Units that should have been the main character.

[Jotari]

Fair enough. But Elincia was never a commander of sorts unless the situation demanded (she usually delegates that duty to Geoffrey, from what the game shows; the only time she took the lead was in part 2's last chapter because there was no one else), whereas Tibarn was both a leader and a commander. It makes more sense for him to lead that army than Elincia.

Not if you consider the fact that Tibarn is more accustomed to leading aerial laguz while the army is made up primarily of beorc or beast laguz (assuming the playable character ratio we see is an approximate reflection of what it's like in universe). And by the same token Naesala is probably more qualified to lead than Michaiah is in her army. Though in that case its probably comes down to trust more than anything else (even though the only forced character in that army that knows Naesala as a traitors jerk is Skirmir).

[Rapier]

Not if you consider the fact that Tibarn is more accustomed to leading aerial laguz while the army is made up primarily of beorc or beast laguz (assuming the playable character ratio we see is an approximate reflection of what it's like in universe). And by the same token Naesala is probably more qualified to lead than Michaiah is in her army. Though in that case its probably comes down to trust more than anything else (even though the only forced character in that army that knows Naesala as a traitors jerk is Skirmir).

Micaiah is more qualified because she is also a commander and she has more charisma and influence than Naesala. It is more reasonable for the Daein Army to be led by the Maiden of Dawn than to be led by Naesala, someone they don't even know much about.

Also, Tibarn commanding still makes more sense than Elincia, even on that case, because she hardly operates as a commander and the rare ocasions where she did take command were either because there was no one else who she could delegate to (Ike, Geoffrey) or on dire situations where she needed to be the one to get things done (when the Begnion Army invades Gallia). She's more of a diplomatic leader than a military one.

[-Cynthia-]

I think Guinevere would be an interesting protagonist(for FE6 obviously). She certainly has more of a personal connection with the main villain than Roy and havinf a 'traitor' working against their own country as the protagonist could be interesting(Fates sort of does this, but Corrin is so isolated from Nohr it doesn't really matter).

Edited May 28, 2016 by -Cynthia-

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Ilyana might as well be the heroine of FE10, she already has the most chapters. Perhaps it could feature more food-based objectives.

Ike and Micaiah provided a great look at Tellius, with intriguing themes of loyalty, prejudice, religion, and politics. But you know what I want? The story of how a young noble rises to power in his pursuit of all things beautiful, even coming back from the dead, and then taking up the sacred light tome and leading the crusade to defeat a Goddess gone mad! That's right, Oliver stars in FE10x: Radiant Beauty.

Okay, here's an actual idea for Tellius: a game starring Tormod. It could begin with Muarim taking him in as an orphan, and the two of them proceeding to rescue enslaved laguz. After fighting Ike & Co., he joins up with them to beat Oliver and Ashnard (Ike's group would be smaller, and Tormod brings his Laguz comrades this time around). And then... to be honest, it's hard to make a cohesive plot that sticks to his appearances in Radiant Dawn - like, there's no reason for him to join the Daein front, other than helping Sothe, and then he disappears (and isn't turned to stone. Somehow.). So I guess that, while I think Tormod could make a really great protagonist to a game about liberating Laguz slaves (and ideally being joined by sympathetic Beorcs, such as Zihark), with Muarim in an Oifey role, I don't think such a story could be pulled off consistently with the existing Tellius plots.

If we wanted a different version of FE7, Rath could make a great silent protagonist.

...I'll see myself out.

[Jotari]

Micaiah is more qualified because she is also a commander and she has more charisma and influence than Naesala. It is more reasonable for the Daein Army to be led by the Maiden of Dawn than to be led by Naesala, someone they don't even know much about.

Also, Tibarn commanding still makes more sense than Elincia, even on that case, because she hardly operates as a commander and the rare ocasions where she did take command were either because there was no one else who she could delegate to (Ike, Geoffrey) or on dire situations where she needed to be the one to get things done (when the Begnion Army invades Gallia). She's more of a diplomatic leader than a military one.

I reckon there's in universe explanation for and against both characters (as well as some others like Geoffrey) which we've covered but I'm primarily talking about the narrative theming they had going on with three previous parts focusing on three separate characters, which eventually join three separate armies. Two of the previous focus characters lead two armies but the other doesn't, even though her presence in the army is narratively quite important since it connects to the reappearance of Bastian and her uncle Renning. I don't think Tibarn's leading is completely illogical of course, the fact that few people even think about is proof enough he makes enough sense in universe and narratively his presence gives weight to the feral laguz reappearance. I just find it somewhat strange they give the gameplay lord quirks and the army name to Tibran when the plot handles all the characters pretty evenly at that point.

[NekoKnight]

I would say have the Greil Mercenaries be in the game. The prologue would be showing Ashnard's capture of the Crimean Capitol, and Elincia's escape. I could see her being joined by her retainers, but they wouldn't be pre promotes and they'd just be Geoffrey and Lucia. If I'm being charitable there would be one filler chapter between fleeing the castle and meeting the Greil Mercenaries. They would still be involved and Ike would be a more plot important Ogma. He would be a major character, but not a lord. The escape to Begnion would go as normal, but have Ashnard kill Greil instead of the BK; maybe also have him comment on how Greil betrayed Daein or something. Shiharam replaces the Black knight as a Rider. Also: make Sanaki older. This is unrelated to Elincia being the protagonist, but, seriously, no ten year old is that smart. She's a great character but it felt contrived. Make her 15 or something. So once they get to Begnion this is where things really start to diverge. Ashnard uses Begnion sheltering Elincia as an excuse to invade Begnion. He also uses the Senate as a fifth column; it always wierded me out that the Senate didn't act when Begnion was at war with the extremely racist King they could make common cause with. Ashnard would of course plan to turn on the Senate as soon as he no longer needs them. Anyway, Elincia and co first move against Oliver, Lekain, and Valtome, beating them in a series of chapters. During that time, though, Daein, led by Ashnard himself, besieges Sienne. So Elincia going back to Sienne is also where her big character growth moment happens, because this is where she fights Bertram. He isn't a monster here, though; he is still somewhat recognizable as Renning, making it hard for Elincia to bring herself to fight him. Her doing so, and killing him regretfully, is a sign of her maturing as a leader. Ashnard, meanwhile, kills Sepheran before being weakened. This means that a mutual respect can develop between Sanaki and Elincia, as well as Ike. The group then assaults Serenes Forest, where Daein is to get the Fire Emblem. Daein does get the Emblem, but that doesn't matter because it's time to liberate Crimea! Yep, Crimea will get liberated first; that never did make sense to me in POR. So this brings Begnion, Gallia, and the bird Laguz countries together into a coalition (getting Lekain to undo Naesala's blood pact would be a plot point) and after several chapters Crimea is liberated and after several more Daein is finally defeated. The endgame would involve a mechanic similar to the one found in Part 3's endgame in RD, that of defeating Ashnard before enough soldiers are killed to awaken the Dark God. So yeah.

Although Elincia stepping up to battle and leadership sooner (make her playable and significant for at least the chapters where you are back in Crimea) would be cool, I think Elincia's trouble managing the country during relative peace-time is more interesting. Fighting an evil tyrant as an exiled royalty is something that could be handled by any competent military commander. In Radiant Dawn, Elincia is fighting against her own people, and their lack of faith in her. She's essentially battling her own weakness.Her conviction in defeating Ludvek shows more character strength than simply fighting soldiers of an enemy nation.

Ike's personal story is relevant no matter where he is because he's trying to prove to himself and his mercenary crew that he is worthy of the mantle of leadership. Hardly anyone even knows that Elincia exists and she spends the majority of the story away from her people, fighting enemies on foreign soil. Who does she command? Why do they follow her? What is she doing in Begnion that demonstrates her leadership ability other than being a good soldier?

I have to wonder if it's even reasonable to think Elincia could even become a capable leader in such a short time. You mentioned earlier that you were unhappy with her characterization in PoR because she relied too much on others and was just the plot excuse for Ike to get involved with Daein. But Elincia was exactly the sort of person you'd expect her to be considering she lived her whole life in isolation, removed from military command and even court affairs. It strained belief that Kamui was Mr. Charisma and immediately put in charge of a section of the army, despite knowing nothing of the world. Even if the protagonist wasn't Ike, I don't think it could realistically have been Elincia.

tl;dr Elincia is an interesting character because she starts off weak and uncertain. Putting her in Ike's role wouldn't suit her and would be a less believable character arc.

[blah the Prussian]

And Ike doesn't start off weak (emotionally) and uncertain? Amd Corrin being put in charge of the Nohrian army was stupid because Xander was older and Garon hated Corrin anyway. If we're talking about the most believable candidate in POR Ike hardly fits the bill either; Titania is the pretty natural choice to succeed Greil. I find it, also, less likely that Ike would grow into a good leader, as Elimcia was prepared for said position all her life. Her demonstrating growth as a leader, like I said before, is her demonstrating willingness to kill Bertram (it goes to show, by the way, how little that they cared about her character in POR that when she fights Bertram she whimpers generically instead of saying anything to the effect of "huh you look like my uncle").

Regarding fighting her own people, good point. My amendment, then, is to make the liberation of Crimea be about fighting a Quisling government led by Duke Ludveck; put the anti Laguz racism shown in that port chapter that I forgot the number of to good use.

[Lethal Llama]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Lucina yet because Awakening plot just screams for her as protagonist. She's the one who pursues the antagonist with the most determination, she has gripe with Grima more than Chrom and Robin (after all Robin isn't even completely aware until way later, and Chrom is just like What???). The Future Past 3 was basically another way of telling the same story, and arguably has a more suitable ending than the main one. If the developers were really dedicated to it, they could've even approached the story by starting in future Ylisse with Lucina, and we could've watched her + squad go back in time -> building up to final climax. In addition, I feel like she is more of the "main face" of the game more than Chrom and Robin.

Although, Awakening story is fun from Robin's POV, gotta give it that.

This. I feel like people give Lucina too much flak because she has to fight for story relevance with Chrom and Robin. If I could rewrite Awakening, I'd make the first half a back-and-forth between Lucina's group in the doomed future looking for a way back, and Chrom's group in the past dealing with Gangrel and Plegia. Lucina and the others come back, get scattered around the place like usual. But this time, one of two choices for the story:

1) The Valm arc is either severely reduced or scrapped, to make room for a mad dash about the continent for the scattered kids (maybe they're the ones with the Gemstones for the Fire Emblem?).

2) Chrom's group initially goes looking for the kids, and accidentally gets mixed up in the Valm story along the way.

Either way this places more story relevance on the kids rather than just paralogues with throwaway bosses, and allows for more discussion of Grima and the future to build it up as this massive superboss bad guy.

So basically, the first half jumps between the Chrom/Robin show and Lucina's bit (maybe Tiki can be the Jeigan for the future story and then she dies before they travel back?), while the second half mixes the three but gives Lucina a place as the leader of the kids rather than the unreliable oracle she is in the actual game.

On top of that, it does away with the silly Marth costume bit that, while intriguing the first time, makes no sense at some points in retrospect. Just a few examples:

• Why the hell was she fighting Chrom at Regna Ferox?
• At Ylisse's palace, first she says that she's saving Chrom's life. Then she amends that to saving him from a serious injury. But if the injury was that serious, how did he get through all the events of the game up until his death originally? And how would a lame leg or whatever factor into Grima's revival and his death, when he get backstabbed in the end?
• If Chrom is the focal point for all of the future badstuff, why does Lucina disappear for gaps at a time? CLING TO THAT MAN LIKE A LIMPET YOUR FUTURE RELIES ON HIM!!!

I'd like to think that my hypothetical vague rewrite would do away with those issues.

[blah the Prussian]

Lucian fought Chrom at Ferox for one reason and one reason only: so the trailers could focus on a fight between Chrom and "Marth" to an outright dishonest degree.

[Moblin Major General]

Here's an interesting one: Remove Marth from Shadow Dragon. Think about if Marth and Falchion were both legends formed from the survivors of both the War of Shadows and later the War of Heroes. People tell of Sir Frey's sacrifice because Frey is actually the illegitimate son of Cornelius that leads the Altean Knights to Talys, but he assumes the identity of Marth in order to rally hope for the people. Caeda suggests to Mostyn to arrange a marriage between her and Frey to enhance the legend of the Hero King. Falchion is actually just Cornelius's personal blade, which is just a Wyrmslayer with it's own unique shape, not to mention made of strong enough material to last an entire campaign without breaking. Elice survives, but is noticeably depressed for a long time after finding out that both of her parents are dead. The only reason Marth is ever created is that Frey doesn't want to be recognized by the masses as a hero, if only because he feels like it was more through Jagen's tactics and leadership more than his prowess in battle.

[Rxmonste]

I think Takumi and Leo would've been great main characters for Fates, just to have them experience their growth and prove themselves to their siblings.

iago should've been the main character of fates

Bruh.