Ashen Wolves is a Fire Emblem: Three Houses fan fiction written by TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere
and cowritten by SkyRig of Fire Emblem Three Houses: White Horizon fame.
Byleth Eisner, the "shadow" of the Blade Breaker and feared Ashen Demon, encounters a group of students hailing from the Officer's Academy of Garreg Mach Monastery. Following this encounter, Byleth and his father Jeralt find themselves involved with the Church of Seiros. Assigned as a teacher, Byleth must choose between the four houses of the Officer's Academy: The Black Eagles of the Adrestian Empire, the Blue Lions of the Faerghus Kingdom, the Golden Deers of the Leicester Alliance, or the trouble-making Ashen Wolves.
For as long as Byleth could remember, Byleth could never really differentiate between "allies" and "friends." In a way, he was a misfit. Perhaps it was because of this that he felt drawn to the Ashen Wolves and became their Professor. Unfortunately, as he will quickly learn, not all approve of the Ashen Wolf House because of their number; from the outcasts of society to outsiders hailing from Fódlan's neighboring countries.
What awaits Byleth and his house in this path full of uncertainty...?
The fanfic can be read on Fanfiction Dot Net here and on Spacebattles Dot Com here. On January 6, 2023, TheStranger posted a rewritten version of the story over on Archive of Our Own under the name Ishtar_Collective, a shared account between TheStranger and SkyRig of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R-eset fame.
This fic provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion:
- It was never clearly started who or what caused the fire twenty years ago that allowed Jeralt to escape Garreg Mach Monastery with baby Byleth in tow. In this fic, it was Aelfric who started the fire, having learned of Jeralt's distrust with the archbishop and wanted to leave.
- In canon, the Scorpions are a bandit group whose only appearance are in Caspar’s and Yuri's support conversations with Byleth. Here, they're the Starter Villains Byleth's class deals with in their first mission.
- Adapted Out: Doubles as Out of Focus. Due to the limited number of capable fighters in the Ashen Wolf House, Byleth and his students are unable to participate in certain events they would have otherwise done in the game. The earliest example is the mission to rout Kostas and his entourage of bandits, with the mission being assigned to Jeritza and the Black Eagles instead. In the rewritten version, this is instead changed to the Ashen Wolves having limited missions to go on, some degrading and menial work a peasant could do on their own due to many in the Church disliking the house's existence.
- Ascended Extra:
- The cast of the DLC expansion Cindered Shadows is the main focus of the story, with Yuri being the Lord chosen by Byleth rather than Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude.
- Jeritza, who had a relatively minor role throughout Part 1 and hardly ever interacted with Byleth or the students, is named the Professor of the Black Eagle House until Rhea and Seteth can find someone more suitable for the position. note
- The Scorpion gang, a group that has only been mentioned in Yuri and Caspar's supports, are set up as the antagonists for the joint mission between the Ashen Wolves and the Golden Deer.
- Brutal Honesty: When Byleth asks Seteth for his opinion of the Ashen Wolves, the latter replies that they're delinquents. Having said that, he does believe they have potential.
- Closest Thing We Got: Jeritza is not an actual teacher like Hanneman or Manuela and is merely a sword instructor. As there will be a house without a professor to teach them, however, Rhea and Seteth decide to have him instruct the Black Eagle House until they're able to find someone capable.
- Contrived Coincidence: Yuri doesn’t buy the idea that a simple bandit like Kostas had happened upon him and the other students by accident because of the fact that Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude are the future leaders of Fódlan. He also noted that Kostas came at them prepared, and made sure that none of the guards or teachers were killed in the attack. For this reason, Yuri suspects that there’s a traitor in their midst.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- How the fight between the Ashen Wolves and the Blue Lions goes during the mock battle. Despite being outnumbered 5-to-3, Byleth, Yuri, and Balthus defeat Hanneman and his students with little trouble.
- Despite Hubert being injured and Dorothea being knocked out by Hilda, the Black Eagles were still able to defeat the Golden Deer after Yuri forces them out from their stronghold.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- Seteth states the Ashen Wolves lack both the resources and students particularly capable in combat. As a result, they cannot participate in certain missions such as Lonato's rebellion or hunting down Kostas. In the rewritten version, the clergy's dislike for the Ashen Wolves causes them to have fewer missions than other houses and sometimes given menial or degrading tasks.
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Word of God states that Jeralt, who was absent during the game's events of the Cindered Shadows side story, will have a role to play in it due to the author feeling as though his absence was a wasted opportunity.
- Hypocrite: Yuri accuses the Church of Seiros of being this with the existence of the Ashen Wolf House. Fódlan natives have a sour reputation when it comes to foreigners, especially Almyra due to the country constantly attacking them and have made little attempts to reach out to its neighbors. Not helping matters is that the house also contains foreigners, including from Almyra.
- Hypocritical Humor: Edelgard, Claude, Dimitri, and Yuri are all quick to call each other out for trying to get Byleth to join them before getting to know him, despite the fact that all of them try to do it at once.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Part of Yuri's strategy to win the mock battle is to prevent them from being attack on all sides. He has Constance set the woods on the eastern side of the plains on fire while Hapi blocks the road leading to the eastern stronghold with the burning trees, forcing the Black Eagles to combat the Golden Deer. The plan works and the Black Eagles defeat the Golden Deer just as the Ashen Wolves finish subduing the Blue Lions.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- While Seteth doesn’t completely trust Byleth, he’s still willing to caution him about his choice due to the Ashen Wolves' status as the black sheep in the monastery.
- When the Ashen Wolves were initially created, a number of Church officials opposed the idea of a house made up of the downtrodden and foreigners. Rhea allowed it to come to pass so that they would have a chance to come together.
- Retcon: The rewritten version on Archive of Our Own, while similar to the original version, changes a few things. For starters, Ashe is already training with the Ashen Wolves, more specifically under Yuri, before coming to Byleth for advice. The training session in preparation for the Mock Battle also sees the Ashen Wolves battling the Knights of Seiros instead of Jeralt's Mercenaries like in the original version.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Defied. As far as Byleth is concerned, banter is pointless on the battlefield and will have none of it. Hanneman found this out the hard way he tried praising Byleth's capabilities as he was about to engage him, only for the mercenary to rush him before he could finish speaking.
