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Marthice is the family ship between Marth and Elice from the Fire Emblem fandom.
Canon[]
War of Shadows[]
Elice and her younger brother Marth are the princess and prince of the kingdom of Altea, as such being the next in line after their father Cornelius. Unfortunately, Elice hears word that Cornelius was killed after his force was betrayed by Altea's neighbor and ally Gra. Realizing that Gra was going to attack Altea, Elice had a soldier wake Marth and have him meet her in the castle's throne room. Marth hopes that whatever news Elice has was good but is shocked when, sure enough, Gra soldiers infiltrate the castle and begin attacking him. Marth battles his way to the throne room, where Elice informs him about what's happening before telling him to flee Altea without her. While Marth is hesitant to leave Elice behind, he ultimately agrees when Elice says they'll meet up once she finds their mother.
As Marth makes his escape, he's joined by a pair of knights named Frey and Abel that Elice had assigned as bodyguards. While the trio regroup with the veteran knight Jagen at Altea's gates, Elice remains in the throne room with Altea's tactician Malledus. Elice reveals to Malledus that she had no plans of escaping with Marth as someone needs to keep Altea safe. Instead, Elice wants Malledus to go with her brother since - with their father dead - he's the only one that can wield the legendary blade Falchion. Malledus ultimately complies and regroups with Marth and his group in the countryside, where he informs the prince about what happened to Elice. Distraught about it, Marth attempts to head back for the castle to find Elice but is stopped when Malledus tells him that she did a lot to ensure he could escape because he was Altea's last hope. This convinces Marth to press on with his group, managing to escape Altea.
For the next two years, Marth hid in the allied nation of Talys until events caused him to begin his campaign to reclaim Altea. During this campaign, Elice was kidnapped by the sorcerer Gharnef and brought to the Temple of Thabes as part of his plan to conquer the continent. She's critical to his plan due to her ability to use Aum, a staff that can resurrect the dead. Marth and his army manages to locate Gharnef - who he'd been searching for as he also stole Falchion - and defeat him. After the battle, Elice manages to reunite with Marth - where she explains why she there - before joining him in defeating the Dark Dragon Medeus and ending the war. Following the war, Marth returned Altea to begin the process of rebuilding as king while Elice watched over him.
War of Heroes[]
A year after the War of Shadows, Elice met a prospective Altean knight named Kris. When they began praising Marth as a "Hero-King", Elice notes that he still had an idealistic view of the world and fears that could be his undoing someday. The two discuss how Marth can't save everyone and how it tears him up on the inside before Elice has Kris promise that - if they're knighted - they would protect him and his ideals. Marth is eventually called up by Altea's suzerain state of Archanea to investigate an uprising in Grust. However, the following goose-chase turned out to be a trap to lead Marth away while Archanea attacked Altea. From in Altea, Elice agreed to be a hostage of Archanea in order for Marth's wife Caeda to escape and inform him of what's happening. Marth is devastated to learn all of this and vows to take Altea back.
During Marth's campaign to beat Archanea, a group of assassins kidnapped Elice under orders from a resurrected Gharnef and brought her to the Dragon's Table. She was one of four clerics brought there in order for Gharnef to resurrect Medeus. Learning that Gharnef took his sister - and that he's also the reason for Archanea's aggression - Marth and his force enter the Dragon's Table and defeat Gharnef before going further in to confront Medeus. Marth is distraught to learn that Elice had been mind-controlled with the other clerics into defending Medeus, even more so when he's informed the only way to defeat Medeus is to get them away - which would include killing them. Thankfully, Marth's and Elice's childhood friend Merric is able to snap her out of it and causes her - along with the other clinics, who're likewise saved by a loved one - to join Marth in finally defeating Medeus and ending the War of Heroes. Following the war, Marth returned to Altea and oversaw it's (second) reconstruction, during which Elice opens a magic academy alongside her now husband Merric.
Fire Emblem Heroes[]
Marth and Elice 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 the remakes of their original game, Marth and Elice 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. Marth has four solo variants beyond his base iteration, and a Duo Hero variant that is also Elice's only variant.
The two received a Holiday-themed Duo Hero variant - where they work together as one unit - in the "Glorious Gifts" focus from December 2019. In the associated paralogue, Elice is overjoyed to be at the Winter Festival, although Marth reminds her that they're in a fighting competition and would do to be less cheerful. Elice notes that's going to be hard to do with the festive atmosphere. The two are defeated and forced to retreat, with Elice noting that the enemy is a bit much for them. Having regrouped with other competitors, Marth and Elice rally them into winning the competition, but they're all defeated.
Fanon[]
Marthice isn't very popular in the Fire Emblem fandom. The fact that Elice's presence in the original games is relegated to the last few chapters means there isn't much there for fans to see her and Marth's relationship. The remakes adding prologue chapters that gave more chances to show Marth and Elice together have somewhat helped the popularity of this ship, but it definitely still languishes behind other family ships in the franchise, as well as other ships for Marth. That said, there are still dedicated fans due to the few times they are together showing they've got a great sibling bond.
On AO3, this ship is barely written about with only 6 tagged entries. It's Elice's second-most written ship after Merrilice.
Fandom[]
FAN FICTION
- Elice & Marth tag on AO3
Gallery[]
