Dimitri/Byleth

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Pairing
Pairing: Dimileth
Alternative name(s): Dimitri/Byleth
Gender category: Non-binary
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Canonical?: Yes (player determinant)
Prevalence: Popular
Archives:
Other:
Fanart of Dimitri and Byleth from the waist up, holding hands and smiling.
fanart by monocuries, 2022
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Dimileth is a popular pairing between Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd and Byleth Eisner in the Fire Emblem fandom.

Canon

Dimitri is the leader of the Blue Lions house, one of the three which the player character Byleth can choose to teach in the beginning of the game. Similar to Edelgard and Claude's fascination with Byleth in their first meeting, Dimitri proposes if Byleth would consider returning to the kingdom with him. On the other hand, Byleth initial impression of Dimitri upon meeting him is that he seems sincere but a darkness hides beneath his princely demeanor.

If the player chooses to teach the Blue Lions, Dimitri and Byleth become closer and form a strong bond that will later be tested in the War phase. Despite Dimitri's admiration of Byleth's skills as a teacher and a warrior, he later admits that Byleth's lack of emotion and indifference about killing their enemies bothered him. On one occasion, Dimitri scolds Byleth for not having an appropriate emotional reaction to killing. As the story progresses however, Byleth grows to be more expressive and the first time Byleth genuinely smiles, Dimitri is pleased and will ask them to smile once more. When Byleth shows genuine happiness after winning the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, Dimitri compliments them on their smile again.

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.


If Dimitri is chosen or has the highest support points with Byleth for the goddess tower event, Dimitri will invite Byleth to the tower. After making a wish, Dimitri expresses that perhaps he should wish to be with Byleth forever instead. Byleth falls silent at his declaration and gives him a questioning look. Dimitri's smile fades and takes it back as a joke. Regardless of the response chosen by the player, Byleth will be upset. This reaction from Byleth and Dimitri later on telling Byleth how he may not have a future to promise seems to imply that both were serious with their first wish. [1]

Dimitri comes to depend and trust deeply in Byleth with his past and even reveals to them his desire to avenge his fallen loved ones. After the death of Jeralt, Dimitri encourages Byleth to find a new reason to live for to be able to move forward. Byleth seems to have taken his words into account as later in the story, after a similar tragedy, its Byleth expressing the same sentiment to Dimitri.

Spoiler Warning: This article or section contains spoilers about character death in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.


Byleth's emotional growth shows even more clearly during the War Phase, where seeing how deranged Dimitri has become causes Byleth great sadness as they attempt on multiple occasions to bring back their old friend. Following Rodrigue's death during Blood of the Eagle and Lion, Byleth shows genuine compassion and empathy, which is enough to pull Dimitri from his grief and to move forward with Byleth and his friends by his side.

Should the player side with Edelgard or pick a different class, Dimitri will eventually become their enemy as he is driven to madness with an intense fixation on killing Edelgard. In Verdant Wind, news of Dimitri's death during the time skip visibly upsets Byleth while in Silver Snow, after news of his death reaches the resistance army, he later appears before Byleth that same night, expressing his regrets and laments the deaths of Rodrigue, Gilbert, Dedue and those who followed him into his quest for vengeance. He disappears without a trace when Byleth wakes up. In Crimson Flower, he is less unhinged and upon being put against Byleth in battle, Dimitri expresses anger and regret that Byleth chose Edelgard.

Fandom

Dimileth is one of the most popular romances of the Fire Emblem fandom. Although Dimitri can only be S-Supported by a female Byleth, Dimitri/Male Byleth is also loved by many especially in the JP community and by far the most popular ship for male Byleth. [2]

Due to Azure Moon being a personal and character-centered story, the route tends to revolve around Dimitri and his relationships with the Blue Lions and especially emphasizes the relationship between Dimitri and Byleth as they often have the most alone time together in cut scenes while in other routes, the whole class joins Byleth and the house leader. The two have many intimate moments in the story such as when Dimitri finally reached back for Byleth's hand and noting how warm it is in the rain.

Fans love the ship's subversive take on the classic "beauty and the beast" trope because right from the start, Byleth knew Dimitri was sincere but also not dismissing the fact that a certain darkness seems to loom behind his kind demeanor. The same goes for Dimitri as he knew that he could never trust someone who didn't flinch when they killed and yet, he trusted Byleth with all his heart.

The shift in their relationship between the Academy and War Phases is that Byleth is initially the stoic "ashen demon" who learns from their time with the students and with Dimitri's encouragement to be more empathetic and warm. In turn, Dimitri learns again from his Professor how to regain his compassion and the kindness that he lost sight of. There's a recurring motif in the animated cut scenes of Byleth being the light who brings Dimitri out of darkness.

Because of many instances of Dimitri often being pleased whenever he sees Byleth happy, many fans speculate that Dimitri unknowingly (or secretly) developed a crush on Byleth right from the start or earlier in the game.

Dimileth Fans

Dimitri's English voice actor, Chris Hackney, is a Dimileth shipper. As seen in tweets, videos and interviews, Chris says in an interview with ANIME IMPULSE that Dimileth is his OTP. He is also supportive of Fire Emblem artists and content creators as he occasionally retweets Dimileth art. Another voice actor from the english voice cast who ships this pairing is Faye Mata, Petra's english voice actress. [3]

Common Tropes and tropes in Fanworks

  • Angst - the most prevalent trope for this ship, commonly taking place during the time skip where Dimitri is driven even more to madness in Byleth's absence
  • Pining
  • Hurt/Comfort
  • Unresolved sexual tension - commonly portrayed in the post-timeskip as Byleth and Dimitri often disagree to the point that Dimitri's actions upsets Byleth enough to the point Byleth's expression for the whole month is a frown. [4]
  • Love redeems [5]
  • Beauty and the Beast - this ship subverts the B&B trope by making Dimitri the emotional and kind person rather than Byleth. Both are technically beasts in battle but make each other human by realizing the feeling of love.[6]
  • Unrequited love - Silver Snow AUs of this ship commonly portray, Dimitri's unrequited feelings for Byleth or vice versa.
  • Teacher-student romance
  • Class differences - In pre-timeskip, Dimitri is a Prince while Byleth is a commoner.
  • Ruling couple - equal or near equal partners and Happily Married as their paired ending states. Rather then one ruling and one staying in the palace they jointly rule. [7]
  • Hands - One of the major body motifs in the Dimileth pairing is hands, or reaching for them: Byleth reaches for Dimitri many times during the game, and in the end, he reaches for her. The end of his love confession to her puts great emphasis on holding hands.
  • Pregnancy and kidfic - Female Byleth becoming pregnant with/giving birth to Dimitri's child (usually a son) or their experiences as parents
    • Mpreg - Less common, but some fics feature Dimitri or male Byleth becoming pregnant with the other's child

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Fanvids, Animatics

Other Fanworks

References

  1. ^ tweet by @EngFEBluelions, Archived version, posted 23 Sepember 2020.
  2. ^ Dimileth, Archived version at The Shipping Wiki.
  3. ^ Anime Impulse 2020 (Day 2) - Fire Emblem Three Houses, Archived version. Video upload by Nkdn 182, posted 5 June 2020
  4. ^ This is Byleth’s face after Dimitri said to go away., Archived version Tumblr post by phoenixmiko, 18 August 2020.
  5. ^ Love Redeems, Archived version at All The Tropes wiki.
  6. ^ Beast and Beauty at All the Tropes wiki.
  7. ^ Ruling Couple, Archived version at All the Tropes wiki.

Notes

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