I enjoy a romance, especially if it’s one that involves forbidden love; two people on opposing political sides of the narrative’s world defying the rules. As aqueer male gamer, I enjoy such validating stories, and it’s also the reason why I believe that Mauvier is the perfect husband for Alear inFire Emblem Engage.
Like any forbidden romance, Mauvier and Alear, who I named Serenity in my playthrough of Fire Emblem Engage, begin their stories on opposite sides of a longtime war in Elyos. Serenity is the Divine Dragon, a legendary entity who’s gained a loyal following in the nearby lands. His story begins after waking up from a 1,000-year slumber. He suffered mortal wounds in his previous fight. After awakening, he discovers that the Fell Dragon Lord Sombron, his divine opposite, is back and wreaking havoc. After losing his mother early on in the story, he must go forth with his allies and stop evil from taking over their world.
On the other side of the conflict is Mauvier. As one of the members of the Four Hounds, his goal is to help revive the Fell Dragon and protect Lord Sombron’s daughter Veyle. Born in Firene, his father died because of an illness, which prompted his mother to move to Elusia and become one of the followers of the Fell Dragon, as she thought her prayers fell on deaf ears when it came to the Divine Dragon. He wasn’t as devout as his mother but in joining the Four Hounds, he found purpose in life as Veyle’s protective knight. He’s self-righteous and defends those who are considered weak and in need. He doesn’t speak much, and is serious to a fault.
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Already, the two have the makings of a “comfort food” style romantic pairing. Serenity is soft-spoken, emotionally open, and “new” to the world in the sense that he’s forgotten his past. He fears the Fell Dragon’s minions, but adventures forth anyway. Mauvier, on the other hand, is stoic, protective, and righteous…even if he’s on the wrong side of the war. Serenity comes off, at times, as frail and in need of protection, and Mauvier is the gorgeous, strong dark knight that I was hoping would have a good reason to be by his side.
When the two first meet, it’s on the battlefield, but the game sets up Mauvier’s inevitable move to the good side a bit obvious. He greets Serenity with a sense of respect, even though the two will fight each other after the cutscenes finish. Even on Normal difficulty, Mauvier is a formidable foe, not to mention he looks hella sexy in his bulky purple color-schemed armor.
The two meet on the battlefield an obnoxious number of times, before Mauvier finally makes the switch after Lord Sombron decides that Veyle, who’s revealed to have two sides to her personality, is no longer a manipulative pawn in his game of war. Not only this but being the protective dark knight that he is, Mauvier loses his respect for both Lord Sombron and the Four Hounds after his fellow member Marni is killed by their own side. When Mauvier finally joins Serenity in the fight to protect Veyle, I lost my mind, knowing full well that a love story was about to blossom.
In combat, their budding love story played out a bit differently than I wanted. Near the end of the story, two things happen: first, Serenity becomes an Emblem which means that he has the power to “engage” with other teammates for devastating attacks and elevated stats; secondly, there’s a sidequest that gives your Alear a special ring. Giving this ring to a teammate results in an S-rank connection. Of course, I handed mine to Mauvier.
“We are, each of us, unable to resist offering a helping hand to those in need. Our only difference? You momentarily strayed from the path. But now you are home.”
Prior to the ring exchange, Mauvier hesitated whenever Serenity complimented him or wanted to help him help the people in local villages. He considered himself an irredeemable man who will spend the rest of his life repenting for sins he’ll never forgive himself for. In his mind, he let down both Marni and Veyle. “My acts of kindness towards the people of this town are only a selfish attempt at atonement,” Mauvier tells Serenity. But Serenity rebuts his negative self-talk by mentioning the common ground between them.
“We are, each of us, unable to resist offering a helping hand to those in need,” he tells him. “Our only difference? You momentarily strayed from the path. But now you are home.” Serenity explains that his inability to forgive himself is the reason why he’s a good person. The only fault he sees within Mauvier is his lack of self-belief in his own good. All he needs to do is trust in his friends. He begs for Mauvier to trust him and let him help. “Perhaps the Divine Dragon understands me better than I understand myself,” Mauvier says as he finally opens up to Serenity. The two go off to help a local village and Mauvier comments that his chest “feels warm,” which Serenity labels as “happiness that you deserve.”
On the eve of the final battle, Serenity nervously offers the ring, but then second-guesses his action. Mauvier sees the rings and puts two and two together. I melted when he made his confession to Serenity. “You saved me, body and soul. At first, I was thankful. Then the feeling grew. You became quite special to me.” He cements their love by saying “I will always be by your side.” All that time waiting for them to get together paid off. It reminded me of the slow burn male/male romance novels I’ve consumed over the years. For the final battle, I kept them within distance of one another and had them engage together to deal the final blow to Lord Sombron.
At the end of the story, the game reveals that Mauvier “keeps watch on the Divine Dragon whom he treats as a treasure. He keeps the Pact Ring in a delicately carved small box and carefully polishes it on a daily basis.” In other words, they live happily ever after, and I have another beautiful romance subplot to replay at my leisure. Darkness and light combine and marry into perfect balance.
