Sylvcedes

Sylvcedes is the het ship between Sylvain Jose Gautier and Mercedes von Martritz from the Fire Emblem fandom.

Part I: White Clouds
Sylvain and Mercedes first became acquainted with each other as students of the class of 1180 of Garreg Mach Monastery's Officers Academy. With Sylvain being heir to one of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus' noble families, and Mercedes being a former student of one of the Kingdom's premier magic academies, the two were placed into the Blue Lions house led by crown prince Dimitri. The two of them would shortly become acquainted with new professor Byleth Eisner, either by them choosing to teach the Blue Lions directly, or by being recruited by them to one of the other two houses. Under Byleth, Sylvain and Mercedes would participate in various missions for the Church of Seiros in between their studies.

One of these missions takes the two to Conrad Tower in House Fraldarius territory along with the rest of the class. There, they confront Sylvain's disowned older brother Miklan and his band of thieves after they stal the Heroes Relic known as the Lance of Ruin, only to have to kill him after turning into a demonic beast when he attempted to use the lance. Throughout the year, the pair also inadvertently fight Mercedes' half-brother Jeritza - under the guise of the Death Knight - while attempting to stop the plans of the mysterious "Flame Emperor". The two ended bonding along with the rest of the Blue Lions and made an agreement that, on the day of the Millennium Festival to celebrate the founding of the Church of Seiros, the Blue Lions would reunite.

Things quickly go south following this promise. The Flame Emperor reveals themselves to be Black Eagles house leader Edelgard who eventually assumes her role as Empress of the Adrestian Empire. Immediately afterwards, she declares war on the Church of Seiros, starting with attempting to seize Garreg Mach. Sylvain and Mercedes end up joining the Church of Serios and the rest of the Blue Lions in the ensuing battle, during which Byleth ends up going missing. The battle ultimately ends with the fall of Garreg Mach as the Blue Lions, including Sylvain and Mercedes, go their separate ways to deal with the war in their own ways.

Part II: Azure Moon
Five years following the Battle of Garreg Mach - on what would have been the day of the Millennium Festival - Sylvain and Mercedes reunite with each other, and (most) of the other Blue Lions, and assist a returned Byleth and Dimitri in stopping a group of bandits from ransacking the Monastery's ruins. After the fight, the two join the Blue Lions in repledging their allegiance to Byleth and Dimitri and proceed to help them in defeating Edelgard and the Empire.

Part II: Non-Azure Moon routes
If Byleth hadn't recruited either Sylvain or Mercedes to their class before Edelgard declares war, their presence post-timeskip varies. Neither appear in Silver Snow, but are assumed to be among the casualties in that route's version of the Battle of Grondor Field. In Verdant Wind, Mercedes is part of the Kingdom army during the Battle of Grondor Field with Sylvain arriving later on with reinforcements. The two can survive the battle - after which they disappear - or killed in the crossfire between the Imperial, Kingdom, and Alliance armies. In Crimson Flower, Sylvain is among the initial Kingdom and Church army during the Battle of Tailtean Plains with Mercedes providing reinforcements early on, but both end up killed by Edelgard's and Byleth's Black Eagle Strike Force.

C-Support
On a normal day, Sylvain catches Mercedes as she's heading to the chapel for prayer. When she asks how he knew where she was going, Sylvain let's it slip he'd been watching her before he realizes what it looks like and clarifies that he wants to get to know her as a friend. Mercedes agrees by revealing she liked to pray ever since her childhood in House Bartels of Adrestia. The latter part shocks Sylvain as he figured Mercedes was born in House Martritz given her last name. Mercedes initially thinks that story is a bit too complicated for Sylvain to listen to, but decides to share anyway.

Mercedes goes on to explain that House Martritz collapsed before she was born and her mother married the head of House Bartels to save the both of them following her birth. However, they were essentially thrown away once her mother produced a son with a crest - Mercedes' half-brother Emile - and forced to flee to a church in Faerghus where she took up her old family's name. Sylvain makes the guess that living in a church is what led to Mercedes' love of praying, which promptly reminds her she was going to pray before Sylvain interrupted - which he apologizes for. As Mercedes departs, Sylvain cynically muses about House Bartels using Mercedes and her mother to get a child with a Crest and proclaims them to be idiots.

B-Support
Some time later, Sylvain finds Mercedes in the Cathedral while remarking she gives it a heavenly glow. Sylvain further comments that he's there to see Mercedes, though she initially suspects he says that to all the girls he flirts with - much to Sylvain's chagrin. He goes on to say he wants to get to know Mercedes better while reflecting on the fact that flirting with girls made him forget how to actually talk with them. Mercedes initially doesn't believe it, but is still glad to hear Sylvain say it while revealing she believed that he thought she was boring given the story she told him last time they spoke. Sylvain iterates that he didn't find her story boring but instead shows worry that it dredged up some bad memories for her while also musing about not having a choice in having a Crest or not. This prompts Mercedes to ask about Sylvain's own experience with having a Crest, elaborating that she doesn't want Sylvain to hold back on the ugly details. This surprises Sylvain, even more so when she explains she would listen even if his family wasn't noble or he didn't have a Crest - as she says she's asking as a friend.

Encouraged by Mercedes' words, Sylvain reveals his distate of Crests as a whole. He goes on to explain how having a Crest made him heir of House Gautier despite being the younger of two brothers, and that the older brother - Miklan - became jealous to the point of wanting to kill him. He also explains girls went to him for the sole purpose of producing a "Crest baby" so they can enter into nobility. Realizing the gravity of Sylvain's story, Mercedes apologizes as now SHE fears bad memories were brought to the surface, but Sylvain apologizes back and explains he didn't want her seeing that side of him. Mercedes, however, is grateful at Sylvain's honesty because now she's seeing his true self. She then asks if he will free her from the "curse" of having a crest, to which he gladly accepts.

A-Support
Mercedes asks to talk with Sylvain one night and the two head for the Cathedral. She expresses her sadness at the amount of pressure Sylvain was put under by his family just because he had a Crest, especially his brother wanting to kill him out of jealousy, though Sylvain points out it was harder for Miklan than for him. Mercedes also correctly deduces that Sylvain doesn't like the girls that throw themselves onto him just so they can have "Crest babies" with him, an observation that Sylvain wants kept secret (which she agrees to). When Sylvain brings up Mercedes' own bad memories, she says that is why he's so open to her - they share similar pains. Sylvain finally asks if the sadness he's been displaying around her has ruined his smile, to which Mercedes says it actually makes it better since it means there's honesty behind it. This finally makes Sylvain cry as the two promise to protect each other.

Ending
Following the end of the war, Sylvain and Mercedes married and the former inherited the position of Margrave Gautier. While Sylvain used his new power to help relations with Fódlan's northern neighbor of Sreng, and persuade the nobility away from their strict need for Crests, Mercedes supported him while also bringing prosperity to the people with her wisdom. The two took every spare opportunity to build a great home life, one surrounded by happy children. Sylvain eventually passed away, leaving control of House Gautier to his eldest child - who was born Crestless.

Fanon
Sylvcedes is a fairly popular ship within the Fire Emblem fandom. The mere fact of a student like Mercedes, who's very devoted to the Church, being the one to end up with a such prolific flirt like Sylvain already makes the pairing an interesting one on the surface. The support conversations between the two are also noted as being some of the few times Sylvain's character is taken beyond being a womanizer or focusing on his friendship with Dimtri, Ingrid and Felix. The fanworks of the ship tend to take the particular factor of those supports, of how their childhoods were upended due to having Crests, into particular attention. This ship is rivaled by other popular pairings for both such as Sylvix and Mercette.

On AO3, this ship is a fairly written-about ship for Fire Emblem, with tagged works currently numbering in the 200's range. It's the most written ship for Mercedes with Mercette following closely behind. On Sylvain's side, this ship is his 5th most written behind the likes of Sylvix and Sylvleth.

Fandom
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Trivia

 * In both of the Part II chapters where Mercedes and Sylvain are fought together (Chapter 17 of both Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower), one is on the map at the start while the other is among the enemy reinforcements.
 * In Crimson Flower Chapter 17, one of the specific triggers for Mercedes' reinforcement wave is killing Sylvain.