Characters / Demon In Fodlan Goetia

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Goetia/Beast I

The eponymous demon of the story and former Beast I. After his defeat at the hands of Chaldea in the Temple of Time, Goetia finds himself trapped in another world that's not his own called Fodlan. Instead of trying to find a way back or restart his plans, he decides to use this opportunity and his newly acquired human form to walk among humans in hope of finding the reason on why humanity rejected his wishes. Although he resumes his role as an observer, an encounter with Byleth Eisner and the three House Leaders in Remire Village, changes that plan.

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A-G

• Accidental Pervert: In Chapter 103, upon learning that Sothis was a Machine God, he decides to confront Rhea about this urgent matter and barges into her room. While she was in the middle of changing into her nightwear. Sothis and Rhea are hardly amused, the latter even telling him to Get Out!. Goetia promptly ignores her current state in favor of the pressing matters about the revelations he just learned, though his only comment was that Rhea was resembling a tomato because her face was turning red.
• All-Powerful Bystander: While he's no longer at the same power level as he was back as a Beast and is bound by the limits of a human, he still remains a frighteningly powerful mage and his knowledge would greatly benefit the people of Fodlan. Unfortunately, he has no interest in the socio-political affairs of Fodlan and would only do something if it either affects him or interests him enough to warrant his attention.
• Almighty Janitor: No one would expect someone with the title 'Assistant Librarian' to be a powerful mage whose power and knowledge surpasses that of court mages in Fodlan.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Goetia is this to a lot of mages in Fodlan, something that he acknowledges himself. Being the creation of the King of Magecraft and a powerful mage of his own right despite losing most of his powers as a Beast certainly helps.
  • Despite his immense hatred towards Solomon, Goetia begrudgingly admits he can never beat his creator, even at his full power. Considering Solomon was a Grand Servant and the key factor in his defeat, it's not hard to see why.
  • Played with in that he admits to Hanneman there was a mage (Avicebron) who is better at crafting golems than he can... before rectifying that it was the only craft that mage was good at.
• Angst Coma: He was in a coma for three days to both recover from the fatal wound that Sitri dealt to him and from the shock of having to kill his former subordinate.
• Anti-Hero: 'Heroic' is a far cry from what Goetia is, the former demon even admitting it. He retains his general distain for humanity's mortality and their failings, is still arrogant and condescending and only acts mostly out self-interest. He is also shown to have a softer side towards those he cares for (but won't admit), such as Lysithea and Byleth and his continuous interactions with humanity starts influence him.
• The Archmage: A powerful mage with a wide variety of spells and the intellect to back it up. Of course, he admits that he's still no match against Solomon even at full power.
• Attack on the Heart: In its last moments, Sitri manages to fatally stab Goetia through the chest, crushing his heart and the Crest Stone inside it. Goetia has to quickly cast Magecraft on his body before he loses consciousness so that he can recover.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Given he was initially tasked to observe humanity, Goetia is able to learn and pick up skills quickly. He already knows all the spells that Fodlan has sans Dark Magic just by studying in the library just in a day. In addition to his keen observation skills, he can also use Structural Analysis to examine the interior components of a person or object for a more thoroughly analysis.
• Badass Bookworm: He is a knowledgeable, intelligent mage who gets a job as an Assistant Librarian and becomes a mage tutor to several students on the side. He's also a massive Person of Mass Destruction who subverts the Squishy Mage archetypes, being able to go toe-to-toe with close-combatants. He is often seen reading and one of the reasons he accepted the job as assistant librarian is because the Monastery has access to information about Fodlan, even though he admits the info they provide is not the entire truth.
• Badass Teacher: He was Lysithea's Magecraft tutor before being promoted to a lecturer in Magecraft and still remains a powerful mage in spite of only being a shell of his former self.
• Beast of the Apocalypse: He is not only the former King of Demon Gods, but also Beast I. There is some irony when he is hired by the Monastery to be a librarian's assistant.
• Berserk Button: Even for someone normally impassive, few things that can trigger a reaction from him:
  • Solomon. Just the mere mention or bringing up the topic about him irritates him to the point he tries to avoid talking about him as much as possible.
  • Reminding him of his defeat and how he lost his arm, Caspar accidentally presses this when he asks on how he lost his arm because of underestimating an opponent.
  • He does not take it kindly when people accuse him of taking joy in watching humans struggle and die. He gave Sothis an earful when she did just that.
  • In an ironic twist, he does not like being pitied or being perceived as weak and helpless by others. He gotten into a fight with Byleth and Sothis after they didn't want him to be involve in Abyss to prevent getting him into more trouble with the church because he's still under probation after the last time they asked him for help.
  • To his confusion, he apparently gained a new one during his time at the Monastery: Hurting Lysithea. Lord Lonato and his army learned this the hard way when the enraged mage quickly make work of Lonato's rebels and beat the Lord to death after Lonato fatally wounded Lysithea.
  • In Omake 45, the normally apathetic Goetia shows outright contempt and revulsion towards Beast VI/S (aka. Queen Draco) out of all of his fellow Beasts, calling her whore (her title) and silencing her whenever she attempts to talk. This hatred stems from her copying his grand plan in Arcade but instead of recreating the Human Order, she intended on devouring them instead.
• Beyond the Impossible: Invoked. To Goetia, the things he can do with magecraft is considered child's play since even the average Magi can do basic magecraft. From the perspective of the people in Fodlan however, Goetia's 'foreign magic' is beyond their understanding to any magic they know of and unheard of before.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Goetia and Byleth are stoic, reserved individuals who are hard to read and despite exceling in the field of sword arts and magic respectively, have little to No Social Skills to the point of being tactless and lost in a joke. Goetia gets along with Byleth better than most people.
  • He has a lot in common with Lysithea, his first student. Both are powerful mages who excel in their field and are immensely prideful that they hate being looked down or being pitied by others. Both also keep secrets about themselves, Goetia being a former Beast and demon and Lysithea's dual Crests and her shortened lifespan.
  • He fairly gets along with Linhardt, both are apathetic to things that disinterests them, spend their time in the library and will only do things if they are properly motivated. They even share annoyance when Constance continues to disturb Goetia while both were reading in Abyss library.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Goetia's view on life and death and confusion over mortality still persists. Even if he were to save someone, they will probably die another day in one way or another—rendering his help pointless. To him, he only extended their lifespan by a few years and hasn't accomplished anything in the long run since they will succumb to the inevitability of death. This explains why he hasn't helped Lysithea cure her illness and why he has taken a stance as an 'observer' in Fodlan. Several characters take issue with his inhuman morality, such as Leonie and later Byleth, the latter having a fight with him over this because from a human standpoint, Goetia appears callous and selfish for this.
  Goetia: There is no right or wrong. There is only life and death, I did indeed stop them from dying but what purpose does that serve? They could easily be dead by now in some freak accident, or perhaps they could die next week… even if they live years, they still die in the end. So… no, I didn't save them either. I extended their short lifespan by a few years. In the grand scheme of things, I have accomplished nothing of worth.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: When he decides to accompany Anna to her trip to Enbarr along with the Black Eagles, he's also tasked with guarding Rhea during the escort mission. He only agreed to this sudden arrangement because it would help sway Rhea to appoint him as the new overseer of Abyss, making his current mission of fixing Abyss from the ground up much easier.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • He becomes this to Sitri, who initially thought Goetia was 'Solomon' and planned to get revenge on him for his king. After learning that it really is Goetia, it expresses disappointment towards him after Goetia refuses to go along with Sitri's genocidal plan for the sake for revenge.
  • He becomes this to Byleth in Chapter 84— between learning he kept some important information from when he could've helped to realizing he could've cured Lysithea of her ailment, Byleth has enough of his apathy and loses her trust in him, believing him to an uncaring, selfish jerk.
• Brought Down to Badass: Thanks to the events in the Temple of Time, Goetia lost the majority of his powers that he had as a Beast and the King of Demon Gods after being turned into a human. He's still a Badass Bookworm and a powerful archmage whose power and knowledge still surpass human standards and when motivated properly, is still a Person of Mass Destruction.
  Goetia: I was better than them when I first came into existence, and I am better than them even as I stand here as nothing more than a shell of what I was! I have the power to govern the foundations of this world! I have knowledge you couldn't even begin to comprehend and would take this place of magical luddites centuries to even consider unraveling!
• Brutal Honesty: Goetia is always unflinchingly honest with his opinions, not mincing his words nor caring if he comes off as rude or insensitive to others. This trait does help him when convincing the Ashen Wolves to let him fix Abyss— being straightforward that he's motivated out of pride to rebuild Abyss, not for any other ulterior motives.
  • His "pep-talk" to an ashamed and guilt-ridden Rhea in Chapter 86 is laden with this, mixed with some praise on her Achievements in Ignorance.
  Goetia: Correct your mistakes, Seiros. For some, it is the only thing they have left.
  ...
  Rhea: I hate it when he's right.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When confronted over him keeping quiet regarding Sothis ever since Remire Village, he describes the event as another regular day roaming the streets.
  Jeralt: Most would be more boastful about speaking to the Goddess.
  Goetia: Do you boast of every instance you see a fly? The act of meeting a Goddess is as memorable to me as you strolling down the streets and encountering a stray cat. An encounter that you consider to be an amusing diversion before you continue on your way without even sparing it a second glance.
• Bystander Syndrome: Resuming his original mission as an 'observer', he has no intentions of getting involve in. Fodlan's political and social issues. This causes several problems since not can his power and knowledge help benefit Fodlan, but he is made aware of several plots happening in the background such as Solon disguised as Tomas and Edelgard's dual Crest. The only reason he doesn't derail them is because Fodlan's problems don't concern him, and he feels interfering too much in this other world would take away any progress that the humans of Fodlan would gain themselves. Even after learning about the shadow war between the Nabateans and the Agarthans, he still considers himself an outsider to this conflict. Naturally, several characters, such as Sothis and Leonie, question his position as an 'observer' since he tends to choose whether to be involve or not. Soon, Byleth becomes fed up with Goetia for this, viewing him as a self-centered jerk who doesn't care for others, including those who do care for him.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He could've killed Kronya and thrown her corpse at Rhea's feet but instead he decided that she'd be more useful to him as a spy for the Agarthans, striking up a deal with Kronya that she cannot refuse.
• Category Traitor: Sitri considers Goetia a traitor to their brethren on the same level as Alloces and Orobas because he chooses to protect humanity in spite of them being the reason that a majority of the Demon Gods are dead.
• Celibate Hero: He's VERY aware of the many wives and concubines Solomon took in but lacks any interest in any romantic or sexual relationships himself, preferring to observe humanity to understand where his Human Incineration plot went wrong. In fact, the thought of romancing someone is so foreign to Goetia that he's left confused when Jeralt and Seteth accuse him of courting their daughters, Byleth and Flayn respectively. He doesn't seem phased at all while reading one of Flayn's smut romance books, being more focused on the logic behind the story instead.
• Clark Kent Outfit: He usually wears a simple brown robe that hides his figure and on top of being a mage, no one expects him to get physical unless provoked. Underneath those robes, his Shirtless Scene reveals he's actually well-toned and hiding a six-pack... albeit covered in horrific burned scars from his defeat against Ritsuka as both Byleth and Sothis discovered.
• Combat Pragmatist: Goetia's not above fighting dirty with or without his magic. Best exemplified with him using Ashe as a Human Shield against Felix's attack during the practice battle with the Blue Lions.
• The Comically Serious: A powerful mage and former demon, he always has an impassive expression and stoic attitude even when around the antics of the students of the Academy. This includes saying or doing the most absurd things himself with complete seriousness and sincerity and his poor social skills leaves him oblivious to social cues.
• Comically Missing the Point: When thinking about a topic to talk about, Dorothea decides they should talk about their 'first crushes'. Having never experience this, Goetia draws a blank till Dorothea describes it as someone you have special moment when you make eye contact with them. This cause Goetia to recall and describe a similar feeling he experienced in the past in a serious tone—which turns out to be about his final confrontation with Ritsuka.
• Condescending Compassion: Even though he's no longer a Beast, he still associates himself with Pity, even admitting he has not fully let himself go of this trait. However, this is shown in a positive light in regard to his intent to rebuild Abyss into a flourishing town that is acceptable to him. Although he is doing this out pride, he genuinely wants to help the denizens of Abyss because he hates seeing them forced to live in poor living conditions and suffering from it.
  • In Chapter 86, he visits a despondent and guilt-ridden Rhea in her quarters not out of sympathy but out of disgust on her current state.
  Goetia: Your actions were mistaken. They were rooted in self-defeat. You sabotaged your own efforts and you are presented with a choice. You can either wash your hands clean and then disappear into the world without another word…or you can correct your actions. I do not care which choice you pick.
  Rhea: Why? This…this sounds as though you are trying to encourage me, Goetia…but I am not fool enough to believe that.
  Goetia: Encourage you? No…seeing you like this is just…disgusting to me. I just don't want you to act like this in a place where I might see or hear of you. This is me telling you to either do something valuable or clear the way for someone else. Sothis return was not your only work, Seiros. Fodlan is still in need of something resembling order by your own design, the Church is now a central pillar of this continent. There is still something you might be able to salvage of your efforts. Again, I'm not sure why I even bothered you in the first place. Perhaps it would have been simpler if I did laugh at you for your failures.
• The Confidant:
  • Claude has confided to Goetia about his theory about the assassination threat before he shared it with his class. He approaches Claude later on regarding using his Alliance connections as a way to help uplift the Abyss.
  • He becomes another one for Byleth, with the professor realizing she has grown to trust him enough to tell him everything.
  • During his visit in Enbarr, he becomes one to Rhea who she consults regarding her plans on improving the Church.
• Conflicting Loyalty: He's forced to choose between aiding in Demon Pillar Sitri, whom he just found out is alive after believing he's the Sole Survivor or protect the humans in Garreg Mach Monestary from Sitri's wrath. He chooses to side with the humans against Sitri after the Demon Pillar makes it clear it intends to eradicate all humans for the sake of it.
• Control Freak: A low-key example. Goetia doesn't wish to control human lives, in fact, he planned to leave humanity alone after incinerating them and creating them anew. He does however, feel the need to be in control, such as being informed of certain things, gets annoyed or irritated whenever people don't meet his expectations, and easily takes command of the situation should the need arise.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: He has this dynamic whenever he's paired with Flayn or the Gatekeeper, being the bitter, misanthropic cynic who has seen the repetitive cycle of the worst of humanity for centuries.
• Deadpan Snarker: He keeps a deadpan, impassive expression while dishing plenty of dry snark, with his lack of tact and stoic nature making it difficult to tell if he's being sarcastic or just being honest. He's usually like this whenever around Sothis, Claude, Manuela, Rhea and Flayn.
  • When Rhea finally warms up to him after Sitri's attack, their interactions in public borders on Snark-to-Snark Combat.
  Goetia: You continue to exceed my expectations in ways that I have never once imagined possible. Truly, I have only ever encountered one other individual in my life who has demonstrated a capacity to be as infuriating to my nerves as you.
  Rhea: In that case, I can rest well knowing that I have cemented a place within your mind.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: After his defeat and arrival at Fodlan, Goetia has resumed his original duties as an 'observer'— resolving not to get himself involved in Fodlan's political and social issues. But as he still hates Solomon, it becomes clear that he dislikes his role as an observer due to its association to his creator, something that even Sothis points out. It also becomes apparent that his loss against Chaldea has left Goetia directionless that being an observer is all he has left as a purpose, even his job as an Assistant Libarian became a mundane chore that he soon grows bored of. The only thing that gave him some forms of reprieve were the Magecraft lessons he taught to some of the students. This all comes to head in the climax of the Cindered Shadows arc when Sitri calls him out for no longer having a greater purpose in life anymore and compares him to Solomon. Realizing his lack of purpose and being forced to kill a Demon Pillar is what sends Goetia into a depressive spiral in the aftermath of Sitri's rampage.
• Determinator: One of his virtues as a Beast carries over here, for once he has a goal in mind, he will see to its conclusion—no matter the outcome or obstacles that await him. Whether it is teaching his students Magecraft so that they can reach their potential or becoming the new overseer of Abyss in order to rebuild it into a better foundation, he will get the job done.
• The Dog Bites Back: Averted, despite being irritated by Rhea's hostile paranoia and controlling nature in the early chapters, he can't bring himself to mock her in her depressed state in the aftermath of the Cindered Shadows arc.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Ironically the Beast of Pity hates it when he thinks people pity him. Even though he's no longer the apex of life that he was before, he detests being looked down upon as weak and helpless in his current state out of pride.
  • When Flayn expresses sympathy for him after she learns that he never had a chance to find any interests of his own, he finds himself disgusted at what he perceives to being pity by someone.
  • Byleth and Sothis didn't want him to be involve in the Abyss because it would risk getting him into more trouble with the Church, especially during his house-arrest sentence. Upon learning this, he feels insulted by them for thinking he's some helpless person who needs their protection from the Church.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: He struggles in the fight against Sitri because of his currently limited magical reserves and the fact he doesn't want to kill another Demon Pillar. Even after gaining a temporary form that resembles his Beast mode, he resorts to mostly to his signature Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs attacks both because of the limited time he has in this form and his hesitation in killing Sitri. It doesn't help that Sitri is also doing the same fist-fighting against him just to prevent Goetia from casting a spell immediately.
• The Dreaded: He easily becomes this to Bernadetta, no thanks to his habit of quietly observing others, his domineering personality and demonic red eyes, and his refusal to let her escape whenever he requires her assistances or to train her along with her classmates for the upcoming Battle of the Eagles and Lions.
• The Drifter: Prior to meeting Byleth at Remire village, Goetia rarely stayed at one place for too long, simply observing the locals while gathering information about Fodlan before moving on to the next destination.
• Dropping the Bombshell: Goetia has a bad habit on randomly dropping certain information on individuals who are unaware about them during conversations, either because the topic was mundane to him, or he was unaware that the other was not in the loop.
• Dull Surprise: He barely acts surprise about anything because he has Seen It All, other than opening his eyes wide whenever caught off guard.
• Enraged by Idiocy: While his reactions are more subdued, Goetia doesn't tolerate incompetency nor has the patience for people acting foolishly. This explains his low opinion towards Claude, Manuela, Lorenz, Caspar and understandably, Flauros.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Sitri attempted to kill him after he refused to join in the Demon Pillar's plans for revenge, leaving him briefly shocked at his former subordinate's betrayal.
• "Eureka!" Moment: A conversation with Alois made him realize the Golems guarding the Chalice of Beginnings had time-reversal abilities that are similar to what Miklan displayed in Byleth's memories, implying the two share the same source of power.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He masterminded the Incineration of Humanity and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, but only if they serve a purpose. The entire point of the Incineration Ritual was to gather massive amount of energy throughout the Singularities in order for Goetia to travel back in time before creation in order to mold humans into perfect beings who no longer fear death. Senseless deaths and sacrifices that serve no purpose or killing for the sake of it or for an endless Cycle of Revenge are those he finds meaningless and a waste of human lives, which was why he refuses to join Sitri's revenge scheme against humans. This also extends to his views regarding the ancient war between the Nabateans and the Agarthans.
  • While he doesn't like Rhea and would use every chance he has to passively-aggressively insult her, he can't find it in himself to enjoy mocking her while she is depressed following the aftermath of Rhea revealing Byleth the truth, finding her depressed state too pathetic to even laugh at, despite being annoyed by her paranoia and manipulativeness in the early chapters.
  • Though he doesn't take sides on the ancient War between the Nabateans and Agarthans because of biased sources, he still condemns the genocide perpetuated by Nemesis and the Agarthans.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Although he's no longer a Beast of Humanity, he still isn't exactly ''good'' either. He has a hard time understanding complex or simple good deeds, confused on why anyone would go out of their way to help someone despite the heavy consequences that will follow and can't tell the difference between empathy and pity.
  • When Goetia offers Ashe a chance to take his revenge on him for his father's death, even going as far as to paint himself as a heartless monster that enjoyed killing Lonato to anger Ashe. He's then left bewildered and confused when Ashe refuses to take revenge on Goetia, seeing through his whole act and tells Goetia he doesn't have to pretend to be a monster to make others hate him.
  • In Chapter 88, on their way to Enbarr, he is confused on why Rhea is being genuinely cordial with him, being unable to understand on how his visit and pep-talk to a despondent Rhea has improved her perception of him. It gets to the point after the trip when Rhea offers him the role of a lecturer in the Academy to continue his magic lessons where he cannot understand on why she is granting him more authority in the Monastery.
• Ex-Big Bad: As the King of Demon Gods and Beast I, Goetia was the central villain of the Observer of the Timeless Temple arc. By the end of the arc, his defeat at the hands of Chaldea stripped him a majority of his powers and stranded him in Fodlan for as yet unknown reason. Now he serves as one of the protagonists in the story, seeking answers on why humanity rejected his 'help'.
• Figure It Out Yourself: He figured out or deduced several of the mysteries of Fodlan, such as Sothis being the true identity of the Goddess of Fodlan. Instead of outright telling her, he simply gave her and Byleth hints on where they can find the answer. His reasoning stems of being an outsider with no real interest to the mystery and considers the emotional distress she would get if he told her the truth outright.
• First-Name Basis: He addresses several people by their given name, indicating he has a degree of respect and closeness to them. This includes Byleth, Edelgard, Dimitri, Sothis, Hanneman, Lysithea, Flayn, Harold (the Gatekeeper), Dorothea and Manuela. Though for Manuela's case, it's a sign that he doesn't respect her occupation due to her drinking habits.
  • After the events of the Cindered Shadows arc, he starts addressing Rhea by her name without her title and after learning the truth of her identity, calls her Seiros in his narration.
• Foe Romantic Subtext: Despite having no interest in romantic interaction, Goetia's description of his final battle against Ritsuka to Dorothea comes off as this— remembering that he wanted to use the last moments of his life to kill Ritsuka himself, fighting him was the first time he truly felt alive and being defeated by the Master was what set him on his quest of self-discovery in Fodlan.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: He appears as a tanned man with glowing golden hair, but this form isn't by choice, but as a result of losing a majority of his powers and forced to create a form with what little magic he had left at the time during the Temple's destruction. When he goes inside Byleth's mind to view her memories of the Conrad Tower, he appears in his Beast form, and seems more comfortable in it despite it being temporarily. Though Sothis was initially shocked when she first saw him in his original form before realizing that creature is Goetia.
  Goetia: This is my body, or it…was my body. This is nothing more than a mental projection of my consciousness within the mind of Byleth, I could change my form if I so desired.
  * Beat*
  Sothis: Well?
  Goetia: Well what?
  Sothis: You said you could change your form?
  Goetia: If I so desired.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: The climax of the Cindered Shadows arc has Goetia forced into this dilemma, protect the humans in the Monastery, some whom he has grown attached to, or join Sitri in its genocidal endeavors to avenge their fallen brethren. He chooses to protect the humans, and part of his emotional crisis in the aftermath is his confusion on why he chose the humans he knew for a few months over Sitri, someone he knew for three-thousand years.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: Averted. It's not that he hates sweets, on the contrary, he actually enjoyed the cake he had with Lysithea. The problem is that he dislikes how this new craving can take control of his body, thus avoids sweets for the most part. Though he has taken a liking to the Sweet-Apple Blend tea that Dorothea introduced him to during their 'date'.

H-Z

• Handicapped Badass: He lacks the arm he lost in his fight with Chaldea, but he remains a frighteningly powerful combatant. He effortlessly takes care of an enhanced Demonic Beast that could have torn through the Golden Deer class with barely an inconvenience and was able to take on Dimitri in hand to hand with his only arm. Though he can easily craft himself a prosthetic arm with his skills as shown in Omake 39, he purposefully doesn't create a new limb for himself as way to understand how humans struggle, as he explains to Mash in Back Home Again II.
• Hates Their Parent: Not in the normal sense considering Solomon was his creator, but as his creation, Goetia technically counts as Solomon's 'son'. Solomon's apparent indifference to humanity's suffering and assigning him the cruel task to observe humanity's struggles, fractured the relationship between the two; Goetia believing his creator was a heartless and cruel coward who would only smile in the face of his people's suffering. Even after his defeat at the hands of Chaldea with the help of Solomon/Romani, Goetia is still heavily resentful towards his creator— the mere mention of Solomon or implying Goetia is similar to his creator are a few of his known berserk buttons.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Goetia always wears a plain brown robe that is slightly tattered because it was the first clothes he found when he arrived in Fodlan and sees no reason in getting spares. It is only through Dorothea that Goetia is convinced into getting a new outfit and his trip to Enbarr has him wearing a new outfit that closely resembles Solomon's. Several characters comment that it is a marked improvement from his old brown rags.
• He Knows Too Much: When he crosses paths with a disguised Kronya on the pathway to Garreg Mach, he casually asks what race she and Tomas are from, indirectly revealing he can see through their disguises. This prompts Kronya to try and kill Goetia. Keyword is try. Goetia proceeds to easily disable her, examine her with Structural Analysis and makes her forget the entire ordeal.
• Heel Realization: Visiting Abyss after the events of Cindered Shadows has him realized that in pursuing the Chalice of Beginnings, he deliberately ignored the poor living conditions the Abyssians have to go through because it didn't really affect him at the time. Because Abyss reminds him what he hated seeing humanity suffer through, realizing that he purposefully ignored the suffering that was in front of him like what Solomon did and remarking how Sitri didn't do anything to improve the Abyssians' living conditions during its time posing as Aelfric, Goetia resolves to help in improving Abyss.
• The Heretic: Goetia's status as a foreigner, combined with his strange magic and refusal to follow the doctrine of Seiros, has him labelled as a heretic by the majority of the clergy either out in the open or behind his back. Even Rhea points out that he barely hides his heretical views and the only reason he isn't accused of heresy is because he doesn't actively spread blasphemy to the other followers.
• Heroic BSoD: Being forced to kill Sitri to protect the humans, Sitri's words and the Demon Pillar's willingness to kill him have left Goetia shaken. After waking up from his three-days coma, he finds himself in a depressed state, not even caring if he's not fully dressed or healed when venturing outside.
• Hidden Depths:
  • For a mage well-versed in different varieties of magic, Goetia has shown some working knowledge about trading, which he uses to make a business deal with Anna to earn extra money. His knowledge of trade stems from lectures he had from the Queen of Sheba whenever she discussed economics to him in the past.
  • He is shown to be a skilled sculptor, sculpting several woodworks for Anna to sell and eventually commissioned to sculpt a statue of Saint Seiros.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: He intentionally brings up Lonato's death to Ashe in Chapter 68, goading the boy to strike him down as Lonato's killer, going so far as to paint himself as a monster to make it easier for Ashe to hate him. Though strangely, it is not from the desire to be punished for Lonato's death, but for Sitri's death instead.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Goetia's situation has shades of this. He was the immortal King of Demon Gods who commanded the 72 Demon Pillars and single-handily incinerated various parts of the Human Order throughout history. His defeat at the hands of Chaldea results in the destruction of the Temple of Time, the Demon Pillars separated from him, and him becoming human and losing a majority of his power. He wasn't initially bothered by this when he arrived in Fodlan, but by Chapter 54, it has heavily dawned on him that he lost everything and is currently working at a mundane job as an assistant librarian. Sitri certainly has this view on its King after Goetia refuses to participate in its genocidal plans against humanity, even going so far as to protect the students from Sitri.
• Humanity Ensues: After the events at the Temple of Time, he, for the most part, became human. He decides to use this as an opportunity to walk among the people of Fodlan and learn why humanity rejected his plans to grant them immortality. He also starts to experience different emotions, which troubles him due to them conflicting with his ideals. Even though he's human now, few people such as Sothis and Rhea can sense that something is off with Goetia.
• Humanity Is Infectious: Subtle at first. Not only does the former Beast get turned into a human, but he soon starts to slowly develop emotions and empathy during his journey to understand humanity. Since they clash with his worldview, he is naturally confused by this development and unable to cope with these newfound feelings, choosing to distract himself from confronting them. It gets more difficult for him to ignore these issues as time goes on, however, especially when someone confronts him about something that brings said issues to the forefront, such as Byleth asking him to help prove a bunch of hypnotized civilian's innocence. This all culminates to Goetia refusing to join with Sitri in its plans to Kill All Humans as revenge for their fallen brethren.
• Hypocrite:
  • For a Beast who embodies Pity, Goetia despises it whenever he perceives others pitying him.
  • As Sothis points out, Goetia hated Solomon's role as an 'observer', but he is currently emulating the role he despises his creator for.
  • In Chapter 84, he makes a comment to Sothis that in order to distract herself from her troubling feelings regarding the truth of her origins, she deliberately suppresses her true feelings by focusing on something else to distract herself from them. Except this is the very thing he does whenever he encounters a troubling emotion he can't deal with. Rhea even points this out at Enbarr when she explains one of her reasons regarding her sudden visit.
• Hypocrisy Nod: He complains about Rhea's inactions to see her goal through after learning the full truth, yet he realizes that he hasn't done a thing in his goal in taking command and revitalizing Abyss. He proceeds to quit stalling and head to Abyss to get the Ashen Wolves' opinion.
• I Have This Friend: Played with. He really was talking about a friend when he asks Alois for his input about his "friend" (Harold/Gatekeeper) and his relationship with a female colleague (Constance), trying to get an indirect confirmation that the relationship between them is romantic in nature. Though because of the sudden questions and Goetia's insistence on the topic has Alois think that Goetia was really talking about himself by using the old 'I have this friend' excuse.
• In-Series Nickname: Throughout the story, Goetia gains a few nicknames from the other characters:
  • Claude came with a variety of nicknames for Goetia, such as Goldilocks, Glitter before settling for Sparkles.
  • Dorothea calls him Gotie.
  • Hapi decides to call him Scowler simply because that's his other default expression.
  • Anna begins to call him Spellbook, likely a reference to another tome that he shares his name with. Goetia was not expecting this nickname despite how closely accurate it is to his true nature.
• Insufferable Genius: He doesn't usually boast his own talents, but only because he knows how good he is. When he does boast however, it's as if he's stating a simple fact, often in a rude, blunt and arrogant manner.
• It's All My Fault: He believes that if he could've noticed earlier that Sitri was hiding within Garreg Mach Monastery much sooner, Sitri's rampage could've been prevented. It is because of this sense of responsibility that partially motivated him to accept Rhea's offer as a full-time lecturer.
• Invincible Hero: Goetia is a powerful mage beyond the likes Fodlan has seen, even after he had been depowered and turned into a human after the events of the Temple of Time. This is justified since he mastered numerous magecraft he had learn in his long lifespan back when he was the Demon God King and being the first spell Solomon created in response to the decline of the Age of Gods makes him powerful in terms of age of spells. However, Goetia notes that he is still a shell of his former self due to being bound by the limits of a human, including having a limited magical reserve. His battle against Sitri proves that he isn't entirely invincible, actually wounded and bleeding from the fight for the first time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Goetia is cynical, hates small talk, can be rude to others, often motivated by self-interest, and remains condescending and arrogant as he was as the Beast of Pity. In spite of this, he still retains his love for humanity and occasionally shows a decent side underneath his aloof and cynical demeanor thanks to his growing humanity. Rhea states this best following Sitri's attack on the Monastery.
  Rhea: You are arrogant. Controlling. Rude. Disrespectful to our culture and our way of life and far more demanding than you have any right to be. For those reasons, I do not like you… For helping protect the Monastery… for helping Mother? I do not hate you for those reasons.
  • During his first meeting with Byleth, he displayed a warm curiosity towards her and finds her emotionless disposition to be normal. When he learns of her title as the 'Ashen Demon', he simply wonders why others find the lack of emotions to be 'demonic'. He even seems to listen to her when she tells him he's going too far in his questioning towards Hapi.
  • As much as he tries to deny it, he slowly grows fond over Lysithea, to the point of being conflicted over her limited life span.
  • While its clear he's annoyed by Flayn's attempts to get him involved in activities, he doesn't really do much to shoo her away, even begrudgingly agreeing to her requests.
  • Even though he knows it would end badly for him, he agrees to Byleth's and Sothis' request to prove the innocence of the peasants after they have been sentenced to death for a crime they were manipulated to commit.
  • Although he agreed to Claude's request to aid them in Abyss because he was bored due to his probation sentence, once he learns of the Chalice of Beginnings, he intends to find and destroy the relic, not wanting another repeat of the Fuyuki Fire to happen in Fodlan.
  • He, of all people, is the one who snaps Rhea out of her despondency by reminding her of her duties as the Archbishop following her disownment from Sothis.
  • This gets deconstructed in Chapter 84. Goetia does indeed care for humanity, except he's unable to express it properly as a result of his experience with clairvoyance and his own ego combined with his troubles with his newfound humanity— makes it difficult for him to be fully honest with himself and others on his intentions. This results in Byleth viewing him as a selfish jerk who doesn't care for anyone.
• Jumped at the Call: Goetia got involved in the mess with Abyss because Claude sent Linhardt to ask for his help. To Claude's surprise, Goetia agrees to help, if only because he was bored since his prohibition prevents him teaching his Magecraft classes and his job as an assistant has become a boring routine.
• King Incognito: From the way Goetia answered Seteth's questions, the latter came to the conclusion that the new Assistant Libarian is actually a disowned prince from a foreign kingdom. Of course, the truth is much complicated than that.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Goetia is proud of his powers and intelligences even though he is shell of his former self, but even he knows that he's currently no match against an Olympian.
• Lack of Empathy: At first glance, Goetia can come off as cold and indifferent, uncaring what's happening around him unless it affects him. Several people, including Byleth, call him out for his callousness and refusal to helps others when he could fix the problem. The reason for this is because Goetia based his personality on how Solomon was in the past—a heartless man who ignores suffering even when he sees it in front of him. Though this is ultimately subverted, Goetia does care, if a little too much, but his cynicism and his lack of comprehension towards complex human emotions, doesn't let him express empathy in the best way.
• Last-Name Basis: He refers to several people by their surnames, indicating that he's not particularly close to them. Those include Claude, Leonie and Constance. This trait seems to have influenced Lysithea because she starts calling Claude by his last name as well.
• Last of His Kind: He realizes that he may be the only survivor amongst the Demon Pillars, since they either shut down with the destruction of the Temple of Time or died fighting against the Heroic Spirits. Even the Demon Pillars who managed to survive the events, are eventually killed while pursuing their own goals. Unbeknowst to him, a Demon Pillar is working with the Agarthans under the name Lemegeton while another is implied to be possessing Aelfric. This comes into play when he learns that Sitri survived, and part of the conflict stems from not wanting to kill one of the few Demon Pillars that are left. He attempted to convince Sitri to abandon its plans and leave Fodlan, to which the Demon Pillar refused, consumed by its hatred for humanity, even willing to kill its King just for protecting them.
• Limited Wardrobe: Goetia is always seen in the same brown robes and nothing else. Since Goetia doesn't care how people perceive him, he doesn't see the problem in wearing the same outfit because a simple robe serves its purpose. This is finally addressed in Chapter 73, with the innkeeper and Dorothea pointing out that Goetia didn't bring a change of clothes, the latter determined to show Goetia the importance of having a change of outfits. He later changes his outfit into one similar to Solomon's garb after acquiring new clothes in Enbarr.
• Literal-Minded: He has a hard time understanding figurative speeches, metaphors and jokes, often taking them at face value, which is justified because of his distance from humanity and his true nature basically being the magical equivalent of an AI software that summons 72 demons.
• Lying by Omission: Although Goetia doesn't tell lies, he does lie by omitting crucial details or not giving the full context. This is one of the reasons for his fallout with Byleth, who has grown tired of his tendencies to omitting information when she fully trusted him with her issues.
• Magic Librarian: Goetia works as an assistant librarian and is a powerful mage.
• Major Injury Underreaction: He takes being stabbed in the chest and having his heart crushed with relative ease. It was Sitri's final words and the act of killing it that affected Goetia more.
• Mind over Matter: Telekinesis is just one of his many abilities he can use, and one he uses quite frequently in his daily routine to help compensate for his missing arm. He is shown to lift objects and people, as Flayn can attest to when he used it to lift her out of the way.
• Mistaken Identity: Demon God Pillar Sitri believes Goetia to be a still-living Solomon, though it's implied Sitri actually refuses to believe Goetia has been debased into a meager human. While Goetia was able to convince Sitri of his true identity, the fact he himself has changed since they last met still soured Sitri's view on him.
• Mood-Swinger: He's not normally this, but the climax of Lonato's rebellion has Goetia calmly (but clearly furious) to the battlefield and after healing Lysithea, manages to remain frightenly calm before angrily putting Lonato and his army in place and proceeds to cut down his army while smiling and laughing at the act. This ends with him gleefully smiling as he beats Lonato to death and he quickly reverts back to his usual blank face and causal indifference after the deed is done.
• Mr. Exposition: For someone who prefers to keep to himself, Goetia takes on an expository role whenever explaining or teaching others about magic, magical creatures, history relating to magic or just history in general.
• Mundane Utility: Goetia is an incredibly powerful mage who uses levitation, telekinesis and teleportation to make his work as a library assistant easier. Though he slowly starts relying less on his powers to do simple things is a sign of his developing humanity, such as assisting the soldiers to help clean up the rubble in the wake of Sitri's attack. Though it's implied the real reason that he's not using his powers to quickly fix the Monastery is because he's looking for something to distract himself from thinking about Sitri's death.
• My Eyes Are Leaking: Having never experienced sadness nor seen anyone cry before, Goetia is confused when he realizes that he's crying over Sitri's death in Chapter 65, trying in vain to stop his eyes from 'leaking'.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After dealing a fatal blow to Sitri with Sothis' help, Goetia realizes what he's done and is promptly horrified for killing one of his own Pillars. Sitri's parting shot that "now [Goetia] is Solomon" doesn't help.
• Mysterious Past: An In-Universe example. While readers familiar with Goetia know that he's Solomon's creation and the Beast of Pity who incinerated humanity, he's a mysterious enigma to the rest of Fodlan. Though this is justified given the fact Goetia is literally an outsider to Fodlan's universe, meaning no one can find any information about him and while he's close off from his past, the few things he does talk about are vague and open to interpretation.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Although it was Byleth and Sothis that convinced him, Goetia agreed to help them prove the peasant's innocence in the assassination attempt, fully knowing that he would likely be placed on suspicion due to being the only person the Church knows that has access to the magic used to hypnotize the peasants to commit the deed. While Goetia was able to convince Rhea of their innocence and have them released, he ends up imprisoned within Monastery grounds until suspicion around him lifts.
  • He attempts to talk Sitri out of their mad quest for revenge, not wanting to kill them. He almost gets killed by Sitri for this, the latter viewing him as a traitor for protecting the humans.
• No-Sell: His Independant Manifestation ability makes him immune to Time Manipulation abilities, rendering him unaffected by Byleth's Divine Pulse ability. While he remains unchanged when Divine Pulse is activated, the people and the environment surrounding him do not. Sothis uses this to mildly annoy him, such as making people think he's teleporting out of nowhere or a book he just shelved back returns to the last position it was in.
• No Social Skills: Goetia may know the basics of human interactions but having spent three-thousand years observing humanity from a distance and his only 'companions' were the Demon Gods back when they were a union, results in Goetia having difficulty in understanding human customs, emotions and motives beyond the basics. Not to mention that he's used to the fast and direct responses he had with the Pillars during their union that Goetia's arrogant and brutally honest personality makes him come off as insensitive and rude to others.
  Conversational skills? What a laugh, he was perfectly fine at conversations.
• Not So Above It All: Goetia is serious, stoic, rational and intelligent, but there are moments that he is shown participating in the hijinks of the Officer's Academy and having a pettier side to him, which is prominent in the omakes, especially towards Ritsuka and Romani/Solomon.
  • While his intention to join the Black Eagles instead of the Blue Lions or Golden Deer for the mock battle is to both prevent a Curb-Stomp Battle from Byleth and the Blue Lions and to test Lysithea's progress, he doesn't exactly denies Edelgard's claim that he also did it so for the excuse to throw spells at Claude, without any repercussion from the faculty.
  • He decides to name the baby finch after Flauros. But it's not out of gratitude or respect for the fallen Demon God; he's still pissed at Flauro's failure that he decides to replace him with a baby finch.
• Not So Stoic: There are few things that can catch him off guard, breaking his stoic attitude:
  • The mere mention of Solomon is a sure way of getting him irritated.
  • He doesn't show it on his face, but he can get annoyed and frustrated.
  • He was left in shock and disbelief after Sitri betrayed and attempted to kill him.
  • When Byleth offers him the biscuits she made for him as an apology, he ends up becoming speechless and confuse over this gesture that he needed a minute to process on how to respond properly.
  • He actually panics when he realizes that Sothis may have been an Aletheian and the "evolgia" is really Klironomia.
• Obliviously Beautiful: A male example. Despite missing an arm, it doesn't deter the fact that Goetia's human form is quite good-looking given that Manuela flirted with him when they first met, Dorothea commented that he's actually handsome in spite of his ragged outfit and even Byleth was impressed that he was hiding a six-pack. Except Goetia doesn't seem to understand how or why he's physically attractive considering his human form is based on his creator's appearance— someone whom he has very complicated relationship with.
• Omniglot: Goetia knows and is fluent in several languages, though it is justified that several Magecraft were from different countries that have their chants in their native language. Some of the language he is fluent in is his native tongue Hebrew, English, Japanese, Greek and French.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: People recognize that the situation is dire if the knowledgeable Goetia is at lost for words and cannot formulate an explanation.
  • During the earlier parts of the Cindered Shadows, Goetia retained his typical apathetic demeanor, only participating in protecting Abyss from raiders out of boredom. This all changes when Goetia learns about the Chalice of Beginnings and how similar it is to the Holy Grail, becoming more active and determined to find the artifact so that he can prevent anyone from misusing it.
  • The entire aftermath of the Cindered Shadows has the proud and arrogant Goetia left emotionally broken, stemming from the trauma of being forced to put down Sitri to stop its rampage.
  • He becomes shocked and unnerved after examining the Evlogia from the inactive Golem which is all but stated to be Klironomia and realizing that Byleth can understand Greek because of her connection with Sothis, hinting that Sothis was a Machine God.
• Perpetual Frowner: Aside from an inexpressive look, he rarely shows any other expressions besides bored frowns or annoyed scowls. Several characters take note of this with Claude and Flayn making it a personal mission to make him laugh and Hapi starts referring to him as Scowler.
• Photographic Memory: According to Goetia, he cannot forget any information that he has learned. He can remember the many spells that he knows, recite the Scripture of Seiros flawlessly despite not being a devoted follower, remembers the precise time, day and minutes since he discovered Sothis' existence and recalls the exact number of times and minutes he has conversed with Jeralt in total.
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: It's heavily implied that Goetia's invoking this to Ashe if the latter didn't settle with just punching him for his adoptive father's death.
• Power Tattoo: After the events of Cindered Shadows, the black markings reappear on his arm and legs again. They symbolized his contract with the familiars of Solomon, though he is at lost on why they appeared again considering they appeared not long after he killed Sitri.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • When he learns that Byleth's mother shares the same name as the Demon Pillar Sitri, he immediately tries to look up any information about demons in Fodlan, believing him being here wasn't a coincidence. Considering that Lemegeton is helping the Agarthans and there's implications that Aelfric is possessed by one, he's got every right to be paranoid.
  • Originally, he was going to leave the group to deal with the bandit attacks, but once he learns about the Chalice of Beginnings, he wastes no time in helping the group in looking for it. From experience with the Holy Grail back in his world, he is determined to find and destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands, knowing that the results won't be pretty whether the ritual succeeds or not. And his paranoia is not unfounded considering what happens in the original events of the DLC. And that's not getting into The Reveal that Demon Pillar Sitri was posing as Aelfric this whole time.
• Rage Breaking Point: With the exception with the Lonato incident, he usually doesn't show his anger or irritation. The beginning of the Cindered Shadows arc has him at odds with the Church due to his house-arrest, which all comes to head in Chapter 53 after a very tensed talk with Rhea. The accumulation of Rhea's patronizing talk with him, being forced to an agreement with her and swallowing his pride, on top of being reminded of Solomon being the reason he's in this situation in the first place and the fact that he may be the last of his kind having recently dawned on him, finally has Goetia lashing out at Claude after the boy mentioned Solomon again, unleashing the pent-up rage he has kept hidden since he arrived in Fodlan.
• Really 700 Years Old: Although his human form has the appearance of a 26-year-old male, he's actually over 3000-years old. He's one of the few characters who can still claim that he's older than Flayn.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Goetia's red eyes are one of the few hints to his demonic origins. Even though he's no longer a Beast, they still reflect his dangerous nature, especially when angered. It is noted by other characters that his eyes glow whenever he's enraged or casting a spell.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: He goes from Beast who plotted the Incineration of Humanity to an Assistant Libarian in Garreg Mach Monastery that helps out the students... but is still arrogant and dismissive with his ideologies clashing with other characters. Part of his Character Development is understanding humanity through the eyes of a human and walking among of them as one instead of pitying them.
• Reputation Apathy: He is viewed as a heathen foreigner by the clergy and is disliked by some of the more zealous knights. Goetia remains unconcerned on how they perceive him and only partook in the Rite of Rebirth sermon because it was mandatory for all staff members.
  • Subverted though, when he realizes that this will also affect his plan to elevate the Abyss from its state as a Wretched Hive following Aelfric's death. Which is why Rhea accompanying Goetia and the Black Eagles to Enbarr without notice plays right into his cards to improve his reputation.
• Retired Monster: He was once a Beast that embodies Pity and instigated the Incineration of Humanity. After being defeated by Chaldea, he's now human, missing an arm and trapped in another world. Although he accepts his loss and has no interest in restarting his plans in Fodlan, he's not remorseful for his past actions and can be ruthless if pushed as his actions against Lord Lonato and his army shows. Still, he uses this opportunity to learn more of humanity and understand why they rejected his wishes.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Thanks to his immunity against Time Manipulation, Goetia remembers the events that transpired before Byleth's Divine Pulse takes effect, even aware when time is reversed.
• Scary Librarian: While he's only an assistant librarian and is known to be normally calm and detached, but as Lonato and Claude can attest to, you don't want to anger the former demon. For the former, Lonato got punched to death by an enraged Goetia.
• Secret-Keeper: He is the only other person who knows about Sothis residing in Byleth's mind.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: He quickly learns some of the secrets of several characters or Fodlan's history due to his powers, unbeknownst to others. The only reason he doesn't confront the issue is that it doesn't concern him.
  • He sensed that both Edelgard and Lysithea have two Crests but decides to observe them in order to learn of their origins. After the events of Lonato's rebellion, he learns that the two Crests have drastically shorten Lysithea's lifespan.
  • He is well aware that Rhea, Flayn, and Seteth are actually dragons, but says nothing. This is less out of respect for their privacy and more that he can't be bothered.
  • Upon learning Sothis' existence and seeing her for the first time, he's able to deduce that she's the Goddess the Church, and the dragons' worship, but keeps it from Sothis to see how things play out. Sothis was not happy when she learned that he kept this information from her.
  • He also discovers that 'Tomas' is actually a disguised Solon when he first meets the librarian but doesn't confront the Agarthan as it doesn't concern him if the Church can't root out spies within their own staff.
  • When he sees Thunderbrand for the first time, he finds himself surprise to see that the Hero's Relics are actually constructed from Dragon bones.
  • Like the above mentioned, from the moment he sees the Sword of the Creator, he realizes that it's crafted from Sothis' spine and hip bones.
  • After examining Hapi's origin, he discovers that her Crest has been experimented on to its current, unstable form.
  • Even in his depressed state, he manages to see through Kronya's disguise and makes a thoroughly analysis of the Agarthans. He promptly made her forget of the incident. This also continues when he interrogates Kronya to inquire about the perspective of the Agarthans on their war against Sothis where he doesn't blow her cover or drag her corpse to Rhea because of her usefulness as his informant regarding the Agarthans.
• Secret Test of Character: Subjects Hapi to this by inviting her to accompany him as he negotiates with Claude regarding on using his Alliance connections to help revitalize the Abyss. This is to properly gauge on how she can control her emotions and temper, along on how she can make use of her tampered Crest properly.
• Seen It All: Having seen Gods, witness all kinds of magic and events beyond possibility, and experience a millennium of watching people suffer from hardships and death, has left Goetia desensitized and nonchalant to coming across these things again in another world. To him, talking to the Goddess of Fodlan is the equivalent of passing by a cat on the streets. Though this indifference does cause problems like him not informing anyone that Tomas is an imposter in disguise.
• Selective Obliviousness: It seems he refuses to entertain the idea that the other Demon Pillars have survived, because of the low likelihood and the trauma from killing Sitri. Though it is implied it is latter reasoning as when the possibility of another Demon God might also be around and causing several incidents that would disrupte the Church, Goetia chooses to attribute them to the now deceased Sitri, rather than believe that it is the work of another.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: A millennia of witnessing humanity's flaws and crimes and watching the cycle repeat itself has left him with a rather cynical outlook on people in general, which puts him at odds with several idealistic characters such as Flayn, who he brushes off as naive.
• Sinister Surveillance: Downplayed. It's implied the real reason Rhea hired him as Tomas' new assistant was to keep a close eye on him due to sensing his demonic nature. Later, the aftermath of the Rite of Rebirth has resulted in Goetia being placed under house-arrest due to displaying powers that is unknown to Fodlan, with guards constantly watching his movement.
• Ship Tease: Goetia surprisingly has a lot of subtext with several characters, particularly Byleth, Sothis, Flayn and Rhea. For extra irony, the above mentioned are in some way connected to Sothis.
• Smug Super: Goetia is extremely confident in his abilities and knowledge and has the tremendous powers to back up his ego, even when he is merely a shell of his former self. And with being the Beast of Pity, he will occasionally boast of his own superiority as if it's a fact.
• Sole Survivor: As far as he knows, he's the only among his brethren who survived the destruction of the Timeless Temple. But with the reveal of Lemegeton and Sitri, he might not be the only who managed to survive.
• Spock Speak: Goetia talks in an almost emotionless and analytical fashion, prefers to use few words to get to the point, but will also use precise technical terms whenever he gives an explanation or answers a question. He also has trouble in distinguishing metaphors and figure of speeches due to being literal-minded at times.
• Stealth Insult: Goetia is fond of using backhanded compliments that are quite mocking and insulting towards the subject. Sothis, Rhea and Claude in particular are often the receiver ends of these 'compliments'.
• Stern Teacher: As a tutor and later a lecturer in Magecraft, Goetia is strict, aloof, serious, blunt and doesn't tolerate any foolishness in his class. At the same time, he is open to teach anyone who is willing to learn, fair to all his students, and while his praises are often followed by constructive criticism, he ultimately means well.
• The Stoic: He usually maintains a calm and apathetic disposition, rarely surprised by anything.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Despite his hatred towards his creator, Goetia's human form strongly resembles Solomon's, with the exception of having golden, glowing hair and red eyes. The resemblance is so strong that Sitri initially mistook Goetia for Solomon.
• Survivor's Guilt: This becomes prominent when he realized he may be the only survivor among his kin and it becomes fully realized after Goetia is forced to kill Sitri. He has been having nightmares ever since that incident.
• The Teetotaler: Goetia is averse to alcohol, preferring to keep his wits about him and seeing no reason to get into a drunken stupor. When Harold/Gatekeeper invited him to the tavern for a drink, he is shown drinking chilled water instead. He will make an exception for certain occasions, though he will only allow one alcohol beverage for himself.
• Telepathy: Mental communication is one of the many skills he can do. He finally establishes a mental connection with Byleth in Chapter 49, enabling him to communicate with her and Sothis through telepathy and vice-versa. The reason he didn't bother to do this in the first place was because he wasn't initially interested in expanding energy to create a link.
• Terror Hero: Goetia may not want to restart the next Incineration of Humanity, but his ruthless and downright cruel methodology remains— and Goetia will remind everyone why he was the King of Demon Gods and Beast I if he's pushed too far. Lord Lonato and Kronya learn this the very hard way.
• Trademark Favourite Food: He's fond of tomato soup, explaining that it is simple, has plenty of nutrition and is easy to eat considering he only has one arm.
• Twitchy Eye: He occasionally does this whenever he gets annoyed. According to the omakes, he apparently shares this trait with Romani/Solomon.
• Will Not Tell a Lie: He will not tell a lie, in fact he's rather tactless and straight-forward. But he has no qualms of omitting important details, phrasing things in misleading ways and half-truths if the situation requires it. After all, telling people the truth of his origins and nature would be detrimental to his quest in understanding humanity.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He has shown a couple times without his robes on, his well-toned muscles and abs all to see.
  • Chapter 36 shows that he only sleeps in a pair of shorts and nothing else, with Byleth seeing his six-pack when she went to wake him up.
  • Chapter 58 has Goetia removing his already ruined robes to implant a Crest Stone inside him so he can have a power boost to fight Sitri. He spends the majority of the fight with only a pair of pants on.
  • Chapter 61 has him teleporting from the Monastery to the makeshift recovery tents in nothing but a small cloth that hides his modesty. This one is not play for fanservice because it shows that Goetia is in such a depressive state from killing Sitri that he barely cares about his own wellbeing.
• Walking the Earth: This was Goetia's initial plan after he found himself in Fodlan; wander across the new world as a human and observe humanity to learn where he went wrong with his plans. That all changes during a fateful encounter with Byleth and the three house leaders from the Officer's Academy.
• What Is This Feeling?:
  • As he finds the answers he seeks about humanity and no longer bound by Pity, Goetia begins to experience different types of emotions. He struggles to understand and express them clearly as they clash with his ideals and don't run on any logical justification. When Lysithea is fatally stabbed by Lonato, Goetia finally understands what pure, unadulterated rage feels like. He "thanks" Lonato for this experience by wiping out his army and pummeling the Lord to death.
  • During his 'date' with Dorothea, the topic of music was brought up, prompting Goetia to recall that Solomon wrote a song himself called 'Song of Songs'—which was about celebrating sexual congress. What's more, the poem was implied to be for the Queen of Sheba. Goetia admits that before he was only annoyed by the poem, but now feels something akin to horror when thinking about the song. Dorothea quickly points out that this feeling is embarrassment, both agreeing to drop the subject about this poem.
• Wild Card: Despite being hired by the Church, he ultimately holds no real loyalties towards them and only does things out of self-interest. It is because of this status that both Rhea and Edelgard are keeping an eye on him, the latter even aware that he could be a powerful ally or a huge threat to her plans if she cannot determine his stance before the time comes, especially after she saw firsthand on what he did to Lonato's army in mere seconds.
• Willfully Weak:
  • He generally does not fight with his full capabilities. For the most part, this is due to him not seeing most of his enemies as worth expending that much power and effort for. In Chapter 58, the author notes that he's still holding back despite the circumstances of the battle because he really doesn't want to kill Sitri.
  • For his participation in the upcoming mock battle, he agrees to only use spells that originate in Fodlan to keep the battle fair.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • Goetia recounts that he snapped Ishtar's (specifically her host's) spine into half, in responses to being struck by her Noble Phantasm during the final battle at the temple after he was depowered by Ars Nova.
  • His interrogation on Kronya involves breaking her wrist, throwing her against the desk and revealing he placed a curse within her brainstem that allows him to take away her motor function or severed her brainstem entirely.
• You Are What You Hate: His hatred towards Solomon is well known and Goetia refuses to be anything like his creator — a heartless and cruel observer who could solve the problems but chooses not to. But as others point out, he's emulating being an observer like Solomon was even it becomes clear he hates this position. In fact, Goetia only acts if either something caught his interest or when someone asks for his help as without either those reasons, he doesn't seem to have much interest in anything else. Even his intervention in Lonato's rebellion was partially motivated by spite towards Solomon. It is only when Sitri bitterly remarks that Goetia has become no different from Solomon that Goetia is forced to realize this.
• You Didn't Ask: Whenever the characters find out that Goetia has been keeping important information to himself, he usually responds with this answer. This is finally deconstructed when his continued omission of the truth is one of the reasons Byleth loses trust in him in Chapter 84.
• You Monster!:
  • After wiping out Lonato's army with a single magic and announcing his intentions of beating the Lord to death, Lonato fearfully calls Goetia a demon. Goetia just smiles... and proceeds to beat Lonato up to a bloody pulp.
  • Kronya starts calling Goetia a monster after his "interrogation" and casually showing how he can easily kill her least she listens to his demands.