The Lords of Fire Emblem

[Kong Wen]

I've been playing Fire Emblem Heroes pretty much non-stop since it launched a few years ago, and while Alfonse is not the most useful unit in battle, he's developing into an interesting Lord-archetype character for this series. He's not very powerful, but he's quite thoughtful. In a refreshing reversal of the old "scheming bad guys pull a fast one on the heroes" trope, Alfonse actually seems to be able to see through enemies, outwitting Surtr, Hel, and Lif in story sequences over the past few months. Rather than rely on an Avatar/adviser/tactician character, Alfonse is the one who most often figures out what's going on.

This led me to think about the various Lord characters from the Fire Emblem series and which ones I like (and which ones I don't). Ike is still my favourite because he has a really nice, long character development arc over the course of his two games. Alfonse probably comes in second place now.

The Lords of Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990) features Marth as the prototypical Lord: a sword-wielding infantryman and prince of his kingdom. Marth also reappears as a Lord in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994), and the remakes, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (2008) and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem (2010).

Fire Emblem Gaiden (1992), remade as Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia (2017) doesn't feature a Lord class, but the its function is carried out by Alm and Celica on their respective story paths.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (1996) is a two-part generational game, so it gets two Lords as well: Sigurd, a mounted Knight Lord, and his son Seliph.

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (1999) takes place between the generations of the previous game and features Leif .

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (2002) features Roy.

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (2003), the first game in the series released in the West (where it was simply known as Fire Emblem), has three protagonists and three Lord-like classes: Lyn's Blade Lord, Eliwood's mounted Knight Lord, and Hector's axe-wielding Great Lord.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (2004) again features two protagonists, Eirika and the lance-wielding Ephraim.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (2005) features the first and only non-noble character to play the role of a Lord in the series. Ike is a commoner who rises to shoulder great responsibility. He is functionally a Lord, but he rejects rank and title at the end of the game.

The direct sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (2007) doesn't have a Lord class, but Ike is back to play the role for all intents and purposes. Because of the structure of the plot, the role is functionally shared by Light Mage Micaiah, who leads her own faction through large sections of the game.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (2012) has two fairly traditional Lords in Chrom and Lucina.

Fire Emblem Fates (2015) doesn't have a Lord class, but the main protagonist Corrin is a Prince[ss] who plays the role in all but name.

Fire Emblem Heroes (2017), a mobile spin-off, has three main characters: Anna as Commander of the Order of Heroes, and Alfonse and Sharena as Prince and Princess of Askr. Characters don't have classes in this game, but Alfonse, as a sword-wielding infantryman, is probably the Lord here.

Fire Emblem Warriors (2017), another spin-off, features another set of twin Lords in Rowan and Lianna.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019) has a Lord in each house: Edelgard of the Black Eagles, Dimitri of the Blue Lions, and Claude of the Golden Deer.

Who's your favourite Lord or Lord-like character in the Fire Emblem series?

[The Shoemaker]

Ike is pretty easily my favorite. His story has a good journey, and I love his visual transformation from POR to RD. Also one of my best characters in Smash Bros.

As for other lords, I like Chrom a lot, but I feel like that's because he actually feels pretty close to Ike in looks and personality. Also like him in Smash.

Corrin I'm not a fan of. Fates in general was just poorly written and it did not help the characters. I like Corrin's design though.

I like Alm in the remake to Gaiden on 3DS. I don't remember what happened too much but I enjoyed him a good amount. Celica a little less but still good.

I am drawn to Edelgard in Three Houses, but have no idea what she will be like.

I have an affinity to Marth and Roy due to Smash, but don't have much to say about their actual games. The lords of Fire Emblem Warriors were fine, not memorable. I'd say the same about FE Heroes but I've played a lot less of that.

[Jordan]

Marth: I hate him. I always thought he was boring. There are some characters from the first generation of Fire Emblem who I enjoy. I thought Hardin had a really interesting character development. I also thought Sheeda/Caeda/Shiida (the names of this generation have the most controversy) had an enjoyable personality. The main lord, however, had the personality of a cardboard box.

Gaiden/Echoes SOV: Alm and Celica were decent enough as characters, but I couldn't get invested in them because I despised the awful gameplay of this game.

FEIV: I like both of the lords in this, but I prefer Sigurd.

Thracia: Never played it.

FEVI: I hate Roy. Just like Marth, I find him utterly and incomprehensibly boring.

FEVII: I hated Eliwood at first, but he grew on me when I supported him with Ninian. That's one of the better romances in the series in my opinion. Hector is probably my favorite lord, and Lyn was my favorite when I was younger.

FEVIII: I love Ephraim and think Eirika is ok. The path splitting in this game was a big problem, as it felt like Ephraim's story was a side show while Eirika had the real plot. However, I preferred Ephraim as a lord, making the story in this game somewhat obnoxious to me.

FE Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn: Ike is one of the most badass lords in the series. Micaiah starts out alright but quickly devolves into a bland Mary Sue with questionable judgment. Radiant Dawn had a lot of missed opportunities as far as the plot, but I credit it for introducing the concept of different playable characters fighting each other as part of the plot. I like this premise a lot, even if it's not always executed perfectly in Fire Emblem.

Awakening: Chrom was alright. Lucina was boring, just like the counterpart she was trying to imitate. To her credit, she was less boring than Marth. I have nothing to really say about Robin. To me he/she was just cheesy. I'm not a fan of the plot of this game or the main lords.

Fates: Fuck Corrin. He/She was an absolutely awful character in every way. I love the gameplay of Fates. I might even think it's the best in the entire series, but the characters and story were really lacking.

Three Houses: Without delving into timeskip spoilers, I really like all three of the lords in this game. In fact, they're some of my favorites. I like Claude the best because he has a really stand out personality as a sarcastic schemer.

Subjective Rating:

Nostalgia biased Tier: Hector
God Tier: Ephraim, Ike, Claude
High Tier: Dimitri, Edelgard, Lyndis, Sigurd
Mid Tier: Eliwood, Eirika, Seliph, Alm, Celica, Chrom
Crap: Micaiah, Roy, Marth, Lucina
Corrin Tier: Corrin

[The Shoemaker]

Now that I've sunk a good amount of time into Three Houses, I enjoy Edelgard quite a lot. I think having three Lords allowed them to take liberties with the characters they wouldn't have otherwise. I haven't gotten to the time skip, but I like the somewhat sinister vibe Edelgard gives when she speaks of her devotion to see her world change.

The other two lords I haven't spent a lot of time with, understandably. I think I would like them both.

[Jordan]

Edelgard is a really interesting character. Trying not to spoiler here, but make sure to get her to at least C+ support rank and talk to her often. She has two paths, and one of them is a "bad one" in my opinion. In Chapters 10-12 try to talk with her in the monastery whenever possible. I think in Chapter 11 on the 12th or something, she gives you some kind of option to come with her. I think you want to pick that option in order to have a plot choice later on in her story.

[The Shoemaker]

Edelgard is a really interesting character. Trying not to spoiler here, but make sure to get her to at least C support rank and talk to her often. She has two paths, and one of them is a "bad one" in my opinion. In Chapters 10-12 try to talk with her in the monastery whenever possible. I think in Chapter 11 on the 12th or something, she gives you some kind of option to come with her. I think you want to pick that option in order to have a plot choice later on in her story.

Sounds like more choice than you'd expect from a FE story! I've definitely been keeping up with her supports.

[Jordan]

I've actually been somewhat tempted to abandon this route of Blue Lions I've been doing temporarily and play Edelgard myself. I've already done half a Deer playthrough and am maybe 2/3 through Blue Lions, but the Black Eagles story intrigues me greatly. I often can't will myself to finish stories in Fire Emblem for some reason. It might be because later maps take longer.

[The Shoemaker]

I've actually been somewhat tempted to abandon this route of Blue Lions I've been doing temporarily and play Edelgard myself. I've already done half a Deer playthrough and am maybe 2/3 through Blue Lions, but the Black Eagles story intrigues me greatly. I often can't will myself to finish stories in Fire Emblem for some reason. It might be because later maps take longer.

Interesting! I'll definitely see the Black Eagles through, but I don't know if I'll play both of the other two routes, not sure which one I would pick at this point.

[Kong Wen]

I think in Chapter 11 on the 12th or something, she gives you some kind of option to come with her. I think you want to pick that option in order to have a plot choice later on in her story.

Just to clarify this, only pick that option if you want to go with her. If you want her to go fuck herself, act accordingly. Choices are fun. I have thoughts on the game as a whole, which I'll post in the other thread as soon as I get a second.