Byleth's Design
This post is a full analysis of Byleth’s design, their Enlightened One class, and other things I found interesting about them. (I will also mention the Ashen Wolves house, but I will focus on the design of the house itself, not its characters.)
Hair
Byleth’s hair is modeled after a wolf hairstyle (ウルフヘアー), and although the wolf hairstyle may not symbolize a particular thing, the word for wolf/wolves is according to lore “the beasts who guard the Blue Sea Star”.
Outfit
Male Byleth, Bishop, and Priest class all wear armor that covers the shoulders and upper chest.
EDIT: After searching, the name of the type of armor worn by the Byleth and clerics is Gorget.
while Female Byleth wears a nun’s collar.
This indicates Byleth’s connection with the church from the beginning.
The pattern on Male Byleth’s chest is a stylized of the crest of flames, with the 3 tears below and the 3 rhombus in the middle together forming the pattern on his chest, and the tear above are the one on his back.
Or it may be a stylized form of the Sothis tiara.
Speaking of the Sothis tiara, the pattern present on the sleeves of their coat is also a stylized form of it.
The pattern on Byleth’s back is a triquetra, the triquetra has so many meanings, which vary from culture to culture, that I fail to see what it stands for with Byleth. The closest meaning to Byleth and the Three Houses concept I found for triquetra is that it is “three-cornered and connected deeply with the power of three”.
Of course, no need to explain about the Byleth’s pendant. (Just a little explanation: the green part is similar to the Flayn and Seteth pattern but mixed with P4. Same thing with the pink part, it’s a mix between P4 and P1.)
In general, the main color in Byleth’s outfit is gray, which symbolizes a lack of emotion, and that represents Byleth’s emotional state at the beginning of the game. Gray is also a symbol of neutrality due to being a shade between white and black, and in the case of a basic Byleth’s outfit, black is a dominant color, while white is a subdued shade (in the case of Male Byleth, white is not visible, though under his armor), but when they become the Enlightened One, the roles of black and white are reversed. This is closer to the concept of yin and yang, where the black yin is darkness and the white yang is light, but the essence of each has the color of the opposite side.
On their arms, the Byleth wear silver armor. Due to the purity of silver so high that it reflects like a mirror, it symbolizes seeing the true self in our depths. All of this points to Silver Snow, Byleth’s own route, who they are discovering more about themselves and their Nabataean heritage. As for the reason that silver is only in their arms, it is because the arms symbolize acceptance and embracing life experience.
As I already mentioned in my previous post, the white and pink in Byleth’s outfit are the colors of the ribbons of Sothis’ hair, symbolizing their association with her. Besides, the color of their dagger is the same as the colors of her dress, blue, black, and gold.
A little note: many might think that the Byleth’s dagger cross-guard is the same as the house leaders insignia inverted, but in fact it is completely different, at least within the game model.
(The house leaders insignia itself differs from one work and design to another related to the game, and it can only be noticed after an audit.)
Enlightened One
One of the most notable things about Enlightened One is definitely the color purple, whether it’s the crest of flames or the signature color of Byleth, Sothis, and the game itself. Purple is the color of the Sahasrara, also known as the crown chakra, is the seventh energy center in the chakra system. It is the highest point in the body and acts as a bridge between our physical selves and nirvana. Notably, Enlightened Byleth’s tiara contains purple, unlike Sothis and Rheas’ tiara.
Like the Nabataeans, the Enlightened One’s design has stylized parts of Sothis’s design, as well as Rhea’s.
A velvet scarf, in particular, is worn in the same style as religious or sacred-role characters in the franchise.
There is also a similarity to the dancer’s design. This goes with Emblem Byleth being a dancer in Engage.
Especially since Sothis’s design is more like a dancer. And the tiki’s design itself looks like dancer.
Enlightened One has a pattern on the back under the cape, which is probably the crest of flames. This goes with Seiros and Dimitri, who also have their crest on the back under their cape. Claude doesn’t have his crest in his Wyvern Master design, but he does at least have one in his Barbarossa’s quiver. The only one without a crest on the back is Edelgard, which instead has an empty heart, which may indicate a stark contrast to Byleth.
Fencing Style
Byleth’s style of carrying a sword is similar to that of the greatsword, which requires it to be carried on two shoulders due to its heavy weight.
The development of such a style is most likely due to training to wield a sword at an early age.
Although Byleth’s animation is similar to the other characters’ animation of wielding a sword, Byleth have a distinct animation in their final strike.
While all characters jump up to strike, Byleth hold the blade opposite to the ground and then direct it upwards during a lunge. It’s like dragging a heavy sword across the ground to deal a fatal blow, and that’s one ways to use the greatsword.
But when the Byleth became enlightened one, their sword-wielding style became lighter and more graceful.
They spin as if it were a dance, then counter a straight line strike with balance. They hold their left hand in a fist at their hearts as it glows as if they are praying, and then they release it with the faith power they have gathered.
The armor on Byleth’s right arm is somewhat similar to the Immaculate One.
This indicates that the Byleth’s right arm, which holds their weapon, represents the Immaculate One, an ability Rhea/Seiros has rarely used to end dangerous situations in battlefield. While Byleth’s left arm, unarmored and unarmed, indicates Rhea/Seiros’s ability to end wars with her bare hands with minimal casualties, as she did with Nemesis.
Going back to the Ashen Wolves, everyone is surely aware of the contrast in the colors of the Academy and Abyss students’ uniforms. As I mentioned in my previous post, the colors of the Academy uniform represent Sothis, while the colors of the Abyss uniform represent Byleth. White, silver, black, gray, purpue. This refers to the concept of dualism, which is commonly used in the Final Fantasy series.
