Thursday, August 20, 2026

Louis VS Edelgard (Metaphor VS Fire Emblem)

 

"When you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."
-Thurgood Marshall

Louis Guiabern, The would-be king of The United Kingdom of Euchronia

Edelgard von Hresvelg, The emperor of the Adrestian Empire

These two rulers faced horrible instances of injustice in their youth and decided to create worlds will injustice and inequality will befall no one. Even if that means they have to become the villains. Will Louis put an end to Edelgard's fantastical dream, or will the Emperor close the book on Louis's ideals. That's exactly what I plan to find out to figure out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!

Before I Start

While I acknowledge that arguments for scaling Louis to SMT exist and I think they're more valid than most people think, I will not be using it for the simple fact of I just don't want to use it nor feel like doing so. So for Louis I'll be using Metaphor:Refantazio itself though I will use the traits of Almighty skills from SMT since it's functions the same in game as well.

And for Edelgard I acknowledge that Fire Emblem Heroes scaling arguments exist, but I also will not be using it since I'm not familiar with the game and don't feel like playing a gacha. I also kinda just don't wanna use it to keep both combatants to just their respective games. So for her I'll be using Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Three Hopes.

Also I'm stealing this idea from G1 and other blogs I've seen to present each fighter and all they have in a row instead of constantly flip flopping through them. The main reason for this is to make it easier on myself when making these and I guess to make it easier to read for anyone reading these. 

And as usual here are the links to all of the sources I used to help me make this blog

Louis Guiabern

Background
"My name Louis Guiabern! I am the rightful king, he who will forge anew this unworthy country into a utopia!"

Born as Louis Charadrius of the Elda tribe to a family of magical medics, the young lad would have a seemingly normal life within the Eldan Sanctum, quite enjoying his time there. Even if he did hold a bit of hostility towards the village for not sharing their secrets about magic with the rest of the world, given his desire to explore the outside world. He would sometimes even spot the King of Euchronia in his village, as he would visit regularly to spend time with an Eldan woman and his son, The Prince. He would even distribute copies of a book he wrote based on a fantasy world that seemed like a utopia which Louis would eventually get his hands on and be greatly inspired by. But even though he wanted to leave, the way he was forced to do so left a burning hatred within his heart. One day the leader of The Sanctist Church discovered that The Prince of the Kingdom might bear Elda blood. And decided that he couldn't let a possible Elda rule the country one day and decided to burn the Eldan village, killing several Elda's for no reason. This day would give Louis an intense burning hatred for Forden and injustice, and when he learned the king took his son to the capital, he decided to  move their too. But in order to not be discriminated against as an Elda, he started to wear a pair of fake horns to disguise himself as a member of the Clemar Tribe and started going by Louis Guiabern.

In order to gain power to one day achieve his goals, he would join the Euchronian military and he would quickly rise through the ranks even as a child. Though he would go through a minor setback when The Prince was attacked and cursed and Louis was thought to be the one who attacked him. Though that wasn't the case and even when the whole nation was under the assumption that The Prince was dead, thanks to Louis' studies with magic he knew that he was just cursed. And he would study this curse to one day see if he could undo it and clear his name. Louis would also continue to still rise in the ranks of the military, but would come to the conclusion that this was a sort of soft demotion so he couldn't directly interfere with the Sanctist's Church plan to grab more power over the Royal Family. So Louis decided to recruit more members of the military to his cause and would gain control over his own private militia as he thought it would be necessary to cause the world to undergo another cataclysmic event in order for the strong to come out and usher in an era with no injustice or inequality. Especially after he learned that due to The Prince's supposed death, The King allowed the Sanctist Church to steamroll him in any decisions, which led him to lose any sympathy for the man he once deemed his personal hero.

So Louis would spend more years in the military and once the monsters known as Humans start demolishing and ravaging the lands. Louis got the idea to use a corrupted version of his family's healing spell to infuse people with anxiety and turn them into humans to defeat them. That way he could be seen as one of the only people strong enough to defeat the Human threat. The first time he did this, he sent a Human to the village of Halia and even after receiving calls to send in the army to help take it down, Louis denied the order in order for the wider public to realize what a threat Humans actually were. Louis would spend 7 years doing this and garnered a wide reputation as the Human Slayer, until one day he snuck into The King's chambers and plunged a knife into his chest, killing him in order to create a power vacuum where he could hopefully be king since there wasn't The Prince to take over and he didn't have another heir to take over.

A few days later Euchronia would have the Royal Funeral for the king in the capital of Grand Trad, and to make a point about how the new king would need to be strong enough to protect the kingdom. And in the middle of his speech, the Kings Magic activated and he declared that on The Day Of The Hero that whoever amassed the most support among the people would be the new king. And right as that happened a would be assassin tried slitting Louis' throat but was stopped in his tracks by the Kings Magic as he was a high ranking candidate to win the throne. And without hesitation he cut down the assassin, then sent his right hand man,  to steal the Royal Sceptre but this plan would eventually be thwarted. After receiving the news that The Church turned the Kings announcement into a country wide tournament, he decided to not formally enter it as it wasn't really necessary and instead decided to watch over it. At the event where everyone was supposed to bring the head of a monster, he watched with interest as one group led by an Eldan boy brought a Sanctoress of a village instead. Who then admitted to kidnapping children and feeding them to a human. Which then led to her being executed on the spot. And Louis loved this spectacle of Sanctism's sins being brought forward and punished. 

The next day Louis sent his other two men, Fidelo and Basilio Magnus to get the group of the Elda named Will as he learned that he wanted to join his ranks and formally inducted him and his crew into them. He informed them of a soiree he intended to throw to announce something, and to celebrate the new recruit on August 13th. On the day he would throw his party and introduce Will as the newest member of his army and formally announce his participation in The Tournament for Throne. His party would mostly go off without a hitch until he learned that his Skyrunner ending up flying and sent the Magnus brothers to go check it out. Where they discovered one of his followers, Iadeus Glodell dead with Will and the songtress Juani Cygnuss, better known as Junah the only other ones on it. But Will and Junah explained what happened where they said the Kings Magic killed him and Louis beleived him as he learned that Will was now one of the top 20 candidates for the throne and had his face show up on the Kings Rock. And once the next task was announced to be a hunt for Divine Relics to be presented in Montario, he tasked Will and his group to take the divine lance Drakodios from the Pagan Mustari Tribe. A few weeks later the group, along with the Magnus brothers who tagged along with Will's crew presented him with Drakodios the day before the presentation. Though later that night he was informed by another member of his militia that the lance was a fake. And during Junah's opening performance of the presentation, Louis would be unexpectedly hit by Drakodios, as it has the capability of nullifying the Kings Magic.

This led to Louis running off with the lance to confront Will and his party, and even though he had them dead to rights, he provoked Will to challenge him to a duel. Which he readily accepted in order to have a fair fight. And even though he was previously injured he was giving Will the fight of his life and even almost one. Only losing when his new ally controlled Drakodios and tried to stab him which he dodged, but Will caught the lance and ran him through with it. Louis then pulled out the lance from his midsection and fell through the window and landed on the floor, seemingly dead. But the next day after Will's group confronted Forden after they learned Louis wasn't the castor of the spell that cursed The Prince to which he practically admits to it. Louis pops back up and even though Forden tried to use Drakodios to kill Louis, the Kings Magic activated and Louis reveals that he had the real lance and uses it to kill Forden. Then to make a demonstration he fires a beam from the lance at innocent civilians which Will runs to block, but the Magnus brothers push him out of the way, which eventually kills Fidelio. After this spectacle Louis would convince the King to get rid off the spell preventing the top candidates from being assassinated as it wouldn't be fair since he had Drakodios. He then issued a challenge to Will after the other top 3 candidate sacrificed herself to rid The Prince's curse.

On the day of the duel, Louis would put up a great fight, though he would lose due to Will's group having the sheer numbers advantage. But Louis had a plan, he would use the Human spell to turn Will into a monster and make the public turn on him to gain a massive lead in the race for the Throne. And as this was happening he sent Zorba to go kill the Prince since he deduced he was alive earlier and in hiding at the Eldan Sanctum so he would be the clear choice to be king. But he would soon learn that The Prince came back to life within the body of Will as he was the Prince in actuality the whole time. Learning this he went into the Royal Palace to take the Royal Sceptre and waited for Will and his party. Once they arrived he offered The Prince to join him in his plan to rid inequality from the world by evolving everyone into Humans to see who could overcome their anxieties and come together as one tribe united. But Will denied him and Louis retreated one final time and told him to fight him inside the space he created on the day before The Day of The Hero. On this day, Louis would have an extensive battle with The Prince and his party but even with his insane power and magic ability, he would fall just short of his goal. And Will unlocked his strongest Archetype, The King and finally struck him down for good.

Skill & Experience


In terms of combat experience, Louis has a surprising amount of it. He joined the Euchronian military forces as just a child, and was so skilled that he rose through the ranks incredibly fast. And by the time he was just 18 he was so skilled that he was considered an elite warrior and practically an archmage. On top of that he's even more skilled when it comes to battle tactics he was also considered a master tactician. He's so skilled that when Will challenged him to a duel, he readily accepted a 1v6 fight and was even pressing Will at the end of their duel, despite previously being severely injured. Then when he challenged Will to another duel he was still capable of matching Will and his party despite the numbers disadvantage and Will had gained an additional ally, making this fight a 1v7. He did this again during his final fights with the crew and even used his knowledge of the Royal Magic to give himself an Archetype-like form when he was using the Royal Sceptre.

Equipment

Magic Sword

One of Louis' main weapons is his sword. This thing is practically glowing with magic from the moment he unsheathes it. He can use normal physical damage with it, but can also change the swords affinity to use different elemental magics to target enemy weaknesses. 

Magic Igniter


The massive golden chestpiece Louis wears adorned with a hue of blue is his igniter. In the World of Metaphor, Igniters are almost a necessity to wield magic. And this helps Louis cast most of his spells, though in actuality he doesn't really need it given his study of magic as a member of the Elda Tribe. It does help him blend into society as a Clemar though and sometimes he still does use it to cast magic spells that don't have the physical element.

Royal Sceptre

The Royal Sceptre is by far the most powerful tool that Louis possesses. After infiltrating the Royal Palace and learning the truth of the Royal Magic he took the Sceptre for himself. This is functionally the most powerful Igniter in all of Euchronia and with it, the wielder is capable of performing spells so powerful it might be considered reality warping and bringing forth what the wielder wishes. It also acts as a container for magla, the crystallized anxieties of people which is what magic is casted with. Louis planned to use this tool to bring everyone's anxieties back to the forefront and have them mutate into Humans to see who had the strength to overcome them and unite as one tribe. While he couldn't do that, he did manage to use the Royal Sceptre to give himself an Archetype like state due to his sheer intelligence.

Abilities

Physical Skills

Although he can use his sword for basic attacks, Louis can also use some of his MP to use Skills that would dish out far more power than just a basic attack would. He can seemingly slice space with his signature Spatial Slash, and has a multi-hit attack with Royal Slash. He can also infuse his sword with Elemental Magic to deal out magic physical attacks, like Icy Royal Slash and Gale Spatial Slash and so on. And in his Archdemon (more on that later) form he can use his bladed wings for more Physical skills, he gains access to Physical Pierce damage with Quadwing Pierce. And he gets Strike damage with his Octowing Crush skill.

Light Spells


One of Louis' many magic spells that he can use is the very concept of light and holiness itself. Given that its light based magic it more than likely travels at light speed and his more powerful light skills are capable of instantly killing an enemy if the right circumstances are met.

Dark Spells


Functionally the counterpart to Light skills/spells, Dark skills and spells weaponize the very concepts of darkness and evil. Like its holier counterpart the more powerful Dark skills are capable of instantly killing enemies if the correct circumstances are met.

Wind Skills


Louis can harness the very power of the winds themselves to damage his foes. Louis basically channels the wind into one of his weapons then casts it outward to hit his opponents with those powerful winds.

Elec Skills


Functionally the opposite of Wind Skills, Louis can cast down lightning to zap his foes. And while he uses magic to bring down the thunder, the lightning magic in Metaphor is shown to be natural, meaning it would travel at lightning speeds. An additional effect of Elec Skills is that they have a chance to paralyze an opponent, slowing them down or completely preventing them from moving at all.

Ice Skills


Louis can utilize the cold with his ice magic. This magic is so cold that it's more than likely absolute zero in temperature. It also has an additional effect which is to give his enemies frostbite, which cripples their attack power.

Fire Skills


Louis can also make his enemies feel the burn with his fire spells. He can cast basic small scale fireballs but can basically cast a massive wildfire as well. And just like some of his other magics, his fire skills have an additional effect. If his fire magic lands it has a chance of burning his opponent, which causes damage over time.

Almighty Skills


The ultimate form of magic and damage within Metaphor and the wider MegaTen series as a whole. In Metaphor Almighty magic and physical attacks are unable to be nullified in any form. This includes the lance Drakodios being able to bypass the Kings Magic as its affinity is Almighty, and Almighty skills in general are able to bypass the Hero King's Ring. Which nullifies any damage from any affinities other than Almighty damage. Louis has many Almighty spells he can use, like the ever infamous Megidoloan. He can also gather magla/anxiety and release it in a giant explosion that hits all opponents 8 different times. And he even has another spell that does severe damage while inflicted his opponent with the Anxiety status ailment.

Debuffs


Another use of Louis' magic is the ability to lower the stats of his opponents. He has the skill Royal Coercion which lowers his foes attack and defence by two stages simultaneously. He also has a seemingly more powerful version of this with the skill Debilitate, which lowers his opponents attack, defence and speed all at once. He even ha a skill to get rid of buffs on his opponents with Dekaja as well as remove Debuffs from himself with Dekunda. And while not technically debuff skills, he also possesses both Makarabreak and Tetrabreak. Both of which are capable of removing barriers that repel magical and physical skills and attacks respectively.

Human Transformation Spell


One of Louis ultimate trump cards is this spell. Essentially a corrupted version of his family's healing spell, by overwhelming his targeting with magla which is powered by anxiety, he can turn someone into a Human monster, if they end up giving in to their anxieties. He used this spell constantly in order to kill Humans so he could gain his reputation as a Human Slayer and gain more followers. He also used this spell on Will to ruin his reputation and make the gap between their support almost impossible to surpass. He also gained a more powerful version of the spell when he got The Royal Sceptre and practically almost killed Will with it the second time. 

Resistances

  • Status Ailments: As a boss type enemy in Metaphor, Louis is immune to being inflicted with any traditional status ailments
  • Instant Death/Death Manipulation: Louis is unaffected by instant death spells due to his status as a boss type enemy in Metaphor


Forms

Archdemon Louis Charadrius

After gaining the Royal Sceptre, Louis revealed to Will and his friends that they aren't the only ones capable of wielding the magic of the lost Archetypes. With just a thought Louis used the Royal Sceptre to give himself the Archetype of the Archdemon. This form gives Louis two levitating golden wings separated into four blades that he can combine at will. It also gives him golden and black adornments all over his body as well as a pair of real horns. While in this state Louis' power increased drastically and he gains significantly more ways to cast magic and more spells to use.

Destroyer Charadrius (Masks)


After ironically becoming overwhelmed with his own anxiety while holding the Royal Sceptre which holds the anxieties of the whole kingdom, Louis ended up turning into a monstrous Human. Louis takes on an appearance akin to Lucifer from the Divine Comedy with three faces but in all black. The face on the left is The Mask of Joy with a blue togue. The face in the middle is the Mask of Ire with a red one, and the face on the right is The Mask of Mirth with a yellow one. Each one of these faces or masks is capable of using physical and magic skills so he can functionally hit multiple times at once.

Destroyer Charadrius (Louis)


After taking a good chunk of damage in his previous form, Louis' own corrupted face emerges from the masks. He also gains an biblically accurate angelic scheme with six wings with multi-colored eyes all over them. Not much changes between this form and his previous one, other than he does gain access to some more powerful versions of his previous magics.

Feats

Overall
  • Was constantly top two in the race for the Throne
  • Killed several Humans (ignore that he created most of those)
  • Rose the through the ranks of the Euchronian military practically effortlessly
  • Became master tactician and archmage at only 18 years old
  • Caused anxiety over the entire Kingdom of Euchronia
  • Coolest villain in any Atlus game I've played

Power


Speed

Durability

Scaling
Will & His Partisans

Louis has been shown to be a match not just for Will but for his entire crew on multiple occasions. He managed to almost win a duel against them despite not being anywhere near full strength due to his previous injury from Drakodios. And a few days later he still put up an impressive fight against them even after gaining Basilio as an ally. Then during their final confrontation he only really lost the initial fight due to the numbers disadvantage since he basically evened the playing field after giving himself an Archetype. So he should scale to feats they can perform.

Weaknesses

Despite his sheerly absurd strengths in combat, Louis isn't completely flawless. He has a habit of making theatrics out of events in order to gain more support, which can sometimes completely backfire on him. And while he claims not to fear death, should his anxieties overwhelm him he would end up mutating into a monstrous Human form. While it does give him some new spells it also makes some magic even more effective against him than it would normally be otherwise.


Edelgard

"People believe that Crests are blessings from the Goddess, that they are necessary to maintain order in Fodlan. But the people are wrong."

In the land of Fodlan there are three distinct sovereign nations that interact with each other due to sharing most of their landmass. There's the Kingdom of Faerghus, The Leicester Alliance, and The Adrestian Empire. In The Adrestian Empire a young heir was born, and her name was Edelgard von Hresvelg. The first few years of Edelgards life was surprisingly pleasant, she would spend her days playing with her father and her mother. And when she was six years old she would meet her lifelong vassal, Hubert. Until one day when she was about nine, she was taken to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus by her uncle who was conspiring a way to get rid of her father. And later on she would meet the prince of Faerghus, Dimitri Alexandre Bladdyid and would quickly become best friends with him.

The two of them spent a lot of time together with Edelgard even teaching Dimitri how to dance during a tender moment. But sadly even her time with Dimitri would come to an end as she and her uncle would return back to the Empire. But before she left Dimitri would gift her a dagger to symbolize their bond and to carve out her own path. And she would keep this dagger and what it meant forever as a prized possession. After returning back to her homeland, the ancient race The Argathans would kidnap Edelgard and her siblings and were forced to undergo torturous experiments. These experiments were so bad that all of Edelgards siblings were either driven insane or died from them, with Edelgard being the only one to survive the experiments and keep her sanity. This resulted in her gaining a second Crest, The Crest of Flames. But as a side effect of the experiments, her hair turned white and her life expectancy decreased drastically. These events would give Edelgard a deep desire to take down the oppressive Crest system of Fodlan by taking on The Church of the goddess Seiros.

Eventually Edelgard would attend The Garreg Mach Monastery in order to finish her education, and bring glory back to her family name. While there she would lead the House of The Black Eagles, which mainly housed students from The Adrestian Empire. And she would also start her fight back against the Church by donning the persona of The Flame Emperor and teaming up with her own private sector of the ones who call themselves Those Who Slither in The Dark. One day she would hire a force of bandits to try and kill as many students of Garreg Mach as possible during one of the schools training exercises. Though this would ultimately fail when a man named Jeralt and their child Byleth joined her, Dimitri who now leads the Blue Lions house and the leader of The Golden Deer House, Claude von Reigenn. After being saved by Byleth, Edelgard would start to gain an interest in them as a potential ally, but was still cautious of them. Right after the battle against the bandits, Edelgard along with the other house leaders led Byleth and Jeralt to Garreg Mach, where the matriarch of the school Rhea offered a teaching job to Byleth so they could instruct one of the Houses. And in this timeline Byleth would choose The Black Eagles House, making them Edelgards professor.

As her new professor Byleth would spend a lot of time with Edelgard and her housemates. With the two of them in particular gaining a very close relationship, though Edelgard still remained cautious of them due to her being The Flame Emperor. One day she would suggest that five years after they graduate from Garreg Mach, that her and other students should hold a reunion party during the monastery's reunion festival. Soon after the festival she convinces her dad to abdicate the throne of the Adrestian Empire so she could become its new ruler. And she even invites Byleth to witness her coronation, and she officially becomes the emperor of The Adrestian Empire. With her new status and power she would order her forces to raid The Holy Tomb of Seiros as she learned it housed valuable Crest Stones. But it also happened that one of the mission her house and professor were assigned was to defend The Holy Tomb as Rhea had learned that an attack on it was being planned. So it worked out even better for Edelgard as her hired help arrived and she told her house of her identity as The Flame Emperor and told them to stand down while she raided the tomb. 

After these events Edelgard and Byleth would have a conversation about either joining forces or becoming enemies, as Rhea order Edelgard's death due to her being a threat to Fodlan. And in this timeline, Byleth chooses to protect Edelgard, and the two of them declare war on The Church of Seiros in order to end the Crest System put in place by them. And she would even be joined by her former housemates and she would place them in her her army as the Black Eagle Strike Force. Edelgards first true war battle would be an attack on the Monastary in order to try and end the war as quickly as possible. And while it went well at first, once Rhea assumed her dragon form she was able to swiftly defeat Byleth and consume them, with everyone thinking their professor was dead. After this, the war would still continue for five more years, with Byleth escaping from their prison realm and reuniting with Edelgard and their other students on what would have been Garreg Machs Millenium Festival. And with Byleth back, Edelgard was easily able to defeat Claude and conquer the Leicester alliance, as well as taking down her former friend Dimitri as he had gone insane due to Edelgards actions and in her eyes mercy killed him.

This left one target in order to fully unify Fodlan in her eyes that she would have to kill. This was the Archbishop of the Church, Rhea herself. So Edelgard would take her forces and march on the Church and ask them to surrender. When they didn't answer Hubert prompted Edelgard to declare an attack on the Church to finally end this war. So Edelgard does just that, with Byleth on her side she was able to defeat the entire church's army, with only Rhea herself standing in her way. And to make matters worse, she would assume her dragon form once again. But with her new Crest Weapon Aymr, and with Byleth and her strike force, Edelgard was able to kill Rhea once and for all. After Rhea's defeat, Edelgard assumed the role of Fodlans supreme ruler due to it being under her countries control. And she would lead a more silent war against her former allies, Those Who Slither in the Dark and was successful in that endeavor, as well as disassembling the Crest System. Though if a different path was chosen, Edelgard's story will always end in her death.

Skill & Experience


In terms of combat experience, Edelgard has quite a lot of it. She started training as only a child and would continue her training upon becoming a student at the Officers Academy. Under Byleth's tutelage Edelgard is capable of mastering virtually any weapon with enough time and effort, as well as capable of learning some magic. And in other routes she's more than a match for crossing swords with Byleth, Rhea, Dimitri and Claude. She's also capable of combating Shez in Three Hopes as well. And two of those combatants, Byleth and Shez have the power of gods using them as vessels, along with Rhea herself being a god that Edelgard is capable of killing alongside Byleth.

Equipment

Aymr

Aymr is Edelgard's signature weapon that she receives as a "gift" by Those Who Slither in The Dark. It's an artificial Heroes Relic, made up of Agarthan technology and synthetic Crest Stones. But as a replication of a Heroes Relic, if someone without a Crest uses it, it causes damage to them and they even risk turning into monsters. But luckily for Edelgard, she possesses two Crests and can use it without issue.

Other Weapons


As I've previously stated, Edelgard is capable of mastering all sorts of weapons under Byleth's instruction. While her preferred combat weapon is axes, she can use way more. She can use lances to deal with sword users, swords to deal with opposing axe users and her staple axes help her deal with lances easier. She can also use bows to shoot enemies from a distance and gauntlets if she ever wants to get in close and fight hand to hand.


Armor

After the timeskip, Edelgard received crimson red armor as well as a shield to help defend herself better. Her armor is formed like a dress and is durable enough to take hits from powerful weapons and magic without any visible signs of it breaking.

Abilities

Minor Crest of Seiros

The Crest Edelgard received due to her bloodline as part of the House Hresvelg. Crests are essentially magic abilities passed down through noble blood and are said to be blessings of the goddess. It gives the bearers of them special powers and the ability to wield Heroes Relics and Crest Weapons without issue. Edelgard possesses quite a strong one with her Minor Crest of Seiros which gives her increased strength whenever she uses combat arts.

Crest of Flames


After being experimented on and practically tortured, Edelgard developed an artificial version of the Crest of Flames. Which is the very Crest that the goddess Sothis possesed. With this Crest, she can restore up to 30% of her health compared to the damage she deals out to her enemies, and can completely stop counterattacks. It also can increases the strength of her weapons on occasion.

Three Hopes Abilities


In Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, each fighter gains their own unique abilities that only they can learn regardless of class. Edelgard possesses an action, support and tactician type Personal Ability. Her support ability is Emperor's Prestige, which causes guarding enemies to still take 80% of her attacks original damage. Her tactician ability is Ambition which lets her reduce the damage she would take from her enemies in half. And she has a pretty cool action ability but I'm going to go over that in more detail with the next section.

Solar Prominence


Set your heart ablaze! Wait wrong series. This is the third personal ability Edelgard possesses and is her action ability. She can basically become a one person wildfire with it. Edelgard can rain down fire upon her enemies and can even imbue her attacks with it to dish out even more powerful versions of her attacks. She even has an ultimate move which hits all her enemies with powerful slashes imbued with fire.

Magic


Given that Edelgard can imbue her weapons and attacks with fire, it should come as no surprise that she can learn a decent chunk of magic. Given enough tutelage, she can even practically master the mystic arts, although she can't learn every spell. The spells that Edelgard can learn are...
  • Heal: Does what it says on the tin, it heals people
  • Noseferatu: It drains the opponents life force to heal its caster up to 50% of the damage dealt
  • Recover: Which is essentially an enhanced and more powerful version of Heal
  • Seraphim: A blast of holy magic that is especially effective against monster type enemies
  • Fire: Edelgard shoots out a fireball at her enemy
  • Bolganone: A seemingly more advanced version of Fire, Edelgard opens a small fissure in the ground and causes it to erupt
  • Luna Λ: A powerful magic spell that negates enemy resistances and can heal Edelgard depending on the spells damage output
  • Hades Ω: The most powerful spell that Edelgard can learn, she surrounds her enemies in a vortex of dark magic before sending them to meet Hades.


Combat Arts


Combat Arts are powerful attacks that Edelgard can use depending on her equipped weapon and class. Though she can learn practically all of them in both Three Houses and Three Hopes, I mainly want to focus on her two exclusive combat arts.
  • Flickering Flower: Edelgard hits her enemies so hard that she breaks their guard before launching her axe at the ground to prevent them from moving.
  • Raging Storm: Edelgard conjures up a massive whirlwind of fire and launches it straight ahead to hit a massive amount of enemies



Resistances

Forms

Awakened State


In Three Hopes each character was given a sort of Awakened State that they can achieve after filling up a meter by dishing out continuous damage. And as a character in Three Hopes, Edelgard herself also possesses this ability. In this state, her body glows blue and her strength, speed and durability skyrocket. Although this form/state is powerful, it only lasts for about a minute before she reverts back to base.

Hegemon Husk


During the Azure Moon route of Three Houses, Edelgard's desperation led her to use the power of both of her crests to transform into this Demonic Beast like monster. In this state she gains the ability to use the full unrestricted power of both her Crests at the same time. Although this form is powerful, it does come at the risk of permanantly transforming her into a Crest Beast if she's not careful. It's also shown that Edelgard can be involuntarily transformed into this form as during the Azure Gleam route of Three Hopes, Thales used a Crest Stone to transform her into the Hegemon Husk.

Feats

Overall
  • Defeated Dimitri, Claude, and Rhea
  • Waged war on the Church of Seiros and Those Who Slither in The Dark and won both
  • Became one of the youngest Emperors of Adrestia
  • Won the Battle of Eagle and Lion in the Crimson Flower/Silver Snow routes
  • Is hot, especially in Three Hopes

Power


Speed

Durability

Scaling
Officers Academy Students

Given that she's one of the students of the Officers Academy it's pretty easy to assume that Edelgard should scale to any feats performed by other students. But it's not just her status as a student but also one of the three house leaders, which would put her above all the other students in her House. She's also capable of fighting and defeating them in her route.


Rhea

At the end of the Crimson Flower route, Edelgard with some help from Byleth was able to kill a full powered Rhea who had assumed her dragon form. This is important because in the Sliver Snow and Verdant Wind routes, she was able to survive getting blasted with several javelins of light. So Edelgard should scale above them in power output.


Byleth/Sothis

Edelgard has shown showings of being somewhat on par with her professor in combat. During Silver Snow, the two had a brief scuffle which resulted in a standstill. And while Byleth does ultimately kill her in both Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, she was still able to put up a decent fight. And this was a Byleth after fusing with Sothis and receiving her full power. Not to mention that in order to kill Rhea, Byleth needed Edelgard's help. And in Three Hopes during Scarlet Blaze, Edelgard could fight alongside Shez, who is capable of fighting and even killing Byleth while Sothis was in full control and using her full power. So while she might not scale to the full extent of Byleth and Sothis' power, she should still be comparable.

Weaknesses


Even with all of her impressive strengths, Edelgard does possess her fair share of weaknesses. She is incredibly prideful to the point of basically dooming herself to her own death in every route other than Crimson Flower. Even after being defeated and talked down like against Dimitri where she provoked him to kill her by throwing her old dagger into his shoulder. And in the Verdant wind and Silver Snow routes she basically begs Byleth to kill her after being defeated. It's also possible to forcibly transform her into her Hegemon Husk form, which itself comes with massive risks.


Before My Verdict

Addressing The Weapon Statements in Metaphor

As you can tell if you've actually read the blog this far, I've given scaling to both Will and Louis using the weapon statements the game has. Now from the lurking I like to do on the internet I've seen some people say that they're just flavor text with nothing to back it up. However, I disagree with that notion as evidenced by More being able to conjure up a space with his magic that has several stars in it. And like I've said previously, the characters Archetypes are still capable of dishing out significantly more damage than those powerful weapons so I believe the scaling still tracks. It's cool if you don't agree with using these statements though, this whole subject matter is all subjective at the end of the day. Just don't be a dick about it.

Rhea's Hoarfrost


From the research I've done into this game it seems pretty divisive that Rhea's Hoarfrost attack that the characters can dodge uses actual light. The main reason I've seen on places, mainly G1's blogs is that the ground is seemingly impacted by the attack. I disagree though as when Rhea prepares to use the attack the clouds are parted by the sun, so what I believe is happening is that Rhea is using her magic to make the beams of light actually do damage. You're free to disagree however, this is mainly just all assumption.

My Verdict


Strength
First up, let's talk power output. Comparing their best feats they themselves have performed, Louis using the Royal Sceptre to create the Tyrant's Star is more than likely around 87 Megatons. Though if you wanna be really charitable you could argue it's Star Level based on the name and the achievement/trophy you get from defeating Starshatterer Louis. Compared to Edelgard being able to kill Rhea with Byleth's help. And while this doesn't have a number to it, we do know that she and Byleth would have to be hitting harder than a javelin of light to kill her, given that she was able to survive getting hit with two of them. And the highest end I've seen for the javelins is about 11 Gigatons. Significantly stronger than Louis' feat at its safest end and the one I personally buy more. 

But that's not quite where this story ends, both Louis and Edelgard can scale to some pretty impressive feats from other people that they're on the same level as. Louis can scale to Will and his crew, who can copy Moses' parting of the Red Sea coming out to 5.77 Gigatons. Impressive but still only about half of what Edelgard can dish out. But Louis is also capable of tanking hits from the "Spatial Killing Technique" as well as weapons like the Astral Saint Fists, which have been directly stated to crush stars. And while Edelgard does have an impressive feat to scale to with Sothis' flood, coming in at maximum of 25 Exatons. It still pales in comparison to the power Louis can get hit with and manage to survive. So Louis should take strength by a country mile.

Speed

Next up how their speed compares. And hilariously we have a sort of similar result to how their power comparisons work out. At first they would seem even due to both being able to dodge lightning. But they can get even higher with being able to dodge some form of light. Louis can possibly get up to 42% of the speed of light with being able to dodge The Ultimate Energy Ray Synthesis Skill. And Edelgard compares to the whole cast being able to dodge Rhea's Hoarfrost at 3.9 times faster than light itself. Though you could argue that The Ultimate Energy Ray isn't lightspeed for some reason, even though the Japanese raws directly state it uses light waves. But even if you do or don't use that Edelgard would still come out with the speed advantage. Whether that be a massive advantage or not is up in the air, but she should still be faster regardless


Abilities
Now for the final and most important part of this debate based on the previous two categories/questions. Is how their abilities play off each other and who can use them to get a win. For the most part, their abilities are practically even. Edelgard can use a bunch of her weapons combat arts to get the one up on Louis who only uses a sword in base form, but Louis can channel magic into his blade in order to change its affinities. On top of that while Edelgard does have some cool options with her magic spells, Louis has more magic to use, and is more than likely way better at it considering he's considered an archmage. Edelgard could also increase her stats with her Awakened State, but Louis could also match it with his Archdemon form. And while Louis' Human Spell would normally be a wincon, in this situation it would more than likely be a detriment given that its shown Hegemon Husk can be triggered unintentionally, and that form drastically increases her power. Though Louis could also turn himself into a Human to match that. 

There's also the fact that neither of them can be inflicted with status ailments, nor do instakill attacks work on them. Edelgard also can't be debuffed so one of Louis' more impressive options wouldn't work. Edelgard also has access to Nullify Magic in Three Hopes, which basically stonewalls almost all of Louis' options. Though he does have his ace up his sleeve with his Almighty magic. Given that Almighty Magic is capable of bypassing both the King's Magic and The Hero King's Ring, it should be able to pierce through her defenses with Nullify Magic. And even if that wasn't the case Louis does have his fair share of Physical Skills he could use, and given the strength difference that would be enough to net him the win. So Louis should take the ever so slight edge in their abilities.

Conclusion

Louis

Advantages:
  • Significantly stronger and more durable
  • More versatile with magic
  • Better at using magic
  • Can change his blade's affinities to counter Edelgard's weapon versatilty
  • Can counter Awakened State with the Archdemon Louis Charadrius
  • Can counter Hegemon Husk with his Human forms
  • Almighty magic and Physical Skills can bypass Nullify Magic 
Disadvantages:
  • Slower than Edelgard
  • Less skilled in weapons
  • Not as versatile with his weapons
  • Human Spell would enhance his opponent
  • Nullify Magic is hard to get around


Edelgard

Advantages:
  • Faster than Louis by either a close or wide margin
  • Is more skilled in weapons 
  • Is more versatile with her weapon choices
  • Human Spell would make her stronger and turn her into the Hegemon Husk most likely
  • Nullify Magic passive completely stonewalls most of Louis' attacks even with the power difference...
Disadvantages:
  • Significantly weaker and less durable
  • Has less versatility with her magic/spells
  • Isn't as skilled at magic
  • Affinity changes could theoretically counter weapon swapping
  • Awakened State could be countered by the longer lasting Archdemon form
  • Hegemon Husk could be countered by Louis' Human Forms
  • ...Almighty magic and Physical Skills could still get around that issue

This was a really fun matchup to research and honestly the most fun I've had working on one of these blogs probably since either Will VS Maelle or Dan VS Gingka. Back on topic, this is a pretty damn debatable matchup, with both Louis and Edelgard having slight and significant advantages over the other one. But personally due to his strength, magic and the Almighty, Louis Guiabern should take the win more times than not.














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