Quanthlyn

"You can't give up now, Quan! It'll be okay. We're together, aren't we? At very least, together we'll not go down easily!"

- Ethlyn to Quan before their last battle against Travant's Thracian army.

Quanthlyn is the het ship between Quan and Ethlyn from the Fire Emblem fandom.

Canon
Quan was the prince of Leonster, the son of King Calf, the father of Altena and Leif, a full-blooded descendant of the Crusader Njörun, and the inheritor of Gáe Bolg. Ethlyn was the youngest of the two children of Duke Byron. Her mother died during her youth, and for several years she took over taking care of her father and brother in her mother's place, which earned her a joking reputation as a nag according to Sigurd.

In Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Quan and Ethlyn automatically start with maximum love points for each other, ensuring that the game automatically assigns them as lovers.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Ethlyn eventually married Sigurd's longtime friend Quan and moved to Leonster with him, where she eventually gave birth to a daughter, Altena. The couple once visited Miletos, where Quan purchased a pearl tiara for Ethlyn as a gift; her son Leif would later hear this story.

In the year 757, Ethlyn learned of an attempted invasion of Grannvale by Verdane, and of how only Sigurd remained to defend her home. Ethlyn and Quan immediately departed for Chalphy to come to his aid, taking only Finn with them; before they left, Quan's father Calf left Gáe Bolg with Ethlyn just in case the conflict escalated, although after he told her the legend associated to it, Ethlyn was reluctant to give it to Quan. Though Ethlyn apologized for dragging Quan into it, he remarked that he had just as much of an interest in helping Sigurd as she did. One year into the Grannvale occupation of the country, when King Chagall started stirring trouble, Ethlyn revealed to him that his father had entrusted her with Gáe Bolg, just in case; she handed it over to him, to better facilitate ending the conflict. The two and Finn initially accompanied Sigurd to Silesse when he fled there from Lombard's army, but departed shortly thereafter to return to Leonster to raise assistance for Sigurd. During their time back in Leonster, their youngest child Leif was born. Although their time together after his birth was relatively brief, Ethlyn had a particularly close and happy motherly bond with Leif, to the point that Altena was jealous of her brother.

In the spring of Grann 760, Ethlyn and Quan set out with the Lanceritter to rejoin Sigurd and fight for his liberty. Despite Quan's insistence otherwise, Ethlyn took the infant Altena with her because she would not stop crying. Quan expected Ethlyn and Altena to leave partway through, once they reached the Aed Desert, but she insisted on staying "a little longer".

Neither of them had any idea that King Travant and a brigade of Thracian wyvern knights had been stalking them the entire time, following a tip from Veld. The group was caught by the Thracians in the south of the Aed Desert, where none of them stood a chance of escaping through the thick sand. Despite her confidence that she and Quan could win if they fought together, both Ethlyn and Quan died to the Travant's Thracian army of Wyvern Knights. Of the Leonster party, Altena was the only survivor, and Travant took her from Ethlyn's corpse and raised her as his own daughter. This battle became known as the Aed Massacre, and led directly to the Fall of Leonster several years later.

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Quan and Ethlyn are mentioned on some occasions by some of Leif's allies. In one of them, according to Selphina, Quan and Ethlyn once visited Miletos, where Quan purchased a pearl tiara for Ethlyn as a gift; her son Leif would later hear this story and want to do the same for his own fiancée, Nanna.

Fire Emblem Heroes
Quan and Ethlyn are two of the heroes that the player can summon via the Breidablik using orbs to help Alfonse and his sister Sharena defending their kingdom Askr from the Emblian Empire. Quan and Ethlyn can develop a bond, but as support rather than love points. They can raise their level of support in the following ranks: C, B, A and S if they stand together in the gameplay. Each has their variations, the normal and the performance-themed.

There was a special event for both of them, named To Stay Dreaming, in which Quan and Ethlyn were depicted together as two separated units, with their performance-themed variations on September 8, 2020, alongside its featured characters, and a number of related quests, which were available until October 8.

Fanon
It's a quite knowm pairing in the fanon, and one of the most popular pairings among the Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy war fans. They are a very tragic family, therefore the fans often love to show Quan, Ethlyn, Leif and Altena as a happy family in 'What If' scenarios. Most of the fans who are really invested on this shipping are Japanese though, because the original game where its story takes place was distributed only in Japan, more than two decades ago.

Ethlyn may get some criticism due the fact that she was reckless and decided to ignore Quan's advices simply for staying with him forever, despite the deadly dangers awaiting them. Still, it is one of the beloved pairings due to the fact that since they have been together since before the game's events, it has no rival pairings.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Quan/Ethlyn tag on FanFiction.net
 * Quan/Ethlyn tag on FanFiction.net

ART



Trivia

 * This pairing bears a certain resemblance to Naneif, as both Quan and his son Leif have similar hair both in hairstyle and color and their lovers (Ethlyn and Nanna, respectively), are trobadours, since they both ride on horseback and are dedicated to supporting their army with their staffs in their respective generations.