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. She was named Aqua due to the director's favorite color being green (Kouhei Maeda does not like Aqua at all, he uses her as fodder to the enemy). When Garon refused, she was raised in Hoshido 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, singing Lost in Thoughts All Alone several times in all routes. This song that has great power when used in conjunction with her pendant. 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, though the circumstances of her joining change. Her birthday is March 3rd.
Prologue
The Avatar first meets Azura when the Hoshidan siblings bring them back to the castle. During a celebration at the capital square, the Avatar's Ganglari explodes and kills most of the people attending, including Mikoto. Along with Ryoma and Sakura, they watch the Avatar transform into a mindless dragon. She warns the Avatar to avoid the Wyrmslayer-wielding mercenaries and assists them to defeat the Hooded Man. After the battle, Azura uses her powers to revert the Avatar back human. The Avatar is confused about their dragon form, and Azura gives them a Dragonstone, telling them that it will allow them to turn into a dragon again but will also keep their mind intact. She advises them to keep it with them at all costs, or the next time they turn into a dragon again without it, she may be unable to save them.
"Just a minute! The following section contains spoilers. Viewing it will cost a lot. Are you prepared to pay for it?"
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Regardless of the route chosen in the end, Azura is eventually forgotten to history, with Shigure and her marriage being the only evidence that she had ever existed at all.
Personality
Due to the rejection and discrimination she faced as a child in both Hoshido and Nohr, Azura developed a reserved and stoic personality, only opening up to people she is close to. This stoicism can sometimes cause her to hurt others' feelings without meaning to. Although she can get slightly emotional at times, Azura is kindhearted and surprisingly knowledgeable about many things, some of which others would not know about. Examples include the history of Valla, 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 and is a restless sleeper. She also has a weakness for cute things and enjoys telling scary stories.
In-Game
Base Stats
Chapter 5 - Mother
Starting Class | Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Move |
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Songstress | 1 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 |
Skill | Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
Healing Descant Luck +4 |
Lance - E | Brass Naginata |
- Inventory when rejoining in Conquest Chapter 9 - Another Trial
Growth Rates
HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Luk | Def | Res |
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25% | 60% | 25% | 80% | 80% | 60% | 15% | 35% |
Max Stat Modifiers
Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Luk | Def | Res |
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0 | 0 | +1 | +3 | 0 | -3 | 0 |
Class Sets
Standard Sets
Base Classes | Promoted Classes |
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Friendship Sets
Possible Candidates | Base Classes | Possible Promotions |
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Possible Candidates | Base Classes | Possible Promotions |
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Partner Sets
Possible Candidates | Base Classes | Possible Promotions |
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Varies*
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Varies
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Varies
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Possible Candidates | Base Classes | Possible Promotions |
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Possible Candidates | Base Classes | Possible Promotions |
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*Azura only has access to the Apothecary, Oni Savage, Spear Fighter, or Wyvern Rider class if she marries an Avatar with that class as his secondary class.
Special Classes
Base Classes | Promoted Classes |
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Supports
- See also: Azura/Supports
Romantic Supports
Nohr
Hoshido
Other Supports
Overall
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. In stark contrast to the Dancers from previous games, Azura has a high Strength growth, and can use this to destroy stray enemy units in a pinch. While Azura is generally better off using her song to give units an additional turn, she can still deal reasonable damage as a secondary attacker while in Attack Stance. Her durability issues, weapon rank issues, and poor stat caps prevent her from dealing with groups of enemies on her own, however.
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 Foreign 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.
It should also be noted that an Einherjar or Replicated Azura cannot utilize her Sing command, even if she is in her Songtress class.
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 Air Superiority to avoid aerial units, but her Amaterasu 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.
Partner Class
Quotes
Refer to Azura/Quotes.
Possible Endings
Birthright/Conquest
Azura - Lady of the Lake (泉の歌姫 Izumi no Utahime lit. Songstress of the Spring)
- There are no official records or stories of Azura from after the war. She was such a mysterious figure that later generations wondered if she truly existed, or if she was merely a spirit in human form.
- Azura and Leo
- Leo sacrificed much for Nohr, leading the effort to spread King Xander's radical new policies. There are few records of Azura beyond her marriage. She remains a historical mystery.
Revelation
- Azura and the Avatar
- The two spent the rest of their lives together, Avatar ruling as a wise King of Valla. There are few records of Azura beyond her marriage. She remains a historical mystery.
- Azura and Xander
- As King of Nohr, Xander laid the foundation for a new era of peace and prosperity for the kingdom. There are few records of Azura beyond her marriage. She remains a historical mystery.
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 they do the Avatar. In the West, conversely, the Avatar is instead mainly considered to be the protagonist due to them being meant to be the visual reflection of the player, resulting in the level of control and customization for them to be much higher.
- Azura's official artwork and portraits depict 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. It is also the same day as Hinamatsuri or Girls' Day.
- There are files in the game that depicts a potential sibling conversation shared between Shigure and a male Kana, which created speculation about Azura being originally intended as a same sex marriage option. Despite this, no traces of a potential S-Support conversation between Azura and the Female Avatar were found. Regardless, it has has led to speculation about the existing conversations and the ideas behind them, ranging from the possibility of choosing between conceiving either the male or female Kana if the Male Avatar marries Azura, to Azura probably giving birth to twin Kanas.
- Azura is the only character whose supports with the Avatar change depending on the path chosen. This also changes what her confession quotes are as well.
- Azura draws many parallels to Lady Nimue in Arthurian legends. Both are considered key women in their respective stories, are responsible for giving the protagonists key weapons (a Dragonstone and Excalibur respectively), and both have the epitaph of "Lady of the Lake."
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