Best and worst dads in Fire Emblem

[Katie]

Since Father's Day is coming up, I figured we should have a topic where we discuss the best and worst fathers in the series. I'll start us off with a couple of Sacred Stones examples:

Best: Garcia. His relationship with Ross is one of the most heartwarming things in the game, and I like to have them A support. You can tell he's really done his best to raise Ross by himself ever since his wife's death.

Worst: Marisa's father. Holy shit, Marisa's father. From what can be gleaned from her supports, her father seems to have taught her swordplay and how to live life as a mercenary, but to the exclusion of all else, leaving her with terrible social skills and, as her ending with Gerik states, "clumsy at everything but fighting".

[DragonLord]

Best for me would also be Garcia for reasons you mentioned.

Worst is King Desmond.

I mean what type of father tries to have his son executed so he doesn't inherit the throne? No wonder Zephiel acts how he does in FE6. Not to mention he wasn't faithful to his wife.

Edited June 2, 2016 by DragonLord

[Moblin Major General]

Best: Greil. Many facets of Ike's personality stem from him, especially his intolerance of bigotry, ignorance, and intolerance. He also shattered his wrist so that he couldn't wield a sword properly just so he could raise his kids. Didn't work, as he still died in combat, but at least he made an effort.

Worst: Desmond. I wanted to overthrow this bastard as soon as I saw him. His actions led to his son being a major antagonist in the sequel just because he couldn't be bothered to love his wife.

[Alex95]

Gonna spoiler these.

Best: Eliwood. He's the only father of the main hero to actually live!

Worst: Ashnard. He neglects to even consider Soren his son, leaving him alone.

[Anacybele]

I wouldn't say Greil was the best. Not the worst, no way, but not the best either. Greil was too distant and kept too many secrets from his kids. It feels like Ike barely knew either of his parents because one died when he was a little kid and the other never told him anything. After Greil died, Ike was constantly trying to learn more about him and what the hell happened back in those woods. I get that Greil wanted to protect Ike and Mist from his past, but they were old enough to understand, and I bet they would've rather heard the details from him than some assassin they just met not too long ago (aka Volke). All of this is why I titled my recent art piece of Ike holding his own infant son "I'll Never Be Distant From You."

I dunno who I'd say the best is... There seem to be a lot of good dads in the series.

Worst though, yeah, probably Desmond and Ashnard like said above. :P

Edited June 2, 2016 by Anacybele

[Katie]

Keep in mind they don't necessarily have to be the absolute best or the absolute worst, just an example of a good or a bad father.

And yeah, Desmond and Ashnard are pretty shitty fathers. You could probably add Validar to that list as well.

I think Hector is another example of a good father in the series. While we don't really see too much of their relationship due to Hector's untimely death really early in the story, he and Lilina seemed to really care about each other and he seems to have done a good job raising Lilina.

[Anacybele]

Ah, well then, I would agree that Greil was a good dad. He definitely had his heart in the right place. Just not his mind (to an extent).

[Hakkari]

I'm pretty sure Desmond wins Worst Father award by default.

[spoiler=Fates spoilers]Also the Fates parents in general are pretty sketchy since they just... leave their kids alone in a Deeprealm and some of them don't even know their heritage, etc. But Jakob is especially bad in that regard since his relationship with Dwyer is incredibly unhealthy.

As far as good dads I'd say Garcia and Chrom are pretty up there? Garcia for reasons already mentioned and Chrom because

[spoiler=Awakening spoilers]he didn't drag his kid into a battlefield and even actively tries to make the doomed timeline!Lucina feel like part of the family even though he doesn't really know her and also has his own kid back at home (it also seems like he has a good relationship with both of his kids and family unless the weird "I think you're cheating on me" thing by most of the wives is supposed to imply something else).

Also Eliwood and Greil are pretty good/decent as well, imo.

[Katie]

Yeah, no denying that Desmond is the absolute worst. It doesn't get much worse than trying to kill your own kid.

[Etria]

Worst: Desmond. I wanted to overthrow this bastard as soon as I saw him. His actions led to his son being a major antagonist in the sequel just because he couldn't be bothered to love his wife.

I don't think it is fair to expect Desmond to love his arranged wife, especially since he already was in love with someone else. He should've been civil to her and his son, definitely, and stop being a petty asshole. I love him as a character because he's surprisingly complex for such a side character; he is an horrible father to Zephiel, but he quite obviously loves Guinevere and treats her well.

Otherwise, Hayden seems to be a pretty good dad and I agree what others said about Chrom.

[Katie]

Hayden's notably the only CC unit to not die in the story too, so he can be up there with Eliwood in dads who surprisingly survive. I'll admit I was incredibly surprised Eliwood survived the entirety of FE6, given he was described as "deathly ill", and I kept expecting him to kick the bucket at some point, and it was only later that I realized his illness was merely used as an excuse for why he's not part of the army and leading it, instead of an excuse to kill him off and give Roy some character development like I initially thought it would be.

[Rezzy]

For the worst, I'd say pretty much the whole cast of Fates. The whole idea of abandoning one's children in the babyrealm is abhorrent to me.

For best? King Garon, hands down.

1: He adopts a child mere seconds after seeing their father get killed by a volley of arrows.

2: He gives Corrin his/her own castle to grow up in.

3: He gives Corrin a nifty heirloom sword.

4: He arranged a trip for Corrin to visit his/her birth mother, when said mother hasn't bothered to visit in years.

5: He sends Corrin out on missions to learn valuable life lessons.

I nominate Garon for Father of the Year.

[EricaofRenais]

Best Hector I really like how much he cares about his Lilina and does everything he can to protect her and how he is very sweet to her at the end of FE7 when she is shy and doesn't know Roy yet.

Worst Desmond and Ashnard both are pretty bad, I can't decide who is worse.

[Rezzy]

Best Hector I really like how much he cares about his Lilina and does everything he can to protect her and how he is very sweet to her at the end of FE7 when she is shy and doesn't know Roy yet.

Worst Desmond and Ashnard both are pretty bad, I can't decide who is worse.

I would say Desmond is worse, since as a father, Ashnard more of a deadbeat than anything else, since you don't even know Soren's his kid, unless you go through some convoluted side requirements.

[EricaofRenais]

I would say Desmond is worse, since as a father, Ashnard more of a deadbeat than anything else, since you don't even know Soren's his kid, unless you go through some convoluted side requirements.

I was thinking of how Ashnard took Soren away from his mother right after he was born, used him as bait to get a hold of his uncle, then gave him to a horrid person to raise.

Edited June 2, 2016 by EricaofRenais

[Magical Glace]

If he marries Nino, Erk just dumps Lugh and Raigh in an orphanage to look for her.

I like Erk, but that wasn't the greatest choice on his part imo.

He's not the worst though. Desmond wins that basically by default.

For best, Eliwood I guess. He manages to not get himself killed!

[Moblin Major General]

For best? King Garon, hands down.

1: He adopts a child mere seconds after seeing their father get killed by a volley of arrows.

2: He gives Corrin his/her own castle to grow up in.

3: He gives Corrin a nifty heirloom sword.

4: He arranged a trip for Corrin to visit his/her birth mother, when said mother hasn't bothered to visit in years.

5: He sends Corrin out on missions to learn valuable life lessons.

I nominate Garon for Father of the Year.

Only to find out that Corrin's bio dad was actually have him do it just to terrorize him. Also, he didn't babysitter check very well. Unless Iago lied on his resume, then I wouldn't blame Garon for that.

[Locke087]

Best: is Elbert he shows a really genuine love for his wife and his family (just look at the way Ninian and Nils talk about him), and protects Eliwood to his last breath.

Honorable mention to Pent, Hawkeye, Canas, Finn, Oiley, Shanna, Hannibal, Greil, Brom, Shiharam (Jill's Dad), Garcia, Eliwood, and Hector.

Worst: Desmond or Ashnard as everyone else's has said.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Locke087

[Katie]

If he marries Nino, Erk just dumps Lugh and Raigh in an orphanage to look for her.

You know what, that's actually a really good point. Jaffar at least has the excuse of being pursued by bounty hunters. At least their foster father(who is implied to be Lucius given his ending) seems to have taken good care of them and the other orphans under his care.

I'd say Finn is another good father, always doing his best to serve, raise, and protect Leif and Nanna, even though at least one of them isn't his biologically.

[Ycine]

Best? I don't know. Garcia, Eliwood, Hector, Elbert, Hawkeye, Pent.

Tough choice.

Worst? Validar without any doubt! He only lives to serve Grima!

He even made a child only to sacrifice her/him to Grima!

[Jave]

It's hard to pick best since there's so many dads in the series, but I'll list some I like:

Bartre because I feel he does a good job at being caring and worried about his daughter without crossing the line to being overprotective.

Garcia because doing a good job raising Ross to the world.

Sigurd because after Deidre leaves, he manages to raise Seliph well on his own despite being in the middle of war. He tells Oifaye and Shanan to take Seliph away near the end, but does so to protect him and saves his life as a result.

Finn for essentially taking care of two kids that weren't his and raising them to the point they eventually take back Lenster and unify the kingdom of Thracia. Finn doesn't get enough credit, as a lot of events in Jugdral Gen 2 happen thanks to him.

For worst... pretty much all the villain fathers are terrible. Desmond is just an asshole, Ashnard abandons his kid, and then there's Manfroy, who kills his daughter's husband and once Sara is born it's implied he killed his daughter too.

A bad father that isn't a villain... I'll probably pick Quan. I mean, Ethlyn is pretty terrible by bringing her infant daughter to the middle of the battlefield, but Quan is just as bad for letting it happen in the first place.

[JasonMendez]

Best - Sigurd, Quan, Finn or Hector

Sigurd takes his son with him during the war and there's no bs like they came from the future.

Quan's actions at the yied desert speak for themselves.

Finn may be Nanna's father and the fact that he watches over Leif in Quan's stead makes him an amazing father figure.

Hector's dying thoughts were of his daughter.

Worst - Ashnard, Desmond, Garon, Validar, Jiol, Langabolt, Darin. They are all awful bastards. Desmond is probably the worst.

[Quintessence]

Best: Sigurd or Elbert. People already mentioned highlights. But basically because they're good father figures. Protective, courageous, brave, etc. Elbert's death hit me as well as Sigurd's death because they're awesome.

Worst: Desmond.

[blah the Prussian]

Best for me would also be Garcia for reasons you mentioned.

Worst is King Desmond.

I mean what type of father tries to have his son executed so he doesn't inherit the throne? No wonder Zephiel acts how he does in FE6. Not to mention he wasn't faithful to his wife.

*comes out of corner*

Well actually that was quite common in the Ottoman Empire; the Sultan knew that if his heir had competition it would lead to a civil war every time the Sultan died, so he had all competition killed. This practice was ended by Selim II, however, which many historians believe contributed to the Empire's decline.

What? Best and worst FE dads? Well, alright.

Best: if surrogates count, Finn or Oifaye, definitely. Come to think of it, Trabant isn't that bad as a father, and he actually shows the conflict of interest in being a father and a King quite well. So in terms of villain parents Trabant wins. Also he's named after an East German car.

Worst: Again, if surrogate fathers count, I'm definitely going to say, hands down, Sephiran. Why? He lied to Sanaki for like a decade, all while manipulating events to not only dethrone her, not only get her imprisoned, but also to eventually to lead to the deaths of not just her but all her people and, indeed, everyone. That is simply sociopathic, manipulating the closest thing you have to a daughter like that when she already has enough shit to deal with. Sephiran's redemption was the stupidest part of RD for me. No, sorry, Sephiran, you don't get off with a slap on the wrist for attempting Omnicide! Come to think of it, the way Sanaki forgives him is kind of similar to the behavior of an abused child... but that would require the writers actually putting thought into any part of RD's story besides Part 2, which is just absurd. For heroes... Sumeragi. Cuban at least didn't know Trabant was going to ambush him. Sumeragi knew full well Garon was there but took his son anyway.

[Katie]

Surrogate fathers count, yes. And remember, they don't have to be the absolute best or worst father, just an example of a father whose terribleness or excellence as a father stood out to you.

And I can think of a villain father who was actually a good dad: Lyon's father whose name escapes me. Granted, the only reason he's a villain in the first place is because he's

dead before the game even starts and the one you encounter is just his resurrected corpse being controlled by a Fomortiis-possessed Lyon.