I wish seasonals were used to put more non-combatants into Heroes

[Jotari]

I don't really like seasonal banners. I feel the novelty of the basic premise has worn off a long time ago and the fact that we get more seasonals a year than non seasonals is a little ridiculous. That being said, I can't help but think of the idea and the potential it has that would make me more invested in them. And one of those potentials is to use more non fighters in the series. Fire Emblem is a series that centers it around combat a lot, any major villain or playable characters in the series you expect to literally fight at some point. Yet there are exceptions, we have characters who do not fight (or go on the battlefield in a support role like clerics and dancers). Characters likes the Tellius merchants or the little girl Amy, who it would be a bit ridiculous to put on a main banner and give her a weapon, but put a character like that in a seasonal and there's a degree of reality removed. It's more unnatural for them to be fighting with rainbows and candy canes which makes the fact that they're not fighters less relevant. It's not something they often do but I have appreciated on the few occasions where they have. Rinea from Shadows of Valentia is the one who stands out to me the most. It seemed a pretty good fit for her to be on a seasonal banner, we do end up fighting her in the actual game but as a manner that's very different to the version of her we see walking around in the story. Another would be Blazing Blade Zephiel, who actually does have a sword rank and a silver sword in Battle Before Dawn so is technically kind of a fighter, but seeing him pop up on a seasonal seemed like an appropriate way to use that design. A duo with him and Young Guinevere would also be nice to see. To an extent this is what they've done with the child banners, though, so far, only Ike and Mist are actual child versions we've seen in the games (though, young Lillina was a backpack with seasonal Hector, I think). The reason we don't see more examples is probably because these non-combatant versions of characters aren't exactly the most popular characters out there, the nature of the story means they're very much out of focus of the main plot, but they're still an element of the series and it'd be nice if they were acknowledged in Heroes. These are the non combatants I can see that are on CYL that I iddn't mention already.

*Archanes/Tellius Anna (we've had plenty of Anna alts but not specifically these Annas, though they're so minor in these games I'm not even sure why they're on CYL compared to others),

*Young Oifey and Shannan from Jugdral (actually only Young Oifey is on CYL, no young Shannan, which is actually a bit weird coming to think about it)

*Desmond and Hellene from Binding Blade (the only non-combatant villains in the series?)

*Elanora (aka Eliwood's mother, his father we kind of see fight, but he'd suit a seasonal banner too given his moderate, but not too major relevance)

*Natalie (Dorcas' wife, runner up for the prize of most random character on CYL)

*Hector's brother Uther (can probably fight but his sick and dying in the version of him we actually see, coming to think of it this applies to Sigurd's father too and even Eliwood himself in Binding Blade)

*Almedha

*Specifically the Radiant Dawn version of Largo

*Layla (the Nestria dancer and winner of the prize of most random character on CYL)

*Abysskeeper (look they were trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice, it was a bad idea to ever put him on CYL)

*Emperor Ionius IX

*Eve and Seforia

*Malledus and Dorias are also advisor units who we never see fight in gameplay, but they're different to what I'm talking about since they're still involved in combat in some way and it wouldn't be weird to give them a weapon and make them fight in Heroes, as they've already done for August. Halcyon, Irma and Masenna from Valentia are also characters we never see fight, but almost certainly can. Ditto for some other characters like Dimitri's father Lampert who we could even assign a weapon to but are off to the side focus wise and probably won't ever get in under a regular banner even if they would logistically work.

 

Now, I'm not saying I'm desperate to see every last character from that list playable, I certainly won't lose any sleep if we hit end of service without seeing Abysskeeper in the game, but there is potential for some of those units to make good seasonals due to the inherent nature of seasonals, and most of them wouldn't be able to get into the game on a regular banner. There's also quite a few characters not on CYL that would work well, I've made it known in the past that I'd like to see Chrom's Maiden wife on a wedding banner and Dara from Sacred Stones exists for those who want more elderly women in the game. And Sean's father Jean is kind of cool. I'm sure you can think of others. The ones I'd probably most like to see as non-combatants working as seasonals would be Almedha, Desmond+Hellene (most toxic duo unit in the series), Shannan+Oifey and Eve and Seforia (whom a lot of us think should have been playable in Engage anyway).

[Etrurian emperor]

13 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Young Oifey and Shannan from Jugdral (actually only Young Oifey is on CYL, no young Shannan, which is actually a bit weird coming to think about it)

If they’d take some inspiration from the manga they could easily turn baby Shanan into a combat unit. Just have him go “aunt Ayra trained me real good!”. I suppose baby Oifey being Sigurd’s squire suggests he has combat training.

And the baby banner is always an option for them though not likely.

16 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Almedha

I’m more interested in one that can fight. Her past version. The implications of Ashnard finding that for attractive are….interesting. I could see her being a battle obsessed maniac before it all went wrong.

[Jotari]

13 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

If they’d take some inspiration from the manga they could easily turn baby Shanan into a combat unit. Just have him go “aunt Ayra trained me real good!”. I suppose baby Oifey being Sigurd’s squire suggests he has combat training.

And the baby banner is always an option for them though not likely.

I’m more interested in one that can fight. Her past version. The implications of Ashnard finding that for attractive are….interesting. I could see her being a battle obsessed maniac before it all went wrong.

A past version of her is certainly a tempting direction to take her given the lack of remaining dragons. And Cipher has a Prince Ashard card too so we could see them as a pairing. But I feel she'd be a very different sort of person to the present day Pelless obsessed version of her we see. Of course, when faced with a scenario like that the answer is pretty usually "why not both". But in either case a seasonal would suit her better than a banner unit. Though if they lean into the Child of Deghensea angle they could potentially do a Mythic version of her pre-pregnancy self.