Letizia

Royalty in the line of succession to the throne of the Emblian Empire. Growing up, she and Veronica were as close as sisters. Appears in Fire Emblem Heroes. Name: Letizia Gender: Female Race: Human Relatives: Thrasir (Ancestor), Bruno (Distant Relative), Veronica (Distant Relative) Occupation: Imperial Marquess, Leader of the Curse Directive Weapon: Tomes </Personal Information> Letizia is a tall woman with pale skin, orange eyes with thick eyelashes and silver hair tied into a ponytail. Her attire is a long sleeved black dress with gold and green patterns, gold shoulder pads, black and green cape, green gloves, green pants and black heels. Affectionately called 'Sissy' by Veronica, Letizia acts polite and friendly despite her association with the infamous Curse Directive, even to the Askr Royal family, who aided them despite both countries being at war, and especially Veronica, whom she regards as a little sister and serves loyally regardless of her family's history.

However, this is all a ruse, as she enacts her machinations to overthrow Veronica and regain her royal status, for as much as she genuinely cared for her sister, Letizia swore to ruin Veronica's own reputation once she learned that Veronica's father was the one who ruined her family while the latter nonchalantly said how her royal status didn't matter to her. Later chapters reveal the depths of her cruelty, as during the lead-up to Veronica's execution day, she had Veronica deprived of food and water and had the young princess whipped for "condescending to her", when in reality, Veronica had simply told her about what she had learned about leadership from Alfonse and Sharena's example. Despite this, in the final moments in her life when she sacrificed herself to prevent Embla from killing Veronica, she confesses to Veronica that her death was what she wanted but now feels unsatisfied, indicating her care for her sissy was genuine.

Deep down, Letizia has a personality akin to a troubled child likely due to the jealously over Veronica becoming Empress over her. She's also prone to having temper tantrums when things don't go her way. As a member of the Embla Royal Family, Letizia grew up close to Princess Veronica and was once romantically involved with Prince Bruno, but those relationships were interrupted when Letizia's family was accused of treachery and subsequently had their lands stripped. Letizia was sent away from the castle but kept in touch with Veronica by regularly sending letters to her. Later, she became the director of the infamous Curse Directive. She also owned a secret retreat within the empire that she and Veronica frequently visited.

Having long been embittered by her family's fall from grace after being falsely accused by Veronica's father, the previous Emperor, as part of his coup to claim the throne, Letizia hatches a plan to see Veronica removed from the throne to regain her royal status. With the great houses of the Emblian Empire willing to work with her, and the Emperor unlikely to stand by Veronica's side due to the two of them not sharing blood and Veronica vastly surpassing him in popularity, Letizia claims that Veronica killed some of her own soldiers and stole a book from the royal vault, and therefore committed treason.

When seeing Askr's Royal family along with Veronica within Embla's borders, she hears the latter out and allows them to pass, while also warning them that the Emblian soldiers are doing military drills and they'd do well to avoid parts of the border. This was, however, nothing more than a method to keep Askr's Royal family in Embla, as she had the Curse Directive burn bridges and block off routes that would let them return to Askr. Later on, Letizia arrests Veronica over accusations of treason, confessing her longstanding ire against the young princess and that she was the one to spur the accusations. While Veronica fled after hearing the news, Letizia is able to convince her to turn herself over by threatening to close off the villages of the people of Askr with Elm's power. She attempts to use the same motivation to convince Alfonse and Sharena to come with her as political prisoners, but Alfonse is able to fool her into believing he's a far greater threat than anticipated when he claims that he killed his father, and can therefore easily kill her.

Upon Veronica's execution date at hand, hearing the peasants insist on her innocence, Letizia spreads lies about horrible things Veronica did to the people of Embla. While she visits Veronica in her cell, she reveals that she ordered the guards not to give Veronica food or water. Veronica asks what Letizia wants and what will happen once she dies, Letizia replies that she wants to take everything from Veronica, and that she will become the ruler of Embla. Veronica states that a ruler must care about the commonfolk and actively try to better their lives, which Letizia misinterprets as an attempt to show moral superiority. As a result, she orders Veronica to be beaten.

Her spies tell her that only sixty percent of the population believes her version of what happened. Upset, Letizia tells Elm that there should be a better impact on the people's opinion. She resolves to slander Veronica further in order to cement hatred for her. Eventually, the Order of Heroes intercepts her at the prison and they battle. Letizia is about to withdraw, but brags that she still won because Veronica is dead. Just as she promises to give them Veronica's head, a messenger reports that Veronica was set free. Bruno arrives and states that Letizia underestimated the people's ability to see through her lies, saying that she spread herself too thin trying to tell even more lies about Veronica rather than cover up the already existing lies, making it easier for the public to see through them, especially since he spread doubt about Letizia's claims. He informs her that the prison army is on its way to arrest her, and she retreats, swearing revenge on Bruno for his intervention.

When Veronica incites a rebellion against Letizia amongst the prison guards, the vassal houses are forced to choose between backing Veronica or Letizia, rather than merely playing along as they had been before. With her grip on the situation failing, Letizia chooses to focus on taking down the Askran forces to avoid being surrounded, captured, and executed by order of Veronica. She fails to do so, however, and Veronica catches up and tells Letizia that she is unfit for the throne, as Letizia only ever thinks of herself and never of the people. In the end, Veronica decides against executing Letizia for her treachery and allows her to live.

After they are all absorbed into Embla's darkness, Veronica requests that Letizia assist her and the Order of Heroes in their escape attempts, but Letizia refuses out of spite. Though Veronica promises to return for her if they find a way out, Letizia's self-imposed isolation leaves her susceptible to Embla's influence and she becomes possessed by the dark god, engaging the Order of Heroes. After the battle, Veronica attempts to get through to Letizia, but Embla is only willing to loosen the reins on her new puppet once she realizes the hatred Letizia holds for Veronica, deciding to allow her to land the killing blow herself. However, despite the opportunity, Letizia instead uses her moment of freedom to sacrifice herself under the guise of not allowing anyone else to kill Veronica, musing that the young princess' death is all she's ever wanted but feels unsatisfying now. Veronica is left distraught at her Sissy's death, which winds up in vain as Embla is left unharmed, Veronica and Bruno also being vulnerable to her possession. However, eventually through the combined efforts of the Askr and Embla forces, Veronica is able to defeat Embla for good, finally avenging Letizia. Her main weapon is tomes, which allows her to use dark arts of magic.