Byleth

Byleth (male: ; female:, Byleth) is a character from the series. As the playable in , Byleth's name, gender, birthday and dialogue options can be customized. Unlike fellow Fire Emblem avatars Robin and Corrin, however, Byleth has a set appearance and set voice actors, with the majority of their dialogue being from battle quotes instead of interactions with other characters.

Byleth is also the main protagonist of Three Houses, and assumes the role of a professor to one of the three titular houses at Garreg Mach Monastery in order to guide the students through day-to-day activities and help them improve their combat skills.

Byleth debuted in the  series as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the fifth and final character of.

Origin
In Three Houses, Byleth Eisner is the child of Jeralt Eisner, a former knight of the, and , a nun of the. Born in Imperial Year 1159, Byleth was in critical condition during their childbirth until Archbishop, at Sitri's request, took the from Sitri and implanted it into Byleth in order to save the newborn. Unbeknownst to Jeralt, Rhea also did this in order to try and reawaken Sothis, the goddess of. Although Byleth survives, the Crest transplant comes at the cost of Sitri's life, as well as Byleth demonstrating abnormally minimal emotion as a child and completely lacking a heartbeat, the latter of which seemingly has no effect on their health. Byleth does not recall much of their past, and Jeralt has told them very little of their childhood.

Part I of Three Houses' story begins with a chance encounter where Byleth and Jeralt rescue Edelgard von Hresvelg, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, and Claude von Riegan from a group of bandits, they are brought back to Garreg Mach Monastery. Upon arriving, Jeralt is reinstated as the captain of the Knights of Seiros, and Byleth is enlisted as a professor for one of the Officers' Academy's three houses: the Black Eagles led by Edelgard, the Blue Lions led by Dimitri, and the Golden Deer led by Claude. Depending on the player's decision, the story plays out differently during Part II.

Sothis is a mysterious entity who appears in Byleth's dreams, and eventually manifests in real life, although Byleth is the only one that can see her. She has lost all of her memories except her name, but possesses significant power and demonstrates this by granting Byleth access to the, an ability that allows Byleth to turn back time. Eventually, after Byleth is banished to a dark realm by a mysterious group called "", Sothis learns that she is a goddess upon rediscovering her past. She subsequently fuses with Byleth, thus granting them all of her power at the cost of ceasing to appear to them after that point, except in a few select circumstances. Sothis is also the source of Byleth's Crest, the Crest of Flames, which allows them to wield the effectively.

Regardless of which house they choose, at the end of Byleth's first year as a professor, Edelgard declares war on the Church of Seiros and Byleth is forced to take a side. An accident results in them falling into a coma for five years; once they awaken, they reunite with their house of choice (or the Church of Seiros, should they decide to side against Edelgard after choosing the Black Eagles) and assist their house leader in their goals: Edelgard in Crimson Flower to destroy the Church, Dimitri in Azure Moon to stop Edelgard, Claude in Verdant Wind to discover the truth behind the and the, and The  in Silver Snow to stop Edelgard and Those Who Slither in the Dark.

What happens to Byleth depends on the route chosen by the player: in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, they become the new leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan; in Crimson Flower, Byleth devotes the rest of their life to ending Those Who Slither in the Dark and becomes a lifelong confidant to Edelgard; and in Azure Moon, Byleth becomes Archbishop after Rhea retires.

 offers an alternate timeline where Byleth never becomes an academy teacher. While traveling as part of Jeralt's mercenary group, they are ambushed by another group of mercenaries containing, the main protagonist of Three Hopes. Byleth handily wipes out the other mercenaries and is about to slay Shez in battle before Shez suddenly reawakens with newfound power. The fight ends in a draw as Byleth claims that their repelling of the opposing mercenaries to be a successful mission and leaves, after which Shez swears to get revenge against Byleth. This alternate series of events results in Byleth never meeting the students of the Officers' Academy and remaining a mercenary. Depending on choices the player makes in the game, Byleth either joins forces with Shez, sacrifices themselves to Sothis out of revenge over Shez killing Jeralt, or confronts Shez directly in a battle that leads to one of them being slain as a result.

Both versions of Byleth also appear as units the player can recruit in the crossover game . Most recently,  features male Byleth as one of the game's numerous Emblems, ethereal clones of protagonists from various other Fire Emblem games who dwell within special rings.

As a playable character


Byleth appears as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with his inclusion being announced during a Mr. Sakurai Presents presentation on January 16, 2020. He is the fifth and final DLC character of, and was released on January 28, 2020. Like his fellow avatars  and, Byleth's female counterpart is also playable as an Alternate costume character.

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai played an early version of  in order to gain a better experience of how to develop Byleth for Ultimate. Sakurai further elaborated that he did this to also ensure that Byleth's release was not delayed, and mentioned that he used this developmental process previously, noting  as an example.

In a subsequent interview with Famitsu on February 5, 2020, Sakurai stated that he agreed with fan criticisms regarding the amount of both sword-wielding characters and Fire Emblem fighters in Ultimate. However, he reiterated that he was proceeding with a plan created for him by Nintendo and not picking his own favorite characters to be added to the roster.

Sakurai said that freshness was the theme of Byleth's inclusion, as Three Houses was released only seven months after Ultimate. Due to Sakurai's aforementioned agreement with the criticism, he sought to have Byleth's moveset reference the branching storylines of Three Houses. As a result, he decided that Byleth would not only retain the, but also wield the house leaders' signature : , , and.

Trivia

 * Due to  being released in July 2019, Byleth is currently the most recently debuted fighter in Super Smash Bros. history.
 * This also makes Byleth the only character to debut after the initial release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
 * Byleth is the first playable character whose system of origin is the Nintendo Switch. They would be succeeded by Min Min, Pyra, and Mythra.
 * Due to Byleth's appearance in  prior to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Byleth is the only fighter to technically have debuted in a mobile game.
 * It is actually impossible in Fire Emblem: Three Houses for Byleth to use all three Lords' signature weapons during one route. Although and  can be obtained during Azure Moon,  is obtainable only during Crimson Flower.
 * Byleth and Jigglypuff are the only fighters who have a single idle pose. However, female Byleth has a different idle pose compared to male Byleth.
 * In Japanese, Byleth has two different names to refer to the male and female variants. Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Inkling, Pokémon Trainer, and the Mii Fighters also share this trait.
 * Byleth is the only fighter with this distinction to have a given name instead of a generic title, and the only one to have this distinction in Japanese.
 * As with the other characters who have male and female variants, male and female Byleth have been established as separate entities. Both of them can be seen separately in 's reveal trailer.