#chrom and robin friendship

[chiisanajimi]

baby chrobin feh banner got me thinking about this arranged marriage au i made years ago and never wrote

(if it's not clear, f!chrobin are publicly betrothed and they are good friends but m!chrobin is the endgame ship)

[pegasusknightsonly]

what if i kept a running tally of every point where the game references Chrom and Sumia's relationship in cutscenes

(chapter 2: the northroad preamble part 1)

(part 2, ft. a custom animation for Sumia)

(part 3)

[isaacathom]

the main takeaway ive had from my brief redescent into fire emblem is that robin/chrom (both romantic and platonic) is very important to me for some reason

[theotherseapancakes]

Very entertaining to me how one of the most popular tumblr posts I have is me yelling (sleep-deprived) about Chrom's insecurities.

(I rambled this got long im sorry.)

Slightly, SLIGHTLY less funny that it constantly reminds me that was the day a bird broke into our house and refused to leave, though, which is funny, in a horrible way. Because Chrom attracted a Robin, I guess, IDK. It was a small one. (It was not funny at the time. Literally nobody would help us we called EVERYWHERE just had to make our poor roommate come home.) I get notes on that one so often. I feel like Chrom's insecurities SHOULD be obvious, but maybe they're not AS obvious as I thought? Hrmmm. Food for thought. ... I'm putting this on main because I'm scared it'll also blow up somehow--but while I'm here, I'm also thinking about how FEA has some really good leitmotif useage. Like, I think anyone if they just listened to the OST will notice the obvious Id ones (which I tend to feel belong to Robin, as the protag, which makes sense to a degree, but Chrom too) but I feel like rambling specifically about something dumb. Say how "Such Bonds Are The True Strength of This Army" has such a simple melody that gets reused in so so many pieces. It's really good stuff; Nintendo music is always leitmotif heavy in the best ways but it's not absent here. It makes the game feel cohesive to me. Also I can't think of many times I've heard the notes to Id Purpose also in other songs. It's present in Sorrow for obvious reasons but I still just. Gosh, I fucking love this game. I know it's a mess, I know it has issues. I know, I know. But fuck if it doesn't compel me. I don't ask much of my fiction. Just engross and compel me. Sell me on your characters. And I can't deny awakening does that. Sitting here rotating Robin in my head and Chrom and thinking about how their relationships really do mean the difference between so much. Grima is so lonely (the latest FB event makes this doubly obvious I would say) and Robin is so surrounded by friends and allies. That shit hurts. Like, imagine if you made all these friends only to be told by the universe, hey, no, fuck you, giant dragon time. Anyway everyone should go play the gay awakening mod and also my game about anime chess people, it was the one that introduced easy mode gdi. GO PLAY IT PLEASEI M ON MY KNEES CRYING AND BEATING THE FLOOR.

[dentos-wife]

Let’s talk how about Chrom and Robin’s bond evolved over time

With everyone clamoring over the new emblem I wanted to take a look back how we got here with their relationship and why I think at this point Chrobin is the intended or inferred Chrom pairing when it didn’t used to be.

In 2012 we got Fire Emblem Awakening, and as Chrom was related to Marth, his inferred pairing was Sumia a pegasus knight as a nod to Caeda, Marth’s canon wife. Granted because part of Awakening’s charm is you could pair anyone up, you didn’t have to pair Chrom up with Sumia if you didn’t wish to. But to IS she was the intended choice.

She had special scenes with Chrom and was the most likely to end up paired with him if you weren’t gunning for a specific wife for him

And you see her here in the opening with Lucina

Robin is you, the avatar, they don’t even have official art, just them with a hood

They had a canon design what we all know now but it wasn’t really used. And that should have been it as far as IS was concerned. Awakening was their last hurrah. And then FE blew up.

Robin’s canon design is now getting used, both the male and female version are now in Smash Bros. Then we have Warriors and Heroes and the Awakening cast shows up more. But not Sumia. Perhaps it’s because she’s not popular or the people flocked to Cordelia instead but she is the pegusus knight everyone loves. Sumia isn’t even in Warriors or the base FEH she gets added much later to FEH only with other less popular Awakening characters.

It’s here when FE became more maintstream I believe that IS changed their tune on Sumia being the intended wife and retconed it. I fully think Sumia was dropped and they no longer had an intended pairing for him all because she just wasn’t popular. Him and Robin were close of course they always were, obviously some would see it as friendship others would see it as something more the usual nothing really changed there.

And then 2022 ten full years after Awakening’s release...this happened

Couple things here. I fully believe the reason Chrom was paired with MRobin here instead of FRobin is for two big reasons reasons.

1) If they paired him with FRobin it canonizes a pairing so MRobin is the safer option, FEH doesn’t usually pair men and women unless they’re already a pairing. So MRobin got paired with Chrom and FRobin was on her own but she still has lines about how much Chrom meant to her.

2) MRobin is the more popular Robin as has been shown every year in CYL and he’d even win next year

So Chrom and Robin were always close it was a no brainer to make them a duo unit, they picked the male version on a very family oriented banner.

That said some of these lines...well let’s just say if a man and a woman were saying that to each other there would be no doubt here. Imagine if this Robin was the female version

Robin: There's Lissa, Emmeryn, Lucina, Frederick... I think we've got gifts for everyone. Don't we? Chrom: Well, all but one. What would you like your gift to be, Robin? Robin: What? Me? You can't just come out and ask like that, you know. There are rules! Chrom: You know I don't care about that. Just tell me what you want. Robin: Truthfully...I can't think of anything. Chrom: You don't want anything? Aw, come on. Think of the bind that puts me in. Robin: You gave my life meaning when I had nothing—not even my memory. The sense of purpose I've found at your side, working for peace in the world, is all I could ever ask for. Chrom: You're not alone in that, you know. I feel the same way. That's why I wanted to give you something nice. To show you how I feel. Robin: All right, all right. In that case, why don't you give me one of those flowers you're wearing? Chrom: It's only going to wilt. Robin: I'll press it into one of my books. That way I'll never forget this Day of Devotion.

Snippet from their duo convo. Usually when someone gives flowers it’s considered a pretty romantic gesture I’ve heard plenty of people call this alt playfully the gays and yeah this is very strong.

FRobin even comments on them in one of her lines.

“That man with Chrom is a Robin from another world, right? They get along so well, I'm almost jealous...“

There was no need for that line at all, we can tell from their lines how flipping close they are but they felt the need to have another character comment on it in base lines

I do believe MRobin was used not to canonize a pairing...at first. And then they gave up because it looked like people really liked it going even further in the next year.

In Awakening Chrom and Robin refer to themselves as two halves of the same whole which is already a loaded term. But it’s never been used after and was just part of the game

Enter the next time they pair up as the Emblem of Bonds which brought that back for the first time since 2012, in full force

Correct me if I’m wrong but no one besides them have referred to each other as their other half in Awakening

Lucina does it in Engage. For reference other half means husband, wife or partner (romantic). I think after the Valentine’s alt they decided sure why not and now they’re really going in with Robin being Chrom’s other half when they only touched the term once past Awakening in a FRobin cipher card. Other half in Engage is Robin and he pops up when engaged with Chrom to mix magic with the attack. I don’t doubt you can mean a friend with this term but when paired with everything else they say to each other, it’s pretty strong evidence it’s further than friendship.

Okay now for the the ultimate Robin is now Chrom’s intended partner view, Legendary Robin also released this year

“Tactician of Ylisse. Celebrated as Exalt Chrom's other half in the legends that followed their exploits. Appears in Fire Emblem Awakening. “

I saw some people argue exalt could mean Lucina too but no it doesn’t, it clearly means Chorm it says so and if you didn’t believe that, we got a map that was the two called Chrom and his other half. Which is Robin.

His art also references his other half status, he now wears blueish green jewelry which stands for Chrom and the brand of the exalt is on his chest plate

Finally in his damage art he once again has the symbol of the exalt formed in magic.

And a ring, some have argued it’s his clothes but usually the magic gauntlets he wears are on his middle finger and not under his gloves; pretty sure it’s a ring, it’s even on the ring finger of his left hand, where you generally put a wedding ring.

All this together is some very strong evidence, but put it with everything else they’ve done since last year and it’s clear to me, IS now is pushing Chrom and Robin as the intended pairing. Not canon like Marth and Caeda or Alm and Celica, but intended like they do with Eliwood and Ninian and some others I’m probably forgetting. And because MRobin is who they use and their “canon” sort of like FCorrin is the “canon” Corrin, IS is strongly hinting at MChrobin

Which fascinates me, we went from Chrom with a intended implied wife to scrapping it and pretended it never happened to this, Chrom with an intended husband. Him and his best friend, both two guys, very much in love. In ten years IS changed it’s mind on the intended canon pairing that isn’t even possible in the base game. They are a fate defying duo, the emblem of bonds, the exalt and his other half, two halves of the same whole and they are showing that in symbolism harder than ever. I think that’s really cool

To end this I’m aroace and see romance a little differently from the amatonormic norm Chrom and Robin could just be really good friends lord knows I also think friendship should be just as important as romance BUT if they were, it’s very clear they are each others most important person over any wife they might separately have.  But even that doesn’t follow a typical heteronormative relationship no? Chrom and Robin’s bonds are so strong they transcend the concept of romance and friendship as we know it, there is no name for the type of love they share it’s beyond us.

But what about Lucina? (and Morgan) In a world with magic, dragons, people dying and coming back to life, time travel and more the idea of two guys somehow having a child is no longer far fetched at all really, or even surrogates exist.

Also they act like kind of like dads with her and it’s really cute

Now granted IS could remake Awakening and MRobin will still not be able to marry Chrom and this whole analysis would have been for naught but I think if they do remake it they’ll add it. Look at how many people have been introduced to them just through Heroes and Engage you don’t think people are going to want to pair up the exalt and his other half in their game?

To sum it up, yes there literally is no heterosexual explanation for where IS has taken this. It wasn’t originally the intended pairing but it sure is now, I don’t think there is any room for denial anymore until we see what they do with a remake.

[coralhoneyrose]

Ya know, since I only write Chrobin, I actually have no idea if everything I write is cursed to be long or if this is specifically a function of the fact that once Chrom and Robin start talking to each other, they just will NOT stop.

Which I like, actually! Their friendship is sold so convincingly in game that I think I (and a lot of people) came away really buying into their comfort with each other and the idea they would have lots to talk about. It makes writing conversations between them a lot of fun even if sometimes that also means watching the word count climb higher while I helplessly try and figure out a way to get them to sTOP FLIRTING ALREADY, GOD

...All of this to say that I am real close to finishing my first draft for the next chapter and that right now it's like 20% Actual Things Happening and 80% Chrom and Robin Just Talking, so :') I hope you all like dialogue asdkj

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

awakening should've let robin kill chrom and then the rest of the game have lucina as the main character but IS pussyfooted the whole game and didn't want the player's cool busted good avatar character to become evil. so they just made them not become evil and instead they beat the power of the fell dragon with friendship. or whatever. it could've been badass and cool and grim and dark and gritty but instead they just couldn't go through with the coolest thing ever because wah wah the 7 year olds who play it might not like the dark atmosphere. awakening is stupid

/

[hulloitsdani]

Okay so the idea of a Kiran and Grima friendship dynamic is honestly one of my favorites in FEH.

Grima as a character was always intriguing to me, but he only became downright fascinating in retrospect of FE: Echoes. Seeing where he came from made his rather two dimensional villainy in Awakening gain a surprising amount of perspective and depth. This is a creature made purely out of a man’s insane hubris and was cursed to walk this earth for thousands of years as a result. He’s essentially Fire Emblem’s version of Frankenstein’s monster. This gave Awakening’s nature vs nurture narrative a significantly more fascinating base to stand on. Made it a bit more character driven, as you can begin to see why Grima holds the perspective that he does. However, there has yet to be a proper scenario in which we get to sit with him and explore the ideas that promises.

Which is exactly why I love the idea of Grima and Kiran. I do not think their dynamic should be dedicated to redeeming Grima via the power of friendship, as that’s more Awakening and Chrom’s brand. But rather, I think Grima getting summoned to Askr would shift the focus of nature vs nurture away from Robin and onto Grima himself. Robin got the chance to question this via their amnesia and now Grima gets to question this via this second start in a world wildly different from the one he walked for lifetimes. And Kiran acts as the off putting yet well meaning embodiment for what that could possibly mean. They are a weird, pitifully weak creature who has somehow succeeded where the scientist that made him and no doubt countless others after him have failed: They have the capacity to control Grima. This automatically means Grima has no intention to let them live for long, but they hardly have the same goals as those ambitious fools. Outside the demands of every conflict the Order finds itself caught up in, Kiran only uses their power to have interesting conversations with weird company. And when I say “use their power” I mean have tea with malicious dragon deity without loosing their head.

It’s hardly enough to get him to stop him from plotting a murder, as it’s only a matter of time before this goes south in his eyes. But it’s… intriguing to see such a comparably unmotivated individual in a position of such extreme power. The piqued curiosity leads to a the formation of a genuine bond as Mr. Wings of Despair Breath of Ruin realizes, “oh shit, I’ve encountered a being I don’t want immediately dead” and has a major existential crisis about it. It’s adjacent to Power and Nyaako from Chainsaw Man, but instead of a cat is Grima is watching this chaotic tactician earnestly fumble their way through this position thrusted upon them. And despite the light years of difference between the both of them, these two come to an understanding of one another that isn’t quite feasible by anyone else.

Meanwhile cut to the outside looking in perspective and this all looks downright insane. Kiran has befriended Fire Emblem satan. Has tea with him sometimes. It’s chill. Don’t worry about it. They say to Alfonse, who is realizing there is something not quite hinged about his tactician. Anna is crying because how the FUCK are they going to house a dragon the size of a mountain range. Sharena has been making cookies to go with the tea to give to the god of ruin this whole time.

[sieglinde-freud]

feel like morgan/lucina is kinda underrated like i get why. but also like… duuude… take it from lucinas perspective: the kid of the fell god that betrayed your father turns against you despite years and years of friendship and most definitely knowing eachother since birth (do you honestly think chrom and robin wouldnt set their kids up on play dates immediately? really??) and despite how much you love them you know they’re beyond saving and you have to leave them behind to succumb to grima when you go back in time to save the world, accepting that youll never see them again! oh shit buts whats this… they show up in the past anyways? having forgotten all the time you spent together, the trouble they caused, everything you meant to them? but its them, its morgan and for the first time in years youre able to see them again happy, carefree, and in complete control! should you feel sad? scared? overjoyed? i dont know! but slap some yuri on that and you got a crazy ass little sideplot all im saying!!!

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 1, Side B, Match 17

propaganda under the cut!

Chrobin:

Imagine finding a stranger on the ground, picking them up, and saying 'you are one of us now!' That's Chrobin for you! Chrom quite literally found Robin laying in a field unconscious and decided to bring them along on his little routine mission but one thing leads to another and Chrom is never without Robin. The two fight off medieval zombies, travel the continent, suffer and heal together as their story goes on. The core of Robin and Chrom's relationship is their friendship but the game gives you the option to have them get married and wow, Chrobin real!!! I could ramble about their tragedy or their silliness but it all leads back to their friendship and how they stick together no matter what life and death throws at them. In a later game in the series their souls are imprinted together in an ancient weapon. What's more romantic than being a powerful magical bracelet together?

KohaAi:

first of all they were online friends before their introduction to the game where they lost contact with each other after a while. they first met in real life after moving into the idol dorms where they met by chance. aira, meeting kohaku for the first time, LITERALLY CALLED HIM PRETTY AND WHEN HE WOKE UP IN THE MORNING, HE THOUGHT HE WAS DREAMING BECAUSE OF HOW PRETTY HE THOUGHT KOHAKU WAS. and they also think each other's names (and each other) are beautiful! theres also the fact they love each other's company and hang out just with just the two of them all the time (and theyre each other's first person to hang out with). theres even an official 4-koma where theyre basically going out on a date for crepes and boba and kohaku's cousin, tsukasa, steals his boba and kohaku WALKS OUT OF FRAME HOLDING AIRA'S HAND. FOR WHAT REASON !!! not to mention theres an official scout story where they had to act romantically together for a job and didn't even act any different and the director was like yup! perfect! that was romantic! and i will never recover. theyve shared food together, they like getting gifts for each other, and always believe theyve got each others backs. kohaku also canonically is very weak to aira. aira wanted kohaku to do a dance trend with him and he thought it was embarrassing but then aira started pouted and kohaku was like NOOOOO I CANT SAY NO TO THAT FACE. and speaking of aira's face, kohaku has CANONICALLY admitted that he loves seeing aira's happy faces and even referred to him as "a special person" (translated) using a term meant for people you really love, and usually is in regards to lovers ! and last but certainly not least, the yoru ni kakeru cover they did with their units! their lines were:

Both: Even so, someday we'll surely, we'll understand each other 

Kohaku: I believe that

Aira: In the troubling days, I became unable to smile

Kohaku: You are truly beautiful in my eyes

there might be more but these are the ones off the top of my head

[calamari-inari]

Playing this game (without the likes) 🫶

1. enemies to lovers, best friends to lovers, lord and their knight ❤️

2. Not sure if these are tropes, but yandere lover (just not a very big fan of yandere), obsessive love (treating their partner as a possession), misogynistic attitudes or abusive power in a relationship (basically a partner defining what their partner, whether it be a woman or man, should do or behave, and the victimized partner finds it hot???)

3. Gradual mutual understanding for one another! I also learn more about the characters' personalities this way!

4. One or both partners experience withdrawal when they're being separated from each other lol. True feelings often emerge from such situations and it's adorable...

5. Multiship! So far, the only ships I really think about now are from FE3H and a few from Engage and TGAA. Here's a list of several multiships I enjoy!

FE3H (Apparently Dimitri is very shippable to me LOL)

Hubert x Ferdinand

Hubert x Edelgard

Sylvain x Felix

Sylvain x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Felix

Dimitri x Dedue

Dimitri x Claude

Byleth x any lord

Engage

Alear x Alfred

Alear x Diamant

Diamant x Ivy

TGAA

Kazuma x Ryuunosuke

Barok x Kazuma

Barok x Herlock

6. I like both rarepairs and mainstream! Most of the rarepairs I like don't have any canon interaction, so I like to explore the "what could've been" situations.

7. Monogamy. Not much to explain here. It's just my preference lol

8. Using my favorite pair ferdibert, they are reversible, but I have a really strong preference for dom Hubert and sub Ferdinand. However!! I'm not a big fan of where Ferdinand is written or drawn very femininely. This applies to any MxM pair. I'm not against the concept of femininity in males, but when used in a stereotypical fashion, it rubs me the wrong way. Just a subtle depiction of their relationship dynamic is perfect to me! I'm alright with seeing SFW artwork of the reverse and reading said fics, but NSFW is where I draw the line

9. Thinking about the games I've played, I can think of at least one pair I like to see romantically, so yes 😂

10. Not at all important! After all, my favorite is romantic fluff 🥺 Depending on the intensity of my liking for a ship, the NSFW aspect becomes more bareable since I'm still personally embarrassed consuming such content lol. I am vanilla. Ferdibert is highkey the only one I consume NSFW for

11. A lot of my MxF and FxF pairs are platonic to me! This is likely due to my aegosexuality, which is the closest explanation I can identify with. Not everything needs to be romantic. I find close friendships very heartwarming too 🥺

12. My top favorites right now are ferdibert 🖤🧡, sylvix ❤️💙, and diminand 💙🧡!

13. My favorite pairs from fandoms that I'm not really engaging in now are:

Madeleine Cookie x Espresso Cookie (Cookie Run Kingdom)

Victor x Yuuri (Yuri on Ice)

Link x Zelda (Skyward Sword version)

Reyn x Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles 1)

Chrom x M!Robin (Fire Emblem Awakening)

14. Domestic fluff is really cute, but the official legal bonding of two partners isn't on my "must have" list for any romantic pairing. I really love seeing creations of my favorite pairs marrying though! Gives me the tingles every time and I just feel so happy 😍

15. As someone that made OC fan kids in the past, yes that is totally fine and I love seeing other people's interpretations for the same pair (if they don't have canon children). I've even made some for ferdibert before but I never fully flushed them out lol

[emotionaldepravity]

Can you please do

yandere platonic marth x kid reader

yandere platonic male corrin x kid reader

yandere platonic male robin x kid reader

Sure! Platonic yandere is certainly something I haven't done much of.

Marth

-Marth very much regrets not being able to fully protect Tiki so he plans on making sure its different this time.

-You'd never be allowed to train in combat in any way. No matter how physically capable or magically inclined you seem to be, your growth will never be allowed. He is focused on keeping you away from battle.

-He and Caeda would forcibly adopt you so you can live in the palace. Though she would most likely be open to it, she doesn't know you still have a family to go back to. The way that he treats you better than their children bothers her slightly. She'd never tell him her real feelings.

M!Corrin

-Corrin is immediately adopting you to be a part of his family as soon as he sees you.

-He is rather strong so he can protect you, but he encourages his siblings to do the same. However, if they seem reluctant to love you as much as he does, then he might cut them out of his live.

-He treats you better than Sakura or Elise, playing with you and spoiling you. If he has kids then he treats you better than them.

-He gets really happy when you call him "big brother" or "dad". Corrin would let you chose whichever you are more comfortable with saying.

-If you have parents, no you don't. Not anymore.

M!Robin

-Robin sees you being lost and alone and wants to be sure that you are put on the right path just like how his friendship with Chrom put him on the right path.

-He doesn't really trust others to take care of you. ESPECIALLY, if your family is still around. He doesn't have any good memories of his family (thanks to being an amnesiac and his dad being Validar) so he doesn't put much stock into those sort of bonds.

-He teaches you everything he knows. Robin believes in being able to rely on yourslef and others, and without strength he can't rely on you when you grow up.

-If he has children, he expects you to be extremely good friends with them. He wants you to be as close with them as he is with Chrom.

[pegasusknightsonly]

chrom and robin the original toxic coworkers

[captainschmoe]

Arena Ferox Smash Taunts: Corrin

Robin: This is Corrin, prince* of two warring kingdoms. Well, actually, he’s also the prince of a secret third kingdom, but that’s another story for another day.

Lucina: Corrin is part dragon, which is why you’ll see parts of his body morphing into and out of draconic forms. Just remember that Falchion no longer has its dragon-slaying properties here in Smash.

Chrom: ………………

Robin: Chrom?

Chrom: Sorry, he just looks vaguely familiar somehow.

Corrin: You’re Chrom of Ylisse, right? I traveled to your halidom once. Remember the, uh, warthogs we had to fend off? The invisible ones?

Chrom: Warthogs…? Oh, that! I do remember! Haha, that was certainly an odd day. But I’ve had a lot of odd days in my life…

Corrin: Hey, after this match, would you want to catch up? I’d love to hear more about your “odd” days and tell you about some of my own.

Chrom: Of course! I’m always up for forging new friendships here!

Lucina: (Robin, what is this about invisible warthogs?)

Robin: (I am just as lost as you.)

*The masculine terms would of course change to feminine ones against a female Corrin, but otherwise this Smash Taunt remains the same.

[ro-botany]

Staring at the groom!Robin unit and trying to find scraps of Characterization(tm) in him. While I roll my eyes at this whole fanservice-y event, there ARE some lil juicy bits to be found here.

For one thing, this is explicitly a Robin from a timeline where Chrom already got married—to somebody else. Note his voice line of "Ha! You should've seen Chrom's wedding." and the fact that he is single, i.e. other voice line "I'd like to find someone to spend the rest of my life with." So, rip Chrobin shippers for this one, lmao.

But the situation starts to get sad when you look at his description naming him "Chrom's other half", and the running theme of loneliness in his dialogue. His voiced lines, in addition to the previous one, include "You have so many people close to you... I must say, I envy them." His 5* level 40 conversation has him talking with Kiran about how they're both outsiders in Askr, inquiring about people they miss back home, and then he reassures them that he doesn't want Kiran to be lonely at the festival so they can go enjoy it together.

This is a Robin who is really lonely. He doesn't appear to have many friends, not even among the shepherds of his timeline—never mind anyone he can imagine spending his life with. He feels like an outsider, to Askr, to the festival, probably to the shepherds as well. This Robin is close to exactly one person—Chrom—and that friendship is great, but not enough for him to be truly happy.

And it gets worse. Look at the other half of his unit description, which states that he's "working on a strategy for surviving the festival." Surviving the festival? Parties are supposed to be fun, dude, where's the fire? But even more than that, take his middling level up dialogue: "Weddings and battles have a lot in common. Each requires careful planning to avoid it all going wrong."

This Robin is viewing love exclusively through the lens of violence, and it's not even a battle he's confident about. Maybe it's just that he's both nervous, and a tactics nerd who relates everything to that, sure. But taken together with that running theme of loneliness - it paints a really sad picture.

Most of Robin’s life has been centered around violence. He's a tactician with amnesia who has been deeply involved in war ever since he can remember, and his life prior to memory loss was being raised as the sacrificial lamb of a violent cult. So why wouldn't he relate everything back to violence? It's the only thing he's ever known. And that view of relationships with others like they're battles—things that are violent, and need tactics and manipulation, and can be won—that must only make it harder to get close to anyone else. He inadvertently throws up a lot of red flags.

I wonder about what that all says about other Robins in other timelines. And about how this Robin would end up in his own timeline, as devoid of connections as he is.

[auratold]

Chrom closes the book he was reading, and smiles at the tactician, "Heh, come on. You give yourself less credit. Actually, your humbleness is always something to admire. You lead us all into battle, you make sure to calculate every little detail and in the end, you refuse to take credit. I know some people would die to credit themselves with anything and you yet you ... heh, you are you, and that's enough for me. Thank you, my friend. I know I have burdened you with a lot since we met, and I am grateful you are still by my side."

Her gaze lifts from the mess that is in front of her. Scattered notes, books filled with battle tactics, a large map of the area surrounding them spread out. For hours, Robin has been focused on the task at hand. War is messy and ruthless, there are lives at her hands- she can not afford to make a single mistake. "Calculating every detail is necessary. You trusted me with this, Chrom. I have nothing to my name from before you found me in that field. This position as your tactician, the friendships I have formed in this army, I owe it all to you." There's no telling what would have happened to her had he, Lissa, and Frederick not come to her aid that day. It is a reality Robin simply can not forget. "I do not feel that you have burdened me, if anything you have given me a place when I had none. I do not wish to let you or the others down."