#emm thinks of her sometimes with a distant fondness

[iturbide]

Do we know anything about Chrom's mother? (And do you have any headcanons because your headcanons are always interesting. Been enjoying reading the ones about Gangrel)

We actually don't know much of anything about Chrom's mother. I don't think she's ever directly referenced in the game at all: his father comes up in less than stellar terms, but there's absolutely nothing about his mother. Which...isn't actually that surprising: it's pretty common in Fire Emblem games for there to be one parent that's directly mentioned (usually a father, though not always) and the other is just...an implied entity. No character, no description, to presence outside the fact that there had to be another parent for the kid to exist. Heck, we still see it even now: Engage highlights Eve of Firene, Moiron of Brodia, Hyacinth of Elusia, and Seforia of Solm...but I don't recall much mention of their spouses or other partners, outside of a few supports like Ivy and Hortensia's.

I'm glad you've been enjoying the Gangrel headcanons, though! Gangrel is definitely one of my favorite targets, because he really does have so much narrative potential with a few minor tweaks to his history. As for Chrom's mother...since there's so little to go on, basically anything is fair game, so I've had a couple of concepts floating around.

Probably my favorite headcanon is that Chrom's mother is actually the one with the blue eyes and hair, coupled with a slim build and more of a penchant for healing and magic; conversely, I picture his father as blond with grey-green eyes and a very strong build. Chrom inherited his color palette from his mother and his physique from his father, whereas both Emmeryn and Lissa take after their mother in build and their father in complexion.

Given the fact that neither Emmeryn nor Chrom make any mention of her, I don't get the sense that she had a strong relationship with her children. I tend to think she was the daughter of a powerful noble family, and that the marriage was an arranged one made for political gain on both sides: the Exalt got access to her family's coffers, and her family go the status that came from being married to the leader of the halidom.

With both Emmeryn and Lissa being magically-inclined in their base classes rather than physical units, I generally think that Emmeryn got her magical training from her mother, particularly in regards to healing. I don't imagine they had a very close relationship -- she may have left much of the child-rearing to nurses and staff, rather than taking a hands-on approach with their upbringing -- but Emmeryn did get her early instruction in healing magic from her mother.

We know the Exalt died when Emmeryn was around ten years old, and that there's a ten year age gap between Emm and Lissa. With that in mind...I actually tend to think that she died shortly after giving birth to her youngest daughter, likely due to complications from the birth. It adds some context to how Lissa especially looks up to her sister, since Emmeryn is essentially the only parental figure she's ever known.

Given that Lissa does not have a visible Brand compared to her brother and sister, and taking into account how insecure she is about that fact, I get the feeling that she's dealt with a lot of whispered rumors about her not being the Exalt's daughter. Which kind of makes me think that when Lissa didn't develop a Brand within the usual window, the Exalt posthumously accused their mother of infidelity. He may even have cut ties with her family over that perceived indiscretion. He didn't live much beyond that act, but it seems to fall in line with what little we know of the man.