Hana

"As Lady Sakura's lead retainer, it will be my pleasure to take your orders."

- Hana in Birthright Chapter 7

Hana (カザハナ, Kazahana in the Japanese version) is a playable character in Fire Emblem Fates on the Birthright and Revelation routes. One of Sakura's personal retainers, Hana is devoted to the blade and is recognised as one of the finest Katana wielders in Hoshido.

Hana is voiced by Yayoi Sugaya in the Japanese version and Karen Strassman in the English version.

Profile
Best friends with Sakura ever since childhood, Hana acts as one of her personal bodyguards. Hana is also a distant relative of the Hoshido royal family, fathered by a renowned samurai who once served King Sumeragi with the utmost loyalty. His loyalty never wavered even when faced with death, a fact that serves as a source of inspiration for Hana to follow in his footsteps.

Hana spent much of her younger years undergoing a strict training regimen, one that primarily revolves around her sneakily taking part in soldier practice sessions and practicing on her own in open fields. Hana's attention to her training is recognised by Sakura, who remarks that she is far more devoted and disciplined than most enlisted soldiers are. Even before becoming Sakura's retainer, Hana often took it upon herself to protect her, a fact that saw her sustaining injuries regularly. The strong bond of friendship shared between Hana and Sakura is what eventually motivated Sakura into naming Hana as one of her retainers with no hesitation, even in the face of opposition by ministers who belittled her friend.

Birthright
Hana makes her first appearance in Fort Jinya in Chapter 7, where she, alongside her fellow retainer Subaki, aids Sakura in tending to the injuries of wounded soldiers and citizens. After receiving news of a Nohrian invasion that has broken out near Fort Jinya, Hana engages Subaki in a squabble, during which they argue over the superiority of their usefulness on the battlefield. Shortly after their quarrel is broken up by Sakura, Hana accompanies her liege, Subaki and the Avatar out of the fort to stage a defence.

Hana subsequently aids the Avatar's effort to put an end to the age-old conflict shared between Hoshido and Nohr.

Conquest
Hana only appears in Chapter 22, where she, alongside Sakura, Subaki and Yukimura, stages a defence in Fort Jinya in a bid to halt the Nohrian invasion. When engaged in battle by the Avatar, Hana will viciously accuse them of being the perpetrator of both Mikoto's death before blaming them for being the cause of Sakura's crushing sorrow. Despite the best efforts of both Hana and the rest of the Hoshidan army, they are eventually defeated.

Revelation
Hana first appears at the end of Chapter 8, where she and Subaki pursue Sakura after the latter wordlessly departs from Fort Jinya to ally herself with the Avatar's cause. Upon catching up with her liege, Hana immediately chastises her for leaving without her retainers before revealing that she had learnt of her departure from Yukimura. After being briefly introduced to the Avatar, Hana pledges her blade to their cause.

Hana subsequently aids the Avatar's effort to put an end to Anankos' machinations.

Personality
Depicted as the stereotypical tomboy, Hana has a terrible sense of self-restraint. This is evidenced through her first appearance on the Hoshido route, where she is observed to argue heatedly with Subaki over who "Sakura's best subordinate" is. Hana cares a great deal about Sakura, even holding some resentment for the Avatar because their kidnapping caused a great deal of sadness to Sakura. However, she later apologizes to them because it was not by their choice that they were kidnapped.Though a tomboy, Hana still loves cute and girly things, which can be seen in her supports with Hayato. When he receives a bunch of childish and girly gifts from his caretakers in the Wind Tribe, Hana gladly offers to take them off his hands.

Although Hana is considered to be one of the best samurai in all of Hoshido, she does not boast about it; instead, she ensures that she never misses a single day of training. As shown in her supports, she takes training extremely seriously up to breaking point and near-obsession as her supports with Kaze shows her trying to carry a huge supply of vegetables across a wide open field, her supports with Kaden demonstrates her near-obsessive nature towards training and her supports with Effie has her attempting (but miserably failing) to adapt to the latter's training regime to match Effie's unnatural strength. This is due at least in part due to the fact that though she is a retainer to Sakura, she is also a noblewoman in her own right, descended in a long line of samurai who have served the Hoshidan royal family.

Hana is also known to have a very odd sense of taste; in her C support with Saizo, he gives her a manjuu, which according to Saizo are meant not to taste particularly nice, and Hana comments on how great it tastes, much to Saizo's confusion.

Hana enjoys cherry blossoms the most. Her birthday is March 28.

Base Stats

 * -|Birthright Chapter 7 -A Vow Upheld=


 * -|Revelation Chapter 8 - Traitor's Brand=

Conquest Chapter 22 - Sakura

 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=


 * -|Lunatic=

Growth Rates
Class:


 * 35%
 * 65%
 * 10%
 * 60%
 * 75%
 * 40%
 * 20%
 * 40%
 * }


 * 35%
 * 65%
 * 15%
 * 60%
 * 75%
 * 40%
 * 20%
 * 40%
 * }


 * 45%
 * 70%
 * 10%
 * 55%
 * 65%
 * 35%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * }

Max Stat Modifiers

 * +1
 * 0
 * +1
 * +2
 * -1
 * -3
 * +1
 * }

Standard Sets

 * }

Friendship Sets

 * -|All Routes=


 * }
 * -|Birthright/Revelation=


 * }
 * -|Revelation=


 * }

Partner Sets

 * -|All Routes=


 * }
 * -|Birthright/Revelation=


 * }
 * -|Revelation=


 * }

Special Classes

 * }

Supports
Romantic Supports
 * The Avatar (Male)
 * Jakob
 * Kaze
 * Silas

Hoshido

 * Ryoma
 * Takumi
 * Saizo
 * Azama
 * Hinata
 * Subaki
 * Hayato
 * Kaden

Nohr
Other Supports
 * Laslow
 * Keaton
 * The Avatar (Female)


 * Felicia
 * Sakura
 * Setsuna
 * Effie (Revelation)
 * Hana's child

Base Class Set
Hana is the first Samurai unit recruited on both the Birthright and Revelation routes. Starting off, Hana is extremely fragile due to her low HP and Defense, and will thus get killed very easily if not properly handled. However, true to the archetype of the Myrmidon character, she is an offensive force thanks to her solid Strength, Skill and Speed. It should be noted that her Resistance growth is twice as great as her Defense growth, meaning that she can handle magic-wielding units much better than Hinata, a Defense-oriented character, can. Hana's personal skill Fearsome Blow further bolsters her offence, dealing 20% damage to all enemies adjacent to her when she defeats an enemy. She can thus handle swarms well by using this skill to whittle down highly defensive units. It also works well when taking down Guard Stance units as, upon defeat, partner-less enemy units will sustain the effect of the skill.

As a Samurai, Hana starts off with Duelist's Blow, allowing her to better evade hostile attacks when she initiates combat. She will also be able to learn Vantage, which will allow her to better defend herself when she is low on HP.

Hana's two promotions are the Swordmaster and Master of Arms classes. The Swordmaster class further accentuates her prowess with the blade with the Astra and Swordfaire skills. Astra is the only offensive skill Hana has natural access to, complementing Hana's high Strength through increasing her damage output. Swordfaire also complements Hana's skill with the blade, as it bolsters her attack damage when she is armed with Sword.

As a Master of Arms, Hana trades combat reliability for versatility with the ability to arm three different weapon types: Swords, Lances and Axes. Seal Strength can cripple high-attack units, and when it is used in tandem with Duelist's Blow, will grant other ally units the ability to safely finish off weakened foes. Life and Death, conversely, is a risky skill that increases damage dealt and sustained by 10. This can be a blessing to Hana when she attempts to defeat defensive units, but this comes at the cost of making her even more vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Secondary Class Set
Hana's secondary class set is the Shrine Maiden. Overall, she can be more offensively viable as a Priestess than Sakura can, but she trades Magic potency for Strength. As a Shrine Maiden, Hana can learn the Miracle skill, one that will prove crucial to saving her when she is at the brink of death.

As a Priestess, Hana gains access to Renewal, a skill that offsets her fragile HP by ensuring that it is kept as high as possible at all times. Countermagic is the other skill that she can learn in this class, and is one that allows her to deflect attacks launched by magic-wielding units.

As an Onmyoji, Hana gains no access to beneficial skills, as her lack of Magic prevents her from effectively utilising them.

Friendship Class Sets

 * Felicia -
 * Setsuna - Setsuna grants Hana access to the Archer class set. The Archer class synergizes well with Hana's growth rates, as it allows her to avoid counterattacks from most non-magical opponents. Skill +2 will slightly improves Hana's accuracy and skill activation rates, though the increases are minimal and will likely fall out of favor, given that Hana's Skill is already fairly high to begin with. Quick Draw adds more blanket damage and stacks well with Duelist's Blow if Hana wishes to take the skill back to the Samurai class. The Sniper class gives Certain Blow and Bowfaire. Certain Blow is not that important to Hana, given that her hit rate tends to be rather high to begin with. Bowfaire, however, is useful if Hana wishes to stay in the Sniper class, or if she intends to bring it with her into the Priestess class. The Kinshi Knight's low caps may not be ideal for Hana, although the class being mobility-oriented unit and it being able to attack from range allows its to complement Hana's natural offence. Air Superiority allows Hana to better fend against enemy Wyvern Lords, ensuring that they will have increased difficulty hitting her upon counterattacking, a trait that Hana can benefit from bringing into the Samurai class line. Amaterasu, conversely, works well with Hana's role as a frontline unit; being in close range with other allied units allows her to replenish their HP without the need to rely too heavily on Staves and Rods.


 * Effie - Effie grants Hana access to the Knight class set, which will enhance her defensive abilities in the long run and bequeath skills that are fantastic for bolstering her combat prowess. As a Knight, Hana will learn Defense +2, a basic skill that will help her endure hits by a small margin. She will also learn Natural Cover, which will help her navigate special terrain without being affected by any negative effects it may impose. The Knight's promotions, the Great Knight and General classes, are pivotal to boosting Hana's defensive abilities. The Great Knight will grant greater mobility and weapon variety, with access to both Sword and Axes, although this comes at the cost of rendering her vulnerable to Armorslayers and Beast Killers. In this class, Hana will learn Luna, a decent offensive skill that bolsters her already good offensive power by ignoring enemy Defense. She will also learn Armored Blow, which will reduce the damage that she sustains by 10, further strengthening her survivability. The General class, conversely, will boost Hana's defenses by a huge margin. This is particularly the case when she learns Pavise in this class, a skill that can halve the amount of damage taken from physical attacks when activated.

Quotes
Refer to Hana/Quotes.

Possible Endings
Hana - Focused Samurai (お転婆侍 Otenba Samurai lit. Tomboy Samurai)
 * After the war, Hana was entrusted with her own division, where she enforced her own training regimen. She remained close friends with Sakura, and trained every day to protect her and Hoshido.


 * Hana and Azama
 * Azama decided to use his talents to inspire and heal the people of Hoshido—rather than taunt them. His wife, Hana, continued to serve Sakura, brightening all of their lives with her infectious optimism.


 * Hana and Hinata
 * Hinata's passion for the blade did not end with the war. He practiced morning, noon, and night. His wife, Hana, continued to serve Sakura, brightening all of their lives with her infectious optimism.


 * Hana and Silas
 * Silas served loyally as a knight of Nohr. He was beloved by trainee knights for his great patience. His wife, Hana, continued to serve Sakura, brightening all of their lives with her infectious optimism.


 * Hana and Subaki
 * Subaki was appointed chief of the pegasus knights and served with a perfect record. His wife, Hana, continued to serve Sakura, brightening all of their lives with her infectious optimism.

Etymology
Kazahana (風花) means "Wind Flower" or a poetic description for a flurry of snow on a clear day.

Hana, with certain kanji, can mean either flower (花) or nose (鼻) in Japanese.

Trivia

 * Hana was voted as the 21st most popular female on Nintendo's official Fates character poll.
 * Hana shares her English voice actress, Karen Strassman, with Mozu, Olivia and Anna.
 * If Sakura wins in Beach Brawl, Hana successfully overrides a part of Subaki's plan for Sakura's vacation and gives her the white dress that is seen in her special reward art.