Pokémon Trainers of Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Part 3: Golden Deer)

(Part 1 and Part 2)

The third of this game’s titular “three houses” are the Golden Deer, students from the Leicester Alliance, which is a federation of nobles who rejected the monarchical traditions of both of the continent’s other nations and formed a new country in the east. They’re slightly more egalitarian, so this house has more low-born students than the others.

Claude von Riegan

• Future Grand Duke of the Fantasy Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
  • my real-world analogies in this series are extremely loose but, y’know what, I stand by this one
• Apparently didn’t even know he was a noble until a couple of years ago because his mother decided, quite early on in her life, “fµ¢£ this $#!t; I’m out”
• Extremely pretty, master of sass
  • Canonically straight, which is some serious bull$#!t
  • I mean, look at him
• Slytherin AF; has about a dozen zany schemes going at any given time and brews experimental poisons as a hobby
• Gets on Edelgard and Dimitri’s nerves a lot, but I think secretly they love him
• Addresses Byleth as “Teach,” which is not as endearing as he thinks it is
• He is perfect and I love him

Favoured types: Dark, Poison, Flying
Claude is good at (among other things) trickery, poisons and aerial combat.

Disfavoured types: Fighting, Ground, Fairy
Claude will never fight fair if he can help it, and doesn’t like Pokémon who are either too reliant on brute strength or bound by conventional ideas of nobility.

Partner: Naganadel
Claude’s “default” progression makes him a wyvern rider, which Naganadel plays into quite well; being an “outsider” is an important theme of his story, so having an Ultra Beast as a partner rather than a traditional legendary Pokémon seems fitting; and Claude loves Naganadel’s repertoire of poisons.

Other Pokémon: Zoroark, Muk (Alolan), Vivillon, Salazzle, Aerodactyl

Muk and Salazzle provide raw materials for Claude’s poison experiments (I’d specifically like him to have a shiny Salazzle because he gets an albino wyvern later, and shiny Salazzle is white).  Vivillon fits his ambition to break down barriers between peoples of different regions.  Zoroark is an excellent zany scheme enabler.  Aerodactyl is just a great wyvern-ish Pokémon to have with you in the air.

Hilda Valentine Goneril

• Daughter of the noble house that guards the border with Fantasy Mongolia, but that’s her older brother’s job so whatevs
• Does not give a single fµ¢£
• Would like to be a stereotypical teenage girl devoted to gossip and fashion, but unfortunately is heir to a warrior house with a strategically vital territory
• Self-centred, devotes most of her time to finding excuses to skip training, manipulates others into doing her chores
  • Is legit a nice person and arguably a good friend, just extremely lazy
• Despite all of the fµ¢£s she does not give, is probably the most brutal frontline fighter on Claude’s team aside from Raphael
• She is perfect and I love her

Favoured types: Normal, Rock, Fairy
Hilda’s from a noble family based in a treacherous mountain range that guards a huge fortress, so Rock makes a lot of sense.  Fairy and Normal are both types with a lot of cute pink things, and Normal also reflects the many fµ¢£s she does not give.

Disfavoured types: Fighting, Fire, Ice
Despite being troublingly good at it, Hilda doesn’t really like fighting – not out of moral abhorrence or even fear, but just because it’s kind of a drag.  She also hates both heat and cold, as well as pretty much anything else that tires you out.

Partner: Gigalith
Hilda’s tricky to pick Pokémon for because she likes pretty, sparkly, stereotypically “girly” things but is also basically John Cena in the body of a pink-haired 18-year-old Japanese schoolgirl.  Gigalith is built like a brick $#!thouse, but is also covered in pretty sparkly magical gems!

Other Pokémon: Carbink, Slaking, Klefki, Stoutland, Golem (Alolan)

Hilda likes crafts, and particularly gemstones and jewellery, so I’ve given her the gem-studded Rock-types Carbink and Alolan Golem.  Klefki is helpful for collecting and organising trinkets she’s made.  Stoutland starts out as a cute playful doggie and turns into a huge, mighty and still cute doggie.  Finally, Slaking, like Hilda, is incredibly lazy, but also a colossal juggernaut of distilled pain.

Lysithea von Ordelia

• Daughter of a minor noble house
• Youngest of all the students, at 15 years old when the story begins
  • Never bring this up to her face
  • I think Petra’s actually almost as young, but Petra is a tanned Celtic warrior princess and Lysithea is a snow-white Germanic waif the size of a Pomeranian, so the overall vibe is pretty different
• Looks smol but is extremely not
• Very intense dark sorcerer and general magical badass
  • Scared of ghosts, which ruins the effect slightly
  • Min-maxed out the wazoo; can be killed by a light breeze but will rain horrifying magical death on everything around her in the process
• Driven, organised, extremely judgemental
• Loves sweets and cake, but hides it to avoid seeming immature
• She is perfect and I love her

Favoured types: Psychic, Dark, Poison
Lysithea is brilliant, hardworking, intellectual and pretty ruthless, with a powerful arsenal of dark magic and no time or patience for failure – least of all her own.

Disfavoured types: Ghost, Fighting, Rock
Lysithea is frail and not good with Pokémon that rely on brute physical strength.  And, again, she’s also scared of ghosts.

Partner: Gothitelle
Lysithea is extremely an anime goth girl, and she relies heavily on dark magic and mysterious powers.  Gothitelle is also an anime goth girl, but in Pokémon form, and also has dark magic and mysterious powers.  Seems like a good fit to me!

Other Pokémon: Delphox, Grimmsnarl, Toxapex, Slowbro (Galarian), Hydreigon

Delphox shares Lysithea’s aptitude for sorcery and preoccupation with time and the future.  Hydreigon is a terrifying magical glass cannon that reduces enemies to smouldering craters from afar; Slowbro is also a similar kind of mystical artillery.  Grimmsnarl is a sinister dark fey creature.  Finally, Toxapex is purely here for the Dark Spikes spell, which is kind of Lysithea’s signature move.

Leonie Pinelli

• Commoner who was inspired by your dad to train as a knight
  • Commoners can theoretically get into fantasy RPG school, but it’s rough because they don’t have connections and need to raise money
  • Kinda sees Byleth as a rival for dad’s affections, which runs the whole gamut from endearing to infuriating
• Hunts her own dinner
• Everything she owns is recycled because she hates waste
• Kind of a tomboy, induces confusing feelings in Sylvain
• Somehow has very high expectations of everyone without ever coming across as judgemental
• Friendly, generous, enthusiastic, almost ludicrously hard-working
• She is perfect and I love her

Favoured types: Fighting, Water, Ground
Leonie’s a dedicated fighter who’s prepared to devote her life to training as a knight, but she’s also very down-to-earth and a lot more practical than some of the nobles, so she favours the down-to-earth, practical Water and Ground elements.

Disfavoured types: Poison, Bug, Fairy
Leonie hates bugs, and poisonous things generally.  She’s also bad with magic, very blunt and not generally concerned with appearances or standing on ceremony.

Partner: Sirfetch’d
Leonie is kind of a knight-errant type.  She’s ready to sign on for the moral codes of knighthood, but wasn’t born into the nobility and didn’t grow up idealising honour like a lot of the other kids did.  Sirfetch’d’s thirst for glory seems like a good fit.

Other Pokémon: Cramorant, Dugtrio (Kanto), Breloom, Whiscash, Garbodor

Leonie is a hunter, and she likes digging pit traps, so of course she has a Dugtrio.  She also loves fishing, so she has a Cramorant to help her, and her biggest catch, a Whiscash.  Breloom is a Fighting Pokémon that’s at home in the woods and has more dirty tricks than most martial artists.  And even though she hates poisonous creatures, I had to put Garbodor on her team because if anyone’s going to somehow recycle literal rubbish into a Pokémon, it’s Leonie.

Lorenz Hellman Gloucester

• Heir to a very important noble house
  • Never lets anyone forget this
• Has a really weird face, like he’s made of porcelain or something
• Like Ferdinand but worse
  • They have this one conversation about how much they both love tea and how they can each tell that the other is a fine and cultured person from their tea-drinking habits, and the whole time I wanted to scream at them “just fµ¢£ already”
• Constantly hitting on women because it’s his “noble duty” to find a “worthy” spouse
  • Gradually gets better about this
• Very suspicious and disdainful of Claude for not being a “proper” noble
• Basically his deal is that he thinks he’s better than everyone else, but also that being better than everyone else gives him a duty to be supportive and generous at all times
• …he’s fine

Favoured types: Grass, Fairy, Psychic
Lorenz is elegant and refined, with intellectual pastimes and a deep interest in aesthetics, as well as a strong faith in the ideals of traditional nobility.

Disfavoured types: Normal, Poison, Ground
Lorenz’s whole worldview is based around the idea that he’s better than commoners.  He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty and hates anything lower-class, ordinary, base, or unclean.

Partner: Roserade
Lorenz wears a red rose everywhere, to the extent that it’s kind of his trademark.  He also cares a great deal about elegance and grace, which Roserade has in spades.

Other Pokémon: Polteageist, Gardevoir, Tsareena, Florges, Mr. Mime (Kantonian)

Lorenz favours Pokémon that are regal and elegant, capable of fitting in at a noble court, and particularly flowery ones – hence Tsareena, Florges and Gardevoir.  Tea is basically his religion so obviously he has a Polteageist.  Mr. Mime… look, I’m gonna be honest, I gave him a Mr. Mime because his weird face kind of reminds me of one.

Ignatz Victor

• Second son of a wealthy merchant family
• Studying to become a knight to please his parents, but actually just wants to paint and study art history
  • Can get weirdly poetic about beautiful scenery, or even just regular scenery
  • Seriously, listen to him for five minutes and you’ll never look at puddles the same way again
• Smol
• Shy, nerdy and awkward, but steps up when it counts
• Almost painfully sincere, puts his foot in his mouth a lot
• Very religious, but it’s less judgey doctrinal fundamentalism and more that he loves religious art and likes daydreaming about what it would be like to meet the Goddess
• He is perfect and I love him

Favoured types: Grass, Dragon, Ice
Ignatz loves beautiful landscapes, particularly with flowers.  Dragon because dragons are sacred in this setting and Ignatz is fascinated by that stuff, but I also think it fits with his general reverence for the natural world.  Ice is here because Ignatz can become a caster and is most adept with ice magic if he does so.

Disfavoured types: Electric, Flying, Ground
Ignatz doesn’t like heights or flying, is afraid of thunder and lightning, and is just generally not fond of big physical beatdown Pokémon.

Partner: Appletun
Appletun has a kind of “picturesque countryside” vibe to it that I quite like for Ignatz, and I think he needs a calm, chill partner.  I have this image of him sitting under a tree staring dreamily at some rolling hills and getting clonked on the head by an Applin.

Other Pokémon: Eldegoss, Cloyster, Smeargle, Aurorus, Drampa

Eldegoss, Aurorus and Drampa are all evocative of beautiful, peaceful scenery (Eldegoss of meadows and flowers, Aurorus of snow, tundra and auroras, Drampa of magnificent mountains).  I went with Cloyster because Ignatz is usually an archer and there aren’t a lot of archer Pokémon, but Skill Linked Icicle Spear makes Cloyster a decent candidate.  And obviously Ignatz has a Smeargle to help him capture everything he sees on canvas.

Raphael Kirsten

• Orphaned son of a merchant family, childhood friends with Ignatz
  • Used his inheritance to get into fantasy RPG school
  • Wants to become a knight so he can support his little sister
• Big dumb goof with a heart of pure gold
  • I want to say there’s more to him than that but there really isn’t
• Eats everything all the time and converts it into pure muscle
• Did not skip leg day
• Un-smol but still kind of adorable?
• He is perfect and I love him

Favoured types: Fighting, Ground, Normal
Raphael’s favourite Pokémon types are ones known for raw physical strength and power, as well as dedication and perseverance.  Normal fits his commoner background, practical attitude and simple but pure morality.

Disfavoured types: Psychic, Flying, Dragon
Raphael is bad with intellectual work and study, and is honestly probably too heavy to get off the ground.  He’s a good dude, but the greater significance of a lot of the events of the story seems to go over his head.

Partner: Machamp
Machamp is pure hand-to-hand physical beatdown in a can, and within generation I is part of an opposed pair with Alakazam representing “brain and brawn.”  Brawn is… not the only thing Raphael cares about, but it’s near the top of his list.  Just after food.

Other Pokémon: Chesnaught, Snorlax, Donphan, Diggersby, Greedent

Raphael likes Pokémon whose meals are almost as big as his, like Snorlax and Greedent, and Diggersby appeals to him with its work ethic and raw strength.  Other than that, he’s fond of Pokémon that will recklessly rush into melee and dominate with sheer physical presence, like Chesnaught and Donphan.

Marianne von Edmund

• Adopted daughter of a prominent noble family
• Speaks entirely in faint whispers
• Convinced that she and anyone who associates with her are doomed to misfortune; therefore avoids everyone for their own good
  • Spends a lot of time praying and apologising to the Goddess for something
• Definitely has some kind of Dark and Tragic Backstory^TM but absolutely refuses to disclose it
  • Possibly cursed???
• Talks to animals, especially birds and horses
  • she might just be doing this in, like, a fun quirky cutesy way, but I also suspect she may literally have a magical ability that lets her talk to animals
• She is perfect and I love her

Favoured types: Flying, Dragon, Normal
Dragon is partly because Marianne is devout and primarily a White Mage, and Dragon is the element I’ve chosen to stand for sacred things, but there are also secret reasons it’s appropriate for her in particular.  Flying and Normal are for her habit of talking to animals, particularly birds, and also for her desire to be more “normal.”

Disfavoured types: Fire, Steel, Bug
Bugs do not seem to be included in Marianne’s “talks to animals”/“friend to all living things” package.  She dislikes violence and frontline combat (despite being quite good at it for a White Mage) and isn’t a fan of the flashiness of Fire Pokémon.

Partner: Druddigon
You kind of have to follow Marianne’s story to the end to see why I’ve picked Druddigon for her.  It’s a vicious, surly cave dragon that she has a very complicated relationship with, but it’s also a good Pokémon to stand in front and tank while she casts spells from the back line.

Other Pokémon: Pidgeot, Rapidash (Galarian), Dracovish, Togekiss, Audino

Marianne loves all animals, but especially birds and horses, so I’ve given her Rapidash, Pidgeot and Togekiss (who also fits her aptitude for white magic).  She’s a sensitive and extremely quiet healer, which makes Audino a good fit.  And also she has a terrifying misshapen Dragon Pokémon for reasons she refuses to discuss.

As far as “houses” go, we’re three for three, but I have another two of these things planned – next time, I’ll be talking about characters from the Church of Seiros, the major organised religion of the continent of Fódlan, which technically owns the fantasy JRPG school that all these kids go to.