Ho Yay / Fire Emblem

"Right. Lord Ike, 'hero' of the Crimean Liberation, leader of the Greil Mercenaries, and father of Sothe's children..."

— Micaiah, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

There's plenty of Ho Yay/Les Yay subtext in the Fire Emblem games. Due to the emphasis on Relationship Values to build trust between comrades, anyone can theoretically be paired with anyone. Yes, even Oliver/Reyson, although that's... not exactly stretching it...

General

• It's a tradition among Fire Emblem yaoi fangirls to slash the red knight and the green knight. From Kieran/Oscar in Path of Radiance to Kent/Sain in Blazing Blade, all the way back to Cain/Abel in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, it can't be avoided. (Until Awakening broke the trend with a female Red Knight, making the pairing het...while giving the Red Knight plenty of Les Yay of her own.) Some of them are significantly more slashy towards each other than others. Kent and Sain, for example, have paired endings with other female characters, and even in-story, outside of supports, Kent has a Bodyguard Crush on Lyn and Sain is a Handsome Lech. Oscar and Kieran, on the other hand, don't seem to show interest in female characters: Kieran is obsessed with Oscar, and Oscar, while initially dismissive, grows friendlier towards Kieran, even giving him a special skill scroll in a base conversation in Radiant Dawn because Kieran has the tendency to hurt himself while practicing. D'aww! However, Engage makes it awkward again, as the red and green stewards are underage fraternal twins.

Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem

• There is one example between Rickard and Julian. Rickard tells Julian that he "always fell for a pretty face and the right features." That wouldn't mean much if Rickard himself wasn't so "pretty." Oh, and then he tells him how he dumped him for Lena, and "Did our love mean nothing to you?" in New Mystery.

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

• Clive and his Canon Foreigner best friend Fernand were very close before the latter's Face–Heel Turn. According to a Memory Prism, both Clive's little sister Clair and his (Clive's) own girlfriend Mathilda seemed to believe that Fernand was at least a little into him. The fact that Fernand dies in Clive's arms towards the end doesn't help.
  • It also really doesn't help that Fernand flat-out admits that he only joined the Deliverance because Clive was the one leading it.
• The Childhood Friends Python and Forsyth's standard endings are pretty normal, but the bad endings they get if the other dies are very similar to those of the game's official couples. Forsyth will only marry a nameless woman if Python dies, just like Tatiana losing Zeke, whereas Python will experience a personality change and die young if Forsyth dies, just like Clive if he loses Mathilda.
  • Leaving his relationship with Forsyth aside, Python himself is implied to be bisexual. He doesn't dislike the idea of dating women (unlike Leon who does shoot it down), but he refers to Alm and Lukas as "studs."

Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776

• Most of it is from the manga adaptations, but even the original game has a moment where Sigurd suggests that once everything has cooled down that he and Eldigan "find a cosy little spot, have a little wine... just like old times".
• In game and in the Oosawa manga, Eldigan seems distressed when he has to fight Sigurd, but when the time comes to actually confront him, he seems surprisingly excited. When Sigurd can't bring himself to fight Eldigan, Quan steps in to save him, with Sigurd begging both of them to stop. Come to think of it, Sigurd and Quan have a bit of this themselves, despite Quan being married to Sigurd's sister. When Sigurd says something cruel to Quan after Quan tries to comfort him for not knowing about Sandima's Fenrir spell, Quan says he's "heartbroken" and Sigurd is quick to apologize. When Sigurd returns the next morning, Ethlyn says that Quan was especially worried.
• When Arvis appears to give Sigurd the Silver Sword in the Nuts Fujimori manga, he asks if Sigurd is willing to accept it as "proof of our love". He says he's joking, but Sigurd isn't sure he sees it.
  • Also in the Nuts Fujimori manga, Oifey seems enchanted by Midayle even after learning he's a man.
• The Nea Fuyuki adaptation of Generation 2 has a bit between Seliph, Leif and Ares.
  • Shortly after meeting, Leif cheers Seliph up when the latter starts feeling The Chains of Commanding. Seliph later returns the favor after Leif learns the truth of what happened to his parents.
  • Despite Ares's attempt to kill him, Seliph extends his hand to him, offering him a place with the army. He argues that even if Ares does kill him, the emptiness he feels will still be there, and Seliph doesn't want to leave him alone any longer. Even though he doesn't seem entirely convinced, not only does Ares end up halting his attack, he flat-out tells Seliph that he doesn't want him to get hurt and gets pissed both when Ishtar aims an attack at him and when she manages to land a hit. There's also this line.
    Ares: Oh, light that guided me. Now, I shall swing this sword for you...
  • Leif convinces Ares to enter his tent by saying he has booze. Ares ends up drinking too much and falls asleep in it. The next morning, Leif asks if Ares enjoyed sleeping in his tent.

The Binding Blade and The Blazing Blade

• Rutger and Dieck from Binding Blade don't have an ending together, as in this game only Roy can have an ending with another character, but their supports really make you think. Especially after Dieck called Rutger his 'partner' and vowed he'd go help him and get his revenge, even though Dieck would get absolutely nothing out of this.
• Perhaps the most infamous example of all is the very close bond between "angsty, angry, and Seme" Raven and "are you sure it's not a girl?" Lucius. And yes, if you play the support game, you can get an ending with them together... and tellingly, neither of them have paired endings with any other characters.
• Legault is all but stated to be bisexual, but it's most overt with Heath. Their supports involve Legault telling Heath that they were "made for each other" and that he was interested in him because of a thing called love. Turns out he was joking around.
  • Legault has asked Matthew if he was falling for him after he was asking him too many questions.
  • Not to mention, Legault and Lloyd Reed. This quote from Legault says it all:
    "Even as a zombie, you're a handsome one, Lloyd..."
• Nino from Blazing Blade has some Pseudo-Romantic Friendship vibes with Rebecca and Florina, who have some subtext among themselves, too.
  • And what about Rebecca's hero worship of Louise the Lady of Violets? Including pretty much drooling over her for being so beautiful, ladylike and strong?
• Let's not forget that, for two women who are both incredibly shy and nervous, Ninian and Florina become very comfy with each other's presence through their supports...
• The most prominent example before you meet Raven and Lucius is, of course, Lyn/Florina. Florina is very attached to Lyn, and even tells her she loves her in the ending to Lyn's Story. In her supports with Farina, she's more worried Farina will tell embarrassing stories from their childhoods to Lyn as opposed to Hector (her only other paired ending). Lyn in turn is quite protective of Florina and invites her to come back to the plains with her when the war's over.
• Eliwood and Hector also have quite a bit, particularly on Hector's side. While usually rude and brusque to everyone, even his friends, he's die-hard loyal to Eliwood, to the point of essentially running away from home to help him. Their A-Support also has them vowing to always protect one another, even when they're old men.

The Sacred Stones

• Ephraim/Lyon and Eirika/L'Arachel are the biggest ones with Lyon telling Ephraim how he simultaneously loved and hated him and L'Arachel compliments Eirika's beauty as much as she talks about herself.
• Eirika's not just limited to L'Arachel, either; she has her fair share of Les Yay with childhood friend Tana as well. At the very least, she has a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship going with both.
• Also, if you get an A support between Gerik and Joshua, Gerik follows Joshua to Jehanna and serves him for the rest of his life because he is impressed by his swordplay.
  • While it's innocuous enough, Gerik also takes Saleh out to dinner. He does no such thing for Tethys or Marisa, his female supports.
• There's also Artur and Joshua's supports, in which Joshua, as payment for a coin flip he wins, gets Artur to do some late night training sessions with him. All of which occur offscreen. In their B, a big deal is made over whether Joshua is "exhausting [Artur] in training." And at the end of their A, Joshua says, "I want you to keep being my partner."
• Speaking of Tethys and Marisa, while their A support is primarily just good-natured teasing, sometimes it really sounds like Tethys was slipping in some under-the-radar flirting...
  Tethys: What an interesting reaction. Youth is so cute.
  Marisa: Wh-why are you smiling?! Ah...
  Tethys: Don't be so embarrassed. We're going to be around each other for a long time. We should talk.
• Marisa also goes through a serious Defrosting Ice Queen routine with Tana. And Tana mentions that she "doesn't know what she would do" if Marisa said no to being friends with her.

Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn

• Discussed in Radiant Dawn; early on Micaiah mocks Sothe's hero-worship of Ike, describing the latter as "'hero' of the Crimean Liberation, leader of the Greil Mercanaries, and father of Sothe's children..."
• Just about everything Heather says in Radiant Dawn is a come-on toward another girl. It's even more blatant in the Japanese version, but the localization team was really just toning down her perversions, rather than hiding her orientation at all.
• While theoretically "anyone can be paired with anyone," only certain couples get paired endings, and that's usually pretty telling. A pretty obvious example is Ike in Radiant Dawn: despite Ship Tease throughout all of Path of Radiance between him and Elincia, he has paired endings with two characters, neither of whom are her, both of whom are male. If you're wondering, they're Soren and Ranulf.
• Ike and Soren's entire relationship could be read as a combination of a Rescue Romance and a Childhood Friend Romance, and the Ho Yay involved is mountainous. To wit:
  • It essentially consists of Soren blatantly flirting with Ike, throwing out lines that sound like love confessions to the effect of "you're the one" and in one case a marriage vow (Radiant Dawn A support response) while Ike more subtly reciprocates by giving him a suspiciously high amount of compliments (even about things that are not commonly thought to be true or positive).
  • They're both quite protective of each other and both sense each other's moods so well, and Soren in particular has both catalogued a facial tic Ike has and a useful method with which to woo Ike.
  • Notably, neither is very emotional or gets very personal, except alone around each other.
  • They are deliberately paralleled to Sothe and Micaiah, the game's main indisputably romantic couple, multiple times. Micaiah even explicitly states that Soren's feelings for Ike are melting his frozen heart. Soren's response—a defensive non-denial—is rather telling as well.
  • Then at the end of the game, Ike can have a conversation with Soren where they bond over how they first met, Soren admits to traveling through several countries just to see Ike again, and Ike hugs Soren while he cries.
  • Various hints emerge throughout the game that Ike is disinterested in dating women, while Soren has a clear boundary for everyone who isn't Ike.
  • Every single one of Soren's death quotes and two of Ike's deal with the relationship between the two. In Soren's real death quote (RD endgame), he literally prioritizes Ike over the entire world.
  • They have a paired ending. While Ike also has one with Ranulf, his paired ending with Soren is much more personal, and Soren's solo ending leaves him never using his talents for anyone but Ike.
• As for Elincia? Her relationship with Lucia goes from Pseudo-Romantic Friendship in Path of Radiance to blatant lesbian ship tease in Radiant Dawn!
• Considering that all of Kieran's A rank support consist of him saying he wants to fight together with someone forever, complete with several awkward pauses centered around "fight" and "together," it starts to sound like he's coming on to everyone.
• What about Tibarn "tying Reyson to the bed"? Not only that, there's also a bunch of little hints between the two.
  "Tibarn, I...owe you my life. You took me in, made me a part of your family... I owe you so much. No matter what happens in this war, I will stay by your side, be it in body or in spirit."

Awakening

• The fortune telling in Awakening gives us a look into the hearts (minds?) of various characters you have supporting each other, with hearts going back and forth between them if they wanna make babies...even if they can't. The fortune teller is a Scrappy for mocking this in the Japanese script, asking two male characters what they're thinking, both being men, and considers Les Yay to be a "rather extreme friendship". He's significantly more tolerant (and zany) in the localized script, however.
  • Virion and Libra's supports have Virion gush a lot about how delicately beautiful Libra is. Towards the end, Virion switches gears to praising how much of a hunk he is, but his comments are no less appreciative in nature. It's really not helped by Libra's unmarried ending flat-out stating that he was courted by both men and women.
  • Kjelle and Severa's C support involves Severa berating Kjelle for having her shirt open. She is momentarily distracted by Kjelle's killer abs. Kjelle outright asks her if she's getting the hots for her, and Severa replies that she couldn't handle her for an hour. Severa's known for her abrasive behavior, but someone with a filthier mind might think she's talking about something else entirely...
    • Kjelle downs a shady drink, thinking it to be a strength potion. She ends up drunkenly complimenting Severa on her looks and groping at her clothes. The best part is, that wasn't an alcoholic drink. It was a truth potion. It has to be seen to be believed.
    • Kjelle and Lucina deciding to spend the day together at the feast isn't suspicious, even with Kjelle's strange obsession with Lucina. What might be more interesting is that they decide to call it a date. Additionally, this is also unchanged if they're sisters.
    • At B support, Severa starts calling Kjelle "my dear" and tries hard to make her more feminine, and at A Severa says Kjelle looks lovely, and she keeps blushing.
  • Maribelle is a bit too fond of Lissa for them to just be "girl friends".
    • Maribelle and Olivia's A support has the two of them going out on the town and hitting on noblemen, complete with Wolf Whistles and pickup lines. Olivia turns a few of her cheesy pickup lines on Maribelle, whose reaction boils down to "how vulgar!...eh, works for me." Olivia then says she'd much rather hang out with Maribelle than men. And of course, both ladies are blushing the entire time.
  • Sumia and Cordelia's supports get to the point where one could easily see them going S.
    • Also, Sumia and Sully. They're polar opposites but manage to sort their differences in a gentle, almost playful manner, and in Harvest Scramble Sumia is very into roping Sully in a crossdressing pageant...
  • Tharja is utterly obsessed with the Avatar, and will pine over you nonstop even during supports with other characters. Even if you're a woman. It seems that Awakening decided to make up for all of the Ho Yay in the Tellius games by heaping on the Les Yay this time around.
  • Gregor and the Male Avatar's C support has Gregor offering to tell Robin a secret only men can do. It involves suggesting the Avatar to sleep with him, though in a literal sense, in order to share body heat. The Japanese version of the conversation has Gregor telling the Avatar that he knows a great secret for sleeping together that way. Their B Support has the Avatar flustered at the sight of him because he had a dream involving the Avatar resting his head on Gregor's lap. Gregor notes that his charm hasn't affected another man before.
  • Inigo and Gerome's support while it's obvious that Inigo is referring to going out with other chicks, its easily taken out of context as talking to Gerome instead of the girls. Also, in the A support, Inigo cries about wanting to be "manhandled".
  • Owain and Brady's supports with Owain accepting Brady for the emotive person he is, not having him change who he is, like many other of Brady's supports, along with Brady being one of the few persons who does not make fun of Owain's heroic dramatizations of everything end up being very shippy.
    • In the Future Past 2 xenologue, if you manage to save all of the kids, you get this cutscene where part of it involves Brady breaking into tears because he was worried sick about Owain when he decided to use himself as a decoy. Owain promised him that he'll never do it again
  • The "Harvest Scramble" DLC map, being centered specifically around conversations between characters of the same sex, is an absolute goldmine of this. To wit:
    • The chapter starts with Frederick declaring to Chrom that they should be like Victor and Vincent. Their conversations in-map consist of Frederick pleading with Chrom to flip a coin into a fountain, as he heard a legend that says they would be bonded for life if he did so. Chrom points out that sounds an awful lot like marriage, and Frederick denies it, because marriage implies a union of equals and they're of different stations. Yet, Chrom can marry Sully, another knight under his service...
    • Inigo gets injured, so Gerome offers to help. Lots of statements like "Please be gentle!" and "I just never expected you to have such a strong, firm touch..." are made.
    • Inigo swipes Gerome's mask off his face and notes he can't see why he wears it as Gerome is very handsome.
    • Gerome also enjoys watching Inigo dance and wishes to watch him again in the future, Inigo is glad to hear and told him that he'll be waiting for him.
    • Then there's one between Donnel and Stahl. After Stahl tells Donnel about his old flame that spent the last festival dancing with his friend, Donnel offers to dress like a girl and dance with him in order for Stahl to get out his old "frustrations." Prior to that Donnel told Stahl he was a handsome man and he probably was a hit with the ladies.
    • Another for Gregor who dresses up Ricken like a girl and pretends to be dating him to get another crazy girl off his back. Gregor constantly tells Ricken that he looks cute for a girl and wants to dance with him.
    • Maribelle and Lissa...why don't you judge for yourself?
      Maribelle: Hogwash! You are MINE and mine alone, and I am SICK and tired of sharing you!
    • Nowi feels up Tharja in her sleep after talking about her "boingy bits".^note Silky hair in the European version.
    • Severa and Noire, too. Severa fixates quite a bit in a very cute necklace in the Harvest Scramble... and by the end, she gets matching necklaces for Noire and herself.
    • Inigo and Owain have their fair share of Ho Yay. While the supports are just them teasing each other, their Harvest Scramble talk goes deeper into Inigo's issues and Owain is a very serious listener. Then in The Future Past 2, Inigo refuses to let Owain sacrifice himself...right after Owain says he was glad to spend his last moments with Inigo!
  • In The Future Past 3, Grima in the body of MU says that the last owner of their body loved Chrom. They say this even if you have a male MU.
  • Also in The Future Past 3, Severa is the first to lay down her life for Lucina, and is Lucina's personal guard in the epilogue. When all the other characters run off to fight Risen, Severa stays by Lucina's side. Given the series' history of Bodyguard Crush, you can bet people found Les Yay in that.
  • The Hubba Tester is a really weird example, since his readings are as likely to confirm whatever theories one might have about the character relations as they are to shoot them down, since the readings are random (and change every time the game is saved, too). Nonetheless, it can create interesting results. Doubles as a potential source for Incest Yay Shipping for those that are into that.
  • It has been commented on in the fan base that the relationship between Chrom and the male Avatar is on par with that of Ike and Soren. If the dialogue from the male avatar's supports were transplanted to the female avatar's, the S support would still make perfect sense. It really drives the point home when both Chrom and the Avatar state they are "Two halves of the same whole."
    • Not to mention that early in the game when you, as a male Avatar, complain about getting tired after walking long distances, Chrom offers to carry you.
    • Fire Emblem Heroes goes in really deep on the Chrom and M!Robin Ho Yay with their Valentine's Day duo alt, which features the two adorned in flowers with Chrom's hand protectively on Robin's shoulder, the romantic-sounding title 'Fate-Defying Duo', and a Special line that goes "Let's talk about our feelings!" To nail the point home, the map where they're fought even uses the S Support theme from Awakening as the background music. Feh even seems to lampshade the suggestiveness when she introduces them in FEH Channel with a line that could come straight out of a Slash Fic...
      ''Chrom seems like he might be a little embarrassed with Robin looking up at him...!"
    • Yet again, it's taken up to eleven in Fire Emblem Engage, where Chrom and Robin appear as DLC Emblem bracelet, dubbed "The Emblem of Bonds." Engage makes a concentrated effort to create an equal gender ratio of male to female Emblems, so while they definitely could have planned out a way to pair Chrom up with a female avatar, they chose not to.
    • When Legendary Robin was introduced to Heroes, he was given the nickname of "Exalt's Other Half.'' Not only that, but he can clearly be seen wearing what appears to be a wedding ring.
• Henry and Ricken's A support has Henry give a passionate and kinda scary Declaration of Protection to Ricken, saying he'd bloodily murder anyone who cut down Ricken, then quickly trying to change the subject when Ricken asks if he considers him a friend. And in their Harvest Scramble talk, Henry says he would've liked to see what Ricken looked like all grown up.
• In Kellam and Henry's Summer Scramble conversations, Henry offers to keep Kellam company since he's lonely... by squeezing himself into Kellam's armor. The dialogue is incredibly suggestive.
  • Cordelia and Maribelle's SS conversations are a straight-up waifu war. Seriously. Maribelle, out of nowhere, tells Cordelia that Lissa is so much better than Sumia, which prompts Cordelia to feverishly defend her best friend's honor.
    Maribelle: So are you ready to finally accept Lissa's superiority to Sumia in every respect?
    Cordelia: Never! I'll stop at nothing to make you appreciate the beauty of Sumia's soul!
• And speaking of Henry again, during his and Cherche's S Support Cherche asks him something by the lines of "hey, someone's coming with us if we marry, don't forget mentioning them". Henry's reply? Dropping Chrom's name without any reason. He then corrects himself via mentioning the one in Cherche's mind, her mount and companion Minerva... and yet Cherche doesn't forget about the "Chrom bomb".
  "... Wait, was your first thought REALLY Chrom?!"
• For all of her jerkassery, there is one person that Severa can't bring herself to be mean to — and that person is Noire. That's borderline Pseudo-Romantic Friendship material, there.
• Say'ri and Tiki have some of this. Say'ri overall is borderline overprotective of Tiki that she scolded her for wandering off alone at one point. Tiki, on the other hand, really wants to be friends with Say'ri rather than for her to be her guardian, and despite Say'ri having a shorter lifespan than Tiki, she still wants to keep her close.
• There is also Laurent and Gerome's support chain. Laurent notices Gerome's Ineffectual Loner patterns and tries to do something about it, telling him to open up and stop isolating himself while also trying not to step on Gerome's boundaries too much... and in the end, it works magnificently.
• In Tharja's and Vaike's C Support, Vaike becomes concerned that Tharja is stalking the Avatar. When he confronts her about it, he admits that he understands since the Avatar is quite attractive, regardless of gender. Vaike starts to list off the features that he finds attractive about the male Avatar, including his soft, silky hair and his strong, bulging- before he gets cut off by Tharja.
• In the Awakening manga, there is a scene where Sully is seen rifling through a pile of letters... love letters from other women.

Fates

• This is the first game where you can have an actual gay marriage. It's only for the Avatar, and there's only one per route, but it's a lot compared to the "just friends" same-sex endings of the past and the het-only mechanic of Awakening.
• You'd expect protective big sisters Hinoka and Camilla to Cat Fight over who's the Avatar's "true" big sister, but instead they get along splendidly. Camilla even teaches Hinoka how to sew and tells her how cute and strong she is.
  • Heck, Camilla as a whole brings a lot of this via her supports with Selena and Beruka, and her affection for the Avatar is just as suggestive if the Avatar is female.
• There's also plenty of this between the other sibling foil pairs: Leo/Takumi, Xander/Ryoma and Sakura/Elise. Sakura and Elise even hold hands and frolic in a cinematic for the third route!
  • At the end of Revelation, the normally cold Leo and Takumi begin to open up to each other, with Takumi even putting his arm around the other and Leo not objecting to it.
• Soleil. Her personal skill is even called Girl Lover (Japanese) or Sisterhood (localization)! Sadly, she can only marry men due to being bi and Rhajat being the Gay Option rather than her, but marrying the kid characters to each other doesn't give anything other than support bonuses, so she can just as easily remain at A support with another girl...
  • Soleil/Ophelia is laden with Les Yay, mirroring their fathers having their own share of Ho Yay in both Awakening and Fates.
  • In the localization, Soleil's father Laslow has next to no trouble with Soleil's girl flirting. At the same time, Soleil nets herself a sort-of date with a cute village girl.
  • Also in the localization, most of Soleil's "marriage" supports were changed to her gently turning them down in favor of being BFFs instead, with two exceptions: Corrin, who had to do some visualization exercises with her before Soleil even saw him as attractive... and Forrest.
• Odin and Niles are very devoted to Leo, even fanboying over his body during Leo's Paradise Scramble.
  • Niles and Leo's supports have Niles in a very vulnerable role as he and Leo discuss the night they met, when Niles' former comrades threw him under the bus and sent him into such a Despair Event Horizon that he didn't try to beg for his life when Leo attacked him, which piqued Leo's interest and then make him recruit him as his retainer. While the memory itself is painful, Niles considers it precious because Leo gave him a home and a true purpose. The localization makes this even more Ho Yay-tastic, as at the end of the A support Niles straight-up calls Leo by his name only and the normally proud and stand-offish Leo does not object.
• Effie is so devoted to Elise that it overtakes most of her entire support chain with a male Avatar...just like Maribelle's devotion to Lissa in Awakening overtook most of her proposal talk with Chrom!
• Hana isn't as extreme, but she's extremely dedicated to Sakura, even having a rivalry with Sakura's other retainer Subaki over who's the most devoted to their princess.
• Orochi and Kagero go way back, and the former teases the latter quite a bit in their A support.
• Azura and Jakob's devotion to the Avatar remains the same no matter what gender the Avatar is. Especially Azura and the Avatar, whose relationship garners quite a bit of focus during the story. Even if only a male Avatar can romance Azura, a female Avatar is still very close to her and their supports are exactly the same, Pseudo-Romantic Friendship-like Ship Tease and all.
• In the Japanese version of the game, Takumi and Leo's A support has Takumi saying they shouldn't let their relationship end with 'mere friendship'. Leo agrees.
• Forrest is so pretty that not only Nina loves to imagine that Even the Guys Want Him, but Shigure drops this very Ho Yay-tastic gem in their non-sibling A support:
  "There is only one beauty in this entire army, and his name is Forrest."
  • His supports with the male Avatar start out with the Avatar taking note of how cute Forrest is and asking if he's interested in men. The rest of the supports have the Avatar lavishing praise on Forrest for his beauty, Forrest teasing the Avatar for ogling him so openly, even though he's only interested in women, and the Avatar encouraging Forrest after he talks about living in a world that won't always accept what he does.

Three Houses

• Same-sex relationships make a return, with three romantic male S-ranks for Male!Byleth (Linhardt, Jeritza, and Yuri) and five female S-ranks for Female!Byleth (Edelgard, Dorothea, Mercedes, Rhea, and Sothis).
  • This ends up making Edelgard the first main character that isn't an avatar to have an unambiguous romantic ending with a same-sex character, though how much the romance is play out varies in each language.
  • Linhardt was the only male same-sex pairing in the base game, with the other two being added in DLC.
  • They may not reach a same-sex paired ending, but during the ball, on all routes and regardless of gender, Claude sees Byleth standing alone and grabs their hand with a flirty wink, practically dragging them out to the dance floor.
  • Alois and Gilbert can reach S-rank with M!Byleth, but both confirm that their feelings toward Byleth are purely platonic. Not to mention that both are married (to women) and have children.
• While Byleth might be the only character who has S-ranks available to them, more than a few characters have same-sex paired endings that come off as very subtextually romantic.
  • Every character that hails from the Empire has at least one same-sex ending that is ambiguously or explicitly romantic, except for Hanneman and Bernadetta.
  • Dorothea and Ingrid share a paralogue where Dorothea spends the entire time referring to Ingrid as her "darling Ingrid". The paralogue ends with Dorothea effectively (jokingly) proposing to Ingrid. Their B-rank Support(which is where the chain ends, meaning they cannot have a paired ending) also ends with Dorothea talking about her desire to "pounce" on Ingrid... though she is strongly rebuffed.
• Manuela has an Ambiguously Bi paired ending with Edelgard as well, where special mention is made that neither of them ever married anyone else. Edelgard is also the only non-avatar lord Manuela can even support with, let alone have a paired ending with.
• Felix and Sylvain's A+ rank support has Felix getting angry at Sylvain for sustaining an injury (to protect Felix). It ends with Sylvain reminding Felix that he's not looking to die first, because they made a childhood promise to be together until they both die. Their paired ending in the Blue Lions route states "It is said that, in their later years, they became so close that they passed away on the same day, as if conceding that one could not live without the other." While the dialogue is notably more ambiguous in the translation, the Japanese text is stated to use more romantic dialogue between the two and it’s implied that they settle down together in the Azure Moon route paired ending between the two.
• Ferdinand and Hubert's supports start with both of them fighting over the proper way to give Edelgard advice and end with them becoming... very close. To the point where the A+ support's heartfelt gift exchange of each other's favorite tea leaves/coffee beans reads more like an S Support where they're exchanging rings, romantic music and excessive blushing included. Including the only time Hubert ever blushes, outside of a relationship with Byleth.
  Hubert: Before I answer that, I would like to know what you are doing with the coffee.
  Ferdinand: *blushing* Well, I...
  Hubert: Is it a gift? Perhaps for someone you fancy?
  Ferdinand: A gift, yes. For you.
  Hubert: Hm. Who is the unlucky- Did you say for me?!
• Good Lord, Lorenz and Ferdinand's C support. The two share a cup of fine tea and spend the entire conversation complimenting each other, more so than either compliments any of the ladies, and decide they must share tea and chat like that again. The voice acting really sells it.
• Dimitri has quite a lot of Ambiguously Bi energy with some other male characters in his house.
  • Dimitri and Dedue share a close and intimate bond with a lot of history.
    • He saved Dedue in the tragedy of Duscur. Dimitri confesses in their supports that being able to save someone in turn saved himself from falling into despair. He wears the scars he got from that time proudly. He calls Dedue cherished and irreplaceable. And the usually stoic Dedue noticeably blushes when he finally refers to Dimitri by his name instead of "His Highness".
    • Dedue is loyal to the point where he will sacrifice himself without hesitation to protect Dimitri. He uses a Crest Stone to painfully change his body into a demonic beast on the Black Eagle route. If Dedue is defeated before transforming, the scene where Dimitri is killed by Edelgard alone changes into a more quietly tragic one where Dedue and Dimitri die together. In the Blue Lions route, Dimitri is slated for execution over a framed murder and Dedue gives up his own life for Dimitri's escape. Although Dedue will survive if you completed his Paralogue during Part 1, that sacrifice and the absence of his presence to keep the prince grounded were most likely nails in the coffin for Dimitri's deteriorating mental state.
    • Their paired ending reveals that "while they behaved as vassal and liege in public, it is said that Dimitri and Dedue were more like family in private.” Whether that means family like siblings or family like lovers is up to interpretation. After Dimitri passed away from illness, Dedue spent the rest of his days guarding Dimitri's grave and they were buried beside each other. Those two are most certainly Heterosexual Life-Partners at the minimum if not more.
  • Dimitri and Male Byleth cannot have an S-Support, but regardless Dimitri treats both Byleths exactly the same in supports and the main story. Ship Tease moments such as being mesmerized by Byleth's smiling face and tenderly holding hands with them included.
  • Dimitri and Felix have strained relations from Dimitri's bloodthirsty reaction to trauma and Felix's antagonistic nature pushing the formerly close friends apart, but it is clear that Felix still cares about Dimitri deep down. Their paired ending where Felix became more inconsolable than the queen upon Dimitri's death does raise a few eyebrows.
• Catherine and Shamir are partners in their knighthood, interact all the time Like an Old Married Couple, have a shared ending where they roam the world as an inseparable duo of heroes, and Shamir up and proposes marriage (jokingly, it must be said) to Catherine in their A support. They also have a far more tragic ending if Shamir is the one to confront Catherine in the final level of the Crimson Flower route. There they angrily state that their differences always meant that it would end this way, and one will strike the other down. If you speak to Shamir prior to the final assault on the Kingdom, she'll remark that Catherine is driven by both love and hate for Shamir, making her almost seem like a Woman Scorned.
• Annette and Mercedes' relationship has romantic undertones; notably, their A-rank Support has Annette declaring she loves Mercedes more than anything else in the world, and their paired ending has them living the rest of their lives together happily after Annette retires from her job at the school of sorcery.
• The Abysskeeper down in Abyss meets a Knight of Seiros sent for backup, and he initially expresses annoyance at his presence, but later comes around to him when the knight stays voluntarily, to the point where he is noticeably heartbroken at the knight's absence. Even after the time skip, he still wonders where "Mr. Backup" is.
• A not inconsiderate amount of Leonie's supports with female characters^note  Barring the infamous Marianne supports contain the other character in the support expressing appreciation for how strong and diligent Leonie is, with Bernadetta's even having her get quite flustered when Leonie removes her top right in front of her so she can fix it.
• Hilda's support chain with Lysithea has her introduce Lysithea to makeup and oils. At the end, Hilda is pleased with how attractive Lysithea is to males, and gives the impression that Lysithea is also charming her.
• It’s one of the subtler examples, but while Linhardt and Caspar’s relationship can just as easily be read as friendship, it is worth noting how much they parallel Soren and Ike, respectively - they’re childhood friends, one is an asocial wind mage with long green hair, the other is a blue-haired melee fighter, and their paired ending involves them heading off on a journey together and quietly disappearing from history. Caspar even has another, very similar paired ending with Ashe, after a support involving cats no less. And considering the famously subtextual nature of Ike and Soren’s relationship... certain conclusions are not hard to draw.
• If Yuri is sent to confront Ashe during Chapter 15 of the Verdant Wind or Silver Snow routes, this exchange happens.
  Yuri: Do you truly intend to forfeit your life for House Rowe? There's still time to change your mind.
  Ashe: I finally understand Lonato. He knew the price of standing for his beliefs... and he paid it gladly. I will do the same!
  Yuri: I like you- don't be an idiot. Or maybe I'll just have to smack some sense into you.
• The Death Knight's relationship with a male Byleth is laden with this. He's obsessed with the idea of either killing him or being killed by him, casually dismissing anyone who isn't Byleth after a certain point in the story (such as telling anyone who isn't Byleth that they are not "the one I crave" if fought during Chapter 8, even actively making a beeline for his position when the chapter is done on higher difficulties). It's no wonder that Jeritza is one of the same-sex options for male Byleth.

Warriors: Three Hopes

• Much of the Ho Yay present in Three Houses is kept or considerably amped up.
• Leonie and Hilda's supports feature Hilda making special perfumes for the two of them, with her saying that she made them so that their scents would intermingle when the two of them were near each other... and she sounds suspiciously flustered when she presents them to her.
• Shez and Lysithea's supports feature the latter trying to prove to the former that she isn't a child, at which point Shez states that she finds Lysithea to be mature and Lysithea blushes. This is the same for both versions of Shez.
• Dorothea and Edelgard's supports become quite... passionate, in places.
• While Monica canonically is in love with Edelgard, her supports with Dorothea have her express her admiration for Dorothea's singing in a way that makes her come off as a Loony Fan and possibly even a Stalker with a Crush.
• Sylvain's support with Ashe can come off as Accidental Innuendo:

  Sylvain: I'd love to find some reason to steal you away to my territory after the war.

• Catherine and Shamir. Continuing on from Three Houses the two's support conversation shows them to be very close to a near romantic degree, with bickering bordering on Like an Old Married Couple. When Shamir left the monastery Catherine was very close to going after her. Hearing that Shamir jokes that next time she should bring Catherine next time. On Scarlet Blaze, Shamir can be convinced to join by a promise that, if she does so, Catherine will be spared.
• Shez's A supports sometimes straddle the line between this and Ship Tease since there is no explicit confirmation. Since the dialogue is largely unchanged when switching genders, characters of the same gender can come across as incredibly flirty with some even all but flat out stating that they want to spend the rest of their lives with them like Linhardt (who is bisexual and thus makes sense with both male and female Shez). There are sometimes small differences in the supports depending on if Shez is male or female (such as Ignatz blushing with female Shez but not male, Manuela noting she wishes a female Shez were male), but they are the exception. It should be noted that the developers stressed in an interview that they did not want Shez to be seen as replacing Byleth in any sense including romantic, so its entirely possible some fans are reading more into these moments than is intended.
• Have Shez and Byleth be the same gender, you have both this and Foe Yay Shipping at the same time.

Engage

• This time, Alear can give the Pact Ring to anyone regardless of gender. Many are more platonic due to the No Hugging, No Kissing nature of Engage, but there are some that are far more blatant in romance.
  • Alfred and Kagetsu will outright say "I love you." to male Alear in their confessions.
  • Goldmary also confesses to falling for female Alear.
  • Chloé's ending with Alear notes that their love inspired many fairy tales.
• Alfred’s obsession with muscles can sometimes come across as this. For example, in Alfred’s support with Boucheron, he actually starts feeling him up all while commenting admiringly on his physique.
• Alcryst and Fogado’s supports have raised a few eyebrows for the way they compliment each other and liberal use of the word ‘like’.
  Fogado: At last, you finally came out and said it! You liiike me! You liiike me!
• Kagetsu and Boucheron's B-support conversation has Kagetsu try to understand how the people in Elyos express friendship. In turn, he shares that his culture expresses friendship with "quizzing" and then asks Boucheron to give him one. Boucheron quickly finds out he actually meant kissing.
  • Kagetsu, even after being told that kissing is usually reserved for romantic relationships, still asks Boucheron to "quiz him on the lips" in their A support. He was joking, however...
• Emblem Corrin's Bond conversations with Chloé come across as Corrin trying to admit her feelings to Chloé, who has her Shipping Goggles on. Chloé, talks about the possible romantic character archetypes that she believes should be with Corrin, while Corrin insists that she is happy with Chloé by her side.
• Chloé and Merrin's supports are dripping with this. Their C-support in particular starts with Merrin outright flirting by giving Chloé a flower and complimenting her beauty, then the two agree to share a meal with Merrin insisting that Chloé should take care of her if the weird meal makes her sick. Chloé constantly calling Merrin a dashing knight with Merrin worrying about living up to that image in later supports only adds to this.
• The very premise of Céline and Hortensia's support conversation is already pretty filled with Les Yay: Hortensia recognising Céline as her only competitor in cuteness, and struggling to prove herself superior without falling prey to her charms herself, all while Céline sincerely likes Hortensia and finds her extremely cute herself. But it really hits a height in their B support in which Hortensia declares a 'softness competition' and the screen cuts to black as she mumbles 'poke, poke'... She immediately calls the competition off, but Céline insists on returning the favour, causing the screen to go black again... And then in their A support, C&eeacute;line apparently still hasn't had enough, repeating the whole process all over again simply because Hortensia is so cute!
• The original Japanese version of Etie and Goldmary's B support has them arguing over whether muscular women like Etie or voluptuous women like Goldmary are more popular with men. The fact that they become friends in the end gives the impression that they're into each other's body types.
  • If that wasn't enough, in the original version of their A-support, Goldmary asks Etie if she can feel her muscles, to which Etie agrees, and Goldmary then lets Etie touch her. Etie then reveals to Goldmary that she wanted a body like Goldmary's before she began working out, and at the end of the support, Etie promises to help Goldmary get into shape while Goldmary offers Etie milk that is rumored to make one voluptuous. The English version has Goldmary and Etie feel each others' hands instead, with Goldmary admiring Etie's strength while Etie admires how smooth Goldmary's skin is.
• Etie and Yunaka's C-support starts with Etie giving Yunaka a "once-over". Their B-support has Etie tell Yunaka that she captured her interest, with the former admiring the latter's physique and being unable to look away from her, to which Yunaka than rebutes that she thinks Etie has the better physique. This comes to a head in their A-support, where Etie suggests that she and Yunaka could make flower crowns with each other using flowers that Etie's hometown associates with admiration. She then goes on to say that true friends from her hometown make flower crowns and pray for long, happy lives together, which sounds less like a friendship and more like a romantic relationship.
• In Timerra's C support with Panette, she reminisces about when they met for the first time, impersonating her retainer's past demeanor. After Panette tells Timerra to stop, she tells Panette that she loves both the old and new versions of Panette, to which Panette responds by saying the feeling is mutual. In their B support, Panette tells Timerra that she caused her to change the way she coped with her pent-up anger while Timerra once again reminisces about how they fought bandits and rode wolves together, and Panette calls them "thick as thieves", noting that she would've been consumed by her rage without Timerra. Finally, their A-support ends with Timerra declaring that she'll become a queen worthy of Panette's efforts, while Panette declares that she'll continue to serve her.
  • Additionally, if Panette faces Alternate Timerra in the Fell Xenologue, she calls Timerra the person who she most respects and adores.
• Even as Emblems, it seems that Chrom and male Robin continue to have plenty of Ship Tease with the two of them sharing a bracelet and saying they are bound together by bonds stronger than fate. In particular, Lucina explicitly calling Robin her father's other half if they fight and Robin teasing Chrom about constantly worrying for Lucina after the battle really makes them look like a married couple.
  • Chloé calling the relationship between Chrom and Robin like a pair from a fairy tale in their bond support also adds to this.
• Yunaka has some… interesting things to say about some of the female Emblems during their bond supports. For example, she apparently gets "starry-eyed" when hanging around with Corrin, peering at Micaiah from the shadows "because [she's] pretty," and saying that Eirika is as "sleek as a sword, sharp as a razor, those cheek bones could cut glass," saying that Lyn is "So fierce and gorgeous. [Yunaka doesn't] know whether to surrender or buy [Lyn] flowers," etc.
• An example from outside support and bond conversations is Nel from the Xenologue DLC. She eventually admits to having been in love with the Alear of the alternate world who is always the opposite gender of the main Alear meaning that in one version of the Fell Xenologue she was unambiguously in love with another woman. And of course her S-rank scene is explicitly romantic regardless, naturally, of Alear's gender.

Heroes

• The way Prince Alfonse talks about Zacharias and his disappearance can be seen as this, considering it soured him towards making friendships with any of the other heroes out of fear they'd decide to return to their own worlds and leave him behind too. It turns out Zacharias is Prince Bruno of the Emblian Empire, and left because his bloodline curse nearly made him kill Alfonse.
  • As Prince Bruno, he pretends to have killed 'Zacharias', and goads Alfonse into killing him to avenge his friend. Alfonse almost does, before the Summoner figures out Zacharias' true identity. The final chapter is basically Bruno begging Alfonse to kill him, and Alfonse just trying to understand why Bruno's acting the way he is. After Alfonse refuses to kill him, and Anna convinces Zacharias out of being a Death Seeker, Zacharias addresses the Summoner and makes them promise to kill him if he tries to hurt Alfonse or Sharena again.
  • Book 2 sees little mention of Zacharias until Prince Hrid of Nifl appears, having been saved by Zacharias and given valuable information about Muspell. After the information leads them into a trap, Hrid wonders if Zacharias lied to them, and Alfonse resolutely denies the possibility and says he trusts Zacharias. In Chapter 13, when Zacharias finally returns in time to save Veronica and Ylgr from Laegjarn, he and Alfonse have the following exchange:
    Alfonse: Zacharias... Thank you. You have saved us yet again.
    Bruno: It is I who must thank you, Alfonse. You saved me long ago. That moment... it has been in my mind of late.
    Alfonse: Zacharias... We can talk later.
  • Near the end of Book 6, Alfonse has the most extreme reaction to Zacharias' death, going into a Heroic BSoD for the first part of Chapter 12, and after recovering, vowing to defeat Embla so that Zacharias' sacrifice is not in vain. It's even worse than Zacharias/Bruno's sister Veronica's reaction, although she's past the Despair Event Horizon after all she's suffered throughout the arc.
• Another example from the Original Generation royals: Laegjarn and Fjorm. Fjorm respects Laegjarn for her fair treatment of the captured Nifl citizens, and after Laegjarn is captured by the Order, tries to get her to commit a Heel–Face Turn. Laegjarn refuses, and Fjorm muses that she can't bring herself to bear a grudge against her enemy, and that if they'd met under different circumstances, perhaps she and Laegjarn would have been friends. After Laegjarn uses the Flames of Muspell, it burns her eyes out and she says, despite her blindness, she finally sees Fjorm as she truly is. Her final words to Fjorm call back to Fjorm's earlier wishes:
  Laegjarn: Princess Fjorm... Suppose we had chosen a different path back in Nifl... Could we have been... With you, could we have been...
  Fjorm: Laegjarn...
  • The two get a duo unit in the "Wyvern Ninja" paralogue, and their closeness ends up making Laegjarn's little sister Laevatein jealous.
• Male Robin reinforces his own Ho Yay with Chrom from their source game in his level 40 conversation, by talking about how the Summoner's bond with Alfonse reminds him of his own bond with Chrom and offering his support in that relationship, making him sound like a Shipper on Deck. To drive the point further, Female Robin's own level 40 conversation is just her offering her support and advice to the Summoner as a fellow tactician who's been at the job longer, with absolutely no mention of Chrom at all.
• The Love Abounds banner has Valentines Day versions of Roy, Lilina, Hector and Lyn... Despite this, however, Hector doesn't have any lines related to Lyn. The only characters he talks about are Lilina (his daughter)... and Eliwood. He even says he can't relax until they spar. The reverse is also true of Eliwood's Love Abounds version, who only talks about Roy and Hector.
• Due to the lack of gender selection, some interactions with the Summoner can fall under this trope. Significant instances include:
  • Legault flirting with you when he's tapped on in his info screen, regardless of your gender. His lines even reference his support conversations with Heath and Matthew.
  • Anna assumes Sharena wants the bouquet in the Bridal Bloom Paralogue for herself and the Summoner.
  • In English, Love Abounds Eliwood will ask you if you have any gifts planned for someone special, then suggest flowers. In French, he specifically asks if you have a woman in mind. And this is with the French localisation having gender selection to change pronouns in dialogue.
• The High Tea Jinks event plays this for laughs. Alfonse and Silas become fast friends, and Nina spies on them and interprets their every interaction in the most homoerotic way possible.
• Reyson has a voiced line where he wishes he could be like Tibarn because of his "big body and strong wings" and says it in a rather raspy way.
• The end of the Bridal Belongings paralogue sees Sharena muse about who the alternate version of Fjorm had in mind for the Bridal Bouquet's magic of martial happiness, with Fjorm's dialogue heavily implying it was Sharena herself.
  • Similarly, Bridal Belongings Veronica has a line where she wonders if Alfonse knows what love is before saying that Sharena clearly does not. One can't help but read it as if Veronica's frustrated that Sharena doesn't recognize a crush she has on her.
• If you reach Level 40 with Mathilda, she'll talk about how she wishes she could get along better with Clair. While Clair is Mathilda's future sister-in-law, Mathilda calls Clair, "Attractive, intelligent, and strong," which Mathilda says makes Clair "not so different from" Mathilda's beloved Clive.
• Though never completely explicit, Heroes drops several hints about Raven and Lucius’s relationship - one of Raven’s resplendent lines is him stating that Lucius liking his outfit makes wearing it worth it, and when the two appear during Constance’s Forging Bonds event, she briefly seems to suspect there’s more to their relationship than just lord and retainer...
  • Lucius’s resplendent lines echo Raven’s sentiment, with him stating that upon showing his new outfit, Raven “had nothing but kind words.”
• The intro dialogue for Mercedes and Annette's Bound Hero Battle practically borders on text, having been taken one-to-one from their previously-mentioned A-Support.
  Annette: I think I love you more than just about anything in the world!
  Mercedes: You do? Oh, Annie, you're too sweet.
• One of Bridal Say'ri's lines certainly seems to hint at her popular pairing with Tiki, who also happened to get a Bridal alt on the same banner... (Becuase the theme was Awakening characters who only support with Robin, but still!)
  The voice in bridal garb? 'Tis a sight that stirs the heart...!
• One of Duo Shamir's castle quotes speaks for itself:
  Shamir: People in Dagda marry whoever they want- regardless of gender. You OK, Catherine? You're blushing.
• Ivy's Forging Bonds events touch on her devotion to female Alear, with Ivy wishing she could have had Alear all to herself, and getting jealous when her summer alt gets too close to Alear.

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