Self insertion?
Yeah, in that the character's thoughts mirror my own.
And I think it was interesting how you did all that, the explanation of his religion helped as well but what I believe Ed is is some sort of knight to the rescue-esque guy. You know the ones, it just seems like he thinks of himself in a superior way at points, forever trying to protect and encourage the delicate damsel in distress.
He does, and he's apparently self-aware about it. He's never had a girlfriend like Sofie before, so this is all very new to him. While I believe it's true that women are, broadly speaking, physically weaker than men, it's a mistake to view them as inferior. Rather, women are equal to men, but with a different set of abilities. I don't think it's misogynistic to want to protect women, any more than it's wrong for a soldier to protect an engineer. Just because they have equal value and equal usefulness doesn't mean they're equally good at any given job.
In our characters' case, Sofie is probably stronger in a physical sense. Ed was raised in the peaceful Crescent civilization, and as such has very little experience fighting people. His strength is more in political acumen, from having to navigate the corporate web of interpersonal relationships. Sofie, on the other hand, grew up in Terran civilization, and had to fight for her very existence. She could probably crush Ed like a bug. But from what we've seen of her, sometimes her caution leads her to interpersonal disaster. If she and Ed partnered up, they'd complement each other perfectly. But more importantly, they both have a strong moral compass. Sofie broke down at the thought of hurting Ed. Ed broke down at the thought of hurting Sofie. They both care about treating people right. They have commonality where it counts.
So the problem, I believe, it not that Ed wants to protect Sofie. Wanting to protect people is an admirable thing, and I think it's a shame that our culture denigrates that. The problem is that he doesn't yet trust her as an equal. Sofie doesn't always need his protection, and in fact Ed needs Sofie's protection too. His heart can be just as vulnerable as hers. They should both be devoting themselves to protecting each other. Once they work out how, exactly, they're supposed to do that, they'll begin to shine as partners.
Granted, Ed is a very in depth character but I just haven’t gotten a grasp on who he really is yet. He’s a gentleman like guy right so why did he think those thoughts first? I honestly don’t know if I’m taking everything out of proportion right now but I’d love to get to know the character better is all I’m saying.
The question is less "who is Ed" than it is "who does Ed want to be." He thought those thoughts because he's a normal, red-blooded male. Being touched by a girl you like almost always spawns those thoughts. But Ed does not want to be the sort of man who acts on those thoughts. He wants to be a gentleman, the sort of person Sofie can trust. And a trustworthy gentleman does not sexually flirt with a girl, however much he may want to. You could look at it as a moment of weakness, but I prefer to see it as a display of his strength. Remember, Ed is not your normal fantasy protagonist in that he actually still has both his parents. He had a normal childhood. Both of his parents are good and decent people, and they raised him likewise. He still has dirty, intrusive thoughts, but they don't affect him as much thanks to his upbringing.
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