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Top 10 characters who deserve a spot in Heroes


GrandeRampel
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I was reading some of my old topics just for fun and I realized something. It's been exactly two years since my topic on the characters who OBJECTIVELY deserve to be in Heroes, no questions asked, super important and loved blah-blah-blah...

 

 

And look at that! My entire list has been added (minus one important person), which means I was pretty spot on. But it also means that the topic is almost as ripe for a remake as Genealogy.

So let's try again to find out who are the Ten characters who absolutely deserve to get in the game before it shut downs, based not on popularity, but on plot importance, uniqueness and how much they stand out and have an impact on the player and ideally on the world they live in.

But first a couple of rules:

1. It goes without saying but since the goal is to figure which characters currently missing from the game deserve to be included for their merits, the characters who are already in the game are excluded. Yes Jim, even if they are alts-only, even if they are the back-up unit for a Duo and even if they have different personas. Basycally no Zeke, Jeritza, Severa or Hardin, I don't care if they have completely different personalities and memories. Even so, I know many people will still include Rhea, Pent and the likes. Oh well, nothing I can do about that.

2. Try to keep personal feelings out of this as much as possible. I know that it's hard but the goal here is to figure out who are the MOST IMPORTANT characters missing from the series as a whole, not just our favorites. We had a whole separate topic for our favorites.

 

Without further ado, here's my list:

10. Touma & Cain (TMS)

Yashiro I can kind of excuse since he is the last party member, but Touma is there for the whole game. There is no reason whatsoever not to include him when less important party members where included.

9. Dedue (Three Houses)

Three Houses was treated quite well. Basycally everyone who is very important has been added in some way and quite quickly. Except for Dedue. He is important by virtue of being a retainer, and he manages to be relevant in more routes than just Blue Lions. He absolutely deserves a spot and at this point I'm guessing they are saving him for some reason (introducing gauntlets?). Who would be the most important characters missing after he is added? Perhaps Marianne, or maybe Yuri. And the Agarthian folks but... yeah, better to not speak about them.

8. Markus (Binding Blade & Blazing Blade)

Question: Why do we have all the Jagens except for him? Okay, and Oifey who also almost made this list, but Markus beat him by virtue of being in TWO GAMES. Seriously, why is he still missing? If Duessel can get in and not as a demote, why is Markus not hot enough? At least in his young incarnation he should meet the standards.

7. Elffin (Binding Blade)

This is a good example of not basing the list on personal likings. I don't care about Elffin much at all, but the guy is VITAL to the plot of FE6. Even if you pick the specific route to not recruit him like I did, his importance is clear to see. Also he is one of the three refreshers missing (not counting a possible young Lehran alt) so they can't avoid him forever.

6. Pelleas (Radiant Dawn)

Of the three royals missing from Tellius, I pick Pelleas as the most important one. Yeah, Skrimir and Kurthnaga are cool too but the presence of Pelleas kind of kick-starts the plot of RD (even in stupid ways coffbloodpathscoff) and in my opinion that counts for something.

5. Dagdar (Thracia 776)

Another "kinda" Jagen who is still missing. And he gets bonus points for the fact that Thracia really needs more characters to get a more acceptable roster. Perhaps Boyd, Sain and Kent should be considered important enough to make the list for similar reasons to Dagdar, but I had no spots left for them.

4. Ashera (Radiant Dawn)

Yeah, the big bads are kind of important in a story, what a surprise. There are some others I excluded like Anankos, but what can I say? Ashera is more fascinating as a villain and you don't have to buy a DLC to meet her. If Sephiran wasn't very recently added, perhaps I would have given the spot to him.

3. Nergal (Blazing Blade)

The big bad who dictates the plot of an entire game. He should be in already.

2. Manfroy (Genealogy of the Holy War)

The big bad who dictates the plot of an entire game. He should be in already.

1. Medeus (Shadow Dragon & Mystery of the Emblem)

Without a doubt the number one most important character of the franchise still missing from the game. Seriously, without him we wouldn't have Idunn, Grima, the King of Goldoa (screw writing his name) and a bunch of other kids who hav no respect for their grandpa. Still more respect than IS has for him tho.

0. Nyna (Shadow Dragon & Mystery of the Emblem)

Now this bonus position may seem like cheating but I wanted to do something special for the only character of my old list unfortunate enough to not make it. What can I say? She was long overdue two years ago and she still is today. It's crazy that we got Guinivere and Emmeryn but not the OG. Like, wtf IS? What are you waiting for? Can you at least give her a seasonal alt?

And with that my list is done. Can't wait to see yours and confront them. Which characters who are extremely important to the franchise are still missing in your opinion?

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Looking at my old list in the old topic, five of my choices have been added to the game in some playable form. I wish Elice was her own unique unit rather than Marth's partner as a duo unit, but nevertheless, she's in Heroes now. To update my list...

I'd have to give the majority of spots to characters who are directly mentioned, by name, by characters in Heroes in their Heroes dialog. Nyna, Midia, Dagdar, Brom, etc. They're considered important enough to mentioned in-game, so, take the next step and actually add them.

To add a couple others, I'd add Kent and Sain, Nergal, Raydrik, Meudus, Erinys, and Dedue. I'm not sure if they've been specifically mentioned in-game, but they're all important in some way in their respective games.

Edited by Fire Emblem Fan
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In order by game:

  1. Medeus [Shadow Dragon / (New) Mystery]
  2. Jedah [Shadows of Valentia]
  3. Manfroy [Genealogy of the Holy War]
  4. Nergal [Blazing Blade]
  5. Lekain [Radiant Dawn] still not on the CYL ballot when he's the guy whose actions made Sephiran go off the deep end, RIP
  6. Ashera [Radiant Dawn]
  7. Validar [Awakening]
  8. Anankos [Fates]
  9. Dedue [Three Houses]
  10. Thales / "Lord Arundel" [Three Houses] if we get him as the latter, then get ready for Reinhardt 2.0 complete with the same English VA

Of the above, Jedah and Nergal are the only carry overs from my previous list but RIP Sephiran and Dheginsea for being locked in seasonal hell for the foreseeable future.

As you can see, it's almost all antagonists that I find to be a bit too important to their respective games to be left out even though people may not want some of them and five of them are doomed to increase the red tome infantry count for GHBs.......and then Dedue. Like come on IS, Dimitri has been eating weeds for like a year and a half now without Dedue around.

Oh, and there's no TMS representation here because it's lucky to have (as a spinoff that doesn't resemble a Fire Emblem game at all) even gotten in FEH at all.

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My list are :

-Cecil & Ryan from Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.

-Fire emblem Cipher Original Charaters .

-Crossover charater from Tearing Saga

Minor charater from Fire Emblem Series like : Ike mom, Eleanora (FE7), v...v....

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Kurthnaga and Nergal are the two still missing from my old list.

Going by game order:

  1. Medeus
  2. Nyna
  3. Manfroy
  4. Raydrik
  5. Kent
  6. Sain
  7. Nergal
  8. Pelleas
  9. Kurthnaga
  10. Ashera
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Plot importance, uniqueness, and impact on the average player ... that's an interesting criteria. I find it revealing that a lot of the mentions on here already are a bunch of the endgame villains. To be expected, but man, makes me want to shake it up:

  • Nasir - Odd choice compared to the rest of the list, but he was very pivotal to the plot of PoR in not only being the advisor basically the whole way through, the traitor that kicked off a good load of plot that i don't have the energy to go into (continuing on into RD), and eventually having an arc that spans the rest of the Tellius games. Ena's also in, so it's weird that her grandaddy isn't.  Should there be one last PoR banner, he's gotta be on it, even if some of my other faves are kicked off.
  • Ashera: Final boss (and most well done one tbh) of RD, other half of Yune, very active in RD's plot in the later fourth as a reason for all the armies to keep fighting, has a pretty metal design ... she feels like an easy-shoo-in for a mythic.
  • Nergal: Main villain of FE7.  Feel like that says it all.
  • I know OP said no Rhea, but i gotta add her in considering she's essentially the fourth lord and arguably the most impactful one to every single path of 3H, bordering on importance equal to Byleth. Scores high on every criteria and can see some funky colorless tome stuff with her. If it helps, I'm imaging her more as the Immaculate One that tosses Byleth in the trench.
  • Dedue: echoing others in that he's the one retainer of 3H not in yet by a criminally long time, ffs. Other than the main lords/Byleth/Rhea, that's the next level of characters you interact with the most. Also most likely to bring in grappling as a whole 'nother weapons element
  • Miriel - last of the OG Shepards that hasn't made it in, i think. Yes, her plot importance isn't high, but you socialize with the Shepards quite a bit, and for a group that's mostly "rounded out", it strikes me as odd she's not in.
  • Dare I throw Priam in for flame war bait?  :P sure as hell "unique" and err, impactful .... on forums ....

Athos and Nyna are sort of in there for mostly plot reasons but I'm reluctant to repeat others lest this topic get boring, fast.

Edited by kradeelav
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Nergal and Medeus are definitely at the top two spots. And that's even counting alts like Rhea and stuff. But discounting all them, number 3 would definitely be Ashera. From there I think it gets murkier and more based on personal opinion. We already have all the lord characters and the major supporting characters. It's mostly end game villains like Manfroy and Jedah which people have mentioned. Oh yeah Anankos is a thing too I guess. I suppose I'd rank him about as necessary as Ashera.

To give someone that no one else has mentioned (though the OP does reference him), Skrimir. He's an important character in Radiant Dawn alright, but from a Heroes perspective we still only have one beast armoured unit in the game thus far and of Soan, Grifca and himself, he'd be most deserving of the next spot (though Grifca could see himself get in in a Path of Radiance banner where Skrimir couldn't I suppose). Not that that means he's more deserving than Pelleas, it just matters from which direction you're taking objective from, objective importance in the series as a whole, or objectively good for the balance of Heroes.

 

5 hours ago, kradeelav said:
  • Miriel - last of the OG Shepards that hasn't made it in, i think. Yes, her plot importance isn't high, but you socialize with the Shepards quite a bit, and for a group that's mostly "rounded out", it strikes me as odd she's not in.

Did Vaike get in when I wasn't looking?

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6 hours ago, kradeelav said:

 

  • Miriel - last of the OG Shepards that hasn't made it in, i think. Yes, her plot importance isn't high, but you socialize with the Shepards quite a bit, and for a group that's mostly "rounded out", it strikes me as odd she's not in.
  • Dare I throw Priam in for flame war bait?  😛 sure as hell "unique" and err, impactful .... on forums ....

This is blatant Vaike erasure.

Also, lmao Priam. He had a huge impact on players in a way I guess.

 

Surprised nobody has mentioned Boyd yet.

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1. Marcus: He's pretty much the definitive Jagen. Not only was he the first Jagen for many people but he's also more fleshed out than the original, and has his utility widely appreciated. 
2. Nergal: Aside from Medeus I believe he's the only main villain not yet into the game. As far as his design and powers goes he's one of the more unique Gharnef's, yet he's the one that's still absent. 
3. Pelleas: He's kind of a main character isn't he? Aside from Michy and Sothe he's the most important character from Daein in Radiant Dawn. 
4. Boyd: He's the most important Greil mercenary not yet into the game. He's also the only Greil mercenary not yet into the game. He was decently prominent in Radiant Dawn and ultimately steals Mist from his brother so all in all he's a pretty important guy. 
5. Nasir: Radiant Dawn might have treated him as an afterthought but in Path of Radience he was among the more prominent characters and also one of the more intriguing ones. 
6. Azelle: You know what, I'm bringing up a minor character. Yeah Azelle deserves it. He's the little brother of the main villain, he's a Velthomer, and a one of a kind depiction of a bastard. That's enough reason to have added him years ago, yet IS has been dragging their heels about including him. 
7. Lekain: He might not be the main villain but he's the Radiant Dawn villain with the most presence. He's also bombastic enough to have an enjoyable characterization. 
8. Kiragi: He might be part of the much maligned second gens but he's also the only Fates royal who's not in the game yet. That's against the Fire Emblem Heroes code of conduct. If you're a Fates royal you're entitled to special treatment. Unless you're Leo or Forrest. 
9. Dedue: The only retainer not yet in the game. Ash is probably the more popular Blion addition but with Dedue you can ague he was done very dirty by getting excluded in the retainer banner.
10. Alois: I think Alois is generally a little underrated. He's got a very important presence. He's the one who stumbles on Byleth and brings him to the academy, he's one of the few characters that has a bond with Byleth's family and he ultimately ends up leading the knights. 

Quote

 

1. Medeus (Shadow Dragon & Mystery of the Emblem)

Without a doubt the number one most important character of the franchise still missing from the game. Seriously, without him we wouldn't have Idunn, Grima, the King of Goldoa (screw writing his name) and a bunch of other kids who hav no respect for their grandpa. Still more respect than IS has for him tho.

 

I actually don't think Medeus was very important in the grand scheme of things even when you take into account that he was the first Final Boss. Its why he didn't make my list. He didn't really impact the series much going forward. Gharnef, Camus and Michalis all went on to influence future Fire Emblem villains. You can see Gharnef in every evil dark mage that pulls the strings behind the scene or every insane cultist, and you can recognize Camus in all the other blonde, handsome and conflicted enemy generals. The villains of the Michelis archetype eventually became more pathetic as time went on but even that stems from Michelis' delusions of grandeur and it making him bite off more then he could chew. 

But none of the Final bosses, not even the dragon ones really took after Medeus in any way. Not in design and not in personality. All the Camus look the same but few if any villains replicated the bald old man look that Medeus went for. All Gharnef's act the same but all Dragon antagonists have different motivations and mannerisms. 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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Characters I care about and really want in Heroes:

Shura

Before anyone says, “There are too many Fates characters”, in my opinion he deserved to be added to Heroes before several of the second-gen characters. Shura is playable in all three Fates story paths and is important to the plot in two. Mozu is the only other Fates character playable in all three story paths who hasn’t been added to Heroes, but she is obtained in a completely optional paralogue and has no plot importance.

There are relatively few archers in Heroes, and another red archer (like Midori) or blue archer (like Felix) would be very welcome. Since you fight Shura in all three story paths, he would also be a good Grand Hero Battle candidate. While I wouldn’t want him as an alt-only character, I can think of a few alts that suit Shura thematically: New Year’s (a large part of his character is wanting to redeem himself for past deeds and move forward), Day of Devotion (not for a particular character, but the loss of his homeland is a large part of his character and he has ambitions to rebuild it) and Ninja Festival if that ever comes back (I really hope it does!)

 

 Miriel, Vaike, Ricken, Kellam, Gregor

Before anyone says, “There are too many Awakening characters,” these five have been completely shafted by Heroes. Aside from Gregor, they’re present for 90% of the game. Why have none of these first-generation, early-game recruits in Awakening been added, yet tertiary characters like Aversa, Gangrel, Walhart, Say’ri, Kjelle, Brady, and Yarne were added? I could go on a rant about how much it annoys me when second-gen characters get chosen over first-gen characters (with a few “main”/plot important exceptions like Seliph, Julia, Lucina, the Morgans, the Kanas, and Shigure) but now is not the time for that.

I would love to see a banner with four of them. It could even have one character representing each color: Miriel as a red tome infantry (since she specialized in fire magic, IIRC) or Gregor as sword infantry, Vaike as a green axe infantry, Ricken as a colorless tome infantry (more colorless tome users would be awesome), and Kellam as an armored blue lance (there are relatively few armored units.)

 

Characters I don’t really care about, but acknowledge their importance:

Nyna and Medeus

They’re both vitally plot-important characters from the first Fire Emblem game, and the first of their archetypes. I don’t have strong feelings about either of them, but they are certainly important.

Validar and Anankos

I don’t find either interesting (and I have ambivalent feelings about Anankos’ role in Fates), but they are pivotally important to the plots of their respective games. I could see either appearing as Grand Hero Battle characters.

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1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I actually don't think Medeus was very important in the grand scheme of things even when you take into account that he was the first Final Boss. Its why he didn't make my list. He didn't really impact the series much going forward. Gharnef, Camus and Michalis all went on to influence future Fire Emblem villains. You can see Gharnef in every evil dark mage that pulls the strings behind the scene or every insane cultist, and you can recognize Camus in all the other blonde, handsome and conflicted enemy generals. The villains of the Michelis archetype eventually became more pathetic as time went on but even that stems from Michelis' delusions of grandeur and it making him bite off more then he could chew. 

But none of the Final bosses, not even the dragon ones really took after Medeus in any way. Not in design and not in personality. All the Camus look the same but few if any villains replicated the bald old man look that Medeus went for. All Gharnef's act the same but all Dragon antagonists have different motivations and mannerisms. 

You made some valid points. If you judge him only on his appearances in the games, the only merit of Medeus is being the final boss of 5 games (yes, I am counting TMS) and little more.

However, if you look at things in a more meta sense there is a certain uniqueness to Medeus. The title of the game is Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. And he is the dragon the title is telling you about. The title doesn't really even tell you about Marth (or Anri) at all, just their sword, but it does tell you that Medeus is someone to look forward to. It creates expectations for him right at the start. No other game in the series refers to a specific character with its title (okay Radiant Dawn does in Japanese, but to be fair Ashera also made my list).

Also, before you even start the game they tell you the story of Anri and Medeus. It's the first thing everyone who started the series with the first game learned about. Before you knew who Marth, Caeda and Gharnef were, you knew who Medeus was, and shortly after, Anri. He really should get in the game too. But the big difference between him and Anri is that the hero of light is just one of the 3 super important characters of the lore (Naga and Medeus are tied with him), while the Shadow Dragon is just as important for the lore AND gets to actually be in the game.

And sure there are other cases in which the game tells you about a super important character before you are told anything else (Duma and Mila in Echoes, Seiros and Nemesis in Three Houses), but first of all, they are already in the game, and secondly to me there is some merit to being the first.

This is just my opinion at the end of the day, but Medeus deserves some more credit.

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1. Nyna

2. Medeus 

3. Gotoh

4. Jedah

5. Elphin 

6. Nergal

7. Sonia (FE7)

8. Ashera

9. Pelleas 

10. Thales

And I know you specifically mentioned her as a bad pick but Rhea absolutely deserves to be in as a standalone character. Lekain, Manfroy, and Anankos should probably also be on the list but I had to leave them out for reasons. Validar who? I don't know her.

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There are way more than 10 remaining characters that absolutely should be in Heroes but he's my short list. I've decided to leave out Three Houses because it feels to me like every missing student, recency bias at work, is important enough that they need to be added. The list is very villains-heavy:

1. Nyna
2. Medeus
3. Nergal
4. Ashera
5. Sonia
6. Raydrik
7. Mycen
8. Manfroy
9. Validar
10. Marcus








 

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11 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

1. Marcus: He's pretty much the definitive Jagen. Not only was he the first Jagen for many people but he's also more fleshed out than the original, and has his utility widely appreciated. 
2. Nergal: Aside from Medeus I believe he's the only main villain not yet into the game. As far as his design and powers goes he's one of the more unique Gharnef's, yet he's the one that's still absent. 
3. Pelleas: He's kind of a main character isn't he? Aside from Michy and Sothe he's the most important character from Daein in Radiant Dawn. 
4. Boyd: He's the most important Greil mercenary not yet into the game. He's also the only Greil mercenary not yet into the game. He was decently prominent in Radiant Dawn and ultimately steals Mist from his brother so all in all he's a pretty important guy. 
5. Nasir: Radiant Dawn might have treated him as an afterthought but in Path of Radience he was among the more prominent characters and also one of the more intriguing ones. 
6. Azelle: You know what, I'm bringing up a minor character. Yeah Azelle deserves it. He's the little brother of the main villain, he's a Velthomer, and a one of a kind depiction of a bastard. That's enough reason to have added him years ago, yet IS has been dragging their heels about including him. 
7. Lekain: He might not be the main villain but he's the Radiant Dawn villain with the most presence. He's also bombastic enough to have an enjoyable characterization. 
8. Kiragi: He might be part of the much maligned second gens but he's also the only Fates royal who's not in the game yet. That's against the Fire Emblem Heroes code of conduct. If you're a Fates royal you're entitled to special treatment. Unless you're Leo or Forrest. 
9. Dedue: The only retainer not yet in the game. Ash is probably the more popular Blion addition but with Dedue you can ague he was done very dirty by getting excluded in the retainer banner.
10. Alois: I think Alois is generally a little underrated. He's got a very important presence. He's the one who stumbles on Byleth and brings him to the academy, he's one of the few characters that has a bond with Byleth's family and he ultimately ends up leading the knights. 

I actually don't think Medeus was very important in the grand scheme of things even when you take into account that he was the first Final Boss. Its why he didn't make my list. He didn't really impact the series much going forward. Gharnef, Camus and Michalis all went on to influence future Fire Emblem villains. You can see Gharnef in every evil dark mage that pulls the strings behind the scene or every insane cultist, and you can recognize Camus in all the other blonde, handsome and conflicted enemy generals. The villains of the Michelis archetype eventually became more pathetic as time went on but even that stems from Michelis' delusions of grandeur and it making him bite off more then he could chew. 

But none of the Final bosses, not even the dragon ones really took after Medeus in any way. Not in design and not in personality. All the Camus look the same but few if any villains replicated the bald old man look that Medeus went for. All Gharnef's act the same but all Dragon antagonists have different motivations and mannerisms. 

You'd stick Lekain above Ashera?

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The recently-announced seasonal ripped enough of a hole in my heart for me to post this here: Validar. I have no idea why he hasn't been added to the game yet. I'm especially hoping for an FB or something so that we can have some Robin/Morgan interaction with him. Maybe Grima, even.

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5 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Yeah. Lekain is the driving force with ties to other character. Ashera's the evil doomsday device awoken by Lehran who doesn't care about anyone. 

And yet Lekain is unceremoniously killed off five chapters before the end because by that point in the plot he'd become more of a loose end than a driving force.

Edited by Jotari
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1 minute ago, Jotari said:

And yet Lekain is unceremoniously killed off five chapters before the end because by that point in the plot he'd become more of a loose end than a driving force.

True. He was definitely meant to be discarded in favor of the real villains. But him being the one who made Lehran a driving villain to begin with ensures he's plenty of important. 

Lekain is like Nergal while Ashera is like the fire dragon. Shooting for the final boss isn't always the way to go. That's why Gharnef was there before Medeus, and Lyon before the demon king. 

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5 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

True. He was definitely meant to be discarded in favor of the real villains. But him being the one who made Lehran a driving villain to begin with ensures he's plenty of important. 

Lekain is like Nergal while Ashera is like the fire dragon. Shooting for the final boss isn't always the way to go. That's why Gharnef was there before Medeus, and Lyon before the demon king. 

Nergal comes up in the story way more than Lekain does, and Ashera comes up in the story way more than the Fire Dragon does.

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19 hours ago, Othin said:

Nergal comes up in the story way more than Lekain does, and Ashera comes up in the story way more than the Fire Dragon does.

Ya, I've got to agree. That's a bit disingenuous a comparison. Not to mention that aside from the Serenes Massacre that kicked everything off to begin with, the suggests Lehran has been playing Lekain like a fiddle throughout both games.

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