MicaSothe

"I met him when I was hiding out in the back alleys of Nevassa, over ten years ago. [...] Then his little hand slipped into mine. [...] His fingers were so thin and frail. I couldn't let go after that. After that, we traveled together all over the continent. No matter where we went, we were always together"

- Micaiah about Sothe.

MicaSothe is the het ship between Micaiah and Sothe from the Fire Emblem fandom.

Canon
Micaiah, the "Silver-Haired Maiden", is a human, heron-Branded denizen of the Kingdom of Daein and one of the protagonists of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, co-starring with Ike in the game's later chapters. Sothe is a human Beorc lower-class Daein citizen living in poverty on the streets of Nevassa. To survive, he works as a thief, stealing especially from the rich.

At the beginning of the game Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Micaiah starts by default with an already-completed A-rank support with Sothe, guaranteeing that both will always end up together in a paired ending, unless the player wants to establish a buddy support between Micaiah and any other unit, the player wants to transfer high-ranked Sothe's supports with Astrid or Tormod from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance or if the player simply does not wish for Micaiah and Sothe to have their paired ending together. However, the canon defined by default reveals that Micaiah and Sothe end up together.

Pre-game events
About a decade before the events of Radiant Dawn, Sothe met Micaiah, who took him in and treated him like a little brother. They lived an itinerant life, frequently moving to hide Micaiah's Branded heritage. Some years later, Micaiah eventually ran away from Sothe because she thought her Brand might cause trouble for him, because the Branded are often despised by both Beorc and Laguz if they catch their Brands, since a Branded is the child of a couple composed of a Beorc and a Laguz.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Although Micaiah isn't herself mentioned in this game, Sothe attempted to track her down, eventually leading him to the Crimean town of Toha during the Mad King's War, where he stowed away in Nasir's ship while the Greil Mercenaries were escaping from Daein troops because he had no other leads. He was eventually discovered, but upon explaining his plight to Ike, Ike decided to let him join the army so he could look for Micaiah. Sothe accompanied the Greil Mercenaries for the rest of the war, but was unsuccessful in locating Micaiah.

Meanwhile, Micaiah took a ship to Begnion. By the time she arrived there, the Mad King's War had commenced, and out of worry for his safety, she returned to Daein and then Crimea to find him; her efforts were in vain, as Sothe had entered the company of Ike and the Greil Mercenaries and was an active participant in the war. They reunited in Nevassa after the war, and although Sothe was angry about her actions, they remained in each other's company. Although it was difficult to coax him into being brave enough to approach her, they soon became close friends and, from then on, wandered the world together, never parting.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
In the war's aftermath, Micaiah resolved to do something to ease the villagers suffering from their oppresive Begnion rule, and together with Sothe she worked to sabotage and obstruct Begnion's activities in Nevassa as much as they could. The two soon noticed others doing the same and resolved to contact them, resulting in their meeting with Nolan, Edward and Leonardo. Thus the Dawn Brigade was born with Nolan as its initial leader, though eventually Micaiah took over this role. Their main activities were as noble thieves, like Sothe, stealing goods taken by Begnion from the villagers and returning them to their rightful owners. Their actions soon won both the adulation of the people, who came to regard Micaiah as a savior and dubbed her the "Silver-Haired Maiden", and the ire of the Begnion garrison, who sought to bring an end to their insurrection, foiled only by Micaiah's foresight allowing the Brigade to elude capture.

At the beginning of this game, by early summer in the year 648, the Dawn Brigade was actively hunted by Begnion forces as a serious threat to the occupation. Begnion launched an attack on one of their hideouts, one which they only barely escaped; Micaiah herself nearly fell into Begnion custody, saved only by the assistance of Sothe. This incident was what brought them for the first time to Jarod's attention. Days later, as a result of Micaiah and Edward's actions saving a corner of Nevassa from bandits, the Begnion forces stepped up their hunt for the Brigade, closing in on their remaining hideout. After a skirmish, in which Micaiah used Sacrifice to heal Nico, a child severely wounded by the soliders, the Brigade was forced to flee Nevassa.

Laura was abducted by Jarod on her way to return the medicine to the abbot, and Micaiah was lured into their captivity through Laura's use as a hostage. She managed to send Yune away to warn Sothe, but was taken prisoner along with Laura. The two were taken to Glaive Prison, where they were held along with Ilyana, Aimee and Kurth, who had been captured some time earlier. Sothe and the rest of the Dawn Brigade soon arrived to release them, and they fought their way through Begnion's men out of the prison.

The Dawn Brigade fought off a band of laguz bandits led by Pain and Agony, then deeper in the ruins they found Nailah, Rafiel and Volug, who had also been guided to the ruins by an odd voice. Sothe and Micaiah volunteered to escort the three to Crimea on their journey to Gallia. In the battle's aftermath, they consulted with Pelleas, his mother Almedha and his advisor Izuka, and at Pelleas's request and despite Sothe's suspicions, Micaiah joined Pelleas's cause as his vice-general, thus turning the Dawn Brigade into the first of the Daein Liberation Army. Micaiah led the Daein Liberation Army in one final confrontation with Jarod's forces in Daein Keep. She and Sothe emerged victorious, and upon Pelleas's coronation as the King of Daein, he named Micaiah the supreme commander of the Daein Royal Army. With Sothe and Volug, she resolved to restore Daein to its former glory, farewelled some of her allies as they left for other lands, and reflected with Muarim on what her brand had meant to her life.

As the last of Pelleas's confidantes to remain following Izuka and the Black Knight's departures, Micaiah and Sothe devoted their days following the restoration of Daein to working in Nevassa to personally aid the reconstruction of the city. This came to an end when Pelleas instructed her to lead Daein's might to aid Begnion against the Laguz Alliance. While she had no sympathy for Begnion's side of the war, she complied out of her confidence in Pelleas, much to Sothe's dismay. The Laguz Alliance declared war on Begnion due to the senators' role in the Serenes Massacre. Pelleas ordered Micaiah to oppose them and side with Begnion, to which she and Sothe complied, but Sothe voiced his reluctance to do so. Later in the conflict, Sothe was picked up and used as a hostage by Tibarn, which led to him angrily threatening to abandon Pelleas, unless Pelleas explained why they were still opposing the Laguz Alliance despite heavy losses and the militarily stronger Apostle's Army marching on their location. Micaiah awoke to Pelleas finally revealing that his hands were tied by a blood pact set upon him by Lekain, forcing Daein to wage war for Begnion. She resolved to help Pelleas overcome the blood pact by any means necessary, continuing to fight to buy Pelleas time to research a way out of the pact.

Unnoticed by Sothe, a voice was calling Micaiah, who leaves the battlefield and goes to the place where Sanaki was in front of Lehra's medallion, the Fire Emblem of Tellius where Yune is imprisoned. Performing the galdr release, Yune is unsealed from the medallion and posseses Micaiah. Later, with Yune with them, Micaiah and Sothe are among those chosen to assault the Tower of Guidance with Ike and defeat Ashera.

Finally when Ike defeats Ashera, Yune says goodbye to Ike, Micaiah, Sothe and everyone else. Micaiah and Sothe leave Ike's army and return to Daein. Micaiah took the Daein throne and became the Queen of Daein, the country's fifteenth monarch. Sothe resumes his role as Micaiah's protector and personal bodyguard. Under Micaiah's rule, Daein entered a prosperous era. Later, it is revealed that Micaiah married Sothe.

Fire Emblem Heroes
Micaiah and Sothe are two of the heroes that the player can summon separately via the Breidablik using orbs to help Alfonse and his sister Sharena defending their kingdom Askr from the Emblian Empire. As in their original game, Micaiah and Sothe can develop a bond via support. They can raise their level of support in the following ranks: C, B, A and S if they stand together in the gameplay. Micaiah has different variations, while Sothe has only one.

However, there was a special event for both of them, named Bridal Beloveds, in which Micaiah and Sothe were depicted as lovebirds and forms a single unit in the game instead of 2 separate units. This event was released in May 20, 2020, alongside its featured characters, and a number of related quests, which were available until June 20.

Fanon
MicaSothe is one of the most popular pairings within the Fire Emblem franchise. Fans who prefer this ship focus on how Micaiah has formed a great bond with Sothe for a long time. Also, while players can disable the default A-ranked support between Micaiah and Sothe, they cannot make either of them marry anyone else, regardless of whether their supports with others are of high rank.

While this ship is loved by many, some fans criticize it for being interspecies, because this ship is a pairing between a beorc and a branded, who in turn is the child of a beorc and a laguz.

Another major criticism is that the ship is somewhat incestuous, as Sothe is stated to look up to Micaiah as an older sister, or even mother figure. This implies that Sothe and Micaiah’s “feelings” for one another are strictly familial, despite being married in their paired ending.

The main rival pairings are MicaIke (Micaiah x Ike) and MicaLeas (Micaiah x Pelleas) for Micaiah, while Sothe’s only competition is SothStrid (Sothe x Astrid.)

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Micaiah/Sothe tag on FanFiction.net
 * Micaiah/Sothe tag on FanFiction.net
 * Micaiah/Sothe tag on FanFiction.net

Trivia

 * This is the only pairing in Fire Emblem franchise that although defined as canon, the player can decide to avoid their paired ending, even if both are still alive during the whole game and they can't marry anyone else.
 * There are other ships in Fire Emblem franchise where the only way to avoid canonical pairing is to have the protagonist's partner defeated in combat, like Caedarth in the main games and Naneif in Thracia 776.
 * It is slightly similar with Naneif in Genealogy of the Holy War, since in both ships, even if they are canonical, the player can have the option to leave them single.
 * However, in Naneif from Genealogy of the Holy War, the members involved can marry someone else, while in MicaSothe, they cannot.
 * MicaSothe shares similarity with some other Fire Emblem pairings, such as Caedarth, Celicalm, Naneif and RoyLili, since like them, the members of the pairing already knew each other long before the events of their respective game.