We don't speak of Fates, and I meant non-player character lords. I'd also argue Edelgard is very much canonically bi. I was saying Edelgard is an interesting character, to be clear. Byleth is a weird character that is both a self-insert and simultaneously not.
It was the opposite, though. It was Hilda trying to offload her work on someone at first, sure, but then it's her settling into helping Marianne do everything then spending time with her sharing pastries, drinking tea and talking. That turned into their thing and I think it's kinda great. She does a lot of "tending" to Marianne and her needs outside of the supports and the supports are a different aspect of that same notion.
Who is then? Unless you mean Claude, forgot about him since I haven't played his route.
That's pretty much her actual characterization in game. We're told (and technically shown) that she's a great teacher, we get a shocking amount of fishing related information about her and Jeralt, she's a 21 year old with a well known mercenary moniker from her enemies, and we get her not knowing anything about anything outside of combat and the aforementioned fishing.
I think Byleth is interesting in Crimson Flower specifically because that route gives her greater agency than the other routes and pairs well thematically with Edelgard
All of the house leader Lords in Three Houses are playable. They aren't the central lead like Byleth or Corrin, but they're playable.
See the Snape vs James Potter topic for an extreme example of the reason for this (no, i am not equating Edelgard to Snape in terms of guilt or Rhea to James in terms of innocence, calm the furious typing I already see some of you starting). Edelgard is main cast and in opposition to Rhea. It doesn't matter what the text says, that simple fact is going to color people's views on the characters.
As someone that generally sides with Rhea, it is moderately infuriating that the fandom just argues whether Edelgard is right or wrong without considering Rhea's point of view and the immense level of shit she's been through herself.
I imagine a lot of people have only played CF, or at least CF first, thus coloring their views.
You're not the only one who went looking.
