It fascinates me how Dimitri is vocal about how abhorrent killing is and yet he enjoys slaying his enemies, and the irony is not lost on him. Also can we talk about his extreme empathy, compassion and selflessness, to the point where he is destroyed by it? The “boar prince” is the same guy who gave a powerful and heartwarming speech about grief, and who solemnly accepts Felix’s disdain for him. It’s good writing that he isn’t inconsistent despite his dual nature.
Oh man, oh fuck, ohohohoho yes
I literally wrote a post about Dimitri's selflessness being his biggest strength and flaw today
He's one of the most compassionate people in the franchise and precisely because of that he becomes as blood thirsty and violent as he does
He never fights for himself, he always fights for others. To protect his friends, to change the Kingdom for the better, to give the dead peace, to drive out the Empire...its always selfless things that motivate him but he goes too far and it gets warped into something much less...good
He's too self sacrificing, he goes to such extreme lengths to make right by the dead that he betrays his own principles of not killing needlessly and killing swiftly if he has to.
In his mind, the more blood he sheds the closer he can bring the dead to finding peace because as long as he makes the enemy suffer that's fine, right? They're evil so killing them is fine, right? Except it clashes with his principles and wears him down.
I honestly believe that he enjoys the killing as a self defense mechanism to keep himself from shattering at the things he's done. Except it doesn't work cuz he's fully aware that enjoying it is worse
A lot about Dimitri is about two sides of one thing. Light and dark. There's a good side to things but if that's taken too far, it becomes dark. And he has to find a balance between the two, a middle ground.
Being selfless is fine as long as he doesn't take it too far, same with honoring the dead, same with chivalry. A thing only becomes bad when there's too much of it.
That's a general rule my dad taught me when I was a kid. It doesn't matter what it is, a good thing will become harmful if there's too much of it. Air, water, even love and compassion. Oxygen can be deadly, you can drink too much water and drown yourself, love can become an obsession...
And that's what's happening with Dimitri's compassion and selflessness
So when he decides to live for himself, when he voices his first selfish thought in years, that's when the healing sets in.
He finds his middle ground.
The writing is so incredibly consistent despite being incredibly nuanced that it honestly floors me every time and I appreciate it more with every ask I get.
I dream of writing a character as complex as him one day.
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