Sylvain

Sylvain was born as the son of Margrave Matthias of House Gautier in the Imperial Year 1160 through his second wife. He had one older half-brother, Miklan, though Sylvain had a contentious relationship with him as Miklan was born Crestless while Sylvain was the one to inherit the Crest of Gautier. Feeling deprived of his birthright and outright ignored by their father in favor of Sylvain, Miklan had attempted numerous times to murder Sylvain, only to fail each time and eventually resulting in his banishment. Despite Miklan's aggressiveness towards him, Sylvain understood why his brother loathed him.

As future heir to House Gautier, Sylvain grew up with his fellow future Faerghus heirs and childhood friends Dimitri, Felix, and Ingrid. Academy Phase

Sylvain enrolls in Garreg Mach Monastery Officers Academy in Imperial Year 1180, and joins the Blue Lions.

During the Verdant Rain Moon of 1180, Byleth's class is tasked with subduing a bandit group led by Sylvain's older brother Miklan, whom had stolen House Gautier's Hero's Relic, the Lance of Ruin. If Sylvain is being taught by Byleth, he can be among the forces confronting his brother. Should the two meet in battle, Miklan expresses his lifelong contempt for Sylvain inheriting the Crest of Gautier. Sylvain retorts that it was never his fault that he inherited the Crest nor that their family effectively disowned him. He is horrified when his brother transforms into a Demonic Beast, but with the assistance of Byleth and his classmates, his brother is defeated. While he somewhat laments his fallen brother's death, he reclaims the Lance of Ruin. Back at the monastery, the Lance is given to Rhea in order to return to House Gautier.

Alternatively, Byleth can refuse to give it to her as Sylvain has received permission by his father, Margrave Gautier, to keep the lance as its rightful wielder. Rhea bequeaths the lance to him under the condition that he uses it wisely in service to the Church and Monastery. Caring for his friends, Sylvain is respected by his classmates as a sort of older brother figure for many. However, he has a more notorious reputation as a perpetual skirt-chaser and often attempts to woo women with sweet words to a fault, with the most notable example including Ingrid's grandmother when he was only eight. He has a casual approach to his flirting, often setting up dates with women, but has never had any true commitment to any of them. Because of this, he can be rather insensitive when breaking things off with them, which causes unintentional harm and even admits to Ingrid that the truth hurts. This builds up unintentional notoriety on himself, such as Flayn avoiding him for that exact reason, even though he wanted to pass her a message from Byleth.

Sylvain holds a strong level of disdain for the way Crests influence the lives of those in Fódlan, with a bulk of his dialogue throughout the story focusing on their negative impact, and showing sympathy and envy in his supports with Mercedes and Byleth respectively. His primary source of this disdain stems from his own familial problems with his older Crestless brother Miklan, who was so embittered that Sylvain inherited the family Crest that he tried to kill Sylvain multiple times in their childhood, forcing their father to exile him. While he pities his brother, even stating that his unfortunate demise was well-deserved, Sylvain ponders if he would have been the same way had their roles been reversed. Likewise, Sylvain has some dislike of some noblewomen who see him nothing more than a political or societal prop for their families. However, Sylvain admits that this is an easy excuse to Byleth and knows he cannot blame all of his problems on his Crest.

As the game progresses, Sylvain decides to make a change for himself by being who he is, and not what his Crest dictates him to be. Due to his philandering, his proposals are often met with skepticism, which in turn prompts him to provide proof that he intends to turn a new leaf. In his married endings, Sylvain treats all of his children with equal respect, regardless if they bear Crests or not.

Despite his casual, easy-going behavior, Sylvain's actually quite intelligent, being shown to easily grasp complicated magic formulas at a glance when magic is not even one of his areas of expertise, which is referenced in his budding talent of Reason. In his supports with Annette, it is seen that he intentionally leads people to think he is not very smart because he dislikes the pressure of people's expectations and them believing they know what he is capable of, saying he finds it suffocating. In his supports with Dedue, Sylvain explains his suspicions behind the Tragedy of Duscur, as Duscur and Faerghus had enjoyed good relations up until that point and the fact that the king's elite guard was effortlessly slaughtered, a feat not plausible for a smaller, less skilled military. Sylvain is similar to Ferdinand and Leonie in that he is a well-rounded physical fighter who does his best in cavalry roles. They each have similar growth rates, though Sylvain has better Magic growth and a budding talent in Reason, along with a better spell list. These come at a slight cost of Luck and Dexterity. Sylvain also has a Crest of Gautier, improving his Mt when using Combat Arts. This allows him to deal impressive bonus damage, especially when used with the Swift Strikes Combat Art. It also allows him to use the full power of the Lance of Ruin by using the exclusive Combat Art Ruined Sky, which deals massive damage to Dragons and Fliers.

Given Sylvain's unique budding talent and middling Magic growth, he can be a decent Dark Knight, but he won't deal magic damage that can compete with dedicated mages. Additionally, going as a Dark Knight means giving up Lancefaire, which can hinder his physical damage. He can, however, take physical hits much better than other options such as Lysithea and Annette, and his strengths in Lances and Riding make it much easier for him to train for the class than his competition. If training him to be a Dark Knight, it is advised for him to temporarily be classed as a Mage to get access to Fiendish Blow to offset his lower Magic. Great Knight makes for a viable alternative thanks to Sylvain's strength in Axes and Lances, though it will require setting Heavy Armor as one of his goals, and will come at a significant cost in Speed. In any event, Paladin is often preferred over Great Knight by veterans for Lance-centric combat, while Wyvern Lord or War Master are better for Axe-centric styles.

Sylvain's only skill weakness is in Bows, which isn't a problem for him and should not hinder him from getting to any classes he may want, though it can still be worthwhile to get Archer for Hit +20 due to his average-at-best Dexterity. While the most logical path would be to make him a Cavalier and then Paladin, doing so can result in his Speed being penalized, as both classes will reduce his Speed growth by 10%. If one wishes to make him more of a physical character, making him a Brigand, Wyvern Rider, and Wyvern Lord are all good choices, though he might take a little while to train up his Flying skill. Classing him as a Brigand is advisable in any event, as it gives him Death Blow when mastered.

Another often overlooked advantage that Sylvain has is his large number of Support chains. This makes him a great contributor to Linked Attacks and Gambit Boosts, though his lack of long-range spells does require him to be close to his allies to help them out, and many of his supports max out at a B or B+. As such, it's often more useful for his allies to support him on his own attacks or Gambits.

Overall, Sylvain is a highly flexible character who is valuable to pick up in any playthrough. While his growths may not excel in any one area, his versatility is hard to match, and he can be molded to just about any playstyle the player may want. Humorously, he is the easiest student to recruit for female Byleth as he willingly joins her class once she asks him, making him basically a free character in all routes when playing as female Byleth. Male Byleth will need to meet his requirements otherwise.