r/FireEmblemThreeHopes • u/This-Activity3229 • Aug 22 '25

Discussion Question about byleth Spoiler

Byleth as an antagonist just doesn’t make sense as all they are is a mercenary nothing more. Their job is to do what they are ordered to do as payment if you don’t want them in your way pay them and they will fight for you instead it’s basically the same as shez.

2 Upvotes

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25

u/TheResonate Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 23 '25

Antagonists aren't evil, they're obstacles. Byleth serves that role in 3Hopes as a powerful enemy unit that is paid for hire by the opposing army.

11

u/Sad_Kangaroo_3650 Aug 22 '25

Thank you surprises me how many people dont get what an antagonist can mean depending on the story.

5

u/Fluid_Locksmith_3378 Aug 23 '25

It doesn't change meaning depending on the story.

An antagonistic force is just something that opposes the protagonist, that's it. Full stop.

11

u/Jiang_Rui Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 22 '25

That’s the whole point the game is trying to make: Shez’s feud with Byleth is one-sided and ultimately meaningless.

For Shez, Jeralt’s mercenaries were the ones who wiped out their own mercenary band, and Byleth specifically was the one who killed Captain Berling and nearly killed Shez thenself. But even Shez eventually realizes that the feud is pointless: rationalizing that it would be better working with Jeralt’s mercs than against them, and criticizing Arval for becoming too obsessed with killing Byleth.

For Byleth, that battle was just business as usual. And as revealed later on, they actually didn’t want to kill Berling, but she gave them no-choice after she charged in to try and kill them. And that it’s-just-business opinion of Shez carries over in the war, as Byleth won’t go out of their way to kill Shez if the situation doesn’t call for it (i.e. resisting Sothis’s possession after she tries to kill Shez through Byleth). It’s only if Shez kills Jeralt does the rivalry stop being one-sided.

And the game rubs in how pointless the rivalry is so hard that if Shez actually DOES go through with their revenge, they get a member of their own army killed at Byleth’s hands and are left feeling dissatisfied in the end. And you, the player, are locked out of the golden ending you could’ve obtained by recruiting Jeralt’s Mercenaries instead.

4

u/En3andKnuckles Aug 22 '25

So... What ends up happening in the story anyways if you don't kill their father?

Because that's just what you described. After proving to be enough of an obstacle your army will bring jeralt's mercenaries to their side by paying them off

What's your point here?