While I have everything in my brain simultaneously, I’m going to make a small infodump with all of the things I noticed about Dimitri’s fluffy cape in terms of character design. Because who doesn’t love that fluffy cape?!
(Disclaimer: I have no formal training in character design whatsoever; all of the points below are based purely on my own observations.)
So after pondering for roughly five and a half months now the function of everyone’s favorite fluffy cape as it relates to Dimitri’s character design, I’ve come up with four primary contributions it makes (in no particular order):
1) Royalty. Perhaps an entire animal’s worth of fur is a particularly luxurious addition to an already mostly decorative large piece of fabric, visually conveying Dimitri’s position as a crown prince or even a king.
2) Silhouette. The cape alone adds considerable size to Dimitri’s outline, but layering long-pile fur on top of the cape further widens his shoulders and torso, making him appear significantly larger than he actually is – and regardless of his outfit, Dimitri is already really big to begin with (his height is 188cm or roughly 6′1.5″, after the timeskip). This adds to the intimidation factor, in that Dimitri is clearly not someone you would want as your enemy in a battle due to the sheer amount of space he occupies. This also connects to point #1 on royalty, since it gives Dimitri a large presence both physically and metaphorically.
You know what animal also has long fur that makes it look bigger to intimidate its opponents, and is also associated with Dimitri? The lion! Speaking of animals, on a closely related note…
3) “A wild beast.” Dimitri is continuously compared to an animal throughout the story, most notably through Felix’s nickname for him, “boar prince.” With exceptions for the association of lions with Faerghus royalty, this typically serves to dehumanize Dimitri by calling to mind his capacity for brutalizing his opponents using his inhuman strength, which becomes especially apparent when Dimitri succumbs to his loneliness, despair, and rage. In his A support with Byleth, after vowing to no longer allow the voices of the dead to bind him, Dimitri acknowledges that his life during his five years alone was “not much different from that of a wild beast.” A large, intact piece of fur that occupies almost his entire silhouette when viewed from the back likely invokes the image of a dangerous animal. I think the addition of fur is a clever choice for Dimitri’s post-timeskip design, because when Byleth finally sees him again after five years, it’s an instant visual indicator that he has essentially become an animal (or more like one, at the very least). I feel an especially strong need to point this out because this was actually the very first thing I noticed about Dimitri’s post-timeskip character design the first time I saw it, before I even knew a single detail about the story, and if I’m telling the truth, I’m actually salty that it worked so well! (Moreover, if I’m getting my facts straight, Dimitri is also the only character who gets taller during the timeskip, which would further strengthen his metaphorical likeness to “a wild beast.”)
4) Weight. I’m primarily a costumer and performer, and yet this point somehow took me the longest to realize. Several times while considering Dimitri’s costume, I’ve found myself casually thinking, wow, that cape with all the fur on it must be really heavy, but it wasn’t until recently that the significance of this thought finally clicked for me. For anyone who’s never worn an outfit with a significant amount of fur on it: fur is very heavy. (Imagine how heavy you think that amount of fur would be… and then maybe triple it.) While this could indicate Dimitri’s physical strength, I think it more importantly references the metaphorical weight on his shoulders. Dimitri says it himself in his “Father’s Diary” conversation with Byleth: he carries the heavy burden of his responsibility (perceived or actual) to his deceased family – one that puts insurmountable obstacles in his path, but nevertheless gives him the strength to keep living. The addition of fur to Dimitri’s post-timeskip character design signifies the increasing weight on his mind of his desire to avenge the dead, and eventually, perhaps of becoming a king as well.
I think that’s about all of the thoughts I have on Dimitri’s fluffy cape for now!! You can probably tell I think about it way too much…
Oh yeah, which brings me to my last point:
5) Something fluffy to snuggle with. Yes, I know everyone and their mother has already beaten this idea to death, but what can I say? Everyone’s doing it because it’s the BEST. No matter how many times I see this trope in fan content, I never tire of it and I likely never will.
Okay, that’s actually everything I wanted to say on this topic.
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