Nino and Erk must be the most flawed possible pairing option in Fire Emblem.

[ARMADS!!!]

 (FE7 and FE6's spoilers, as you should know)

Before everything I'd like to say that I'm not here to gatekeep you from liking the ship, if you ship them because you like their dynamic as a couple or find them cute together or like their supports, whatever, to each their own, I don't really dislike their dynamic myself either (I'm just neutral to it), this is not a hate post, neither a post to fuel ship wars, the purpouse of this post is to point in how many ways the excecution of them as a possible couple, as it is in the game, ignored the canon completely in many ways, to the point that it makes it look like it's just an option because they wanted more than one husband option for Nino and at the same time try to justify why Erk isn't on FE6, it's so ridiculous in so many way that I thought that it could be a whole ass post, specialy since I've never seen anyone even saying anything about this. I don't ever try to argue on why one couple is "more canon" than others because I don't think that this is a thing (I mean, it's either canon or not, there's no in between) and that one of the cool parts of FE is that there are a lot to interpret the characters and relationships and a lot of options for every taste, but still...

 WHY DID THEY HAVE TO DO ERK AND NINO LIKE THIS??? If they were gonna half ass it so much, might as well not have made it an option!

 Each time I think about how they made Erk and Nino "work" my blood boils...

•  First off, why would them live in Pherae after marrying? "I'ts because they have to hide Nino from the bounty hunters!" But wouldn't it be way smarter and safer if they lived with Pent and Louise on Castle Reglay (or on Nabata, in the end of FE7 it wasn't 100% clear where they stayed, but I guess that it was in Castle Reglay because of Klein and Clarine)? No bounty hunter would be able to get her in there + they don't have any attachement to Pherae so why would they chose living there over living in Etruria with Pent and Louise, who were Erk's family and he loved (AND was still sudying magic under Pent, would he stop to go live with Nino in Pherae?)? Sure, we know that it's because Lugh and Raigh are in an orphanage in Lycia but couldn't they think of anything else? Well, of course, that even if Erk and Nino did want to live in Pherae for personal reasons, it would have been smart of them to come back to Etruria (or Nabata, whatever) to keep Nino and the whole family safe after the bounty hunters started to show up, at least, but as we know they don't do it either.
•  This point is a little less relevant than the rest I guess, i don't wanna sound like I'm nitpicking so disconsider this if you want to but.... If they really wanted Nino and Erk to live in Lycia (and this goes for Nino and Jaffar as well) then why did the couple even had to live in Pherae? Acording to Lugh in his A support convo with Melady, he and Raigh have been living in the orphanage (always the same orphanage) since their parents went away, and the orphanage is in Araphen (which is... very far from Pherae, you can look up a map of Lycia if you wanna check out, then try imagine two kids walking all that distance, probably on foot,  to find an orphanage, surely there must have been one that was closer).
• Why would Erk storm after Nino like that, leaving his two kids behind? It doesn't sound like him at all, you can picture all the behind the scenes changes/evolution in his personality over the years between FE7 and Nino's disappearence you want, and you can picture all dispair of the world after Nino left as well, I still find it hard that someone as logical and responsible as Erk wouldn't at least send a letter asking for Pent and Louise to take care of his children while he is away before starting his search for Nino (specially if he knew that there was a chance that he'd take too long or not come back at all). With Nino and Jaffar this idea makes sense, Nino would lose it if Jaffar went away like that (specially because he promised not to leave her) + she doesn't have anyone/almost anyone to ask to keep an eye on her kids (but I'd believe that she stormed after her husband without thinking about this even if she had) + she couldn't write to leave a note or a letter asking for a friend to take care of her boys so if there was no known friend close to her location at that time she'd have no way to solve this... But really, with Erk and Nino they could've thought about something else instead of basically copying and pasting Nino and Jaffar's ending (I know that they did it with a lot of pairings but with them this excuse doesn't work AT ALL). Also, of course that they had to flip it to be Nino who has bounty hunters on her, on her ending with Erk, because otherwise it'd look even more strange, but not even Nino should be known on the crime world at all... She didn't even use to go on missions for the Black Fang (I think that the mission of assassinating Zephiel was her first, no? On Four Fanged Offense she says that she wanted to be useful enough to help in battle and that Sonia only lets her run errands like delivering messages), so why would anyone want her head? I'm not even sure if anyone aside of Sonia and Nergal's "close circle" (like the 4 fangs and Legault, and just a few more) even knew about the very existence of Nino, let alone someone wanting to pay a bounty hunter for her head.
• Even if we assume that Nino and Erk went to live in Lycia just because they wanted to (regardless of having to be away from Erk's family, and of Erk having to interrupt his studies under Pent, and of them having no connection to Pherae and also of them knowing that Nino was being hunted down), even having safer and most practical options, how come that Raigh and Lugh even managed to end up on a orphanage?? First, as I said before, wouldn't Erk let Pent and Louise know that he was going after his missing wife and ask them to take care of the boys while he was away or at least guarantee that someone could take care of them in case he didn't manage to come back or took too long? And even if Erk never said anything to Pent and Louise, wouldn't they ever hear of Erk's death/disappearence (or at least find it strange that he hadn't answered their letters or whatever for some time, even when it passed weeks, months or years? and then try to reach out for him and find out that he died/is missing) and eventually reach out to Raigh and Lugh? They raise several random orphans at their castle but didn't take in the two that are essentialy their grandchildren?? Also, since Lucius is the father of the orphanage, and he knows Erk and Nino, so if Lugh and Raigh ever mentioned the names of their parents (and according to Lugh's A support with Melady, they became orphans at 4, so they should know their parents' names by then) it should be enough for Lucius to realize that this means Raigh and Lugh are "related" to Pent and Louise, the noble and rich couple who loves to adopt random orphans, as well, so why on the world he wouldn't send them a letter asking if they are aware of Erk's death and want to take in the two boys (that again, are essentially their grandchildren!) instead of letting Lugh and Raigh live on that orphanage with almost no resources where the kids starved so hard that they had to eat roots sometimes?(and not only for Lugh and Raigh, obviousl if both of them left it'd leave more food for the other children that lived there, which in the end would benefit them too) Lucius would never let this happen knowing who the other relatives of the boys were. If you add FE7's story to FE6, you realise that Lugh and Raigh are the ones that should be farther from the situation that they're in, if they're Erk's kids.

 

 Anyway, that was it I guess. I'ts just that this is something that always bothered me and it seems to make a lot of sense so I thought I'd share. i wonder if there's any other pairing that ignores the the realm of possibility more than them (if you know any, feel free to share as well cause I'd really like to know) because it's impossible that they even considered FE6 when thinking about their ending, it was as if they were tired after writing so many endings and Nino x Erk was one of the last one so they half assed it just to get it over it without even thinking wheter it made sense or not ("Eh... just copy and paste her ending with Jaffar, oh but flip Nino's role with Jaffar's and put Erk on Nino's role so it won't sound strange... Yeah, perfect, now we can go lunch", that's what it sounds like).

[bookwormbabe29]

 

It's been a while so bear with me, yet where do we get she is the mother of Lugh and Raigh? I remember it being implied - heavily, heavily implied - but was it ever officially confirmed?

 

As to Pherae, if I remember right (again, been a while) I though there was something about Eliwood offering Nino + Jaffar 'a place' there. I assumed it was a place where they would not be wanted by the government or arrested/hunted/charged/etc for crimes committed in the past. As they both clearly have issues with bounty hunters, having the local government not after them too was the incentive. It might actually 'fit' too. If nation X asked Pherae to arrest/extradite these criminals, and Eliwood is like 'nah' then Nation X could only legally use bounty hunters. 

 

If you want to stretch here, perhaps Nino (with Erk or Jaffar) start in Pherae, get worried when the first bounty hunters come along, flee north to try and lose their trail (possibly heading to Nabata) and then leave the kids behind to use themselves as bait/distraction to keep the kids safe there. Still, when you think of how many high ranking nobles Nino alone knows from the party, leaving your kids at an orphanage instead of asking Eliwood/Lyn/Pent/etc to look after them is kind of dumb. And if you assume Erk is going to Nabata area, they have to detour farther north than needed to evade bounty hunters.

 

So it CAN work.....if you make a lot of assumptions.