Azura

Azura (アクア Akua, Aqua in the Japanese version) is a main playable character and the deuteragonist in Fire Emblem Fates. She is a Princess of Nohr, but was captured and held prisoner by Hoshido, similar to the Avatar's situation. In the Japanese version, Azura is voiced by Lynn while her singing voice is provided by Renka. In the English version, she is voiced by Rena Strober.

Profile
Azura was a princess of the Nohrian royal family and daughter of the second queen consort of King Garon, Arete, but she was captured by Hoshido shortly after the Avatar was kidnapped in an attempt to trade the two back to their respective kingdoms, but when Garon refused, she was raised there in a fairly similar fashion to the Avatar, and Queen Mikoto ordered the people of Hoshido to treat her like a princess of the kingdom. She is a gifted songstress and dancer and is seen dancing in a theater, watched by Garon. The song she sings is Lost in Thoughts All Alone. If she achieves an S-Support, she will have a son named Shigure and can possibly be the mother of other children except male Kana.

Shortly before the start of the great war, Azura meets the Avatar and they discover their similar origins and situations. She allies with the Avatar through the story of Fates, regardless of what route they choose. The path chosen also changes the colors of her clothing but only in particular scenes. She still retains her white and blue dress regardless of the paths chosen. Her birthday is March 3rd.

Birthright
Azura wears a white and blue dress. At one point, she sings and dances before Garon and Nohrian troops. Zola uses his magic to disguise her appearance, causing the audience to see her as Layla. During the dance, she uses her water manipulation abilities, causing Garon slight discomfort.

After Garon is defeated, Azura collapses and dissolves into water as the result of overusing her necklace's power, with the Avatar bursting into tears. In the ending, they converse with Azura's spirit by the lakeside where they first met her before Azura disappears and Ryoma calls them back.

Conquest
After Mikoto's death Azura is forced to leave Hoshido after people start accusing her of being connected to the incident due her origins in Nohr. Like in Birthright, she sings and dances before Garon and Nohrian troops, although wearing a different dress and a facial veil to disguise herself. The dance causes even more pain to Garon compared to the dance in Birthright. After the dance, Iago notices Garon is in pain and attempts to capture the songstress as he believes that she had inflicted a curse on him during the dance. After Kumagera appears and attempts to end Garon's life to end the war, Azura surprises the Avatar, who did not see her leave her seat during the performance and like the other Nohrian troops, are unaware that she was the mysterious songstress.

As in Birthright, Azura overuses the necklace's power against the possessed Takumi instead, knowing full well it would kill her. Later, as the Avatar meets Azura one last time at the lake, she dissolves into light. The Avatar thanks her for everything, and Xander calls them back.

Revelation
Azura will accompany the Avatar if they decide to side with neither group. This is the only route in which she lives. This route also confirms that Azura is the Avatar's cousin by blood through their mothers, Arete and Mikoto, who are sisters. It's also explained that Garon isn't her father; Azura's father and Arete's first husband was the former King of the mysterious realm of Valla, murdered by the Avatar's birth father Anankos. Arete and an infant Azura ran away from Valla and reached for Nohr, becoming a part of the royal family until Arete's death and Azura's kidnapping. Azura crowns the Avatar as the new ruler of Valla at the end of the route, becoming their personal adviser. If the male Avatar marries Azura, she will rule Valla alongside him as Valla's new queen.

Personality
Although she can get slightly emotional at times, Azura is kindhearted and suprisingly knowledgeable about many things, some of which others would not know about. Examples include the history of Valla (Revelation only), her unique ability to manipulate water through the use of her necklace and a brief history about dragons and degeneration from her mother. Azura's singing holds great, but mysterious powers, which hold a multitude of uses, namely for breaking spells, re-energizing friendly units during battle (similar to the dancing mechanic of previous games) and calming the madness the Avatar suffers from when they transform into a dragon for the first time in Chapter 5. She has the worst cases of bed hair in the army.

Chapter 5 - Mother
Vulnerary, Chest Key
 * Inventory when rejoining in Conquest Chapter 9 - A New Ordeal

Growth Rates

 * 25%
 * 60%
 * 25%
 * 80%
 * 80%
 * 60%
 * 15%
 * 35%
 * }

Max Stat Modifiers

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

Standard Sets

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Friendship Sets

 * -|Birthright/Revelation=


 * }
 * -|Conquest/Revelation=


 * }

Partner Sets

 * -|All Routes=


 * }
 * -|Birthright/Revelation=


 * }
 * -|Conquest/Revelation=

* Azura has access to the Herb Merchant, Oni Savage, Spear Fighter, or Wyvern Rider class only if she marries an Avatar with that class as his secondary class.
 * }

Special Classes

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

Nohr

 * Laslow
 * Odin
 * Xander
 * Benny
 * Keaton
 * Arthur
 * Leo
 * Niles

Hoshido
Other Supports
 * Subaki
 * Hinata
 * Kaden
 * Saizo
 * Ryoma
 * Takumi
 * Hayato
 * Azama
 * The Avatar (Female)
 * Elise
 * Hinoka
 * Sakura
 * Shigure
 * Any of Azura's other children

Base Class
Azura is a typical Dancer-like unit in her unique Songstress class, allowing her to reinvigorate one allied unit per turn through her Sing command. Like other units from past games like her, Azura is a fragile unit with low HP, Defense, and Resistance growths, but offset by high Speed, Resistance, and Luck growths to help her avoid attacks altogether rather than enduring them. Normally, past units like her were typically mid game units, putting them at a severe disadvantage from the enemy units that tended to be nearly over 10 levels higher than them or promoted. Azura instead is received early in the game, allowing her to level up with a lot less risk. Additionally, another advantage is the Songstress class' weapon choice of Lances, allowing Azura to attack and retaliate to distant enemies. However, the Songstress' class' Lance rank caps at C rank, limiting her offensive options. Finally, her personal skill Healing Descant gives her a two tile heal zone around her that recovers 10 HP to all units within her zone.

The Songstress class has no promotion, but gains a total of 4 skills in its 40 Level cap. Azura will start off with Luck +4, giving her some respite from enemy critical chances, but will lose usefulness later with better skills from other classes. At level 10, Azura's singing becomes more potent with Inspiring Song which grants a 3 point boost to the Speed, Skill, and Luck of any unit that she sings to. Her final two skills Voice of Peace and Heathen Princess gives her two more zone skills that reduce the damage dealt by enemies by two in her two tile zone from the former and a two damage reduction plus a two damage from received ally attacks from the latter. Overall, Azura plays well as a supportive unit and benefits greatly off of tighter gameplay as she can support other units much more easily. She makes an exceptional unit for Rally usage due to the nature of most of her given class skills and especially her personal skill. However, this skill set requires a lot of external help from other player's StreetPass teams or the player's own subsequent playthroughs.

Secondary Class
Azura's secondary class is the Sky Knight class, which will have a decent head start thanks to her base class' usage of lances as well as her naturally high speed and skill matching this Class set's naturally high skill and speed stats as well. As such, if looking for an more offensive oriented Azura, her secondary class provides that option. The Sky Knight's first skill, Darting Blow, is good for an offensive Azura as it will increase her double attack chances when she initiates a battle. The second ability Camaraderie syncs well with Azura's zone play by providing herself a 10 HP regen when units are within a two tile radius of her at the start of a turn, though is not nearly as good as Renewal if she can get access to the Shrine Maiden class from a Sakura or marriage with Azama or the Avatar with the Priest as his secondary. As a Falcon Knight, she gains Rally Speed to boost all allies within two tile range of her with a 4 stat boost upon using the Rally Command and Mirror Strike to make her an aggressive anti-mage unit. As a Kinshi Knight, she gains Soar to avoid aerial units, but her Sun God skill gives her zone play the largest regen boost by giving her turn heals an additional 20 HP, giving her a 30 HP recovery for all allies in her zone each turn in tandem with her personal skill.

Friendship Class
Azura gains a Friendship Class from Elise and Sakura
 * Elise — Elise provides her with the Troubadour class. Notably, she will gain Demoiselle first as another zone skill to aid male units in her zone with a nice 2 damage reduction. The Strategist class gives her Battle Command which is basically another Heathen Princess skill, but not limited to "Heathen Army" units. Additionally, Rally Resistance is provided by this class for those seeking a Rally Azura. The Maid class gives her mainly Tomebreaker to avoid Tome/Spell damage and Live to Serve if keeping Azura in this healing class is more what the player desires.
 * Sakura — Sakura gives her the Shrine Maiden class. Her base class provides Miracle which could save her in case she is hit by a deadly blow. Rally Luck can be obtained from this class as well. The Onmyoji class provides Rally Magic and is essentially the only useful skill from the class if planning on keeping Azura as as songstress. As a Priestess, she gains Renewal, which is a much more suitable self-recovery skill than Camaraderie since it heals her 30% and does not require her to be around other allied units to activate it. Magic Counter is worth considering given her fragile nature and can dish back magic damage taken if needed, resulting in high counter damage.

Hot Spring

 * "I feel so at home in the water. This is a great place to sing when I'm alone."

Lottery Shop
"Will fate be on your side today? Step right up—give it a try!"

- When entering the shop.

"Is there anything else?"

- Before leaving the shop.

"Don't lose heart. There's always tomorrow."

- When drawing a bad prize.

"Good! You won a nice prize. Does this mean you'll come back tomorrow?"

- When drawing a normal prize.

Arena
''"If you're in, I am too. Together we shall claim victory, of that I am certain!" ''(this line is said only if she is chosen to assist the first unit)

Mess Hall

 * "For some reason, I can't help humming whenever I get to cooking in the kitchen."

Level Up

 * "I will use this power to make a difference." (6+ stats up)
 * "I'm so happy, I could sing...but I won't." (4-5 stats up)
 * "Even my voice feels a little stronger..." (2-3 stats up)

Class Change

 * "I wonder if this new look becomes me..."

Confession
"I...I love you too... Please forgive my many faults...and promise to stay with me, forever."

- Azura's confession quote. (Birthright)

"I finally know what true happiness is. No matter what happens. dear love...I will always be with you."

- Azura's confession quote. (Conquest)

Support

 * "How troubling..."
 * "Let's go."
 * "Here we go."
 * "Be careful."
 * "We need each other."
 * "We won't lose."

Attack Stance

 * "Look me in the eyes!"
 * "This should help."
 * "You're too slow!"

Guard Stance

 * "Are you all right?!"
 * "Just in time!"

Critical/Skill

 * "My heart is singing!"
 * "Time for your final bow!"

Defeated Enemy

 * "Rest in peace."
 * "I must never rest."
 * "Victory is ours."

Partner Defeated Enemy/When Healed

 * "Thank you."

Death/Retreat Quote

 * "I'm sorry, Avatar...you'll have to go on without my song for now. I need to fall back and heal my wounds..."

Etymology
Azura comes from the word azure, a shade of blue.

Aqua, her name in the Japanese version, is the Latin word for water. It is also a greenish-blue color.

Trivia

 * Azura has two different voice actresses in Japanese: her normal voice actress is Lynn while her singing voice is provided by Renka. This has already been seen in the Fire Emblem series when other characters had to sing (like Ashunera and Sephiran in Radiant Dawn and possibly Micaiah).
 * Despite Azura being considered the deuteragonist, the development team actually considers her to be the main protagonist just as much as the Avatar. In the West the Avatar is mainly considered the protagonist because the Avatar is meant to be the visual reflection of the player and the level of control and customization for the Avatar is much higher.
 * Her official artwork and portraits depicts her wielding the Blessed Lance.
 * Azura placed 5th most popular female character in the official character popularity poll held on the game's official site.
 * Azura placed in the top ten of the Famitsu Popularity Poll at 8th place, and 1st place in the top ten married poll as well.
 * Azura's birthday, March 3, falls under the sign Pisces and evokes the element of water.
 * Azura is the only character that will always have two children.
 * There are files in the game that depicted a potential sibling talk between Shigure and a male Kana, which created speculation about Azura being originally intended as a same sex marriage option. Although no traces of a potential S-Support talk between Azura and the Female Avatar were found. Still, it has has led to speculation about the existing talks and the ideas behind them, ranging from the possibility of choosing between male or female Kana if the Male Avatar marries Azura, to Azura probably giving birth to twin Kanas.
 * Azura has the ability to manipulate water to great lengths with the power of her necklace which is a very unique ability for the series.
 * Azura is the only character whose supports with the Avatar change depending on the path chosen.
 * Azura is also the only character who has a different confession quote depending on the path chosen.