struggling with his bloodlust.
• It's Personal: Once he learns of their existence Dimitri has it in for the Agarthans due to the fact they orchestrated the Tragedy of Duscur from the shadows.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Dimitri's greatest asset is his honor, mercy, and chivalry, and the effect this has on his enemies and allies alike. His kindness defuses Edelgard's attempts to characterize him as a mad boar and turns her already-unrestful citizens against her, sparking riots all across Adrestia because they know they'd get a much better deal being ruled by him than her.
• Let Me at Him!: During the confrontation between Claude and Count Gloucester in Chapter 85, Seteth has to physically restrain Dimitri from attacking the Count.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The other heroes decide not to inform Dimitri that Atra was one of the soldiers who helped cause the Tragedy of Duscur, out of fear of how badly he'd take it. Atra finally confesses to him in Chapter 51, and while he does have a manic fit and slashes her cheek with his dagger, he doesn't kill her. Months later and showing just how much of a Nice Guy he truly is, he actually forgives her when he fully understating what was her situation, driving her greatful and deeply remorseful tears.
• Love at First Sight: Lightly implied. Dimitri mentions being completely flummoxed by Claude when they first met, comparing him to a star-turned-human from a famous Faerghus love fable. However - perhaps due to his Oblivious to Love nature - he doesn't realize he has romantic feelings for him until chapter 22.
• My Greatest Failure: Considers failing to convince the lords of Faerghus that Duscur wasn't responsible for the Tragedy, and being unable to stop them from carrying out the resulting massacre of the people, to be his. Admitting as much to Claude helps the Golden Deer leader gain a whole new perspective of him and kicks off the plot.
• Nice Guy: In spades! Half the reason for the plot kicking off is him delivering a heartfelt, completely serious compliment on Claude's visibly Almyran traits. He risks his life to save a young Imperial civilian without a second thought after Lord Herving orders an attack on her, willingly offers Yuri and the Wolves his help almost immediately after their attack on him, and is easily infuriated by the mistreatment of innocent/helpless individuals.
• Oblivious to Love: Due to his belief that he doesn't deserve romantic love, Dimitri neither notices how affectionate Claude and Byleth are towards him nor his own feelings toward Claude until Yuri kisses him for freeing them from the initial Chalice defenses.
• Polyamory: With both Claude and Byleth, as all three form the main Official Couple in the series.
• Rousing Speech:
  • In chapter 75, he has his own chance to shine just before they enter they main palace at Enbarr.
    Dimitri: Everyone, within these doors is the most dangerous conflict Adrestia has to offer us! The soldiers we fight within will be either desperate and furious, or utterly devoid of scruples – moral or otherwise! Yet this battle must be won – not only to free Fódlan from the threat of tyranny, but to save the common people of Adrestia from the clutches of Agartha! Be prepared for a bitter and terrible struggle; be prepared for the lowliest of tactics and the worst any army is capable of, and remember this! Each of you is ordered to return home alive! Let us finish this together!
  • He has another one much earlier, in chapter 13, as he, the Lions, and the Deer are about to fight the Duscur soldiers:
    Dimitri: Everyone, what we're about to undertake is a venture most would call 'foolhardy'. To go up against an opponent that is gunning for victory, and fighting to disable...it's a dangerous venture, and it will require more skill and effort than a more 'normal' battle. But I have faith in this cause, and in all of us. Right now, I am surrounded by some of the most competent people I've met in years. We are organized, they are not; we are not desperate, blind with anger, or held back by anything but a desire to save lives rather than end them. So let's win this; for Duscur and for Faerghus! Forward!
• Stress Vomit: His reaction after Indech explains the Awful Truth about the Heroes' Relics and the Crests.
• Super-Strength: Everyone who possesses the Blaiddyd Crest has this; Dimitri can knock people through trees by backhanding them, crush skulls with his fists, and snap weapons like twigs.

Byleth Eisner

• The Ace: She is known and feared as the Ashen Demon for being an absolute monster with a sword, even before Sothis awakens within her and gives her Divine Pulse. Felix, a budding Master Swordsman himself, comments more than once on how he admires just how good she is with it.
• Adaptational Badass: Zig-zagged. Byleth has more confirmed skills at the start of the story than her Three Houses counterpart does, such as archery and healing, and her Crest and Relic-based powers are much stronger. She is, however, weaker at controlling both her newfound powers and her emotions at the start, resulting in her occasionally endangering herself for her students, burning herself out by abusing her powers, or getting overwhelmed by nausea in the heat of battle, and thus needing to be saved by someone, usually Dimitri and/or Claude.
• Adaptational Intelligence: This Byleth is more experienced and worldly than her in-game self (she's been to foreign lands, knows pieces of other languages, and knows something about the politics of other lands, traits Byleth doesn't reveal in Three Houses)
• Adaptational Skill: It's revealed early in the story that Byleth picked up singing at some point.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In Three Houses, the sometimes positive, sometimes antagonistic relationship between Edelgard and Byleth has enormous influence on the story, particularly in Crimson Flower and Silver Snow. Here, they barely interact with or think about one another.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Finally spills out her love for Claude and Dimitri in chapter 36 when they meet in the Goddess Tower. She doesn't say it in so many words, struggling to articulate exactly how they make her feel but nonetheless makes it clear she can't bear to not be a part of their lives.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: After the Battle of Garreg Mach, she becomes the acting Archbishop due to Rhea's being MIA. To say that she's quite ill at ease with all the trappings her new role has is a major understatement, but she has managed to roll with it the best she can.
• Badass Teacher: Due to her incredible skills as a warrior and mercenary, harming any of her students is something you do at your own risk and being a danger to either Claude or Dimitri is terribly ill advised.
• Battle Couple: With Dimitri and Claude.
• Berserk Button: Don't threaten her students, friends, or love interests, and don't ever insult Sothis by implying the goddess is using her.
  Byleth: Slave? Slave?! She's my friend! She. Is. My. Friend! (slashes the Flame Emperor's mask open)
• Big Damn Heroes: During the Holy Tomb battle against the Flame Emperor and Metody, four soldiers soon transform into Demonic Beasts and are about to attack the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer, until Byleth finally awakens as the Enlightened One with Sothis intact, jumps in the nick of time and proceeds to cut down each of the Demonic Beasts with a fully powered Sword of the Creator.
• Big Eater: Yuri gently teases her over the fact that she has just as much a Sweet Tooth as Lysithea does (her sweet of preference being the sponge cake) and is even less subtle about eating "third and fourth helpings" of the stuff.
• Deadpan Snarker: Even before her emotions came out in full, she was capable of some pretty dry asides when she gets annoyed.
• Death Wail: Byleth lets out one after her father is killed by Thales.
• Did They or Didn't They?: After the three protagonists finally confessed their feelings for each other, certain chapters are rather ambiguous on whether they went all the way in intimacy, such as Dimitri and Claude going to visit Byleth in her dorm room days before the war starts. Chapter 47 gives a confirmation that they did.
• The Dreaded: Her coldness mixed with her skill in battle was what got her the Ashen Demon moniker and a reputation for being a ruthless, remorseless killer would cuts through dozens of enemies with no more effort than dicing vegetables. In chapter 30, several of Acheron's mercenaries have a major Oh, Crap! when they recognize her, promptly followed by jumping into the rushing river to get away from her.
• Emotionless Girl: Until she meets Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard and Sothis's heart awakens within her, Byleth never expressed any emotion, and didn't experience anything more than the mildest sensations of annoyance, confusion, or concern. She notes when talking to Claude in chapter 17 that she was always aware this wasn't natural, and caused her to feel a slight disassociation from her sense of humanity.
  Byleth: To be honest, I hadn't understood before. How could I? It's... it's like a blind person not understanding the concept of sight. I knew that people felt things - happiness and sadness and wonder and glee, all of it - but no matter how much I watched, listened and waited, I couldn't make any sense out of it.
• First Time Feeling:
  • Played for Drama when Flayn is kidnapped. Byleth, who's become increasingly protective of her students and friends, suddenly finds herself overwhelmed with rage and fear at various points while trying to reach her and repeatedly slips up while fighting. This results in her getting shot in the shoulder with an arrow, nearly dying while Sothis repeatedly yells at her to get a grip.
  • A more heartwarming version of this trope is when Alois gets her to break down laughing for the first time with one of his puns the day after Flayn is rescued.
• Heroic BSoD: Enters a harrowing one after Jeralt's Heroic Sacrifice. She becomes so numb and broken that she spends two weeks in bed barely interacting with the world. She's only partially pulled out of it when Felix brings her on a mission.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In order to ensure all her friends escape the Chalice's defenses alive, Byleth burns through all her uses of Divine Pulse and then some despite knowing this will most likely be fatal. Thankfully, the Ashen Wolves are able to use the Chalice of Beginnings to save her.
• Heroic RRoD: Divine Pulse is a powerful ability that allows Byleth to rewind time to an extent, but she's limited to using it 7-8 times before strenuous use of Divine Pulse starts to take a toll on her and triggers a magical burnout. She ends up getting knocked out for half a day when she uses Divine Pulse nine times and anything beyond ten is fatal to her and she nearly ends up dying from it if it weren't for the Ashen Wolves using the Chalice to heal her. Unfortunately for Byleth, Thales, Kronya and the Flame Emperor know of this weakness and exploit it to their advantage. Sothis giving Byleth the last bit of mortality she had left has greatly boosted the limits, though how much hasn't been seen yet.
• Home Sweet Home: Garreg Mach becomes this for her, as clearly seen in chapter 79 with her absolutely gleeful and delighted reaction upon her return to it.
• Informed Attribute: Her emotionlessness is this. She's treated as similarly unemotional to her canon self in Three Houses, but even as early as her first point of view chapter she jousts verbally with Sothis and panics when she realizes she's been disrespecting Fódlan's three future leaders.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Byleth discovers she's pregnant at the worst possible time: as she and her allies are making preparations to storm Shambhala.
• Mama Bear: Do not lay a hand on her students or her either of her Love Interests, or else you'll find out first hand why she's called the Ashen Demon. "My students, my responsibility" indeed.
• Morning Sickness: At the start of Chapter 82, Byleth is seen vomiting and initially she, Claude and Dimitri pass it off as stress nausea from the war. Then comes in Chapter 83 where she's throwing up again and Sothis confirms that Byleth is indeed pregnant— and with twins at that.
• Not Brainwashed: The Flame Emperor believes that Byleth's fusion with Sothis means she has fully taken over Byleth and the human soul that is Byleth Eisner is now gone for good. In reality, Byleth is still mainly in control of her own body while Sothis is but a voice in her own head due to Sharing a Body.
• One-Man Army: She was this before Sothis fuses her mortal heart into her. After the Enlightened One transformation, she's bordering on being the World's Strongest Man, with only the other relic-wielding students and Rhea/The Immaculate One and Indech/The Immovable contesting her crown.
• Polyamory: With both Dimitri and Claude, as all three form the main Official Couple in the series.
• Pregnant Badass: All throughout the Battle of Shambhala.
• Rousing Speech: Delivers one right before the Battle for Garreg Mach.
  Byleth: Everyone, I won't lie to you. This is going to be the hardest, the longest, and the scariest fight we've ever been in. It will be a long, hard day. It will sap at your spirit and your strength. But I know all of you. I know what you're capable of and what you're fighting for. I wouldn't want anyone else standing behind me when I go to war. We will defend the monastery. We will repel Edelgard and her allies. And aside from making those people look like the idiots they are in the process? We're going to burn this wave of imperialism to a stop, and cast it down into the abyss of history where it fucking belongs! Now who's with me?!
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Her inner musing at start of chapter 79 show that she’s just so tired (physically, emotionally and mentally) of the war that she has developed some very strong shades of this.
  Byleth: why couldn't she have just stayed a professor then become a wife why did she have to become a warlord why did she have to step into her older sister's shoes why all of this why Edelgard why
  Byleth: Isn't this ironic? I've won, we've conquered Adrestia and saved Faerghus and Leiscester, saved the people of Adrestia from becoming cattle, and I don't want to celebrate. I just want to cry, to scream and scream until my lungs give out, to put out my eyes so I no longer see blood and corpses every time I close them. I want it to be done and over, I want to hand this responsibility right back to Serios, hide away and sleep for years.
  Byleth: ...I'm so fucking tired.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Occasionally indulges in this with Sothis.
• Stop Worshipping Me: In a case of Adaptation Expansion, Byleth's status as the wielder of the Sword of the Creator is explored, with people such as the villagers from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus worshiping her as the Goddess' new champion. She's not very comfortable with all the extra attention to say the least.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: As her emotions start to bleed through, Byleth still seems cold and composed at first glance, but prod her a bit and she quickly reveals an intensely caring and empathic center that fusses over every problem that her friends are dealing with, no matter how trivial.
• There Was a Door: During the siege of the Imperial palace, Byleth tears a hole in a wall because it's faster, causing Leonie to joke that there was a door.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Emotions are completely alien to Byleth at the beginning of the story; as she slowly thaws, she frequently ponders how frightening and intense her feelings are. She comments that both Claude and Dimitri make her feel 'warm', but it isn't until chapter 36 that she can even try to articulate that she's in love with them.