Yukimura

"If Lady Mikoto were here to see this, it would break her heart. Then again, she may have just smiled and said, "It is his/her path to choose.""

- Yukimura, Conquest Chapter 6: Embrace the Dark

Yukimura (ユキムラ) is a playable character in Fire Emblem Fates on Birthright, recruited after a battle once a puppet in the player's castle has been upgraded to level 3. A strategist of Hoshido, Yukimura was once one of the late Queen Mikoto's personal retainers.

Yukimura is voiced by Hidemitsu Shimizu in the Japanese version and by Paul Eiding in the English version.

Profile
According to Yukimura's supports with the male Avatar, he reveals that he was once disciple to both his father and the late King Sumeragi. Admitting that he was once reckless in the strategies that he crafted in his youth, Yukimura was once inclined to achieve victory at all costs, even if a tremendous number of lives are lost in the process. Following a lecture by Sumeragi himself and learning of the late king's valiant sacrifice of his life in exchange for the Avatar's, Yukimura began to reform the way he formulates strategies, seeking to achieve victory with minimal loss of lives on both sides.

Yukimura's supports with the female Avatar reveal certain memories that he has retained of the brief amount of time that they had spent in Hoshido prior to being kidnapped. For one, Yukimura reveals that Sumeragi and Mikoto, aware of his craftsmanship skills, had requested him to craft a moving-picture box of the Avatar's childhood.

According to Shura, it was Yukimura who came up with the plan to kidnap Azura following the Avatar's abduction from Hoshido.

All Routes
Yukimura makes his first appearance in the throne room of Castle Shirasagi in Chapter 5, where he politely interrupts Mikoto and the Avatar's conversation to inform her that the ceremony to formally introduce the Avatar to the Hoshidan public is about to begin. Mikoto then requests the Avatar's younger siblings to guide them on a tour around Hoshido before the ceremony begins.

Later on in the chapter, the Avatar will assume their dragon form after they are overcome by grief following Mikoto's tragic death at the hands of a hooded man in the town square of Castle Shirasagi. After the invisible troops led by the hooded man are defeated and the Avatar is calmed down by Azura's song, Yukimura will enter the scene while Takumi is in the midst of slinging accusations at the Avatar. He then, in a bid to calm Takumi down, reveals that Mikoto had foreseen her own death, although she was not aware of the circumstances that would lead to it. Yukimura then directs the attention of everyone present to a sword embedded in the ruins of a broken statue, introducing it as the divine Yato, a blade that chooses its owner and was forged to herald peace to the world. The Yato then hurtles itself into the hands of the Avatar just as Kaze enters the scene and reports that a massive Nohrian force has gathered at the Plains of Hoshido. Ryoma then leads his siblings and Yukimura to the plains to meet with the Nohrians in battle.

Birthright
In the subsequent war that breaks out between Hoshido and Nohr, Yukimura is tasked with the defence of the Hoshidan capital from the Nohrian invasion. In Chapter 21, he deploys a Sky Knight to send a letter to the the Hoshidan royal family to update them on his current situation. In the letter, Yukimura reveals that he is struggling to hold the line of defence in Hoshido as the Ninja of Mokushu have defected and allied themselves with Nohr.

If the player upgrades any of the Automaton puppets to level 3 (requiring the completion of Chapter 22), Yukimura will appear and offer the Avatar his services. Assuring the Avatar that he has left the capital and palace well-defended with automatons, he decides to join them in light of the strength that they have built up.

Yukimura subsequently aids the Avatar's effort to put an end to the age-old conflict shared between Hoshido and Nohr. A peace treaty is thereafter signed between the two nations, following which Yukimura crowns Ryoma as the new king of Hoshido.

Conquest
Yukimura first appears in Chapter 6, where he, alongside the rest of the Hoshidan forces, turns hostile towards the Avatar after they choose to side with Nohr. When faced in battle with the Avatar, Yukimura will bitterly comment on the Avatar taking up arms against Hoshido, stating that their actions would have broken Mikoto's heart. Recognising that she would very likely have accepted the Avatar's decision nevertheless, Yukimura then announces his intention to prevent them from returning to Nohr. Despite the efforts of the Hoshidan army, they are eventually defeated and forced to retreat from the Plains of Hoshido.

Yukimura next appears in Chapter 22, where he, alongside Sakura and her retainers, stages a defence in Fort Jinya in a bid to halt the impending Nohrian invasion. Shortly before the start of the battle, Yukimura tries, but fails, to convince Sakura to retreat into the castle, as she resolves to fight in order to protect Hoshido. Shaken by her mettle, Yukimura acquiesces after making arrangements to keep Sakura protected during the course of battle. Despite the valiant defence staged by the Hoshidans, the Hoshidan forces are eventually defeated, and Yukimura calls for them to lay down their weapons and surrender. He then informs Xander of their decision and pleads with him to spare Sakura. Although reluctant, the Avatar subsequently takes both Yukimura and Sakura as prisoners of war. At this point, Hans and Iago enter the scene with Garon, whereupon Hans embarks on a killing spree, prompting Yukimura to vehemently question Xander's promise to spare the lives of the surrendered soldiers. He is later hauled away while in the midst of cursing the Nohrians, vowing to never forgive them.

After the Avatar and their Nohrian allies end the war, Yukimura accompanies Sakura and Hinoka to attend Xander's coronation as the successor to the throne of Nohr.

Revelation
Yukimura makes his first appearance in Chapter 8, where he, Saizo and Orochi are stationed at Fort Jinya after the battle between Hoshido and Nohr in the Plains of Hoshido concludes. The Avatar eventually arrives at the fort in hopes of gaining support from Hoshido, but they are instead viciously branded a traitor and attacked on sight. Despite the best efforts of the Hoshidan army, they are eventually defeated. When the Avatar decides not to kill any of the Hoshidans, Yukimura expresses confusion and asks for an explanation, only for them to remain cryptic and continue asking for the cooperation of Hoshido. Saizo, unable to withstand what he considers to be the Avatar's nonsense, then attempts to blow himself up to take them out. Fortunately, Kaze and Sakura enter the scene and manage to convince Saizo otherwise. Knowing the inherent kindness of the Avatar, Kaze and Sakura make the decision to pledge themselves to their cause. Yukimura initially protests Sakura's decision but backs down once he recognizes her earnestness, asking her to stay safe on the journey. He later lets the Avatar's party leave the fort without any further opposition.

Yukimura next appears in the opening sequence of Chapter 16, where he fiercely defends Castle Shirasagi from a Nohrian invasion alongside Hinoka. Ryoma and Scarlet enter the scene shortly thereafter and aid him in clearing the area of foes. Ryoma and Scarlet reveal to Yukimura that they encountered the Avatar in Nestra, and asked them to help. Yukimura recalls the same thing the Avatar had said to him. Hinoka later joins in on the conversation and decides to join Ryoma to help the Avatar out and task Yukimura with protecting the castle. Before leaving, Yukimura asks them to stay safe and not to complain if their rooms get destroyed during the battle.

Even though automatons can be built by the player in Revelations, Yukimura is not playable in this route.

Personality
With an intellect sharpened and honed since childhood through fervent study under the tutelage of his father and King Sumeragi, Yukimura often carries himself with a demeanour of calm collectedness as he carefully crafts strategies to lead his allies to victory in battle. The aura of calm that Yukimura exudes is also exemplified through his speech, where the formal politeness that he adopts reflects his position as a learned, wise man of an acute intellect.

According to his supports with the male Avatar, Yukimura reveals that he was once incapable of comprehending the meaning of compassion in his youth, where he was admonished by Sumeragi for devising a strategy that blatantly disregarded the value of human life. Through the experience of years, Yukimura has transformed into an individual who no longer acts purely on logic and reason, instead allowing his final judgments of situations to be complemented by emotion as well.

Although he is very much devoted to his neverending quest for knowledge, Yukimura is not without hobbies that he engages in for amusement. In his free time, he is known to enjoy designing and crafting new devices for everyday life. His supports with the female Avatar reveal that he has, under Mikoto's orders, crafted a moving-picture box depicting their childhood.

Yukimura has also been portrayed as a person who is fiercely loyal to his country, and whom will not hesitate to lay his life on the line to protect it from harm. This fact is especially prevalent in Chapter 22 on the Conquest route, where he personally takes to the front-lines at the risk of his personal safety in a desperate bid to halt the incoming Nohrian invasion.

Yukimura is said to break the most glasses out of everyone in the army. His birthday is April 28.

Conquest Chapter 6 - Embrace the Dark

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Conquest Chapter 22 - Princess Sakura of Hoshido

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 * -|Lunatic=

Revelation Chapter 8 - Traitor's Brand

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Growth Rates

 * 35%
 * 35%
 * 5%
 * 55%
 * 25%
 * 35%
 * 30%
 * 45%
 * }

Max Stat Modifiers

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

Supports
Romantic Supports Other Supports
 * The Avatar (Female)
 * The Avatar (Male)
 * Kana - if Yukimura is his father

Standard Sets

 * }

Partner Sets

 * -|All Routes=

Special Classes

 * }

Base Class Set
Yukimura starts off as a decent unit by the time he is recruitable after Chapter 23 in Birthright. His growths primarily focus on the development of Skill, while all his other stats are mediocre by contrast. Unfortunately, as his base class is part of the Apothecary class set and not the Ninja class set, Yukimura is thus unable to take advantage of skills like Poison Strike and Shurikenfaire to further aid his combat proficiency.

Yukimura's personal skill, Perspicacious, boosts the hit rate of all allies when he is on the battlefield by 5. While the boost is insignificant, it is still useful nevertheless, especially for allies who are weak in Skill. Yukimura starts with the Potent Potion, Quick Salve, and Golembane skills when he is recruited. The first two skills complement each other well by boosting the HP recovered and stat boosts of consumables while also giving him the ability to act again. Golembane, by contrast, is almost completely useless due to the lack of Stoneborn and puppet-based foes appearing in the game. Yukimura will eventually come to learn Replicate, a skill that lets him create a clone of himself and thereafter allow him to operate in two different sections of the battlefield at once. Proper care must be exercised, however, to prevent him from being slain faster than other units since the both the original and the copy share HP and statuses.

Secondary Class Sets
Yukimura has access to two tertiary class sets: The Samurai and Monk sets. The Samurai class set entails the Swordmaster and Master of Arms promotions, while the Monk set entails the Great Master and Onmyoji promotions.

From the Samurai class, Yukimura can learn Duelist's Blow to increase his chances of dodging an attack when he initiates battles. Vantage is another skill that he can learn, allowing him to attack enemy units first if his HP falls below half, granting him the opportunity to kill the enemy before they can defeat him. As a Swordmaster, Yukimura stands to learn Astra and Swordfaire. The former is a powerful offensive skill that allows him to stack attacks and increase his chances to defeating foes in a single round. Swordfaire, on the other hand, is only useful as long as he remains in a Sword-wielding class, as it only boosts the damage output of Sword wielders. As a Master of Arms, Yukimura can learn Seal Strength and Life and Death. Seal Strength helps him to reduce the attack damage of physical-oriented foes like Generals and Berserkers, making them a lot easier to face in battle. Life and Death, conversely, is a rather risky skill that does offer offensive bonuses, but at the cost of him being placed at risk of being severely wounded.

From the Monk class, Yukimura can learn Miracle, a skill that will help him avoid being killed if he has more than 1 HP remaining after sustaining a blow. He can also learn Rally Luck, although it is not very useful unless he is posited as a support unit. As a Great Master, Yukimura stands to learn Renewal and Countermagic. Renewal increases his tanking potential, owing to the fact that it recovers a substantial amount of his HP at the start of each turn, offsetting any damage that he may have sustained in battle. Countermagic is useful for offsetting Yukimura's moderate Resistance, allowing him to counter the onslaughts of magical units.

Partner Class Sets
Yukimura is only allowed to reclass outside of his base and tertiary classes through marriage to the Female Avatar, limiting both his class selection and immediate skill pool without purchasing skills.
 * The Ninja clas set provides Yukimura with a slew of more offensive skills, making it a nice alternative to his base class since he starts with a B rank in Shuriken. Poison Strike, for one, lets Yukimura chip away at foes he is unable to kill himself or to open opportunities for weaker allies to gain quick experience. The Lethality skill that Yukimura can learn as a Master Ninja does not activate frequently enough for it to be used over Astra, and discretion should be exercised when equipping it. He also learns Shurikenfaire, a skill that will prove to be a boon, as it boosts his natural proficiency in Shuriken.
 * The Archer class set offers a slew of classes that Yukimura can effectively operate in easily thanks to his B rank in Bow mastery. As an Archer, he can learn Quick Draw, a skill that is slightly helpful in boosting damage. As a Sniper, Yukimura can learn Certain Blow, a useful skill when fighting enemies with Weapon Triangle advantage. Bowfaire is much like Shurikenfaire, in the sense that it complements his natural proficiency in Bows by boosting his damage output with them armed. As a Kinshi Knight, one of the skills that Yukimura learns is, Air Superiority, a skill whose true potential can only be maximised with Bows equipped. Amaterasu, the other skill that is learnt, is also not very useful for Yukimura, as it recovers the HP of surrounding allies and is better-suited for use by support-oriented units.

Quotes
Refer to Yukimura/Quotes.

Possible Endings

 * Yukimura - Puppet Master
 * Yukimura continued to serve as minister after Ryoma became king. His uncompromising devotion to his work served as an example to clerks in the royal administration for generations to come.


 * Yukimura and the Avatar
 * Yukimura continued to serve as minister of Hoshido, dedicating his life to the country and its recovery. Avatar was hailed as a hero, working alongside her spouse to spread peace worldwide.

Etymology
Yukimura shares his name with a famous Sengoku daimyo: Sanada Yukimura. Yukimura (幸村) also means happy village.

Trivia

 * Yukimura placed 36th most popular male in the official character popularity poll held on the game's official site.
 * Even though Yukimura is recruitable upon getting all automatons to level 3, for unknown reasons, he cannot be recruited in Revelations this way.