Gerome (Fire Emblem)

Cherche's son. Unaccustomed to interpersonal interactions. His wyvern Minerva belonged to his late mother. Appears in Fire Emblem Awakening. Name: Gerome Gender: Male Race: Human Birthday: September 1 Relatives: Cherche (Mother) Occupation: Member of the Shepards Weapon: Axes </Personal Information> Gerome is a tall athletic man with pale skin, spiky pink hair and brown eyes which are hidden by his black domino mask. He wears a full body black armor with a short teal cape on his back. Apathetic to everyone in the past, Gerome is markedly different from the rest of the future children in that he does not actively seek out his parents and treats them coldly, referring to them by name. He does not fully identify their past versions as his parents and has bluntly told them his true parents are dead. That being said, Gerome does dearly love his deceased parents, and their deaths weigh heavily on him. While the people of the future lauded them for their sacrifice, Gerome expresses disappointment as they were not just heroes, but parents that he dearly wished to have back. With time, especially if he is given time to bond with the past versions of his parents, Gerome can soften slightly and even start to refer to them as "mother" and "father".

Unlike the other children who fight to change the fate of the world and save their parents, Gerome only joined to release Minerva back into the wild, in the past where it is safer. He holds a belief that the future cannot change and that any attempt to meddle in the past is futile. In reality, Gerome does care enough to join Chrom's cause as a last chance to fight when he could not in the future. Gerome is a hardened warrior who seeks to grow stronger, but does so for his own sake and is often training alone. In the few fleeting moments where he associates with his fellow future children, he is formal and straightforward, hating to waste time and scolding others when they stray away from their priorities. Despite keeping himself distant from others, he often feels lonely, giving him time for plenty of introspective reflection. He is insightful as a result and gives pragmatic advice when asked, far beyond what one could expect from a man his age.

Gerome has bonded with Minerva, and like his mother, is easily able to tell what her state of mind is by her manner of shrieks and general demeanor. He is very affectionate with her, has labeled her the cutest wyvern, and even refers to her as "Minervykins," much like Cherche. This future Minerva has accepted her original master's death but, unlike Gerome, wishes to save the past version of Cherche. Gerome wishes to release Minerva back to the wild to give her a life of peace that the future could no longer give her. Minerva, however, has bonded so strongly with Gerome that she refuses to do so, and at the end of the story, remains by her new master's side.

His supports reveal that Gerome is actually overly shy and at times sensitive, and thus wears a mask to conceal his feelings, passing this off as a method to prevent enemies from reading his thoughts. This partly backfires, as it becomes a matter of curiosity for many of the Shepherds, often with them bugging him about why he wears it, much to his annoyance. It also leads to even his friends not recognizing him when he unmasks himself at first.

Among the Shepherds, Gerome is the last to fall asleep regularly. Gerome was once a happy, but somewhat shy child. He had pride in his parents and bonded well with Cherche's wyvern, Minerva. The attacks by the Fell Dragon Grima caused his parents to often be away from home defending their country from Risen attacks. Tragedy would strike when one day, Minerva returned home alone, signifying that Cherche had perished. Alongside Cherche's wedding ring, the only other keepsake that was recovered, Gerome vowed to survive with Minerva choosing him as her new rider.

Eventually, Gerome received word from Lucina that she and the other children would return to the past to prevent the ruinous future. Gerome believed that fate could not be changed, no matter how much they tried, but nonetheless decided to follow Lucina and the other children to the past. Unlike the other children, he merely wanted to return to the past to release Minerva back into the wild, as there were no wyverns left in the future. In his supports with Lucina, it is revealed that he lent her the butterfly mask she used to hide her identity.

In Paralogue 11, the bandit Morristan entered the Valmese Wyvern Valley, so he could catch and sell the wyverns that inhabit the area. Gerome is approached by a local villager to help, but he refuses. However, Chrom's army arrives to help the villagers. Cherche enters the battlefield, and the two eventually talk. Although Gerome initially refuses to fight, Cherche manages to convince him to at least fight in this battle. After the battle, Cherche talks to Gerome to introduce Minerva to his wyvern mount. As Cherche compares Minerva to his wyvern, she discovers that the two are identical; in fact, they are the same wyvern. Gerome shows her his ring, which is the same as the one Cherche is wearing. He then says he wishes that the two never encountered each other, as he only came back in time to release Minerva into the wild. When Cherche asks why, Gerome admits that he doesn't want to lose his parents a second time. Cherche commends him for being so strong despite all he's been through. Gerome eventually decides, for the time being, to join Chrom's army.

When Grima is defeated, Gerome realizes that he was wrong to assume that destiny cannot change. Afterwards, he settles in Wyvern Valley. People saw him as distant and contemplative. Gerome rides his wyvern Minerva into battle and he uses axes as his weapon.