Characters Leaving After the Time-Skip? (Spoilers)

[ZanaLyrander]

Something interesting I observed that I didn’t know could happen. So, I’m playing as the Golden Deer, and pretty late in Part 1, I recruited Ashe. I never ended up using him because I recruited him so late and my team was pretty much fixed at that point (I know Ashe is really good, I just didn’t have room for him in my team).

What caught me off guard was that after the time skip, I encountered him as an enemy on one of the story missions. Since I never used him, I didn’t even realize that he wasn’t in my army until that point, so it was quite a surprise, because I didn’t realize that could happen. I knew some units couldn’t be recruited depending on what house you chose, and some could leave your army depending on choices you made like Flayn, but I didn’t realize some could leave without ceremony like that. Do you need a certain support level with them to stay? Other characters I never use stuck around, so I’m curious what determines whether they leave or not. 

[Skarthe]

Some characters leave after the skip for personal reasons. Usually they can be recruited back by defeating them with Byleth.

[Seafarer]

The same thing happens with Lorenz in Azure Moon and (I think) Lysithea in Crimson Flower. I believe it's just the one character per route.

[0 Def Cleric]

35 minutes ago, Seafarer said:

The same thing happens with Lorenz in Azure Moon and (I think) Lysithea in Crimson Flower. I believe it's just the one character per route.

Lysithea does not leave over the skip in Crimson Flower.