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Welcome to my third character analysis! I've already done a Tauroneo and Micaiah character analysis and this time we'll be taking a look at Kurthnaga, who is easily my favourite dragon in the series, bar none and my third favourite character in all of Fire Emblem! Path of Radiance When Ike's ship crashes to the Goldoan shore, he gets out and angers a bunch of dragons. The dragons are about to kill him but fortunately, Kurthnaga, prince of the dragon tribes, stops them and promises to help move the ship. This shows Kurthnaga's empathetic nature. Also, Ike talked to Kurthnaga as if he were a simple commoner which shocked him but due to his humbleness it was of no problem to him. Also, we see that Kurthnaga is very much into diplomacy as he promises to convince his father to reprimand Kilvas. Kurthnaga also provided Ike with supplies on top of freeing his ship which shows his generosity. Furthermore, Kurthnaga would like to offer a whole feast but he can't because his father prefers isolation. This shows us that Kurthnaga's character conflict is respecting his father's decree VS his own generous nature. Basically he has to strike a balance which he does in this scene. Kurthnaga's complaints were brought forward by his father in the Laguz Royals meeting which shows just how much clout Kurthnaga has as this is a very important meeting and influences the geopolitics of Tellius. Also, Kurthnaga had a profound impact on Ike's character development in Path of Radiance as seeing his courtesy convinced Ike that the Goldoan Dragons are honorable but was conflicted how both dragons and the bird tribes be both laguz because before meeting these two tribes, Ike had only known the Gallian beast tribes so he naively assumed all Laguz are good. Basically Ike's perspective on good vs evil evolves after his meeting with Kurthnaga and realizes he can't equate the actions of a few with an entire species. Radiant Dawn Part 1 Kurthnaga comes to Daein to meet up with Almedha, his long lost sister but ends up getting captured by the Begnion occupation forces. While in prison, he once again shows us his empathetic nature by giving olvi grass to stop Micaiah's bleeding. So basically in his first appearance in both games, he has the honour of helping out the protagonist when they are in a bind. Also Aimee points out that Kurthnaga is a quiet person which confirms he's very introverted, much like Micaiah. It's no question why I like both these characters when they share many similarities. The game basically hammers the similarities between them even further in a base conversation. Kurthnaga has secrets, desires privacy, is kind/gentle and loves to feel the wind. Hmm I wonder who else is like that. Anyway this base conversation reveals to us that Kurthnaga loves nature and is very inquisitive when it comes to making observations. He'd make a great explorer or even a scientist. Finally we see that Kurthaga wanted to communicate with Almedha hence he gives her a sending stone. After seeing so many similarities between Kurthnaga and Micaiah, we finally see that the two have differing worldviews. Kurthnaga uses quotation marks to describe the liberation army which goes to show he does not believe in the use of force as a valid means of liberating a country. From this conversation it is quite clear that Kurthnaga is a pacifist and influenced by the teachings of Deghinsea. While similar in temperament, it makes sense why their political views are so different, Micaiah is raised up in a militaristic country so despite her gentle nature, it makes sense that she's no pacifist. Also, this base conversation showcases his intelligent and shrewd mind. He managed to predict what Micaiah was about to say before she even said it and read her feelings like a book. Kurthnaga may not have the mind reading abilities that Micaiah has but his sharpness allows him to do just that. Despite not approving of Micaiah's actions, he gives her the renewal scroll showing us how compassionate he is. Once again we see Kurthnaga balancing his pacifist mindset with his empathetic mindset. Also this base conversation is proof that Micaiah is not a Mary Sue, not even in part one. Mary Sues make other characters act out of character just to make the Mary Sue look good. If Micaiah were a true Mary Sue, Kurthnaga would have changed his beliefs on the spot and supported Micaiah with zero hesitation which wouldn't have been difficult to write considering how similar the two are and the fact Kurthnaga sees Begnion's oppression first hand. Finally, we see that Kurthnaga's character flaw is that he gets scared near a battlefield. I can relate to that as someone who is living in a land without war and can get frightened if I'm too close to fireworks, let alone an explosion. Part 3 Almedha messages Kurthnaga and asks him to save his son. Kurthnaga now has to make a difficult choice much like Rajaion did long ago. He shows that he can be very deceptive considering his explanation for being out late in the night makes sense given that he loves to look at nature and he didn't lie either because he was also doing that in the cutscene. When the Daein army has pretty much collapsed, Kurthnaga shows up in the moment of truth and makes a pretty badass entrance showing us the power of the Goldoan dragons and why their power is feared. His power was so immense that the entire Laguz Alliance is forced to fall back. There are plenty of powerful dragons in the series but other than Deghinsea and the dragon gods, Kurthnaga might be the most powerful because while armies lead by various lords like Marth and Roy have fought plenty of dragons, none of their armies were forced to fall back at the sight of just one dragon and I reckon Ike's army is a lot stronger. Just look at Tibarn, an extremely brave and powerful guy who went toe to toe with Zelgius, yet even he started freaking out at the sight of Kurthnaga and we all know how powerful Zelgius is. Being able to casually destroy a massive fortress is no small feat because defensive buildings take a lot of time to construct and are very valuable for defensive warfare and a pain to lay siege to but if you have Kurthnaga on your side, he can just casually wipe out a fortress that was able to fit 10000 soldiers. That's totally broken. Seriously, who needs a lot of military equipment, strategies/tactics, charisma, dedication and time when you can just wipe out armies and their infrastructure with ease? Also, Kurthnaga's entrance hypes up Deghinsea because unlike his son, Deghinsea is a lot older, bigger and has actual combat experience so when you confront him in the endgame, the player can feel the dread of having to fight none other than the legendary King of Dragons. Kurthnaga's initial intentions with the use of force was to stop the fighting so that the two sides can have a ceasefire followed by peace talks. So we see that Kurthnaga is sticking to Deghinsea's pacifist ideals but unlike his father, Kurthnaga is now starting to embrace the use of force for the greater good. Basically we see Kurthnaga's beliefs evolve from someone who didn't believe in the use of force at all to someone who believes it can be justified when it can stop additional bloodshed. When Micaiah spills the beans to Kurthnaga, she requests Almedha to give more information on the blood pact but if Pelleas dies Almedha refuses to do so as she's depressed. Kurthnaga shows us his charisma by convincing the sullen and stubborn Almedha to stop keeping secrets and to calm down. Once again Kurthnaga shows us his intelligence when he figures out that Pelleas doesn't have to die to break the blood pact and instead they can track down the Senator instead because it takes two people to make a contract. Anyhow from this point on, Kurthnaga is no longer the peaceful arbitrator we once knew him as. He has decided to fight on Daein's side for the sake of his sister and nephew. His meeting with Almedha ended up developing both their characters because Kurthnaga is no longer the pacifist that we once knew and Almedha has become an apologetic individual even though before she was quite proud and arrogant. The Daein army no longer has the defensive positions of castle Nox and even with those, they were hopelessly outmatched but with Kurtnaga and Nailah supporting the Daein army, the Daein army can still fight on even when Micaiah leaves the battlefield which goes to show just how powerful Kurthnaga is which is further compounded by the fact that Nailah, the other powerhouse keeping Daein afloat, hypes him up without bringing up her own power level. Nailah, like Tibarn, is pretty cocky, so it goes to show that Kurthnaga was more essential to the Daein Army's survival than Nailah herself. Despite Kurthnaga's resolve, his nonviolent nature still shows on the battlefield where he shows a lot of hesitation and is clearly an emotional train-wreck but despite that, his power keeps the Daein Army from collapsing. Part 4 Despite not having any experience with how armies function, Kurthnaga was thoughtful enough to suggest giving the sending stones to the herons so that all three armies can communicate. After going through the ordeal of fighting a battle, Kurthnaga is traumatized and unable to participate in the next two battles. As a matter of fact, he's so scared of blood that he can't talk to Ike until he puts down his bloodied sword. So while Kurthnaga makes an effort to become braver in part three, it resulted in him becoming even more frightened. In Kurthnaga's conversation with Ike, we learn that he's interested in reading books which makes sense because he's very intelligent and a deep thinker. Finally, we see some more development from Kurthnaga when he feels better after the conversation with Ike. Kurthnaga is quite the secretive introvert but he finally realizes that talking to people about his own problems is better than leaving them concealed. Endgame Kurthnaga has to come to terms with the fact he'll be fighting his own father and the rest of his tribe even though before endgame he was too frightened to even be near a battle. He has once again gained the resolve he temporarily gained at the end of part three but this time it is permanent and far greater than before. Meanwhile, he also learns more about his father and ends up respecting him even more which makes it even more painful to confront his father but commits himself regardless. Also, unlike Sanaki, who wasn't able to accept that Sephiran was on Ashera's side until he revealed his plans, Kurthnaga doesn't try to make excuses about his father and interrogates Nasir about why his father has joined Ashera even before Nasir reveals to him the purpose of his visit. This goes to show he isn't naive and can see the unfortunate reality with clarity without emotions clouding his judgement. He can put the pieces together by himself without it having to be spelled out. Granted, Kurthnaga hoped that his father could be talked out of fighting on Ashera's side but his hope wasn't inherently wrong because after being defeated in the fight, Deghinsea ended up agreeing that Ashera must be stopped. Deghinsea was just being stubborn and his defeat humbled him enough to listen to reason. Kurthnaga is willing to accept punishment for his actions in part 3 which goes to show his selflessness as well as regret for breaking Goldoa's neutrality. Yet of course, he can't allow the innocent to get punished for the crimes of a few. After being made king of the dragon tribes and after a history lesson by Gareth and Nasir, Kurthnaga becomes firm in his convictions and has no regrets at this point. He has also increased in his respect for his father despite seeing the flaws in his father's line of thinking. Furthermore, this base conversation once again shows us that Kurthnaga is good at second guessing what someone will say before they even say it. This is intellectually very impressive considering how this is the first time he's listening to this history lesson and how convoluted and hard to accept this story is. To this day I have a hard time wrapping around my head at the lore this game throws at you let alone being able to make sudden deductions the first time reading the script. In a talk conversation between Kurthnaga and Lehran, we learn that Kurthnaga was always fond of him even as an infant. An interesting observation I was able to pick up was that Kurthnaga's political ideology is a mixture of Lehran and Deghinsea. Basically Lehran is an internationalist and Deghinsea is an isolationist. Kurthnaga's actions throughout PoR and RD put him somewhere in the middle which makes me think that Kurthnaga was also influenced by Lehran in his infancy. Lastly, note that Ashera hypes Kurthnaga for being the strongest non divine being alive. This means Kurthnaga is stronger than Ike. Take that Ike fans. Epilogue Being true to his character, his ending has him maintain peace and arbitrate conflict. Quite a fitting end which stays true to both his character while respecting his father's legacy.