What is your favorite FE character trope/archetype? Least favorite?

[Fabulously Olivier]

Your answers can be officially/community recognized tropes or personal labels. These specifically apply to characters, not story devices or map types. So something like "Christmas cavaliers," "philanderers," or "Jagens" would count, whereas "our lord has amnesia" or "female lords always make stupid decisions" would not.

 

My favorite FE character trope is the flowery romantic buffoon. This includes such characters as Bastian, Virion, and (played as a negative for humor) Lorenz. My favorite character from this type is Bastian, who is also my favorite character in the franchise. My least favorite is Lorenz (though I still don't dislike him). 

 

My least favorite FE character trope is the "stereotypically gay bandit twins," as I call them. Or as the wiki calls them "eccentric bandit pairs." You know the ones. The relics from the ancient past when Nintendo thought that homosexuality was something deviant to be ridiculed (or even painted alongside taboos such as incest) rather than a reasonable option to offer players. This includes Pain and Agony, Llewyn and Lloyd, Rose and Maggie, and Victor and Vincent. They're all awful. They're all designed to be intentionally ugly, and typically meant to be portrayed as weak (like a Team Rocket equivalent). I find Pain and Panic the least awful solely due to having quite the fun and convenient leveling map (one of the few non-crap Act 1 Dawn Brigade maps). The worst offenders are Victor and Vincent. I find their dialogue just... dreadful, and they come from a more recent entry when Nintendo should have known better.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Etheus

[Etrurian emperor]

My favorite archetype is probably the Hardin archetype. The benevolent human rulers who eventually get corrupted by their ideologies or desires. In my mind that would include Hardin, Arvis, Lyon, Edelgard and other characters like that. Curiously the wiki splits the archetype between Rudolf's and Hardin's but its rather vague on what the difference is supposed to be. My favorite of the bunch would probably be Arvis. My least favorite is Zephiel. 

My least favorite archetype would probably be either the Christmas knights or the Bord and Cord's. Both archetypes tend to just be so...boring. The Bord's and Cord's are probably designed that way as they are just some random axe users who join without them supposed to be having much importance. The Christmas knights have more potential but for me they also have too large of a failure rate. I don't see anything of substance in the Altea, the Pherea and the Chalphy knights and while I see more substance in Forde/ Kyle or Sully/Stahl I still don't find them very interesting. Mae/Boey and Saizo/Kaze are the ones I like precisely because they distance themselves from the more boring aspects of the archetype. 

[Garlyle]

My favourite is pretty much the female swordmasters. Whenever it was Ayra, Mareeta, Fir, Mia or Petra(or Catherine if you want), no matter what other said about them, I always used and made some crazy builds as well (Mareeta had Luna, Sol AND Astra too, while she held her personal sword with Nihil). I can't even look at Karla and Marisa as bench materials. Not sure if there was any examples in Shadow Dragon, I consider Ayra to be the first.

A runner-up would be probably the Camus archetype. Not all of them were interesting for me, but Eldigan and Galle are one of my favourite units in the series.

Least favourite would be the bandit twins for me as well. It's stupid as it can get, probably funny for some people out there, but personally I find them painful to watch. It's something what I see as a stereotype went horribly wrong, and no matter how many time they reuse it, it won't fix the archetype which was bad from the beginning.

[DragonFlames]

Echoing @Garlyle, I'm a huge fan of the female swordfighters and I tend to use them every chance I get. It helps that nearly all of them are pretty cool characters, too. My favorite of the bunch is Petra (though she can be something else, she's more "biased" toward that role).

My least favorite is the philanderer archetype, but this is not exclusive to Fire Emblem. I hate that kind of character in nearly every game. The only games that managed to make this type of character funny is Bravely Default and Nights of Azure and that only because of how over-the-top it was.
Though I would say that the members of the archetype in Fire Emblem are among the worst offenders I've seen so far.

[Deathcon]

My favourite is also the Hardin/Rudolf archetype and General Lorenz archetype. The human emperor has always been one of my favourite villains all over Fire Emblem, from Rudolf to Edelgard, especially if they are developed well. Also, it seems the difference between seem to be that Hardins are possessed which turnt them evil while Rudolfs are just evil, even though you could argue for Rudolf's case. A prime example is that Julius is a Hardin while Ashnard is a Rudolf. My favorite for the Rudolfs is Rudolf in Echoes and for the Hardins is Lyon. General Lorenz because they are basically Camus who realized there leader is wrong and joins you. My favorite for this archetype is Zeke in Echoes I don't have a least favorite.

I dislike the Arran and Samson archetype the most. As I like to recruit every possible character and those guys are like a F you to it. My favorite of this is Shamir and my least favorite is... Well i can't choose one above the others.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Deathcon
Editing

[Anacybele]

I tend to like the womanizer guys and the Christmas cavs the most. Sain falls in both categories! He's pretty much the only Elibe character I took a strong liking to. Sylvain kinda is in both groups too and he's basically my new favorite. His "canon" class is cavalier, and he has red hair. But I absolutely adore him regardless!

Kieran is also another favorite Christmas cav, I think he's glorious. XD I really wish we'd gotten some backstory on him though.

I don't really have a least favorite archtype. The characters I dislike vary, so yeah.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Anacybele

[Garlyle]

@DragonFlames Looking at her personal skill, i believe it supports that archetype pretty well.

[DragonFlames]

36 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

@DragonFlames Looking at her personal skill, i believe it supports that archetype pretty well.

That it does, indeed.

[Heir of Dragons and Beasts]

Favorite Archetype: Tiki Archetype They are always a ray of sunshine in a dark FE story especially my favorite Fae (it's sad that perverted evil pedophiles like to lewd them)

Least Favorite: Camus Archetype, If you know the person your serving is doing some pretty shady shit then why the fuck are you still serving them like Catherine(Who i'm pretty sure was in love with Rhea). 

 

[Jingle Jangle]

Mega-fan of dark female mages. That includes Sonya, Tharja, Nyx, Sonia, Ishtar. I like the less than bubbly personality for mages

Runner up would be female sword fighters. Bonus points for having dark hair. Sure they struggle to compete against better classes. I just seeing them double and high crit rates.

Least favorite would be thieves in general. I don't know why exactly but thieves in general do not gel with me. Perhaps it's their less than honorable natures. 

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Favorite: Lysithea-archetype

The adorable youn mage girl with a favor for cute things and sweets who also nukes like a boss on a battlefield and has a tragic backstory.

Least favorite: spongedbrained fighters and yanderes (Tharja, Camilla...)

Edited November 21, 2019 by Lysithea

[Zihark11]

favorite would be the "lone merc" that fights for there own cause, Rutger, Zihark, Stefan, navarre etc. 

least favorite would be the "green/red knight" kinda gets boring where one is speedy and one has power. like just change the color scheme at least lol. make them more interesting. 

[Etrurian emperor]

8 minutes ago, Lysithea said:

Favorite: Lysithea-archetype

The adorable youn mage girl with a favor for cute things and sweets who also nukes like a boss on a battlefield and has a tragic backstory.

Lysithea can probably be said to belong to the Ricken archetype. The chibi mage who insist being an adult despite clearly acting like a kid. And as soon as a Ricken was a girl it suddenly became cute instead of annoying. She is legitimately a better character though.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Etrurian emperor

[Fabulously Olivier]

4 minutes ago, EdelgardHresvelgTargaryen said:

Favorite Archetype: Tiki Archetype They are always a ray of sunshine in a dark FE story especially my favorite Fae (it's sad that perverted evil pedophiles like to lewd them)

Least Favorite: Camus Archetype, If you know the person your serving is doing some pretty shady shit then why the fuck are you still serving them like Catherine(Who i'm pretty sure was in love with Rhea). 

 

I agree, that the former is sad. But Nintendo themselves did that with Nowi (and Sothis to a lesser degree), and it is a disgrace. They should not be romanceable under any circumstances, regardless of their "actual" age, and I think that Nintendo/IS should be held accountable to some degree for that.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Oh, this hurts.

Comparing my favorite Three Houses character with one of my least favorite Awakening characters.

Yeah, both want to be treated like an adult, but Lysithea proves it on the battlefield unlike him (from the gameplay aspect).

[Fabulously Olivier]

24 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Lysithea can probably be said to belong to the Ricken archetype. The chibi mage who insist being an adult despite clearly acting like a kid. And as soon as a Ricken was a girl it suddenly became cute instead of annoying. She is legitimately a better character though.

I feel the same way. Though she's also got a heavy and unwanted dose of Tsundere in there. Her bitch meter is turned up to 11 for pretty much all of her C, and some B supports.

[Deathcon]

2 hours ago, EdelgardHresvelgTargaryen said:

Favorite Archetype: Tiki Archetype They are always a ray of sunshine in a dark FE story especially my favorite Fae (it's sad that perverted evil pedophiles like to lewd them)

Least Favorite: Camus Archetype, If you know the person your serving is doing some pretty shady shit then why the fuck are you still serving them like Catherine(Who i'm pretty sure was in love with Rhea). 

 

 

To be fair to Catherine: It doesn't look like Edelgard was much better, you know killing literally everyone in her path(except those you recruit and spare yourself) while the baddest thing Rhea did was burning down Fhirdiad which happened just before the final battle. Plus, if she joined them she would have to fight her home, her king, the person who saved her when she was a student, her colleague, and Ashe if you haven't recruited him. Who, let us not forget, the younger adopted brother of her former friend.

[Etrurian emperor]

35 minutes ago, Deathcon said:

Who, let us not forget, the younger adopted brother of her former friend.

Though I suppose being somewhat responsible for the destruction of Ashe's family makes playing the big sis a bit hard. They have a good support chain but I don't think Catherine comes off as being especially fond of Ashe or vice versa. 

[Ottservia]

2 hours ago, Etheus said:

I feel the same way. Though she's also got a heavy and unwanted dose of Tsundere in there. Her bitch meter is turned up to 11 for pretty much all of her C, and some B supports.

I honestly wouldn’t class Lysithea as a tsundere though as the sort of self-proclaimed tsundere expert here. It’s because her tsun tsun isn’t really hiding anything. Tsundere characters are pretty much defined by their inability to express themselves which is why they act so abrasive to begin with. Their “tsun” side is basically a defense or a wall if you will to hide their more vulnerable “dere” side. Lysithea is just abrasive and her abrasiveness isn’t really there to hide any underlying vulnerability she doesn’t like to show to other people. She’s more bratty than she is “tsun tsun” is essentially what I’m trying to say.

It’s not like Severa where her abrasiveness is used as a shield to cover up long repressed emotional trauma that she’s too afraid to let out. Lysithea acts that way simply because she doesn’t like being treated as lesser because of her appearance. 

To be a little more on topic, I tend to gravitate towards the more Cynical, jaded, or pessimistic characters like Soren, Severa, Sylvain, Takumi, Felix, etc.

I dunno why either. I just find more abrasive characters to be more interesting honestly. They tend to have the most emotional depth and range anyway.

As far as least favorite, I don’t really have one. It takes a lot for me to dislike a character honestly 

[Fire Brand]

I like the Naesala archetype? I'd count characters such as Lifis under this. They're only out for themselves, but will fight for the right cause in the end. 

Least favorite, well, the lord archetype. Chrom, Seliph, Leif, Eliwood, Sigurd, Alm, Eliwood, Hector, etc. The only lords which I'd exclude from this are Edelgard, Celica, and Micaiah. Though of those three, I only like Celica.

[Yexin]

i really love the wind mage archetype the... wind mage not-archetype (merric, levin, asvel, soren and so on), regardless of their personality, even though to be hones i love them all even as characters and not just as units; i just love the wind element

as for actual archetypes, i like womanizers (sain, sylvain, Íñigo to a lesser extent), the older, bigger and wiser archetype (tauroneo, caineghis, a bunch of jagens) and the makalov archetype (makalov, makalov and makalov)

 

i don't really dislike any archetype, but i sometimes can't stand dragon lolis

[NinjaMonkey]

9 hours ago, Etheus said:

This includes Pain and Agony

Wait what? I'm pretty sure there's nothing that actually supports this in the dialogue.

9 hours ago, Etheus said:

The worst offenders are Victor and Vincent. I find their dialogue just... dreadful

I, on the other hand, find having British people in a Fire Emblem game, hilarious.

Best: Enemy unit that can be recruited.

Worst: Jagen.

Edited November 22, 2019 by NinjaMonkey

[Alastor15243]

The pervert archetype is a mixed bag for me. I put them into two categories: the Hopeless Romantic (Sain, Gatrie, Virion, and if memory serves, Saul) and the Rake (Inigo, Soleil, Sylvain). I find the Hopeless Romantics quite entertaining and adore them. The Rakes... Inigo is the most tolerable of them to me, but half of his supports are still really unpleasant to watch. Soleil and Sylvain though, I can't stand either of them at all, though I will concede Soleil is worse.

The key difference is that characters like Gatrie and Sain seem like they're genuinely in love with every woman they meet. I see them in action and I believe they are actually in romantic awe of damn near every member of the opposite sex, and it's hilarious. There's no malice, no motive to manipulate women for sex and then abandon them. They're just... weird and a bit delusional, but well-meaning and harmless, and it's funny to see their antics in action.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Ottservia]

13 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Soleil and Sylvain though, I can't stand either of them at all, though I will concede Soleil is worse.

while I don't speak for everyone, I personally find Soleil's antics highly amusing. She's just a little bundle of lesbian joy and it's entertaining to me. As to why I do not know but I just find it amusing. She's not a very well written character mind you(She's basically just a genderbent version of her father without any nuance or depth that makes Inigo so great) but she's a charming one to say the least. I mean yeah she can be "overly forward" but that's what makes it funny. 

 

Lines like that are the reason I love Soleil as well as other similiar characters like Nina or Niles. Shit like that is just entertaining to me and I don't know why

Edited November 22, 2019 by Ottservia

[Alastor15243]

8 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

while I don't speak for everyone, I personally find Soleil's antics highly amusing. She's just a little bundle of lesbian joy and it's entertaining to me. As to why I do not know but I just find it amusing. She's not a very well written character mind you(She's basically just a genderbent version of her father without any nuance or depth that makes Inigo so great) but she's a charming one to say the least. I mean yeah she can be "overly forward" but that's what makes it funny. 

 

Lines like that are the reason I love Soleil as well as other similiar characters like Nina or Niles. Shit like that is just entertaining to me and I don't know why

My issue with her is that she does shit that she can only get away with because she's a cute girl. Borderline sexual assault, repeated counts of stalking and sexual harassment that go well beyond anything Inigo has ever done (or could do and not rightfully get his shit kicked in). The biggest offenders are her supports with Ophelia, Ignatius, and her japanese support with Forrest. Meanwhile the game constantly implies she's both a better flirt and better person than her father.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Alastor15243