application | Victory Road
Aug. 16th, 2021 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
donoteattheweeds Player
Name: Inky
E-mail: inkblot.meringue [at] yahoo.com
Preferred Contact:inkblotmeringue
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Geralt of Rivia
Character
Name: Dedue Molinaro
Series: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Timeline: Pre-Gronder Fields
Canon Resource Links: Dedue’s wiki page
Personality:
Dimitri introduces Dedue to Byleth as such:
Dedue was born in Duscur, and has been loyally working in my service for the past four years. He’s rather taciturn, but once you get to know him, you’ll see that he’s a kind and good-natured young man.
Aside from the fact that this makes Dimitri sound like he’s Dedue’s grandmother trying to set him up on a blind date with a complete stranger, it’s an accurate, albeit concise, description of him.
Dedue was born in the country of Duscur, which is located on a peninsula to the northwest of the Kingdom of Faerghus. Duscur was previously a sovereign nation, but was annexed by Faerghus as retribution for the Tragedy of Duscur, in which King Lambert of Faerghus and his family was assassinated during a diplomatic visit to that country, with Dimitri being the sole survivor of the incident. The incident was blamed on the people of Duscur, and a series of pogroms ensued which left the population decimated and the area under the rule of House Kleiman. Anyone of Duscurian descent from then after was treated with extreme prejudice and suspicion. Dedue has discussed in his support conversations with Ingrid how he has been treated in Fhirdiad, the capital of Faerghus, and he described being spat at, insulted, and even having stones thrown at him, and that this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Several members of the Blue Lion house at Garreg Mach, however, including Dimitri, do not believe that Duscur was involved in the assassination, and one of Dimitri’s goals as the future ruler of Faerghus is to clear the Duscurian people’s name and return their sovereignty to them, and it’s one of the reasons that Dedue follows him so loyally.
Dedue lost his entire family during the pogroms and would have likely died as well were it not for Dimitri’s intervention. The prince saved him from being killed by Faerghan soldiers and in return, Dedue devotes himself to Dimitri’s service and acts as his retainer, essentially as a kind of life-debt. From then on, the service of Dimitri and his goals are Dedue’s primary reason to live. He stays at the prince’s side and acts, in his words, as Dimitri’s ‘sword and shield’, following his orders almost unquestioningly. The two of them, in a sort of bizarre codependency ouroboros, are each other’s living emotional crutches; Dedue finds meaning in his service to Dimitri and Dimitri needs Dedue as proof that he isn’t helpless against the evils of the world. Is this healthy? Absolutely not. Are there routes where Dedue’s unyielding, unfailing, ‘til-death-do-us-part devotion does, in fact, result in his death? Yes, in more than one way, and all of them are tragic. Welcome to Faerghus, where apparently everyone says ‘fuck therapy, I’m becoming a knight’.
Despite the fact that Dedue’s love for Dimitri runs so deep that you could hop in a submarine and call it the Mariana Trench, he tends to come off as stern and distant, if polite, to most at first meeting. Dedue is the kind of man who plays his cards close to his chest; he’s difficult to read because he doesn’t want to be easily read. This is most likely a defense mechanism because of the fact that he lived in a country that was extremely hostile to his people. Dedue concedes his opinions to whatever Dimitri’s are, especially in front of people whom he does not trust, only revealing what his true thoughts are when someone has gained that trust. This kind of self-effacement is his best protection in Faerghus, as showing his true self while surrounded by so much hate and suspicion would jeopardize his position at the prince’s side and therefore his ability to help Dimitri achieve his goals. This actually causes a little bit of friction between himself and Dimitri, because Dedue insists on treating Dimitri as his social superior, only referring to him by his title and refusing to call him his friend. This is both to protect Dimitri’s reputation as well as to preserve Dedue’s place as his vassal, as a man of his standing becoming overly familiar with the crown prince would simply not be safe in the current social climate. Not until Dimitri completely realizes his goal of eliminating prejudice against the people of Duscur in Faerghus will it be safe for them to even reveal their friendship publicly.
Though Dedue generally maintains his calm and taciturn demeanor, several of his support conversations reveal his actual feelings about the treatment of his people by Faerghus, and it’s clear that he has been quietly harboring a lot of hatred and resentment. Though he finds the way that Faerghus has killed and mistreated his people abhorrent, and he absolutely wants reparations for his people in the form of their return to self-governance and revenge on the people responsible for the Tragedy, he doesn’t want revenge on the people of Faerghus themselves. His vision for the future is actually quite a hopeful one--he wants a peaceful path forward and a future where his people aren’t treated as outsiders in Fodlan, and clearly believes that Dimitri will be able to make that dream a reality.
It should also be noted that, with regards to Dedue’s obedience to Dimitri, that he is mostly obedient to his lord’s commands. However, the perception of how obedient he is may vary depending on who you ask; Felix will refer to Dedue’s loyalty as blind obedience, which is reinforced during their supports when Felix asks him if he would do anything Dimitri demanded, including kill women and children, and Dedue replies that he would do so without hesitation, as “weapons do not have a will of their own”. This line has to be taken with a grain of salt and with the context of events in other routes, because it implies that he’s far more unflinchingly compliant to Dimitri’s orders than he really is. In the Crimson Flower route, Dedue can and will work against the prince’s explicit wishes if he thinks that the outcome will be to his benefit, and in a conversation with Byleth during the Azure Moon route, when asked about Dimitri’s desire for revenge against Edelgard, Dedue says, “The hatred of His Highness is also my hatred. Any other feelings I may have are irrelevant.” This indicates that he’s not as mindlessly obedient to anything that his prince wants as he would lead people whom he does not trust to believe, but rather that he will prioritize Dimitri’s goals over his own feelings and desires, even if that means disobeying him.
On a slightly less dangerously codependent note, Dedue can also be kind, thoughtful, and helpful towards his companions, and is often protective of them in battle. Outside of combat, his fellow Blue Lions mostly bond with him over food—Dedue is an excellent cook who learned from his mother and sisters, and several of his supports involve him either cooking food for someone, teaching them to cook, or helping them in the kitchen. He enjoys being able to provide for others and is willing to help his compatriots when they’re in need, even if doing so is inconvenient. He’ll help to clean up Annette’s messes with her even if they were caused by her own clumsiness; he’ll give cooking lessons to Sylvain and Flayn even if the former’s reasons are to pick up women and the latter is something of a difficult student. And it turns out that he’s a remarkably patient and gentle teacher despite his stern exterior, to the point where both Flayn and Annette comment on how kind he is even when they make mistakes or cause trouble. Being unusually gentle for a man who wields a massive axe in battle and is essentially a walking shield is actually kind of Dedue’s MO—aside from cooking, his other main hobby is gardening, and he can often be found in the greenhouse, tending to the flowers.
So, what Dimitri says in his introduction is ultimately an accurate summation—Dedue is, at first glance, taciturn and standoffish, but he is truly a kind, gentle man who has been traumatized by violence and prejudice.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Turtwig
Password: atomic fireball
Name: Inky
E-mail: inkblot.meringue [at] yahoo.com
Preferred Contact:
inkblotmeringueTimezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Geralt of Rivia
Character
Name: Dedue Molinaro
Series: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Timeline: Pre-Gronder Fields
Canon Resource Links: Dedue’s wiki page
Personality:
Dimitri introduces Dedue to Byleth as such:
Dedue was born in Duscur, and has been loyally working in my service for the past four years. He’s rather taciturn, but once you get to know him, you’ll see that he’s a kind and good-natured young man.
Aside from the fact that this makes Dimitri sound like he’s Dedue’s grandmother trying to set him up on a blind date with a complete stranger, it’s an accurate, albeit concise, description of him.
Dedue was born in the country of Duscur, which is located on a peninsula to the northwest of the Kingdom of Faerghus. Duscur was previously a sovereign nation, but was annexed by Faerghus as retribution for the Tragedy of Duscur, in which King Lambert of Faerghus and his family was assassinated during a diplomatic visit to that country, with Dimitri being the sole survivor of the incident. The incident was blamed on the people of Duscur, and a series of pogroms ensued which left the population decimated and the area under the rule of House Kleiman. Anyone of Duscurian descent from then after was treated with extreme prejudice and suspicion. Dedue has discussed in his support conversations with Ingrid how he has been treated in Fhirdiad, the capital of Faerghus, and he described being spat at, insulted, and even having stones thrown at him, and that this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Several members of the Blue Lion house at Garreg Mach, however, including Dimitri, do not believe that Duscur was involved in the assassination, and one of Dimitri’s goals as the future ruler of Faerghus is to clear the Duscurian people’s name and return their sovereignty to them, and it’s one of the reasons that Dedue follows him so loyally.
Dedue lost his entire family during the pogroms and would have likely died as well were it not for Dimitri’s intervention. The prince saved him from being killed by Faerghan soldiers and in return, Dedue devotes himself to Dimitri’s service and acts as his retainer, essentially as a kind of life-debt. From then on, the service of Dimitri and his goals are Dedue’s primary reason to live. He stays at the prince’s side and acts, in his words, as Dimitri’s ‘sword and shield’, following his orders almost unquestioningly. The two of them, in a sort of bizarre codependency ouroboros, are each other’s living emotional crutches; Dedue finds meaning in his service to Dimitri and Dimitri needs Dedue as proof that he isn’t helpless against the evils of the world. Is this healthy? Absolutely not. Are there routes where Dedue’s unyielding, unfailing, ‘til-death-do-us-part devotion does, in fact, result in his death? Yes, in more than one way, and all of them are tragic. Welcome to Faerghus, where apparently everyone says ‘fuck therapy, I’m becoming a knight’.
Despite the fact that Dedue’s love for Dimitri runs so deep that you could hop in a submarine and call it the Mariana Trench, he tends to come off as stern and distant, if polite, to most at first meeting. Dedue is the kind of man who plays his cards close to his chest; he’s difficult to read because he doesn’t want to be easily read. This is most likely a defense mechanism because of the fact that he lived in a country that was extremely hostile to his people. Dedue concedes his opinions to whatever Dimitri’s are, especially in front of people whom he does not trust, only revealing what his true thoughts are when someone has gained that trust. This kind of self-effacement is his best protection in Faerghus, as showing his true self while surrounded by so much hate and suspicion would jeopardize his position at the prince’s side and therefore his ability to help Dimitri achieve his goals. This actually causes a little bit of friction between himself and Dimitri, because Dedue insists on treating Dimitri as his social superior, only referring to him by his title and refusing to call him his friend. This is both to protect Dimitri’s reputation as well as to preserve Dedue’s place as his vassal, as a man of his standing becoming overly familiar with the crown prince would simply not be safe in the current social climate. Not until Dimitri completely realizes his goal of eliminating prejudice against the people of Duscur in Faerghus will it be safe for them to even reveal their friendship publicly.
Though Dedue generally maintains his calm and taciturn demeanor, several of his support conversations reveal his actual feelings about the treatment of his people by Faerghus, and it’s clear that he has been quietly harboring a lot of hatred and resentment. Though he finds the way that Faerghus has killed and mistreated his people abhorrent, and he absolutely wants reparations for his people in the form of their return to self-governance and revenge on the people responsible for the Tragedy, he doesn’t want revenge on the people of Faerghus themselves. His vision for the future is actually quite a hopeful one--he wants a peaceful path forward and a future where his people aren’t treated as outsiders in Fodlan, and clearly believes that Dimitri will be able to make that dream a reality.
It should also be noted that, with regards to Dedue’s obedience to Dimitri, that he is mostly obedient to his lord’s commands. However, the perception of how obedient he is may vary depending on who you ask; Felix will refer to Dedue’s loyalty as blind obedience, which is reinforced during their supports when Felix asks him if he would do anything Dimitri demanded, including kill women and children, and Dedue replies that he would do so without hesitation, as “weapons do not have a will of their own”. This line has to be taken with a grain of salt and with the context of events in other routes, because it implies that he’s far more unflinchingly compliant to Dimitri’s orders than he really is. In the Crimson Flower route, Dedue can and will work against the prince’s explicit wishes if he thinks that the outcome will be to his benefit, and in a conversation with Byleth during the Azure Moon route, when asked about Dimitri’s desire for revenge against Edelgard, Dedue says, “The hatred of His Highness is also my hatred. Any other feelings I may have are irrelevant.” This indicates that he’s not as mindlessly obedient to anything that his prince wants as he would lead people whom he does not trust to believe, but rather that he will prioritize Dimitri’s goals over his own feelings and desires, even if that means disobeying him.
On a slightly less dangerously codependent note, Dedue can also be kind, thoughtful, and helpful towards his companions, and is often protective of them in battle. Outside of combat, his fellow Blue Lions mostly bond with him over food—Dedue is an excellent cook who learned from his mother and sisters, and several of his supports involve him either cooking food for someone, teaching them to cook, or helping them in the kitchen. He enjoys being able to provide for others and is willing to help his compatriots when they’re in need, even if doing so is inconvenient. He’ll help to clean up Annette’s messes with her even if they were caused by her own clumsiness; he’ll give cooking lessons to Sylvain and Flayn even if the former’s reasons are to pick up women and the latter is something of a difficult student. And it turns out that he’s a remarkably patient and gentle teacher despite his stern exterior, to the point where both Flayn and Annette comment on how kind he is even when they make mistakes or cause trouble. Being unusually gentle for a man who wields a massive axe in battle and is essentially a walking shield is actually kind of Dedue’s MO—aside from cooking, his other main hobby is gardening, and he can often be found in the greenhouse, tending to the flowers.
So, what Dimitri says in his introduction is ultimately an accurate summation—Dedue is, at first glance, taciturn and standoffish, but he is truly a kind, gentle man who has been traumatized by violence and prejudice.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Turtwig
Password: atomic fireball
