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NOTE: This is only talking about her antagonistic deeds in Villains Wiki rather than her protagonistic deeds
The story of Princess Edelgard von Hresvelg of the Adrestian Empire, also known as the enigmatic Flame Emperor, from the Fódlan Saga of Fire Emblem.
Backstory[]
Young Edelgard before her experimentation.
Born in Imperial Year 1162, Edelgard is the fourth daughter of Emperor Ionius IX, mothered by Anselma von Arundel and is the heir to the Adrestian Empire.
When she was nine years old, Edelgard and her uncle, Volkhard von Arundel, went to Fhirdiad in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, during the Insurrection of the Seven, where the Adrestain nobles were taking authority of the empire. There, she met and befriended Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, the crown prince of Faerghus, though neither of them were aware that they were step-siblings (since Anselma had remarried to Lambert Egitte Blaiddyd, the king of Faerghus and Dimitri's father, under the name Patricia Blaiddyd). In 1174, when it was time for her and Volkhard to return to the Adrestian Empire, Edelgard was gifted a dagger by Dimitri as a token.
Edelgard returned to the Empire, but discovered her father was rendered a powerless figurehead. She was then subjected to painful Crest experiments by Those Who Slither in the Dark with the support of a cabal of corrupt Adrestian nobles, including her uncle, who abducted her along with the rest of her siblings and forced her to undergo horrific experiments in order to implant a Crest, a token of draconic power passed down through one's bloodline.
Edelgard was the sole survivor of these experiments, with all of her ten siblings either died or driven mad by the ruthless atrocity, and as the result of the experiment, her hair was bleached white and her lifespan shortened. Traumatized forever by the events, she swore revenge on both Those Who Slither in the Dark, the ones who masterminded the experiments, and the Church of Seiros, who she blamed for propagating the worship of Crests in the first place.
To this end, she took up the secret identity of the Flame Emperor and began orchestrating attacks on the Church while beginning the process of seizing power in Adrestia. She also entered a reluctant alliance with Those Who Slither in the Dark to further her ambitions, using their technology to filter her voice and hide her own identity. However, she was greatly disgusted by how far Those Who Slither in the Dark would go and felt annoyed with their company, intending to dispose of them once her work was done.
In 1180, she arrived at Garreg Mach Monastery to complete her education, and was resolved to reclaim what her father had lost. Her admittance marked the first time in ages since a member of the Hresvelg family sent a member to the Officer's Academy, and she soon became the House Leader of the Black Eagles. Amongst her classmates, only her servant and friend, Hubert von Vestra, knew Edelgard's identity as the Flame Emperor and chose to keep it as a secret.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses[]
Part I (White Clouds/The Academy Phase)[]
Edelgard hires a group of bandits to attack Dimitri and Claude, likely intending to assassinate them both to make her conquest of Fodlan easier. However, the plan is foiled when Claude flees and stumbles upon a mercenary company led by the veteran knight Jeralt and his child Byleth, who drive off the bandits. Byleth is offered a teaching post at the Officer's Academy as a reward, and may choose one of the three houses to lead. Afterwards, Edelgard begins her education at Garreg Mach and continues her campaign against the Church as the Flame Emperor. If Byleth chooses the Black Eagles, she becomes their direct pupil and develops an attachment to them. She also acts against her own allies at times, either to protect her cover or to oppose them when they commit particularly heinous crimes.
As the Flame Emperor, they makes their first appearance during Flayn's kidnapping, where they orders the Death Knight to cease fighting against Byleth and the house students. After the Death Knight leaves, they introduces themselves to Byleth and the others, before leaving. With their retreat, Byleth and the house students rescue Flayn, as well as another student named Monica von Ochs, who was suppose to graduate from the Officers Academy, but suddenly disappeared.
The Flame Emperor then appears in the aftermath of the Remire Village Massacre, caused by Solon. Although they do confirm they are working with Solon, they did not dictated the attack on the village and would've stop them had they known about their plan. They then offer Byleth the chance to join forces and use the Sword of the Creator to realize their vision, but the Ashen Demon refuses. Disappointed by their choice, the Flame Emperor escaped before they got apprehended.
The Flame Emperor then meets up with Thales and "Monica" after they murdered Jeralt and escaped from Byleth and the house students. The Flame Emperor shows disgust at both Thales and "Monica", calling them out for their "gruesome deeds" in both Duscar and Enbarr, to which Thales responds by saying it was to give them strength for a purpose.
- The Azure Lion Route: Dimitri and Byleth eavesdrop on the three's conversation, to which Dimitri gets vengeful when he finds the people responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur. He attempts to attack, but the Flame Emperor quickly notices and deflects his attack. Thales then transports himself, the Emperor, and "Monica" to escape from Dimitri and Byleth. The two then notices a dagger that the Emperor left behind, which stuns Dimitri, giving him a strong hint on who may be the Flame Emperor.
Eventually, after Byleth fully merges with the goddess Sothis and unlocks her full power, the Church's archbishop Rhea decides to take them to the Holy Tomb to receive a divine revelation. In the month leading up to the pilgrimage, Edelgard returns to Enbarr and convinces her father to formally abdicate the Adrestian throne to her. On the day of the trip to the Holy Tomb, when Byleth, the house students, and Rhea tries to discover more of Byleth's power, the Flame Emperor and their army suddenly appears and tries to take the Crest stones, while attempting to kill their enemies. There, the events and outcome of the battle brings a shocking revelation: The Flame Emperor is none other than Edelgard herself.
- On the first half of the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard and Hubert appear, accompanied by Metodey and a contingent of soldiers with them, with Edelgard revealing herself as the Flame Emperor. She apologizes to Byleth for her deception and begs her friends to stay back from the conflict, as she has no intentions on fighting them.
- On the Azure Moon route, the Flame Emepror is confronted by Dimitri, blaming them for the Tragedy at Duscur, with the enigmatic emperor denying having a role in it. After being defeated, their mask comes off and reveals themselves to be none other than Edelgard, which heavily shocks Dimitri, who goes mad with the revelation to point of brutally killing her soldiers who attempt to stop him from killing Edelgard, even giving out a crazy look in his face.
- On the Golden Deer route, Claude tries to ask the Flame Emperor behind the motives of them stealing the Crest stones, kidnapping Flayn, and who were Solon and Kronya, something the emperor refuses to talk about. After being defeated, their mask comes off and reveals themselves to be none other than Edelgard, something that surprises Claude.
Edelgard rallying up her forces.
After being defeated, Edelgard and Hubert quickly retreated and headed back to Enbarr, rallying up a large army to attack Garegg Mach Monastery. Despite Byleth, Rhea, the house students, and the Church's best efforts to push them back, Edelgard and her forces were able to achieve victory, which resulted in Byleth going missing (thanks to Thales' interference) and the capture of Rhea. This would ultimately start off the five year war of Fódlan.
Part II[]
The Azure Moon Route[]
| “ | To be changed beyond all recognition.. That is what lies at the end of the ideals you served so diligently. I have no pity for one such as you. If that is the future you hoped for, then you deserve no compassion. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's bitter comments on what Edelgard had become |
In 1185, Edelgard and her empire has conquered most of Fódlan under her command. However, Byleth returns after disappearing for five years and is able to find Dimitri, who is now consumed by his desire for vengeance on Edelgard. In the Great Tree Moon of 1185, there was a large-scale battle between the empire, the Faerghus rebel army supported by the Knights of Seiros on Gronder Field, and the Leicester Alliance, leaving dozens of casualties. Edelgard was defeated, and was forced to retreat as a result. Afterwards, she begins gathering a large continent of troops to battle against Dimitri and his armies.
During Dimitri's campaign against the Adrestian Empire, he kills Lord Arundel during the latter's attack on the Alliance capital of Derdriu without becoming aware of his connection with Those who Slither in the Dark. He attempts to bring a peaceful end to the war, but Edelgard has become convinced that she alone can bring peace to Fodlan and refuses to cooperate. Before departing, Dimitri returns the dagger she dropped five years ago, the same one she was gifted by him when they were children.
Edelgard and Dimitri's final moments.
Dimitri reluctantly invades the Imperial palace, and after the death of Hubert, Edelgard decides to transform herself into a powerful demon form known as Hegemon Edelgard in a desperate last stand against him. In this form, Edelgard fights Dimitri and Byleth, but is defeated and returns to her human form. Dimitri makes one last attempt to reconcile with her, but Edelgard throws her dagger into his shoulder, as she would rather die than live in a world where she failed, and not wanting to get in the way of Dimitri's path. Dimitri stabs her in the heart with his lance, killing her instantly. With her demise, the war against the Adrestian Empire officially ends.
The Verdant Wind & Silver Snow Routes[]
| “ | It looks as though...my path...will end here. My teacher...claim your victory. Strike me down. You must! Even now... across this land, people are killing each other. If you do not act now, this conflict... will go on forever. Your path... lies across my grave. It is time for you to find the courage to walk it. If I must fall... let it be by your hand. I wanted... to walk with you... | „ |
| ~ Edelgard's last words as she accepted Byleth's execution |
Depending on which route the player choices, Edelgard meets Byleth after five years have long passed:
- In the Verdant Wind route, she and Byleth meet again during the Battle at Gronder Field. Edelgard express her disappointment at fighting Byleth, but she decides to fight them without hesitation.
- In the Silver Snow route, she would return to church during the Millennium Festival in hopes of her friends on joining the empire. There she would reunite with Byleth after their five year disappearance. She attempts to recruit Byleth once more, but they refused. After a short fight between them, Edelgard then leaves, but not before telling Byleth that their next encounter would be the last.
On the Silver Snow route, after Byleth and their armies captures the Great Bridge of Myrddin, they recieve information that the three nations engaged in a brutal three-way conflict in Gronder Field. Edelgard suffered severe injuries, Dimitri was killed, and Claude went missing. With this information, Byleth decides to take this opportunity to defeat Edelgard and end the war once and for all.
Edelgard accepting her death.
In both routes, at Edelgard's palace, after a reluctant final confrontation and Edelgard's defeat, Edelgard shows remorse over her actions and begs Byleth to execute her, or otherwise the war would continue and more people would die. In her last moment, Edelgard bemoans how she once wished to be side by side with her former mentor, before Byleth begrudgingly beheads her.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes[]
Prologue[]
In this timeline, thanks to the arrival of the mysterious mercenary known as Shez, Edelgard and Hubert made a discussion about rescuing a "certain someone", with Hubert expressing concern for the idea though Edelgard is confident in her plan. Some time later, Shez and the Black Eagles House (or possibly the other two houses depending on the player's choice) rescue Monica from Kronya and her fellow Those Who Slither in the Dark comrades. After being rescued, Monica quickly named "Tomas" as one of the main people responsible for her kidnapping and attempted murder. Before the Church could arrest him, "Tomas" drops his disguise and quickly escapes to avoid punishment for his crimes.
Following Monica's rescue, Edelgard would seek the support of Rhea in ousting Volkhard, revealing to her that he went through a similar shift in personality just like "Tomas" and is almost certain he's part of a conspiracy against the Church. Together with the Black Eagles and Jetriza, the group would mark for Enbarr, where Edelgard and her loyalists would stage a coup, laying siege on the palace and removing Duke Aegir and Volkhard from power, with the former being arrested while the latter is forced to drop his disguise and flee the palace. Afterwards, Edelgard quickly takes power in the Empire, ordering both Count Bergliez and Count Hevring to make large preparations for her plans in two years, while appointing Count Varley to the position as bishop of the newly restored Southern Church.
Two years following the coup, Edelgard had reformed Adrestia's military and social structure and decides to finally declare war on the Central Church due to its abuses and its position for its own benefit. She and Hubert would gather their Black Eagles classmates and recruit them as officers for their war against the Church and the Kingdom forces, who has decided to grant Rhea and her followers shelter.
Azure Gleam Route[]
After being informed by Monica of Dimitri allying with Rhea by giving her shelter in Faerghus (and potentially Petra joining the Kingdom as a result of being recruited), Edelgard concludes that war with the Kingdom is unavoidable. She also comments on how Count Rowe will join the Empire when they hear news of Lord Lonato attacking the Kingdom.
In Chapter 9, Edelgard battles against the Kingdom army in an attempt to crush them and seize Arianrhod, but is defeated and tries to retreat. Dimitri attempts to stop her, but the two get interrupted by Thales. Edelgard asks him if he allied himself with Dimitri, much to the latter's confusion, causing her to realize that they are not allies. She then tells Dimitri that Thales is the man who caused the Tragedy of Duscur and killed his father Lambert, which shocks Dimitri, before attacking Thales with her axe. However, she gets pushed away by Thales' dark magic and was about to be attacked, before Dimitri stopped him by striking the magic away with his lance. Dimitri then tells Edelgard that he will not let Thales lay a hand on her as he planned to talk with Edelgard about the Duscur tragedy. However, Edelgard gets consumed by Thales' magic, briefly transforming into Hegemon Edelgard and causing a massive attack on Arianrhod, before vanishing.
Soon, Edelgard had her mind controlled by Thales, thus losing all memories of her enemies and allies and serving as the dark magician's puppet. As a result, the Adrestian Empire falls into corruption as Thales and Ludwig von Aegir (Ferdinand's father) became the abusive regents and controlled the empire on their own.
In the final chapter, Edelgard wields Aymr and joins Thales in his final battle against the Kingdom forces. Even though Thales is defeated, Edelgard was reduced to a childlike state due to the mind control Thales had done to her. She recognizes Dimitri and calls her "Dee," the nickname she gave to him when they were children. Dimitri briefly becomes shocked at this, but he eventually turns away from Edelgard and leaves. It is unknown what happened to the Adrestian emperor afterwards.
Golden Wildfire Route[]
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