Favorite Fire Emblem Lord?

[TheGreatHooey]

As someone new to the fire emblem series, at least new in the sense that i'm interested in the series as a whole, I haven't fully developed my opinion on lords. So far I like the Blazing Sword lords, though some are not as great in fighting as others are. Feel free to state favorites character wise or combat wise, or even both if wanted. I'll give my current opinion as to my favorite, subject to change due to still being new.

 

Character wise: While Eliwood and Hector are really close, I love these guys so much, my favorite is probably Dimitri. His development was well done and he truly made the BL run special, aka my first run. BLUE LIONS FOR LIFE!

Combat wise: I can't really say much about combat since I've only completed a few games... tho, I'd probably have to go with a three houses lord, and, while they are all close, Claude probably slightly outs the others. He is 100% the best bow unit in the game from what ive experienced, GD is my current and last run I need besides dlc. 

 

That's my opinion for now, but i'd be happy to see how everyone else feels. I hope to play more games in the future, and that these these forums help me when I truly need them, which they have so thanks~

[Koops]

I love Eirika. She's a kind, vulnerable soul who just needs emotional support to alleviate the issues of her royal life and the pain of war, along with the people who were lost during it. She's also really pretty. All she needs is a hug. I also think she's a decent unit.

Gameplay-wise tho that award definitely goes to Sigurd. Man's a beast.

[Benice]

Eirika, Micaiah or Roy; I lean mostly towards Eirika because she is precious and a better-written character than she is given credit for, followed by Micaiah, who gets annoying at parts of RD because I've never been too fond of Camuses, and now we had one as the main lord, and then Roy, who I felt was a good character who wasn't amazingly written; he had some decent supports, though. In the case of an FE6 remake, I would like a bit more emphasis on his lack of self-confidence.

[Strullemia]

Edelgard. I like her for her ideals and how far she goes to realize them to the points she's even willing to dehumanize herself for them.

Combat? Sigurd.

[Shrimpica]

Character wise: Ike or Claude. The whole anti-discrimination is my thing, and their development is 👌 (Especially Ike). Honorable Mention to Elincia for her great development

Combat: Miccy, Elincia or Claude. They are unique and strong enough without being i win buttons or dead useless

[Emerson]

Honestly I've never really pinned down a reason why, but Leif is my favorite lord character wise. I just... like him, I guess. Honestly I've never been the biggest on any of the lords as characters, even the ones I know are actually pretty good ones.

Gameplay wise, Claude, probably. "Flying Bow Lord" kinda speaks for itself I think.

[Etrurian emperor]

Character: Alm. He's just a joy to have on screen. Very friendly, very innocent and very dorky.

Favorite unit: Celica. She's not the best unit but I enjoy the combination of swords and Echoes magic system. Otherwise It be Claude for being a flying powerhouse that isn't quite the boring delete button that Dimitri is. 

[whase]

I like Ike. Story- and characterwise Ike is my favorite lord. I like how he's not royalty by birth, it's a refreshing tale. Plus he's straightforward yet kind, and has some of the funniest lines.

As for gameplay, I really like Ephraim since I like infantry lance units. Claude would be second as a bow lord is very interesting.

[Saint Rubenio]

Story-wise: Ward Toss-up between Leif and Shadow Dragon Marth.

The writing for Marth in SD is amazing, and he actually undergoes some character development, contrary to what it may seem. The prologue also does wonders for him. Most lords suffer prior to the beginning of their games, but SD is the only one that shows you this. Marth, as a mere child, loses absolutely everything but his life and a handful of knights over the course of the prologue. I mean, heck, he doesn't even make it out with all of his knights! By the end of it, his rage is obvious and understandable.

As for Leif, he has the best character development of any lord. He makes some horrible mistakes, but he also achieves some great victories, and his relationship with Augustus is awesome. Others could do justice to his character better than I could ever hope to, but yeah, suffice to say, he's great.

Gameplay-wise: Ward Reese Holmes Zade Anakin Eeeerrrrghh... I guess Micaiah maybe?

...yeah, honestly, FE lords are all pretty bleh in the gameplay for me. They're all either painfully weak or uninterestingly OP. Keep in mind, I'm not talking unit performance here, but rather how much I enjoy using them, personally. Most lords are just basic infantry, either good or bad, with a couple horsies here and there... but, really, there's not much to make most of them stand out.

If I could count KagaSaga and fangames, FE lords would all rank very low in the list. I mean, seriously. Light mage dancer lord with staves and Renewal after his very early promotion. How can vanilla FE lords hope to compare to that?

Micaiah is at least kind of fun, being Anakin without half of what makes him amazing. Magical nuke lord, and early physics. I'll take it.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Saint Rubenio

[Dandy Druid]

Story-wise: Seliph

Character-wise: Claude

Looks-wise: Micaiah

Unit-wise: Claude

Overall: Claude

[Callie]

[Darkmoon6789]

Edelgard, I admire her ideals, and despite being a conquering Emperor with a cold facade. She is such a sweetie in her personal relationships. Once you get underneath that ice. 

But having only played one game I am only really qualified to choose between three. But I do suspect that Micaiah might be a contender. Once I get to Radiant Dawn. But only time will tell. But when it comes to the Lord's of Three Houses. I love all of them for different reasons, it is just a question of degree. But in general I tend to be drawn to characters who are morally complex rather than unquestionable good guys. 

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

Favorite character-wise: Micaiah beats out Dimitri by a very slim margin and I do mean slim. Dimitri is far and away my favorite of the male lords though.

Gameplay wise: Dimitri. I enjoy powerhouse units and it's really fun getting that almost guaranteed vantage crit for over 150 damage regularly.

[NinjaMonkey]

Ike, duh.

4 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

They are unique and strong enough without being i win buttons or dead useless

Micaiah is useless after Part 1 though.

Edited May 20, 2020 by NinjaMonkey

[null]

From the perspective of story, Dimitri (although Lyn and Lucina are close runners-up):

The most well-written lord (best in 3H in my opinion) who is thoroughly humanized in the story by his flaws and struggles. His development arc is one of the better ones in the series, from troubled teen to feral adult into the new King of Faerghus. One can easily sympathize with him while also seeing very clearly how his actions are wrong.

Lyn is a very likable, compassionate, and determined character whose story doesn't hinge on dragons destroying the world (for once). She just wants to save her grandfather and stop Lundgren from continuing in his corrupt activities. Lucina is very similar in personality, although I like how her shyer, dorky side comes out in certain supports with other characters.

Gameplay-wise, Lucina (sword characters are my favorite and Lucina is objectively better than Chrom based on stats and weapon alone IIRC):

Aether, Rightful King, Dual Strike + and Parallel Falchion? Reclass as a cavalier then into a paladin and you have a near-unstoppable unit with excellent movement.

Edited July 21, 2020 by twilitfalchion

[Fabulously Olivier]

Edelgard. I've got to give it to my fellow anti-theist.

[Darkmoon6789]

28 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

From the perspective of story, Dimitri (although Lucina is a close second):

An excellently-written Lord (best in 3H in my opinion) who is thoroughly humanized in the story by his flaws and struggles. His development arc is one of the better ones in the series, from troubled teen to feral adult into the new King of Faerghus. One can easily sympathize with him while also seeing very clearly how his actions are wrong.

Gameplay-wise, Lucina (sword characters are my favorite and Lucina is objectively better than Chrom based on stats and weapon alone IIRC):

Aether, Rightful King, Dual Strike + and Parallel Falchion? Reclass as a cavalier then into a paladin and you have a near-unstoppable force of destruction with excellent movement.

Dimitri is actually my second favourite. I actually think it is his darkness that makes him such a compelling character. 

He quite similar to Edelgard in many ways, and the tragedy is that neither of them ever realise this

13 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Edelgard. I've got to give it to my fellow anti-theist.

I am an anti-theist as well, yet another reason for me to like Edelgard. Granted, maybe anti-theocrat would be more accurate to my actual position. I don't really care what people believe in as long as they don't use it as an excuse to hurt other people. The problem is that many religious people want nothing more than for their religion to wield absolute power in society, and many do use religion as an excuse to discriminate against certain groups of people. So I guess you can say I am not against personal spirituality, but I am against organised religion due to its tendency due to its tendency to try to violate freedom of religion by trying to legislate its tenants. 

Edelgard actually holds a very similar position as she has nothing against people who worship Sothis as a concept, but she is against the church and the political power it wields.

[Pengaius]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

As for Leif, he has the best character development of any lord. He makes some horrible mistakes, but he also achieves some great victories, and his relationship with Augustus is awesome. Others could do justice to his character better than I could ever hope to, but yeah, suffice to say, he's great.

Leif for all of those reasons as well as how the fatigue mechanic plays into his character. 

Fatigue as a mechanic forces the player to rest their units every once in a while. Everybody but Leif. Leif is not allowed to become fatigued, he must keep fighting, no matter what. I feel that Leif's growths are as low as they are to further emphasise that he isn't getting much rest, and isn't able to fully and properly grow stronger (but that's just reading too far into it)

[Saint Rubenio]

2 minutes ago, Pengaius said:

Leif for all of those reasons as well as how the fatigue mechanic plays into his character. 

Fatigue as a mechanic forces the player to rest their units every once in a while. Everybody but Leif. Leif is not allowed to become fatigued, he must keep fighting, no matter what. I feel that Leif's growths are as low as they are to further emphasise that he isn't getting much rest, and isn't able to fully and properly grow stronger (but that's just reading too far into it)

Whoa, I never even realized that. That's absolutely amazing. Thanks for the insight, Butterman.

[vanguard333]

Favourite FE lord: Ike. 

I have said many times on many threads of this forum that Ike is by far my favourite fire emblem lord, fire emblem character, and even video game character (though there it's a close call between him and Link). As a unit, he is amazing; the definition of a one-man army. As a character, he is even more amazing.

To explain why, I think I'll just quote myself:

Quote

To start:

On 11/8/2017 at 8:20 PM, Anacybele said:

Ike is my favorite FE character and one of my all time favorite video game characters.

He was also the first FE lord and character I got to experience since I learned of him through Smash and PoR was my first FE game.

I just wish he hadn't gotten a stupid ending and had gotten an ending with Elincia (platonic or no).

All this; Path of Radiance was my first FE game, and I seriously wish he had gotten a better ending than he did. Considering he spent so much of both games trying to master his father's style of swordsmanship, I thought that he would at least give some thought to passing it down, perhaps by teaching others (as many sword masters throughout history ended up doing).

Now for my input:

As someone with high-functioning autism, my mind works a bit differently than others, and part of it is that it takes a lot more effort for me to learn about societal norms and such. So, naturally, I found Ike: an introverted, somewhat socially awkward peasant who has to learn about the world around him, far more relatable than all the princes and noble sons. I also like the fact that, apart from his vendetta with the Black Knight, his actions are built around trying to do good where he sees good needing to be done. He has internal motivation, not just, "My kingdom got invaded. I must fight back against the monsters and army of thousands using my thirteen soldiers." I like characters that have internal reasons to do stuff, and I like those kinds of moral paragon characters that do good when good needs being done and inspire others, and, despite the trouble his lack of social awareness often causes, he certainly also has the inspiring part down. The Black Knight even notes, "People seem drawn to him." This even makes him a catalyst for character development in other people; particularly Soren and Elincia.

His desire to do good, combined with the different way in which he views the world, makes him stubborn and reckless, but those are flaws that he learns from. Speaking of which, I like that he has actual character development. So many FE lords just don't have any obvious character development (Alm being a blatant example). Sure, Ike's development is considered to largely plateau in Radiant Dawn, but what character development is there, is actually really good, and there's more than enough of it in Path of Radiance to compensate.

I like that he actually recognizes his limits. Much like Khadgar in WoW (barely played the game, but did enjoy the lore and the film), Ike's acknowledgement of his own limits makes him all the more badass. He acknowledges repeatedly that he does not feel comfortable commanding an army, and gives orders such as, "Commander Tanith's troops, are to follow Commander Tanith's orders". He acknowledges that he still has much to learn when it comes to commanding the Greil Mercenaries (though he does grow into the role gradually and effectively), and he acknowledges his own mistakes and errors. I find it really interesting when a character recognizes where their limits are, and, for Ike, it was really well done.

I like that he is a master swordsman in the story, and is such a great unit in the gameplay. By the end, he easily cuts down pretty much everything apart from Ashnard and the Black Knight with ease.

On a smaller note, I also relate to Ike in having a black hole for a stomach, making all the jokes about his eating habits particularly funny for me.

Well; that's my input for now. I did say it could get long.

Quote

Ike is actually a really good example of a paragon. Apart from his personal vendetta with the Black Knight, everything he does, he does because he sees good needing to be done. He is blunt and reckless, yet his kindness and compassion, and the way he sees everyone as an equal, makes him extremely charismatic. By chapter 18 of Path of Radiance, the Black Knight notes that, "Though his skill with the blade is rough, there is something...uncanny about him. People seem drawn to him. And not just Begnion's apostle, either. He's also gained the trust of the Serenes survivors...and of King Phoenicis as well." No matter how much Ike's bluntness and lack of social etiquette may infuriate people, all Ike ever has to do is swing his sword around and act all blunt yet kind, and people from all across Tellius flock to his side like it's the right thing to do, because of how much of a paragon Ike is.
The way Ike inspires people is probably most evident in Soren and Elincia. Ike gives Elincia a much needed confidence boost throughout all of Path of Radiance, and he brings about quite a bit of character development in Soren as well, especially if one reads the support conversations between them.

This doesn't stop him from being flawed. Paragon characters aren't perfect; usually they're very stubborn and reluctant to change their ways if there's something wrong with what they're doing, because they're so certain they're doing the right thing. Ike is no exception: he is extremely reckless and gets in and out of a lot of trouble because of it. But, unlike a lot of FE lords, Ike learns from his mistakes. He sees where he's messed up, and learns from it, and is even willing to change his viewpoint about stuff if what he originally thought is proven wrong. Early on in chapter... 11 I think, he admits to falling into the trap of thinking, "Crimea = good, Daein = bad" because of the war. But, when he sees that that viewpoint is wrong, he learns from it and acts against that viewpoint. He learns, and his struggle to learn from his mistakes is really well done. 

Ike is a really effective example of a paragon character in Path of Radiance, and to an extent in RD, though it isn't shown nearly as much in RD. 

 

[Anacybele]

57 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Favourite FE lord: Ike. 

I have said many times on many threads of this forum that Ike is by far my favourite fire emblem lord, fire emblem character, and even video game character (though there it's a close call between him and Link). As a unit, he is amazing; the definition of a one-man army. As a character, he is even more amazing.

To explain why, I think I'll just quote myself:

Oh wow, we both favor Ike and a dude that wears green. lol In my case, that dude in green is Luigi though. 😛

[CWGameplay]

Hands down Seliph, as both a character and unit.  Don't wanna spoil anything for the rare person who doesn't know some of the major events in Genealogy of the Holy War, but I think that the motivation and conviction his character has resonates with the player so much.  You want Seliph to win just as much as he does, and you can understand and sympathize with his actions.  Seliph is the hero that Jugdral desperately needs, and he steps up to that task.  You get to watch Seliph grow into the type of man that Sigurd is, and I think watching that journey is incredible.

In terms of gameplay, Seliph is just ridiculously good and fun to use.  Inheriting the Silver Sword (which will probably have 50 kills by then) means that he can just carve through enemies with criticals, and I tend to also always inherit the Paragon Band to allow for quick growth.  Seliph will be promoted in no time, giving him access to a mount and even better stats.  And not too long after that, he'll get hold of the Tyrfing: A 30 Might sword that gives him +10 Skill, +10 Speed, and +20 Resistance.

Seliph is the man.

[Hanes]

2 hours ago, Pengaius said:

Leif for all of those reasons as well as how the fatigue mechanic plays into his character. 

Fatigue as a mechanic forces the player to rest their units every once in a while. Everybody but Leif. Leif is not allowed to become fatigued, he must keep fighting, no matter what. I feel that Leif's growths are as low as they are to further emphasise that he isn't getting much rest, and isn't able to fully and properly grow stronger (but that's just reading too far into it)

Amazing insight.

Edited May 20, 2020 by This boi uses Nino

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Anacybele said:

Oh wow, we both favor Ike and a dude that wears green. lol In my case, that dude in green is Luigi though. 😛

Huh; true. Speaking of green, I think one of the funniest things I ever heard about Link is, "Link can do what no one else can: make a floppy green hat look cool". 

[Anacybele]

16 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Huh; true. Speaking of green, I think one of the funniest things I ever heard about Link is, "Link can do what no one else can: make a floppy green hat look cool". 

OMG, that is true, isn't it? XD