Darth Wiki / Hetalia Emblem

Hetalia Emblem (or as the wider AU is known, the “Samuraiverse” or “Flagverse”) is a theoretical ROM Hack of Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright; specifically, a three-way Hetalia: Axis Powers x Fire Emblem x World Flags crossover fangame (Hetalia characters, World Flags weapons, abilities and outfits, and Fire Emblem gameplay and story elements) conceptualized by WannabeHistorian604, also known as shonengirl, creator of Alt-talia, with the distinction of being possibly one of the few works WannabeHistorian would ever think of using canon characterizations in.

The story^Note Only as of now, subject to change takes place in a Japanese medieval fantasy Human AU with international elements. The world is kept in balance by eight chosen warriors, known as the Hachi no Dan/八ノ団/Group of Eight (or Nana no Dan/七ノ団/Group of Seven, as Ivan/伊幡, one of the members, went AWOL before the events of the story), who guard an orb each that keeps said world in balance, as well as the key to the Fire Emblem. However, one day, the shrine guardian Herakles/兵蘿暮寸 notices something is amiss; it is this disturbance that leads to the G7 being separated (and possibly the orbs being lost), and 5 of them lost and/or incapacitated. When Kiku/菊 regains consciousness, he has been, to his dismay, weakened (maybe?), but he sets out to make things right before it's too late, by his side the grandson of the legendary warrior Maximus/満久士武須... unfortunately, this also means he's stuck with the least competent member of the G7, and possibly part of the reason why they're in this situation, the lance-wielding, cowardly, but optimistic Feliciano/笙李慈亜乃. However, Feliciano may prove to be a warrior with great potential worthy of his grandfather's name after all...

Together, they set out to build an army and stop the force threatening their peaceful world.

The game (if "canon" route) features only the canon Hetalia cast with some guest stars. It plays much like a typical Fire Emblem game, except that characters aren't grouped into classes and more big macro-classes, and that if requirements are met, characters can unleash flashy combination Special Attacks and/or Limit Breaks, some more than others. There are also minor pre-set support bonus-like boosts applied to certain characters if they are Paired Up with or have alongside them a character they already have some kind of bond with pre-story. It also has has giant maps to compensate for the fact that at the end there is a grand total of 8 Lords (as well as other characters who absolutely cannot die for story reasons). Due to them being based off of their World Flags designs, sadly beast-shifters are not playable in this game (pending), and the types of units available tend to be rather lopsided (most glaringly in the great dearth of mounted units). The game also has a semi-No Hugging, No Kissing policy, a rarity for Fire Emblem and Hetalia, and focuses on platonic relationships with no supports going above A, though to compensate the game also provides D supports.

Tropes Found in Hetalia Emblem (Canon Route) include:

• Aerith and Bob: In a sense. All the characters have their human names written in kanji. The East Asian characters of course have the most natural-looking names (Kiku 菊 (obviously), Yao 耀, Yong-Soo 勇洙, Hương Lien 香蓮), albeit that means all but Kiku’s names have very nonstandard pronunciations in Japanese; the other names can range from rather plausible (Matthew 真朱, Ivan 伊幡, Natallia 奈田莉愛, Basch 芭珠) to... not so much (Erzsebet 英留尓衛部斗, Feliks 歩栄列句守).
  • Kanji aside, the mixture of names from probably every language under the sun can lead to this effect. Probably best demonstrated in the early “Once Upon A Hallowed Night (pt. 2)” gaiden story on the writer’s tumblr, in which a kitsune named Tsunekichi is talking to a tanuki named... Ricky.
• Adaptational Badass: In canon, Italy’s strength had apparently devolved over the years. However, in this game Feliciano proves to be a good unit in his own right when he finally starts racking the stat boosts, and by late game he’s one of the best units in the entire game.
  • Kiku, arguably. In canon, initially at least, he’s often shown to be a bit out of shape. However, here he pretty much has to be hypercompetent so Feli doesn’t get torn to shreds.
  • Also the “child” units (Erika, Peter and Aurel specifically). While they aren’t shown in a fight in canon, the former has no military, Sealand is a micronation, and the latter is 10 years old physically, so it can be assumed that they aren’t much. In this game, however...
  • Roderich as well. He’s pretty useful as a unit, but in canon he was a pretty bad wimp in terms of strength who relied on the rest of his empire (mainly Hungary). His character timeline is even sort of an inversion of canon; in canon he often got himself into fights which Switzerland needed to rescue him from as a child, but in his supports with Basch, it’s stated that Roderich in this canon used to be rather frail and weak, but now is much less reluctant about fighting if it’s necessary, but will still rely on Basch to save him if the going gets rough. (Pending) Then again, his fighting style mostly relies on immobilizing enemy units.
  • Raivis (Latvia), not shown to be much of a combatant in canon, is a Dual Wielding Pintsized Powerhouse. Much like Lucille (another example of this trope though not much of Monaco is seen in canon), due to his dual-wielding he has the potential to become a borderline Game-Breaker if the RNG is in his favor.
• Age Lift: Some characters get their physical ages adjusted a bit. Mostly, they’re aged up a few years. The Hachi No Dan especially tends to get their ages tweaked around.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Sort of. WannabeHistorian has admitted that as much as she is pro-LGBT rights, she doesn't like writing slash or hinting at it. However, unlike Alt-talia, where characters can be shown as Heteronormative Crusaders, the same solution of "simply never shown to be bi or gay" she uses for the non-homophobic countries is used. This has been stated as part of the motivation for the soft No Hugging, No Kissing rule. As a result, Feli and Ludwig's interactions are entirely platonic (and in fact a bit less close than in canon) and neither shows any signs of their feelings going beyond that, Francis flirts only with the female characters (who aren’t Erika), and Berwald and Tino are technically step-brothers and have only platonic interactions. It should also be noted that when Feliks dresses up as a geisha woman and hits on José, and when Feli mistakes Yao for a woman and hits on him in their respective D supports, the one who made the mistake is either awkwardly silent for a few seconds before quietly dropping the topic as Feliks laughs hysterically, notable as when he mistook China for a woman in Alt-talia he treats it as a horrible thing which he frantically prays to God to forgive him for (José), or apologizing frantically, his words implying more that he's sorry that he made a mistake than being disgusted by the fact he flirted with a man (Feli). The writer doesn't try to draw much attention to it and doesn't explicitly say the characters in this canon are straight either, it just isn't addressed, so technically it's still entirely possible that Everyone Is Bi in this canon as well.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Feli gives one to Kiku in the cutscene after the first level as the depth of their situation sinks into Kiku.
  • In their C support, Ivan bends down and lets Erika give him one. And yes, it is adorable.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: While not to the extent of Alt-talia and most of the cast is kept pretty close to canon, there are still changes to some, most often the injection of things mentioned in the World Flags profiles that the writer particularly liked (e.g. Tino finding that he likes pranking the other Nordics), or elements from Alt-talia/real life if innocuous enough and it doesn’t completely contradict pre-existing characterization (e.g. Feliks apparently getting into a Bar Brawl and calling it “fun” and being easily suceptible to reverse psychology, Tolys Never Gets Drunk, Ludwig and Francis being fairly close, Tino having “Sisu” as a unique ability that makes him Take a Level in Badass). Others are more expansions of characters that barely had any originally (e.g. India and Cameroon), or otherwise adding Hidden Depths. Feliciano, however, gets a few noticeable changes; not only isn’t he completely hopeless, but he’s also sort of a Ditzy Genius.
  • Yong-Soo is also changed a bit more than most. The writer basically mainly went off of him being a somewhat egotistical Keet, and didn’t pay much attention to the rest. It also probably helps that Yao and to a somewhat lesser extent Kiku actually appreciates his presence in this canon. This interpretation is probably more accurate for a vision of how Korea might act in more modern strips, as more extreme gags have been toned down in modern strips. The groping Running Gag is referenced as an embarrassing thing he did as a child though.
  • Liechtenstein (here named as “Erika”) is still a formal, young, but cheerful Proper Lady, but not only can she fight in this game, but she actually wants to be able to protect Basch.
  • Francis and Arthur are presented as fairly competent leaders when they’re not butting heads. Francis especially. In fact, all of the G7 are shown to be pretty competent as leaders if they have to be. ...It’s just unfortunate that the world’s fate is in the hands of the only two who aren’t (or at least, Kiku doesn’t have any confidence that he is).
    • Arthur, surprisingly, is shown to be a bit of a Troll and/or somewhat manipulative occasionally (probably a trait exported from Alt-talia), such as in his supports with Feliks. Though it doesn’t show much, and when it does it’s harmless (unlike with his Alt-talia counterpart) and for mild amusement more than anything.
• Animal Motifs: Yao has dragon motifs, inherited from his WF counterpart (PENDING) And it turns out to be extremely apt since he actually is part dragon.
  • Also due to their WF counterparts and some real world context, it just so happens that Yong-Soo and Hương Lien both have tiger motifs, though it’s more apparent with the latter’s design, with the former having “Toranoko” (Tiger Cub, though it’s also a Japanese metaphor for “something really important”) as his Red Baron ^Note That or his stage name? I’m not sure if the brothers would be basically hermits, already have some type of in-universe fame, be regular civilians, etc. and his knives being named “Tiger Fangs”. Naturally, they bond over this in their supports.
  • Feliks has white eagle motifs, though he rides a Pegasus that fuses both the motifs of both it and Poland’s famous winged hussars (Pending).
• Armor-Piercing Attack: The Luna skill works much like it does in FE, ignoring defense and resistance. On paper, it’s a skill exclusive to those with a moon in their flag, but in practice, due to how Eurocentric the Hetalia cast tends to be, it’s basically a Sadik-exclusive skill.
• Apologetic Attacker: Feliciano, Kiku, and Matthew have a critical quote like this in their set of four. Arthur also has one, but it sounds way more sarcastic.
• Ascended Extra: Yong-Soo is not only given a lot of supports, but alongside Yao is actually one of the more major characters outside of the G8, with screentime in cutscenes outside of his introduction and even minor plot relevance. This is quite a lot for a character who barely shows up in the comics anymore, though it’s mainly due to his connection to Yao, and there are more scenes with Yao than with him.
  • Canada wasn’t exactly an “extra”, but he still had a more minor role than the main cast. Here, Matt is as integral a member of the G7 as any other. It’s notable how the G8 is basically exactly the same as the initial main cast in canon, with the only exception of Yao being replaced by Matt.
  • Herakles. Greece was a minor character in Hetalia, but here he's actually somewhat important to the plot.
  • The Sacred Northern Guardians/Nordic Five, probably due to how much World Flags promoted their counterparts of them, were merely side characters in canon, but they're given a lot more prominence in this game. (Pending)
  • From a gameplay standpoint, José, Hương Lien, and Francisco. They are rather minor characters, with Vietnam not even showing up in the anime yet, but they cover very unique niches in the army as a Stone Wall and fire mage respectively; meanwhile, Francisco takes this up to eleven, as Ecuador has only ever appeared in drawings on Hima’s blog and never in an actual comic, but in this game is very valuable not only as a mounted flying unit in a game with very few mounted and flying units, but can wield two weapon types by level 18, is a rare axe-user at that, and is the only one besides Kiku who can use Sol without DLC. Needless to say, they’re extremely valuable as units.
• Author Appeal: Some of the character traits and quirks are things that were never in canon, but aside from those that are World Flags references, they can also be Alt-Talia references. Though the influence of Alt-talia can especially be seen in the supports and relationships, as all of the friendships from there have been ported here, albeit with changes to dynamics due to their different personalities, while these references will likely fly over the heads of audiences not familiar with the Alt-talia concept and the IRL relations due to them blending in with the other new relationship dynamics (e.g. Feli and Herakles, Ludwig and Francis, Matthew and Govert (and Manon to a somewhat lesser extent), Simon and Govert, Feliks and Erzsebet, Sadik and Yong-Soo). Less common but still noticeable are reductions in the closeness of relationships the writer found personally annoying (e.g. Kiku and Herakles, Berwald, Tino, and Peter, the Bad Friends Trio, and most notably Feli and Ludwig).
  • More subtly, gender inverted dynamics, especially that now there’s more leeway for it compared to Alt-talia. Most commonly, a female character wanting to protect a male character.
• BFS: Ion/井穏 (Romania) carries a massive cross-shaped one. It predictably deals quite an amount of damage.
  • The Northern Guardians also have swords which are quite huge, though except for Emil’s they’re not as thick.
  • The Olympian DLC gives Alfred an absolute monster of a BFS, representing the USA being the all-time best performing in the weightlifting category. It deals the most damage out of any weapon, though it takes a big chunk out of his Speed.
• Big Brother Instinct: They might not be blood related, but don't you dare try to hurt Yong-Soo in front of Yao. Just don't. You WILL regret it. He’s basically for all intents and purposes his father as well. Yao also shows some of this towards Kiku as well, if not as strongly.
  • Simon/士門 (Denmark) is generally a lighthearted, goofy guy. However, he takes his responsibility as the leader of the Northern Guardians (who are ritual brothers) very, very seriously.
  • Arthur, when push comes to shove, cares deeply about his family as well. He straight-up says in Alfred’s A support with him that he would willingly take a spear through the heart for any of them. Kyle (Australia) and Bryan (New Zealand) are the most eager to reciprocate this, but the other two don’t hesitate either.
  • Alfred is also shown to be a bit protective of Matt, and Kyle similarly to Bryan.
  • Basch towards Erika (Liechtenstein), of course. However, Basch is a monk. Their supports deal with Basch coming to terms with the fact that she's gotten older and can fight on the frontlines as long as he's there to catch her. Erika, as a result of their arrangement, feels a bit protective of him in battle as well.
  • Female example in Iryna towards her siblings, Ivan in particular; in fact, both the sisters are pretty sensitive about Ivan’s deep psychological problems.
• Big Eater: Alfred. Because of course. In their D support, Francis complains that a whole fifth of what is served at dinner is just for him, and Feli echoes similar complaints in his D support.
  • To a lesser extent, Feliks, apparently, despite his slender appearance. Though he’s more appreciative about what goes into a good meal than Al is.
  • Maria as well. People actually compare her to Alfred.
• Big Little Brother: Yong-Soo is still a good deal taller than Yao. Yao still looks older, but apparently people still sometimes make the mistake thanks to Yao’s feminine voice and features.
  • As they’re ritual brothers as well as possible biological brothers, Berwald. He still towers over Simon and Lukas despite being supposedly younger than them, albeit not by much.
• Bilingual Bonus: In the English version, if the kanji option is turned off, kanji names merely seem like a mildly interesting detail. However, before characters are introduced, e.g. before their recruitment chapter, there will often be a few lines of dialogue from these newbies, their portrait not being shown. But instead of the standard “???” used to obscure names in the official FE games, their kanji names are used. If their speech patterns, which are much more toned down here, don’t give them away, someone who knows Japanese may still be able to guess who is who. In the kanji and Japanese version however, the question marks are used.
  • See also A Dog Named "Dog" below.
• Bittersweet Ending: (PENDING) The bad ending. The world is indeed saved... but Lavino dies. Due to story obligations, by Feli’s own hand. The last that is seen of Feli in this ending is him in tears, ending the story on a really sour note, and according to the ending text he lives with the guilt for the rest of his life.
  • If too many characters die, the ending also gains a bit of a bittersweet tone, with the main characters lamenting how much life had to be lost.
• Butt-Monkey: Kiku, just by virtue of having to babysit Feli and being the informal leader, doesn’t exactly have it easy. Though Feli actually realizes this and tries to cheer him up as well.
  Kiku: Feliciano, May I ask... what are you doing?
  Feli: I thought you needed a pat on the head! Pat, pat!
  • Feli also, in usual Hetalia fashion, isn’t exactly that fortunate either. In his supports, as a small sample, he gets chased by bees, caught in a snare trap, tripped by a twig while training, forced to endure Arthur’s cooking (though apparently this was a bit of a Berserk Button for him, and he gets extremely brutally honest with him (pending)), and caught in the crossfire of one of Hương Lien’s practice drills. Though a lot of these are the result of his own ditziness more than anything.
  • Feliks has the unusual distinction of a good chunk of his supports consisting of him being basically untouchable, almost The Trickster even, always coming out on top... but also, if he isn’t, being almost guaranteed to be this instead if it’s a lighthearted support (e.g. his and Arthur’s D support, where Arthur convinces Feliks to clean the latrines with basic reverse psychology on accident... and he keeps falling for the same trick in the same chain, much to Arthur’s amusement, despite telling himself not to, and in other supports as well). Piłka, from what we see of him though, seems to be a more consistent example, just like in Polandball itself.
  • Feliks’s unfortunate friend Tolys is a more straightforward example, like in canon. Him having No Sense of Humor and basically being an Extreme Doormat initially doesn’t help. Though like Kiku there’s plenty of Throw the Dog a Bone and generally people being nice to him to compensate.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Show of hands: who didn’t see the orbs being keys to the Fire Emblem, if not themselves the Fire Emblem, from a mile away?
• Career-Ending Injury: Gilbert sustained one in his left leg sometime before the beginning of the story; and since this is a world where potions and White Magic can heal injuries instantly, it was likely extremely bad (according to Ludwig, it was the first thing that genuinely horrified him). He's able to walk with a peg for a false leg and a cane, but unlike most characters with such a leg he’s in no condition to fight, something which he’s somewhat bitter about.
• The Chosen Zero: Feliciano. Full stop. Many are baffled as to why this dork was chosen by the powers that be, even his fellow G7 and Herakles who is one of his closest friends. He proves them wrong eventually though.
  • To a lesser extent, Kiku, in a sense. As a fighter, he’s competent, and in fact pretty experienced. It’s just that he’s not much of a leader and he doesn’t have much of a spine either. It’s telling how one of the base conversations early in the game has Yao find Kiku hiding and having a bit of a nervous breakdown because he has no idea what he’s doing (Pending). Looking after Feli and the responsibility on his shoulders forces him to deal with it though, and he starts changing quicker than Feli as a result.
• Chainmail Bikini: Averted for everyone. The World Flags designs are surprisingly not as blatant with the Female Gaze as one might expect, and their outfits are all almost unchanged here, in the battle portraits at least, as some do get more feminine kimono designs in support portraits; however, feminine kimonos are extremely modest-looking by design. Many of the female characters are even drawn seemingly with avoiding unnecessary fanservice in mind (and WannabeHistorian has stated that she wanted to show the female characters having a feminine figure without it being Stripperiffic).
• Chivalrous Pervert: Francis/符蘭志洲. While he may be a flirt, beginning every set of support conversations with female characters (those over 16 anyway) with flirting, but unlike many fanon deptictions (especially in the Japanese fandom) he values consent deeply, as while he might keep at it purely for his amusement for a while, if someone is clearly, very uncomfortable with it, he backs off. He tells Tolys in their A support that what matters the most in a relationship is mutuality, and that while he shouldn't give up, if Natallia doesn't feel anything for him he should respect her wishes. He also doesn’t even think about hitting on 13-year-old Erika, replying in horror with basically “I’m a flirt, not a deviant!” when she notices and asks him why (after which he also gives her a mini-lecture on not falling to the advances of older men), probably a deliberate Take That! to the popular (in Japan)/formerly popular (in the west) perception in Fanon that France is a pedophile (which he sadly was in early comic strips, but it seems to have become Old Shame for Himaurya) and possibly Lolicons in general. He’s also notably quicker to back off with the 17-year-old Michelle.
  • All other flirtatious characters follow this pattern as well. Feli for example might take a while to get it, but if someone rebuffs him enough or is clearly uncomfortable, he very quickly backs off and apologizes.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Poor, poor Kiku. Though before the events of the game, it’s heavily implied that the whole squad was basically this to Feli, along with Alfred also sometimes adding to it, and Ivan when he was still around.
  • Yao towards Yong-Soo as well; though Yong is less prone to getting himself into extremely stupid situations than Feli, he’s not immune from it either. Though apparently it used to be a lot worse. Though occasionally, this dynamic gets turned on its head and Yao gets himself into something stupid and Yong has to be his minder.
• Combat Medic: Matthew can use two types of Maple Arrows, as arrows are treated as items in this game instead of bows; one is the standard damage-dealing arrow, the other can heal. Though to compensate for being able to heal at a distance he’s also terribly squishy.
• Composite Character: Some characters can have so much Alt-talia elements merged into them they basically become this.
• Country Mouse: Feliks, apparently, as mentioned in some supports.
  • Cameroon (name pending) apparently used to be one; specifically, he hails from a very poor village, and he wishes to earn money to support it.
• Crutch Character: Kiku, sort of, seems like this, especially in comparison to Feli; but he’s still very much useful by the end of the game, much like later members of the Jagen archetype. And he’s actually only somewhat stronger than the other characters you will soon recruit, it’s just that Feli is that bad a unit initially.
• Curse of The Ancients: Sometimes, these sorts of insults are thrown in as they’re a Fire Emblem staple, though some use them more than others. The most common being the infamous “dastard”.
• Death from Above: Occasionally you’ll find “Heavy Stones” as items, which if given to a flying unit can basically be used as this. Though even the Sky Knights with the best constitution will only be able to carry about three at the very most, at which point they’ll be weighing you down to the point that your movement range advantage has been seriously hampered, so you have to use them wisely.
• Demonic Spiders: Archers have gotten their range boosted to a whopping five spaces. At minimum. The only solace is that they tend to be fairly fragile and as such can be dispatched with one particularly powerful hit, have somewhat below-average accuracy, and can’t shoot what’s right in front of them. While this also means that your archers become fairly useful, you aren’t exactly swimming in them. They have the potential to be so game-breaking that Hywel wasn’t a Dracoknight for this very reason. This in a game in which flying units, who while more durable than your typical Pegasus Knight aren’t exactly the most durable units either, are very hard to come by; and oh yeah, in an aversion of Annoying Arrows, they can straight-up one-shot or nearly one-shot more delicate units. They can also come out of nowhere as reinforcements. Your flying units can easily fly out of the way on easier difficulties, but on Hard and Lunatic they can be placed in strategic positions that give them, much less your other more squishy units, little space to breathe without getting sniped. Oh, and without a long-range healing spell, don’t even think about sending Basch in, because he won’t last long either. And in at least one map with an archer infestation, you also absolutely have to use them to complete the level. Oh yeah, your main characters from the start are Kiku, a Fragile Speedster who while not the most fragile of Fragile Speedsters will only be able to take three at absolute most for most of the early game if he can’t dodge them, and Feli, who in the early game is generally a bad unit. This means that multiple archers on a map can become the bane of your existence as you try to keep your units alive and counter with Matthew as they pick you off from a distance, and as soon as you get a long-range status effect-inducing staff spell the best option is to always hit the archers with them first whenever possible. Much like real archers, actually. Though Matthew’s tendency to not attract enemies does make things somewhat better, he will get hit eventually if you rely too much on him, and he’s almost guaranteed to die if that happens. (Pending) And then there’s That One Level in which you’re Storming the Castle and are getting shot at by mages (who can also border on Demonic Spiders) and archers... from above castle walls. And you can’t reach them except with flying units, long-range spells, or other archers. and there’s like ten archers in Hard and Lunatic as opposed to the four there are in Normal. Mercifully, the objective is to reach the end tile, so you don’t have to engage any of them, and you’ll likely basically be running through and hoping for the best. And the level after it is a Breather Level in contrast as none of the bastards are indoors.
  • Berserk staves are back in the form of Berserk Stones (as stones embedded in the staves are treated as items, not the staves themselves). And they’re as awful as ever. They still have a huge range and can make a unit attack everything in front of them in an insane, uncontrollable rampage. They don’t appear often, but if you see one you know it’s going to hurt. There’s a reason if guides are turned on the characters treat them as The Dreaded when they first appear. Fortunately, Basch can also use them, so it’s also possible to inflict such destruction on your enemies as well.
• Demoted to Extra: Those who don't have a country in modern day are NPCs out of necessity, most prominently Prussia/Gilbert and Romano/Lavino. They do still play varying roles in the story, however. (PENDING) This turns out to be averted for Lavino after all, since he turns out to be the Big Bad’s Brainwashed And Crazy Dragon. ^{About the others} I’m especially not sure if Gilbert would be a really minor character who is mainly developed via other people’s supports, or have some kind of story role. I’m also not sure if Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau will show up; I initially thought they would, but I kind of find Hong Kong and China or Taiwan and China having a non-toxic relationship to be particularly groanworthy for some reason, but making them a broken family would be explicitly referencing sensitive real world politics which WF doesn’t want. But if they do show up they could be anything from being really minor, maybe NPC units you have to rescue in a certain chapter, to actual story-relevant Manaketes. Though the route I like most is written below

• A really downplayed example in Ludwig. As one of the Hachi No Dan, he’s still a very major character; however, while in canon, when WWII alignments were the most relevant Cast Herds splitting up the main cast, Germany was not only a part of the main Axis Trio (or Axis Stooges as the writer likes to call them), but Japan came off as a bit of a third wheel to the main duo of Italy and Germany, here Ludwig is always grouped in with the rest of the G7, joins past mid-game like the others, and isn’t any more important than the other 4 to the plot, in favor of Kiku taking his place as the most major character next to Feli instead.

• Ditzy Genius: Feli might be air-headed and horrible in fights initially, but he isn't actually stupid. In-story, he has some moments of brilliance, and in supports such as his with Kiku, Francis, Ludwig, Herakles, and Ivan, he's shown to be well-read, able to keep up with complex philosophical concepts, not that bad at math (as it helps in painting), and even surprisingly wise. In B and A supports when a character may be speaking about a difficult part of their past, he's also shown to be rather emotionally mature when dealing with them.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Piłka (ピィルカ), Feliks’s Polandball/pet/sword charm, has a name that is literally just “ball” in Polish.
• Downloadable Content: A lot of characters, with additional support conversations to go with them, and even class changes are obtained this way.
  • The Olympian DLC patches give certain characters class changes based on areas they excel at in the Summer Olympics, the event World Flags was originally promoting: Feliciano’s gives him a rapier-katana hybrid, Alfred’s gives the options of a BFS or a musket, Ludwig’s promotes him into a cavalry unit (a very rare unit type (both info pending)), and Yong-Soo’s makes him an archer; many of them come with ridiculously good skills as well. All of them with the exception of Ludwig’s can only be downloaded pretty late in the game though, due to how Game-Breaker-y they can get.
  • The Latin DLC and Yugo DLC unlock the recruitment chapters for the Latin Hetalia cast (except for Francisco (Ecuador), who is already recruitable in-game) and Yugotalia cast respectively. They also change some of Francisco or Herakles, Nikola (Bulgaria), and Ion’s supports respectively. Notably, these are very much the Latin Hetalia and Yugotalia versions instead of the Alt-talia versions, including the use of Marija over Serije to represent North Macedonia, though there is a patch that can be downloaded with them to change differing cast members and to replace Marija with Serije, who has drastically different supports and stats from his female counterpart. These DLC are also able to be downloaded somewhat earlier than the others. However, the patches at least are restricted to the English version due to their connection to Alt-talia.
  • The Sun’s Blessing DLC nets you Maria (Philippines). She has the distinction of being able to use three weapon types by the time she reaches level 20; swords, fire magic, and muskets, as well as having Sol from straight out of the gate. ^Pending I’m the least sure about Maria; she could potentially be a complete Game-Breaker, and there’s Ecuador who is also likely to get Sol, not to mention the other, more likely DLC characters, and I would have to give her a massive redesign to throw off her connection to Alt-talia... Plus, if I’m going to include her, it might be best to include the whole ASEAN gang, since they have the potential to be the most unique as units.
• Dork Knight: Feli eventually grows into this by the end of the game.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Ludwig, though to somewhat of a lesser extent than in canon. Apparently this is due to Gilbert's influence.
• Empathy Pet: Piłka is basically half this to Feliks, half living Polandball reference, uttering the odd "kurwa!" and Polandball-ism (e.g. calling Sadik “kebab”) every now and again.
• Dual Wielding: Certain characters like Lucille (Monaco), Raivis (Latvia), and Cameroon (name currently undecided) wield two weapons; and unlike in the mainline games where this is often purely aesthetic, in this game these types of units are guaranteed to strike twice in one turn; sort of like a permanent Brave Sword, but in quick succession, so that the enemy has no window to strike between them. Though individual strikes become weaker to compromise, added up this means they can often cause somewhat more damage than a unit with their strength stats otherwise would. Meaning that if one of them doubles an enemy, they get to strike an impressive four times.
• Family of Choice: Yao and Yong-Soo aren’t actually related, but they still treat each other as such; Yao apparently found Yong-Soo as a child, wandering around looking for his actual brother who had disappeared one day without a trace, it having apparently been a year since this happened. Yao decided to be Yong-Soo’s brother instead, and they have been close ever since.
• Forgettable Character: While Hetalia Fanon can tend to play this up with Canada, to the point he’s basically Kellam, here Matthew really downplays it. People often don’t notice him at first, but if he speaks up they do indeed notice, and he’s considered a valuable, integral member of the Hachi No Dan/Nana No Dan, especially due to his unique skills within the group. The rest of the group knows very well that he’s part of them, and usually notices him without fail. He also notes that as he’s an archer, being hard to notice can have its perks. Indeed, enemies are initially more likely to move towards any other unit than him in gameplay, and using him to snipe at enemies from the edges of the map while they’re distracted is a very valid, if risky, strategy; though if the enemy unit doesn’t go down quickly they will definitely notice him, as will other units in close proximity, so it’s generally better to use hit and run tactics if against particularly durable units or units in groups as he isn’t very durable (pending).
• The Gadfly: Ion is quite fond of mischief, whether that be in the form of general trolling or pitfalls in the ground. In supports, he also tries teaching Yong-Soo and Tino how to prank the rest of the army; and in Tino’s case, while he is a bit hesitant at first, he does a little too well (a Mythology Gag to World Flags, where Finland is indeed a serial prankster), much to the apparent dismay of the other Nordics.
  • Feliks as well. In general he plays by his own rules, and really doesn't care about what others say about it.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Generally, if a character is described by another to have a certain trait in battle, their stats will reflect that. There’s also the mechanic of characters with a pre-existing bond getting minor stat boosts around each other even without supports.
• Gender-Blender Name: Erzsebet’s kanji name. In contrast to other female characters, there aren’t any exactly “feminine” characters used, and in fact the last character is often used at the end of male names.
• Gender Is No Object: Just like in FE and Hetalia, gender doesn’t really matter in this universe outside of the little romantic interaction that is shown, though there are still much less women in the army than would be expected of a FE game (which would usually have more of a 50/50 split). This especially shows in the outfits, where the female characters get the same outfits as their WF counterparts with little alteration.
• Glacier Waif: Peter, even if he is no José, has surprisingly good defense stats for a 12-year-old boy, especially compared to other child units like Erika or Aurel who tend to be way more fragile, especially initially. In canon Hetalia, this would be due to the fact that he is literally Made of Iron, but here it's explained by his armor being really good; even then his apparent durability is shown to even perplex his siblings, so it can't be just that. (pending)
• Green-Eyed Monster: (NOTE: PENDING) Lavinio turns out to be The Dragon. Now, he is Brainwashed and Crazy with the influence of the False Orb, but his envy at Feli being chosen over him and being seen as the inheritor of their grandfather’s reputation despite his incompetence was the catalyst that made it possible in the first place.
• Green Thumb: As his World Flags counterpart attacks with long Magic Hair that he obviously doesn’t have, Herakles instead attacks with magic olive branch-like vines that he can control freely and even remotely sprout from the ground.
• The Hero: Both Kiku and Feli share the role; it’s hard to determine which is the protagonist (as much as Alfred says he is this).
• Heroic Lineage: Feli has one, obviously.
• Heroic Resolve: Feliks and Tino’s unique skills invoke this. The former’s, “Phoenix”, not only gives him a Last Chance Hit Point but also immediately triggers a counterattack. And then there’s Tino’s ability, “Sisu”, a Critical Status Buff which doubles his attack, defense, and skill at low health, also giving him a set of extremely stoic proc quotes and fitting portrait to go with it. For the rest of the entire battle. And combined with support bonuses, these skills alone can make these characters ludicrous Game Breakers if they’re lucky with the RNG; particularly Tino, whose stats are otherwise pretty average at best, especially compared to the other Nordics. It helps that the former is a Cloud Cuckoolander and the latter is normally extremely sweet, being mischievous at worst. According to supports, the “Sisu” skill at least was born out of the extremely harsh, cold winters of Tino’s hometown, and his desire to protect those important to him (particularly Berwald and Eduard).
• Hired Guns: Govert (Netherlands, name pending) and Manon (Belgium, name pending) are mercenaries before they’re recruited (Luxembourg (name currently undecided) apparently used to be part of the group until he hit it big elsewhere (Pending)). The former is very adamant about getting paid as well.
  • Basch apparently used to be a mercenary healer for a short while as well (Pending).
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Yong-Soo is this in his D supports with Iryna and Natallia, completely unable to spit out what he wants to say to them because he’s too distracted by the attractive woman in front of him (he does gather himself enough in the former by telling himself that he’d be dealing with women a lot as an idol... only to see that Matt called Iryna and she left a few minutes ago). The subsequent conversations turn into some of the most serious ones he has, however. (Pending) He also shows a bit of blushy nervousness around Hương Lien, though not as much and it wears off quickly.

• In her D support with Michelle (Seychelles), Hương Lien finds said girl staring at the guys undressing. She’s understandably embarrassed by this and tries coming up with excuses that get increasingly worse before admitting that she just happened by it and couldn’t stop looking. Unfortunately for both of them, Francisco’s condor notices them and starts chasing them around as the girls scream in horror. (Pending)

• Horse of a Different Color: The horses that exist in the game are normal horses. It’s the flying mounts where things get interesting; they’re all classified as “Sky Knights”, and while there’s your standard Fire Emblem Pegasi/Kinshi, there’s also quite a few Giant Fliers in the same class.
• Idol Singer: Much like his World Flags counterpart, Yong-Soo wants to be one, or at least the in-universe version of one. However, there’s a bit of a Deconstruction of the trope in play in some of his supports, such as his with Yao, Alfred, and Basch; he apparently tries to force himself to eat less (despite fighting, dancing, and singing constantly and as such it being normal to be a bit hungrier than normal, especially at his age), practices his dance moves to the point of exhaustion and his feet becoming swollen, is insecure about his appearance, and it’s also shown that while he is naturally cheerful, he sometimes feels forced to be like that constantly. Yao doesn’t take this lightly.
• Innocent Fanservice Boy: In Erzsébet and Emil’s D support (or maybe a scripted event if this allows a My Castle sort of thing or a more extensive barracks?), where the two stumble across a hot spring and are discussing the hot springs that are abundant near their homes, Emil offers Erzsébet to come with him, Erzsébet laughing it off thinking it’s a joke... and then he actually starts taking his clothes off. While Emil isn’t shown actually naked, Erzsébet gets very flustered and her portrait blushes like a tomato, much to Emil’s confusion. It’s especially hilarious due to how this isn’t cheerful, carefree Alt-Iceland, but an Emil who acts closer to his melancholy canon self. And he’s dead serious during the whole thing.
  Erzsébet: EEEEEEEEK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
  Emil: What... What are you freaking out about?
  Erzsébet: Don’t... don’t you see what’s the slightest bit weird about this?! I’m a woman, you pervert!
  Emil: It’s not like I’m propositioning you for-
  Erzsébet: STOP!
  Emil: A-alright, alright!
  Erzsébet: ...You do know that you’re a guy, right?
  Emil: ???? ...Of course I do? Why-
  Erzsébet: Never mind, just... just PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON, PLEASE!
• I See Dead People: In canon, Belarus can apparently, for whatever reason, see and communicate with ghosts, but it’s All There in the Manual; here, however, it’s utilized. She forms an Odd Friendship with Ion over their mutual involvement and experience in the paranormal, and in her supports with Yong-Soo, he seeks her out for these abilities, and after initial awkwardness, asks her if his brother is still alive, and if he is dead to be able to speak to his brother and get closure. It turns out that Natallia can’t find his ghost, so he is indeed still alive somewhere.
• Lethal Chef: Unlike his World Flags counterpart but very much like in canon, Arthur/安阿佐 cannot cook whatsoever. And he’s completely oblivious to it (pending). Though to Kiku’s relief, Francisco’s condor apparently likes Arthur’s cooking (though it really doesn’t take much to please an actual vulture) so the food doesn’t completely go to waste whenever Arthur is... “experimenting” again.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Feli remains a ditzy airhead even by the end of the game, if somewhat less so; however, his competence by then isn’t without question.
  • Feliks is an extremely quirky man with a bit of a The Gadfly streak, at times seeming as airheaded as even Feli, who banters and has full conversations with his pet Polandball who is a Speech-Impaired Animal at most; and while his apparent femininity has been toned down, it still shows up at times... and he kind of plays into this with his Tsubame-gaeshi critical hit animation, where he appears to miss after making a bombastic Pre-Mortem One-Liner, only to slash them from underneath. ^Pending While the fact that WF!Poland is a master of the Tsubame-Gaeshi is just plain cool, I also think it was a total wasted opportunity to basically make him a Samurai Hussar. While that’s not possible now due to WF!Poland’s lack of armor, I’m considering the option of making him a horseback unit like Erzsébet, if not a Pegasus-mounted Sky Knight, which would not only reference the Winged Hussars, but the Polish 303 Squadron as well. Oh yeah, did we mention that his Crit rate is almost absurdly high? He also has the exclusive skill Phoenix, which not only can prevent him from getting One-Hit KO’d, but enables him to strike back in retaliation. And when these are activated, they are accompanied by (while not to the extent of Commonwealth Poland) some very confident one-liners and a fitting Super Move Portrait Attack to rub salt on the wound. It’s telling that after the Bar Brawl mentioned in his and Tolys’s D support, he came out of it with barely any injuries.
• Literal-Minded: In their D support, Francis tells Tolys that “love is an ambush”. Tolys proceeds to jump out at Natallia in a wolf mask. It doesn’t go well.
• Limit Break: A new mechanic for this game. Once certain requirements are met, characters can collectively unleash an attack like this or a Special Attack, activated in a similar manner as a Triangle Attack.
• The Load: Feliciano is this initially; he can be a real pain to level up, as while defense is his best stat initially he’s likely to die anyway if left alone for too long due to his initially measly attack and mediocre speed. This makes the first chapter after the A Taste of Power chapter harder than it has any right to be (not to mention that Kiku can’t take too much damage either, as he’s more leaning on a Fragile Speedster). In supports, it’s shown that he does at times think of himself as this as well.
• Magical Accessory: The orbs the G8 all have are apparently this; Feli has his on his shoulder armor, Kiku has his hanging from a dagger on his obi (which he never actually uses), Alfred’s is on his sash, Arthur has his as one of the gems on his big Bling of War necklace, Francis’s is hanging from his shoulder, Ludwig’s is on his armband, Matthew’s is hanging from his obi, and Ivan’s is on the left side of the top of his kimono. It turns out that they can channel the power of the gods through it to trigger their 11th-Hour Superpower.
• Magikarp Power: Erika, Aurel (Moldova), Peter (though Peter actually starts with pretty decent defense for a child unit (pending)), Serije, and even Feliciano himself are really good examples of this trope. Feliciano especially starts out as a borderline Joke Character with his only even decent stat being Defense and to an extent Luck which Kiku has to basically babysit, but unlike in canon by the end of the game he becomes a potent Lightning Bruiser. It takes a while for him to warm up though, so good luck.
• Massively Numbered Siblings: As the Core Anglosphere members are all siblings in this series due to the issue of their age and the aforementioned closeness to canon, Arthur has seven brothers (two stepbrothers, five blood related); from oldest to youngest, Arthur, Alasdair (Scotland), Hywel (Wales), Alfred, Matthew, Kyle (Australia, name pending), Brian (New Zealand, name pending), and Peter; Arthur, Alfred, and Matthew of course also being Hachi no Dan members, but all of them badass in their own right. This is noted by quite a few characters, though probably due to the low-tech setting they don't take it to be as shocking as modern people would. They're also written like this, their unique personalities both clashing and harmonizing as they interact. (pending: Al may have left the estate for whatever reason)
• Modest Royalty: Or nobility, rather. Arthur and his siblings are all from a prominent noble family, and while Arthur plays Bling of War straight, his outfit invoking the Order of the Garter in the necklace especially, on the other end there's Kyle, who has one of the more simple outfits in the game, with even the World Flags' profile describing it as "Simple is best!". (pending; I'm considering them being royalty as well. I at least know they're some kind of nobility).
• Not Blood Siblings: Averted. Berwald and Tino are basically stepbrothers in this canon, as when someone becomes part of the Northern Guardians they’re considered ritual family, but their relationship doesn’t carry over from canon and is strictly platonic in-universe.
  • Yong-Soo also doesn’t have any feelings for Yao here outside of familial love, even though it’s made very clear they aren’t related.
• No Sense of Humor: Ludwig, as in canon, doesn’t have much of one outside of the occasional snarky comment. His supports from D to B with Ion are basically Ion trying to make Ludwig laugh with no success. Until Ion accidentally steps on a makeshift whoopee cushion Tino left lying around... and Ludwig actually snickers a bit. He immediately denies it, but indeed, it appears that Ludwig’s sense of humor exists, it’s just surprisingly immature.
  • Tolys, just like in canon as well. This makes him a favorite target of Ion, and Tino also says that it’s very hard to resist not pranking him more often either. He’s also obviously a common target for Feliks’ trolling and general quirkiness.
    Feliks: Sigh... You’re boring, Tolys.
    Tolys: Boring?! We’re in a war! Why the hell would I want to put myself at risk even more?!
• No Export for You: Averted. Unlike the writer’s other Hetalia-related works, she has considered this one safe to be translated into Japanese.
  • Played straight for certain DLC characters though.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: As mentioned many times before. There are some exceptions, but they’re very rare. There’s even a bit of audience teasing with things like Michelle mentioning her her island sends young volunteers to the mainland to search for marriage partners as a counter against inbreeding (though, to be fair, she does say that she isn’t one of them, but part of another tradition where people are sent out to explore the world to bring them up to speed every 20 years), only for nothing to come of it.
• Odd Couple: The main duo; the disorganized Cloudcuckoo Lander Feli and more by-the-book Kiku. They’re also a pretty unlikely combination meta-wise as well, as when Italy and Japan are depicted together in canon it’s usually in the context of the Axis trio, and in real life their relations aren’t anything special either so in Alt-talia they aren’t exactly close. They’re the leading duo for reasons basically independent from each other; Feli because he is the (at least initial) main character of the comics and was in need of the most character development out of the G7 if he were to work in the story, and Kiku because of the Wutai setting and WF was originally a promotion for the Olympics in Tokyo.
• Odd Friendship: Some of the holdovers from Alt-talia may turn into this due to the difference in characterization; though it isn’t as if this is uncommon in Alt-talia either, and there are also many supports which lead to these:
  • Somewhat hyperactive, flashy, and happy-go-lucky Simon and gruff, stone-faced, no-nonsense Govert become very close by their B support. While in Alt-talia their friendship is born out of them having very similar interests and values (Denmark basically being like the Netherlands but less brash and loud-mouthed from the word go), here the thing that sparks their friendship is their Big Brother Instincts, and from there they find that they’re surprisingly similar.
  • Another one involving Govert; Matthew, just like in Alt-talia. Matthew still is somewhat shy, though it doesn’t affect him as much as it does Kiku, and polite, preferring to think about what he’s going to say instead of the lack of filter Govert seems to have.
• Quirky Bard: Yong-Soo is the Dancer of this game, i.e. he can give any unit in close proximity another turn; also, try to make sure he doesn't die (though in his case he merely retreats), because he's the only one you're getting (pending). Though much like dancers post-Awakening, he can indeed attack, and combined with Yao he can unleash some powerful Special Attacks. He also has the “Scout” skill, which makes Fog of War somewhat more manageable.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Feliks and Erzsebet are this, like in Alt-talia. Though unlike in Alt-talia, there’s less a sense that their relationship may be more than platonic.
  • Francis and Lucille could be said to have this kind of relationship in the end; their relationship seems to be the most straightforward S support set-up ever, and in another game they probably would become a couple, but due to the No Hugging, No Kissing rule they remain this instead. Though that doesn’t stop him from flirting with her every morning.
• Posthumous Character: Maximus (Ancient Rome). He’s never seen, just talked about as a legendary warrior whose name is known across the land.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Just like in the main Fire Emblem series post-Awakening, everyone has one of these to say before landing a critical hit or skill, as well as unique ones when activating a combination Limit Break or Special Attack. While they don’t necessarily mean One-Hit Kill (especially if used on a major boss at full health), they usually do. Feliciano and Kiku’s quotes also have the distinction of evolving as the game goes on.
• Race Lift: Sort of. Michelle looks noticeably darker and is drawn with more coarse-looking hair, while Sadik looks a bit lighter than usual. Their race isn’t exactly changed, but they’re drawn to resemble it more.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The main duo itself; optimistic, openly emotional, energetic, carefree Feliciano (Red) and pessimistic, stoic, polite, worry-prone Kiku (Blue).
• Retired Badass: While younger than most examples (though still a bit more aged than his canon counterpart, with his age given as 29, coincidentally around the same physical age he was in Alt-talia when raising Germany), Gilbert used to be a fierce fighter before the events of the story, until he badly injured his leg at 23. He apparently often laments how he can't fight anymore.
• Sarashi: Implied to be worn by everyone into battle, and some outfits like Manon’s (pending) show it prominently. Also, apparently, to Kiku’s bafflement, Feli doesn’t even know how to use one right and he has to teach him.
  • The female characters tend to have flatter chests thanks to this in their battle portraits and models (as such even Iryna seems to have a B cup at most), though many apparently take them off or at least loosen them when outside battle as their support portraits show their chests at their full size.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Ivan unfortunately loses his (pending). However, Manon (?) wears a scarf like her WF counterpart, Lucille has a really impressive one, and Roderich wears the headscarf his WF counterpart wore around his head around his neck instead, obscuring his counterpart’s choker, as this fits his character better. His is not particularly long however, looking more like a bandanna, Manon’s isn’t that long either, and Lucille wraps most of the extra length around her neck in battle so it obscures her mouth a litte. Govert also still wears one, though unlike in canon, it’s more of a neckerchief that wraps snugly around his neck.
• Ship Sinking: The furthest Feli and Ludwig’s, as well as Berwald and Tino's, interactions go is platonic. The Holy Rome backstory isn’t even adapted in this canon, as confirmed by Ludwig saying that while he knew Feli since childhood, he never really got to know him. As mentioned, the game has a semi-No Hugging, No Kissing policy, and the only pairings that exist in the game at all are Jana (Czechia) x Štephan (Slovakia), Tolys having one-sided feelings towards Natallia, and maaaaayyybbbe Roderich x Erzsebet, as well as one-off misunderstandings, so this pretty much happens to all other ships by virtue of the writing. Kiku and Herakles's relationship also isn't shown to be as close as it is in canon (in fact Herakles seems way closer to Feli), though they're still casual friends, so there's especially a lot less base for Giripan shippers to stand on.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Arthur and Francis are still at it. And both of them being lance users, they constantly try to one-up each other on who's the better lance user of the Hachi No Dan.
  • Same for Herakles and Sadik; the latter apparently likes to pass by his shrine just to bicker with him.
  • Erzsebet and Ion are still like this as well; their supports and other interactions usually devolve into them trying to inconvenience each other in increasingly elaborate ways. Their A support has Ion showing begrudging respect for Erzsebet being able to outsmart him in their previous support, however.
  • Herakles and Serije. This one does actually slightly touch on the real world issues between them, but the latter’s, well... teenageness is way more emphasized in this canon, and combined with how Herakles somehow comes across as a stubborn Grumpy Old Man despite his age in their interactions it’s made way more comical an tone.
  • Exclusively from the Yugo DLC, Vuk and Dražen, as per usual. Even by their A support they still go back to bickering.
• Squishy Wizard: Hương Lien. Oh yeah, without the Maria (Philippines) DLC, she's the only fire mage in the entire game. Good luck, because you'll need her.
• Stepford Smiler: Ivan. Though it should be pretty obvious. The East Slav siblings all have a really messed-up past, but apparently it affected Ivan the most, so this is his way of coping with it. He has a lot in common with Henry; talking blissfully about how the staff of the orphanage he and his sisters were living in abused him horrifically, how he almost froze to death after Iryna took them and ran (pending)... while most others balk in horror at this, it’s made more clear how much this affected him in some of his supports. He also apparently sometimes feels that everyone hates him but he doesn’t fully understand why. This is also apparently fueled by alcohol; in one support, this jolliness starts to crumble as the realization hits Ivan that they are, indeed, out of booze.
  • Yong-Soo to a lesser extent; mainly in his B support with Yao, but also mentioned or implied in others, he states that as part of the whole Idol Singer thing he at times feels pressured to stay cheerful and pretty constantly, even if others find it a bit annoying; even if alongside all his insecurities he’s a teenager fighting a war in which he or any of his friends could die. He’s also insecure about his looks and abilities to a huge extent. He’s a bit more willing to be completely honest around Yao, but can open up about it to some of his other support partners, and in his very serious supports such as his with Natallia from C onwards (mainly when it involves his missing brother), the façade completely drops.
• Stone Wall: José, though he can hit harder than most examples of trope, and unlike Armor Knights, his closest official FE counterpart unit, he actually has a movement range that isn’t absolutely awful and good resistance, making him a good meatshield against all types of attacks. Oh, and he's the only one. In the entire game. Keep him, because you'll need him.
• Superheroes Wear Capes: Amusingly, Alfred is one of the only ones whose WF counterpart has a cape, and of course he gets it as well. This is lampshaded in supports, of course.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: Just like in the official FE games, whenever critical hits, skills, Special Attacks or Limit Breaks are activated, this happens with accompanying Pre-Mortem One-Liner; the former two get 3/4 view portraits like in FE, while the latter two get a frontal shot. In the case of Limit Break or Special Attack, this means a Split-Screen Reaction shot as well.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Some in-story, base, and especially support conversations remind players that yes, indeed, almost Anyone Can Die, and this is actually shown to weigh on the characters. Though if playing Casual or Phoenix mode it can come across as overdramatic Narm instead.
  • This is why “battle” and “support” portraits/models exist; the battle models remove things that are a bit too impractical even using Rule of Cool as an excuse (e.g. Manon’s overly large hat and spheres hanging from her arm), and the female characters all bind their chests as large breasts aren’t exactly practical in battle. Also, the voice clips for when characters get hurt can sound extremely painful, which can be really jarring with the closer to canon cast. Some even start to actually bleed if at low health.
  • A common theme in Basch’s supports regarding health.
• Sweet Tooth: Matthew really loves maple syrup, as per usual. The region he and his family hail from is apparently a big producer of it, and he apparently even stows away a pretty big gourd filled with the stuff on his person at all times. Though this only applies to syrup specifically.
  • Just like in canon, Sadik. Notably, his D support with the aforementioned Matt is entirely about syrup candy.
  • It’s also shown that all of the Northern Guardians really like sweets as well. A lot. Berwald’s first two supports with Sadik are basically these two men fanboying over candy, and Matt accidentally gets Simon and the other four offscreen addicted to his syrup in their supports.
  • Ludwig may top all of them though; as in, he could almost give Gaius a run for his money. It doesn’t pop up extremely often (though, of course, it does come up in supports with many of the aforementioned characters), but when it does, other characters often find it rather shocking.
  • Roderich and Basch both. They even know how to make some as well, it seems.
  • While not to the extent of the above, Arthur and Alfred are shown to like sweets as well.
• Team Mom: Iryna often takes up a role like this in supports. She is one of the characters whose supports are more likely to reveal Dark And Troubled Pasts or insecurities in her partners due to her kind, motherly personality.
  • For a more major character example, Yao, a man, sometimes has shades of this as well. The fact that he’s been taking care of Yong-Soo (note:And possibly Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as well) for years and took care of Kiku often as a child probably helps.

• This Is Gonna Suck: Kiku’s reaction is somewhere between this and despair upon finding out he’s stuck, alone, with Feli. He tries not to make it too blatant though.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Subverted, just like their WF counterparts; Yao is likened to a dragon and Yong-Soo to a tiger, but they’re actually a very close Sibling Team instead of adversaries or even rivals. Some even lampshade this, one joking that next thing they know dogs and monkeys will start becoming friends. Though much like the usual symbolism, Yao is the more wise Blue Oni to the more gung-ho Yong-Soo’s Red Oni. ...Usually.
  • Though Hương Lien, who also has tiger motifs, really doesn’t get along with Yao, and even by her A support there’s still a tinge of apprehension from her side. Maybe fire mages react negatively to Manaketes.
• Vague Age: Even Yong-Soo and Kiku apparently don't know Yao's actual age, and Yao doesn't tell them either, so Yong just uses the day Yao took him in as his de facto birthday. It's later revealed that Yao is indeed probably as old as his canon counterpart, as he's part Manakete, though unfortunately he's unable to transform (pending).
• Western Samurai: Just like in World Flags, everyone except Kiku is ethnically non-Japanese; most of the characters are white even, and two are black. Though not so much in-universe, as these versions of the characters grew up in a Japanese-esque culture.
• When She Smiles: Ludwig, of course, rarely smiles; however, his smiling portrait is used more often at higher level supports, especially with his fellow G7, and other characters note how he smiles more often when around animals.
• White Magician Girl: Matthew is a male example in terms of personality at least; he’s the only one in the G8 who can heal others, and he’s kind, soft-spoken, and gentle. However, it’s downplayed, as he’s more a Combat Medic than a straight-up White Mage.
  • Inverted in two ways by Basch; not only is he a guy, but just like in canon he’s a bit of a greedy, aloof Jerkass. And unlike Matt, he absolutely cannot attack directly. However, in supports he’s shown to sometimes be surprisingly intuitive to the emotions and suffering of others (e.g. being able to sense that Ivan is a Stepford Smiler), is pretty serious about the health of others in the army (e.g. he scolds Yong-Soo harshly for practicing dance moves to the point of exhaustion and possible permanent damage, gives Raivis the mother of rants for his drinking habits, and in his D support for Tolys gives a shorter rant for the same reason), and even supportive if he’s moved enough by someone’s plight, though he doesn’t like admitting it (Pending). He lampshades this as well, saying that it’s “monk’s intuition”.
• Wutai: The setting. The reason why Birthright was chosen as the base game in the first place was due to the fact that it was the only Fire Emblem game also mostly set in a world like this, as such many of the non-character related assets could be reused.
  • Culture Chop Suey: Though many (implied to be all) of the characters hail from hometowns or regions that have a culture and climate that is noticeably foreign to varying degrees, cultures that just so happen to share similarities to the places they represent in canon. Or often, as several characters can come from the same place, a mashup of their cultures mixed with Japanese culture. This is apparent in many of their designs as well, some of which are barely Wutai-esque.
• Yandere: Natallia is a downplayed example. She doesn’t even have incestuous feelings for her brother anymore, she’s just overprotective of Ivan out of familial love, as she knows very well how damaged he is and doesn’t want him to go through any more unnecessary pain. When Ivan discusses talking with a pretty girl in their C support and the conversation turns to romance in general, she tells him that if anyone he got with broke his heart, she wouldn’t hesitate to give them a piece of her mind, showing that she’s not against the idea of her brother falling in love by itself. She still comes off as quite a Knight Templar Little Sister, however.

Tropes in Hetalia Emblem (Alt-talia route) include:

• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • Hyun-Soo. Though it was able to take root because he was told that the Honda clan kidnapped his brother and that he will be able to take revenge if he follows the villain. All it takes for him to force himself out of his curse is finding out Yong-Soo is alive and Yong-Soo telling him that Kiku is his friend; the rest is sheer willpower. Though the other mini-bosses are also mind-controlled to an extent, it’s said that they were granted power willingly.
• Lovable Sex Maniac:
  • Downplayed with Francis; he’s a huge flirt mostly.
  • Yao offers to sleep with several female characters in his supports, and is also a flirt.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Manaketes, or Dragon Folk, exist in this story as well.
  • Just like in the “canon” version, Yao is a Dragon Folk. He’s the emperor, in fact. He was banished from the realm of the dragons by Prince Siu Chun for his egotistical demeanor, and thus can’t transform until the late game. His family, the aforementioned Siu Chun, Princess Xiao Mei, and Prince Chen, are also dragons, of course.
  • The main villain of the story is a Dark Dragon, seeking to usurp the realm of the dragons and by extension the human world and plunge it into darkness (Name pending).
• Pointy Ears: Yao, just like in the “canon” version. As all Fire Emblem fans know, This is because he’s a Dragon Folk.
• Sins of the Father: Yong-Soo (and Hyun-Soo) resent Kiku for what his father, Kikumaru Honda, did; raiding their town and killing his father, Min-Geun. Yao resents him for similar reasons, but tries to hide it to hide his identity. Kiku apologizes for this, but it takes a while for Yong-Soo to truly forgive Kiku. By their A support, only available in the late game, however, he finally starts opening up to Kiku, and by the time you’re able to recruit Hyun-Soo he calls Kiku a good leader and a friend.
• You Killed My Father: Sort of. Kiku’s father, Kikumaru Honda, is responsible for Min-Geun’s death, when Min-Geun took his sword in the chest for Yao. As a result, Yong-Soo, and Hyun-Soo, both resent Kiku.