Alfred & Céline Support Conversations | Fire Emblem Engage 

C-B Support: "Haha! Look at the silly man with his shovel, he is having such a good time yet it is so silly!" A Support: "My terminal illness is catching up to me, we must find the little things in life that make us happy." Average Engage support chain

i'm rly happy we're seeing a chronically ill main character actually struggling with their illness. i love how we find out his cheerfulness is actually partially so ppl dont know he's weak and still sickly. the way it changes his whole character😭

That A support really flips everything about Alfred on its head.

Honestly, the story of a prince thrown into a war while being chronically ill and closer to death every day sounds like fine main character material to me.

…As someone whose father died of cancer, I understand the A support. He wanted to stay as strong as he could until his body couldn’t support his exercise, and… …Fuck.

God, this single support turns Alfred from a relatively one note do-gooder Noble character into a guy desperately masking a chronic illness that brings him such shame to a degree that he's not even comfortable telling Alear about it. Nick Wolfhard gives a fantastic performance that completely divulges from his typically upbeat demeanor, and it really does paint a picture of someone at war with his body as much as he is at war with everything that would represent. Engage has the tendency to be incredibly silly and carefree at times (just look at their C and B), but I think it's safe to say that, combined with the severity of the topic of chronic illness guilt, Wolfhard's performance, and the illustration of the deep past shared by Céline and Alfred as siblings, makes their A support the best one in the game. Like. God. The delivery of "I want to be the spirited prince who loves working out" sounds like he's holding himself back from crying. The guy hates having to hide it, but he's been conditioned into the role of crown prince to such a degree that he feels as though there's not much he _can_ do about it. What a support and performance.

I love how this support (and his solo ending) changes the context to all of Alfred's other supports, even the most comedic ones about muscles and training.

Okay, so the younger sister is the one who is more grounded than the brother and a lot of sass. *after A Support* Oh. Oh, I understand now…

What gets me is that unlike Yunaka and Panette, where they reveal their true selves in a few supports, this is the only one where we see Alfred talk about his condition. And that's only because Celine knew about it beforehand.

Alfred is sick and he is trying to hide it for the betterment of his country. As a person with a brother who is also chronically sick, this really hits way too close to home for me. I think I need to hug my brother.

Now imagine Alfred actually using a shovel as a freaking weapon in battle. It'd be a Fire Emblem and Shovel Knight crossover.

And this was the moment I've decided that I will ALWAYS give him S supports with Alear in ALL of my future playthroughts.

"i've always yearned for happiness and saw only misery." mood

A dark yet tragic realization popped into my head... . . . . If you get Céline killed in battle on Classic Mode and Alfred, who inevitably dies an early death in his ending, lest you S support him, Queen Ève will have lost her entire immediate family to mixture of battle and illness and Firene will have no blood-related heirs to the Firenese throne. Unless Queen Ève has other relatives such as siblings, etc., her bloodline will end with her and will spend the rest of her days with the pain, knowing she has outlived her husband, Alfred, and Céline.

even if Celine doesnt say it, in Alcryst conversation its reveal her worst fear is to lose her only brother

That A-Support was… ouch. As a chronically ill person that hit a little too close to home

Poor Alfred i hope he never collapses

It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see this is what is happening with Alfred behind the scenes. I wonder if this is the reason there are many supports with Celine involving her dealing with the pressures of ruling, since she will have to take over 😭

First time I see Alfred: Aawww you are so dorky ! 🤣 I love him. After A Support: ... AH.... Why I'm crying ???? Where is my Pact Ring ??!! 👀💍✨ Alfred reminds my past when I had terrible accidents it almost cost my life. I understand that feeling. I wish training like him but some experiences brings back PTSD and I feel stressful another attack. I had another 5 years ago I had same Alfred's age.

Ah, the age-old tradition continues. Glad to see more FE supports

Insert Shovel Knight reference here.

Even after a year of seeing this in game, this is still one of my favorite support chains in the whole series, mainly because of the A support, and is one I still think about and come back to often Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but to me, the four-leaf clover in their A support is also a very heavy but subtle portrayal of how they both view life, both in the past and now Alfred, despite having his serious illness, still remains more cheerful, happy-go-lucky, and optimistic in life. He speaks of wanting to find bits of happiness in life, likely because he still worries that his end may come soon, and is trying to treasure the time he has left. Yet despite all that, he still keeps being his happy, silly self Celine on the other hand, has nightmares of Alfred dying (like mentioned in her support with Alcryst). She's also known of her brother's illness for a long time now, and is also worried of how she'd have to become ruler should he pass Celine: I've always yearned for happiness and saw only misery All of that constant fear and sadness has been right there in her face for so long, and it's weighed her down so much that it's affected how she sees life and makes her fear finding true happiness. After all, it can be hard for someone to take joy in looking forward to a brighter future, when she's afraid of losing so much at any given moment And now, even something like finding clovers has become so different for them both, and to me the small of inclusion of that makes me think so strongly of how they live Celine: We often sought such things when we were younger. At that age, I was better at it than you. I wonder when you surpassed me Alfred: Having a sister like you is true happiness, if you ask me Despite Alfred's illness, he's still able to look for and find those clovers - those small bits of joy in life - and hold them dear, just like he could before when they were younger. To him, those small joys are what matters to him, and are his happiness For Celine, with all of that pain and fear weighing on her and clouding her vision, she's unable to look for and value those same clovers - those same small joys - the way that she used to. To me, her even missing one that's right near her makes me think that she's been so affected that she can't even see when a little bit of happiness is right in front of her. And it's not her fault at all, it's just the tragedy of the hand life has given. They're both valid and understandable in seeing things the way they do Celine: I wonder when you surpassed me Living in constant fear for so long has taken up so much of her time in life, that she wonders when Alfred surpassed her in finding those clovers. She didn't even realize it happened But the things is, because Alfred stayed more optimistic in life while Celine lost that positive outlook over time, Alfred didn't get better than her in a natural way. He didn't surpass her at finding those small joys in life naturally or gradually by improving... He only surpassed her by default, because she started giving up... Yeah, maybe I overthink it too deeply and really need to touch some grass, especially seeing as how I just wrote an entire essay about this, but whenever I rewatch this support time and time again, it always hits such an emotional and tragic cord with me, and I can't help but see it all this way. It's a support I value a lot, and I love these two together so much I'm no stranger to either side of the coin of positive or negative outlooks in life, and seeing this support is like being able to reflect on and remember both of those viewpoints in life to me I often think of the fact that, even when things are just fiction, the emotions they can bring are real. Sometimes it's for better, sometimes it's for worse, and sometimes it's in between, but all the same, all of the genuine human emotions that come from it all are very, very real, and I love being able to have, experience, and treasure these little four-leaf clovers in my life

And this is why Celine drinks tea so much. She's basically suffering from alcoholism with it since it's her only way of coping. That's why she specifically tells Jean that "tea can save lives" because it's keeping her from offing herself.

Played Funeral of flowers (Thunder) during their B support… Did not regret it. Also Alfred deserves better.

Man, I understand the main story cliched (which isn't a bad thing at all, I was still "engaged" by the story)...there are some very good support reveals in this game...

Weird how he mentions not wanting the emblems to know about his illness when in certain emblem supports he def does talk about it

I wish this game didn’t take the FE6 route with its endings, since Lysithea in some of her paired endings manages to have both her Crests removed. Though conversely, most of Dimitri’s paired endings imply that he doesn’t even make it to old age, with his partner often outliving him.

a part of me bugs me that they didnt explore Alfred condition more deeply

That’s ok please give him the pact ring and that problem will be solved! The main file I decided to use to farm the supports and also the emblem supports means Alfred will live longer❤️

Their entire A support is better and more engaging (no pun intended) that all of Engage's plot.