Another excellent discussion, that also points out new details from the recent Famitsu article.

Aqua, the dancer character, is apparently a Nohr noble raised by the Hoshido, much as Kamui is a Hoshido noble raised by the Nohr. Definitely seems like a traditional hostage exchange situation to me.

They also point out that with weapons putting stat detriments on you when they're used, it might no longer be powerful to send out a single powerful unit to let 300 enemies break themselves upon him. If you get a stat penalty with each attack, you might wind up vulnerable before too long.

Some really interesting news in there.