Legendary Hero - Alear: Engaging Fire

[Fire Emblem Fan]

This month's Legendary Hero is Male Alear. He has an Earth blessing and he's a Colorless dragon...that doesn't transform, just like his female counterpart.

 

Edited February 28 by Fire Emblem Fan

[Humanoid]

Oh. How ordinary. No Emblem means no pull.

At least it isn't yet another dragon where the game acts as if we have multiple Distant Counter Dragon seals. The special is apparently inheritable though, so the main upside of the banner is that we finally have something decent to pick for Dragons in upcoming Hall of Forms. Which also means there's now no way in hell that I'll redeem any of the units in the current HoF.

[Sunwoo]

These new weapons just have WAAAAAAAAY too much crap to them. Not only is it hard to comprehend, but I'm just facepalming at the thought of having to fight any of these guys. Ever. Which I certainly will have to.

[GuiltyLove]

5 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

These new weapons just have WAAAAAAAAY too much crap to them. Not only is it hard to comprehend, but I'm just facepalming at the thought of having to fight any of these guys. Ever. Which I certainly will have to.

I am already dreading the Abyssal map

[ARMADS!!!]

Of course it was gonna be male Alear... I'm starting to feel a prelude of Engage fatigue already, I guess it's nice that he doesn't follow the "woman is a dragon and her male counterpart has a sword(or something else)" thing though, I think they might have dropped this concept for real.

 Also, I found funny that his attack animation is straight up punching you in the face but if you attack from 2 spaces away then he counters by shooting a fucking laser beam out of his hands(?), it's even funnier cause I'm sure that that's how it must be in Engage cause they tend to pick the attacking animations for the legendaries from their home games.

 Anyway, wish I could skip it, but Gullveig, Heidr and Ninian will be here... Guess I'll skip it anyway though and hope for Gullveig to be on the AHR banner, I wanna save my orbs and there's not incentive enough to waste them here.

Edited February 28 by ARMADS!!!

[Ice Dragon]

As expected, this is a single-unit banner.

And he's got literally every skill effect except for Null Follow-Up. It looks like they didn't want him competing with all of the other dragons for Distant Counter (D).

 

And here's the usual translation notes:

 

Alear's epithet, "Engaging Fire", is "繋和ぎし絆炎" (tsunagishi han'en), "Connecting Fire". Literally "Bond-Calming Bond-Flame", but that sounds silly, and there's a lot more stuff going on under the hood. Indented for clarity due to length.

"繋和ぐ" (tsunagu) is a novel compound with a gikun reading, which means that the reading and the spelling do not match. The spelling is a combination of the words "繋ぐ" (tsunagu), "to connect", and "和ぐ" (nagu), "to make calm", but its pronunciation is simply that of "繋ぐ" (tsunagu), "to connect". The resulting compound is used in the name of the skill Bond Forger, "絆を繋和ぐもの" (kizuna o tsunagu mono), "One Who Connects Bonds".

"絆炎" (han'en), "Bond-Flame", is the kanji used for "Fire" in this game's manifestation of the Fire Emblem.

Spoiler

Having not yet played Engage, I do not know where this shows up in the game, but the full epithet is a reference to Emblem Alear's quote, "Connect us, The Fire Emblem." In Japanese, this quote is "繋和げよ、絆炎の紋章士" (tsunage yo, faiā emuburemu), "Connect [us], The Fire Emblem."

"The Fire Emblem" is written as "絆炎の紋章士" (han'en no monshō-shi), "Emblem Warrior of Bond-Flames", but is given the gikun reading "Fire Emblem".

 

For comparison, Marth's corresponding quote, "Shine on, Emblem of Beginnings", is "星炎け、始まりの紋章士" (kayagake, hajimari no monshō-shi), "Shine, Emblem Warrior of Beginnings". Notably, the initial imperative in each one of the Emblems' quotes uses a gikun reading (though only Alear's uses gikun for the epithet of the Emblem). In this case, the kanji used are "星" (hoshi), "star", and "炎" (honō), "flame", but is read as "輝け" (kagayake), imperative "shine".

Divine One's Arts is "神竜王の体術" (shinryūō no taijutsu), "Divine Dragon King's Taijutsu". As mentioned elsewhere, "体術" (taijutsu), literally "body arts", is the name of a traditional martial art that was later brought under the umbrella of "柔術" (jūjutsu), "jujutsu" or "jiu-jitsu".

Dragon's Roar is "竜の咆哮" (ryū no hōkō), "Dragon's Roar".

Emblems' Miracle is "紋章の奇跡" (monshō no kiseki), "Emblems' Miracle". Note that "奇跡" (kiseki) does, in fact, mean "miracle", whereas the Miracle skill is instead "祈り" (inori), "Prayer".

S/R Bulwark is "速さ魔防の防壁" (hayasa mabō no bōheki), "Spd/Res Bulwark".

 

46 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Also, I found funny that his attack animation is straight up punching you in the face but if you attack from 2 spaces away then he counters by shooting a fucking laser beam out of his hands(?),

That's his finisher animation, which is used for killing blows. All Legendary/Mythic/Emblem Heroes have one, but you don't see it often because Special animations take priority over finisher animations and are usually much less flashy.

Legendary Female Alear also has the same finisher animation as Legendary Male Alear.

 

1 hour ago, Sunwoo said:

These new weapons just have WAAAAAAAAY too much crap to them. Not only is it hard to comprehend, but I'm just facepalming at the thought of having to fight any of these guys. Ever. Which I certainly will have to.

This is what happens when they refuse to use line breaks in their skill descriptions. The Japanese descriptions not only use line breaks, but also indentation for clarity.

Quick summary:

• Weapon
  • Dragonstone common effect
  • Slaying effect
  • Brave effect (both phases)
  • +5 to all stats
  • -4 to all stats on opponent
  • -3 to all stats on opponent for each distinct source game on allies within 3 spaces, maximum -6
  • Half nullification of percentage damage reduction
  • Scowl 4
• Special
  • Damage equal to 40% of Res
  • 40% damage reduction if unit's Res is 4 less than opponent's Res or higher and if unit's or opponent's Special is charged or was previously charged during this round of combat, once per combat
• Passive A
  • Distant Counter
  • +9 to all stats
  • 40% damage reduction on non-follow-up attacks
  • Miracle effect if there are at least 3 allies within 3 spaces, once per map
  • 99 HP regeneration after combat if Miracle effect activates from any skill slot

Edited February 28 by Ice Dragon

[ARMADS!!!]

15 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

As expected, this is a single-unit banner.

And he's got literally every skill effect except for Null Follow-Up. It looks like they didn't want him competing with all of the other dragons for Distant Counter (D).

 

And here's the usual translation notes:

 

Alear's epithet, "Engaging Fire", is "繋和ぎし絆炎" (tsunagishi han'en), "Connecting Fire". Literally "Bond-Calming Bond-Flame", but that sounds silly, and there's a lot more stuff going on under the hood. Indented for clarity due to length.

"繋和ぐ" (tsunagu) is a novel compound with a gikun reading, which means that the reading and the spelling do not match. The spelling is a combination of the words "繋ぐ" (tsunagu), "to connect", and "和ぐ" (nagu), "to make calm", but its pronunciation is simply that of "繋ぐ" (tsunagu), "to connect". The resulting compound is used in the name of the skill Bond Forger, "絆を繋和ぐもの" (kizuna o tsunagu mono), "One Who Connects Bonds".

"絆炎" (han'en), "Bond-Flame", is the kanji used for "Fire" in this game's manifestation of the Fire Emblem.

  Hide contents

Having not yet played Engage, I do not know where this shows up in the game, but the full epithet is a reference to Emblem Alear's quote, "Connect us, The Fire Emblem." In Japanese, this quote is "繋和げよ、絆炎の紋章士" (tsunage yo, faiā emuburemu), "Connect [us], The Fire Emblem."

"The Fire Emblem" is written as "絆炎の紋章士" (han'en no monshō-shi), "Emblem Warrior of Bond-Flames", but is given the gikun reading "Fire Emblem".

 

For comparison, Marth's corresponding quote, "Shine on, Emblem of Beginnings", is "星炎け、始まりの紋章士" (kayagake, hajimari no monshō-shi), "Shine, Emblem Warrior of Beginnings". Notably, the initial imperative in each one of the Emblems' quotes uses a gikun reading (though only Alear's uses gikun for the epithet of the Emblem). In this case, the kanji used are "星" (hoshi), "star", and "炎" (honō), "flame", but is read as "輝け" (kagayake), imperative "shine".

Divine One's Arts is "神竜王の体術" (shinryūō no taijutsu), "Divine Dragon King's Taijutsu". As mentioned elsewhere, "体術" (taijutsu), literally "body arts", is the name of a traditional martial art that was later brought under the umbrella of "柔術" (jūjutsu), "jujutsu" or "jiu-jitsu".

Dragon's Roar is "竜の咆哮" (ryū no hōkō), "Dragon's Roar".

Emblems' Miracle is "紋章の奇跡" (monshō no kiseki), "Emblems' Miracle". Note that "奇跡" (kiseki) does, in fact, mean "miracle", whereas the Miracle skill is instead "祈り" (inori), "Prayer".

S/R Bulwark is "速さ魔防の防壁" (hayasa mabō no bōheki), "Spd/Res Bulwark".

 

That's his finisher animation, which is used for killing blows. All Legendary/Mythic/Emblem Heroes have one, but you don't see it often because Special animations take priority over finisher animations and are usually much less flashy.

Legendary Female Alear also has the same finisher animation as Legendary Male Alear.

I knew about finisher animations but I was under the impression that some legendaries had a distinct animation for close combate and for ranged combat too, though now that you mention it I think that might not happen in feh (just in other FEs, like when in combat with a javelin, or Roy wielding the Sword of Seals, etc). Anyway, thanks for the correction.

 Also, since I'm already quoting you, one question about the translation part: Is there a way to know if something uses a gikun reading just by reading the sentence or you can only know the actual pronunciation if you have context or an indication for it?

Edited February 28 by ARMADS!!!

[Ice Dragon]

1 minute ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Also, since I'm already quoting you, one question about the translation part: Is there a way to know if something uses a gikun reading just by reading the sentence or you can only know the actual pronunciation if you have context or an indication for it?

If it's not a standard gikun reading, then most of the time the intended pronunciation will be indicated with ruby text (furigana) over the characters or in parentheses after the characters if ruby text formatting is not available.

If there isn't one given, the only way to know is if you're already aware of it from context, or you can try looking for the context if it looks really, really suspicious or otherwise makes no sense. This one was really, really suspicious because yanking out half of a character's reading and representing the part that was yanked out with a second full additional character with that reading is commonplace in names for people and places, and that's exactly what this one looked like. So I looked it up.

[Zeo]

This looks like a disgustingly broken and utterly busted unit. Even by today standards.

And despite that, I look at him and all I see is ATK/SPD Pledge fodder. I might spark on this banner just for that, depending on what happens with the AHR Gaunlet, given that F!Alear has a pretty good chance of losing that.

[Etrurian emperor]

We finally have someone able to be a punchy boi. 

[Diovani Bressan]

I am disappointed he is another dragon arts unit. I was expecting/hoping Legendary Male Alear would be a sword unit with Wille Glanz or Lyrátion.

And yeah, I also think that special may be inheritable.

Edited February 28 by Diovani Bressan

[Ice Dragon]

3 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

And yeah, I also think that special may be inheritable.

The only Legendary/Mythic/Emblem Hero we've gotten so far with more than 2 exclusive skills is Legendary Marth (who had Exalted Falchion, Fire Emblem, and Binding Shield at release, all of which were brand new), so I don't expect to get another one.

Given that Dragon's Roar's effect is also generic and is along the same vein as the armor-exclusive Specials, it's most likely a dragon-exclusive inheritable Special.

 

And given that it requires a Res comparison to activate its defensive effect, it looks like I can now make up my mind on Asset picks for my bulky infantry dragons (Res instead of Atk). Kurthnaga can finally be merged to +10.

[Jotari]

Completely what I expected from Legendary Alear. That being said, I feel like Wille Glanz has been overlooked. They should have made that Lumera's sword in her GHB appearance. I guess they didn't because spoilers? But it's not like a weapon name is much of a spoiler. I mean, I guess it might have suggested she'd show up again, but it's not like we aren't used to Heroes just making up stuff too so it wouldn't have been a(n) (un)dead give away. Maybe Fallen Lumera will get it if they can resist making her a dragon.

[Othin]

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

The only Legendary/Mythic/Emblem Hero we've gotten so far with more than 2 exclusive skills is Legendary Marth (who had Exalted Falchion, Fire Emblem, and Binding Shield at release, all of which were brand new), so I don't expect to get another one.

Given that Dragon's Roar's effect is also generic and is along the same vein as the armor-exclusive Specials, it's most likely a dragon-exclusive inheritable Special.

 

And given that it requires a Res comparison to activate its defensive effect, it looks like I can now make up my mind on Asset picks for my bulky infantry dragons (Res instead of Atk). Kurthnaga can finally be merged to +10.

Legendary Marth, Legendary Micaiah, and Mythic Altina all introduced three prfs, even though some of those prfs have reappeared on later units. But it's a rare occurrence, and none of them fit into existing inheritable skill patterns like Dragon's Roar does.

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Othin said:

Legendary Marth, Legendary Micaiah, and Mythic Altina all introduced three prfs, even though some of those prfs have reappeared on later units. But it's a rare occurrence, and none of them fit into existing inheritable skill patterns like Dragon's Roar does.

Oh, wow, I completely forgot about them. I guess it was Marth having the really odd Remix that upgraded both of his exclusive skills without giving him a new inheritable skill that made me remember him in particular.

[Tybrosion]

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Maybe Fallen Lumera will get it if they can resist making her a dragon.

A Fallen Lumera should be Sword Infantry (again) since she never uses her dragon form in Engage’s actual gameplay (unlike Rhea / Seiros in Three Houses).

There is also a good chance that Wille Ganz gets used by a Fallen Alear instead, though.

[ARMADS!!!]

Oh man, now that someone mentioned the fallen banner, I know they won't resist putting some Engage characters there this year (I mean, what are the chances of they ignoring Veyle, Lumera and both Alears as options?) so that's one more banner where it'll absolutely show up this year, they really are compensating how much they ignored Engage last year, huh?

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, Tybrosion said:

A Fallen Lumera should be Sword Infantry (again) since she never uses her dragon form in Engage’s actual gameplay (unlike Rhea / Seiros in Three Houses).

There is also a good chance that Wille Ganz gets used by a Fallen Alear instead, though.

True, Fallen Alear could work as well. We never see Fallen Alear use Wille Glanz and have no indication that it even existed in that era, but considering Fallen Alear only ever uses Marth's weapons, it would fill in a natural gap (well I guess there's also the other Fallen Alear aka, spoiler, Veyle's corrupted, but that happens before Wille Glanz access.

2 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Oh man, now that someone mentioned the fallen banner, I know they won't resist putting some Engage characters there this year (I mean, what are the chances of they ignoring Veyle, Lumera and both Alears as options?) so that's one more banner where it'll absolutely show up this year, they really are compensating how much they ignored Engage last year, huh?

Engage has a ridiculous amount of fallen character potential, they really should have put one on last year's banner to space it out. As I said above we not only have both Alears, but we have both Alears two times over. In addition to Lumera and Veyle there's also Morion, Hypnotized Hortensia, Hyacinth and all of the eight royals from the Fell Xenologue. The corrupted Emblems are also a thing they could do... something with but we'd probably have to wait until we see more actual Emblems first (and getting Emblems on a general banner would probably be too generous even if it thematically fits).

[Tybrosion]

54 minutes ago, Jotari said:

True, Fallen Alear could work as well. We never see Fallen Alear use Wille Glanz and have no indication that it even existed in that era, but considering Fallen Alear only ever uses Marth's weapons, it would fill in a natural gap (well I guess there's also the other Fallen Alear aka, spoiler, Veyle's corrupted, but that happens before Wille Glanz access.

Fallen Alear doesn't have to be the Alear from the past. There's also the one from the bad ending you get if you lose on the final map.

Also, past Alear never using Wille Ganz shouldn't matter at all to FEH anyways. Due to FEH, Mulagir has more or less become Lyn's signature weapon even though Mulagir isn't even obtainable in Blazing Blade.