With more gameplay shown from Fire Emblem: Three Houses during E3, the fandom is in full hype mode. After the announcement of features like a 5-year time skip, a lot of the skepticism has been put to rest and people are excited for the future of Fire Emblem. A lot of mechanics from older games seem to be returning, while other mechanics that people didn’t like such as the children units are not returning.
One of the main draws of Three Houses is the initial choice of which house you choose to teach at the beginning of the game. You can either go Golden Deer, Black Eagles, or Blue Lions. Each house has different students that you get to train and use during battle, so the choice of which house to use actually seems meaningful. The characters have always been a huge part of Fire Emblem due to support conversations and the series’ classic permadeath (on Classic mode.) These leads players to get very attached to the side characters, sometimes even more so than the main characters.
As a fun way to get people more excited for Three Houses, let’s count down the most interesting looking character from this new Fire Emblem title.
Claude
Yes, one of our spots belongs to one of three Lord characters. Claude is the leader of the Golden Deer and, I must say, looks quite different from typical Fire Emblem Lords. No blue hair, no swords, and even the bright yellow that makes up part of his outfit is quite a departure from regular Fire Emblem main characters. Claude also isn’t technically royalty, as he is part of the Leicester Alliance, a group of noble houses who do not have a monarch, but are still led by Claude’s family. Does that make him royalty? It’s a bit unclear.
Claude’s character design is also pretty unique among Fire Emblem lords, as most of them are pretty plain-looking characters, sporting a bit of armor, a cape, and pretty normal facial features. Claude, however, is a bit suaver; he sports a youthful-looking, messy hair, a yellow cape, and quite the distinctive jaw-line. We have also seen his character model and portrait from after the time skip, and his dashing design is enhanced tenfold. He gains a shimmering white shoulder plate, has the Golden Deer vigil embroidered on his outfit, and he sports a thin chin strap of facial hair. His wild hair is also a bit more slicked back and tamed.
Claude seems a bit more laid back and easygoing compared to the other Three Houses lords, which isn’t really something we see from this series a lot.
Sylvain
Newer Fire Emblem games have an overabundance of characters that are incredibly young, looking like they’re barely in their teens, so it’s nice whenever the game throws a character at you that looks a bit more mature. Is Sylvain a middle-aged man? Not even close, but he at least looks like he’s in his twenties. I also personally love characters with red hair like Gaius from Awakening, so Sylvain gets extra points.
It’s hard to talk about the students’ clothing since they mostly all wear the same uniform. There are definitely different styles, but they’re all black and very formal looking.
Sylvain is a member of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, which means he belongs to the Blue Lions’ House at the Garreg Mach Monastery. People apparently view him as an older brother figure, even though his love for flirtatious women can often lead him to be in hot water.
One of the most interesting parts of Three Houses is the mechanic of Crests. They seem to be something that the noble characters have, and they can either have minor or major Crests. It is unknown if these Crests are physical objects, or if they’re just like how Holy Blood works in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. It seems that every character in Three Houses will have quite the in-depth background, which make Sylvain interesting since he had an older brother who lost the right to be heir to their household because he did not possess a Crest. Exploring these characters backgrounds will make Three Houses quite the different Fire Emblem game.
Marianne
There is no denying that Marianne has a strong resemblance to Ramona Flowers from the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels/film, so she has that going for her. Her very dry outfit is pretty boring, but her short blue hair makes her stand out because most Fire Emblem female characters have long hair. She is a member of the Golden Deer and apparently has a crest, but it hasn’t been explained what kind as of yet.
Her character description describes her as incredibly shy and lacking self-esteem, but has a great love of all animals. Her personal skill gives bonuses to her Avoid and Hit stats when she is right next to mounted and pegasus units. She’s apparently very religious and prays every day. Religion plays a big part in Three Houses since the Garreg Mach Monastery seems to have a strong tie to the Church of Serios, the main religion in Fodland. Many people have speculated that the church is actually bad, and will later be revealed to be the real bad guy of the game. If this is true, it will be really interesting to see how this affects Marianne and her relationship with religion. Three Houses might feature character development as we have never seen before in a Fire Emblem game, especially due to the time-skip.
Hanneman
This fancy-looking fellow actually isn’t one of the students in Three Houses, but one of your professors and colleagues. At the Garreg Mach Monastery, he teaches classes in bow usage and Reason Magic. He also studies the crests that the game seems to revolve around, and helps the avatar character, Byleth, study what his unusual crest actually is and means.
There has been some speculation that you will be able to recruit and use some of your professors in battle and hopefully this is the case for Hanneman. His character design is fantastic because he looks like a very cliché professor, with a heavy overcoat and monocle. His facial hair also makes him pretty distinctive, which makes him stand out from other Fire Emblem characters. He kind of looks like Fire Emblem’s version of Sir Hammerlock from Borderlands. Also, as previously mentioned, it’s also just nice to see characters who are a bit older, and not in their teens/early twenties. His role in the game’s story/lore might mean he is actually quite the important guy.
Petra
Being an outsider among the students of the Garreg Mach Monastery, Petra is from the archipelago of Brigid which is part of the Adrestian Empire. Apparently, her father sent her to the Monastery as a gesture of allegiance to help strengthen their homeland’s ties with the empire. Due to her not being from Fodlad, she has a hard time speaking their common tongue as her turn of phrase can be a bit wonky.
Petra isn’t very noticeably different from the rest of the characters when you first look at her, but she does have some different features once you look hard enough. The first thing is that she doesn’t wear the typical black coat that most of the students from the academy wear. Instead, she just has a white dress shirt which, in reality, would probably be a lot easier to fight in. The second thing is the purple tattoo below her eye. Tattoos are something else that a lot of Fire Emblem characters usually don’t have, let alone on their face. It’s a very small feature that makes her stand out from the rest. In all the gameplay we have seen featuring her, she is always wielding a sword so she will most likely have good growths with that weapon type. Her braided, purple hair is also another one of her strong features.Fire Emblem: Three Houses is filled with interesting-looking characters, and this has only been a few of them. From the Lord, students, professors and bad guys, this game is filled to the brim with personality. Let us know who you think is the most interesting looking characters from this game!
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