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.
Continue reading “Pokémon Trainers of Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Part 3: Golden Deer)”