History Characters / FireEmblemThreeHousesBlueLions

!!Students with their own pages
[[index]]
* '''[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]]'''
* '''[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesSylvain Sylvain]]'''
* '''[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesIngrid Ingrid]]'''
* '''[[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesFelix Felix]]'''
[[/index]]

!!Students
[[folder:Dedue]]
!!Dedue Molinaro
!!!'''Class:''' Commoner → Fighter → Armored Knight → Fortress Knight (''Three Houses''), Fighter → Fortress Knight → Great Knight (''Three Hopes'')
!!!'''Age:''' 18 (8/31)
!!!'''Height:''' 204 cm
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Hidenori Takahashi (Japanese), Creator/BenLepley (English)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feth_dedue_portrait_1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_dedue_02_fe16_6.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dedue_three_hopes.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Dedue in ''Fire Emblem Heroes'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dedue_heroes.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Crimson Flower spoilers]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/generic_small_portrait_giant_demonic_beast_fe16.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TheStoic Taciturn]] [[UndyingLoyalty Devotee]]'' / ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Dimitri's Vassal]]'']]

->''"If you spent too much time around a man of Duscur, there will be rumors."''

A commoner from Duscur, a region located in the north-western areas of Faerghus. He owes Dimitri a great debt, and because of it, will protect the prince as his vassal even at the cost of his own life. Despite his stern and stoic appearance, he is actually quite calm and gentle.\\\

His personal ability, ''Staunch Shield'', raises his Defense if he ends the turn by Waiting.
----
* AdaptationalBadass: In ''Heroes'', he sports a solid Resistance stat, something he lacks in ''Three Houses''.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: A very tragic and undeserved example. Due to the people of Faerghus's belief that the people of Duscur were complicit in King Lambert's death in the Tragedy, Dedue and his people are greatly distrusted and hated by the general populace. He even tries to warn Byleth not to associate with him, lest false rumors spread about them.
* AloofAlly: On Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, [[spoiler:he acts as such to Byleth and their forces during the siege of Enbarr. He provides them intelligence about the layout of the palace and does not oppose them in battle, but he doesn't formally join your party and makes it clear he only cares about killing Edelgard at that point (Byleth's objective is to end the war, which would be accomplished by killing her, but doesn't preclude the possibility of talking her into surrendering per se).]]
* AngerBornOfWorry: He is at his sternest towards Dimitri in their B-support in ''Three Hopes'', where Dedue berates him for [[{{Workaholic}} working to the bone all the time]] and not resting when he absolutely should. It's all for the sake of getting Dimitri to value his health and life when his work takes too much of a toll on them. As Dedue reveals in their A-support, he is always fearful when he sees Dimitri slumped over his desk because it looks to him as if Dimitri might've died.
* AnimalsHateHim: In a support with Annette, a horse bolts as soon as it sees Dedue. Dedue attributes its fear of him to his [[FaceOfAThug intimidating face]] and has weak proficiencies in both riding and flying.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: [[spoiler:On the Crimson Flower route, if one of your units gets close enough to Dedue without killing him or enough turns pass, Dedue will be using a Crest Stone to transform himself into a Giant Demonic Beast, which towers over every other Demonic Beast in the game and especially the characters.]]
* BadassNormal: Not having a Crest or much magical ability doesn't hinder his ability to lay down the beatdown in the slightest.
* BaritoneOfStrength: A powerful melee fighter, with the deep voice to match.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: He explains his extreme loyalty to Dimitri as being the result of the prince treating him with dignity and kindness after the destruction of Duscur, even when Duscur's people were despised and treated poorly by much of Faerghus' citizenry.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dedue might not be the friendliest person, but he's civil to most people who don't actively antagonize him (e.g., Felix in their C-support). That said, going against Dimitri is a surefire way to get on his bad side...
* TheBigGuy: He's 204cm and broad-chested and his growths and affinities lean toward heavy armor classes.
* BigGuyFatalitySyndrome: Dedue can potentially die on any route as part of the story, even if you chose the Blue Lions. [[spoiler:He can die in the battle with Edelgard on Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, ''must'' be killed in the penultimate mission of Crimson Flower, and will be executed during the TimeSkip in Azure Moon if you didn't complete his Paralogue]].
* BigGuyLittleGuy:
** The Big to Ashe's Little, even after Ashe's growth spurt post-timeskip.
** He also has this dynamic with Dimitri, though downplayed because they're both tall for their age.
* ABirthdayNotABreak: The mission to subdue Miklan and his bandits falls on Dedue's birthday. If you're a Blue Lion, he needs to come along.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In Azure Moon, [[spoiler:he is always among the characters to die during the timeskip, and in fact the only one to do so in Casual Mode, although if you've completed his paralogue [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated it's revealed that he's actually alive.]]]] In Crimson Flower, he is positioned closest to where the player character starts of all the named characters in [[spoiler:Gronder Field]], meaning he's set up to be killed first. [[spoiler:Additionally, if the player enters his threat range without killing him, he and a handful of Kingdom soldiers transform themselves into Demonic Beasts, meaning he's reasonably likely to suffer DeathOfPersonality before he even enters combat.]]
* BluntYes: When Felix asks him if he's willing to do anything for Dimitri, including massacring women and children, Dedue replies with a series of to-the-point "Yes" answers (to Felix's disgust).
* BrokenPedestal: Dedue heard many stories of Gilbert from Dimitri, and modeled himself on the sort of upstanding knight he believed Gilbert to be. He has few kind things to say about the man when they actually meet, as he is disgusted by the older knight's guilt complex and obsessive self-flagellation, although he regains a little respect for Gilbert in time for their B support.
* BusCrash: Dedue can [[spoiler:die offscreen and without warning]] during the five-year timeskip if certain requirements aren't met after choosing the Blue Lions house in Part I.
* ButNowIMustGo: On the [[spoiler:Silver Snow and Verdant Wind]] routes, if he survives [[spoiler:the final battle with Edelgard, he destroys her corpse before vanishing for parts unknown]].
* TheCameo: Alongside Dimitri and Ingrid in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' on the DLC stage Garreg Mach Monastery, watching battles in the Marketplace.
* CantCatchUp: [[spoiler:Even if the conditions to keep Dedue are met in Part I,]] Dedue will likely return underleveled compared to the rest of the party. Also can apply literally if put into the Armored/Fortress Knight line that the game pushes him towards, as his low mobility will keep him behind the rest of the Lions, who are pushed into more mobile classes. His speed stat in particular is one of his highest at level 1, but his weak growth rate and cap will make him far slower than his classmates. This will be more of an issue on Hard/Maddening mode; on Normal mode, there will be some auxiliary battles that don't take up a point, allowing players a better chance to get him caught up.
* CastFromHitPoints: Is one of the few units to learn the Vengeance combat art, which is a variant of this that increases the attack's strength relative to how much health Dedue is currently missing.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Dedue is the tallest playable unit and his strength growth stands at 50%, which is one of the highest rates in that category. To say nothing of his defense growth, which is also 50% and is the overall highest growth rate among the entire cast. Dedue accomplishes both of these while being BadassNormal and sharing the same growths with crest-bearers such as Catherine and Balthus.
* CommonalityConnection: In ''Three Hopes'', Dedue's support conversation with Petra has them bond about the two of them being foreigners who wants to do their best for their respective homes (Duscur and Brigid) and new loyalty to the friends they made in Fódlan.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: A TogetherInDeath variant in his paired ending with [[spoiler:Dimitri which says that, after his death, he was buried next to Dimitri's grave.]]
* DefendCommand: With his personal skill Staunch Shield, if he just waits without doing anything else, he gets a 4 point boost in Defense for one turn.
* DemotedToExtra: On the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:he's replaced by Gilbert as Dimitri's retainer, to account for the possibility of his paralogue not having been completed before the timeskip, which results in Dedue [[BusCrash dying between Part I and Part II.]]]]
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Tragically subverted; if he transformed into a Stone Demonic Beast and is defeated, he doesn't revert back to his human form upon death, remaining a monster even as a corpse. This prevents him from being able to have a heart-to-heart talk with Dimitri in both of their final moments, resulting in the latter dying with hateful rage towards Edelgard]].
* ExactWords: In "Tales of the Red Canyon", after he, Dimitri and the other Blue Lions follow Byleth into Zanado without permission, resulting in them being attacked by Demonic Beasts, Dedue decides to pass it off as a training exercise by using this trope.
-->'''Dedue:''' It is not untrue to assert that our professor led us here for battle experience...
* FaceOfAThug: He has trouble talking to people because they're intimidated by his heritage and tall stature. Those who do get to know him find that he's calm and gentle.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** His B+ rank support with Annette reveals that animals have never taken to him. In game, he's one of three units (the other two being Dorothea and [[DownloadableContent Yuri]]) that has experience banes in both riding and flying.
** Like with the other non-natives of Fódlan who have differing faith systems, Dedue has a faith magic bane.
** In his supports with [[BrokenPedestal Gilbert]], he reveals that he modeled himself after the kind of Knight Dimitri described Gilbert as. Along with sharing [[TheStoic stoic demeanours]], Dedue is also similar to Gilbert in regards to stats and skills, with the both of them having high Defence Growths and sharing strengths in Axes, Lances and Heavy Armor, making them both suited for the [[MightyGlacier Armored Knight class line.]]
** Like his fellow NumberTwo Hubert, Dedue cannot support with any students outside of his own house, making them the only two students in the entire game with no inter-house interactions (in the base game; ''Three Hopes'' allows Dedue and Hubert to interact with Petra and Lysithea, respectively). While he and Hubert both have a hard time getting close to others, in Dedue's case, he's very difficult to hold a conversation with and prefers to keep his distance due to tensions against the people of Duscur.
* GenocideSurvivor: He's one of a unknown but still large number of survivors of the Faerghus genocide of Duscur; he in particular only made it out thanks to Dimitri, and is eternally loyal to him as a result.
* GentleGiant: He looks intimidating, but his personality is gentle and he also enjoys gardening and cooking.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Post TimeSkip, he has several thin scars crisscrossing his face.
* GuestStarPartyMember: [[spoiler:On the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind routes, Dedue becomes an ally unit during the raid on Edelgard's palace.]]
* HeadbuttingHeroes: He and Felix have perhaps the worst relationship out of all the playable students who can support. Dedue mostly puts up with Felix's verbal abuse, but warns him that he won't stand for Felix badmouthing Dimitri.
* HeroicSacrifice: It is possible for him to [[spoiler:die while protecting Dimitri during the TimeSkip if certain criteria aren't fulfilled.[[labelnote:The criteria being...]]Completing Dedue's paralogue (War for the Weak) before the TimeSkip will cause fellow Duscur men to save him from death as a payback for saving them.[[/labelnote]]]]
* HiddenDepths: In his Supports with Annette in ''Three Hopes'' Dedue mentions his envy towards the Crest-bearing members of the Blue Lions due to their ability to wield Hero's Relics, as no matter how strong he gets he'll never be able to match their sheer destructive power.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: He's the biggest playable character, so all his paired endings with women are this by default, including with the not-exactly-short Mercedes and Shamir (who are both 169 cm).
* IOweYouMyLife: Dimitri risking his life to save Dedue's is part of the reason Dedue is unfalteringly loyal to him and concerned with guarding him closely.
* KilledOffscreen: When Byleth wakes up after their five-year coma on the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:one of the biggest signs that everything has gone to hell is that Dedue died in the interim saving Dimitri from execution. It's played straight if you failed to complete Dedue's paralogue, but subverted if you did get it done as he is rescued and nursed back to health.]]
* TheLancer: While Felix generally serves as Dimitri's NumberTwo as far as military matters go, Dedue serves as Dimitri's closest confidant and bodyguard. In ''Three Hopes'''s Azure Gleam route, Dimitri at one point returns to the capital during the middle of a military campaign. He leaves Felix in charge of the army but has Dedue accompany him back to the capital with no one else but Rodrigue. And Dedue is the only Blue Lion besides Dimitri who cannot be recruited to any other house for any reason.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: He admits to both Gilbert and Felix in their respective supports that his is Dimitri. Having lost his home and family, all he has left is his liege, and he plans to [[UndyingLoyalty join his lord in death should he outlive Dimitri]], unless ordered to live on beforehand. He even tells Felix that if it hadn't been for Dimitri, the only one Dedue knew outside of Duscur who viewed the entire land and its people with respect even after the tragedy, Dedue would've been a DeathSeeker.
* LordBritishPostulate: In ''Three Houses'', [[spoiler:if he's killed on Crimson Flower before he can transform into a Demonic Beast, it alters the way his and Dimitri's deaths play out in the story.]]
* MagicallyIneptFighter: He starts out with only a 2 in Magic and his Magic growth isn't any better, forcing him into the role of a melee combatant. In exchange, he has an excellent base Strength along with strong growths in Strength and Defense at the cost of Dexterity, Speed, and Luck.
* ManlyFacialHair: He is the tallest student and is geared towards being put in physical and hard-hitting classes and in ''Three Hopes'', he grows out a stubble beard, being the only student to do so in that game.
* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:As Dedue is cradeling the dying body of Dimitri in the alternative outcome in chapter 17 of Crimson Flower, he is on the verge of tears as he tells Dimitri how being saved by him during the Tragedy of Duscur helped him live on and that he was happy for all the years they spent knowing each other.]]
* MightyGlacier: He's got great physical defense, high HP and good strength, but low speed and his penalty to horseback skills limits his movement options. With his stats, he works well as an armored knight or fighter. With sufficiently high growths, he can pull off a NoSell against critical hits from physical attacks, even on Maddening.
* MoralityPet: On Verdant Wind. [[spoiler:Even at his absolute worst post-breakdown, Dimitri still shows open concern for Dedue's well-being and orders him to retreat and survive if he is incapacitated during the Battle at Gronder.]]
* MultiMeleeMaster: He has strong proficiencies in lances, axes, and brawling, cementing him as a CloseRangeCombatant.
* MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers:
** In ''Three Houses'', he cannot be poached from the Blue Lions, and will never fight directly alongside Edelgard, Hubert, [[spoiler:Jeritza]], or Claude [[spoiler:although he appears as a non-playable ally unit late in Verdant Wind]].
** In ''Three Hopes'', he's not playable outside of Azure Gleam; thus he cannot fight alongside [[spoiler:Edelgard, Hubert, Caspar, Ferdinand, Monica, Manuela, Claude, Hilda, Lysithea, Leonie or Holst]].
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: In his support with Felix, he says with conviction that he's so loyal to Dimitri that he would without hesitation do heinous things, like massacring women and children, should the prince be involved in it. Felix is not impressed by this, to say the least. {{Deconstructed}} in that this blind loyalty is not portrayed as an always-good thing, and his loyalty makes him TheBrute post-timeskip in all routes, even Azure Moon. Several characters in their supports with him point out how his loyalty is taken too far.
* NeverLearnedToRead: He knows how to read now, but when he first met Dimitri, he couldn't until the prince taught him.
* NiceMeanAndInbetween: The In-Between of the three retainers, although this is relative since he's also pretty nice. He's unemotional and can be a bit cold to those he distrusts, but shows a warmer side around Dimtri and his comrades.
* NiceGuy: He's stern and terse, but quite pleasant to be around as long as no harm comes to Dimitri.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: On [[spoiler:Silver Snow and Verdant Wind]], [[spoiler:when he teams up with Byleth and co. for the siege of Enbarr, he makes it clear he couldn't care less about their objectives -- he's just there for Edelgard's head]].
* NothingPersonal: One of his quotes after defeating a general in ''Three Hopes'' is "It's not personal".
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** [[spoiler:He goes behind Dimitri's back]] on the Crimson Flower route to give [[spoiler:Crest Stones to soldiers to transform into Beasts. It's clear he knew what would happen, based on their reactions. Before he himself transforms, he calls Dimitri by his name for the first time, declaring he will be a glorious king.]]
** He will [[spoiler:renounce his service to Dimitri to be with Byleth if he marries her, something that shocks her so much that she [[SuddenlySpeaking actually speaks without player input.]] He views giving up his UndyingLoyalty to Dimitri for her as an act of true love.]]
** Dedue rarely shares any own opinions he has and rather follows what Dimitri says. So when [[spoiler:he tells Cornelia that he would never forgive her for causing the Tragedy of Duscur even if Dimitri were to in Azure Gleam chapter 8, you know that he is beyond furious.]]
--->'''[[spoiler:Cornelia]]:''' A man of Duscur, hm? I should have exterminated you when I had the chance!\\
'''Dedue:''' Even were His Majesty to forgive the atrocities you committed...I never will.
* OneWingedAngel: He uses [[spoiler:a crest stone from Fhirdiad's Castle Vaults to willingly transform into a Stone Demonic Beast]] during the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:all to ensure Dimitri achieves victory. It is possible, and highly recommended, to kill him before he can do it, though.]]
* PlayingWithFire: He learns Fire, Bolganone, and Ragnarok when studying Reason.
* PlotArmor: In Classic Mode of ''Three Hopes'', if his HP drops to 0 in battle, Dedue will retreat from battle instead of dying outright, a trait he did not have in ''Three Houses''.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
-->"''What should I do?''" ''(pre-timeskip)''\\
"''I am prepared.''" ''(post-timeskip)''
* PreMortemOneLiner:
-->"''I will break you!''"\\
"''For His Highness!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''You're in the way!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''This is my sworn duty!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''This will prove my loyalty!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''All in his service!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''You will regret this!''" (Post-timeskip)
* PsychoticSmirk: On all routes except Crimson Flower, [[spoiler:after Edelgard reveals her identity as the Flame Emperor in the Holy Tomb and disappears, he flashes an unnerving one when he declares Dimitri's will to take Edelgard's head as his own. Even more notable is that he makes this face only ''once'' in the entire game.]]
* RealMenWearPink: A strong, powerful-looking soldier whose hobbies include needlework, cooking, and gardening.
* RecurringBoss: In ''Three Hopes'', he is fought twice on both Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire.
* RecurringElement:
** He is the GentleGiant armored knight from a commoner background who is loyal to the Lord, in the vein of [[Characters/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Draug]].
** His unhealthy UndyingLoyalty with Dimitri may turn him into the [[Characters/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Murdock]] archetype if you do not choose the Azure Moon route, but especially on the Crimson Flower route.
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: On the Azure Moon route, even if [[spoiler:the men of Duscur spared in his paralogue save Dedue from being killed helping Dimitri escape imprisonment in Fhirdiad, Dimitri and the other Blue Lions initially believe him to be dead, Dimitri swearing revenge on his behalf. Then he shows up when the Kingdom army fights to secure the Bridge of Myrddin, and Dimitri is astonished at his survival.]]
* RequiredPartyMember:
** [[spoiler:If his paralogue was completed before the time-skip, Dedue will reappear in chapter 16 a few turns into the battle and become a mandatory unit.]]
** In chapter 2 of ''Three Hopes'' if the Blue Lion house is chosen, Dedue is included with Dimitri and Ashe as the required units alongside Shez.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: On the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, [[spoiler:upon seeing Dimitri's corpse, he swears to kill Edelgard and bring back her head. Although he does entrust this mission to Byleth should he fail, and he's ultimately unsuccessful as Edelgard is granted a quick death by Byleth in both routes.]]
* ScaryBlackMan: He's tall, solidly-built, fairly stoic and often wearing a severe expression, but past his intimidating appearance, he's gentle and fiercely loyal to his lord.
* SkippableBoss: Technically speaking; in ''Three Houses'' on Crimson Flower, his Demonic Beast form can be bypassed if the player kills him before he transforms.
* SoleSurvivor: On the Verdant Wind route, [[spoiler:he is the only member of Dimitri's retinue who is guaranteed to survive the Battle at Gronder]].
* SparedByTheAdaptation: He's able to die in all ''Three Houses'' routes, either inevitably (Crimson Flower) or potentially (other paths); in ''Three Hopes'', he's depicted as surviving on all routes regardless of the difference in events.
* SpockSpeak: Dedue is a TerseTalker and speaks precisely, without contractions.
* StuffBlowingUp: His unique ability "Demolisher" in ''Three Hopes'' allows him to charge up his combo finishers, imbuing them with fire damage and granting them explosive properties.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: He's unemotional and a man of few words, but shows a warmer side to people who show kindness to him or otherwise prove helpful to Dimitri.
* SupremeChef: His cooking is quite delectable, to the point that a stunned Flayn declares him the best cook she's ever encountered [[spoiler:in her [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld very long life]]]].
* TerseTalker:
** He's not one for small talk, to say the least. This is in part due to a concern that anyone seen associating with him will be slandered due to the perception of people of Duscur.
** He and Shamir actually bond over this shared trait in their support.
** It's referenced in Byleth's supports with him, with Byleth noticing that he's difficult to talk to.
* TimePassageBeard: In ''Three Hopes'', Dedue is the only student to grow any sort of beard in the two years between the prologue and the start of the war.
* TokenMinority: He is the only major character of Duscur descent.
* TranquilFury: In his and Felix's C Support, he warns Felix in no uncertain terms that he will not tolerate insults toward Dimitri, barely even raising his voice.
* UndyingLoyalty:
** He's staunchly loyal to Dimitri, and will not abandon him under any circumstances. Dedue confirms in his support with Felix that he wouldn't question anything his lord orders him to do, even when it's a heinous act. [[spoiler:He will only leave him if marries Byleth, something that is so shocking it makes Byleth break her silent protagonist role with a BigWhat.]]
** He is so loyal in fact that [[spoiler:after Edelgard kills Dimitri]] during the Verdant Wind route, [[spoiler:Dedue swears vengeance and to kill Edelgard himself for his fallen liege, even if it leads to his death.]]
** On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:he will give his life to turn into a demonic beast to ensure Dimitri's victory (without his knowledge, no less), even getting soldiers with the same level of loyalty to also turn willingly alongside him.]]
* UniqueEnemy: Downplayed example. On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:when he transforms into a Demonic Beast, he becomes the unique "Stone Demonic Beast" by virtue of using a giant Crest Stone stored in Fhirdiad Castle's treasury. Unlike the Giant Demonic Beasts seen in the other routes, the Stone Demonic Beast boasts higher stats, has an actual Luck and Charm stat [[note]]Save for the Children of the Goddess and Maurice, every monster enemy has a Luck and Charm stat of 0[[/note]], and his Crest Stone weapon is slightly stronger and more accurate.]]
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: After the Flame Emperor is defeated outside of Azure Moon, an NPC will reveal [[spoiler:he [[FireKeepsItDead burns the body of Edelgard after the battle]] and heads to Dimitri's grave to mourn, showing just how empty his life is now that Dimitri's gone and he's fulfilled his duty, disappearing to parts unknown afterwards]].
* VillainExitStageLeft: While not exactly villainous, he retreats from battle if you defeat him in Chapter 17 on the Verdant Wind route, with Dimitri ordering him to retreat.
* WeakToMagic: Dedue has very high Defense but has among the lowest Resistance in the cast, which when combined with his low Speed, allows enemy spellcasters to easily tear him to shreds despite his high HP.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In Silver Snow and Verdant Wind it is unknown what happens to Dedue after [[spoiler:Edelgard's death if he survives the battle. The only mention of him is that the Gate Guard saw him leave Enbarr with a sad look on his face.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: Felix asks Dedue in their C-support if Dedue would kill children if Dimitri orders him to. Dedue says that he would do it [[MyMasterRightOrWrong without hesitation]].
* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: If he wins the White Heron Cup, his response is a quietly dumbfounded, "Is this a joke?"
* YoungerThanTheyLook: His large frame, imposing figure, and very deep voice make it hard to discern that he's only 18 years old.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mercedes]]
!!Mercedes von Martritz (formerly Bartels)
!!!'''Class:''' Commoner → Monk → Priest → Bishop
!!!'''Age:''' 22 (5/27)
!!!'''Crest:''' Lamine (Minor)
!!!'''Height:''' 169 cm
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YumiriHanamori (Japanese), Creator/DorothyEliasFahn (English)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mercedes_54.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_mercedes_02_fe16_7.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mercedes_three_hopes.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Mercedes in ''Fire Emblem Heroes'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mercedes_feh.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[WhiteMagicianGirl Benevolent Soul]]'' / ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Kindly Devotee]]'']]

->''"If you get injured, simply say the word and I'll patch you up, straight away."''

A kind-hearted girl who watches her surroundings closely and can't ignore people in need. She is a former noble of the Adrestian Empire, but chose to live in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus as a commoner. In Faerghus she once attended the Royal School of Sorcery of the kingdom's capital. She says she is "a bit older" than the other students.\\\

Her personal ability, ''Live to Serve'', restores her health equivalent to the amount that heals an ally whenever she uses recovery magic. She bears the Minor Crest of Lamine, which gives her a chance to conserve a use of recovery magic.
----
* EleventhHourRanger: On the Golden Wildfire route in ''Three Hopes'', [[spoiler:she can be convinced to pull a HeelFaceTurn by Jeritza, becoming an allied NPC for the back half of the final battle]].
* AffectionateNickname:
** Annette calls her "Mercie."
** Cyril starts calling Mercedes "Mercie" by Mercedes' request due to difficulty pronouncing her name at first, but by their B-support, Cyril says that he sees her as a close older sister figure and Mercedes is happy to hear him using the nickname.
* AncestralWeapon: House Martritz's Relic is a protective gem as opposed to a weapon: The Rafail Gem, which is tied to Lamine's Crest. Mercedes can obtain it upon completing her and Caspar's Paralogue, [[spoiler:given to her by the [[TheBrute Death Knight himself]], no less,]] and it allows for the holder to [[NoSell be protected against effective weaponry, critical hits, and may occasionally halve damage outright]]. As one with Lamine's Crest, Mercedes can safely wear it.[[labelnote:note]]If the player did not recruit Mercedes on either the Crimson Flower or Verdant Wind routes, you can actually steal the gem from Mercedes either during the Tailtean Plains battle (Crimson Flower) or the Grondor Field rematch (Verdant Wind), as she will have it on her person during both of those battles. In the case of Crimson Flower, stealing the gem is the ''only'' way that [[spoiler:Jeritza can get and wear the gem; since he also has Lamine's Crest, he can also wear it safely, but since Mercedes' Paralogue involves fighting the Death Knight, it's naturally not available on Crimson Flower.]] Amusingly, you can also steal its dark equivalent during the final battle on the Verdant Wind route.[[/labelnote]] ''Three Hopes'' also gives her the Ichor Scroll, a Hero's Relic linked to the Crest of Lamine that allows her to wield Abraxas, the most powerful white magic spell.
* AngerBornOfWorry: One of the few ways to upset Mercedes is to put yourself in danger for her sake. She gets into an argument with Annette when the latter puts herself in danger to protect Mercedes from a criminal, and to a lesser extent, she disapproves of Ferdinand putting himself in danger to obtain the evidence that her foster father bribed the church to let him adopt her.
* ArrangedMarriage: Mercedes' foster father wants to get her married off to a nobleman as soon as possible in order to raise his standing through her Crest, and in Byleth's A-support, he presents a marriage to her that Mercedes is exasperated by, but feels that she has no choice in refusing. Mercedes tells Byleth that she'd rather enter the service of the church, and Byleth can advise her to follow her dreams instead. She ends up declining the proposal.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Tathlum Bow is a weapon associated with her Crest, but there's a catch: It's only available in the Blue Lions route and she's unable to synergize well with it even with her budding talent in bows. As such, it's better off on another archer.
* BabiesEverAfter: In her ending with Sylvain.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Within the Blue Lions girls, she's the Beauty to Annette's Brains and Ingrid's Brawn, being the kind, motherly centre of the group with a HairOfGoldHeartOfGold.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mercedes is a very sweet, kind, and gentle woman, but as her supports with Lorenz show, she can be ''quite'' terrifying when sufficiently angered.
* BirdsOfAFeather: She can end up married to Ashe, and both of them are kind, sweet people with a strong desire to help others, as well as their skill and fondness for baking.
* BigOlEyebrows: Her eyebrows are noticeably thicker than all the other female characters.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: [[spoiler:Her supports with Jeritza reveals that he hated his father and wanted to kill him. Mercedes even reveals that both her and their mother had no intention of leaving him behind and it was a spur of the moment decision, but he reveals to Mercedes that he told her to leave him. When she asks why Jeritza killed their father, he states that he wanted to because their father found out their mother was past the age to bear children and intended to marry Mercedes. He snapped and murdered his father in a blind rage. Next thing he knew, everyone was dead and he had no recollection on what happened]].
* BondOneLiner:
-->''"It had to be done..."'' (pre timeskip)\\
"''Let's keep our guard up.''" (said with different inflections pre and post timeskip)\\
''"I don't expect forgiveness."'' (post timeskip)
* BoringButPractical: Compared to the other in-house healers. Linhardt and Marianne eventually stop developing as healers in favor of status and utility spells that open up more advanced and complex tactics. Mercedes continues to develop as a healer and has almost nothing to offer outside of that one niche, but it is an extremely important niche and she is the best at it, allowing her to fit into any possible team.
* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: Any ending that involves her raising children, adopted or her own.
* BrokenPedestal: She's one of the most devout of the playable cast, but if recruited in Crimson Flower, [[spoiler:she is both horrified and disgusted by what the Church has become under Rhea's madness, and comes to agree with Edelgard the Church is corrupt beyond repair.]]
* CainAndAbel:
** Acts as the sweet, kind and altruistic Abel to [[spoiler:her half-brother Emile, also known as the Death Knight, being the bloodthirsty and eager-to-kill]] Cain. At the end of Mercedes and Caspar's post-timeskip paralogue, even during a PetTheDog moment where he gives Mercedes [[spoiler:their family Relic, he says he won't hesitate to kill her if they meet again]].
** Subverted if you [[spoiler:poach her to the Black Eagles and side with Adrestia, in which case they fight on the same team.]]
** Subverted in ''Warriors: Three Hopes'', where all routes result in [[spoiler:one sibling defecting to the other's cause (she defects in Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire, he defects in Azure Gleam)]].
* CombatMedic: She starts out knowing Heal and using bows, but if her Faith is leveled she learns Nosferatu, and if her Reason is leveled, learns fire and thunder spells alongside her healing abilities. Unlike fellow CombatMedic Marianne, she leans closer to the Medic side of the trope, since while she has a solid Reason spell list, she learns no offensive Faith spells save Nosferatu, and her Bow skills are less helpful due to her stats not being as focused on that. Her unique ability "Radiant Love" in ''Three Hopes'' is a straight example of this, which simultaneously deals heavy damage to all surrounding enemies and greatly heals nearby allies.
* CommonalityConnection:
** In her supports with Ingrid, both young women bond over being hassled by unwanted marriage proposals; Ingrid muses that, despite their outward differences, their similar struggle is something they have in common.
** In her supports with Sylvain, the two bond over how their Crests have caused them misfortune and strife throughout their lives.
* ConflictingLoyalty: On the Crimson Flower Route, if she's recruited to the Black Eagles, [[spoiler:she'll agree that the Church needs to be reformed, but feels uneasy about fighting her classmates and the church.]]
* CoolBigSis:
** In her B-support with Cyril, Cyril tells her that he's come to think of Mercedes as an older sister, and Mercedes assures him that he can rely on her for anything.
** [[spoiler:To Jeritza, who's her ''actual'' little brother Emile.]]
** To Ingrid in ''Three Hopes'', with their support conversations focusing on their respective siblings; Ingrid misses her older brothers and Mercedes misses her younger brother. As a result Mercedes' big sis instincts activate, and she tries to help Ingrid understand that there are all kinds of ways of showing affection, and Ingrid resolves to try to be more like Mercedes and show less 'tough love' in some circumstances.
* CuteClumsyGirl: She regularly forgets obvious things, like wearing clothes, is almost as bad as Annette at causing kitchen disasters, and nearly kills Dimitri by accident while learning swordsmanship from him. She acknowledges this in several supports, including her S-rank. It's one of the reasons she dislikes physical activity, due to causing accidents or hurting herself.
* DamageSpongeBoss: If Mercedes is not recruited, she becomes this, especially on Maddening. While she doesn't have the craziest amount of health or defense (on Crimson Flower, it will be 58 and 20 respectively), she will be carrying the Rafail Gem, which nullifies critical attacks and any bonus damage that can be dealt. She will also have an absolutely busted Resistance stat, taking magic attacks on her out of the question. And because Mercedes bears the Crest of Lamine, she is also granted Pavise and Aegis from the Gem, both allowing her to only recieve half the damage from any attack brought onto her. But with her Dex stat, she only has an 8% chance of activating them, making them not as much of an issue as they could be.
* DeadpanSnarker: An interesting variation due to her voice and attitude, but Mercedes is extremely sarcastic and still manages to slip the remarks in there without changing her behavior.
* DeclarationOfProtection: Exchanges these with Sylvain in their A-support, with both vowing to protect the other.
* DepravedBisexual: Inverted. She is one of the nicest and kindest characters in the game and can get married to a Byleth of either gender.
* ExtremeDoormat: In her A-support with Byleth, she notes that for most of her life she just followed the whims of others, telling herself [[YouCantFightFate that it was the goddess's will]]. Her decision to take a side and fight in the war was the first time she actually ''chose'' for herself alone, even going against her adopted father's wishes, and she does so again to reject the marriage proposal he sent her.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. She is amazing at baking sweet things, but struggles with savoury dishes.
* FirstNameBasis: Unlike most of the other Blue Lions, she calls Dimitri by name rather than "your highness".
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** Her clumsiness and loathing of exercise results in penalties to learning all melee weapons and heavy armor.
** As an ally, she can only obtain the Rafail Gem from the Death Knight. [[spoiler:If you join forces with Edelgard after she's revealed to be the Flame Emperor, which also gives you the Death Knight for free, not only does the Death Knight ''not'' have the Rafail Gem, but Mercedes somehow has it as long as she's an enemy.]]
** She mentions in her C-level support conversation with Ashe that she dislikes spicy food and she dislikes four out of five dishes at the dining hall that have spices in them.
* GayOption: She is a romanceable option for Female Byleth.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Despite her kindhearted nature, Mercedes is one of the few who actually approves of Rhea executing the captured Western Church members in Chapter 5, likely because of her religious convictions. Marianne, the TokenReligiousTeammate of the Golden Deer, agrees.
* HatesTheirParent: Downplayed compared to characters like Felix and Hubert, but while Mercedes loves her mother, she does not think well of her adoptive father at all. In her supports with Ferdinand, she notes that a soldier who tries to strong-arm another into selling his sword reminds her of her adoptive father, who used similar tactics to adopt her as a Crest-bearing heiress. After [[spoiler:Fhirdiad is retaken]] on the Azure Moon route, she bitterly notes that her adoptive father quickly switched sides to support Dimitri despite having sucked up to Cornelia ever since the latter came to power. In her S-Support with Byleth, she announces her intention of essentially cutting ties with her adoptive father. And let's not get into her stepfather...
* HealThyself: Mercedes's unique Live to Serve talent recovers her HP by the same amount she heals someone for every time she heals one of her allies.
* HereditaryHomosexuality: She is bisexual just like her [[spoiler:brother Jeritza]].
* HiddenBuxom: Datamining shows she has the third-biggest breasts in the entire game, behind only Manuela and Byleth. You can tell this after the timeskip by her figure-hugging blouse, which is still rather conservative and doesn't show anything. Before the timeskip, he breasts are just as big, but are concealed by her shawl. Becomes more prominent in her summer Variant in ''Heroes'' where it's shown she's quite stacked, which is made more apparent since she debuts alongside Summer Hilda and Marianne -- both wearing bikinis of their own -- and still has noticeably bigger breasts than them (with both being very well-endowed themselves).
* HiddenDepths:
** One of her likes is ghost stories, and as shown in her supports with Alois, for a kind, sweet and motherly young woman, she's good at telling a pretty dark, haunting story.
** Her supports show she has a surprisingly snarky side, especially around Sylvain and Lorenz.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Most of Mercedes' Supports involve her mixing sternness and gentleness in order to teach her fellow classmates an important life lesson, reinstill their drive, and, in the case of [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Lorenz]] and [[UnknownRival Ferdinand]], scold them for some of their more excessive behavior. [[spoiler:Not only is Mercedes incredibly lazy when it comes to her future in general, or when it comes to the fate of whichever faction she's a part of, but she also refuses to acknowledge that [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse her half-brother Jeritza bears a lot of responsibility for his crimes as the Death Knight]], shoving the blame onto herself.]] She also gives Lorenz a lot of grief for being fairly realistic about how he puts duty ahead of his personal desires, when she herself initially shows no incentive to tell off her adoptive father's attempt to put her in an arranged marriage, along with the aforementioned lack of care regarding her future outside of the academy.
* IfItsYouItsOkay: Implied. While Mercedes can [[GayOption get married to a female Byleth]] she is the only woman that Mercedes shows an interest in if romanced and all of her other unambiguously romantic endings are with men.
* ImmigrantPatriotism: She is ethnically Adrestian but loyal to her new homeland of Faerghus and will fight against [[spoiler:the Empire]] during the war phase to the point of being willing to [[spoiler: [[SiblingMurder fight her brother Jeritza]], who has remained with the Empire]]. Subverted if she is recruited to the Black Eagles as she will then [[spoiler:join forces with Edelgard in the fight against the Kingdom and the Church]].
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: When appearing in a bikini for her Summer variant in ''Heroes'', Mercedes notes that she bought the bikini due to the ornate embroidery of the ruffles, seemingly oblivious that the focal point ends up being her massive chest due to the deep cleavage. The Japanese text also has her ask the Summoner if they want to see it from behind, again with no agenda in mind other than to show off the stitching.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: She touches quite a nerve in her C-support with Felix when she says he reminds her of her little brother. Felix instantly snaps at her that he's ''not'' her brother and not to compare them, leaving a stunned Mercedes to apologize and leave. Given Felix's brother died quite traumatically, it's to be expected Felix took exception to the comparison, even if Mercedes didn't mean it in a bad way.
* {{Irony}}:
** Having been born into Adrestian nobility and being one of the game's two strongest magic units, one would expect Mercedes to be a member of the Black Eagles. Instead the circumstances of her early life led to her joining the Blue Lions, the class least associated with magic. [[spoiler:Though if the player poaches her to the Black Eagles, Mercedes has a very strong reason to join on the Crimson Flower route.]]
** She is one of the most religious characters in the game and yet she can end up being recruited to the Black Eagles house and subsequently side with Edelgard after she [[spoiler:declares war on the Church of Seiros]].
** She is the most religious member of the Blue Lions even though her housemates are natives of the ''Holy'' Kingdom of Faerghus and she was born in the Adrestian Empire which has a rather cold (and after [[spoiler:Edelgard's rise to power ''extremely'' hostile]]) relationship with the Church of Seiros.
* IWasJustJoking: In her A-Support with Byleth, she mentions how she may tell her father that she found someone she fell in love with to discourage him from trying to arrange her with anyone. When Byleth asks who she is referring to she will say it's Byleth themself....only to immediately say she's only joking. Naturally in her S-rank support she will then say she was actually serious after all.
* ItsAllMyFault: Mercedes blames herself for her half-brother Emile's [[spoiler:fall into villainy as the Death Knight]]. After Emile was born, Mercedes's stepfather treated Mercedes and her mother as if they were expendable, and the two left House Bartels to live in a church, leaving Emile behind. Mercedes and Emile didn't meet again until [[spoiler:Mercedes began attending the Officers Academy, and he was teaching there as Jeritza. By the time she confronts him personally, he [[IveComeTooFar feels he's beyond redemption]] and won't be swayed to join her, and he's eventually defeated by Kingdom forces at Fort Merceus. Mercedes regrets not going back to House Bartels for him sooner and apologizes to her dying brother for being a lousy sister]].
* JerkassToOne: While her tone doesn't change much, the normally sweet-natured Mercedes is noticeably a lot more snarky and snippy with [[UpperClassTwit Lorenz]] in their supports.
* JoinOrDie: Mercedes [[DiscussedTrope muses on the topic]] as a {{Deconstruction}} of the DefeatMeansFriendship mechanic in ''Three Hopes''[[note]]Although in ''Three Houses'', Lysithea on Crimson Flower is the only character who can join this way if she had not previously been part of the player's house[[/note]]. As much as she would prefer to not kill her former friends and classmates, recruiting them during a battle is essentially forcing them to choose between death or betraying their friends and family.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: Mercedes is a former Adrestian noble with a gentle, graceful demeanor as well as a high Magic growth, allowing her to cast powerful spells whenever she isn't healing allies. Her strengths in Reason and Faith make her a strong candidate for the [[TheRedMage Gremory]] class.
* LastOfHerKind: In her B-support with Dedue, she reveals that she's the last of House Martritz, and expresses her concern that her family recipe will be lost if she dies.
* LipstickLesbian: Downplayed. She is very feminine and is bisexual as she can get married to female Byleth in one of the endings.
* LongLostSibling: [[spoiler:The Death Knight, also known as Jeritza, a teacher at the Officers' Academy,]] is actually Emile, her younger half-brother, whom she was separated from when she fled his father's house in the Empire.
* LoveRedeems: For a [[DownplayedTrope very]], ''[[HeroAntagonist very]]'' strained definition of "redeems". On the Golden Wildfire route, [[spoiler:love for her brother Emile causes her to abandon the Church of Seiros in the end]].
* LuminescentBlush: In her A-support with Ignatz, she lights up when Ignatz compares her beauty to the Goddess and declares his intent to use her as the basis for his next portrait of said deity. As he runs off, she can only pleasantly muse if declaring such a thing before the altar is a sin and that she'll have to offer an extra prayer for him.
* MageMarksman: Mercedes has high aptitudes in both magic skills, and has Archery as her Budding Talent. If you level her Bow skill, she makes excellent use of the Magic Bow.
* MoralityPet: [[spoiler:To Jeritza on the Crimson Flower route in ''Houses'' and even more so on the Azure Gleam route in ''Hopes'', where she can persuade him to defect to the Kingdom.]]
* MotherhoodIsSuperior:
** Mercedes has a loving mother, but has had a very rough run of father figures. Her birth father, Baron Martritz, would have presumably been loving, but died within one year of her birth. Her stepfather, [[spoiler:Baron Bartels, only brought her and her mother around so that one of them could bear him children with crests, deciding he'd take Mercedes as his spouse once she became old enough]]. Her unnamed adoptive father, like many unsavory parents in the setting, [[spoiler:kept attempting to make her marry someone of standing, so that he could be a CoattailRidingRelative]].
** In some of her endings, [[spoiler:she can run a loving orphanage as a single parental figure]]. She even happens to visually resemble a "Mother Superior" nun or abbess.
* MotherlySidePlait: During her academy days, she wears her hair like this, fitting her kind-hearted nature. Her hair is cut short after the TimeSkip, however. On the other hand, [[https://i.imgur.com/ICtVrMm.png there is a Cipher card of hers that depicts her post-time skip outfit while keeping her side plait.]]
* MsFanservice: Only in her Summer variant in ''Heroes'', where she's put in a bikini with extremely deep cleavage that shows off her large chest.
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:Leaving her little brother behind in House Bartels. However, her Support with Jeritza reveals he ''asked'' their mother to abandon him as he didn't want them pursued by the House.]]
* NiceGirl: She's one of the sweetest, friendliest and most gentle characters in the cast. In several of her supports, Mercedes declares that she wants to help people -- whether through service to the Church of Seiros or otherwise.
* NonUniformUniform: She wears a shawl over her uniform and her boot design is unique.
* OfCorsetsSexy: She wears a corset post-timeskip that makes her ample bosom much more apparant than her academy uniform.
* OlderThanTheyLook: She looks to be around the same age as the other characters you unlock, but she outright says she is a bit older than the others. She's in fact 22 years old at the start of the game, and is the oldest student excluding [[DownloadableContent Balthus]] (who entered the academy before she did).
* {{Oneesama}}: To Constance, who even calls her as such in the Japanese dub. [[spoiler:And to Jeritza, who loves her dearly.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: A minor one [[spoiler:but when Emile finally reveals the [[ParentalIncest true reason]] why he killed his father and decides to leave the monastery permanently to protect Mercedes from his Death Knight side, she raises her voice (which she very rarely does) to tell him how it's not fair for him to tell her all that and leave her forever again.]]
* OrphanageOfLove: Most of her endings involve her opening an orphanage.
* ParentalIncest: She almost ended up on the receiving end of this trope as her father wanted to marry her once her mother became too old to bear children. Thankfully, she was spared from this fate as [[spoiler:Jeritza killed their father once he found out about his intentions for her]].
* PlayingWithFire: Most of the spells she learns from her Reason skill are fire-based.
* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: [[spoiler:When she happens to run into Jeritza's Death Knight persona, she's willing to die due to believing that abandoning him was what made him the Death Knight in the first place.]]
* ThePollyanna: Mercedes has experienced several hardships since she was a child, but she remains positive and optimistic, preferring not to gripe or dwell on her misfortunes.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
-->"''Here we go!''" ''(pre-timeskip)''\\
"''At your service.''" ''(post-timeskip)''
* PreMortemOneLiner:
-->"''Excuse me!''"\\
"''Sorry about this!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''I've got this!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''Here goes!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''Are you prepared for this!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''Your end has come!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''Give me strength!''" (Post-timeskip)
* RecurringElement:
** The religious, motherly, soft-spoken healer as pioneered by [[Characters/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Lena]].
** Her background and character are reminiscent of [[Characters/FireEmblemTheBlazingBladeMainStory Priscilla]], although Priscilla remained [[HappilyAdopted a noble]] while Mercedes forsook it altogether. Like Priscilla, she is also the kind and gentle healer who also [[spoiler:was separated with her brother due to circumstances. Unlike Raven though, this almost certainly ends in tragedy, as Emile and/or Mercedes will die, depending on the route you take. The only way to save them both is to sway her to the Black Eagles and side with Adrestia over the Church.]]
* RagsToRoyalty:
** If paired with Dimitri, [[spoiler:the populace of Faerghus are shocked when Dimitri chooses her to be his wife, but realize they were made for each other after she goes out of her way to help people and heal the damage caused by the war]].
** She can also become the queen of [[spoiler:[[TheGoodKingdom the United Kingdom of Fodlan]]]] if she marries [[spoiler:Byleth]] on the Verdant Wind or Silver Snow routes.
* RichesToRags: This girl did not have an easy life. To wit, she was born into a noble family in the Adrestian Empire, but her father passed away before she was born. Her mother would remarry a noble in House Bartels. This marriage produced a son who bore a Crest, but also led to her step-father having [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness no further use]] for her mother, and casting them out while she was still ''ten years old''. She would later be adopted by a merchant, who intends to marry her off for his own financial gain and prestige through the fact that she has a Crest.
* SaintlyChurch: She's the most religious of the playable characters, and is the sweetest, nicest, most obliging person you'll meet, even to those who don't follow the Church. Even towards [[UpperClassTwit Lorenz]] (sometimes).
* SecretAIMoves: She knows Abraxas as an enemy on Crimson Flower and Seraphim as an enemy on Verdant Wind, spells that are impossible for her to obtain as a playable unit. She can also know White Magic Avoid +20 and [[ContractualBossImmunity Unsealable Magic]], the former of which is exclusive to Byleth and Dorothea, and the latter being unobtainable by player-controlled units.
* SecretKeeper: If she's recruited on the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:it's implied she's one of the few members of the Imperial Army who knows Jeritza's true identity as Emile von Bartels]].[[note]]Watching Mercedes' C-support with Felix after doing her paralogue in most routes usually [[DevelopersForesight changes the support]] so Felix acknowledges that her lost brother is the Death Knight. Interestingly, this ''does not happen'' in Crimson Flower at all after Jeritza's addition with the Wave 3 DLC, hinting Mercedes is keeping Jeritza's true identity secret. Constance's C-support with Jeritza confirms this seems to be the case, as it's mentioned Jeritza made quite clear to Constance before she can't call him by his true name in public.[[/note]]
* SharedFamilyQuirks: She has a hell of a sweet tooth, [[spoiler:just like her brother Jeritza/Emile]].
* ShockAndAwe: She learns Thunder at D-rank in Reason.
* SiblingTeam: [[spoiler:Can become one with Jeritza on the Crimson Flower route in ''Houses'' and on both the Scarlet Blaze and Azure Gleam routes in ''Hopes''.]]
* SilkHidingSteel: Mercedes is a sweet and motherly soul, so it's easy to forget that as an Adrestian noble, she is also a master of both PassiveAggressiveKombat and of magic (white ''and'' black), and will not hesitate to give you a piece of her mind (in the most sugary tone possible) if you annoy her or to blast you to smithereens if you face her in battle.
* SkewedPriorities: If you talk to Mercedes post-timeskip during the war, she will sometimes comment on how she'd like to have tea and cakes with her fellow soldiers, in contrast to the other characters discussing the oncoming battle. Byleth can even lampshade this by pointing out that they shouldn't be wasting provisions.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Although her [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]] attitude can make her come off as something of a ditz sometimes, Mercedes is sharper than she lets on. In her supports with Sylvain and Lorenz, she quickly sees through their actions, pointing out to Lorenz that, despite his noble actions (helping her to the infirmary after she twists her ankle), he still won't look her in the eye or talk to her like a real person because she's a commoner.
* SoleSurvivor: Of her birth father's family, House Martritz, which had been wiped out in the empire.
* SquishyWizard: Mercedes has high Magic and Resistance, but while her initial Defense stat is passable, her weak growths in Defense will make her go down easily to a physical attack. She has the most penalties to skills in the game due to her hatred of exercise, being bad at everything related to that except archery (all melee weapons and heavy armor). This naturally forces her into a magic role.
* SugaryMalice: She almost never changes her tone of speaking or drops her motherly attitude, but while being kind and loving she can drop scathing sarcasm or stealth insults without warning in the same tone if she gets annoyed.
* SweetBaker: She's fond of baking and according to Ashe is highly skilled at it, while having the sweet, motherly personality to match. It was apparently something she learned from her mother.
* TarotMotifs: The Crest of Lamine (Judgement) represents renewal and change, where Mercedes [[RichesToRags had gone from]] an Imperial noble to a commoner living in Faerghus. When reversed, it instead stands for denying self-forgiveness for past mistakes, just like how Mercedes blames herself for leaving Emile behind at House Bartels. An additional meaning to the card is a deep association to the intangible spiritual forces and devotion to a higher level of consciousness, which Mercedes dutifully does through her religious nature.
* TeamMom: Mercedes is one of the oldest students at the monastery (and one of the few students who is older than Byleth) and has a motherly personality; she often comforts, encourages and advises her friends when they are upset or frustrated with something.
* TheTease: Mercedes seems to enjoy pretending to interpret comments in a romantic light to tease others, such as in her supports with Lorenz.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: To go with her motherly demeanor, Mercedes knows how to sew, and helps teach Dimitri how to mend his clothes.
* TokenAdult: She's the oldest Blue Lion, and the only one in her house older than 20.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: She can be this to other members of the Black Eagles house if she is recruited there as they are the most anti-Church house.
* TranquilFury: In her supports with Lorenz, Mercedes maintains her sweet tone of voice and calm emotion as she rips into Lorenz for his classist views.
* VerbalBackspace: After learning of how Ferdinand infiltrated Fhirdiad and obtained the documents proving that her adoptive father bribed the church, she says, "That's amazing! I mean... amazingly irresponsible!"
* VerbalTic: In the Japanese dub, she tends to say "''Ara~''" a lot, which is translated to "oh my" and "my, my" in the English version. This is done to emphasize her motherly role to the class as a whole.
* VocalDissonance: For the oldest student in Garreg Mach (if you don't count Balthus), she has a very high-pitched, squeaky voice.
* WhiteMagicianGirl: She is a kind and gentle young woman with a great aptitude for White Magic. Her Fortify spell makes her one of the strongest healers, and her crest sometimes gives her a free spell.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: After the birth of her maternal half-brother, Emile, her step-father saw her and her mother as this, as he married the latter solely to have a Crest-bearing child. Ultimately, Mercedes and her mother moved out of her step-father's residence to live in a church in eastern Faerghus. Her support with her brother reveals that [[spoiler:her step-father eventually found use for them again, but intended to ''marry Mercedes instead'', given that her mother was past childbearing age]].
* YouRemindMeOfX:
** She tells Felix in their supports that he reminds her of her brother Emile. She admits they look nothing alike, but it's more in their personality.
** She tells Cyril that he reminds her of her younger brother Emile in their support in response to Cyril telling her that he sees her as an older sister.
** She mentions in her supports with Ferdinand that an overbearing soldier who tried to force his comrade to sell his sword reminds her of her adoptive father.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Annette]]
!!Annette Fantine Dominic
!!!'''Class:''' Noble → Monk → Mage → Warlock (''Three Houses''), Monk → Warrior (''Three Hopes'')
!!!'''Age:''' 16 (5/09)
!!!'''Crest:''' Dominic (Minor)
!!!'''Height:''' 151 cm (pre-timeskip) -> 153 cm (post-timeskip)
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Takako Tanaka (Japanese), Creator/AbbyTrott (English)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feth_annette.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_annette_02_fe16.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/annette_three_hopes.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Annette in ''Fire Emblem Heroes'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/annette_heroes.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Workaholic}} Bloomed Overachiever]] / [[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Overachiever]]'']]

->''"I've gonna find out everyone's likes and dislikes, so I know what to cook. Who knows when it will be my turn at kitchen duty."''

The niece of Baron Dominic. She graduated from the Royal School of Sorcery in the kingdom. She's a cheerful and hardworking girl, but there are times when any plans she makes end up going nowhere and fails. She has been friends with Mercedes since their time at the School of Sorcery, and she calls Mercedes "Mercie" while Mercedes calls her "Annie."\\\

Her personal ability, ''Perseverance'', allows her to Rally an ally's Strength. She bears the Minor Crest of Dominic, which gives her a chance of conserving uses of attack magic.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Mercedes calls her "Annie" (or "Ann" in the Japanese version), though Mercedes is the only one who uses this name.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: In her support chain with Lysithea, she admits to Lysithea she feels this way since Lysithea is both talented and a hard-worker and Annette feels like she has to give it her all just to keep up with her, but Lysithea responds with a YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre speech.
* AncestralWeapon: Annette gains use of the Dominic family Relic, the axe Crusher, after Baron Dominic's defeat in her and Gilbert's paralogue. As she's the only Crest of Dominic bearer in the cast, she's the only person capable of wielding it safely.
* AntagonisticOffspring: On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:it's very much possible for her to fight and kill her father Gilbert in the final battle.]] She reveals in several chats before this point that she knows it's a real possibility and dreads it, but [[IveComeTooFar she's staying the course]] for [[UndyingLoyalty Byleth]].
* BadassAdorable: She's a sweet, cute, and energetic girl who also has a high magical growth and quite the talent for Reason magic, learning several powerful spells.
* BadassTeacher: Many of her endings result in her taking up a teaching position after the war.
** In her solo ending and her paired endings with Caspar (on non-Crimson Flower routes), Dedue, Mercedes, Hanneman, and Gilbert, [[spoiler:she returns to Fhirdiad and becomes a teacher at the Royal School of Sorcery]].
** In her paired endings with Linhardt on all routes, Felix on a non-Azure Moon route, and Byleth on the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:she and her husband become teachers at the Officers Academy, with Annette as the new sorcery instructor.]]
** In her paired ending with Claude, [[spoiler:she becomes headmaster of a school of sorcery designed to foster peaceful relations between Fódlan and Almyra]].
** In her paired ending with Byleth in non-Crimson Flower routes, while she doesn't become a teacher [[spoiler:she becomes a frequent guest speaker at the Royal School of Sorcery.]]
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Of the Blue Lions girls, she's the Brains to Ingrid's Brawn and Mercedes' Beauty, being an exceptionally rare Faerghus-born magical prodigy from sheer hard work.
* BenevolentMageRuler: Becomes a wise mage queen if she marries Dimitri, [[spoiler:Claude, or Silver Snow/Verdant Wind Byleth.]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Sweet little Annette is surprisingly at ease with killing people -- on your first real mission with the Blue Lions where you actually kill enemy units instead of just defeating them, she'll happily comment on how great a fighter she is, whereas the more seasoned fighters like Dimitri and Sylvain display a far more sober, regretful attitude towards it.
** She's also willing to threaten people if they hurt her friends, like telling a brigand she won't go easy on him if he keeps harassing her and Mercedes in their B-support, much to the horror of the latter.
** On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:should you kill her father and didn't recruit her, she'll ''snap''.]]
* BeYourself: In her support with Byleth, Annette is frustrated and stressed by how hard a worker she is, and her inability to relax. She resolves at first to "do her best at not doing her best," only for it to feel unnatural for her to just relax on a day off and frustrate her more. At the end of the support chain, Byleth advises her to stay true to her hardworking and energetic nature instead, and a happy Annette agrees.
* BigEater: She really does love eating. Felix notes after hearing one of her songs about food that her stomach isn't far from her heart.
* BittersweetEnding: Her paired ending with Felix on the Azure Moon route has a hint of this thrown in it at the end. [[spoiler:She and Felix live happily and thanks to his encouragement, she becomes a songwriter that has her melodies remembered for decades. However, it's noted that the lyrics of the songs eventually became distorted and the original meaning of the music was lost.]]
* BlackMagicianGirl: An energetic young woman who excels in Reason Magic.
* BlowYouAway: By leveling up her Reason skill, Annette becomes a master of wind magic.
* CuteClumsyGirl:
** Annette is earnest and hardworking in everything she does, though she's clumsy and often drops or trips over things. While some characters (such as Dedue) point out Annette's clumsiness, nobody holds her in contempt and are usually more worried about her well-being.
** In her support with Dedue, Dedue points out that she often fails to pay attention to her surroundings, resulting in her exploding the kitchen when she tries to cook, wearing mismatched shoes, and other mishaps that result from her being, in her words, "scatterbrained."
** She offers to clean Hilda's room in their C-support and ends up making the place messier, prompting Hilda to clean up the place herself. While unhappy that she has an even bigger mess to clean, Hilda appreciates Annette for trying.
** After conversing with Byleth about her hardworking nature, she rushes away and trips on a barrel, as her professor stares in silence.
** Having tea time with her, Annette mentions having broken another plate. Disagreeing, chatting, and praising nets this approval.
** Annette and Gilbert's paralogue opens with Gilbert speaking with Byleth, and Annette makes her entrance by running into a barrel with a clatter. After the three of them convene at the end of the mission, Annette exits and immediately trips over a box. Gilbert turns back to Byleth and asks them to watch over her.
* TheCutie: ''Very'' much so among the Blue Lions, being the second youngest and shortest among them.
* DisappearedDad: Her father is Gilbert (otherwise known as Gustave), who left the family in order to focus on his duties as a knight. In her support with Dimitri, Annette reveals that her primary motivation for attending the Officers Academy was to find her father, whom she was sure was at Garreg Mach Monastery.
* DragonTheirFeet: On the Crimson Flower route, should you not recruit her, [[spoiler:she outlives Dimitri and commands the last remnants of the Kingdom army in the final battle along with Ashe]].
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: She loses her GirlishPigtails during the timeskip, showcasing that she's all grown up.
* FanservicePack: In ''Three Hopes'', Annette's post-timeskip outfit has a CleavageWindow, something noticably absent from her ''Three Houses'' post-timeskip outfit.
* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler:When confronted at the end of Crimson Flower, Annette tells her opponent that she won't let them take Fhirdiad and that she will defend it, apparently missing that the entire city is on fire and there isn't much of a city left to defend.]]
* FieryRedhead: She's redheaded, energetic and excitable all at once.
* {{Flanderization}}: ''Three Hopes'' plays up her obsession with singing quite a bit, to the point many of her supports and even her unique ability revolve around the concept of song.
* FriendlyRivalry: Her Supports with Lysithea revolves around the two developing a friendly rivalry in becoming stronger mages.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** She scored high at the school of sorcery. She's also one of the few characters to start with a proficiency in Reason at D+ instead of the usual D or E+.
** Annette is GoodWithNumbers and enjoys studying tactics. She's one of the few non-lord characters with an authority boon.
** For her boon in axes: While Annette is not a physically-oriented unit, the basics of knighthood and battle were taught to her due to being the daughter of a family of Barons who have served as knights for generations, one of them being her father [[FailureKnight Gilbert.]] House Dominic is also one of the noble houses that possesses a Hero's Relic, and theirs is the magical axe Crusher.
** She says her high marks at the school of sorcery were due to hard work instead of natural talent. She lacks a budding talent.
** She has a bane in Bows, which makes sense as Annette is clumsy and archery requires a lot of precision unlike the other methods of attack.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** While she's said to be clumsy, Dexterity ties with Magic for her highest stat. [[note]]Only Bernadetta, Claude, Lysithea, Leonie, and Shamir exceed her.[[/note]]
** In ''Three Hopes'', her preferred class line is the Gremory, but as an enemy, she is fought as a Warrior due to her wielding the Crusher, and the Gremory only wields tomes[[note]]War Cleric, which would let her use Crusher in addition to magic, is AdaptedOut of ''Three Hopes''[[/note]].
** She is noted to be very clumsy while cooking, to the point where Dimitri states she caused an explosion in the kitchen when introducing her. Despite this, she is not among the characters who gives a penalty when chosen for cooking. It's possible that the reason why it goes better for her there is because Byleth is helping her with it.
* GirlishPigtails: Hers are donut-shaped, showing that she's an energetic young girl. [[LettingHerHairDown She loses them after the timeskip]]. In ''Three Hopes'', she still wears them as a pair of looped braids.
* GoodWithNumbers: Her C-support with Ashe shows she's quite good at mathematics, and enthusiastically convinces him that knowing the theory can be a lot of help when making strategy.
* HartmanHips: Post-timeskip, while she's still short, her hips are noticeably wider, further emphasized by her outfit.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: When she is paired up with [[TheBigGuy Dedue]], who is over 50 cm taller than she is. She also has this dynamic with [[OneHeadTaller Dimitri]].
* IWantMyMommy: Or daddy, in this case. [[spoiler:Her last words in chapter 18 of the Crimson Flower route are begging her father to save her.]]
* IfItsYouItsOkay: Implied with Mercedes. Their paired ending states that although they were apart for a while, Annette eventually moved to Mercedes' village and remained there. The ending even states they were happy with their modest life.
* JerkassToOne: PlayedForLaughs. While she's a NiceGirl most of the time, she acts hilariously belligerent towards Felix in their supports, refusing to believe that the guy who's usually an asshole is actually being nice to her.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Her post-timeskip appearance has her in a dress that looks tight on her. Not that it stops her from being the same powerful magic wielder she was before the time-skip, or even from being a weapons fighter.
* LethalChef: She spends a lot of time trying to cook. ''Trying'' being the keyword. She's caused at least one explosion in the kitchen during the night. Even her paired ending with Byleth has accounts where she ''still'' makes explosions in the kitchen while he has to save her. She's also one of the few characters with penalties towards cooking.
* LettingHerHairDown: Her post-timeskip design has her ditching her GirlishPigTails and instead letting her hair go straight down.
* MagicKnight: In spite of having a low strength growth, she has axes as a proficiency, and also has Crusher as her relic weapon that deals magic damage, and learns Lightning Axe earlier than Edelgard and Sylvain at a rank of C+.
* NiceGirl: She happens to be very cheerful, sweet, and kind. In fact, she doesn't even hold any personal grudges or hatred towards her own father when he abandoned his family to serve the Knights of Seiros, and can reconcile with him in their supports.
* NotTheIntendedUse: While her stats mostly lean towards a SquishyWizard type, her proficiency in axes, including having her relic weapon being an axe, makes her a viable candidate for the Wyvern Rider and Wyvern Lord classes, of all things.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Pre-timeskip. She has the appearance that can easily be mistaken to be that of a small child or younger teenager, but is actually 16 at the start of the game.
* OneHeadTaller: Although she grows during the time-skip, it is only by two puny cm (which is especially egregious when compared to how much height the two short girls in the other houses, Bernadetta and Lysithea, gains after the time-skip). As such, she is the second-to-shortest playable character after Flayn and many of her potential husbands towers over her.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: While she has a decent spell list, she unfortunately has to compete with Lysithea due to Lysithea's insane magic damage and spell list. That said, she possesses a good amount of rally skills such as Rally Movement, and her proficiency in axes means that she can utilize the Bolt Axe or even Crusher, and makes for a good, if a bit gimmicky Wyvern Rider or Wyvern Lord.
* PintsizePowerhouse: Annette is the shortest Blue Lion, and the second shortest of any unit (after Flayn) during the [[TimeSkip War Phase]]. She also packs a massive punch with her magic.
* PluckyGirl: She's a go-getting, hardworking and cheerful young woman. She loves to come up with silly little songs to help her as she works, which exposes her to teasing from the likes of Claude.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
-->"''Here it goes!''" ''(pre-timeskip)''\\
"''I'm your girl.''" ''(post-timeskip)''
* PreMortemOneLiner:
-->"''Ready or not!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''I'm not gonna lose!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''Get lost!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''I'll show you!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''You're done!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''I won't back down!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''I have to do this!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''You ready?''" (Post-timeskip)
* RecurringElement: The youthful, friendly, and cheerful prodigy of offensive magic with specialization in [[BlowYouAway wind]], just like [[Characters/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Merric]]. Annette is notable in that she is the first female who fulfills the archetype, all previous "Merrics" having been male. [[CompositeCharacter She also possesses partial traits of Linde]], besides her gender: [[spoiler:having issues about her father Gustave/Gilbert being a DisappearedDad, and in the Crimson Flower route, if recruited, she could enact father-daughter fatal battle with Gilbert in a reverse of what happened between [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Tailtiu and Reptor]] (except Annette considered herself [[AntagonisticOffspring the bad daughter]] that has gone too far to stop). If she's not recruited, killing Gilbert will [[YouKilledMyFather make Annette snap]] and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge demand revenge]], turning him into her Miloah figure.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:both her and Gilbert will appear on the final map if you don't recruit her. If you kill Gilbert before Annette, she will disregard her position and immediately begin to move towards you even if no one is close to her.]]
* RouteBoss:
** She only appears as an enemy in Crimson Flower in ''Three Houses''.
** {{Averted}} in ''Three Hopes'', where she appears as an enemy general in both of the two non-Blue Lions route.
* RunningGag: At the end of conversations, she tends to run off and trip on something offscreen, usually a barrel.
* ScholarshipStudent: Because she lacked the financial means to attend the Officer's Academy right away, Annette worked to receive a recommendation from the Royal School of Sorcery to bypass the tuition costs. Her natural hard-working personality helped her achieve the goal, but gave her a sense of anxiety due to lacking raw talent compared to others.
* SecretAIMoves: As an enemy unit, she can know Seal Speed, a skill that is impossible for her to obtain as a playable unit. She can also have [[ContractualBossImmunity a skill that prevents her from being silenced.]]
* SecretArt: Outside of a NewGamePlus, she's the only character that can use Dust, Crusher's combat art. It deals 20 extra damage, lower enemy's defense by 5, and deals effective damage against dragons.
* SelfMadeOrphan: If recruited on the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:she can kill her own father Gilbert in battle]].
* SharedFamilyQuirks: Like her father Gilbert, Annette has a boon in axes. They also both enjoy the Almond Blend during tea time.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: She's the shortest Blue Lion and one of the shortest characters in the game. She's also a magical genius that enjoys studying battlefield tactics, and is one of the few characters to excel in both Reason and Authority, the two most study-intensive fields. [[note]]The others are Hubert, Lysithea, and Yuri, plus Edelgard and Ignatz with their budding talents.[[/note]]
* SoleSurvivor:
** Assuming no recruitment outside the Azure Moon route, she stands a good chance of becoming this. [[spoiler:On the Verdant Wind route, Annette is the only student from her house that does not appear in any battle, and while Dimitri is the only one who has to be killed, it's possible everyone else could die at either Aliel (Ashe), Enbarr (Dedue), or Gronder (Ingrid, Sylvain, Felix, and Mercedes). The same presumably happens on Silver Snow, as the Battle of Gronder (which takes place offscreen) is noted to have many casualities while Ashe and Dedue appear in the same places as Verdant Wind. Finally, on the Crimson Flower route, everyone from her house except her and Ashe are required kills, and Ashe starts much closer to the player than she does. Although Annette will begin moving towards you if you kill Gilbert first, who is also close to the player's starting position, Gilbert's limited range makes it possible to avoid confronting either.]]
* SquishyWizard: Her talents lie in powerful attack magic, and she's got frail physical defenses.
* SupportPartyMember: Thanks to her boon in Authority, Annette can learn various Rally abilities, allowing her to use her turn to improve the stats of her allies.
* SweetTooth: She has a strong fondness of sweets, fitting into her personality.
* TarotMotifs: The crest of Dominic is based on the arcana of The Empress, which symbolizes accomplishments and development. This fits Annette's constant drive for knowledge and the high scores from her time at the School of Sorcery. When reversed, however, this arcana represents a lack of concentration and anxiety, which Annette experiences a lot of the time.
* TearsOfJoy: If paired with Byleth at the end of the game, she cries when he proposes to her.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Annette's support with Dimitri has her asking him about how her father, Gustave, who served the Blaiddyd royal line since the time of Dimitri's grandfather, acted when away from home. Dimitri remembers him as a strict, but affectionate mentor figure who used sometimes questionable training methods[[note]]Namely, forcing two youths onto a dark mountain in the middle of a cold winter night to hunt a deer[[/note]], and Annette remarks that she remembers him being much the same at home.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: With Ingrid in their support chain; Ingrid is training-focused and claims to have no time to focus in her appearance beyond basic hygiene, while Annette talks excitedly about traditionally feminine pursuits like putting on makeup. In the end, despite Ingrid's protests, she manages to persuade Ingrid to put on some makeup anyway.
* TookALevelInBadass: Her Speed and Defense are much higher in ''Heroes'' than her averages in ''Three Houses''. Crusher also targets the lower defensive stat of a target, as opposed to exclusively targeting Resistance as in ''Three Houses''.
* ToughLove: In her support with Dedue, Annette reveals that her uncle Baron Dominic treated her somewhat coldly, expecting her to be skilled at several tasks, sighing in exasperation when she would make mistakes, and telling her that unless she was perfect she was devaluing her Crest. Dedue remarks that his treatment of her seems harsh, while Annette muses that she knows he cared about her, but his manner scared her. She tells Dedue that she appreciates his patience with her. She also notes that her father was somewhat strict with her and her mother.
* {{Tsundere}}: Not usually, but Type B in her supports with Felix. She refuses to believe that the usually rude [[{{Tsundere}} Felix]] has genuinely taken an interest in her singing and assumes he's making fun of her. As a result, she acts mean to him [[PetTheDog even though he's just trying to be nice.]]
* UtilityPartyMember: She has Rally Strength as a personal skill and has the most combination of rallies in Resistance, Speed, and Movement. Her unique ability in ''Three Hopes'' is "Courageous Aria", allowing her to grant a random buff (increased critical rate, increased attack speed, or enchanting attacks with an element based on the character) to her and her nearby allies when the unique ability gauge is filled.
* VerbalTic: She has a tendency to shout "Bah!" if she's caught by surprise.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: On the Scarlet Blaze route in ''Three Hopes'', [[spoiler:there is a chance to spare Annette in the chapter she appears in, even if it doesn't mean recruiting her. To do so, the player must use the secret passage strategy, which causes her to be deployed before her father can be for a second time. As soon as she is defeated, Gilbert will spawn in and save her, urging her to flee and survive. So instead of dying, Annette pulls a ScrewThisImOuttaHere and leaves, saving her life in the end. However, due to her father taking the fall for her, she will probably not be returning the favor to the player]].
* VocalDissonance: Due to her appearance pre-timeskip, her voice in the English dub initially doesn't quite mesh well despite being suited for her age-range. Averted post-time skip where she looks more like an adult.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic: [[invoked]]Annette's songs are the target of over-analysis, to her dismay. They're supposed to be silly and mean no more than the words say, but Felix questions the lyrical content in her library cleaning song, and Claude assumes a song about growing flowers is really about bitter, regretful souls trapped in the underworld. If Annette and Felix get a paired ending on the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:the epilogue states that the songs she wrote remained popular for a long time, but their lyrics became distorted over the years and their original meanings forgotten.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: If she is not recruited on the Verdant Wind route, she makes no appearance whatsoever, not even during the [[spoiler:MeleeATrois at Gronder Field,]] making it ambiguous as to where she is. [[spoiler:As Baron Dominic, Annette's uncle, is part of the Pro-empire faction of Kingdom nobles, as revealed in her paralogue with Gilbert, Annette is likely prevented from getting involved in the war by her uncle for her safety and she mentions that she joined Byleth in part 2 to find her father if recruited on the Verdant Wind route]].
* YouRemindMeOfX: In her A-support with Dedue, Annette says that he reminds her of her father Gilbert; both are outwardly intimidating, but have a deep kindness underneath.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ashe]]
!!Ashe Ubert
!!!'''Class:''' Commoner → Fighter → Archer → Sniper/Assassin (''Three Houses''), Fighter → Archer → Bow Knight (''Three Hopes'')
!!!'''Age:''' 16 (10/17)
!!!'''Height:''' 164 cm (pre-timeskip) -> 174 cm (post-timeskip)
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YukiInoue (Japanese), Shannon [=McKain=] (English)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fe3h_ashe_artwork.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Houses)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_ashe_02_fe16_9.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Post-Timeskip (Three Hopes)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ashe_three_hopes.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[FriendlySniper Arrow of Justice]]'']]

->''"It's just my daily training. Maybe you could stand to be a little more eager yourself? If I want to be a great knight, I've got no choice but to put the effort in."''

The adopted son of Lord Lonato of Gaspard. He deeply respects his adoptive father, given that Lonato took him in despite being a commoner and allowed Ashe to go to the Officers Academy. Ashe is a serious young man who trains and studies hard so he can become an admirable adult like his father.\\\

His personal ability, ''Lockpick'', allows him to open chests and doors without keys.
----
* AdoptedIntoRoyalty:
** Downplayed. Ashe has been adopted into Lonato's family, but doesn't enjoy the full status of a noble until after the events of the game. He also retains his commoner sensibilities and doesn't refer to himself as a noble either, as shown by his starting class.
** This also shows up in his support with Dimitri, where Ashe acts overly deferential to the young prince and offers to do everything for him due to their difference in status. Dimitri is exasperated by his seeming inability to please Ashe or get him to see them as equals, instead tricking Ashe into asking what kind of sweets he'd want so he can buy them for him above Ashe's protests.
* ApologeticAttacker: If you have recruited him in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, he says this when he is [[spoiler:confronted as an enemy]].
--> '''Ashe:''' [[spoiler:Forgive me... But as Lonato's son, I have a duty!]]
* TheAtoner: He considers becoming a knight as a way to atone for his past thieving and honor the man who took him and his siblings in.
* BabiesEverAfter: With Hapi in their paired ending.
* BadassAdorable: Ashe is a very cute and earnest boy who also happens to be quite the proficient archer.
* BadassNormal: He doesn't have a Crest and he's a MagicallyIneptFighter. He's no worse for it.
* BaitAndSwitchComment: In his support with Felix, Felix talks down to him about his idealistic love for knights and knightly tales, and it initially looks like an annoyed Ashe is going to tell him off, only for Ashe to cheerfully compare Felix to the hero of one of the tales.
-->'''Felix:''' Such blind enthusiasm is dangerous. Be more moderate in your passions.\\
'''Ashe:''' ''[annoyed]'' You know something, Felix?\\
'''Felix:''' ...\\
'''Ashe:''' ''[smiles]'' You are exactly like the knight in this story!
* BewareTheNiceOnes: One of the few times Ashe gets straight-up pissed is if he fights the Western Church's bishop in his and Catherine's shared paralogue.
-->'''Ashe:''' ''[angry]'' Lonato's blood is on your hands...\\
'''Bishop:''' Were you Lord Lonato's page or something? Indeed, he was a devout believer. All we did was provide Lord Lonato salvation from his misery!\\
'''Ashe:''' ''[still angry]'' Salvation?! You used him and threw him away!
* BigGuyLittleGuy: The Little to Dedue's Big, even after the timeskip.
* BirdsOfAFeather:
** He can end up marrying Ingrid over their shared love of novels and aspirations of becoming knights. Their kind and upstanding personalities are also similar.
** He and Mercedes can end up married due to their similar aspirations of helping as many people as they can, as well as their fondness for baking. Both are sweet and kind people.
* BlowYouAway: He can learn Wind and Cutting Gale when learning in Reason.
* {{Bookworm}}: He frequents the library and enjoys reading tales of heroic knights.
* BoringButPractical: He lacks Bernadetta's gimmicks and Ignatz's utility, but his semi-unique combination of both an axe boon and a bow boon [[note]]Excluding DLC, only Cyril and Petra have this, and Petra doesn't level bows out of house.[[/note]] allows him to easily go Brigand and then set his study plan to bow/authority for the rest of the game, giving the player access to a Sniper with Death Blow at minimal cost and effectively an extra tutoring session for the rest of the game. His lone bane is also in Reason, which doesn't affect his usual builds.
* BreakTheCutie: When he finds out that his adoptive father Lonato is [[spoiler:rebelling against the church]], he is distraught. [[spoiler:If the Blue Lions house was chosen, he is vocally against the idea of fighting him. Engaging in combat with him]] only wavers his resolve even more and the aftermath leaves Ashe mourning over [[spoiler:the loss of his parental figure.]] He still doesn't fully get over it come the paralogue.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Gender-flipped example, as he's the Gentle Boy to Hapi's Brooding Girl.
* BrokenPedestal: Discussed. Ashe reveals [[spoiler:after Lonato's death]] that he looked up to and adored his adoptive father Lonato as the epitome of the knight he aspired to be: kind, noble and stalwart, but is ashamed of his failure to notice Lonato's [[spoiler:pain, grief and anger after the death of his son Christophe at the hands of the Church before he was killed.]]
* CallingParentsByTheirName: He calls his adoptive father "Lonato," rather than "Father" or "Lord Lonato" for unclear reasons.
* CantCatchUp: Due to the recruitment requirements of him on Silver Snow and Verdant Wind [[spoiler:which involve him being an enemy unit at chapter 15 and having to spare him in order to recruit him back to your side]], he will end up falling behind the other units in your play through which can become a problem on Hard and Maddening modes of gameplay (on Normal mode, he can at least catch up via auxiliary battles that don't take up an activity point).
* CloseToHome:
** In his supports with Byleth, he chases down a thief who stole a rare and valuable book. After the thief says he has a sick child and needed the money to support them, Ashe decides to pay for the book in his stead. Byleth points out that it could have easily been a false sob story used to gain Ashe's sympathy, but Ashe admits that he turned to thievery himself for the same reasons when he was younger. So he decided to help the man even at his own expense. After the timeskip, he encounters the man and his child again, but laments that they were still struggling to get by.
** In his supports with Caspar, the two of them argue over what to do with a pantry thief. While Caspar advocates slaying them on the spot to MakeAnExampleOfThem, Ashe wants to hear them out first, likely because of his own background.
* CommonalityConnection: His supports with Ingrid have them bond over their shared appreciation for Faerghus' legends and fairy tales as well as their shared desire to become [[KnightInShiningArmor knights like the ones in those stories.]]
* CovertPervert: Downplayed, but in his supports with Hapi, he's shown to enjoy more "raunchy" stories about knights in addition to more conventional chivalrous tales. This is only the case [[LostInTranslation in the English localization]], however, as in the original Japenese version, the story he told Hapi was described by her as being "refreshing" in that it was different from the more heroic tales he's known for loving.
* CriticalStatusBuff: His Spring Eternal variant in ''Heroes'' grants a bonus in attack and speed when he has less than 25% of his health left.
* TheCutie: He's as cute as Annette and is the youngest of the Blue Lions.
* CynicIdealistDuo: He has this dynamic with both Felix and Hapi about chivalry and knights where Ashe is the idealist. While Ashe does try to get the good stuff across to them, he himself isn't ignoring what the two has to say about it, taking it to heart and growing to become his own knight instead of following the current code of honor.
* DeathGlare: His angry portrait, both [[https://i.imgur.com/24wxWY5.png pre-timeskip]] and [[https://i.imgur.com/zljFUSU.png post-timeskip]], sports some noticeable shadowing around his eyes, which when combined with the lack of definition on his pupils, makes his anger look a bit more intimidating than the others.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: On the [[spoiler:Silver Snow and Verdant Wind]] campaigns, [[spoiler:should he have been recruited pre-timeskip, the player can choose to either kill him or spare him; the latter has him join you after the battle]].
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: In his support with Marianne, he tries to assure her that she doesn't look like a ghost after she spooks him by accident. He starts rattling off all of her features but quickly realizes that he's only making it worse.
-->'''Ashe:''' It's just, I um... In the dark, with your head down like that, and the hair covering your eyes... I, uh...
* DivergentCharacterEvolution: In the ''Cindered Shadows'' since he and Claude both are bow focused units, Ashe starts off as a Sniper to differentiate himself from Claude, and focuses on being a long range archer thanks to having several of his long range Combat Arts, whereas Claude starts as a Wyvern Rider, making him more of a close range GlassCannon. Also, while Claude can also reclass to Sniper so he can attack from further away, Ashe has exclusive access to Assassin, allowing him to use better sword weapons than other units that aren't Byleth or Yuri and better speed.
* DoYouWantToHaggle: Gets into this with Anna during his supports with Petra. It's implied that he does this a lot to save money.
* DragonRider: He has an axe proficiency and a budding talent in lances, leaving flying as the only serious issue for him. Ashe can also additionally request to be trained as a Wyvern Rider.
* DragonTheirFeet: On the Crimson Flower route, should you not recruit him, [[spoiler:he outlives Dimitri and commands the last remnants of the Kingdom army in the final battle along with Annette]].
* DubNameChange: His last name was changed from "Duran" to "Ubert" in non-Japanese versions of the game.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: His hair is noticeably neater and slightly longer after the timeskip, showing his maturity.
* FaceHeelTurn: A very strange variant on the [[spoiler:Silver Snow and Verdant Wind]] routes. [[spoiler:Ashe is the only Blue Lion that will side with the Empire by default on these routes, even briefly leaving the party to do so. Notably, he harbors no ill will towards your party or faction, and can in fact be re-recruited if he was recruited pre-timeskip]].
* FaceYourFears: In his A support with Annette in ''Three Houses'', they are sent to clean a tower but get locked in. After breaking out, Annette realizes that she lost a doll from her father in there, but decides to not go back in for it out of fear of how spooky the tower was. In their A+ support, Ashe goes alone into the tower to retrieve the doll, despite his fear of ghosts, because he thinks Annette can't leave behind something so important. And while Ashe thinks of his fear of ghosts as pathetic, Annette is instead impressed that he was willing to face that fear and be brave for her.
-->'''Ashe:''' Look at me though. Haha, a grown man, scared of ghosts. Pathetic, right?
-->'''Annette:''' [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre No, I don't think that at all. I think you're something special, Ashe!]] You were really brave. And all for me... That wasn't an easy thing to do. I'm in awe of you!
* FighterMageThief: In Cindered Shadows, he acts as the Thief to Linhardt's Mage and Hilda's Fighter. His classes either let him fight from a distance (Archer, Sniper) or allow him to evade detection (Assassin). He also tends to be the fastest of the three and can pick locks regardless of class.
* {{Foil}}: To Caspar. Both of them are among the younger members of their respective houses, are rather short before the Academy Phase, but grow taller during the War Phase and have a strong sense of justice. Ashe was a commoner who was adopted into House Gaspard while Caspar was born a noble into House Bergliez. Ashe is a FriendlySniper who specializes with the bow while Caspar is a BloodKnight who specializes in close combat, specifically gauntlets and axes. Both of them have an older sibling, but while Ashe remembers Christophe fondly, Caspar doesn't think too much of his own older brother. The biggest difference between Caspar and Ashe is their personalities: [[RedOni Caspar is hot-blooded, quick to get into a fight and loud]] while [[BlueOni Ashe is more calm, collected, and would rather seek a peaceful solution rather than violence.]]
* FragileSpeedster: He has strong growths in dexterity and speed, but mediocre strength, defense and resistance growths. He also says that he's confident in his own speed when chasing down a thief.
* FriendlessBackground: Ashe is unique among the Blue Lions in that he's the only one who has no prior connection to anyone else in the house, as he's from southern Faerghus while everyone else, including Mercedes who immigrated from Adrestria, lives in northern Faerghus. This doesn't prevent him from being welcomed by them with open arms.
* FriendlySniper: He has a predisposition towards bows and is one of the sweetest and most cheerful people in the game.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** His supports reveal that he turned to theft to support his little brother and sister after losing his parents, stealing from passerby, shops, and even mansions. A personal variation of the Lockpick skill is his personal skill; It is normally only available to Thieves and Assassins, hence Ashe can pick doors and chests no matter what class he's in.
** Despite being a bookworm, he has a minus modifier towards Reason, which reflects his lowly birth and tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve rather than think with cold logic.
** For any non-Azure Moon route, despite the fact that Ashe is an archer, recruiting him to any of the other houses requires sufficient skill in Charm and ''lances''. This sounds almost arbitrary until you remember that Ashe idolizes knights and knighthood, so having skill in a weapon typically associated with one is what will win him over to another house.
** He's the only Blue Lion without a previous connection to another member. As a result, he's the only one without attack-boosting supports, and on [[spoiler:the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind]] routes, he [[spoiler:ends up fighting for the Empire post-timeskip]]. In ''Three Hopes'', contrasting the UndyingLoyalty of his classmates (barring Mercedes on Scarlet Blaze), he can be persuaded to defect from the Kingdom. However, there he defects mostly because he follows Dimitri's orders on choosing his own life over fighting to the death for Faerghus, as Ashe became a knight and wanted to fight for Dimitri. As a result, he becomes a bit more cynical as he now has to fight his friends, who either call him out for turning on Faerghus or tells him to hold it together and come at them with all he's got.
** Unlike ''Three Houses'', ''Three Hopes'' acknowledges Ashe and Yuri's pre-existing relationship by giving them supports and a Paralogue together.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** While he's good at haggling, Ashe's Charm stat is one of the lowest in the game, tying for the second-lowest growth (25%) and having ''the'' lowest cap in the game (36).
** Despite being confident in his own speed and claiming nobody can outrun him, Ashe's Speed base (9), growth (50%), and cap (71) are simply above-average.
** While he was a thief, Ashe is neutral with swords and has no previous skill with them.
** While he knows Yuri from his past, and even has special dialogue with him on [[spoiler:the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind routes]], Ashe and Yuri have no supports in ''Three Houses''.
* HappilyAdopted: He loves and respects his adoptive father a great deal, which is why it hurts him when he hears [[spoiler:Lonato rebelled against the church.]]
* HiddenDepths: His supports with Sylvain in ''Three Hopes'' shows that Ashe is a quick learner, as he is able to figure out the strategies of previous kings after a description of them from Sylvain.
* HumbleHero: Despite Mercedes calling him an amazing cook in their support, he downplays his own cooking skill as "a little bit of experience" and compliments her baking skills. In his support with Dedue, he's awed by Dedue's knowledge of fish preparation and says Dedue's culinary expertise makes him feel like an amateur.
* IGotBigger: Ashe grows ten centimeters during the timeskip and fills out in the shoulders, although he's still relatively short and slender.
* InTheHood: His uniform has a hood akin to a sniper's around the collar. He keeps it after the timeskip.
* {{Irony}}:
** If he was recruited on the Crimson Flower route, he stays with the Empire due to blaming the Church for Lonato and Christophe's deaths, believing he'll find the truth for why they are killed. [[spoiler:In the end he remains ignorant of the truth by choosing revenge, and can only learn the truth by opposing the Empire.]]
** For added irony, in ''Three Hopes'', recruiting him to the Empire on the Scarlet Blaze route is now the only way the player can ensure both he and Lonato survive the story.
* ItsPersonal:
** The reason he comes on the mission to punish the Western Church's leadership in his paralogue. He wants to find out just what really is going on, but he also blames them for manipulating Lonato and taking advantage of his grief. He gets special dialog should he fight the bishop during the mission.
--->'''Ashe:''' Lonato's blood is on your hands...\\
'''Bishop:''' Were you Lord Lonato's page or something? Indeed, he was a devout believer. All we did was provide Lord Lonato salvation from his misery!\\
'''Ashe:''' Salvation?! You used him and threw him away!
** Like Sylvain, he has a very important reason for wanting to help Edelgard if he's recruited to Crimson Flower, namely his enormous personal grudge against the church for Lonato's suffering, rather than being entrapped in the Empire's service like most of his classmates. He never regrets switching sides. In his supports with Catherine on non-Crimson Flower routes, where he learns the truth, he ends up subverting this. He has conflicted feelings on Catherine until he gets the full story from her, and learns that Christophe and Lonato were victims of the Western Church and its corruption.
* JumpedAtTheCall: In the Cindered Shadows DLC, each of the house leaders takes one of their house members along with them down to the tunnels underneath Garreg Mach. Lindhart and Hilda are none too pleased when Edelgard and Claude force them to come. Ashe, on the other hand, is all too happy to help, stating he has nothing better to do at the moment anyway.
* JustifiedCriminal: Prior to his adoption, he stole from others in order to support his siblings.
* KnightInShiningArmor: He aspires to become one like the knights in the stories he loves reading about. In his supports with Ingrid, he admits that reality is not as simple as those tales, but wants to be a proud knight nonetheless. In his paired endings with Petra, Byleth and Ingrid, he succeeds in becoming one.
* LadyAndKnight:
** His paired ending with Petra, where he returns with her to Brigid to serve her as knight, forming the Blue Sun Knights for the swimming that they love so much.
** He can achieve this dynamic with Byleth and Ingrid depending on the route chosen, though with Ingrid it's PlayedWith a bit, as the Lady is [[LadyOfWar also a knight]].
* LamePunReaction: A self-inflicted one as a conversation topic during tea:
-->I tried to grow a beard once. It was ''hairrible''. Hahaha... huh. Almost as bad as that joke...
* LauncherMove: His unique ability in ''Three Hopes'' is "Wind Stance", creating a zone of wind that constantly launches enemies upwards in its vicinity and inflicts Windtorn.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: His adoptive father doesn't tell him [[spoiler:he's planning to rebel]], and Dimitri presumes it's because he doesn't want him involved. [[spoiler:If recruited to the Black Eagles and Byleth joins Edelgard, he states this reason as why he follows her; he cannot forgive the church for covering everything up and wants to find out why]].
* LongRangeFighter: His fragility makes him unsuitable for melee combat, and with his bow skill as an archer or sniper he's able to attack foes from several squares away. In fact, he has access to the rare Combat Art Deadeye, which when combined with Bow Knight's increased bow range gives him an incredible 3-7 range attack.
* MageKiller: While he has low Defense, Ashe has one of the highest Resistance growths on a physically-inclined character. Combined with the lower average Defense scores of enemy mages, Ashe can fight them on better terms than most physical units.
* MagicallyIneptFighter: Between his Reason penalty, low magic growth, and limited spell list, he's much more at home in a physical class than a magical one.
* MasterOfNone: He has almost the exact same growth rates as the archers from the other two houses, with the only true difference between the three being their Luck growth[[note]]Bernadetta has 20%, Ashe has 40%, and Ignatz has 55%[[/note]]. But while Bernadetta has useful Combat Arts and access to the Pegasus and Falcon classes and Ignatz has better accuracy thanks to his Personal Ability and can unlock many Rally abilities, Ashe has nothing unique going for him, doesn't have any impressive Combat Arts, and pretty much everything he can easily do, some other unit, not just the other archers, can do better and even easier.
* MasterOfUnlocking: With his Lockpick personal skill, he can unlock doors and chests without a need for a key or having to reclass into a thief.
* MaybeEverAfter: In his paired ending with Ingrid on the Azure Moon route, the two [[spoiler:go down in history as legendary knights, but sources can't agree whether they fell in love and got married or not. {{Subverted}} on other routes, where the two explicitly do end up marrying.]]
* MessyHair: Before the timeskip, his hair is somewhat messy. After the timeskip, he switches it for a neater, more mature cut.
* MonochromaticEyes: Downplayed, but his pupils are somewhat less defined than most other characters. Certainly makes his DeathGlare a lot more menacing.
* MundaneObjectAmazement: As a child, he was entranced by the picture on the cover of a book in Lonato's library, having grown up without the ability to read or write.
* NeverLearnedToRead: Prior to being taken in by Lonato, Ashe was illiterate due to being raised in poverty and losing his parents to illness early on in life. After being fascinated by Lonato's copy of ''Loog and the Maiden of the Wind'', Lonato offered to take Ashe in and teach him to read personally.
* NiceGuy:
** Ashe is unfailingly polite and kind, even to those who are rude or impatient toward him. In his support with Byleth, Ashe declares that he loves offering his help to any who need it:
-->'''Ashe:''' I genuinely enjoy helping people. It's a great feeling, making someone smile.
** He is very much against the prejudice towards the Duscur people and his paired ending with Dedue mentions him giving up on his dream of becoming a knight due to his disgust with the lingering anti-Duscur sentiment in the Kingdom.
* NonUniformUniform: He wears a hoodie underneath his jacket instead of the usual dress shirt and has tights.
* NoodleIncident: He's implied to have seen... ''something'' that made him scared of ghosts. It's never elaborated on.
-->'''Annette:''' You're not scared of ghosts, are you, Ashe? I didn't think you'd be... \\
'''Ashe:''' ''[in a noticeably scared and higher-pitched voice]'' You haven't seen what I've seen!
* OddCouple: Should he get his paired ending with Hapi. Not only is Ashe something of an eternal optimist whereas Hapi tends to focus on negatives, but Ashe is one of the biggest fans of knights while Hapi is their biggest critic. Hapi ends up being won over by Ashe's devotion to living by the ideals she believes most knights only pay lip service to, and is touched that he trusts her to the point that he'll take her side even if it means going against other knights. She also is charmed by how "racy" the knight stories he shares with her can be. For his part, Hapi helps Ashe to rethink or at least look deeper into his position on certain issues regarding the behavior of knights, what is right and wrong, etc. A commitment to honesty is, interestingly enough, something they share in common and bond over.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Pre-timeskip, he doesn't look it due to his round facial features and small stature, but Ashe is actually 16. This vanishes post-timeskip.
* OneDegreeOfSeparation: He and Yuri apparently met in their youth when Yuri was adopted by Count Rowe, according to a conversation they have in ''Cindered Shadows''. Ashe implores Yuri to return home, but Yuri scoffs at him and tells the boy he has no intention of going back.
* ParentalAbandonment: His birth parents died of illness when Ashe was a child, forcing him to take care of his siblings. He was adopted by Lonato, and then, [[spoiler:he's again left without a parental figure when Lonato is killed in an ill-fated rebellion against the Church of Seiros]].
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
-->"''I'll give it my all.''" ''(pre-timeskip)''\\
"''I'd be honored.''" ''(post-timeskip)''
* PrematurelyGreyHaired: Possibly. It's never stated if he was born with grey hair or if it's due to his past.
* PreMortemOneLiner:
-->"''I can't lose!''"\\
"''I've got you!''"\\
"''I will prove myself!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''Try this!''" (Pre-timeskip)\\
"''In the name of justice!''" (Post-timeskip)\\
"''I will end this now!''" (Post-timeskip)
* PromotedToParent: After his parents succumbed to illness, Ashe was forced to find work before he turned nine in order to support his younger siblings. He turned to theft when that wasn't enough, but was taken in by Lonato after he was caught breaking into his mansion.
* PuppyDogEyes: Although it couldn't be shown with the in-game graphics, but Ashe uses these to get Sylvain to discuss more strategies with him in their C-support in ''Three Hopes''.
* RagsToRiches: He was born a commoner and lived in poverty after his parents succumbed to illness. He was saved when Lonato adopted him and his siblings. And by the end of the game, unless he is paired with Byleth, Dedue, Caspar or Petra, he becomes the new head of House Gaspard.
* RecurringElement: He's able to lock pick for free and has the thieving background, much like [[Characters/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Julian]], but he's also more attuned to archery and can become a powerful Sniper/Bow Knight when raised, which is pioneered by [[Characters/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Gordin]].
* RedOniBlueOni: He and Caspar are polar opposites should they be recruited to the same house. Ashe is level-headed and prefers reconciliation to retribution, Caspar rushes in and goes for the kill with reckless bravery. [[spoiler:In their paired ending, the two travel the world together as wandering knights, rescuing each other time and again with their own strengths.]]
* RequiredPartyMember: In chapter 2 of ''Three Hopes'' if the Blue Lion house is chosen, Ashe is included with Dimitri and Dedue as the required units alongside Shez. Ashe is notably the only required tertiary non-Shez unit that isn't TheLancer to the lord of his house. The reason he is included is to establish his personal ability later on in the chapter, showing that the player can use him to open chests instead of waiting for the thief with the key to it to show up.
* ResolvedNoodleIncident: The reason for his fear of ghosts gets answered in his support with Mercedes in ''Three Hopes''. One time when he was a kid he went out to get medicinal herbs for when his brother was ill that day. While outside, he saw a shadowy figure that wouldn't answer back to him when he tried to talk to it, which made Ashe believe that he saw a real ghost, and he has been afraid of them ever since.
* RouteBoss: Inverted in ''Three Houses'', as Ashe's the only recruitable character that can be fought on every route that doesn't belong to his starter house.
* SacrificialLion: On Verdant Wind and [[spoiler:Silver Snow]], Ashe is the first student unit encountered as an enemy, showing that it is possible for your former friends to suffer permanent CharacterDeath at your hands. Like Lorenz on Azure Moon and [[spoiler:Silver Snow]], Ashe will show up as an enemy even if recruited before the timeskip, but in this case he can be spared and recruited again if defeated. If he was not recruited at all, he can still be avoided, though he is positioned very close to your starting place and blocks one of the routes to the enemy commander you ''do'' have to kill to complete the map.
* SecretAIMoves: As an enemy unit, he can know Defiant Avoid, a skill that he can never obtain as a playable unit due to it being unlocked by mastering the female-only Falcon Knight. Additionally, [[spoiler:on the Crimson Flower route, if not recruited prior to the timeskip,]] he knows Seal Movement, a skill that only Dimitri can learn.
* SharedFamilyQuirks: His Budding Talent for lances is a nod to Lonato being a lance user.
* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: In his A-support with Yuri in ''Three Hopes'', he isn't willing to let Yuri get himself killed because of people involved in his shady businesses despite Yuri being okay with it. And because of said shady business, Yuri wonders why Ashe would wanna save him, especially when he is against that sort of lifestyle. Ashe's response is that he doesn't care if Yuri is a criminal or if he's okay with dying, he will protect him out of a desire to protect his friend, nothing more than that, which leaves Yuri stunned.
-->'''Ashe:''' I just want to save my friend, OK?\\
'''Yuri:''' I truly don't get you sometimes. (to himself) Also can't believe I'm going to fall for a cornball line like that.
* SupremeChef: He's a great cook due to his experience working in his birth father's restaurant when he was young. He advises Mercedes in her attempt at cooking spicy food in their support chain and bonds with Dedue over discussing ways to prepare fish. In his paired ending with Dedue, Ashe [[spoiler:refuses knighthood due to his disgust with the lingering prejudice against the people of Duscur, instead opening an inn that specializes in serving Duscur-style cuisine to provide a hub for the people of Faerghus and Duscur to meet and settle their differences.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: He's incidentally very similar to [[Characters/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Castor]], a bowman that originally had to resort to thievery in order to do good and care for his family members.
* SweetBaker: He's one of the nicest characters in the story and learns to make pastries with Mercedes in their support together. In their paired ending, they [[spoiler:often baked sweets to show how much they love each other, which became a popular tradition between sweethearts for generations to come.]]
* TenderTears: He cries for Dedue in their A-rank support after tasting a Duscur-style meal and realizing how much this means to Dedue as a way of keeping Duscur's culture and his family's memory alive.
* ThickerThanWater: [[spoiler:Ashe pulls off a FaceHeelTurn during the TimeSkip in the Silver Snow and Verdant Wind routes, joining Gwendal's rebellion in allying with the Empire. Even though Lord Lonato as his foster father, he is still angered over the circumstances of his death and opts to side with the Empire. He can be convinced to change sides once more if you defeat him in battle, but only if he was recruited during the Academy phase.]]
* ThrowTheDogABone: In ''Three Houses'', no matter which house is given, Ashe's second father figure has to be killed as early as chapter 3, leaving Ashe without a parental figure again. In ''Three Hopes'', [[spoiler:on the Scarlet Blaze path, Lonato will get aid from the Imperial army during his rebellion against Dimitri for taking in the church, [[SparedByTheAdaptation allowing him to survive]]. And with Ashe being recruitable in the same chapter, he now has the chance to not lose another parent again.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: His seasonal version in ''Heroes'' sports noticeably higher Atk and Def than his ''Three Houses'' counterpart.
* TookALevelInCynic: In ''Three Hopes'', should he be persuaded to join the Empire or the Alliance ([[spoiler:although it has become a Federation by the time Ashe can join]]), he becomes a lot more negative about fighting in the war because he now has to fight his homeland and people he grew to care about. It doesn't help if he's employed in battles where he can battle his own friends and some of them [[WhatTheHellHero call him out for turning on Faerghus]].
* UselessUsefulSpell: On maps without chests or doors, his personal skill becomes completely useless. Not to mention, the Lockpick ability is also one of the default abilities for the Assassin and Trickster classes, meaning everyone can get that ability and it is nothing unique to Ashe. ''Three Hopes'' does fix this by making every personal ability upgradable, giving Ashe's lockpick more flair that every other unit cannot get.
* VocalDissonance: Ashe has one of the higher-pitched voices amongst the male cast, and has a vaguely-accented, whimsical tone. While his voice is slightly lower after the timeskip, it's not by much. His contrasts with his serious nature.
* WeakButSkilled: Ashe's Strength growth is unimpressive and he has poor durability, but he makes up for it with reasonable Speed, fairly good Luck, and high Dexterity, making him accurate and good at scoring critical hits once he's built up.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: If Ashe is recruited pre-timeskip but falls, he returns home but vanishes during the timeskip, leaving his final fate unclear.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Has a vaguely Irish-sounding accent not found from any other character.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Ashe is terrified of ghosts and they're listed as one of his dislikes. He freaks out when he and Annette accidentally lock themselves into a supposedly haunted tower and is spooked by Marianne when he mistakes her for a ghost at night.
* WideEyedIdealist: Growing up being engrossed in knight stories and being raised by Lonato, whom Ashe sees as the very model of chivalry, is what formed Ashe's high admiration for knights and inspired him to pursue becoming a knight himself, viewing them as honorable spirits. But throughout the game's story and in some of his supports, it gets deconstructed as Ashe gets hit with the harsh reality of how the justice system he has idolized when he was younger actually works. It starts as early as chapter 3 when Lonato [[spoiler:stages a rebellion against the Church of Seiros, using the people of his territories as his army]], which leaves Ashe heartbroken, seeing [[spoiler:the man he has idolized in his years before the academy]] sink to such a low. After his and Catherine's paralogue, Ashe recieves a letter detailing why [[spoiler:Lonato did what he did]], which gets brought up in his supports with Catherine. He then hears from her that [[spoiler:his adoptive brother Christophe was involved in a plot to assassinate Rhea, which was why he was turned in by her executed by the church, which was why Lonato rebelled in the first place]]. Hearing what Catherine had done to her former friend and why she did so made Ashe uncertain on what was right or wrong anymore. But Catherine reassures him that that's something that's up to him to decide, and that he doesn't have to forgive her for what she's done. In his C-support with Felix, he speaks his opinion to Ashe about how the book Ashe recommends to him speaks highly of a system that glorifies deaths, and tells Ashe that he should "be more moderate in his passions". In their B-support, Felix tells Ashe that while he shouldn't give up on his dreams, he shouldn't let them consume him either so that he becomes a knight who dies for stupid reasons, which inspires Ashe to aim towards becoming the kind of knight only he can be. His supports with Hapi has him hearing a viewpoint from someone who despises knights because of their empty promises, telling him to not support them or the church. Ashe does listen to what she says and starts questioning the knights and their methods, all while not abandto which Hapi says that his makes him look like a knight straight out of a storybook. A recurring theme throughout these moments is that while Ashe has to hear the grim truth, he either pulls himself together or gets supportive words from the person he's hearing out and doesn't fully abandon his dreams and ideals, but instead has a change in perspective on them. And by the end of the game if Ashe is recruited, [[spoiler:he is knighted and becomes the successor to House Gaspard, growing to become the kind of knight he always wanted to be]].
* YouthfulFreckles: Notably has these across his face, showing his naivete despite his serious nature. It's even where he gets his nickname from Hapi from.
[[/folder]]
----

[-''Main Characters:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesByleth Byleth]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesEdelgard Edelgard]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesDimitri Dimitri]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesClaude Claude]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesRhea Rhea]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesShez Shez]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesOtherMainCharacters Other Main Characters]] \\
''Secondary Characters:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesHubert Hubert]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesFerdinand Ferdinand]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBernadetta Bernadetta]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesSylvain Sylvain]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesIngrid Ingrid]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesFelix Felix]] | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesLysithea Lysithea]]\\
''Houses:'' [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlackEagles The Black Eagles]] | '''The Blue Lions''' | [[Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesGoldenDeer The Golden Deer]]\\

** She is one of the most religious characters in the game and yet she can end being recruited to the Black Eagles house and subsequently side with Edelgard after she [[spoiler:declares war on the Church of Seiros]].

** He is very much against the prejudice towards the Duscur people and his paired ending with Dedue mentions him refusing to become a knight specifically due to his disgust with the lingering anti-Duscur sentiment in the Kingdom.

* AllLesbiansWantKids: Downplayed. If she is romanced by a female Byleth on the Crimson Flower route, their paired ending states that they ended up opening an orphanage and raising many kids together.

* AllLesbiansWantKids: If she is romanced by a female Byleth on the Crimson Flower route, their paired ending states that they ended up opening an orphanage and raising many kids together.

* AllLesbiansWantKids: If she is romanced by Byleth on the Crimson Flower route, their paired ending states that they ended up opening an orphanage and raising many kids together.

** She can also become the queen of [[spoiler:[[TheGoodKingdom The United Kingdom of Fodlan]]]] if she marries [[spoiler:Byleth]] on the Verdant Wind or Silver Snow routes.

* RagsToRoyalty: If paired with Dimitri, [[spoiler:the populace of Faerghus are shocked when Dimitri chooses her to be his wife, but realize they were made for each other after she goes out of her way to help people and heal the damage caused by the war]].

[[caption-width-right:350:''Arrow of Justice'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[ArcherArchetype Arrow of Justice]]'']]

* TheArcher: He starts out wielding bows, and grows well focusing on bows as a fighter, and then a sniper.

** Assuming no recruitment outside the Azure Moon route, she stands a good chance of becoming this. [[spoiler:On the Verdant Wind route, Annette is the only student from her house that does not appear in any battle, and while Dimitri is the only one who has to be killed, it's possible everyone else could die at either Aliel (Ashe), Enbarr (Dedue), or Gronder (Ingrid, Sylvain, Felix, and Mercedes). The same presumably happens on Silver Snow, as the Battle of Gronder (which takes place offscreen) is noted to have many casualities while Ashe and Dedue appear in the same places as Verdant Wind. Finally, on the Crimson Flower route, everyone from her house except her and Ashe are required kills, and Ashe starts much closer to the player than she does. Although Annette will begin moving towards you if you kill Gilbert first, who is also close to the player's starting position, Gilbert's limited range makes it possible to avoid confronting either.]].

* DropTheHammer: Her family's Hero's Relic, Crusher, is a hammer that deals magic damage. Like the Hammer weapon, it's classified as an axe in-game.

** She is noted to be a LethalChef, to the point where she has caused an explosion in the kitchen. Despite this, she is not among the characters who gives a penalty when chosen for cooking. It's possible that the reason why it goes better for her there is because Byleth is helping her with it.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: On the Crimson Flower route, [[spoiler:should she not be recruited and you kill her father Gilbert, Annette will flip out and charge at you disregarding her own position and her own life as a result.]]

** Assuming no recruitment outside the Azure Moon route, she stands a good chance of becoming this. [[spoiler:On the Crimson Flower route, Dimitri, Dedue, Felix, Ingrid, Sylvain, and Mercedes are required kills, while Ashe starts very close to the player's starting position; Annette, meanwhile, is also an optional target and starts far away. On the Verdant Wind route, Ashe can be killed at Aileil, while everybody else sans Dedue can be killed at Gronder, and even then, he can die at Enbarr. Finally, on Silver Snow, Ashe can once again be killed at Aileil, Dedue can once again be killed at Enbarr, and everybody else presumably dies offscreen. In both cases, Annette is not seen, implying she survived]].

* FriendlessBackground: Ashe is unique among the Blue Lions in that he's the only one who has no prior connection to anyone else in the house, as his origins is located in southern Faerghus while everyone else, including Mercedes who immigrated from Adrestria, was living more north. This doesn't prevent him from being welcomed by them with open arms.

* IfItsYouItsOkay: Implied. While Mercedes can get married to a female Byleth she is the only woman that Mercedes shows an interest in if romanced and all of her other unambiguously romantic endings are with men.

* ImmigrantPatriotism: She is ethnically Adrestian but loyal to her new homeland of Faerghus and will fight against [[spoiler:the Empire]] during the war phase to the point of being willing to fight [[spoiler:her brother Jeritza, who has remained with the Empire]]. Subverted if she is recruited to the Black Eagles as she will then [[spoiler:join forces with Edelgard in the fight against the Kingdom and the Church]].

* ImmigrantPatriotism: She is ethnically Adrestian but is loyal to her new homeland of Faerghus and will fight against [[spoiler:the Empire]] during the war phase to the point of being willing to fight [[spoiler:her brother Jeritza, who has remained with the Empire]]. Subverted if she is recruited to the Black Eagles as she will then [[spoiler:join forces with Edelgard in the fight against the Kingdom and the Church]].

* ImmigrantPatriotism: She is ethnically Adrestian but is loyal to her new homeland of Faerghus and will fight against [[spoiler:the Empire]] during the war phase. Subverted if she is recruited to the Black Eagles as she will then [[spoiler:join forces with Edelgard in the fight against the Kingdom and the Church]].

** She is one of the most religious characters and yet she can end being recruited to the Black Eagles house and subsequently side with Edelgard after she [[spoiler:declares war on the Church of Seiros]].

* {{Irony}}: Having been born into Adrestian nobility and being one of the game's two strongest magic units, one would expect Mercedes to be a member of the Black Eagles. Instead the circumstances of her early life led to her joining the Blue Lions, the class least associated with magic. [[spoiler:Though if the player poaches her to the Black Eagles, Mercedes has a very strong reason to join on the Crimson Flower route.]]

* {{Irony}}: She is one of the most religious characters and yet she can end being recruited to the Black Eagles house and subsequently side with Edelgard after she [[spoiler:declares war on the Church of Seiros]].