User blog:Kabuto Origami/Pure Good Proposal: Ashe

What is the work?
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the latest entry in the popular Fire Emblem series. The story revolves around a mercenary named Byleth, who is offered a job as a teacher at the church's Officers Academy after awakening a mysterious power and saving three youths from said academy. The youths in question, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude, happen to be the heirs to the three nations that make up Fódlan and heads of the academy's three houses: the Black Eagles, Blue Lions and the Golden Deer. Byleth becomes the professor in charge of one house of the player's choosing. My candidate hails from the Blue Lions, meet Ashe.

Who is he and what does he do?
Ashe is a young boy who grew up on the streets, having to steal to provide for his younger siblings since their parents died. His final theft was when he broke into the mansion of a Noble named Lonato at age 10 and was discovered, but rather than have Ashe arrested, Lonato adopted Ashe and his two siblings, giving them a chance at a better life, an act that Ashe was forever grateful to have received. He also became quite close to his adoptive older brother, Christophe. Sadly Christophe was later executed on by the Church of Seiros on trumped up charges. In the early stages of the game, much to Ashe's horror, Lonato gets killed for orchestrating a rebellion against the church. Later on a war breaks out between the three nations (or more specifically, between the Black Eagles and the Blue Lions). What Ashe does here depends on what house Byleth is in charge of and in the case of the Black Eagle and Golden Deer routes, whether s/he recruited him. In the Black Eagle route if recruited, he stays with the party after the 5 year timeskip that occurs after the war starts, due to wanting justice for Christophe and Lonato (Edelgard wants to topple the church). If not, he appears as an enemy general in the big battle at Fhirdiad towards the end of the route and most likely dies, unless the player goes out of their way to avoid fighting him.

In The Golden Deer and Church of Seiros routes, citing his reason for doing so to be out of duty for Lonato. If he has not been recruited in the academy phase, it is possible for him to meet his end. If he was recruited in the Academy phase, he can be recruited back on Byleth's side but only if Byleth lands the finishing blow on Ashe.

Regardless of which route the player chooses, if Ashe survives, at the end of the game he becomes the new head of house Gaspard (Lonato's house) and goes on to become the ideal knight he'd dreamed of being since he saw an illustration in a book he found when he broke into Lonato's mansion all those years ago. His ending can vary heavily depending on which character he has a paired ending with, for example, in his paired ending with Petra, he travels to her homeland Brigid with her and the two establish an order of knights known as the Blue Sun (named for their mutual love of swimming in the ocean), as well as improving Brigid's relationship with Fodlan, before finally getting married.

Admirable Zone
He's one of the nicest characters in the game, one point that really hammers this home is during his supports with Byleth, they chases down a thief who stole a rare and valuable book. After the thief says he has a sick child and needed the money to support them, Ashe decides to let him keep the book. Byleth points out that it could have easily been a false sob story used to gain Ashe's sympathy, but Ashe admits that he turned to thievery himself for the same reasons when he was younger. So he decided to help the man even at his own expense. After the timeskip, he encounters the same man and his child again, but regrets that they were still struggling to get by. Also most of his endings have him doing a lot to help Fodlan recover after the war.

Corrupting factors
Ashe is unfailingly polite and kind, even to those who are rude or impatient toward him. In his support with Byleth, Ashe declares that he loves offering his help to any who need it: "Ashe: I genuinely enjoy helping people. It's a great feeling, making someone smile."

The closest thing he has to a corrupting his enormous personal grudge against the church for Lonato and Christophe's deaths, which can lead to him staying with the Black Eagles willingly after the timeskip with no regrets for switching sides, in contrast to several of his classmates who feel entrapped in the Empire's service. But given how corrupt the Church of Seiros is, whether this counts as a flaw is debatable, especially as he has a paired ending with Catherine, one of the Churches most loyal knights, which shows that he does recognise the not everybody in the church is corrupt.

The Final Verdict
I feel he counts and should be approved.