blinkingbrave

Yeah, pretty much what everyone else already said. Haven't married Corrin to any of them myself (though I did shack her up with Xander fwiw), but it's the same reason why people marry him/her off to Azura, Hinata, Izana, Caeldori, or whoever else. They liked something about the visuals, gameplay potential, and/or writing (or it was just convenient for whatever reason). I'm gonna hazard a guess that your issue is the family status (just bc that's the issue I usually see brought up), but the lack of blood relation ultimately means not everyone's going to see a Corrin-royal relationship as incestuous. It's different strokes for different folks. It's just fanboys/girls doin' their thing. Long as they aren't violating any child laws, I don't see the problem or why this matters that much...

Not the least favorite protag I've had to deal with, not my top fave either. Generally speaking, I found him/her interesting in the story... but overshadowed by others in the supports, where s/he ultimately seems to get saddled with a less flashy characterization compared to support partners. Kinda... middle of the road as far as Fates characters, FE protags, and general protags go for me. I adore the f!Corrin Nohr Princess line though. Totally my favorite class line design set~~ Sorta seconding what's already been said, I find m!Corrin's off somehow. Maybe that's just comparing it to f!Corrin's, which is more embellished. If it had just been m!Corrin, maybe I would've had less problem with it, who knows.

I enjoyed it just fine, honestly, and I feel like 80% of the arguments I've heard for 'good vs bad' essentially come down to personal preference more than anything else. Edit: And unsupported speculation. If I had a dollar for every person who knows the true message/goal of Fates's story that IS somehow didn't execute properly, I'd have a lot of money. Same for the 'the story would've been better if XYZ happened.' Maybe. Or maybe the writing still wouldn't have been what this person wanted. For whatever reason, there seem to be a lot of these arguments floating around, and they're certainly fun enough to puzzle out for kicks and 'what if'/'what I'd do' type things... but until IS declares what their actual intention with the story was or writes up a sample script for someone's fantasy scenario, they're not really much use in a discussion about the quality of what's actually written imo.

Mm, yeah, there definitely isn't the same clear reasoning on Birthright. In regards to Ryoma, I think that's more just a character flaw the writing kinda didn't finish or something. To me, he consistently behaves one particular way (talking a lot about being a leader, but not fully acting that way), so his not behaving responsibly in this regard fits. But at the same time, I'm not sure the writing ever actual confirms that as an intended behavior, meaning that might not be the correct reasoning at all. So... I think Ryoma should lead because it's the appropriate thing to do, but (assuming I'm understanding the characterization right) it makes more sense to me that he fails to do that.

This is what I always thought, but I can't remember if that was explicitly the case (if it was, it was definitely stated well after Xander joined) or just something I surmised based on his earlier dialogue/motivations. Either way, it seems pretty likely to me, given that's almost his exact reasoning earlier in the game, where it is explicitly stated. If Garon consistently operates on the same motivations (which would make sense), there's no reason to beat the reader over the head with it.

Mmm, nope, if I'm remembering Xander's join chapter correctly, Garon places Corrin in charge of the army (again, like he does for all those other missions), and then Xander joins after. That Xander listens to that order makes reasonable enough sense to me, given Xander's devotion to his father.

Because Garon explicitly places Corrin in charge several times on Conquest. There's no explicit reason for her/him to be in charge on Birthright iirc, but given that Ryoma was already playing second banana to Scarlet before Corrin even showed up + he's consistently shown to go renegade pre-route split, I'd hazard a guess there's supposed to be some characterization there I just don't know because I haven't gotten many of his supports.

First ten pairs to come to my mind in no particular order would be... Xander/f!Corrin: Cute chain, and she brings him a more romantic dynamic that Xander's supports usually lack for me. Bonus points for Corrin getting some characterization. Azura/Ryoma: Similar rationale to Xander/f!Corrin, where I really struggle finding Ryoma a pair with a good dynamic I could see romantically. Felicia/Kaden: Just cuteness. Ryoma/Camilla: I like seeing them mom 'n dad it up. Camilla never feels on equal footing with her male support partners for me, and this is the one support I've gotten where they seem closer to equal. Ryoma could probably use a woman who dotes on him anyways. Odin/Kagero: She legitimately appreciates his behavior. Kaze/Nyx: It's slightly more subtle handling of Nyx's issues, and I like that. Jakob/Selena: Another kinda 'equal footing' type pairing. I feel bad pairing a harsher character with a sweet one, and these two are both a lil more... prickly. It's nothing I think would really be good irl, but it's fiction, so who cares. Charlotte/Saizo: It's pretty much all about her rougher personality, which is exactly what I want to know how her partner would handle. Benny/Rinkah: Just cuteness again. Hinoka/Hinata: Along the lines of Xander/f!Corrin and Charlotte/Saizo, where the support addresses something I usually find missing in one of the character's support sets. In this case, it's important to me to have Hinoka rely on someone, which this support shows. Edit: Added in some reasonings.

Not really. Since she mostly contributes the world-building-y exposition (with a side of mysterious waif), I find her writing misses a lot of what I find in the other series lords (focus on a leadership position, driving action, etc, etc). Between that and not having a lord class title, I don't really consider her a lord. Hell, I'd be more apt to put the royals as lords before her. Seconding that she's more like Ninian. I'd imagine Azura as the protagonist would just be hella frustrating though, unless you're changing the plot & her character to go along with it. She's prejudiced against Nohr and distant from Hoshido, so already the 'unifying the two nations' is hard to believe. Beyond that, the choice scene would just be entirely irritating, I imagine. Corrin has justification to choose Nohr/Hoshido, and not only does Azura not, she has major justification to only choose the third route instead. Toss in the fact that she's generally guarded, and you've got an audience that may end up struggling to connect with her emotionally, too, because she doesn't express that in the story as it is and she doesn't have anyone to express it to, without making changes.

Yukimura: He's a pain in the neck on Revelation, where he stands out to me as abrasive for no good reason. Whatever the justification is, it doesn't really work for me because reasonably he ought to behave the same way on Revelation+Conquest (or be a lil nicer on Revelation), and he just doesn't. Since he's got so lil writing, this stands out as more of an issue to me than it would've for someone else. Nyx: I'm really more neutral to her but... She has a lot of repetitive supports. For me, that just makes her kinda boring, but if you don't like her gimmick, I imagine that makes her actually unlikable. For m!Corrin vs f!Corrin, I like f!Corrin because picking her gives you a girl that actually does stuff in the middle of allllll the royal brothers, while m!Corrin just gives you more of the same. Also, even though the dialogue is similar for them both, just the gender change totally changes the feel of several relationships for me, and I prefer f!Corrin's relationships.

Seconding Corrin/Xander for doing nice things for both characters and Saizo/Charlotte, not particularly deep or anything but as a romantic pair for Charlotte I like it. I'm also a fan of just about all of the Nohr royals supports with each other and Corrin, Hinoka/Hinata, Ryoma/Azura, Selena/Jakob, Siegbert/Ophelia and Rinkah/Charlotte. And a lot more outside of that, too, haha. Maybe I've just had good luck picking chains.

Presumably, they saw they had a lot of Nohrians and a lot of royal family members and decided to accommodate for that, hence Hoshidans and non-royals. Far as Azura goes, I'd guess it was Shigure vs Azura, for devs choice, and Shigure won. (Alternatively, does Azura have a more prominent role in the bad future DLC? bc that could explain it, too.) Not that I don't feel for the people expecting Azura and Takumi though... It's disappointing missing out on the convos, I'm sure. Hopefully, they're well-covered there, even if they'll lack a spousal...

time to draw some pirate!Xander with Corrin/his pirate booty Really though, the pictures look lovely, and I'm happy with the secret winners. I was a lil worried they were going to pick Azura (nothing wrong with her, but the main game already pushes her plenty), a Nohrian, and/or a Hoshidan royal (not that I wouldn't have liked a Ryoma pic), and I kinda feel the DLC is pretty saturated with royals/main-ish characters and Nohrians. Picking two Hoshidan non-royals was a good decision. Would've loved a picture of Saizo, but you can't win 'em all.

Ehhh... Azura's kinda boring to me, but to be fair, I don't like many characters like her either. She's got a lil too much forced mystery going on, and it always feels like the game's trying to push her on me and Corrin, which is probably fine if you like her and/or paired her with Corrin, but as someone for whom neither applies it becomes rather off-putting. She's got some supports I like (her Hinoka and Niles were nice), but often times she still directly plays or acts/speaks with undercurrents mysterious waif/poor unfortunate soul too much for her to appeal to me

Let's see... To pick a few from the ones I've seen... Xander/F!Corrin (to toss in the S) The Nohr royals with each other Kaze/Nyx Benny/Charlotte Jakob/Selena Takumi/Hana Hinata/Hinoka Jakob/Mozu Kagero/Orochi Elise/Odin There are definitely a lot more, but these are all pretty memorable for me.

Ahh, I don't like him either, tbh. I got the 'self-proclaimed best friend' vibe from him, too, and it always felt like the game wanted me to like him because of that connection that I couldn't really stand. For me, the supports I've seen range from generally boring to downright annoying. If he wasn't so fixated on Corrin (and trumpeted their best friends status less) and/or more supports actually took him down a peg, I'd probably find him more endearing. Allllll of that said, I think I've seen people like him for being a good unit and/or the 'loyal best friend' shtick being a positive thing for them instead of off-putting. I think he's also fairly popular with people who don't want to marry the royals, because knocking them off gives you a lot less story-prominent pairing options for F!Corrin.

Awakening I paired Robin with Stahl and Freddy a lot. Fates, I've paired Corrin with Xander on Conquest and Saizo on Birthright. Revelations is definitely going to be Xander again when I get there. Generally, I like doing story-related pairs long as the support is also pretty good... but I didn't like Chrom for Awakening, and for Birthright I feel weird pairing Corrin with Ryoma and I don't like her other more story-related options.

I paired up Xander/Corrin, and it was very cute. 10/10 would recommend. If you mean 'strong pairing' gameplay-wise, it probably depends on your Corrin. Both Xander and Corrin were frontline units for me, so pairing them up in guard stance to build that support easier meant someone had to be stuck in the back spot. If you mean 'strong pairing' writing-wise though, then yeah, I'd agree with that. The support is good, it builds really fast, and they've got plenty of moments that could be seen as ship-teasing in the support and story. Personally, for Conquest, I don't really have any other pairing recs, based on supports at least. It's hard to compete with story relevant pairing for me. You can't entirely goof around on Conquest, but Corrin supports quickly with a lot of characters. If you aren't sure who to pair her with, you will have some time to experiment with supports. I'm at... Chapter 22-ish now, having finished all the paralogues, and she's gotten 4 (maybe more, can't remember) maxed supports and several more sitting at B, with me pairing her with random spares until Xander was recruited. So you've got plenty of time to test stuff. As for most popular pairings for Conquest, the royal bros and Jakob were definitely most popular in Japan. In the localized version of the game... Tbh, I've moooostly seen people playing Birthright so far, so it's a lil early to tell who's popular on Conquest for me. Generally... I've seen a good deal of Xander and then a mix of the neutral guys, mostly Silas. Buuuut with the neutral guys, it can be hard to tell which route the player is on. So... I think that makes it hard to judge if they're popular Conquest pairs, actually pairings done on Birthright, or their popularity is some combo of the two.

Mm, yeah, yeah. I suppose it depends on if we're talking pre-game or post-game (and then if so, which route). Pre-game, all of what I just said ought to put Marx in number one. For each route, post-game... I usually assume the enemy big bro is the canonical 'strongest fighter,' seeing as it takes your army to bring 'em down, but both brothers aren't fighting at their true strength. For IK/general post-game comparison... I suppose I'd be inclined to give it to Marx again, mostly because he's really built up as this fearsome power across the three routes, moreso than I remember Ryouma being. But that's just me.

If we're just talking storywise, then I'm like 99.9% sure Xander is canonically stronger than everyone. And he's got several moments where the story plays up his power hard, compared to the other royals. By the time the end of Birthright came around, I was kinda bored and skimming so I certainly could've missed something buuuut... I'm pretty sure someone states outright that Xander is too strong for Corrin's army to defeat. Closest would probably be Ryoma, but since he's in the party when whoever it was is going on about how Corrin's army isn't strong enough to defeat Xander, I'd think it's safe to say Ryoma's the weaker of the two. I suppose... Technically, whether or not Xander's pulling his punches (as he also canonically does a good deal) could push him down the list, but if we're just talking raw power, then the JP story, at least, singled out Xander, iirc.

Hmm... I'll probably take a peek at that Felicia support then and decide how I feel about that trait after.

I remember seeing some My Castle line stuff floating around on Tumblr that suggested he was the sort of character to 'focus on the things he was good at and avoid those he wasn't,' and I can see it in the My Castle lines... but I haven't seen it so far anywhere else. Since it required reading between the lines and the number of lines you could pull the idea from were few, I'm more inclined to put it closer to fan theory than canon. It's an interesting trait... but if it's more fan theory, then personally, I don't wanna shelve it with the canon and 'fairly clearly canon but not directly stated' traits.

Mmm... I'm a big fan of Conquest!Ryoma, particularly, mostly bc it's nice to see an FE staple character like him actually out of his element. And he's got some supports I like, too. There are also a few traits associated with his character that I'm rather partial to... but I kinda can't remember if they're canon canon or more fan theory-y so I dunno if that counts. And he's a good unit. That usually helps. Not exactly one of my favorite characters as a whole, but he's definitely one of my favorite enemy royals and I certainly do like him. I would agree with the sentiment though that, at least as far as the royals go, poor guy's one of the less mentioned ones.

Ah, this is cute! One for Conquest... And one for Revelation! Edit: For the record... Conquest pairs I really like the JP variant of and thus will definitely stay the same + reasoning: Revelation pairs I really like the JP variant of and thus will definitely stay the same + reasoning:

1. Xander: I adored Marx, so I'm super hopeful I'll adore Xander, too. Blond paladin bias+good supports/story+good unit bump him up to the top for me. 2. Camilla: Loved her JP character, so she's another one I'm looking forward to in localization. If she were more story-relevant, she'd probably be equal with Xander on my faves list. Also, her localized voice is A+ stuff. 3. Sakura and Elise: I like 'em both for story/support reasons, but which one is my favorite depends on the day. 4. Ryoma: Kinda drifting closer to the 'I don't care' range here... but Ryoma did have his moments where I legitimately liked him in the story. Supports weren't really my thing, more often then not though. 5. Leo: Similar to Ryoma, where he had a mix of moments I liked and didn't like. 6. Takumi: Tbh, I thiiiink I'm more partial to localized Takumi, so he could bump up on my list. Just had a personality that didn't gel with me and a lot of screentime that made his personality unavoidable. 7. Hinoka: That I got to Takumi and couldn't think of who I forgot probably answers why she's here.