I have a confession; I am a transformed Ferdinand fangirl and unrepentant Ferdibert shipper. So today, I will be discussing Ferdinand von Aegir.
I think there are a few characters in the game that ultimately rose above my expectations for them, but I feel like the most striking head fake is Ferdinand. At first, I remember seeing him and sighing. “Oh dear, here’s the head-in-his-ass rival who spends all of his time obsessing over the main character”, and in the first two supports I saw, Byleth and Edelgard, this suspicion was confirmed. And in the monastery, he implores you to “grab a piece of paper” as he recounts all of the titles of the Adrestian nobility. “This guy’s such an idiot,” I thought, and wrote him off as a joke character.
There are many supports pre-TS which reinforce this early notion that he is a bit of a dolt. His C support with Lorenz is insufferable, his C support with Bernie makes him come off as insensitive, and his C with Dorothea’s support he comes off as having his head up his own ass. This is an image that the game consistently cultivates. Hubert finds him complete unbearable, and while I think Hubert is a bit harsh on him in the C support, I can’t disagree with the general sentiment that “your obsession with all things superficial is disgusting”.
The first support I saw that hinted something lying beneath the veneer was his B support with Bernadetta, where he expresses distress and regret that he treated Bernadetta in such an uncaring way, to the point that Bernie is almost embarrassed at how apologetic he is. In this support we see empathy and mutual respect for someone who obviously suffers from anxiety and mental illness, as opposed to the self-absorbed fluff that we see previously from him. He is genuinely sad that he made Bernie feel uncomfortable and tries to make amends. And throughout the support with Dorothea, he treats her with respect despite her obvious contempt for him.
His character growth and his changing point of view on the world are both evident pre-timeskip, as he learns more and more things that are outside of his traditional worldview that was handed to him by his father, we see him change and open up his mind. No longer does he view nobility as this purely positive influence on the world, even though he believes that true nobility should be. He still rejects the idea that nobility is a net negative on society, but he accepts that things are not as rosy as he saw them before.
The rest of this discussion will primarily focus on Crimson Flower Ferdinand, as I feel that his development on other routes is not as robust and doesn’t make as much sense, especially without Edelgard and Hubert to interact with. So spoilers for CF within.
Post-timeskip, we see a changed man. In Edelgard’s A support, we see that he cares deeply for educating people and sees that as a core function of future governance. He believes that, in replacing a traditional aristocratic system, you need to ensure that there are competent, prepared people for the job, and universal public education is the bridge to that. In Dorothea’s A support we see him grapple with information that shakes his value system to its core, and he responds not with anger but with, again, empathy and mutual respect for Dorothea. In his supports with Petra, he admits that he had stereotyped people of Brigid as primitive, revealing his own racist upbringing, but realized that his beliefs were wrong and adjusted them accordingly. In his Bernadetta A support we see him reach out to his troubled friend and reassure her that she is valid and people care for her.
If you know the nature of Ciatokins, you know that my favorite ship in 3H is Ferdinand x Hubert, also known as Ferdibert. In the C support, they express mutual contempt for each other, and in the B support, they debate over the merits of consulting your lord before doing something against their will. In this case I think both of them have a point, but I understand why Ferdinand reacts with "wait, what the fuck, dude, why are you advocating for sedition."
However, they both have the same goal - to reform the government to be more equitable to all peoples, not just people who are rich and / or have Crests. They both want to serve Edelgard to achieve those goals, and even though they are different, they realize that working together will help them achieve their goals more efficiently than if they squabble.
The A+ honestly just exists to be the gayest thing ever, but you can see the differences between the Crown Jewels of the Adrestian Empire shine through here. Ferdinand is honest and forthcoming about giving a gift to Hubert, and doesn’t fully understand why Hubert is choosing to be a tsundere about this gift. But he rolls with it, realizing that it’s not really in Hubert’s nature to be friendly or sweet, and takes in the moment.
Anyway, he ends up being a kind, compassionate person who cares deeply for both his friends and the people who live in his country. When he learns that his society is flawed, he takes the challenge head-on to fix it. When he learns that he no longer has to be Edelgard’s rival, he instead embraces his role as her advisor with enthusiasm. And when he deals with a potential tsundere goth boy love interest, he takes the care and patience to not be angry with him.
And that’s why I love Ferdinand von Vestra.
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