Lethe/Jill
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Lethe/Jill |
| Alternative name(s): | |
| Gender category: | yuri |
| Fandom: | Fire Emblem |
| Canonical?: | no |
| Prevalence: | common |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Lethe/Jill is a ship in the Fire Emblem Tellius fandom.
Canon
Jill is initially a soldier of Daein, the enemy kingdom, while Lethe is a shapeshifting cat girl known as a Laguz from the forest kingdom of Gallia. The relationship between the two in Path of Radiance starts off as hostile and adversarial on Lethe's part due to mutual prejudices; Jill's home kingdom of Daein is incredibly racist against Laguz, while Lethe loathes humans (called beorc in the games).
Through their support chain, however, Jill slowly begins to overcome her old habits and prejudices. While much of her development is seen during base conversations and story scenes, it's in questioning Lethe that she learns the true history of the Laguz vs Beorc conflict. By their A support, she has matured greatly, choosing to fight for Ike's army and the Laguz rather than return to her old life as a Daein soldier. Upon hearing this, Lethe asks Jill to shake her hand as a sign of their new friendship.
In Radiant Dawn, the two find themselves on opposite sides; Jill fights with Micaiah's army while Lethe and the rest of the beast tribe fight alongside Ike. If Lethe and Jill meet on the battlefield without Jill being recruited to Ike's side, Lethe is more understanding of Jill's reasons for opposing her.
Fandom
The pairing was somewhat popular among yuri fans in Tellius's heyday, due to the nature of their support conversations and Jill's overall character development. Most fic for the pairing delved into the social and political aspects of a romance developing between the two women, especially given Jill's past prejudices and Lethe being an overall prickly person. A common trope was for Jill to abdicate her rule of Talrega and move to Gallia to marry Lethe. Quite a few fics focusing on the "Jill moves to Gallia" trope also had Jill bond with Lethe's tribe as a way of further showing her acceptance and wish to understand the Laguz more.
In recent years, the pairing has not maintained its popularity compared to the likes of Lucia/Elincia or Tanith/Sigrun. Over time, it became more common for fans to pair Jill with Haar, and Lethe with Ike or Ranulf. But even those who didn't ship the pairing heavily praised their supports for the display of character development and understanding.[1] [2]
Sadly, fan works are harder to find in the current era due to much of the fanart pre-dating Pixiv and many Geocities-hosted fansites going down in 2009. Additionally, many Japanese artists are prone to deleting their works before fans have a chance to save it, with Lethe/Jill being among the pairings to suffer for it.
Fan works
Fanfiction
- AO3 tag for Lethe/Jill fics
- Lethe/Jill fics on ff.net
- 30 Kisses fics
- Several of WotanAnubis's works on adultfanfiction.org
- Epiloguery