Character poll: Which is worse, Hans, Iago, or Garon?

[Xaltago]

As bland as Garon is and as frustrating as Hans is, Iago is about as tedious as a villain can get. Every time he gets called out I just think "and he's still alive... why?" You'd think at least ONE of the royals (who are at least, in the story and not their supports, fairly morally ambiguous) would make him "mysteriously" die to the Hoshidans (same for Hans). No such luck.

[Dark Sage]

I like how in Birthright, not even Garon takes him seriously and flat out calls him incompetent (but keeps him around anyway for some reason). He and Hans are basically Lang, except you at least killed Lang pretty early on, whereas these idiots get plot armor until the end. Ridiculous.

Iago is worse tough because he's the most mustache twirlingly evil and has bullshit powers that the game forgets about when it's convenient (which is the only reason why the siblings aren't caught killing Zola). He also gives me Waylon Smithers vibes with his kissassery. Hans at least barely appears so I can forget about him for awhile, even if he is a joke.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Dark Sage

[Thane]

Garon without a doubt.

The man is so pivotal to all that's going on, yet he lacks any personality and depth. He makes the game less interesting and complex by sheer blandness.

[BruceLee]

They are all bad. But Garon takes the cake because he drags the story and a lot of other characters down with him.

My biggest problem with Hans and Iago is that they survive for so long, especially Hans. That guy shouldn't have made it past chapter 13, but he does, which in turn makes other characters look bad(mostly Corrin).

Edited March 12, 2016 by BruceLee

[Mox]

I'll keep this kinda short because I'm reallllyyy sick right now (so apologies in advance for any weird english), but ultimately I actually have a bias toward all three of them, ESPECIALLY Iago. In fact, if I could I would marry Iago to MU and I intend to hack him into my game. I picked Hans as the worst because, of the three of them, I feel like he lacks the most in terms of personality, that and I find him in incredibly ... rape-y. I dunno, he just creeps me out.

I think that all of them could have been more unique as characters and I think the potential they all had/have is what makes me actually like them so much, especially from a writing p.o.v.

For example, Iago could have been more scheming and in it for his own personal gain, rather than being cripplingly loyal to Garon. And even though Hans is incredibly ambitious and from what I can tell self made, it might have been interesting to make him more intelligent and organised rather than a bloodlust-fighting-dumby sort of guy. Garon's kind of a mixed bag with me. I feel like his logic did not really make all too much sense (I am aware of what lurks inside him and how it affects him) - why try to kill/torture MU? As the only person able to transform into a dragon for likely generations it makes them incredibly valuable as a war asset.

As I'm in a PAL region I haven't actually played the game for myself yet, so I can't speak in terms of how they 'feel' when fighting them.

(Also, as a side note, I think that it was a missed opportunity to actually properly have Hans and Iago as allied units on the field.)

[Jayvee94]

Garon's... actually rather tragic

I haven't played Rev to confirm for myself but I've heard that Garon tried to take Hydra on without the Fire Emblem and that's how he died and was enslaved? Arete became water to warn him about it--and I remember Marx saying that Garon wasn't even a bad guy prior to this whole goo stuff--a powerful man who liked showing his power, but wasn't the type of guy to just conquer nations for shits and giggles.

I hate the goo behind Gooran, but the actual Garon before he died didn't seem too bad a guy.

Out of Iago and Hans, Iago comes off more as an annoying sycophant, and Hans comes off really bloodthirsty. For his face in Conquest 13 and what he did to Scarlet, I'm gonna vote Hans.

Wait what?

So True Garon fought Anankos with a frickin Bolverk? Not even a Siegfreid?

Edited March 12, 2016 by Jayvee94

[1% critted]

Wait what?

So True Garon fought Anankos with a frickin Bolverk? Not even a Siegfreid?

1-3 range bruh. Also Anankos attacks RES.

Also I think Garon has no personality due to

being a slime monster who is just Anankos' minion. So, he has no connection with all the other characters, he is just following Anankos order of spreading war and chaos and other bad shit on the two kingdoms.

Edited March 12, 2016 by 1% critted

[Dai]

1-3 range bruh. Also Anankos attacks RES.

We need DLC with that fight. Stat.

[garrisoncade_3576]

Iago is like that one Michael Jackson wannabes that showed up in talent shows only to get rejected.

Hans is the most useless character of the series. Even if he was a recruitable/capturable character, he would still be useless. Even baby Lucina could KO him in one punch.

Garon. Oh, don't even get me started. F-ing waifu killer and possessive prick.

[B.Leu]

They all have wasted potential and a plot armor of the size of a dog crap on the road, but Garon... Garon is THE NPC of wasted potential.

Remember when we expected a Gadondorf-expy, eh ?

[maybe]

Garon. Oh, don't even get me started. F-ing waifu killer and possessive prick.

hey, Hans killed the best waifu in the game

[Thane]

They all have wasted potential and a plot armor of the size of a dog crap on the road, but Garon... Garon is THE NPC of wasted potential.

Remember when we expected a Gadondorf-expy, eh ?

I wanted that Wind Waker-esque Ganondorf so, so bad.

hey, Hans killed the best waifu in the game

Redshirt #204? I liked her too, but come on man, she had like zero screen time.

[maybe]

Redshirt #204? I liked her too, but come on man, she had like zero screen time.

i meant

gunter

but that works too i suppose

[NekoKnight]

I like how people are interpreting the OP as "Which character was the most evil" or "Which character pissed you off the most" or "Which was the worst written character"
.

For most evil, I'm going with Garon. He's so mustache twirlingly evil that it actively hurts his agenda. There was no reason to antagonize Kamui, and doing so just put a wedge between Garon and ALL of his children. D'oh! Iago is equally spiteful and evil but he isn't as self-defeating as Garon is. Ganz, sociopathic serial killer that he is, is merely a henchman.

Garon ruined the Conquest story so he'll always be the worst character,

I wanted that Wind Waker-esque Ganondorf so, so bad.

Didn't we all.

[Lucina's Husband]

Hans has the personality and appearance of a stereotypical prison sex offender. I don't even want to know what his back story was.... There's also no reason that the Nohr siblings couldn't have gotten rid of him earlier. He's just a promoted Mook with a sadistic streak. Iago having plot armor as Garon's main advisor and henchman at least makes a little more sense.

[Etrurian emperor]

Garon is the worst because Its so much wasted potential. With the state of his country, his weakness when it comes to woman leading to tragedy and his children we have all that's needed for a very interesting and potentially even respectable villain but for some reason the story settled with the most generic evil overlord they could find.

That they actually wrote that character for Ganon without even using it ingame makes it even worse. The writers recognized what they could do with Garon, TOLD us about it and then deliberately still went with a completely generic overlord who is so evil that he sucks all nuance out of the story.

I'm not to much of a fan of Iago either. My main problem with him is that Iago is just...such a complete loser. No one seems to like or respect Iago and he's not all that competent. All his time bullying Corrin would be much less grating if Iago himself wasn't so pathetic.

I'm quite fine with Hans. He's meant to be a brutish toady and he come off as a brutish toady. He's not wasted potential like Garon and the plot doesn't demand him to do things above his competency like Iago. Its also a nice touch how he's pretty civil to Corrin without it coming across like he's actively trying to mock him in Chev.

[Dangerus]

Okay, huge vent here, because...

While someone whose played the Hoshido Route explained to me that Iago did the most backstabby BS you can find (which is wasted potential in all counts, you could have had a male!Tharja with a more insidious side showing while Dwyer has the more positive and cute aspects of her imo), Hans killing Lillith probably my last straw with the plot of this game. Like you seriously could not find a Hoshido equivalent to this character? It made me even more peeved when in Conquest Lillith died to a Faceless. If Hans could be replaced by a random mook and still give the same reaction to me, then that's what I call ridiculous and poor characterization.

I picked Hans also, because you can't 'kill' Gunther and make me accept you as one of my own. Keep me and my family out of your bloodthirsty rampage. Hans is crap and he should feel like crap for being so generic and also disgusting.

Iago, I agree with someone has a potential for really strong supports and actual relationships. It's like Fire Emblem forgot how to write a compelling and interesting story with a twist.

As for Garon? Also wasted potential. You could have had a father who struggles with women and raising a nation, resulting in why Xander and the others are the way they are. THAT and if you wanted a feud, explain why exactly he killed Ryoma's father. There's so much more than just 'I'm evil and possessed by Hydra~!' Honestly, I think they needed more time to develop Fire Emblem Fates so they can flesh these guys out more.

In fact, I want to bet you all that if you honestly want Fire Emblem to have compelling villains, you should petition it to Nintendo and explain how you would have made these villains strong and actually why it was a huge Morton's Fork to choose between one nation over another. If Garon was a good father like the siblings have said, then they would have told us of a time Garon did something that was very relevant just like in all the supports where Xander has a touching moment with Siegbert or Leo with Forrest's. That's just my opinion though.

[Anomalocaris]

Voted for Garon.

Hans is a total douche, but he's more like a force of nature than a person; Iago and Garon just set him loose somewhere and let him do damage, he doesn't have the mental capacity to really think much about the nature of his actions and just does as he's told. He's ultimately little more than a dumb pawn who knows and is perfectly content to be a dumb pawn.

Iago's just a petty moron. Everything he does is just to get under Corrin's skin, which makes him an unpleasant person, but he's more or less laughable in his lack of ambition; does he even ACCOMPLISH anything besides tricking Corrin's army into injuring some Wind Tribesmen? He fails at everything else he does.

When we vote for Garon, I assume you mean we're voting for the monster we meet during the game, not the man he used to be. Declaring war is obviously a pretty heinous thing already, but then there's stuff like slaughtering innocents, making his own children slaughter innocents or else he kills them, and generally being a fuckwad. Not only is he more evil on a grander scale than the other two, being the father of five of the game's characters makes things very personal. And then when we learn about Gooron, that arguably makes it even worse since this thing killed a once-benevolent ruler, took over as king, abused the king's children while pretending to be their father, and ruined the nation it had taken control of.

Edit: I assume the poll meant worst as in "most evil", not worst as in "most wasted potential/most frustrating to see on screen". If the latter, it's Iago. Like I said, he doesn't have any master plan, he doesn't accomplish anything for the heroes or the villains, he just exists to stand around cackling evilly (Literally laughing "Muahaha" style. Nobody laughs like that except Saturday morning cartoon villains) and give you enemies to fight in filler chapters.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Anomalocaris

[Based Goomy]

Iago is a plain butt. Luckily I'm at the chapter where you have to fight him.

[Rxmonste]

I finished Birthright and reached chapter 10 of Conquest, this is basically my opinion:

1. Iago: Oh yes, he may not be a mass murderer like Hans, but this fuckhead tries to kill you no matter which side you choose, and he influenced Garon to distrust you in conquest. Let's not forget the faceless attacks, and I bet I haven't seen the last of them in Conquest. As for Birthright

Dude gave me a legit reason to #BlameTakumi as he mind controlled him to cause some of the most major battles in the campaign.

2. Blame Hans for the war, he started it all. And even though it was at Garon's orders, I'd bet he would've done it anyway. Hoshido and Nohr already hated each other's guts and he lit the last bit of fuel in the fire to start the war.

3. Garon: Yeah he's a big SOB but he mostly sat on his throne while all of this transpired. Doesn't make him any good, he's still rotten to the core, but I don't think he's as bad as his two lapdogs.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Rxmonste

[Oshimos]

Garon and Hans are barely characters, whereas Iago gets tons of screentime in both vanilla routes and spends all of it being awful. Plus, he's the reason that

You end up killing Keaton's whole village,

which is pretty unforgivable.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Oshimos

[Katryn]

I voted for Garon. While his inactivity keeps him from being the most offensive, he is the root of the problem which allows characters like Iago and Hans to thrive and actually be a problem to begin with. Also, I actually *like* Iago for some reason I can't put my finger on, and Hans is just 'boring mass murdered #496' so I don't care about him one way or another.

[Jakkun]

Iago, because of

infinite staff range BS

, plus his "convenient to the plot" omnipotence causing so much stupidity.

Iago's powers make no sense! He is capable of doing really cool things, but only when he needs to! What the fuck. That's MINUS NINE-THOUSAND points right there. Plus, I get secondhand embarrassment whenever I watch a scene where he is begging for his life.

being a Sorcerer with staves already makes me mad, but like why the fuk mang do you have to have Excalibur + Hexing Rod/Enfeeble/Freeze. Im still stuck on this shite because of this noise...

@Anomalocaris: may wanna spoiler tag that Garon description, friend.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Jakkun

[maybe]

I voted for Garon. While his inactivity keeps him from being the most offensive, he is the root of the problem which allows characters like Iago and Hans to thrive and actually be a problem to begin with. Also, I actually *like* Iago for some reason I can't put my finger on, and Hans is just 'boring mass murdered #496' so I don't care about him one way or another.

It's probably the silly mask

the silly mask is the only reason I like him, aside from maybe the way he said "GAROOUUUN-SAMA" in the japanese version

[Frelia]

All three of them suck butt so much that I'm having a bit of a hard time picking who to vote for. A huge part of me is thinking of voting for Garon because his characterization is so bad that it drags everyone and everything around him. Along with that he's abusive to his children and he's the reason why Iago and Hans go around being annoying and causing damage. Iago is terrible because he exists only to make Corrin suffer, has powers that make no sense even with him being a sorcerer, mind controls a certain someone in Birthright, and is unpleasant in general every time he shows up. Hans is terrible as well and he does nothing, but kill people whenever Garon sets him loose especially in Conquest. Garon should have gotten rid of those two a long time ago, but he is too mustache twirly of an antagonist to have done it.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Frelia