Byleth is the main character of Fire Emblem: Three Houses along with Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude depending on the route that players choose. With the announcement of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, it was quickly revealed that Byleth was going to be stepping out of the spotlight for newcomer, Shez. Fortunately, Byleth does appear in the Three Houses spinoff game, but as a rival to new and familiar faces of Fodlan.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is an alternate turn in which Byleth never meets Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude. Instead of becoming a teacher at Garreg Mach, Byleth continues working as a mercenary. Shez runs into Byleth several times in Three Hopes, and usually when they're on opposite ends of the battlefield. While some fans may not be pleased with Byleth in a supporting role, the Three Houses' protagonist has enough screen time in Three Hopes to show them as a character rather than a silent protagonist.
Content and images contain major spoilers for Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
5 Byleth Has Actual Dialogue
When Shez confronts Byleth in the prologue, it's quickly revealed that Byleth will not be a silent character this time around. Although soft-spoken, Byleth quickly makes it known why they're feared as the Ashen Demon to Shez and their allies.
Along with being able to speak in Three Hopes, Byleth is able to take part in camp activities with other characters if players manage to recruit them. This shows another side to Jeralt and Byleth's relationship while playing into the eventual friendship between them and Shez. Many fans saw that Byleth being able to speak while retaining their stoic personality in Three Hopes is how they should've been written in Three Houses.
4 Their Supports Are Severely Limited
Since Byleth never formed any bonds with the three houses in Three Hopes, they only have Supports with two characters: Jeralt and Shez. They're able to reach Rank A with every other character, but there isn't any special dialogue for reaching these milestones. Byleth's Supports are only available in the True Ending, so failing to recruit them and Jeralt means they'll be locked out for the remainder of the game.
Byleth's Support with Jeralt makes reference to Sitri (Byleth's mother) and teases at Three Houses with Jeralt saying Byleth wouldn't have been cut out for teaching at Garreg Mach. The Byleth & Jeralt Support was something fans have wanted since Three Houses, and Three Hopes manages to deliver. Their Support with Shez has them relating to one another as fellow mercenaries and their connection to Sothis and Arval respectively. Unfortunately, Byleth lacks Supports with the house leaders, but given the circumstances of Three Hopes, it's not too surprising either.
3 Sothis And Byleth
Sothis makes her appearance in Three Hopes by controlling Byleth's body right before Shez kills them in battle. Unlike Three Houses, this version of Sothis is more ruthless and not too pleased with Byleth resisting her control. She doesn't appear to have amnesia either and sees Byleth not as someone she cares for, but simply her vessel. This is a huge contrast to Byleth and Sothis' relationship in Three Houses, in which Sothis came to care for Byleth as if they were her own. Sothis slowly pieces together over the course of White Clouds that she is the Progenitor God and that Byleth's creation was to simply serve as a vessel.
Should players kill Jeralt in the penultimate chapter of Three Hopes' different routes, Sothis will encourage Byleth to take revenge on Shez. A scene shows Byleth's reluctance with Sothis warning them that she could simply take over if she pleased. In fact, most scenes with these two in Three Hopes involve Sothis berating Byleth for their stubbornness and how she has a strange desire to get rid of Shez and Arval. With Sothis acting in a manner similar to Seiros in Crimson Flower, it's quickly evident that protectiveness and vengeance runs in the family...
2 The Power Of The Progenitor God
Byleth's green hair and blue eyes were a result of fusing with Sothis in Three Houses. For more context, Byleth gets trapped in Zahras by Solon. Sothis, understandably frustrated with Byleth's rashness, deduces that the only way for Byleth to escape is if she fused with them and gave them her power. The Goddess' power seems to come with special hair-dye since Byleth's original look is long gone. However, defeating Seiros/Rhea in Crimson Flower returns their looks to normal, but the reasons for this aren't exactly clear. The trailers for Three Hopes quickly revealed that Byleth would indeed have their trademark green hair, leaving fans curious to how this would come to be since Byleth was no longer the main character.
Unlike Three Houses, Byleth receives Sothis' power in a dual between them and Shez. This is shown to be Sothis temporarily taking control of their body before Byleth fights her off. This changes their look and a cutscene later reveals Byleth can still speak to Sothis. The original game had Sothis disappearing for the rest of the game once she merged with Byleth, but here, it seems Byleth's resistance causes her to stick around. Unfortunately, since Three Hopes is focused on Shez and the three Lords, the relationship between Byleth and Sothis remains unexplored this time around.
1 The Three Lords And Byleth
As a protagonist, Byleth was reserved and not someone to wear their heart on their sleeve. Hints of their personality were given through other characters' dialogue and Supports. Particularly, the house leaders and Jeralt notice that Byleth is starting to warm up to the other students and several times are noted to be smiling. By the timeskip, the main lord (i.e: Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude) of each route comes to see Byleth as a pillar of support and can even marry them by the end of the game depending on Byleth's gender. It's obvious that the relationship Byleth has with their students ran much deeper than the coworker-esque relationship they have with them in Three Hopes.
On the topic of Three Hopes, Byleth has absolutely no chemistry with the three lords or any of the other students. This is obviously because they never taught at Garreg Mach and instead continued their life as a mercenary with Jeralt. Speaking to Byleth reveals that the army's been more welcoming to them and Jeralt than they'd initially expected. However, it's not enough to net them a Support chain outside of Jeralt and Shez. In a darker twist, those pursuing the Bad End will get to see Byleth kill one of the Lords' close allies (Randolph, Rodrigue, or Judith) thanks to Sothis gaining control of their body.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is available now on Nintendo Switch.
