5 Most Important Characters To the FE Series

[Randoman]

So what five characters are most important to the FE series? This is in terms of criteria like the amount of appearances (I'm not sure if Smash Bros. should count or not), importance and prevalence in the game's plot and story, and amount of references to them in games they aren't playable in.

Marth is obviously the most important, being the very first FE lord, being the lead character in four games (FE1, FE3, FE11, and FE12), and having his world referenced heavily in FE13 (since Iris is Akanea ~1000 years later, and the map remains very similar).

Ike is arguably the second most important, due to being a protagonist in two games (FE9 and FE10) and having his world being the second most heavily referenced in FE13.

For 3rd most important, I'm kind of tempted to say Anna since she shows up in every FE (except FE2), and she has quite a few cameo appearances where she actually talks to characters (FE1, FE7, FE11). I'm not sure if that should count though. She's not a lord, but she's really iconic to the FE series. She also is playable in FE13, for what that's worth.

Leaf would probably be the fourth most important, being the lord in one game (FE5) and the cousin of Celice (one of the lords) in the other (FE4), also having a playable role.

Eliwood would probably be the best candidate for fifth most important, being playable in one game (FE7. Sure he shared the limelight with other lords, but the story pretty much revolved around him) and his role in FE6 was, kind of big? I'm grasping at straws, I know. But no other lord (barring the ones above) had as big of an appearance in a second game than him. Maybe Celice, but Eliwood had a playable role in trial maps while Celice didn't.

So what do the rest of you think?

Edit: How well they are liked and being different from other lords DO NOT factor into importance.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Randoman

[Komeiji Koishi]

Marth: He started it alll the lordiness; the sword-wieldingness; the Blue hairness; everything.

Sigurd/Zigludo: Many people like him for being really useful. Can weild a lance and rides a horse from the get go. Plus what happens to him is sad.

Leaf: First (and so far, only) lord to have a normal hair color. Can become awesome in FE4.

Hector: First lord many people in the West who people liked. Wields an axe. All around Bad Ass.

Ike: First Lord to technically not be a Lord, gave us Aether, is Ike. Plus, he fights for his friends. Need I say more?

[Ein]

Mostly Marth and the Royster. Mostly because of SSBM but yeah.

[Hardin]

The Whitewings and Camus are certainly up there having appeared in more games than even Marth. The Whitewings in particular seem to be very popular among the Japanese fanbase if you look at how much fanart there is of them.

[Lord Raven]

If NPCs count, then we forgot all about Naga. God of FE1-5/11-13 and the prince of the dragons has a vague reference to its name (Kurthnaga, with Kurth being a guy who had Naga's blood).

[Axie]

Marth is head and shoulders above everyone. The main lord of all games located in Akaneia and a legend most high in Iris,

to the point where he is impersonated in FE13.

There are only three other characters who can claim to be important enough to transcend their original universes: Ike (main character in Tellius games, and became a legend in Iris too), Narga (deity in Akaneia/Iris and Jugdral) and Tiki (dragon royalty in Akaneia and surviving all the way until it became Iris). Narga is the only one of those four who achieved cross-universal (is this a word) importance without FE13.

If we were to consider the importance of characters to the events of their own universe, people who are very important in the series would include Sephiran and Manfroy (both being directly or indirectly responsible for most of what happened in their games's storylines), Zephiel (being the entire cause of FE6 and still having some sort of relevance in FE7), Hector (being a main character in FE7 and being important enough in FE6 that his death was a turning point in the game - or it would have been if that scene didn't suck) and Nyna (being the princess of Akaneia, which matters in all of the games there).

This criteria is really unfair to FE2 (which only appeared in one game and is related to Akaneia only because of the horsebird sisters) and FE8 (which has no connection with any other game at all), but oh well. Also, I probably forgot more people (but not Anna - she may appear all the time but she never had any sort of relevance before FE13).

[MacLovin]

Anna.

[Randoman]

Hmm... Forgot all about Naga and Camus (and all his alter-egos). The pegasus sisters have a lot of appearances, I'll give them that, but they aren't very important characters to their games and stories (this is not taking their usefulness into account). Anna isn't very key to the stories and events of the FE series, but to me, the fact that they use her in suspend saving and arena menus ups her revelance and importance to FE. There's also all her cameos (like in the house in Ch. 11 of FE1/11, making MU in FE12, the pub in Ch. 16x in FE7, the tutorial in FE9). I suppose I don't blame you people that think Anna isn't important due to story purposes, but I think she is because of all of her cameos and how she shows up in practically every FE, and she's in charge of key features like the arena, MU creation, and suspend saving.

So my revised list is as follows:

1. Marth

2. Anna

3. Naga

4. Ike

5. Camus

[Rewjeo]

There are only three other characters who can claim to be important enough to transcend their original universes: Ike (main character in Tellius games, and became a legend in Iris too), Narga (deity in Akaneia/Iris and Jugdral) and Tiki (dragon royalty in Akaneia and surviving all the way until it became Iris). Narga is the only one of those four who achieved cross-universal (is this a word) importance without FE13.

All five of Kaga's games are confirmed to take place in the same universe, although FE4/5 are substantially earlier than FE1/2/3. If you poke around on the mainsite a little bit, you can find where Kaga said that.

Anyways, I would say that Marth, Roy, and Ike are definitely the top three as far as importance to the FE series goes. After that, I dunno.

[Axie]

Importance to the Fire Emblem series (as in, the most recognizable characters) is really easier to decide, though: Marth, Ike, Roy... and then Lyn, Eliwood and Hector because everyone played FE7.

Now, I didn't know Jugdral was in the same universe as Akaneia/Iris; that means Ike is the only one to actually exist in two different universes. Still, Narga is a relevant name in 7 out of 13 games, so it's still really important in the series. And I reiterate that Anna isn't that important: she appears in every game and breaks the fourth wall by telling the player how to do things but most casual players wouldn't even find out her name. I stand by my list of Marth, Ike, Narga, Tiki, and Nyna as the fifth (because she appears in more games and has a bigger role than Camus).

[Anouleth]

I'd think Ashunera would be up there, since she was the one who originally created all life. Narga is supposed to be very powerful, enough to be worshipped as a god, but he didn't actually create all life.

[RNG Princess]

Marth

Anna

Tiki

Naga

The Whitewings but that's 3 so Camus o3o

if it's lords only

Marth

Ike

Krom

Lucina

Lyn

Edited October 15, 2012 by Maiden_of_Emblem

[BluBlaDe]

Interesting topic and interesting points.

For us westerners it's definitely in this order :

Eliwood, Marth, Roy and Ike.

I think it's quite hard to rate them all giving they're all from different games/part of the world/parallel universe or whathever.

But in the whole series I agree with OP.

Can we also add the archetype? If so I'd say Jeigan too.

If I add to choose one per game :

FE4 : Definitely Alvis. Without him the game would have been over at chapter 5(and chapter 5 is the most epic (I hate the word)moment in any video games I've played, maybe except for when Dekar does anything in Lufia II. Alvis is also definitely the character that received the most character development, him and Levin. Oh Manfroy would have been able to do jack shit if it weren't for Alvis.

FE5 : That'd be Finn. IMO he's not as important as Leaf but this dude has it all. He was the only character playable during the whole FE4-FE5 series and without him there would have been no Leaf. The amount of dedication this man has to Lenster and Cuan is ridiculous.

FE7 : Haven't played in a billion years. Probably Marcus, he was playable in the two games and he kinda served as the most trusted knight of the Kingdom for 3 generations. Not prevalent but that's my choice.

FE8 : None, unfair to FE2 and FE8 but meh.

FE10 : I don't think anyone can argue against Ike. Maybe Illyana in FE9 and during her counterattack from behind a wall in FE10.

[Shadow_754]

My list would deffidently be:

1. Marth (For reasions explained above)

2. Ike (Lord in 2 games, recruitable in 1, and in SSBB)

3. Roy (Lord in one game, and in SSBM)

4. Anna (In many games, and she is just plain awesome!)

5. Tiki (Perhaps I am alone on this one, but she is in several games, and is perhaps the most notable of the tribe of dragons)

Elewood and Hector fallow close behind, especially for western players, but for the reasion that they did not stand out nearly as much to those who had FE beforehand, thay didn't make the list.

[Comet]

How about Sephiran/Lehran?

[Ema Skye]

1. Marth cause he's the first dude. He's pretty much the face of Fire Emblem.

2. Roy because without him and Marth, most of us wouldn't know what Fire Emblem is or was.

3. Lyn. As much as I hate her, she's pretty much the face of western Fire Emblem due to being the first person to see when you start on a clean cartridge.

4. Ike because Smash Bros

5. Going to go with Anna, due to her appearances in 12 of the 13 games, even if she's only playable in one.

Honorable mentions go to the archetype starters: Jeigan, Est, Minerva, Lena, Maria, etc etc because their concepts get reused in several of the games.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Lucina

[Caliban of Sycorax]

1) Marth. The posterboy for the series, he's the first lord, he's appeared in four games and was impersonated in a fifth. He's incredibly important.

2) Narga. The head honcho god of seven games? Yeah. Also the most broken item in Fire Emblem existence.

3) Ike. He's the lord of the most (?) popular games of the Western FE series.

4) Sigurd. He's the greatest FE lord in the series, and he's the lord of the most (?) popular game of the whole series. Arguably.

5) Anna. Hell, she appears in every one.

[Bagfisch]

Narga and Medeus/Loptous/Gimle

Without them FE 1,2,3,4,5,11,12,13 wouldn't exist.