Fire Emblem/Characters: Difference between revisions

Character page for ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series and the tropes that accordingly apply. Characters for specific games and game universes are on specific pages for that universe, and this page will only cover universal character tropes, archetypes, classes and recurring characters; for more detailed and complete character sheets, go to:

** [[Fire Emblem Thracia 776/Characters|Fire Emblem Thracia 776]]

* [[Disappeared Dad]]: If they are even alive, expect them to die five minutes in.

* [[Eleventh-Hour Ranger]]: Known as the "Gotoh Archetype", there's traditionally one last ally character obtained in the final three chapters (if not the very last chapter) who is exceptionally powerful, if unable to gain EXP. These include Gotoh, {{spoiler|Nagi, Karel, Athos, the three Laguz royals, and Lehran.}}

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: The huge guys in armor or with the axe? They'll often be ''much'' smarter than you'd think.

* [[Gonk]]: Numerous bosses, including a running gag of having [[Those Two Bad Guys]] be identical gonk [[Cloudcuckoolander|cloudcuckoolanders]]. As if to compensate and seem vaguely fair, they'll throw one or two gonks in as a recruitable characters. Interestingly enough, most are Axe classes.

=== Lord ===

Some games give their main characters classes which are Lords in all but name, often having different specialities; among the fandom, pretty much all of these classes are colloquially called Lords. Alm and Cellica's base Lord classes in ''Gaiden'' are '''Fighter''' and '''Priest''' respectively<ref>no relation to the basic clases normally known as Fighter and Priest, which don't exist in ''Gaiden''. Other characters of this type of Priest exist in the game, but only Cellica can promote and is treated as a Lord.</ref>, and the class is known as '''Junior Lord''' in ''Genealogy''. Ike's initial class is '''Ranger''' in ''Path of Radiance'' and '''Hero''' (a second-tier class) in ''Radiant Dawn''; Micaiah's initial class in ''Radiant Dawn'' is '''Light Mage'''. Recently introduced in ''Awakening'' is the [[Player Character|My Unit]] exclusive class '''Strategist'''

Most Lords who can promote have their own specific class into which they promote. Marth does not promote at all, Alm and Cellica promote to '''Hero''' and '''Princess'''<ref>no relation to the normal-unit Hero class, here called Swordfighters, or Lachesis's personal class in ''Genealogy''</ref> respectively, Celice and Eliwood promote into the '''Knight Lord'''<ref>Siglud starts as one</ref>, Leaf promotes into the '''Prince''' in ''Thracia''<ref>Prince is also his basic, first-tier class in ''Genealogy''</ref>, Hector, Eirika, and Ephraim promote into the '''Great Lord'''<ref>Hector's Great Lord class is completely different from that of Eirika or Ephraim, in that the former is more like a General, whereas the latter are horseback units; additionally, Eirika and Ephraim's Great Lord class was called '''Master Lord''' in Japanese, which is also what Roy's promoted class was called</ref>, Roy, Krom and Lucina promote to '''Master Lord'''<ref>Based on the precedent of Eirika and Ephraim, many people just call it "Great Lord" in the context of Krom and Lucina</ref>, and Lyn promotes into a '''Blade Lord'''. Ike is an odd case in that '''Lord''' is actually his promoted class in ''Path of Radiance''; in ''Radiant Dawn'' he can promote into the third-tier '''Vanguard''' class. Micaiah promotes into the '''Light Sage''' class, then again into the third-tier '''Light Priestess''' class. My Unit promotes into the '''Grandmaster''' class.

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* [[Competitive Balance]]: They fall all over the place on this one:

** [[Squishy Wizard]]: Micaiah

* [[Expy]]: Most character-specific Lord class variants are based on other classes: Lyn is based on the Myrmidon line with elements of the Nomadic Trooper, Hector on Generals, Eliwood on Paladins<ref>In their ''Sword of Seals'' Trial Map appearances, [[Fridge Brilliance|Eliwood and Hector actually ''were'' a Paladin and a General respectively]]</ref>, Ike on Mercenaries, and Micaiah on Mages (except with light magic).

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]

* [[Sword of Plot Advancement]]: Most promotions of Lord characters are story-tied events which can't be avoided, often even if the character isn't at the right level to promote. Sometimes they're tied to obtaining a literal [[Sword of Plot Advancement]].

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Almost every Lord has blue, or otherwise unnaturally-coloured, hair. That Leaf instead has a downright normal hair colour is what actually stands out among them.

Distantly related is the bow-wielding '''Nomad''' class of the Elibe games, which is pretty much a Bow Knight with a tribal flavouring and slightly different stat distribution. They promote to the '''Nomadic Trooper''' class, which gains the use of [[Bow and Sword In Accord|swords]] as well. Also related is the '''Mage Knight''' of the Jugdral games<ref>not of ''The Sacred Stones'', which is a magic-only class</ref>, which wield both magic and swords.

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* [[Automaton Horses]]: There's no sign that the horses used by Cavalier variants ever need rest; odds are they do after battles, but it's never discussed.

* [[The Cavalry]]: Many enemy armies treat them as thus, bringing in waves of cavaliers and related classes as mid-level reinforcements; this is particularly effective given their high movement rate, allowing them to quickly sweep in and potentially ruin the player's shit.

* [[Cool Horse]]

The Jugdral and Tellius games split the Knight class into four separate armoured classes, each specializing in a different weapon type: the '''Sword Armor''', '''Lance Armor''', '''Axe Armor''', and '''Bow Armor'''<ref>Jugdral only</ref>. They all promote into similarly weapon-specific variants of the General<ref>in Jugdral, only the Sword Armor promotes; the others are enemy-only and thus don't promote, though the Jugdral General can use all four weapon types anyway</ref>. In ''Gaiden'', the Armor Knight serves as a second-tier class promoting from the '''Soldier''' (see below).

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* [[Armor-Piercing Attack]]: The General and Marshall's mastery skill, Luna.

* [[No Sell]]: Great Shield, a skill belonging to this class in the Jugdral and Magvel games, completely protects the unit from any damage whatsoever when it randomly activates.

* [[Stone Wall]] / [[Mighty Glacier]]: The defining trait of this class category is enormous Defence and great Attack, with minimal Speed.

=== Mercenary ===

The Demon Fighter reappears in a limited capacity in ''Awakening''. Acting as a reward for completing Alm's DLC package (Alm himself is this class here), any male unit can promote to it by use of a Demon Fighter Scroll. Here, their weapon set adds axes and magic.

Related are the aforementioned Myrmidon class and Ike's various Lord classes in the Tellius games, which are functionally Mercenaries.

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* [[BFS]]

A class closely related to the Mercenary, originally deriving from Mercenaries with specifically different gameplay constitutions; whereas Mercenaries are balanced, Myrmidons turn up the speed to near-ridiculous levels at the expense of defense. They promote to the '''Swordmaster''' class, and in ''Radiant Dawn'' promote further to the '''Trueblade''' class. The Myrmidon class technically replaced the Mercenary class in the Jugdral games (and thus, some could promote to '''Hero/Forrest'''), but was functionally a bit of a mix of the two; the full, separate Myrmidon class in and of itself as we know it today debuted in the Elibe games.

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* [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]: The Astra/Shooting Star skill; it's the mastery skill for Swordmasters and Trueblades in the Tellius games, and is pretty much exclusively associated with the Isaac royal family (all of whom are Swordfighters, Swordmasters and Forrests) in the Jugdral games.

* [[Flash Step]]: A general tendency of Swordmasters.

* '''[[Fragile Speedster]]'''

=== Fighter ===

Related are the '''Brigand/Bandit''' and '''Pirate''' family, which is pretty much the same thing except less reputable in-universe and capable of crossing mountains and water respectively; both promote into the '''Berserker''' class.

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* [[An Axe to Grind]]

* [[Bandit Mook]]: Brigands and Pirates, when in the service of the enemy.

* [[BFS|Big Fucking Axe]]: Common, especially among Berserkers.

* [[Bigger Is Better]]: The basis of the Warrior's mastery skill, Colossus, in ''Path of Radiance'' - it deals more damage if the user's Constitution is greater than that of the enemy. This was changed in ''Radiant Dawn'', where Colossus merely triples the user's Strength.

** Fighters and their related classes are typically fairly large as well.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Traditionally.

* [[Gonk]]: They Have a tendency to this or to avert [[Generic Cuteness]].

* [[Horny Vikings]]: Most portrayals of the Berserker.

In most games, the Soldier class are the mook class -- they're enemy-only, they're weak, they serve as little more than cannon fodder, and the game itself is more than ready to point that out to you. Then came the Tellius games, and suddenly Soldiers became a viable fighting class which functions as the lance-wielding counterpart of the Fighter, Myrmidon, and Archer. In the Tellius games, they promote to the '''Halberdier''' class, then again in ''Radiant Dawn'' to the '''Sentinel''' class. In ''Gaiden'', Soldiers served as a first tier class which promoted into the '''Armor Knight''' class (see above).

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* [[Critical Hit]] [[Up to Eleven]]: Normal critical hits and mastery skills deal three times the damage. The Impale mastery skill available to Sentinels deals ''four'' times the damage.

* [[Divergent Character Evolution]]: Started out as unpromoted Armor Knights.

Related are the '''Ballisticians''' of the Akaneia and Jugdral canon, a class which exclusively uses [[Siege Engines]], an ability which in other games is available just to Archers. Also related is the '''Hunter''' class, exclusive to the Akaneia games, which is pretty much the Archer with slightly different stat distribution and the ability to traverse forest easier; they promote to '''Horseman''', the mounted, near-identical progentior of an endless line of [[Bow and Sword In Accord|bow-and-sword-using]] mounted classes like the Ranger, Bow Knight and Nomadic Trooper.

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* [[Always Accurate Attack]]: Deadeye/Sure Strike, the Sniper and Marksman's mastery skill. It's a bit of a [[Power-Up Letdown]], in that by the point they have access to it, a Sniper/Marksman will have such high Skill that they don't ''need'' an accuracy boost.

Related is the '''Bard'''<ref>not to be confused with the normal Bard support class, discussed below</ref>, a class exclusive to Levn of ''Genealogy of the Holy War'' which wields only wind magic and also promotes to Sage.

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* [[Badass Cape]] / [[In the Hood]]: Most Mages wear capes, and occasionally hoods.

** [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]: ''Awakening'' forsakes this tradition in favour of some ''enormous'' wizard hats.

** [[Holy Hand Grenade]] / [[Casting a Shadow]]: In the Akaneia games, all magic types (staves aside) are one and the same, meaning that Mages also wield ostensibly "light" and "dark" tomes like Starlight and Swarm.

* [[Life Drain]]: The Arch Sage's mastery skill, Flare.

Related is the '''Monk''' class, an offensive magic class exclusive to the GBA games which uses light magic; they also promote into Bishops, and so are considered part of this class tree. Also related is the '''Light Mage''' and its promotions, Micaiah's Lord class in ''Radiant Dawn'', and the '''Shaman'''<ref>not to be confused with the normal dark-wielding Shaman class, discussed below</ref>, Diadora and Yuria's class in ''Genealogy'', which promotes to '''Sage'''.

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* [[For Massive Damage]]: The Slayer skill in ''The Sacred Stones'', which deals massive damage to monsters.

This class is not to be confused with the '''Shaman''' class of ''Genealogy'', which is a light-wielding class exclusive to Diadora and Yuria, or with the third-tier '''Light Priestess''' class, which was called "Shaman" in the original Japanese version of ''Radiant Dawn''.

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* [[Casting a Shadow]]

The Troubadour class is one of the most variable in the series in terms of promotion and weaponry. In most games, they wield only staves, but additionally wield swords in the Jugdral games. They normally promote into the '''Valkyrie''', which like the Priest, adds the ability to use offensive magic (anima or light depending on the game) in every game except the Tellius games; in said Tellius games, where the class is exclusive to Mist, they add the ability to use swords instead. In the Jugdral games, they instead promote into a female-exclusive variant of the '''Paladin''' class which can use staves.

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* [[Automaton Horses]]

Related are the '''Princess Crimea''' and '''Queen''' classes, exclusive to Elincia in ''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn'' respectively; both classes wield swords and staves, but are otherwise identical to the normal pegasus classes.

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** [[Cool Sword]]: In [[FE 1]] and [[FE 4]] they can wield swords immediately. In most other games they get swords upon promotion to Falcon Knight.

* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: Pegasi become dragons in the [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|Akaneia games]]? Huh?

** [[Winged Unicorn]]: Normally they look like this after promotion to Falcon Knight, though it's entirely possible that the horn is just part of the pegasus's head armour.

* [[Rule of Three]]: Traditionally, there are three available pegasus-riding units, often related to each other either through family or through job, who can execute a "Triangle Attack" when together. The Jugdral games are the only exceptions; the player never gets more than two Pegasus Knights in the same game, and in ''Genealogy'' the two are in different generations. ''Genealogy'' actually has a trio of ''enemy'' Falcon Knights who can Triangle Attack!

* [[Staff Chick]]: Falcon Knights in ''Genealogy'' and ''Awakening''.

* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: Almost every Pegasus Knight does Grade B with boots and a miniskirt.

Not to be confused with the "normal" dragons which figure heavily into the plots of most games<ref>though in Akaneia, ''these'' dragons are degenerate wild relatives of ''those'' dragons</ref>. Nintendo of America certainly thought [[Viewers are Morons|this'd be the case]], so for a while this class became the "Wyvern Rider" in English; this was later reverted to "Dragonknight" in ''Radiant Dawn''.

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** [[An Axe to Grind]]: In ''Radiant Dawn'' and ''Awakening'', this has been their preferred weapon.

* [[Divergent Character Evolution|Divergent Class Evolution]]: The dragon-riding family slowly evolved from the pegasus family into the distinct class tree with different strengths it is today.

* [[Dragon Rider]]: [[Captain Obvious|You don't say.]]

* [[Mighty Glacier]] / [[Lightning Bruiser]]: Depending on the game, as a bit of a counterpoint to the [[Fragile Speedster]] status of Pegasus Knights.

* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: The appearance of the Dragon/Wyvern Mounts vary wildly even in games taking place in the universe(compare the quadruped dragons in ''Radiant Dawn'' to the Bipedal Wyverns in ''Path of Radiance''). What varies most are whether they stand on two legs or four and if they have no arms like a wyvern or their arms like a western dragon.

** There is one hell of a naming inconsistency clusterfuck with this class family. For ''Blazing Sword'', the first English release, they were renamed "Wyvern Rider" and "Wyvern Lord" to distinguish them from the proper dragons which figured heavily into the plot of the game; ''Sacred Stones'' and ''Path of Radiance'' stuck to this. The Japanese version of ''The Sacred Stones'' introduced the "Wyvern Knight" class, ostensibly separate from the dragons of the Dragon Rider class and looking more like traditional wyverns; they were still called "Wyvern Knights" in the English version and the matter of their physical difference wasn't addressed. ''Radiant Dawn'''s translation discarded the "wyvern" name for the classes themselves, going with variations of "Dracoknight"; however, in dialogue, the species are still called wyverns, again to differentiate from the game's fairly important actual dragons. This remained the case for ''Shadow Dragon'', the last translated ''Fire Emblem'' game.

** The Japanese version alone isn't much better. The base class is called Dragon Rider in most games, but the Jugdral games and ''Radiant Dawn'' call it Dragon Knight. The promoted class is called either Dragon Master or Dragon Lord depending on the game, which becomes really fucking confusing when you consider the name of the third-tier promoted class from ''Radiant Dawn'': Dragonlord(Lindwurm in Japanese).

This Bard class is not to be confused with the '''Bard''' class of ''Genealogy'', a Wind magic-wielding class exclusive to Levn. Dancers exist in their normal function in that game, though.

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* [[Dance Battler]]: In the Jugdral and Akaneia games, in which they also wield swords... just not very well.

A support class specialising in, well, stealing things. Thieves can steal items from enemy units, and unlock chests and doors with lockpicks instead of keys. What they promote into depends on the game: the Jugdral games promote them into the '''Thief Fighter''' class (though Lara can optionally promote into Dancer instead), and most games from Elibe onward allow them to promote into the '''Assassin''', a powerful offensive class, or the '''Rogue''', an extension of the thief's theft abilities. In ''Radiant Dawn'', Rogues promote further into the third-tier '''Whisper''' class, and Assassins are treated as a separate third-tier class whose only member comes as one and thus doesn't promote. In ''Awakening'', they gain the alternate promotion of '''Trickster'''.

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* [[All Swords Are the Same]]: A particularly amusing exaggeration: in the Elibe and Magvel games, all swords look like ''knives'' when used by members of the Thief class family!

In ''The Sacred Stones'', there are three trainee classes, each exclusive to one ally character: the '''Pupil''', the '''Journeyman''' and the '''Recruit'''. Each has a choice of two classes to promote to: the Pupil can promote to Mage or Shaman, the Journeyman to Fighter or Pirate, and the Recruit to Cavalier or Knight. In accordance with the promotion tree system of ''The Sacred Stones'', each thus has three or four options for their final promotion.

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* [[Magikarp Power]]

* [[Weapon of Choice]]

** [[Heroes Prefer Swords]]: Villagers in ''Gaiden''

** [[An Axe to Grind]]: Journeymen

** [[Fire, Ice, Lightning]]: Pupils

Related are the '''dragon laguz''' of the Tellius canon, which are pretty much the same thing but fitting into the laguz concept of that universe, and by extension the rest of the laguz.

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* [[Breath Weapon]]

** [[Light'Em Up]]: The Divine Dragons, the strongest of the dragon tribes.

** [[Casting a Shadow]]: The [[Non-Indicative Name|Earth Dragons]], apparently.

If the final boss isn't a dark magician, a dragon, or a god, this is what they'll be -- a king decked out in enormous armour or finery, dwarfing every other unit (except maybe Manaketes/laguz) in sheer size, wielding a really fucking huge ancestral weapon, and possessing astronomical physical stats. More often than not, though, there'll be a [[True Final Boss]] after them. Specifically, this refers to '''King''' Zephiel of ''Sword of Seals'', '''Emperor''' Hardin of ''Mystery of the Emblem'', '''Emperor''' Alvis of ''Genealogy of the Holy War'' '''Baron''' Leidrick of ''Thracia 776'', '''King''' Ashnard of ''Path of Radiance'' (who is also similar to a Dragon Rider), '''Overlord''' Valhart of ''Awakening'' and arguably the '''[[Black Knight]]''' of the Tellius games.

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* [[Ancestral Weapon]]

* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: Anna doesn't seem to mind too much.

* [[No Sense of Direction]]: During his time in Jugdral, he gets lost ''twice''.

* [[Siege Engines]]: In ''Shadow Dragon''; by the time of ''New Mystery'', he's stopped using it.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: He - along with Beck, Darros, Wrys, Roger, and to a lesser extent Gotoh - was meant to return as playable characters in ''Monshou no Nazo'', but was scrapped during development.

=== Naga ''(Narga)'' ===

Naga's daughter, and the sole survivor of the Divine Dragon tribe who is still capable of taking dragon form. As one of her last acts, Naga placed her in an unending sleep to prevent her from degenerating into madness like all the other dragons, but she was eventually unsealed by Bantu. The two travelled the world for a time until she was captured and brainwashed by Gharnef. Upon being freed from the spell by Bantu, Tiki joined the Altean army and took a liking to Marth. After the war, she was put back to sleep by Gotoh, but he allowed her to reawaken for good upon confirming that Marth would be able to restore the Shield of Seals, which would prevent her from degenerating.

{{quote| '''Class:''' Manakete<br />