#marcelle

Marcelle (Marcelle Gera Renée) is the heir to County Renée in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. I put Renée here:

In respect to everything else. She was not supposed to be the heir—her mother is the youngest child of one of the former Counts’ brother, so she was way WAY out of the way of succession (in other words, the line followed her great uncle, where the current Count is her mother’s oldest cousin)—but she (as well as her younger brother) was born with a Major “mystery Crest” that got named to be the Crest of Renée, and because Faerghus is Faerghus, she was begrudgingly made the heir. It must be said, though, House Renée did use this as an opportunity to try and earn more sway with the king in respect to getting more territory and such since they now had a Crest associated with their House. County Renée is small, but has a booming economy due to iron-rich mines in the western mountains, and they arm and armor a good portion of the Kingdom. I’d like to imagine there’s also an artisan aspect to this, where there’s a lot of decorative weapons and armor being made in Renée, and that inspires Marcelle’s love for fashion design.

ANYWAY, earlier I mentioned her title was begrudgingly given to her, and that’s true; since her mother was the youngest in her branch family, she married a commoner relatively young (he worked as a royal scientist under Cornelia [😶], and they met while her mother was attending the Royal School of Sorcery). That combined with the fact that no one could pinpoint the origin of her Crest led her immediate extended family to not really like Marcelle, her brother, and her parents all that much, and made for a very lonely childhood for Marcelle. She was given all of the “proper training” to inherit by the Count and everything, but there was still a pressure on her to earn it as well as her family’s respect. This births Marcelle’s main flaws: perfectionism and people-pleasing. Because she was alienated throughout her childhood, she is also fiercely independent, and this combined with her perfectionism leads to stubbornness and an inability to ask for help. In writing her supports, I rarely have her actively approach another character. HOWEVER, despite her flaws, she’s super smart, very creative, and a quick learner—I dare say she’d be strategist during the war, but we’re not going to worry about that right now. Her father instilled curiosity about the world within her at a young age, and she read a lot of his natural history books as she grew up, finding a particular love for birds and bugs. When she was younger, her father was very active in her life, and was supportive of her education and weapons training, but he grew more distant as she got older and was eventually kicked out of Castle Renée by her mother for a slew of reasons. This happened a little before she went to the academy (she was seventeen), and was essentially the last time she saw her father since he went back to resume his scientist position in Fhirdiad. Her mother was the main person pushing her to be perfect growing up since they were both catching flack, and that built some resentment towards her mother as she got older, but more so towards her family and status as heir. She deeply enjoys her time at the academy because it’s the first time she gets to experience a degree of freedom, though she still actively strives to be the best in her class academically.

As for stuff relating to actual things in Three Houses, her closest friend was Count Rowe’s daughter growing up since they’re neighbors. Circling back to the “her family is using her Crest to get more sway in the Kingdom” thing, they arrange for her and Sylvain to get engaged when she’s thirteen (and he’s fifteen; the engagement talks started when they were eleven and thirteen. They’ve known each other a while…), but Sylvain’s… tendencies led him to get caught with Count Rowe’s daughter (if we all remember that little tidbit from the game), ending both the engagement and Marcelle’s friendship with the daughter. Marcelle, due to her upbringing, takes this very personally (i.e. that she failed the engagement and disappointed her family) and the whole experience kind of destroys her overall self-image. At the academy, she comes off as very quiet, and so most of her classmates don’t know very much about her since she’s also a western lord. But! Once you get to know her, you can find that she’s witty, charming, kind, and a 🤏 devious.

Other fun facts: her preferred weapon is the axe, she’s a good fighter yet deeply dislikes the thought of killing other people, she is a voracious reader, and she likes myths (especially the macabre ones). She talks to herself and thinks she’s the funniest person in the room at all times. Her grandmother was Adrestian, so she’s familiar with how to appeal to nobility on both sides of Fódlan; while she’s everything a noble knight should be, she also loves the fancy dresses and makeup and accessories associated with being a noble from the Empire. Also, her birthday is 29th of the Garland Moon, 1162!