Why does everyone likes Ike?

[Ryuke]

*Expects flaming attacks*

I am probably the only guy that doesnt like Ike. Espeicially in PoR... where his sword can damage and kill Ashnard while everyone else (except for the 2) can hit him.

That aside. Also his stubbornness that all he wants is Black Knight.

 

(Sorry Ike fan... please take it easy) 

[Dragoncat]

Well, he goes through some personal growth, he was the first lord who wasn't nobility, etc. Honestly you can't take him wanting to find and kill BK against him, the dude killed his father...

I see the bat signal going up. Ana's going to see this, and she'll probably give you a wall of text, fair warning lol :)

Edited February 15, 2017 by Dragoncat

[LodestarRoy]

I personally have nothing against Ike anymore but I used to hate him when Brawl was first released. I nearly won a launch day tourney but lost in the final round to a Ike player. It felt like he know what he was doing. I had never touched the game before then.

I do believe his inclusion in Smash gives him a big push to his popularity though. He's really fun to play.

[Slumber]

He's the only regular dude in the franchise that's a main character. Literally everyone else is of royal or otherwise special blood.

Ike was the son of a general. That's about where his specialness begins and ends. Some dude comes out of nowhere, kills his father, threatens his sister, and then he ends up killing a tyrannical king and eventually a GOD. Of course he'll be fixated on the Black Knight. He was a normal dude, and the Black Knight killed his father right in front of him.

He has a simple character, and seeing him interact people like Elincia and Sanaki is 100x more interesting than it would have been if Ike was another noble or a vessel for a God like the other lords in the series. He doesn't have a particularly emotive or outwardly noteworthy personality, but we see him go through a lot of shit, and almost all of his successes can be attributed purely to the fact that he's just that competent of a fighter/leader.

Also, as a unit, he's one of the best in both games he's in. And the best units in PoR and RD are ridiculously good, so him being up there is quite noteworthy.

ALSO, him being a lord with a lot of muscle makes him pretty unique, as pretty much every lord besides Hector and Chrom(Even Hector and Chrom are sticks compared to Ike) are twigs.

So to recap: He has a unique story and character for a main character in the series, he has a unique design compared to every other lord, and he's a good unit.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Slumber

[Anacybele]

Slumber pretty much hit the nail on the head. Even the most common reason people voted Ike in the Famitsu poll was that he was different and unique when it came to lords.

I love him a lot for the same reason and he has my favorite designs in the series, especially in RD with those badass muscles and Vanguard armor. <3 Ike was also the first lord I was introduced to in the series since PoR was my first FE game.

I don't recall Ike being very stubborn though. He's just blunt and kind of sheltered (didn't even know what laguz were at first and he also doesn't know what being drunk is! lol). I love his bluntness though, and this makes him relatable to me as well. I tend to be blunt and I'm honest to a fault just as Ike is.

I also think he's one of the best written characters in the series and definitely the best written lord as far as PoR goes. I still think he has a good personality in RD too, but he lacked anymore development in that game, sadly, so...

I think disliking Ike just because he can beat Ashnard and the BK (whom he has legit reasons for wanting to smash their faces in) is silly, but I'm not going to try to change your opinion. Even the most popular characters have people who dislike them. I dislike a lot of popular FE females myself (Lucina, Camilla, Tharja, Micaiah, and Lyn to name a few), so I know that all too well.

Oh yeah, LodestarRoy has a point about Smash too. Ike is even pretty unique in that game, being the only heavyweight sword wielder and the only really manly sword wielder. lol

MY question is why is IS ignoring Ike in Heroes? I mean, Ephraim and Eirika as focus characters is fine, and Seliph and Julia as focus characters isn't farfetched either. They're all important to their respective games and and Ephraim and Eirika were also in the top ten in the Heroes poll. But the datamined banner, which can be assumed to be the next one, is a group of random minor characters! Why start going for random characters that aren't popular and are already in the game when Ike and his crew are still begging to be added? He WON the male side of the poll too! On top of that, he has art in the Heroes title screen, so now I feel like I'm being trolled as a big Ike fan.

Dragoncat: If Slumber hadn't beaten me to much of what I would've said, I would definitely have a big wall of text here, yes. lol

Edited February 15, 2017 by Anacybele

[Azz]

Personally, I really like Ike and I don't think I can expand on anything that others have not already said.

My only gripe with him is that he is the only one that can kill Ashera. I don't mind Ashnard as much and it makes complete sense as to why he s the only one who can face the BK, but with Ashera, like Micaihah, IMO, should have been the one to finish her off. In fact, I feel like Ike took the spotlight from Miccy in RD. Now again, I like Ike, so I didn't mind him having more screen time, but at the cost of the other main character that IMO can barely be called a MC because of her lack of development is stupid. But that's about it tho.

[Anacybele]

I agree Micaiah should've had more equal spotlight in RD, but I don't think Ike took it, that was Yune. Ike having more screen time later is just the consequence of that. I think the writers could've eased up on the whole using Micaiah's body thing. I understand that Ike was the best choice for the final blow with Micaiah being Yune'd, but I think it cost Micaiah too much potential development and characterization. I felt she could've been a really good female lord if she had a little more attention.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Anacybele

[Sunwoo]

I think Ike is well-liked because he kind of breaks the mold of usual FE lords. He's supposedly modeled off Hector, who is popular in his own right. But Ike also has two games, is the sole lord for one of them, and was in Brawl. People may prefer this personality to that of Marth and Roy, especially people who like that Ike seems more "tough" and brash. Tellius arguably had one of the best (if not the best) world building as well, and Ike's speech to Ashera at the end was pretty amazing.

That said, I'm not really sure why he's that popular myself. Although I'm not surprised to see him in the top 10, I am surprised to see him in the top 5 -- twice.

[Azz]

While I definitely agree, Yune was part of the problem with Miccy's character, Ike could have easily been given less screen time in favour of Miccy's character (Or really the whole DB in general) especially considering he had already had another game full of development. But then again, RD's convoluted writing in Part 3 and 4 was no help either.

Anyways, I think we should not get too off-topic talking about Micaihah in a topic about Ike.

[Water Mage]

Ike stands outs among in many things, such as background, appearance and personality, he's also in Smash, which boosted his popularity. 

The only problem is that he's kinda of a spotlight hog. He steals the role of main character from Micaiah, and a lot of time, especially in Radiant Dawn, characters spend hours praising Ike.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ike, huh. I can't say I hate him. But I can't say that I like him either. I can see why others may like him, but it just doesn't do it for me.

He's just... there, to me.

[Etria]

Count me in on the people who don't like Ike. To me, he's the blandest lord of them all and as lively as a dead fish. Also, Ike fans made me hate him for a while but I got over that. I'm back to "I don't care but keep him out of my face".

[Sunwoo]

2 minutes ago, Mirania said:

Count me in on the people who don't like Ike. To me, he's the blandest lord of them all and as lively as a dead fish. Also, Ike fans made me hate him for a while but I got over that. I'm back to "I don't care but keep him out of my face".

I'm totally with you on that part -- and Ike used to be my favorite lord, even. These days, I've gone back to liking PoR!Ike somewhat but I don't like him as much as I like Roy and Eliwood now, and is tied with Micaiah. Wasn't keen on RD!Ike, though.

While Ike may be popular, I think there are polarizing viewpoints on him. For all the people who think he is the most interesting lord we've got so far, there are those who think he's quite boring. Guess it all depends on which aspect of his personality you are looking at, because I can see how Ike can come off as interesting to some people and bland to others.

[Etria]

1 minute ago, Sunwoo said:

While Ike may be popular, I think there are polarizing viewpoints on him. For all the people who think he is the most interesting lord we've got so far, there are those who think he's quite boring. Guess it all depends on which aspect of his personality you are looking at, because I can see how Ike can come off as interesting to some people and bland to others.

Thinking about it for a while, I believe the literature that we consume might make a difference too. Many fans say that his fuck-nobles attitude is refreshing to them, but honestly, it feels like 80% of all fantasy books I have read have the protagonist that hate nobles/only have corrupt nobles. So I'm like "refreshing? He's like every hero ever". For me, a good noble as the hero is more unusual.

[eclipse]

20 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ike, huh. I can't say I hate him. But I can't say that I like him either. I can see why others may like him, but it just doesn't do it for me.

He's just... there, to me.

Bingo!  He's no-nonsense, which is nice (see: cape comment).  However, that's about where his interesting qualities end for me.

[Anacybele]

48 minutes ago, Water Mage said:

characters spend hours praising Ike.

What was wrong with that? It's not like it came out of nowhere as with our Avatar characters. Ike at least EARNED all that respect and praise. He's stated to command respect from pretty much every nation of Tellius for his deeds. People didn't just start praising him out of nowhere at all. Hell, two of his allies DESERTED him when he first became a leader. He had to convince them to come back to the group. Reyson tried to kill him before Ike convinced him he's not an enemy. Micaiah hated him at first too, but saw later why Sothe respected the guy. This is another reason I find Ike to be a well-written character, he is shown to earn people's respect and trust instead of just have it handed to him all the time.

If PoR wasn't a thing, I would agree, the Ike praise does seemingly come out of nowhere. But because PoR DID happen, the praise in RD is justified. And even there, it's sorta implied that Daein considered him a villain and the reason they're being jerked around by Begnion.

Now Micaiah is praised out of nowhere. Daein people suddenly start worshipping her just because she has silver hair. JUST BECAUSE OF HER HAIR COLOR. This was bad writing to me.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Anacybele

[Sunwoo]

46 minutes ago, Mirania said:

Thinking about it for a while, I believe the literature that we consume might make a difference too. Many fans say that his fuck-nobles attitude is refreshing to them, but honestly, it feels like 80% of all fantasy books I have read have the protagonist that hate nobles/only have corrupt nobles. So I'm like "refreshing? He's like every hero ever". For me, a good noble as the hero is more unusual.

That's quite possible, yeah. I suppose Ike is an unusual protagonist for FE, but not necessarily for the genre of fantasy in general. I also wonder if there's a difference in the amount of votes he received from western vs. eastern audiences, but I don't think there's a way to tell.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Smash. Is there really a more valid answer? All 6 FE fighters from that series made the top ten of the Heroes poll. Provided you combine male/female Robin and Corrin, as well as both Marths and Ikes. 

Smash characterizes him as being a tough, wild brawler with a brash sword style. But in his game he's kind of milquetoast from what I remember. Never getting on anybody's nerves for longer than a moment. Has to have boss dialogue with all the bosses, even when all he has to say is "Whoa! You're a mage huh?". He's a commoner, but he's every bit as sincere and willing to do good as other protagonists. Then the BK revenge plot hits again near the final act and I totally don't buy it when it comes to this white knight. Plus his never settling down with the numerous women around him is frustrating to watch. I'm only fine with the explanation of Ike being gay if the writing had the courage to tell us that outright. Nitpicks aside, he's well written and surrounded by a wealth of good characters and great settings. 

[Acacia Sgt]

8 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Now Micaiah is praised out of nowhere. Daein people suddenly start worshipping her just because she has silver hair. JUST BECAUSE OF HER HAIR COLOR. This was bad writing to me.

She's not. The Dawn Brigade had already gained a reputation in Nevassa before the game begins for openly opposing the Begnion Occupation forces, and as for Micaiah herself in specific, due to her Sacrifice ability. Micaiah's popularity through Daein at large didn't happen until Izuka used her as a propaganda tool.

But also look at it through the perspective of the average Daein citizen. You have this small group that openly opposes the Begnion forces, and the girl herself can do stuff like healing people without using a healing staff. The last you hear of them is rumors they head off to find Daein's heir after escaping from Begnion's grasp. And lo and behold, they do have him, and have joined him in a campaign to take Daein back. It's quite understandable if they start to praise her to the point of fanatism. Because at this point, they had already spent three years suffering under Begion. It's not like in Crimea who suffered at most just a few months. It's that after a long period, they finally see the end of their suffering in sight, and Micaiah herself takes an active part in it, with a headstart pre-game.

What she did in general is not really that much different from what Ike did in PoR (RD itself even points that up). Only difference is that Crimea's situation was different from Daein's. It could've been quite as likely for Ike to end up being fanatically worshiped, as Micaiah to have had received less zealous worship.

47 minutes ago, Mirania said:

Thinking about it for a while, I believe the literature that we consume might make a difference too. Many fans say that his fuck-nobles attitude is refreshing to them, but honestly, it feels like 80% of all fantasy books I have read have the protagonist that hate nobles/only have corrupt nobles. So I'm like "refreshing? He's like every hero ever". For me, a good noble as the hero is more unusual.

To be fair, nowadays there's hardly anything original left, if at all. At that point you just look at the how and why, rather than the what. Ike himself isn't unique, neither the combination of what makes Ike. But it is less common.

[Anacybele]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

She's not. The Dawn Brigade had already gained a reputation in Nevassa before the game begins for openly opposing the Begnion Occupation forces

I don't remember much writing actually bringing this up at all though. Though that's likely because the Dawn Brigade wasn't given a whole game to themselves like Ike was. Their story was rushed and lacked real support conversations which also hurt Micaiah, imo.

If Micaiah was praised for more than just her hair color, it wasn't presented very well, because I didn't see much of this like I saw how Ike earned his praise and respect.

Besides, if the praise Micaiah gets is fine, that makes it even more ridiculous to complain about how much Ike gets praised.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Anacybele

[NekoKnight]

At first I was turned off to Ike because of his obnoxious fanbase and a lot of people praise him in game but over time those feelings mellowed out. His upbringing and attitude (and I liked Hector) is pretty refreshing. He gets a solid character arc which is more than you can say for quite a few protagonists. 

1 hour ago, Anacybele said:

MY question is why is IS ignoring Ike in Heroes? I mean, Ephraim and Eirika as focus characters is fine, and Seliph and Julia as focus characters isn't farfetched either. They're all important to their respective games and and Ephraim and Eirika were also in the top ten in the Heroes poll. But the datamined banner, which can be assumed to be the next one, is a group of random minor characters! Why start going for random characters that aren't popular and are already in the game when Ike and his crew are still begging to be added? He WON the male side of the poll too! On top of that, he has art in the Heroes title screen, so now I feel like I'm being trolled as a big Ike fan.

Some people speculate that PoR is going to get a port so they are saving Tellius characters for that. I think it's strange that Roy (a character who stays popular because of Smash) is in the game but Ike is not. Even the often forgotten Sacred Stones has some characters in the game now. As for the poll winners, none of them have gotten their special character yet so you'll just have to wait for the event where they appear.

42 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Now Micaiah is praised out of nowhere. Daein people suddenly start worshipping her just because she has silver hair. JUST BECAUSE OF HER HAIR COLOR. This was bad writing to me.

Yes, I'm sure it has nothing to do with her defying an oppressive occupation force and giving the people hope. It was just that glorious hair.

Edited February 16, 2017 by NekoKnight

[Anacybele]

Just now, NekoKnight said:

Yes, I sure it has nothing to do with her defying an oppressive occupation force and giving the people hope. It was just that glorious hair.

See my post above.

As for Ike having been ignored, you could be right. Needless to say, I hope they have a damn good reason for ignoring him right now regardless.

[Slumber]

I doubt they're ignoring Ike for no reason. Not only is there just his appearance in Smash, he got major DLC appearances in both Awakening and Fates, he was one of the first FE characters to get an Amiibo(Which lead to him being in Codename STEAM), AND there's Priam. He gets way more representation than pretty much every Lord in the franchise besides Marth.

So if Heroes is withholding Ike, it's likely for a specific reason.

[Vaximillian]

Ike is meh. He's still a Fire Emblem lord, even his ostensible flaws don't hurt him at all.

Oh, his inexperience made Shinon and Gatrie to desert! — Shinon is depicted as an always-wrong bigoted asshole anyway and Gatrie is a spineless skirtchaser. And then they do come back, after Shinon having got his ass handed to him by Ike. Serves him well, we are supposed to say.

Oh, his bluntness pissed off the Begnions! — It's revealed Sanaki was teasing all of them anyway, and this so-called blunder actually amused her and made her trust him. So much for an impolite brute of a mercenary.

You can continue if you wish.

Still, he doesn't bother me much—he's a fictional character, come on!—but his fanatics do. Not fans, mind you, obnoxious obsessive fanatics. Ew.

Micaiah > Ike, and he ruined her game.

Fight me Ana

Edited February 16, 2017 by Vaximillian

[Luchi]

Part of my dislike for Ike stems not only from his rabid, obnoxious fanbase, but also as to how generic he is. As someone who loves her jRPGs ( and who reads a lot ), Ike is extremely unremarkable in my eyes. While his tale in PoR is well-told, it is also derivative, and anyone who has played more than 2 jRPGs will roll their eyes at Ike's quest for revenge and the predicatable character arc that follows. His RD self however, made me flat-out hate him ( even if he did save the life of my favourite FE character - dilemma ). He is just thorougly unlikable for me. It must be due to the fact that not only is he so blunt it borders on rudeness, but he also has that perputual scowl on his face. I can't find myself warming up to someone who repeatedly looks as though someone stole his breakfast.

FE really needs more adult lords like Sigurd imho. But given the Japanese fetish for real young male heroes ( 20 or under), I don't see this happening anytime soon.