Corrin/Azura

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Pairing
Pairing: Corrin/Azura
Alternative name(s): Azurrin
Gender category: Femslash, Het
Fandom: Fire Emblem Fates
Canonical?: player determinate
Prevalence: common
Archives:
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Corrin/Azura (commonly called Azurrin) is a popular ship in the Fire Emblem fandom, featuring two of the main characters from Fire Emblem Fates. Corrin is the playable avatar character from Fates, with the player having the ability to choose their gender (male or female) as well as alter their name and appearance. Because Corrin can be male or female, this ship can either femslash or het.

This is an incestuous ship as Corrin and Azura are cousins, as Corrin's birth mother Mikoto is the sister of Azura's birth mother Arete. Corrin and Azura are only confirmed to be related in the Revelation route, the DLC-exclusive story path of Fates. Fates is infamous among the FE fandom for teasing incestuous relationships, as Corrin is able to marry both their adoptive Nohrian siblings and their Hoshidan siblings who they are stated to be related to (however, in the S support conversations between Corrin and the Hoshidan siblings, it is hastily revealed that Corrin is not actually blood-related to them). However, Corrin/Azura is the only true incestuous pairing that the player can actually attain in-game. There has been debate over if Arete and Mikoto's relation is truly canon, due to a line from a Japanese art book (translated into English by Tumblr user unassumingvenusaur) that refers to Arete and Mikoto as "spiritual sisters"/"sisters of spirit" (implying they are not actually blood-related). Some see this as a retcon that de-canonizes the Arete-Mikoto relation; others insist upon the primacy of Revelation's original script, where there is no mention of a purely "spiritual" sisterhood between Arete and Mikoto.[1][2][3][4][5]

Azurrin is one of the most popular ships from Fates. According to statistics from Archive of Our Own, the only Fates ship with more works than Azurrin is Leo/Takumi. The popularity of the Azurrin ship has spawned fan events such as Azurrin Week.[6]

Canon

Corrin is the protagonist of all three Fates games, while Azura is a major character across all three games and is one of the few characters playable in all three routes. Corrin and Azura first meet during Corrin's visit to Hoshido in the game's "Branch of Fate" sequence (the multi-chapter prologue to all three routes). Corrin learns Azura is a Nohrian princess who was kidnapped by Hoshidan forces, mirroring Corrin's backstory as a Hoshidan prince/princess kidnapped by Nohrian forces. Later, Azura gives Corrin the Dragonstone to help them control their transformation into their dragon form.[1]

In Conquest, Corrin and Azura are briefly separated as Corrin betrays Hoshido and sides with Nohr. Azura initially supports her adoptive family in Hoshido as a full-scale conflict between Nohr and Hoshido breaks out. However, because of her Nohrian origins, she is treated with suspicion by many in Hoshido and imprisoned in a Hoshidan fort. Early into the game, Corrin liberates Azura from prison. Azura then defects to the Nohrian side, serving as an aide and advisor to Corrin as they invade and conquer Hoshido, before mysteriously vanishing after the war's end. She plays a similar role in the Birthright route, where Corrin sides with Hoshido and sets out to conquer Nohr. Azura remains fully loyal to Hoshido as well in this route, accompanying Corrin for the entire game before vanishing, just like at the end of Conquest.[1]

Azura's full backstory is not revealed until the DLC-exclusive Revelation route, where Corrin refuses to side with either Hoshido and Nohr. Azura joins Corrin from the very beginning of this route and works with them to put an end to the conflict between Nohr and Hoshido. Azura reveals she is actually the princess from a third hidden kingdom, Valla. It is also in this story line that Azura and Corrin are confirmed to be cousins (Azura's birth mother is revealed to be Arete, sister of Corrin's birth mother, Mikoto). After Anankos, the evil king of Valla who was pulling the strings behind the Nohrian-Hoshidan war all along, is defeated, Corrin becomes the new King/Queen of Valla at the end of the story. Azura does not vanish at the end of this plot like she does in the other two routes. In fact, if Azura gains an S support with male Corrin, Azura's ending confirms she rules alongside him as Valla's queen.[1]

Male Corrin can marry Azura in all three routes. In Fates, marriages between playable characters are attained via having the two characters fight alongside each other in battle, gaining "support points" for every action they take while adjacent to each other or paired up together. After gaining enough support points, the two characters can initiate a support conversation. After four support conversations (titled C, B, A, and S), they marry and have a child/children. Corrin and Azura have a "fast support", meaning they can attain support conversations at a faster rate than average. Uniquely, Corrin and Azura have different support conversations across the three routes of Fates. Once married, they will have have two children, Kana (the child produced as the result of all Corrin pairings; in the case of the Corrin/Azura support, Kana will be female and inherit her mother's light blue hair) and Shigure (the son produced from all Azura pairings).[7][1][2]

Corrin and Azura both appear in Fire Emblem Warriors, a crossover spin-off game. The two have a support conversation in this game as well.[8]

Fandom

Since the release of Fates in 2015, Corrin/Azura has been a popular pairing pursued by many players. A poll by the Japanese magazine Famitsu in 2015 asked players who they chose to have Corrin marry, with Azura being the most popular choice (260 players reported marrying Corrin and Azura; the second most popular Corrin pairing was Corrin/Jakob, which 231 players reported having done).[9]

According to AO3 statistics (as of April 29th, 2025), of the 481 fics marked Corrin/Azura, 250 are het and 216 and femslash. Most are rated for General Audiences (189) or Teen and Up Audiences (142). 110 are tagged as fluff. 44 fics are tagged as taking place in the Revelation route, compared to 16 fics set in Birthright and 15 set in Conquest. 22 are tagged as modern AUs. A common trope in these fics (present in other Fates fics featuring Corrin) is to split up Corrin into two characters; one male version and one female version. The two Corrins are typically depicted as twins. Fanworks often feature Corrin and Azura raising Kana and Shigure.[10][11][12][13]

Due to the ship's incestuous nature, it is naturally quite controversial among fans and significant debate over the ship has happened on sites like r/fireemblem. Many fans who married Corrin to Azura in Conquest or Birthright (where no mention is made of their relation) felt disgusted and disheartened at the sudden reveal of their relation in Revelation. Fans who dislike the incestuous angle of the ship view the decision to confirm Arete and Mikoto as blood relatives (thus making Corrin and Azura canonically cousins) as a pointless reveal that adds nothing to the story and instead exists only to "fetishize" incest. Fans of the ship's incestuous element point out that the Arete-Mikoto reveal is an important plot point that couldn't be hand-waved away, and point to the historical precedent of cousin marriage in the real world (Japan included). Others (typically fans of the ship who are uncomfortable with the incestuous aspect of it) point to the aforementioned art book line about Arete and Mikoto being "spiritual sisters" to claim that Corrin and Azura's relation is not truly canon.[5]

A vocal group of Azurrin fans insist it is the "canonical" (or at least the "implied" or "intended") pairing for both Corrin and Azura, akin to Chrom/Sumia from Awakening.[14]

Fanfiction

  • The most popular fic on AO3 to feature Azurrin currently is Shenanigans in Smash Mansion (2018-19, rated T), a Super Smash Bros. fic by ghastly7. While Azura does not appear in Smash Bros. (except in the form of small cameos), both male and female Corrin are playable in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Azurrin is featured as a secondary ship in The Story of Our Tomato Lord, and His Beloved (2023-present, rated M & T) a Leo/Ryoma-focused multi-fic series by Moonalight, that currently stands at over two million words.
  • Somewhere Only We Know (2018, rated M) by thehaakun, femslash, a college and coffee shop AU.
  • NidoranDuran wrote two popular explicit male Corrin/Azura fics, Trust and Swinging Across Dimensions (which is a crossover with Fire Emblem Awakening and features Azura/Lucina as well).
  • Runaways (2018, rated T) by Starbat, femslash.
  • Bound by Fate (2018, rated T) by Nepugi-chan (Chibiterasu_96), femslash.
  • A few Azurrin fics (both het and femslash) came out in early 2015, before Fates even released. These early fics use the Corrin and Azura's Japanese names "Kamui" and "Aqua." See Like I Need Water (rated E, het) by TheTacticianAlchemist and Once (rated T, femslash).

Fan events

Fan art and comics

Fan artist Ticcy (on Twitter and Tumblr) has contributed lots of notable femslash fan art for Azurrin.

Videos

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Azura
  2. ^ a b https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Azura
  3. ^ https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Ikona
  4. ^ https://unassumingvenusaur.tumblr.com/post/184574720765/unassumingvenusaur-unassumingvenusaur-hey-i
  5. ^ a b https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/bka5id/what_do_you_think_about_not_considering_corrin/
  6. ^ https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Fire%20Emblem:%20If%20%7C%20Fire%20Emblem:%20Fates/works
  7. ^ https://serenesforest.net/fire-emblem-fates/hoshidan-characters/supports/support-growth/
  8. ^ https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Corrin/Supports_(Warriors)#Azura
  9. ^ https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/fire-emblem-fates-famitsu-survey-results-translated/
  10. ^ https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Aqua%20%7C%20Azura*s*My%20Unit%20%7C%20Kamui%20%7C%20Corrin/works
  11. ^ https://archiveofourown.org/works/14983073
  12. ^ https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754488/chapters/39307417
  13. ^ https://archiveofourown.org/works/14498538
  14. ^ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/114533-fire-emblem-fates-conquest/73329231?page=1
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