Canon/Headcanon Character/Emblem Ring Pairings (SPOILER ALERT)

[Randoman]

I'm not sure what the current rule is for Fire Emblem Engage spoilers on Serenes Forest, but I should throw it out there that this thread will be loaded with spoilers.

So in terms of story elements and character factors only, which character/emblem ring pairings would you consider the canon pairings?

I hope we can all agree that the below pairings are canon, since the game itself forces the ring pairings on you:

Marth - Alear

Celica - Céline

Micaiah - Yunaka

Roy - Diamant

Lucina - Alear (for the mid-game, at least)

Lyn - Ivy

Ike - Timerra

Corrin - Seadall

Eirika - Rosado

However, regarding Sigurd, Leif, Byleth, and late-game Lucina, I was curious at to what your headcanons are for the character/emblem ring pairings. There aren't any pairings that the game forces for those four cases, so I'm curious as to what your headcanons are. Here are mine, and my logic behind them:

Sigurd - Alfred (I'm pretty sure the pre-title screen movie had this pairing, you get both Sigurd and Alfred around the same time, and I feel like most Fire Emblem Engage players accept this character/emblem ring pairing as canon)

Leif - Alcryst (This was one of the trickiest to decide on, but since you get Alcryst and Leif's ring around the same time, it makes enough sense to me. Plus, with a good chunk of the royal characters getting canon/implied ring pairings, I figure it would make sense for Alcryst to get a ring pairing as well, being a royal character)

Byleth - Hortensia (This pairing is technically never forced, but with enemy Hortensia using Byleth in two different chapters and the two of them being obtained around the same time, it's canon enough for me)

Lucina (late-game) - Veyle (this one was also quite tricky to decide on, but with Veyle being heavily prominent in cutscenes and the story after she's playable, and with her being a royal of sorts, it makes sense that such a major playable character would get an emblem ring. Veyle getting Lucina's ring once the game forces Marth's ring back on Alear just makes sense to me, especially since Veyle is forced in the chapter where you get all the rings back.)

I'm curious as to what your guys' headcanons are for the last four that I listed.

On a related note, for the emblems' in-game tutorial pages, most of the pairings match up with what I consider canon. However, I cannot make out who is engaged with Sigurd and Leif in their tutorial pages. Could anyone figure out who it is?

[Florete]

I was actually thinking of this exact idea just before refreshing and seeing this topic.

34 minutes ago, Randoman said:

Sigurd - Alfred (I'm pretty sure the pre-title screen movie had this pairing, you get both Sigurd and Alfred around the same time, and I feel like most Fire Emblem Engage players accept this character/emblem ring pairing as canon)

Alfred is clearly used in the Sigurd tutorial, so this makes sense.

34 minutes ago, Randoman said:

Byleth - Hortensia (This pairing is technically never forced, but with enemy Hortensia using Byleth in two different chapters and the two of them being obtained around the same time, it's canon enough for me)

Byleth and Hortensia are obtained at exactly the same time, in fact.

34 minutes ago, Randoman said:

Lucina (late-game) - Veyle (this one was also quite tricky to decide on, but with Veyle being heavily prominent in cutscenes and the story after she's playable, and with her being a royal of sorts, it makes sense that such a major playable character would get an emblem ring. Veyle getting Lucina's ring once the game forces Marth's ring back on Alear just makes sense to me, especially since Veyle is forced in the chapter where you get all the rings back.)

Adding to this, Veyle is also used in the Emblem Alear tutorial.

34 minutes ago, Randoman said:

Leif - Alcryst (This was one of the trickiest to decide on, but since you get Alcryst and Leif's ring around the same time, it makes enough sense to me. Plus, with a good chunk of the royal characters getting canon/implied ring pairings, I figure it would make sense for Alcryst to get a ring pairing as well, being a royal character)

Yeah, Leif is the oddest one. Boucheron has Leif in the tutorial, but even that seems like a totally random pick. I think an argument could be made for Vander, as he still shows up in later cutscenes and Leif was (iirc) one of the rings entrusted to Lythos to begin with.

I also think Eirika could realistically be on Goldmary (she gets a boss convo, even), but if you had to pick one or the other it'd be Rosado.

[Acacia Sgt]

Something to point out, Alfred has Lucina in the Prologue movie, where the other three royals have their "default" Emblems.

I'd say there can be an argument for Vander with Sigurd. Sigurd seemed to be the Emblem Lumera used the most, or at all. So with her demise, the Ring passing down to Vander feels kinda fitting. Not to mention, in the Chapter 10 cutscene, Vander was there with a Ring, so it seems it is kinda "canon" he's using one.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Azz]

Well...

Marth - Alear/Veyle. Alear is fairly obvious as to why. As for Veyle, I like to imagine that while Alear is going about as an Emblem themself, they give Marth to Veyle so Marth can protect her (well that's what I did lol). Also Veyle has a conversation with Marth in his paralogue.

Celica - Céline. This is actually really sad in retrospect cause really it should be Alfred but for years, as far as Eve and Céline knew, Alfred was gonna die so Céline ended up being entrusted with Celica so yeah.

Sigurd - He's hard to pin done. Personally I enjoy putting him with Vander. They have a conversation in Sigurd's paralogue about Lumera and Vander appears in multiple end game cutscenes so I think its neat. Also it's Alfred that is in his tutorial

Leif - Pretty hard to pin down actually. Ivy is the only one who has a conversation with him in his paralogue but she's better suited elsewhere. In his tutorial, I'm pretty sure its Boucheron he's engaged with but Boucheron is not a main character enough to be the canon choice of an Emblem imo. I personally gave him to Alcryst since you get Leif in Brodia and I do think Alcryst and Leif are actually quite similar, both having self-image issues so I think it suits.

Roy - Diamant obvi

Lyn - Ivy obvi

Eirika - Rosado is who who joins with her and is in her tutorial so that fits (also the fact it's an emblem about duality and Rosado fucks with gender I think is cool also I love Rosado and I love Eirika and Ephraim so I like it lol). Goldmary could also be argued for since she has a boss conversation with her but I would still pick Rosado. I would also argue for one of the twins since they are boxart characters and one of the twins having the Azure Twin emblem makes sense.

Ike - Timerra obvi

Micaiah - Obviously there is Yunaka who comes with her. However, I also think Mauvier would work. He is a more prominent character plot wise, he uses Miccy's emblem as an enemy and is from Firene, where Miccy's emblem originates from. Either works imo.

Lucina - Alfred. We see Alfred with her in the opening cutscene and in their bond conversation, Lucina mentions that her ring belonged to Firene 1000 years ago and iirc (I haven't seen all the bond convos) is the only ring to mention belonging to another country aside from one they are already in.

Corrin - Seadall of course. I also would argue for Fogado cause Corrin is Solm's ring, but I do think Seadall, as much as it doesn't match gameplay wise, lore wish works better

Byleth - Hortensia. She uses him as an enemy and has a conversation in his paralogue. Also she attends an academy in Elusia so...

As for the DLC emblems cause why not:

Tiki is seen with Framme in her tutorial, but I think Alear/Veyle makes the most sense cause dragons. I do think she'll probably end up with one of the two new dragons we see from the Fell Xenologue.

Hector is paired with Vander in his tutorial but is said to be alt!Firene's bracelet.

Soren is paired with Clanne in his tutorial but is said to be alt!Elusia's bracelet.

Chrobin is paired with Alfred in the tutorial, but idk if they said they are from an alt country. I imagine Chrom will end up with one of the two dragons like Tiki.

Camilla is paired with Yunaka in her tutorial but is said to be alt!Solm's bracelte.

Edelgard is with Alear in the tutroial. No idea for the alt Elyos.

Finally Veronica is also paired with Alear in the tutorial but mentions being alt!Brodia's braclet.

[ChaosStar0]

I just did the Hortensia and Rosado join chapters and Alear explicitly gives Byleth to Hortensia and Eirika to Rosado, so there's not really anyone else that could be their canon partner. I forgot that Alfred had Lucina in the prologue movie, and Lief works perfectly with coverts, so Alcryst is spot on for him. Haven't really used Vander too much due to being a Jeigan.

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Something to point out, Alfred has Lucina in the Prologue movie, where the other three royals have their "default" Emblems.

I'd say there can be an argument for Vander with Sigurd. Sigurd seemed to be the Emblem Lumera used the most, or at all. So with her demise, the Ring passing down to Vander feels kinda fitting. Not to mention, in the Chapter 10 cutscene, Vander was there with a Ring, so it seems it is kinda "canon" he's using one.

Vander also has a conversation with Sigurd as an enemy in his paralogue.

[Acacia Sgt]

9 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Vander also has a conversation with Sigurd as an enemy in his paralogue.

Mhm, and it is indeed regarding Lumera.

That said, considering that in the Chapter 10 cutscene Alfred was there alongside Vander and Alear, I would put my guess that if we consider the other four Emblems were with their default/canon wielders, then Vander had Sigurd and Alfred had Leif, if only because it is the only one left to sort.

[indigoasis]

On 3/19/2023 at 8:14 PM, Florete said:

Yeah, Leif is the oddest one. Boucheron has Leif in the tutorial, but even that seems like a totally random pick.

Perhaps it's a small reference to the 4 axe units (jeez, why so many?) that you start with in Thracia. That's what makes sense to me, anyway.

[lenticular]

On 3/19/2023 at 11:39 PM, Randoman said:

I hope we can all agree that the below pairings are canon, since the game itself forces the ring pairings on you:

Sorry to dash your hopes, but I disagree with that. I don't really see any of the character/emblem pairings as being canon. I see them partly as gameplay suggestions, but from a storyline perspective, I see most of the forced options more along the lines of "the battle is about to start and we need to give this ring to somebody, so you take it now and we'll figure stuff out properly when we get the chance".

I mostly imagine that, in story, different characters would be fighting in different battles and the rings would get passed around a lot. Which is to say, I imagine that Marth is fighting and bonding with more than just Alear, and Alear with more than just Marth. In gameplay, yeah, we plan to use exactly 14 units and stick each emblem to the unit that benefits them most, with occasional arena training when we want a skill inheritance. But in story, I imagine that the Emblems are much more integrated into the team, rather than always fighting together with the same person.

I also doubt that IS or Nintendo will ever fully canonise any specific pairings, since they generally seem reluctant to canonise much of anything, preferring to leave as much as possible as player choice. I suppose some stuff might show up in Heroes or in the manga, but they are both of somewhat dubious canonicity anyway. Actually, thinking about it, have they ever made any pronouncements about what is and is not canon? I certainly can't recall any, but that's far from definitive. But the general approach seems to be to just give us a bunch of games (and other media) and let us reach our own conclusions as to how we want them to fit together.

So while it's cool to have headcanons and preferred pairings, and while I can see why people are attracted to some of the default options, I disagree withthe idea that they should be considered canon.

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, lenticular said:

I also doubt that IS or Nintendo will ever fully canonise any specific pairings, since they generally seem reluctant to canonise much of anything, preferring to leave as much as possible as player choice.

This I'm not so sure of, as I expect to see the Emblems get into Heroes in some form. True, they might get in just as themselves, but then that will be a bit weird to have a Marth who is from Archanea and a Marth who is from Elyos. What I think is very much in the realms of possibility is that the Emblems will be integrated into Heroes as Duo units, so we'll get Alear and Marth, or Yunaka and Micaiah. This will better reflect how they function in Engage versus just making them independently playable (the exception would probably be the Fire Emblem, who would just be a legendary unit).

[Seazas]

3 hours ago, lenticular said:

Sorry to dash your hopes, but I disagree with that. I don't really see any of the character/emblem pairings as being canon. I see them partly as gameplay suggestions, but from a storyline perspective, I see most of the forced options more along the lines of "the battle is about to start and we need to give this ring to somebody, so you take it now and we'll figure stuff out properly when we get the chance".

I mostly imagine that, in story, different characters would be fighting in different battles and the rings would get passed around a lot. Which is to say, I imagine that Marth is fighting and bonding with more than just Alear, and Alear with more than just Marth. In gameplay, yeah, we plan to use exactly 14 units and stick each emblem to the unit that benefits them most, with occasional arena training when we want a skill inheritance. But in story, I imagine that the Emblems are much more integrated into the team, rather than always fighting together with the same person.

I also doubt that IS or Nintendo will ever fully canonise any specific pairings, since they generally seem reluctant to canonise much of anything, preferring to leave as much as possible as player choice. I suppose some stuff might show up in Heroes or in the manga, but they are both of somewhat dubious canonicity anyway. Actually, thinking about it, have they ever made any pronouncements about what is and is not canon? I certainly can't recall any, but that's far from definitive. But the general approach seems to be to just give us a bunch of games (and other media) and let us reach our own conclusions as to how we want them to fit together.

So while it's cool to have headcanons and preferred pairings, and while I can see why people are attracted to some of the default options, I disagree withthe idea that they should be considered canon.

They won't canonize anything, yes. But Intsys 100% has preferred and default emblem pairings. We are always seeing Marth associated with Alear, we won't see Alear using anyone else.

[Jotari]

48 minutes ago, Seazas said:

They won't canonize anything, yes. But Intsys 100% has preferred and default emblem pairings. We are always seeing Marth associated with Alear, we won't see Alear using anyone else.

Well, other, than Lucina for that one point.