Favorite Lord

[Rewjeo]

What about Runan and Holmes?

This. TRS is in English now.

Out of those up there, Sigurd. I don't find any of the FE lords (or characters in general) especially compelling, but as a unit...

[Xander]

Marth. It was a close call between he and Ike, but I just don't like how RD essentially erased his personality.

[Dunk Souls]

Eliwood.... Cause... He has red hair.

so does Roy but Idc...

Followed by Ike and Hector.

[Ein]

People who hate crossdressing maybe?

Of course you'd mention this...

[Anouleth]

Voted for Celice. I just like him more than the others?

Micaiah takes second place.

[Rapier]

Celice, because he isn't competent at first and he wouldn't be anywhere without some backup. He's got some great character development. I'd choose Leaf if he wasn't as retarded as Naruto (at least where I last read).

Ike is my second best Lord, and Sigurd is my third.

[RNG Princess]

I don't know who to pick ;A;. I pick Eirika because EirikaxSeth is my favorite OTP.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Maiden_of_Emblem

[CrashGordon94]

Of course you'd mention this...

Because it's a completely valid point. :/

And...

1) It's one of only a few things that people who haven't played FE13 or scoured the Supports thread would know about her.

2) It's the only thing about her that seems like it could be potentially hatable.

[CT075]

celice

too op

[Murdok Dracul]

Ike because he don't take no shit, especially from empresses and goddesses. I didn't feel that his personality suffered at all in Radiant Dawn. I don't know why people say it. Lyn comes second because I like myrmidons and female archers (Rebecca, Neimi, Norne) for some reason, and she is both of those. Eirika might have tied with her if she didn't have a horse. I don't like paladins.

I don't know who to pick ;A;. I pick Eirika because EirikaxSeth is my favorite OTP.

I prefer EirikaxSaleh, probably just because I like mages.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Murdok Dracul

[PKL]

My favorites are tied between Marth Lucina Ike and Micaiah. So I went with Marth just because hes also my SSB main. But they're still all tied for me.

Changed my vote because I think I like Lucina more.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Ghost Marcia Drafter

[marcus90]

I like Leaf.

[tenkiforecast]

Marth: Hi I'm a Gary Stu purity person with no personality that has Solid Snake syndrome of repeating everything that was just said! =D Apparently I'm awesome in Japan! (I blame nostalgia)

FE2's lords: I have no idea, sorry.

Sigurd: My favorite lord. Definitely the most powerful lord in the series, you can solo FE4 Gen 1 with Sigurd alone. His character is also really well-written, the step-ups in writing quality from FE3 to FE4 is just astounding. We went from bare-bones of a story of 'evil things and person mind-controlled' to an actual plot, characters, and twists. Sigurd is a pawn in the larger political game. He is always being manipulated, led into bad scenarios, and life just turns to hell. His wife is kidnapped, he is betrayed and frames for crimes he did not do, and he dies (probably) right in front of his wife.

Celice: Granted, he probably has better stats than his father, but the power creep in Gen 2 probably prevents him from soloing the entire half of the game (bar Yurius/Julius for obvious reasons). He seems very bland to me though. He does start out inexperienced, not ready to lead, but his own growth is overshadowed by Arthur and Tinny's backstories as well as all the turmoil surrounding Thracia. Then we have all the drama with Yuria/Julia. In-game, he is probably stronger than his father but suffers due to power creep.

Leaf: His character is actually pretty interesting. Leaf is even more inexperienced than Celice, and makes some very brutal mistakes. He gets himself caught, he (probably) gets most of his army killed as well as one of his advisers, and he is saved from certain doom by Hannibal. Through the entire game he is struggling with doubt and it helps make his character well-rounded. In-game, Leaf is pretty blase. He doesn't do a whole lot, and promotes late like any great 'meh' lord. So many other characters in FE5 do what Leaf can do.

Roy: Welcome back to bland characters. Nothing with Roy stands out, all the interesting things in FE6's story are with Bern. Roy is just boring. The only interesting thing about Roy is that he has a harem. Personal preference is that he carries on an affair with Guinevere that leads to another war and collapse of the peace set up after FE6's events, because...that's the only way he can be interesting. In-game, Roy is a great unit. ... Okay, lies, Roy is terrible. Almost every character does what Roy can but better. Roy also has the latest promotion of any character in the series, making him even more useless. He's redeemed only because the Sword of Seals is hilarious. 1/1 Roy? Does 33 damage to final boss. Without any retaliation.

Eliwood: I've always found him kind of dull, only because Hector is infinitely more interesting than any of the lords in FE7. As such, Eliwood never really stood out to me. Yes, he has a lot of issues with his father and his growth surrounding the events with the Black Fang, but...he just feels like a more interesting Roy. In-game, he's kind of the same. While Lyn is an early swordsmaster, Eliwood is... ...I do not know. Kind of meh.

Lyn: She has decent development in her story, and then gets nothing. Lyn feels 'tacked on' to the main story, actually. She doesn't do much to the story. Her own arc has some interest, and probably one of the few times a pseudo illegitimate child is brought into the nobility without complaint. In-game... she's a swordsmaster that uses bows. Same strengths, same huge weaknesses.

Hector: Except Sigurd and Ike, I find Hector as the most interesting lord in the franchise. He has a lot of self-esteem issues comparing himself to his brother, and is constantly trying to avoid that sort of responsibility. He is loud, brash, somewhat abrasive, and seems unfit for rule. He is forced to take responsibility when his brother dies, and it takes a toll on him. He actually has some good growth as a character. In-game, Hector is the 5th best lord in the series behind Sigurd, Ike, Celice, and Ephraim. He is raw power/tank with decent speed, when most of the other axe-using characters are average to abysmal. This is one of the few games where axes are not inherently garbage as well.

Eirika: Honestly, no one in FE8 really stood out to me. Eirika is better, she is inexperienced and more suited for diplomacy than war. She is too much the ingenue and that nearly kills her. She does become smarter as the game goes on, but she seems far too naive to me. In-game, think of her as Lyn but without the bows and with a horse. Also weaker because so many characters in FE8 are hilariously overpowered (Oh hi Seth. If you weren't carrying Eirika you could have killed Valter when he first shows up because you're a BAMF).

Ephraim: Ephraim is more dull than Eirika, honestly. He's just a schooled nobleman who is dang good at warfare. He's a solid commander but not much else...at least that's always the impression I received. There is not much else to say, he's just a really good war commander who is trained in running a country. He doesn't have much of an arc. Lyon is far more interesting because he has an actual arc. He is also a monster in this game, almost as much as Seth once he gets some levels.

Ike: Ike is also extremely well-written, going from out of his depth to a full-fledged leader. He overcomes his base impulses, seen as him attacking the Black Knight in anger even after his father dies compared to Chapter 27 where you can simply retreat to show he is not blinded by rage or revenge. I would also say there is a romance between him and Elincia, but it could be me reading things into it. Avoiding FE10 because, well, you'll see when I get to Marysuecaiah. In-game, Ike is a monster. He almost always gets good stats, swords are really good in FE9 and FE10, he gets the 1-2 range Ragnell, he's an all-around beast of a character. Would be the best lord if not for Sigurd and Celice.

Micaiah: Wow, FE10 was a pitfall in writing. We went from a good character development story for both Ike and Elincia to a Mary Sue. Seriously, Miccy is a Mary Sue. Unparalleled hair (it's SILVER), ingenue, self-sacrificing, has special abilities, has a kind-of buff protector/guardian (Sothe), is actually the true heir of the giant empire but turns it down, speaks to the goddess/is the vessel, and dear lord so many Mary Sue characteristics. Add to that if Sothe is in danger she completely freezes up because "Oh no my man is in trouble eeeee~~". Miccy encapsulates so many of the writing failures in FE10 that it's kind of sad. In-game...nuke bot. She drops light nukes on things and then becomes a staff-bot, but Mist or Elincia will always be better because they either start out much better (Elincia) or get 10-15 chapters of use AS staffbots (Mist). She is useful in her chapters, and that is it. She offers nothing else except the embodiment of most of FE10's story failures.

FE13... I'm not spoiling anything yet. =D

[PKL]

Micaiah...Mary-sue...Not again...-_-. i swear those words are thrown around way too much. Next thing I know, my DOG IS A MARY-SUE

[Ice Sage]

wait how is marth a gary stu but not ike?

Edited August 6, 2012 by Ice Sage

[Jedi]

The term Mary Sue pisses me off when thrown around. Daein needed a savior.. and they looked to Micaiah because.. Well think about Ike for a second they just witnessed CRIMEA get liberated why wouldn't they see Micaiah and her band as HOPE especially when old members of Ike's band were already part of said liberation force.

She is far from perfect, sure she exhibits some "sue" traits but overall I don't see her as a sue.

Matter of fact I don't see ANY of the main characters as sues, That is a term that needs to be shot and burned in a fire

[PKL]

The term Mary Sue pisses me off when thrown around. Daein needed a savior.. and they looked to Micaiah because.. Well think about Ike for a second they just witnessed CRIMEA get liberated why wouldn't they see Micaiah and her band as HOPE especially when old members of Ike's band were already part of said liberation force.

She is far from perfect, sure she exhibits some "sue" traits but overall I don't see her as a sue.

Matter of fact I don't see ANY of the main characters as sues, That is a term that needs to be shot and burned in a fire

o/

Indeed. It pisses me off too.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Ghost Marcia Drafter

[tenkiforecast]

Alright, I'll try and explain more...

Marth seems like a bit of a purity character, basically a male ingenue (yes I am using that term way too much). He is pure, naive, a little clueless, always looks for the best in people, and that doesn't change. That is, of course, when his dialogue is something other than repeating a word of someone else's sentence. I did not notice this as much until I saw some of the LP's on this form. This is why I referred to it as "Solid Snake Syndrome." Repeating whatever was just said. Marth...honestly, if Intelligent Systems had writers when making Marth's character he probably could have turned out well. Again, FE1 was made by 4 people. I can guarantee that story was not the main focus there. If anything, the issue is IS not changing any aspect of the story or characterization in FE11 and FE12 that hurts Marth. As a result, I really do not hate his character. I just think that he is boring and deserves more development to make him, you know, more of a human being.

The reason I didn't refer to Ike as a 'gary stu' type character is that he has an arc. His personality shifts and he grows as a character. In FE9. In FE10...he is pretty much static and is suddenly interested in men. I do understand needing to avoid the flamboyantly gay characters, but show hints or subtleties. Something in FE9 so this doesn't come completely out of nowhere. I attribute this more to FE10's ambition and faltering to deliver on that, more below.

Micaiah...okay, let's avoid the Mary Sue label for now. What does she do?

I do not have a huge issue with her characterization in Part 1 of FE10. I really don't. She is the person thrust into a position she is not prepared for, and has to be guided along the way. She makes a number of mistakes (getting caught, walking into obvious traps) but still feels somewhat human. She even gets in the funniest line in the entire game. "Ike, hero of Crimea, and father of Sothe's children." As the hero for Daein, she works well as a symbol while Pelleas is seen as the side-character to her. In a way, a twisted version of the Ike/Elincia parallel from FE9.

Where this falters is every other appearance in the game. I do not know exactly what happened with FE10. The plot of the game feels equally ambitious and lazy. Part 2 works well, nobles angry at Elincia's appearance, rise to power, and inexperience. That works, and Elincia is out-manipulated. It shows that she can make the wrong decisions, and how she still has a lot to learn. And Elincia grows as a character after this, endangering her own life and more lives of her people by throwing herself between the Galliean and Daein armies. She is taking initiative and learning to act more decisively, which was, I believe, one of the main issues.

Part 3 is the first of the major issues. The ambitious part of the story begins when Daein is forced into the war. Micaiah does not question it, believing that Pelleas knows what he is doing. Even though she is completely against the war and everything it stands for. Inexperience tagged here? Maybe, but if her convictions were so strong in Part 1, it's jarring to see them thrown away. She does not protest, even in private, until Tauroneo and Sothe do it for her. Her response to the whole Blood Pact mess (really...that's the best idea? This is another thing that just galls me about FE10 but skip it) is understandable. Her reactions there are understandable. It's her lack of challenge to Pelleas early and also not, you know, TELLING THEM ABOUT THE BLOOD PACT. Sanaki has one! If you told them, they'd listen, and you'd combine forces to try and fix this garbage! But she can't think because the plot says so. And then Micaiah vanishes in Part 4 and is replaced by Yune. And then it's revealed she's actually the Apostle and... mrf, special snowflake stuff.

Micaiah feels like she could have had more development, grow as a leader instead of being the pedestal, or go through development similar to Elincia, which I explain. FE10 tried. They tried to frame a gray vs gray type of conflict between Daein and Crimea/Gallea. The problem is they either did not know how to resolve it or explain it, and threw in the whole blood pact mess to explain everything. The twist with Yune and Ashera could have been interesting if Ashera didn't just petrify everything except the branded and people who were apparently protected by Yune. Show chaos, show people disillusioned that their goddess has betrayed them, something. They took the easy route without exploring the ramifications of this twist. Even the two party's responses boiled down to "whohoo, we don't have to fight each other anymore!" after Yune introduces herself as Ms. Exposition. And of course, when the blood pact mess is explained, they stop fighting. What a shock. Maybe if you tried to talk with the people who were being reasonable (I checked. When confronting Miccy, Tibarn and Ike, the two army commanders, ask what the hell Daein is doing. Miccy refuses to tell them because...I don't know. If it's something the blood pact restricts, SAY SO, because the knowledge doesn't kill anyone else) this could have been avoided, Miccy. It also *really* hurts that she basically disappears in Part 4 because of Yune. So she stops being a character at the where she is the most annoying because she isn't listening to common sense or doing what she did in Part 1 to endear people to her character. Argue exhaustion? Maybe, but I still don't buy it. The fact that more intelligent people (Tauroneo and Sothe) don't try to talk to Ike or Tibarn just reinforces my belief that it was the plot demands stupid decisions. I honestly feel like they just gave up on Micaiah and made her vanish.

I wanted FE10 to work, I really did. The problem is the writing staff tried to do too much with limited time. That's my most optimistic guess. They were too ambitious for the time they had to make the game and the story. As a result, it falters and sputters to a halt, in my eyes. I would attribute this to a lack of focus and tendency for games to become too large in scale. FE7 avoids this huge-scale aspect, and it works much better for it. Had FE10 just been about the Dawn Brigade and the resistance in Daein, I think it would have been a superior story. Single focus, able to develop the people in teh Dawn Brigade, and you can space out the character development over more than 10 chapters. As it stands, I just see FE10 as a victim of ambition.

Edited August 7, 2012 by tenkiforecast

[Celrias]

My experience is sadly restricted to just Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones, but I much prefer Ephraim out of the five lords I got to experience. He felt like Hector and Eliwood merged into one confident character with a better weapon. Plus he is the master of twirling critical animations.

[Anacybele]

As my sig and avy should have you guess, Ike is my favorite. <3

He's my favorite character in the whole series and one of my favorite video game characters of all time. I just love him to bits because everything about him is awesome. ^^

I love Ike's personality (which I agree didn't really suffer in RD at all. I see plenty of personality in Ike in both his games), his character designs (though the artist for his Awakening art completely got rid of his muscles! >_>), he's an absolute beast in battle, and lastly, he is SO hot. Ike is like the sexiest and handsomest video game character I've ever seen, especially in RD with those muscles. *drools*

I just plain admire Ike's skills and determination too. I'd follow a guy like him anywhere.

My second favorite lord is Ephraim, cause he just kicks ass, and then Eliwood. :)

I have not played any Japan-exclusive FE games, nor Awakening.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Anacybele

[Kon]

Ike, Krom, and Lucina are my top favorites. They're all so badass. ;D

[DancingDanny]

Lyn is my favorite!

I also like Eirika!

[luigi bros]

I've got to go with Celice. One of my all time favorite FE units, so how can I not pick him?

[Anouleth]

Micaiah...Mary-sue...Not again...-_-. i swear those words are thrown around way too much. Next thing I know, my DOG IS A MARY-SUE

I especially like how Leaf is flawed because he gets captured, loses almost his entire army, and has to be bailed out by Hannibal... when Micaiah gets captured, loses almost her entire army, and has to be bailed out by the Black Knight.

HMM

[Baldrick]

I don't think many people would consider Leaf flawed if he could heal without using staves, played the same role in being the figurehead of the rebels if there was a more legitimate heir, and turned out to be Celice's older brother and the true Emperor of Grandbell.