Dorothea

"Oh my, you look like a wonderful person. Is this your first time at the monastery? Shall I show you around? Ah, my name is Dorothea. Before enrolling in school, I was in an opera company at the capital."

- Dorothea introducing herself to Byleth

Dorothea is a playable character in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. At the start of the game she is 18 years old, and is the only character not of noble or royal birth among the Black Eagles.

Early life
Born as a daughter of a lady-in-waiting to Imperial nobles from the Adrestian Empire, Dorothea was orphaned at an early age and lived as a street urchin for some time. She was discovered as songstress by the Mittelfrank Opera Company in Enbarr in 1171, eventually becoming known as the "Mystical Songstress" three years later. Rumored Nuptials reveals that the unnamed noble of rising status was her father, who abandoned Dorothea and her mother when Dorothea failed to manifest a Crest. When they met after Dorothea joined the Mittelfrsnk Opera Company, he not only failed to recognize her as his daughter but tried to flirt with her, much to her disgust.

Academy phase
Dorothea decided to take leave of the opera house in order to enroll at the Officers Academy in 1180.

War phase
{{Spoiler|

Crimson Flower
If the Black Eagles route is chosen, in Imperial Year 1185, Dorothea is assigned to the Black Eagle Strike Force at Garreg Mach.

Silver Snow
If the Church route is chosen, she and the other students will meet Byleth and Seteth on the city nearby the Church and help them defeat the bandits who were stealing. After that, she joins the Resistance Army.

Verdant Wind
If Dorothea is recruited into the Golden Deer, in 1181 she returns to Enbarr and helps with the dispersal of the opera house. Some time after, she leaves the Empire and roams Fódlan helping people before arriving back at Garreg Mach in 1185. When the Alliance captures Enbarr, she is disgusted by how the Imperial nobility tried to cozy up to the Alliance and Church forces to sue for peace, but she tells Byleth of being moved to tears when Count von Bergliez – Caspar's father – sacrifices himself so that his soldiers could surrender peacefully. }}

Personality
A natural performer, Dorothea enjoys all forms of performing arts from acting to music, but has a particular affinity for singing as she was once a songstress. Manuela is her idol, as she was Dorothea's senior in the same opera company as her, and seeing her again is part of the reason she enrolls in the Officer's Academy to begin with. In their Japanese supports, it is revealed that Manuela is the one who discovered Dorothea.

She is shown to be somewhat flirtatious, and has a habit of flirting with people out of belief that she needs to find someone before her beauty and voice fade away and cause others to be uninterested in her. She often refers to her fellow classmates with diminutive versions of their names (i.e. Edie, Ferdie, Hubie, etc.) and will occasionally embarrass her friends to tease them.

Despite being the only person of common heritage among the Black Eagles, she tries to see everyone as equals. However, she can act a bit hostile towards those of nobility because of the treatment she received from nobles when she was younger and how they only seemed to care about her after she became famous. She openly and immediately expresses her dislike of Lorenz in their very first support conversation due to his apparent elitist views. She ascribes such attitudes to all nobility, leading to cases of prejudice and misjudgment, as seen in her supports with Ferdinand.

She likes dressing glamorously, outfitting herself with accessories and decorative ornaments. She also adores small animals. She dislikes arrogant nobles. Despite her seemingly outgoing personality, she has self esteem issues, as shown by the fact that one of her dislikes is "herself."

According to Petra, Dorothea's classmates find her cooking to be "horrendous," although she has neither a weakness nor strength in cooking.

Growth Rates

 * 40%
 * 20%
 * 40%
 * 45%
 * 40%
 * 35%
 * 15%
 * 35%
 * 40%
 * }

Maximum Stats

 * 76
 * 30
 * 61
 * 62
 * 57
 * 49
 * 38
 * 50
 * 58
 * }

Learnt Magic

 * D
 * Thunder
 * Heal
 * D+
 * Nosferatu
 * C
 * Thoron
 * Physic
 * C+
 * B
 * Sagittae
 * B+
 * A
 * Meteor
 * A+
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * }
 * Sagittae
 * B+
 * A
 * Meteor
 * A+
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * }
 * A
 * Meteor
 * A+
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * }
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * }
 * }

Recruitment
Dorothea requires Byleth to have 25 Charm and an Authority Proficiency B to be recruited out of the Black Eagles house.

Overall
Dorothea is the primary Mage of the Black Eagles, boasting decent Magic, Speed, and Dexterity for consistent damage output. Though she lacks the raw magic growths of Annette or Lysithea and lacks a Crest, she is ultimately a middle ground Mage. She is not quite as potent in damage, but has far better overall physical and magical bulk thanks to her better HP growths; this does not make her truly durable, however, so she should be kept out of harm's way whenever possible. Her high Charm growth makes her excellent for Gambits. Her personal skill, Songstress, heals allies by 10% of their maximum HP if they start their turn adjacent to her. This gives her excellent utility, especially in the early game when access to healing magic is strictly limited.

Her magic pool revolves around Thunder magic for her basic spells, including heavy-hitting ranged magic such as Thoron and Meteor. Dorothea's access to these very long-range spells allow her to easily provide linked attacks and gambit boosts from safe distance in order to provide significant bonus hit%, avoid%, and gambit damage, simply by having the tomes equipped. She also has access to Agnea's Arrow, the strongest Black magic spell available. Her Faith pool is rather shallow, but she does learn Physic, making her a great secondary or tertiary healer.

Dorothea is proficient in Swords and Reason with a weakness in Faith, Riding, and Flying. She can turn her Faith into a proficiency if she develops her Budding Talent, learning White Magic Avoid +20 once mastered. Magic oriented classes play to her strengths and she is a natural fit for the Monk lines, primarily focused on the Mage line (Mage, Warlock, Gremory), but if given attention to her Faith, she can also take up the Priest and Bishop classes as well to some effectiveness. Theoretically, she can also grow decently in the Myrmidon line because of her Sword proficiency, but her low Strength growths severely limit her potential in the class. She can invest some effort into her swords to give her the Combat Art Hexblade, which allows her to deal magic damage with her sword. At Sword Rank C, she may wield the Levin Sword which gives her another 3-ranged attack when forged, although this is redundant with Thoron. Unfortunately, her weaknesses in both Riding and Flying mean that any mounted classes are not viable for her, so classing her to Dark Knight or Holy Knight is very difficult; this will leave her with a mobility issue later in the game as maps get larger, but thankfully Meteor and Physic will let her contribute even at extreme distances.

Dorothea makes an excellent candidate for the Dancer class as her high Charm growth will likely win her the class when available. As she is a natural in Swords and Magic, her utility greatly increases in the class, being able to refresh an ally, attack with Reason, or heal with Faith, plus her Personal Skill helps alleviates the need to expend her castings of Heal on lightly injured allies.

Overall, Dorothea is considered a very good character due to her versatility. While she does not have the highest raw damage from Reason nor the greatest Faith spell list, she is a well-balanced mixed magical unit nonetheless. Her access to Meteor is incredibly useful, allowing her to soften up a clustered group of enemies from long range, and she can use it far more effectively than Hanneman. Finally, her Songstress personal skill can be helpful even into late-game to help conserve spell charges and keep the army healthy.

Supports

 * Byleth
 * Edelgard
 * Hubert
 * Ferdinand
 * Linhardt
 * Caspar
 * Bernadetta
 * Felix
 * Sylvain
 * Ingrid
 * Petra
 * Lorenz
 * Hanneman
 * Manuela

Quotes
Dorothea/Quotes

Possible Endings
Dorothea - Mystical Songstress
 * Dorothea returned to the Mittelfrank Opera as soon as the war was over. Thanks to her talent, the company enjoyed a resurgence in popularity that lasted well beyond the end of her own career. Once she gave up her position as a songstress, she settled down to a private life of peace and quiet. It is said that she was very happily married.

Dorothea and Byleth (Crimson Flower)
 * Almost immediately after the modest wedding between Byleth and Dorothea was over, the battle against those who slither in the dark began in earnest. Dorothea chose not to take the field of battle with a weapon but rather to tend the household in her spouse's absence and provide emotional support to his/her effort to bring peace to Fódlan. Many years after the war had ended, Dorothea's diary was uncovered, revealing the full extent of the happy life the couple had shared. The love poems that they wrote to one another were published as a collection.

Dorothea and Byleth (Azure Moon)
 * After taking on the role of archbishop of the Church of Seiros, Byleth announced his/her marriage to Dorothea. The former songstress resolved to stay out of the public eye, keeping to herself and her family, but as the archbishop worked tirelessly to restore Fódlan and the church, she did privately offer advice from time to time. It is said that her experience growing up as a commoner provided a useful perspective. Many years later, her diary was uncovered, revealing the full extent of the happy life the couple shared. The love poems that they wrote to one another were published as a collection.

Dorothea and Byleth (Verdant Wind / Silver Snow)
 * After ascending to the throne as the first leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan, Byleth announced his/her marriage to Dorothea. The former songstress resolved to stay out of the public eye, keeping to herself and her family, but as Byleth worked tirelessly to restore Fódlan, she did offer advice from time to time. It is said that her experience growing up as a commoner provided a useful perspective. Many years later, her diary was uncovered, revealing the full extent of the happy life the couple shared. The love poems that they wrote to one another were published as a collection.

Dorothea and Edelgard
 * As Edelgard's reign as the Adrestian emperor began, Enbarr was restored, and with it, a certain opera house. Soon the Mittelfrank Opera Company put together a war drama depicting the journey and sacrifice of the emperor and her companions, and the starring role went to none other than Dorothea. Edelgard initially forbade the company from staging it, but was eventually persuaded by Dorothea's passionate performance to rescind that decree. It is said that the emperor always set aside time to enjoy the opera thereafter.

Dorothea and Hubert
 * After the war, the Mittlefrank Opera Company made a resurgence, in no small part thanks to the patronage of Emperor Edelgard's confidant, Hubert. Dorothea made a comeback as a songstress in the troupe, which traveled all over Fódlan, putting a large share of its profits towards relief efforts. The opera company was warmly welcomed by the war-weary people as a source of solace, and became even more famous than before. It was not discovered until many years later that the troupe's tour had been a covert operation, coordinated by Hubert and Dorothea, to gather intelligence for the Empire.

Dorothea and Ferdinand (Crimson Flower)
 * After officially becoming the new Duke Aegir, Ferdinand set about reforming his territory. Thanks to the wisdom of his wife, Dorothea, Ferdinand's policies were of massive benefit to the common folk and brought about a swift recovery. In recognition of this achievement, he was called upon by Emperor Edelgard to introduce these reforms to the Empire at large as the new prime minister. Though the work kept him very busy, he always managed to find time for Dorothea. It is said that their children filled their loving household with beautiful music ever after.

Dorothea and Ferdinand (Other routes)
 * After officially becoming the new Duke Aegir, Ferdinand set about reforming his territory. Thanks to the wisdom of his wife, Dorothea, Ferdinand's policies were of massive benefit to the common folk and brought about a swift recovery. In recognition of this achievement, he was called upon to help to govern Fódlan at large. Though the work of reforming the entire nation kept him very busy, he always managed to find time for Dorothea. It is said that their children filled their loving household with beautiful music ever after.

Dorothea and Linhardt
 * After the war, Linhardt decided to inherit his title. He spent several years studying his territory, learning to manage its affairs, and when he was ready to become the new Count Hevring, he announced his marriage to Dorothea. Somehow, despite all this activity, Linhardt actually managed to keep up with his Crest studies. Though his results were dubious at times, his new wife helped him alter them so that they would be of use to people. Their relationship was unlike anything the nobility had ever witnessed. When faced with this accusation, Linhardt and Dorothea could only laugh and note that the past was of no significance to them.

Dorothea and Caspar (Crimson Flower)
 * In recognition of his achievements during the war, Caspar was given the title of Minister of Military Affairs in the new Adrestian Empire. Though his command developed a reputation for occasional recklessness, he proved an able leader, guiding his troops to overcome countless obstacles. In his personal life, he began to spend a great deal of time with Dorothea, who had returned to the Mittelfrank Opera Company after the war. When her efforts brought the opera house to the peak of its resurgence, it is said that Dorothea relinquished her position as songstress in order to retire with Caspar. They are rumored to have spent the rest of their lives together.

Dorothea and Caspar (Other routes)
 * After the war, Caspar set out alone on a journey of self-discovery. He traveled to every corner of Fódlan, and even ventured abroad now and again. Though his antics found him no end of exciting adventures, he was always drawn back to Dorothea, who had returned to the Mittelfrank Opera Company in Enbarr after the war. The two spent more and more time together over the years, and when Dorothea's efforts brought the opera house to the peak of its resurgence, she relinquished her position as songstress and disappeared from the stage. It is rumored that the pair spent the rest of their lives together.

Dorothea and Petra
 * Petra returned to her homeland of Brigid, and inherited the throne from her grandfather. As ruler, she declared independence from Fódlan, and renegotiated Brigid's diplomatic ties to that nation on more equal terms. At every step along the way, she was accompanied by Dorothea, who had left Fódlan behind to support her. Dorothea used the connections she had made in her time at the opera to her benefit, and even worked reluctantly with the Fódlan nobility for Petra's sake. The people of Brigid were skeptical of her at first, but warmed up to her over time. It is said that she became the person whom Petra loved the most.

Dorothea and Felix (Azure Moon)
 * After the war, Felix inherited the title of Duke Fraldarius from his late father, Rodrigue. He married Dorothea, and the two began a happy life together. After they had finished restoring Fraldarius territory, Felix traveled across Fódlan as the king's right hand. Dorothea traveled with him always, and even threw herself into battle alongside him every so often. Tales of their bravery endured for generations, thanks in no small part to the operas that Dorothea wrote and composed herself.

Dorothea and Felix (Other routes)
 * Even after the war's end, skirmishes continued to break out across Fódlan. Learning that there were still places where he could fight, Felix abandoned his noble title and chose to make a living with his sword. He traveled the land, and some years later found himself in Enbarr. There he encountered Dorothea, who had just resumed her career as a songstress in the opera. From that time on, no matter how far Felix traveled, he always found himself drawn back to the opera house. It is said that, when Dorothea saw his face in the crowd, she sang only for him.

Dorothea and Sylvain
 * After more than 10 proposals, Dorothea finally relented and agreed to marry Sylvain. Together they inherited Gautier territory. With the support of his wife's counsel, the new Margrave Gautier was able to improve relations with the Sreng people, and thereby convince the local nobles that Relics and Crests were no longer an absolute requirement for survival. Due to their efforts, they went down in history as an extraordinary lord and lady. It is said that what finally convinced Dorothea to marry Sylvain was his promise that they would grow old happily together, and that he was true to his word.

Dorothea and Lorenz
 * As the new head of House Gloucester, Lorenz first worked to restore his own territory, and then expanded his vision to include reforms for all Fódlan. At the height of his storied political career, he announced his marriage to Dorothea, who had returned to prominence with the Mittelfrank Opera Company. The elaborate wedding was the most talked-about social event of the season, and the fashions on display from the savvy noblemen and the stylish songstress set the trends with young people across Fódlan for a decade.

Dorothea and Hanneman
 * Though Fódlan had changed, Hanneman’s goal remained unwavering to determine the workings of the Crests, and to do away with the inequality caused by them. To that end, his research resulted in magical tools which could be used even without the aid of Crests. This proved to be yet another worthwhile discovery by the Father of Crestology. Hanneman also became a father in a more literal sense, by raising many children with his wife, Dorothea. Their marriage was not publicly known, however, as the songstress elected to keep it secret for the sake of both their careers.

Dorothea and Manuela
 * The Mittelfrank Opera Company was on the brink of collapse until two of its star songstresses, Manuela and Dorothea, returned to the stage and brought the troupe new life and prominence. They toured all around Fódlan, sometimes even visiting troops on the front lines, soothing hearts with their beautiful songs wherever they want, and donating their profits to the relief and rebuilding effort. When the damage from the war had finally healed, the pair once again retreated from the stage, this time retiring to a private life together. It is said that their relationship was full of light and love.

Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Dorothea is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards:

Etymology
Dorothea is a feminine form of the greek name Dorotheos, meaning "gift of god".

Arnault is a surname of Olde German and Anglo-Saxon origins comprised of the words Arn meaning eagle and Wald meaning ruler or power, giving a small connection to her house, the Black Eagles.

Trivia

 * Dorothea shares her English VA, Allegra Clark, with Shamir, as well as Ethlyn (from Genealogy of the Holy War) and Karla (from The Blazing Blade) in their appearances in Fire Emblem Heroes.
 * Dorothea is one of the characters who can have S-Supports with both a male and a female Byleth. The others are: Rhea, Mercedes, Edelgard, Sothis, Linhardt, Alois (platonic) and Gilbert (platonic as well)
 * Dorothea has a unique post-timeskip battle model as a Mage, Warlock, and Dancer.
 * Dorothea is the only unit in Three Houses to use her timeskip appearance as her default Dancer appearance.
 * Dorothea stands at 170cm (or about 5’7”).
 * Though she learns the two basic Lightning black magic spells, Dorothea cannot learn Bolting, and learns Meteor instead.
 * If Dorothea is taken to the Opera House in the Enbarr battle map, she will worry about her former colleagues in the opera company.