Fire Emblem Tellius/Characters/Major Radiant Dawn Antagonists

Warning: MASSIVE SPOILERS.

Jarod (Jeld)
A Begnion Knight abusing his power over the Daein Garrison, Jarod is tasked with hunting down the Dawn Brigade by his superiors. Arrogant, brutish, and unconcerned with civilian casualties, Jarod nevertheless cares about his men, and is fully aware of the kind of people he is working for.

"Class: Halberdier (RD)"

""Gh-ghuahh... I am... sorry for nothing. I regret... nothing. Because I did it my way... You win, Priestess. You must be delighted. Enjoy it while you can... Because... sooner or later... you...""
 * Badass: The man attacked the Black Knight head on, knowing his reputation, and honestly thought he might win. That counts for something. So does the Rousing Speech and the way he chooses to face his death.
 * Four Star Badass
 * Blade On a Stick: A Steel Greatlance for his attempt to assassinate Micaiah; switches to a Short Spear for his last stand.
 * Blood Knight
 * Climax Boss: Final boss of Part 1.
 * Anticlimax Boss: If you
 * Defiant to The End: Abandoned by Numida and the Senate, with the countryside in open revolt, Jarod barricades himself in Daein Keep, commences launching a barrage of stones into the streets on civilians, and waits for Micaiah to arrive, hoping that if he kills her he can still salvage something from all this. And then there's his Famous Last Words (see I Regret Nothing) which are pretty much the verbal equivalent of spitting in the Dawn Brigade's collective faces.
 * Disc One Final Boss: He's the man you've been fighting for the entirety of Part 1, but his death means little to the overall plot.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His best friend took a hit from The Black Knight for him. It definitely leaves an impact on him.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: He realizes better than anyone what utter dicks he's working for, especially after Duke Numida frames him for the entire spectacle in Daein.
 * Evil Redhead
 * Face Death With Dignity: His Last Stand is one final attempt at doing so.
 * The Heavy: Of Part 1.
 * I Regret Nothing: His Famous Last Words.

"“Listen up, all of you. This is our last chance to die as we've lived. As proud soldiers of the empire. If we survive this fight, imprisonment and a hushed-up execution await us. If we run from this fight, dishonor and pursuit will dog our miserable days. So I say, let's give those Daein curs a fight to remember, and let the glory of our deaths light our way! We've lived as proud soldiers of the empire! Let us die as proud soldiers of the empire! Now GO!”"
 * It Has Been an Honour: Expresses this attitude towards his troops.
 * Jerkass
 * Just Following Orders: Not that he or Micaiah really believe that it's much of an excuse.
 * Last Villain Stand: Jarod knows he's a dead man as Micaiah closes in on his position. Rather than surrender he rallies his men and prepares to go out in one last blaze of glory.
 * Rousing Speech: Gives a pretty damn good one to his troops before their final battle with Micaiah's forces.


 * The Scapegoat: Jarod is a total bastard, and committed numerous atrocities while in command of Daien's Begnion garrison, including skewering civilians (and disobedient soldiers) in broad daylight. However, he was following imperial policy as set by Vice-Minister Lekain and relayed to him through Duke Numida. Unsurprisingly, all the blame for the revolt gets heaped in his lap after Numida washes his hands of the affair.
 * Suicidal Overconfidence: Every time he faces the Black Knight, to entertaining effect. Justified, seeing as by that point of the story he is a dead man walking and knows it.
 * Villainous Valour: Stares down the Black Knight and pulls a Last Villain Stand with his weakened, badly outnumbered forces.

Ludveck
A Crimean Duke who attempts to usurp power from Queen Elincia while Bastian is in Daein.

"Class: Axe General (RD)"


 * Abhorrent Admirer: To Lucia.
 * Action Initiative: Possesses the skill Vantage.
 * Ambition Is Evil: It's fairly obvious that all he wants is to rule Crimea.
 * Climax Boss: Final boss of Part 2. However...
 * Optional Boss: The final chapter of Part 2 is a "Defend" chapter, so you can just hold back your units and never face him if you choose. You'll miss out on a bunch of items if you take a defensive stance, though.
 * Anticlimax Boss: If she can avoid being shot down by bows on the way across the map, Elincia can charge straight up to Ludveck and use her just-obtained Infinity Plus One Sword to carve him up in one round. (On easy and normal mode, at least.)
 * Filler Villain: What his role essentially boils down to.
 * Hannibal Lecture
 * I Have You Now My Pretty: Again... Poor, poor Lucia.
 * I Have Your Milk-Sibling
 * Manipulative Bastard: He likes to think so, but...
 * Out Gambitted:
 * Smug Snake
 * Jerkass
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: Subverted. While he talks big, it's heavily implied that all he wants is to rule Crimea.
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: Subverted. While he talks big, it's heavily implied that all he wants is to rule Crimea.

Izuka
Pelleas' aide, a Mad Scientist (emphasis on mad) and so obviously evil it barely counts as a spoiler.

"Class: Summoner (RD)"

"Tauroneo: Goddess help me, that man could try the patience of a stone."
 * Ax Crazy: Mutters to himself constantly and whilst running his schemes through his head, even in the middle of conversation. Yeah, he's a bit unscrewed in the head.


 * Black Magic: The only Summoner in the game, and packing the strongest Dark tome.
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Early Bird Cameo/One Scene Wonder: He was one of the scientists of the Feral One's testing lab in the next-to-last chapter of Path of Radiance, making a hasty retreat once Ike & co. strolled into the area, and not being seen again until the next game.
 * Evil Chancellor: To Pelleas
 * Evil Laugh: In his Early Bird Cameo in Po R.
 * Evil Genius: First to Ashnard, then to Lekain.
 * Evil Sorceror
 * Expy: Izuka acts a little different but he visually resembles Grima Wormtongue, the English version doesn't overlook this.
 * Gonk
 * High Class Glass: Though mainly seen in the concept art.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Necromancer: Summons waves of undead Feral Ones in his iconic battle in Part 4. It takes an exasperating 25 turns for the onslaught to end (though you can kill him faster).
 * Obviously Evil
 * Slave Mooks: Produces Feral Laguz for Ashnard and Lekain's forces, using Psycho Serum to keep them loyal. He's not above doing it to people as well, as evidenced by Bertram.
 * The Sociopath: To the same degree as his former employer, Ashnard.
 * The Strategist: Served as one in Part 1, though he sucked at it and his methods lean toward cynical and mass genocide.
 * Token Obviously Evil Teammate: Though he never joins you on the battlefield, he nevertheless plays this role during the time he serves as your (highly incompetent) strategist.
 * Villain Teleportation: Uses Rewarp to run away to another corner of the map if you give him the chance. And because the battle takes place in a swamp, it'll take a long time for you trudge your non-flying units over to where he is.

Numida
The Begnion Senator responsible for presiding over the Daein Garrison's abuse of power.

"Class: Bishop (RD)"


 * Dirty Coward: Once the Daein Liberation Army gained serious momentum against Numida's troops, he set up Jarod as a scapegoat for all of the crimes committed in Daein and made his escape.
 * Late in the game when you have a chance to return the favor, he fights you with a tome that hits up to 10 spaces away. While it only has 5 uses, he's also shielded by tons of Mooks and most characters struggle to move through the desert sand.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything: He has a mustache that may remind you of a certain German dictator.
 * Gonk
 * Light Is Not Good
 * Names the Same: In-universe example: Both his name and the name of the Begnion territory he presides over are Numida.
 * Sinister Minister
 * Sinister Minister

Valtome (Balutelome)


Another Begnion Senator and Zelgius' superior during the Laguz/Beorc War. Described by the game as "a terrible narcissist, and is arrogant beyond comprehension", which sums it up nicely.

"Class: Bishop (RD)"


 * Ambiguously Gay
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady
 * Giggling Villain: Uwee hee hee!
 * Gonk
 * He Man Woman Hater: Given some of the names he calls Elincia, this seems pretty likely.
 * Jerkass
 * Light Em Up
 * Light Is Not Good: Wields corrupted Holy Magic named after himself that will poison the enemy if it hits..
 * Poisonous Person
 * Narcissist: Part of a recurring enemy personality theme started in Thracia 776
 * Sinister Minister
 * Sissy Villain
 * We Have Reserves: Sends his men into the lava-filled Kauku Caves (almost certain death) purely to "look for corpses".

Hetzel
Yet another Begnion Senator, though this one actually isn't so bad. He took Rafiel in and nursed him back to health before the Serenes Massacre.

"Class: Saint (RD)"


 * Anti Villain: Motivated by fear of repercussions rather than malice.
 * Dirty Coward: Although he expresses regret, Hetzel still refused to speak out against the crimes that the Senate had committed in order to maintain his status and his life. Even in the end he is unwilling to go against Lekain and helps him betray Sanaki. While he's sympathetic, he's every bit as responsible for the Senate's atrocities as the likes of Valtome and Numida.
 * Evil Old Folks: Although he's not actually evil.
 * Extreme Doormat: Wherever Lekain is concerned. Hetzel may have wealth, influence and power, but he is totally spineless.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: At the end of the day, Hetzel is little more than a terrified old man.
 * Just Following Orders: Tries to use this as an excuse. The way he sees it, Lekain is the one who has betrayed the Apostle; he's just doing what Lekain tells him to.
 * Light Em Up
 * Light Is Not Good: Has the class of Saint, the rank of Bishop, and wields Staves (he can use Light magic, but proves too cowardly to do so). He's also the closest thing Lekain has to a Dragon.
 * Sinister Minister: For a certain value of "sinister". He's not as crazy as Oliver or that lunatic Valtome, and he's nowhere near the bastard that Lekain is, but the fact remains that Hetzel profitted from the Senate's corruption and did nothing to warn Sanaki about Lekain's schemes. He arguably plays the trope the straightest, as unlike Lekain, Valtome, and Oliver he honestly believes he is following the will of the Goddess.
 * What Could Have Been: Unused dialogue suggests it was once possible to spare his life in the final chapter, which is a But Thou Must Kill Em All objective.

Lekain (Lukan)
Leader of the Begnion Senate and effectively the game's Big Bad. Or so he thinks. Still, you'll be hard pressed to find a single heinous act that wasn't caused, approved of or performed by him.

"Class: Bishop (PoR), Saint (RD)"


 * Big Bad Wannabe: He seems like the Big Bad of Radiant Dawn but he's upstaged by who was manipulating him the entire time.
 * Beard of Evil
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * The Chosen One: He believes he was chosen by Ashera.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Dark Messiah: Seems to view himself as some sort of Jesus figure, and is convinced that he's The Dragon to Ashera, following her resurrection. This is rather different from his behaviour beforehand.
 * Disc One Final Boss: He's set up to be the Big Bad, and defeating him certainly feels like a victory, but by the time you do so enough has happened for you to know he's not the real mastermind.
 * Dirty Coward
 * Evil Chancellor: To Sanaki, whom he's secretly plotting to overthrow.
 * Evil Laugh: Tah ha ha.
 * Eviler Than Thou: Eviler than Naesala, Jarod, and Ashnard, hands down.
 * Hypocrite: One of Ashera's Bishops, he nevertheless participates in the assassination of her previous Apostle, the placement of a false Apostle on the imperial throne, the massacre of the Serenes Herons, the slave trade, consorting with practitioners of dark magic, and attempted genocide, before launching a coup d'etat against Sanaki. He seems to find his faith again following Ashera's resurrection, and promptly goes off the deep end.
 * Light Em Up: Wields the Rexaura, the most powerful Light book in the game. He's also inexplicably capable of blasting your whole party with the Silence condition.
 * Light Is Not Good: Is a member of the Begnion Senate and a Man in White, and his class is listed as Saint; none of this stops him from being one of the most irredeemable bastards in the game.
 * Instant Runes
 * The Man Behind the Man: To Jarod, Izuka, Naesala, and (he thinks) Zelgius.
 * Man in White
 * Sinister Minister: One of the highest ranking members of Begnion church, and a leading figure in the Senate, as well as a total psychopath. Interestingly he starts out as a Hypocrite who more or less flouts all of Ashera's laws; following her resurrection he suffers a breakdown and begins to see himself as some kind of messiah figure.
 * Smug Snake: Of the "failed Magnificent Bastard" stripe. He's a very good manipulator and it gets to the point where if something bad happened to a character, he was probably the one behind it. Yet he's not the true mastermind, and with the exception of the Serenes Massacre, nothing he did was his own idea. Ike gets him to almost admit as such if you pit the two against each other.
 * Teleporters and Transporters: His Rewarp staff, whose capabilites (teleport to anywhere with no negative side effects) he's quite proud of.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Of . Out of all his atrocities only the Serenes Massacre was his own idea.
 * Villainous Breakdown: By the time you encounter him in Part 4, Lekain is fully convinced that he is the new voice of God. It's almost sad, as it means that you never face the Lekain you've really learned to loathe in battle.
 * Villain Teleportation

Dheginsea (Deginhanza)
The stern Black Dragon King of Goldoa, and one of only two living survivors from the time of the Great Flood. An extreme isolationist, he won't involve himself or Goldoa in the affairs of any other country, except mostly to scold the Laguz nations on inciting wars, and forbids his people to leave the country without his explicit permission. His loyalty to the goddess is unshakeable, and so when he discovers that Ashera was awoken in Part 4, he doesn't take it well...

"Class: Black Dragon (RD)

Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako (Japanese, RD), ??? (English, RD)"


 * Anti Villain
 * Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever
 * Badass
 * Badass Mustache
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Breath Weapon
 * Co Dragons: With Sephiran
 * Frickin Laser Beams
 * Large Ham: Just listen to his English voice.
 * Undying Loyalty/Honor Before Reason
 * Person of Mass Destruction
 * Wave Motion Gun
 * Worlds Strongest Man: And widely regarded as the hardest boss in the game, on top of that.
 * Writtenbythe Winners:
 * You Shall Not Pass

Sephiran / (Seferan/)
Sanaki's Prime Minister, and seemingly a gentle man who shares Sanaki's peaceful ambitions. He is actually the Man Behind the Man, who lost his faith in humanity after the horror of the Serenes Massacre. He orchestrates all the events of both games to deliberately wake the goddess, hoping to bring about the end of the world.

"Class: Bishop (PoR, dummy cutscene class), Chancellor (RD)

Voiced by: Kazutaka Ishii (Japanese, RD), ??? (English, RD)"


 * Anti Villain: Type II, possibly Type III.
 * Affably Evil: He's nothing if not this.
 * The Archmage
 * Badass
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Badass Long Robe
 * Big Bad: The Man Behind the Man to Ashnard and Lekain, making him Big Bad of both games.
 * Bishounen
 * Chekhov's Gunman: In retrospect, it is a little suspicious how, in PoR, you first meet Sephiran in a prison cell as an NPC who just so happens to have a unique skill that makes him invincible. The fact that he proves capable of telling the Black Knight what to do in the very next chapter is even more suspect, but by the end of the first game, most players (who aren't aware of the events of RD) might not know what to make of Sephiran, with his engimatic behavior and few onscreen appearances.
 * The Chessmaster - Manipulated many things behind the scenes.
 * Dark Messiah
 * Dark Is Evil/Light Is Not Good: Uses both Dark and Light magic.
 * Death Seeker: After losing his powers he attempts suicide. He again tries to kill himself, and the entire world along with him, after the previous Apostle is killed. He gets his wish in the end, unless the player is on a second playthrough and jumps through about 20 hoops to save him. During fights he actively tries to force every player to take him out; when he's killed his last words are "I'm dying. At last..."
 * Despair Event Horizon: Crossed it thanks to the Serenes Massacare.
 * Defeat Means Playable/Redemption Equals Death: Second playthrough, after defeating him, you can recruit him as Lehran. Otherwise, he dies with a scene between Sanaki and Yune.
 * The Dragon: To Ashera. In fact, he once served as Lehran, the fourth member of the Goddess' Three Heroes. He was arguably the most loyal, given that he's been plotting for her return for the better portion of 780 years. Finally, the epilogue (should he survive the events of Dawn) shows him patiently waiting for the return of his Goddess, now reunited with Yune as Ashunera, 1200 years later.
 * Co Dragons: With Dheginsea, who most emphatically does not take orders from him.
 * Evil Chancellor
 * Fallen Hero
 * Heel Face Turn: If certain conditions are met he can be convinced to join you at the absolute last part of the game.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Zelgius.
 * Interface Spoiler: In Po R, when you meet him in the prison, you can see that he has god-like stats, along with an unique skill which makes him invincible to weapons who aren't inbued with Yune's magic, as you discover in Radiant Dawn. One of the many clues that hints that he's more than what he seems to be.
 * Light Em Up - His element of choice.
 * Casting a Shadow - Can also use Dark tomes.
 * The Man Behind the Man: To Ashnard, Zelgius, and Lekain, making him responsible for every in-series atrocity that wasn't the Serenes Massacre.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Necessary Evil: From his point of view.
 * Optional Party Member
 * Eleventh Hour Ranger
 * Parental Substitute: To Sanaki.
 * Pet the Dog: Is the one who imprisoned Yune in the Fire Emblem/Lehran's Medallion, not seeing it fit to comply with Ashera's belief that Yune needed to be silenced outright. His interactions with other members of the cast (notably Sanaki and Ike) also help him from fully crossing into Knight Templardom.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: As said above, he's about 800 by the time Radiance and Dawn roll in. He continues to exist 1200 years later to see the return of Ashunera.
 * Not quite. He was already at least 1000 years old by the time Yune and Ashera had their feud. This means Lehran is at least 3000 by Radiant Dawn's full epilogue.
 * Redemption Demotion: Yes and no. Statistically, he's still incredible, but because he shows up after the final battle has already begun, he doesn't have a weapon blessed by Yune, so he's relegated to healing and fighting off the reinforcements (or forces one of your other spellcasters into this role).
 * Restored My Faith in Humanity: Ike can do this if the right conditions are met.
 * Before this, he wistfully expresses to himself that he may have acted differently if he'd learnt of Micaiah's survival, but that he believed himself to be at a point of no return.
 * Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: He wants to die, but before he can let himself, everybody has to be turned to stone.
 * Stepford Smiler: You have no idea.
 * That Man Is Dead: His former life as Lehran.
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
 * Yin Yang Bomb

Ashera (Astarte)
The Goddess of Order, Yune's other half, and the final boss. Turned most of the NPCs into stone upon waking up.

"Class: Order Incarnate (RD)

Voiced by: Kumi Sakuma (Japanese, RD), ??? (English, RD)"


 * Above Good and Evil: Ashera doesn't really acknowledge either...
 * A Better God Am I: She sees herself as being truly perfect due to lacking emotions, as revealed in her dialogue with Kurthnaga. However...
 * Pride: ... It's very obvious that she has this in spades.
 * Bigger Bad
 * But Thou Must: A variation; Ike has to be the one to slay her. Should anyone else fell the Goddess, Ashera will simply resurrect herself and the battle will continue.
 * Dark Action Girl: Combines this with The Archmage and Lady of War.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu: Yeah, Ike did. Justified Trope in that he was drawing upon Yune's power.
 * Emotionless Girl: Ashera is what was left after the Goddess of Dawn cast away her emotions.
 * Evil Redhead
 * Final Boss: Of Radiant Dawn.
 * The Ghost: Only in Radiance though; she finally appears in Dawn.
 * God Is Evil / God Is Flawed: Chalk this one up to her backstory. At one point in time, the Goddess of Dawn Ashunera became so overcome by emotion in response to the warring of the world that she summoned up a a calamitous deluge, wiping out most of humanity (the mountainous continent of Tellius is the only remainder of the old world). Ashunera was so guilt-ridden by her actions that she discarded her emotions (what she believed to be the cause of her distress), splitting into Ashera (the mature Goddess of Order and Restriction) and Yune (the childlike Goddess of Chaos and Transformation). It takes a timeframe of about 2000 years before the two halves become whole and the benevolent Ashunera finally returns to her world to watch over it as its creator.
 * Go Mad From the Isolation
 * Hot Goddess: Ashunera played it straight, Ashera is the Evil Is Sexy variant, while Yune is more of a "Cute Goddess" than anything.
 * Hot Witch: If only by the technicality of using magic.
 * Lady of Black Magic: Actually, more like "Lady of White Magic". Oddly enough, Judge is a Strike weapon, but uses the Magic stat.
 * Lady of War
 * Light Is Not Good
 * Moral Event Horizon: Her raising all the Mooks the heroes have killed from the dead without their souls is regarded as such In-Universe, so much that even Yune runs away in tears upon witnessing it.
 * Nice Job Fixing It Villain: Her actually ends up working in the heroes' favor, as it buys them enough time to  without anybody dying.
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Red Eyes Take Warning
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Taken for Granite: She turns all the NPC characters into stone.
 * Time Limit Boss: Ashera is not strictly one of these, but if you don't kill her by turn 10, she cripples your whole party with the Stun condition, at which point her magic spirit Mooks can freely pick people off at their leisure.
 * Well Intentioned Extremist
 * Womanin Black: As the result of an unitentional Evil Costume Switch; Ashunera was originally a Woman in White-ish Blue.