Mercedes

"If you get injured simply say the word and I'll patch you up straight away"

Mercedes is a playable character who appears in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. She is a student at the Officers Academy and a member of the Blue Lions. She possesses a minor Crest of Lamine. She is 22 years old at the start of the game.

Early life
Born a noble in the Adrestian Empire to Baron Martritz, Mercedes' house was abolished when her father died in the year she was born. Her mother remarried Baron Bartels of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and they had a son named Emile a year later, who bore a Crest. However, this proved to be her and her mother's undoing, as both began being treated as if they were expendable since her stepfather solely wanted a child with a Crest. Thus, in 1167, at the age of 10, she and her mother left House Bartels to live in a church in eastern Faerghus.

Mercedes was eventually adopted by a merchant from Fhirdiad and grew up as a commoner, though her adoptive father wanted her to marry well and have a child with a Crest. Before attending the Officers Academy, she attended the Royal School of Sorcery in the capital and befriended Annette.

Academy phase
Mercedes enrolled in Garreg Mach Monastery Officers Academy in Imperial Year 1180 and joined the Blue Lions. She is slightly older than the other students. She is a close friend of Annette, whom she met at the school of sorcery.

Azure Moon
If Caspar has joined the Blue Lions, after Garreg Mach Monastery has been reclaimed by Byleth's army, he informs Byleth that a small battalion seems to be scouting the Monastery, lead by the Death Knight. Overhearing this conversation, Mercedes enters the conversation and asks to go meet the Death Knight, having the suspicion that he may be her younger half-brother Emile. Caspar follows her into the field to protect her from the Death Knight's forces. The Death Knight's forces attacks her and her allies, but he does not enter the fray.

After the battle, Mercedes directly confronts him with Caspar and Byleth present. The Death Knight passively confirms that he is indeed Emile and that he decided to spare her for this one battle because they are siblings. Though she asks him to join their cause, he refuses, stating that he is beyond salvation. He in turn advises that she leave the monastery, but she refuses. Now at an impasse, the Death Knight allows her to leave and gifts her the Rafail Gem, a Hero's Relic of Lamine. He warns her that next time, he will not show her mercy.

After the liberation of Faerghus from Cornelia and the unification of the Alliance and Kingdom, the Blue Lions target Fort Merceus in order to begin their campaign against the Empire. Much to her displeasure, the one guarding the fort is none other than the Death Knight. A fierce battle ensues inside, but ultimately, he is mortally wounded. Mercedes removes his mask and comforts him in his final moments. She sheds tears as her brother expires in her arms.

Verdant Wind

Mercedes appears alongside Dimitri and her other allies at Gronder Field. She may be killed during the battle, or may rejoin if she has been recruited beforehand. If she is ignored until the battle ends, it is unknown what happens to her.

Personality
Mercedes is a kind girl who watches her surroundings closely and can't ignore people in need. She has a "motherly" personality and she is shown in her supports to help out with her friends if there is a problem. Despite all that has happened to her in the past, she able to stay positive. While she can be normally calm as seen in her support with Lorenz, she is still capable of getting angry parthicually.

In a support with Byleth, she admits she tends to be let people tell her what to do, delving to be the will of the Goddess. Thus, her reason for for heading to the Garreg Mach Monastery and later during the war was the first time she choose to act for herself, defying the wishes of her adoptive father. She also has a great dislike of Crests as they have brought her misery through her life and the many marriage proposals her adoptive father attempt to place on Mercedes. This allowed her to bond with Sylvain and Ingrid due to similar circumstances. She is also best friends with Annette since their time at School of Sorcery.

She also hold a deep regret for leaving her younger brother Emile and being there to support during his time at House Bartels. Even when he became the Death Knight, she was still able to recognize it was him by the time of the War Phase. In Azure Moon Route, she comfort him at his is slowly dying, lamenting on the circumstances she could have prevented.

She's also a very religious person, having spent much of her youth in a church, and enjoys praying. She is enjoy baking sweets as seen in her support with Annette and Ashe. Mercedes' likes are needlework, ghost stories, adorable things, painting reading, and fragrant flowers. However she dislikes spicy foods and exercise,

Growth Rates

 * 30%
 * 25%
 * 50%
 * 45%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 25%
 * 45%
 * 40%
 * }

Maximum Stats

 * 64
 * 37
 * 72
 * 62
 * 58
 * 54
 * 44
 * 65
 * 58
 * }

Learned Magic

 * D
 * Fire
 * Heal
 * D+
 * Thunder
 * Nosferatu
 * C
 * Bolganone
 * Physic
 * C+
 * B
 * Restore
 * B+
 * A
 * Ragnarok
 * Fortify
 * A+
 * }
 * Restore
 * B+
 * A
 * Ragnarok
 * Fortify
 * A+
 * }
 * Ragnarok
 * Fortify
 * A+
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

Overall
Mercedes has a primary focus on standard mage growths, having a strong Magic growth and decent Dexterity, Resistance, and Speed. Tutoring her in Reason and Faith are her two subject strengths while she has a Budding Talent for Bow.

Mercedes is a natural Faith user for the Blue Lions and should be their primary healer, but can be a useful recruit for other Houses as well. Her Faith Magic pool has very useful spells including Physic for healing from a distance and Fortify to heal all allies in range and is one of two units able to use it, the other being Flayn. Luckily for her, she could theoretically take a stray hit and keep herself alive thanks to her personal skill Live to Serve which heals herself the same amount as she heals an ally, giving her a decent method of self-regeneration in earlier levels where healing is rather thin.

As a Crest of Lamine bearer, she is the only playable character able to use the Tathlum Bow's full effect, having increased regeneration when equipped. While it has high base Might, Mercedes overall Strength growths are low and are highly unlikely to outpace any of the other bow units available, and would only serve to help against foes with high Resistance, such as Pegasus Knights or mage units. If one must absolutely looking for damage directly from bows, the Magic Bow will best work for Mercedes, as it calculate her damage from her Magic stat rather than her subpar Strength. Focusing on her Budding Talent does help provide her with Close Counter upon reaching Bow Mastery Grade C, allowing her to counterattack up close with a bow.

Given her overall strengths, Mercedes is best left in Magic oriented classes from the Monk line, having a respectable Reason spell pool to go through Mage classes. Still, as mentioned above, her Faith magic makes her one of the strongest healers in game and as such the Priest line is a natural fit for her and by the time she reaches either a Bishop, where she not only has twice the amount of Faith casting, but also increased healing overall plus another means of self-regeneration through Renewal and the ability to ignore damage from terrain through Terrain Resistance. She can also go through two possible Master Level classes, namely Gremory which does weaken her healing slightly, but it also empowers her Reason by increasing the number of uses of her spells. She can become a Holy Knight as it allows her to maintain her Faith, but her subject weakness in Lances will make the effort difficult even with long term training and the class rewards her with increased movement and access to White Tomefaire which increases her Mt by 5 when using her Nosferatu spell.

Theoretically, she can be built to go into the Fighter line with a focus on the Archer routes, but her overall potential with bows are severely limited as her promotional options bar her from using her Faith, and the aforementioned poor Strength growths.

Supports

 * Byleth (S-Support with male and female Byleth)
 * Dimitri
 * Ferdinand
 * Dedue
 * Felix
 * Ashe
 * Sylvain
 * Annette
 * Ingrid
 * Lorenz
 * Ignatz
 * Hilda
 * Alois
 * Cyril

Fire Emblem Heroes

 * -|Original=
 * Kindly Devotee
 * Adopted daughter of a merchant family in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. Former nobility with a gentle, easygoing personality. Appears in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Base Stats
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯

Three Houses

 * Mercedes/Quotes

Heroes

 * Mercedes/Heroes Quotes

Possible Endings
Mercedes - Benevolent Soul
 * Mercedes left home and went to Garreg Mach, where she became a model cleric. She devoted the whole of her life to the service of the goddess and became well-loved by the people, who revered her for her piety and her boundless generosity toward those in need.

Mercedes - Benevolent Soul and Byleth - Wandering Flame
 * Byleth announced his marriage to Mercedes shortly after becoming leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan. Mercedes ensured that Fódlan paid special attention, in its rebuilding effort, to folks who had lost jobs and to children who had lost their families due to the war. The couple was said to mingle frequently among the people, working up a sweat right alongside them. They happily spent their lives ushering in a new era.

Mercedes - Benevolent Soul and Byleth - Wings of the Hegemon
 * Byleth and Mercedes wed in haste, that they might better focus on their battle against those who slither in the dark. The struggle was long and arduous, but their passionate love supported them through it. When at last the fight was done, they moved to a small village in the Faerghus region and started an orphanage. There they took in and raised children who had lost their families in the war, regardless of their blood or circumstances of birth. It is said that Mercedes was never happier than when she was surrounded by smiling children, free of all worry.

Mercedes and Ashe
 * After the war, Ashe was formally knighted and appointed the new head of House Gaspard, which had no successors. The young and inexperienced lord faced a great deal of difficulty in governing. Though he was famously tenacious and never lost heart, it was perhaps only due to the counsel of his wife, Mercedes, that he managed to overcome all obstacles. When not busy governing their territory, the couple lifted one another's spirits by baking delicious sweets for each other. The tradition was so heartwarming that it became popular for husbands and wives in that region to do the same for generations.

Mercedes and Sylvain
 * As Margrave Gautier, Sylvain devoted his life to improving relations with the people of Sreng. Under his leadership, nobles were persuaded that Relics and Crests were not necessary as they'd previously thought. Though he went down in history as an extraordinary lord, he could not have done so without the constant support and counsel of his wife, Mercedes, whose wisdom and guidance brought prosperity to the people. The couple built a loving home life, surrounded by happy children, and when Sylvain at last passed away, he was succeeded by his oldest child, who bore no Crest.

Mercedes and Annette
 * After the war, Annette and Mercedes lived seperate lives: the former as a teacher at the school of sorcery in Fhirdiad, the latter as the proprietor of an orphanage in a village in the Faerghus region. Though they lived apart, they exchanged letters so frequently and shared their lives with one another in such detail that it was as though they were side by side. After many decades, Annette decided to resign from her post and move to the village where Mercedes lived to help run the orphanage. The life they lived there was modest, but it is said that they were happy to the very end.

Mercedes - Benevolent Soul and Alois - Sun of the Knights
 * Mercedes left home for a life as a cleric at Garreg Mach. Alois, as Jeralt's successor, officially assumed the role of captain of the Knights of Seiros. Though the two were quite busy with their daily activities, they would often find time to get together in the evenings so Alois could hear Mercedes's ghost stories. No one can say for certain whether it was the constant exposure to spooky tales or some other cause, but from that time on, Alois's reputation became that of a totally fearless fighter. Mercedes's quiet support was widely credited for this increase in bravery. Her blessing came to be known as a guarantee of victory.

Mercedes and Ferdinand (Azure Moon route)
 * After the war, Mercedes traveled to Fhirdiad to pay a visit to her adoptive father. Though she introduced Ferdinand, she left out the small detail that they were engaged to be wed. Married in secret, Ferdinand and Mercedes worked together to reform the new Duke Aegir's territory, and the effort was so successful that he was called upon to work as a leader in the central government. It was a busy life for him indeed, but as he was known to say to his government colleagues, coming home to a smiling family made all the hard work worth it.

Mercedes - Benevolent Soul and Lorenz - Noble of the Red Rose (Crimson Flower)
 * After the war, Mercedes accompanied Lorenz back to his homeland. There, the young heir petitioned his father, Count Gloucester, to permit the couple to marry. The the count initially disapproved of Mercedes's status as a commoner, he was persuaded by her virtues as a person to change his mind. In fact, he praised Lorenz for having a taste in character superior to his own. After Lorenz succeeded his father as lord of the territory, the couple finally wed. With Lorenz's stern approach to governance, and Mercedes's open mind, House Gloucester flourished under their rule.

Etymology
The first part of Mercedes,"merced" means mercy or grace in Spanish. This name is commonly associated with the full name and title, "Maria de las Mercedes", meaning "Maria of the Mercies". This title was given to the Lady of Mercy, the Virgin Mary, of the Christian faith.

Trivia

 * Mercedes shares her English voice actress, Dorothy Elias Fahn, with Rinea from Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
 * Mercedes is one of the characters who can have S-Supports with both a male and a female Byleth. The others are: Rhea, Dorothea, Edelgard, Sothis, Linhardt, Alois (platonic) and Gilbert (platonic as well)
 * Mercedes has a unique post-timeskip battle model as a Priest and Bishop.
 * Mercedes stands at 169cm (or about 5’7”).