Lorenz (Three Houses)


 * For the Archanea Series character, see here.

"Ah. You must be that renowned mercenary. Perhaps you'd like to join me for a cup of tea sometime. My name is Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. You will want to remember it."

Lorenz is a playable character that appears in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Lorenz is a student at the Officers Academy who is from the Leicester Alliance and is a member of the Golden Deer. He possesses a minor Crest of Gloucester. He is 18 at the start of the game.

Early life
Lorenz is the eldest son and heir to the County of Gloucester. He enrolled in the Royal Academy of Sorcery at Fhirdiad in 1178, but was forced to leave Faerghus and return home when rebellion erupted in the Kingdom's west.

Academy phase
Lorenz enrolls in Garreg Mach Monastery Officers Academy in Imperial Year 1180, and joins the Golden Deer. His snobby demeanor belies his serious nature, as he fully understands his responsibility as nobility. It seems he has been approaching girls at the monastery, to little success.

War phase
In the Azure Moon and Silver Snow route, if he had not been recruited in the Academy Phase, Lorenz joins the fight at the Great Bridge of Myrddin as an ally to the Empire and meets his demise. If he had been recruited beforehand, Byleth may re-recruit him after besting him in combat.

Personality
Lorenz takes great pride in being a member of the nobility and seems to flaunt his status. He unintentionally comes off as snobby and pretentious regarding the social divide, as he often comments on his own fine breeding and refined sense of grace from being a noble. Though he is obsessed with status, his pride is not to be confused with superiority; he will help out any of his classmates, common or noble, in times of need without question or hesitation, even though he will likely make mention of their social status when it was unwarranted or irrelevant.

He has somewhat of an inflated ego regarding his attractiveness, and this gives him a reputation as a flirt. He can be relentless and is unable to take a hint when women turn him down, even assailing them with invitations for dinner repeatedly over consecutive days. However, as he explains to Byleth and Dorothea, the reason for his aggressive courting is due to his search for a woman worthy of his status, as he believes that he needs a noblewoman as a wife to benefit House Gloucester. When talking to Mercedes, he even hesitates about the prospect of marrying a commoner woman, stating that he would rather follow his social obligation than follow his true heart's desires. He values the ideal of nobility over his personal feelings.

He takes his responsibility as heir to a noble house very seriously. Unlike other more selfish nobles of the Alliance, Lorenz considers the well-being of his future vassals and wishes that the Leicester Alliance would be more cooperative than self-serving. This sense of responsibility has led to disdain towards the current ruling nobles, including his father, of whom he is very critical. When talking to Catherine, Lorenz further explains why he considers it a noble’s duty to look after commoners, inciting the fact that being born of a higher status comes with power that should be used for the greater good. He therefore believes commoners have a right to revolt so that the nobility is held accountable of their failure to provide for the people.

He expresses distaste and suspicion in Claude being the future leader of the Alliance because he is an outsider who was suddenly named heir to House Riegan, even though he was virtually unknown within the Alliance just a year prior. At his father’s request, and his own impetus, he scrutinizes Claude’s every move and constantly makes evaluations of his character. Lorenz openly makes it known of his displeasure of Claude's nonchalant behavior and feels that he is unfit to lead the Alliance. Eventually, Lorenz admits that Claude is more qualified to lead than he is, once Claude displays knowledge and true insight of diplomatic relationships that Lorenz overlooked, and they both come to form a bond of deep trust with one another.

Lorenz has an interests in monitoring Claude and writing poetry. He likes tea, red roses, art, worthy women, anything that benefits nobility. However he dislikes, coffee, injustice, filth, foul odors, and vulgarity.

By the war phase of the story, he has amended his views of the common folk for the most part, stating that the true value of a person comes from the quality of their soul, regardless of social upbringing, and names Byleth as a key example of a commoner rising above any noble he has met, himself included. He has for the most part dropped his elitist views as a result, though they may slip out on occasion, but far less aggressively than before. In Verdant Wind, he completely accepts Claude's status as heir to the Alliance, as Lorenz confidently states that he has the necessary qualities to rule well. With both Claude and Edelgard shaking up Fodlan’s status quo in the war, Lorenz comes to believe that a true leader must not be afraid to challenge common practices should it benefit the people, a visionary trait he comes to admire in Claude.

Growth Rates

 * 55%
 * 40%
 * 40%
 * 45%
 * 40%
 * 25%
 * 30%
 * 40%
 * 35%
 * }

Maximum Stats

 * 99
 * 58
 * 57
 * 62
 * 57
 * 48
 * 55
 * 56
 * 46
 * }

Learnt Magic

 * D
 * Fire
 * Heal
 * D+
 * Nosferatu
 * C
 * Sagittae
 * Recover
 * C+
 * B
 * Ragnarok
 * Ward
 * B+
 * A
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * A+
 * }
 * Ragnarok
 * Ward
 * B+
 * A
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * A+
 * }
 * A
 * Agnea's Arrow
 * A+
 * }
 * A+
 * }
 * }
 * }

Recruitment
Lorenz requires Byleth to have 20 Charm and an Reason Proficiency C to be recruited out of the Golden Deer house.

Overall
Lorenz is an oddity in that his strength and magic growth rates are equal, giving him a great amount of versatility in terms of chosen classes. However, that same versatility and average growth rates can be a drawback as well, as he will never excel at either physical or magic damage compared to dedicated characters. His growth rates also run into a problem of reliability, as nothing truly stands out and he doesn't have the elevated growth rates that Byleth has. His health has an oddly high growth rate, giving him some decent durability, but his Luck and Defense are lackluster, so he won't be able to outright block attacks and may be susceptible to critical hits. His Resistance is also higher than expected out of a physical character, making him less susceptible to mages.

Building him up to be a Dark Knight tends to make the best use of his versatility. In preparation for such a class, it is recommended to get Lorenz to master the Mage class for Fiendish Blow, helping to improve his magic damage. His lance skills will often serve as a backup as a Dark Knight against magic-resistant foes. It is also worthwhile to make him a Dark Mage for Poison Strike, letting him deal significant damage even to highly-resistant foes, including monsters. Desperation isn't as useful to him, however, due to his mediocre Speed (which is less impressive if he earns levels as a Cavalier or Paladin).

Perhaps the most important feature of Lorenz is his Crest of Gloucester, which permits free use of the relic Thyrsus. Even without the Mag to instantly slay enemies, Thyrsus gives its wielder unmatched utility as an initiator. Most enemy units will be unable to counterattack at range 4, and will then be easy to finish off with another unit. Because of this and his growths, Lorenz will generally perform best as a magical unit, and fortunately his high Str growth is not entirely wasted this way, as magical units can still wield physical weapons and Str helps alleviate the Attack Speed penalty from the Weight of magic tomes. Access to both Ragnarok and Agnea's Arrow gives him many uses of "nuke" spells that are liable to defeat most enemies in one hit, and can compensate for his Mag growth being lower than other mages. Overall, Lorenz is a chance-driven unit whose effectiveness is entirely contingent on his broad-but-average growths. He can easily grow into the most powerful and reliable unit in the army, with titanic stats in every area, or just as easily fall irrevocably behind and fail to impress. Fortunately, in the latter case, his Relic can still find another pair of capable hands.

Another issue with Lorenz is his post-timeskip availability. In the Azure Moon and Silver Snow routes, he will not be available after the timeskip until you defeat him in Chapter 16. During this time, your other characters are likely to surpass him, hindering his continued usage. It is still entirely possible, and could be worthwhile, to reintegrate him.

Supports

 * Byleth (S-Support with female Byleth)
 * Claude
 * Raphael
 * Ignatz
 * Lysithea
 * Marianne
 * Hilda
 * Leonie
 * Ferdinand
 * Dorothea
 * Sylvain
 * Mercedes
 * Manuela

Quotes

 * Lorenz (Three Houses)/Quotes

Possible Endings
Lorenz - Noble of the Red Rose
 * Soon after the war, Lorenz assumed leadership over House Gloucester and helped govern Fódlan as a representative of the old Alliance lords. His political talent yielded revolutionary policy changes, many of which were of particular benefit to the commonfolk.

Lorenz and Byleth (Verdant Wind / Silver Snow)
 * Byleth announced her marriage to Lorenz shortly after becoming leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan. Lorenz took equally well to his dual roles as the queen's husband and the leader of House Gloucester, working simultaneously to restore his own territory and to advance the development of Fódlan at large. Because his policies were of particular benefit to the commonfolk, he was well loved, and came to be called the Lord of Roses. After many years of peace, Lorenz grew ill and withdrew from the public eye. The queen followed, entrusting the throne to the prince. It is said that he was the spitting image of his father.

Lorenz and Claude
 * Claude disappeared from Fódlan after the war, leaving the new head of House Gloucester, Lorenz, to support the new United Kingdom of Fódlan in his stead. He proposed revolutionary policies to restore the war-torn region at a rapid rate. When the rebuilding effort was complete, Lorenz turned his eye toward diplomacy, seeking to establish treaties of friendship with foreign nations. Almyra was no exception, and when the two parties met for a summit at Fódlan's Locket, it was none other than Claude, the new king of Almyra, who arrived to negotiate. Some speculated that this meeting had been Claude's scheme all along, but Lorenz and Claude both denied it.

Lorenz and Dorothea
 * 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.

Lorenz and Mercedes
 * 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.

Lorenz and Lysithea
 * 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 Lysithea. Though the only daughter of the former Count Ordelia had already renounced all claim to nobility, the people happily accepted their union. She rarely appeared in public, due to health concerns, but it is said that a great many policies credited to Lorenz were actually her ideas.

Lorenz and Marianne
 * 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 of Fódlan. At the height of his storied political career, he announced his marriage to Marianne. Prior to the wedding she received extensive tutelage from her adoptive father, Margrave Edmund, so that by the time they were wed she was fully prepared to govern. The pair was particularly successful in providing new innovations in dairy farming, and came to be known as the mother and father of horses and cattle in the region. It is said that Lorenz was rather vexed by the title.

Lorenz and Hilda
 * 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 Hilda, the only daughter of Duke Goneril. After the recovery effort, at Hilda's behest, the pair established artisan academies all over Fódlan. The schools quickly flourished, invigorating interest in the arts as well as trade with foreign lands. After many years of success and prosperity, the students of the first of these academies crafted a bronze statue of the founding couple to honor their achievement. The statue stands to this day.

Lorenz and Leonie
 * 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 of Fódlan. At the height of his storied political career, he announced his marriage to Leonie, who had become a renowned mercenary. The choice came as a shock to the public, who could not see what the pair had in common, but those who knew them well saw it as inevitable due to the strength of the bond they had forged during the war. As a ruling couple, they used their varying talents to usher in a new age of prosperity and carve their names into history.

Lorenz and Manuela
 * 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 Manuela, who had established a new school for children in a small town. Seeing the beauty in Manuela’s dream, Lorenz put all his resources toward building schools like Manuela’s all over Fódlan, providing education to scores of children who had been left helpless by the war. After many years of success and prosperity, a bronze statue of the couple was erected at the original school to honor their achievement. It stands to this day.

Lorenz and Catherine (Azure Moon)
 * 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 Catherine, the former Knight of Seiros. Catherine had been living a quiet life of seclusion with Rhea in the Red Canyon, and it was the encouragement of the former archbishop that persuaded her to accept Lorenz's ardent marriage proposal. Even after joining House Gloucester, however, it is said that Catherine never lost sight of her lifelong oath to guard and watch over Rhea.

Etymology
Lorenz is an originally German name derived from the Roman surname, Laurentius, which mean "from Laurentum".

Trivia

 * Lorenz shares his English voice actor, Ben Diskin, with Caspar, as well as Fates ' Jakob, Saizo, and Hayato.
 * Lorenz has a unique post-timeskip battle model as a Cavalier and Paladin.
 * Lorenz stands at 188cm (or about 6’2”).
 * Despite having Reason as one of his strong points, Lorenz is never encountered as a magical class, unless he's recruited and re-classed. He also lacks a unique battle model as a magical class.
 * This may be the reason why Lorenz is reluctant to use his Hero's Relic, Thyrsus; canonically, he doesn't have any use of it.