Worst person you can recruit?

[CyberController]

I was wondering who the most evil, least decent  person you can recruit in Fire Emblem is.

For me, it's probably Peri from Fates, or Henry from Awakening. Both insane serial killers.

[lenticular]

Oliver, from Radiant Dawn. Slaver, bigot, narcissist, corrupt politician.

[Jotari]

My boi Lifis. He doesn't just murder innocent people, he outright tortures them, for no real reason (and August taught him how to do it!). And better yet, he's completely unrepentant. He doesn't join the heroes because he has any loftier goals, he joins them because they threaten him and he sticks around because he reckons he can get some tail.

Unless you want to count Heroes. Cause then you have, like, Grima.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Jotari

[AnonymousSpeed]

Edelgard.

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Edelgard.

Ha. That'll stir some shit.

[CyberController]

Hubert, Catherine and Dedue also have somewhat lax morals.

 

Hubert is a creepy asshole who’ll kill behind Edelgard’s back.

 

Catherine is willing to work with Rhea even when she’s insane. Even Seteth and Flayn wi offer to run away, but Catherine stays loyal to the end.

Dedue is willing to do anything for Dimitri, even kill kids. I don’t like blind loyalty like that…

[SnowFire]

10 hours ago, CyberController said:

For me, it's probably Peri from Fates, or Henry from Awakening. Both insane serial killers.

Henry is not an insane serial killer...   at least probably not.  He is very enthusiastic about killing, yes, but he doesn't seem to actually do it more or less than anyone else, a point he brings up in his supports.  He is also down for dark magic and messing with summoning Risen himself, but he (correctly) believes them to be already dead, so that isn't killing either.  Rather he kills the same way all the Shepherds do: in self-defense, to wipe out monsters, or in service of a good cause.

The closest we get is this, which is clearly a joke:

Quote

Henry: Nya ha ha! Oh, stop it, Miriel! You'll make me blush. Although it's pretty much true. When it comes to hexing folks, I'm the master. Why, this one time at mage camp, I killed 100 people with one curse!
Miriel: I am not privy to the location of this "mage camp." And when exactly did this catastrophe take place?
Henry: Er, I don't remember when. ...Or where exactly. But it totally could have happened.

Henry's hands seem likely cleaner than the average recruited bandit!

--

Anyway, excluding weird stuff like aftergame Awakening enemy recruits or NG+ Lehran..  I'll throw in Karel.  FE7 Karel appears to be basically the Black Knight, the anime archetype of "dude convinced of his own badassery who seeks out extreme challenges to test his skill," and it doesn't sound like he's THAT picky about the targets being Actually Villainous, but rather merely strong.  In his defense, some of what we hear about this is from rumor, but against him, FE6 Karel sounds repentant + seems to buy into hype that FE7 Karel was terrible.

[Benice]

I would say Oliver or Lifis, for reasons others stated above.

If we're going by game, I think I'd say... (Spoilers for every game in the series)
 

Spoiler

 

FE1/3/11/12: Navarre's not a very nice chap; he only really joins us to simp.

FE2/15: Erm... Not too sure, actually. Clive, maybe?

FE4 (But I only know the Gen 1 characters off the top of my head): Beowulf, who's just kinda a mercenary though-and-through. Plus, he abandons Lachesis (And his kid?) if they're paired, which is pretty darned bad.

FE5: Lifis

FE6: Astolfo, I guess? He left Igrene and their kid so that he could be a spy. It wasn't entirely his choice, but still.

FE7: Karel

FE8: Er... Marisa, I guess. She's not particularly bad, but she doesn't seem very "good" either.

FE9: Makalov, though he's more of a twazzock than truly belligerent.

FE10: Oliver

FE13: Tharja

FE14: Camilla, I suppose.

FE16: I'd say that Sylvain's mistreatment of women certainly puts him up there for contenders for worst person in FE16, but I don't think about TH very often so maybe I'm forgetting about somebody.

 

 

[lenticular]

11 minutes ago, Benice said:

FE2/15: Erm... Not too sure, actually. Clive, maybe?

I'd say probably Deen or Sonya here. Both are running with bandits and only join up with us when we destroy their gang. 

14 minutes ago, Benice said:

FE9: Makalov, though he's more of a twazzock than truly belligerent.

Shinnon would be my choice here, for the unrepentant racism. And also generally just being a jerk to everyone. Naesala is worse if we're only going by PoR characterisation, but he gets some justification in Radiant Dawn.

19 minutes ago, Benice said:

FE16: I'd say that Sylvain's mistreatment of women certainly puts him up there for contenders for worst person in FE16, but I don't think about TH very often so maybe I'm forgetting about somebody.

And here, I'd say Jeritza. Murder, kidnap, blood lust, psychopathy, the works.

[AnonymousSpeed]

36 minutes ago, Benice said:

Astolfo, I guess? He left Igrene and their kid so that he could be a spy. It wasn't entirely his choice, but still.

I don't know if this is what the writers intended. Looking back at their A-support, they probably meant for this to be something Astolfo did so people wouldn't harm them trying to get to him, standard spy and superhero stuff. However, given Nabata is a remote oasis hidden squarely in the middle of the desert, it doesn't seem that necessary, does it? It's a pretty good hiding place, actually. This man got milk for nothing.

Edited July 23, 2022 by AnonymousSpeed

[Acacia Sgt]

16 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I don't know if this is what the writers intended. Looking back at their A-support, they probably meant for this to be something Astolfo did so people wouldn't harm them trying to get to him, standard spy and superhero stuff. However, given Nabata is a remote oasis hidden squarely in the middle of the desert, it doesn't seem that necessary, does it? It's a pretty good hiding place, actually. This man got milk for nothing.

Until Bern found it and attacked it anyway.

[Benice]

3 hours ago, lenticular said:

Both are running with bandits and only join up with us when we destroy their gang. 

True, I forgot about 'em.

3 hours ago, lenticular said:

And here, I'd say Jeritza. Murder, kidnap, blood lust, psychopathy, the works.

...I did not know that Jeritza was playable. Zoinks.

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

However, given Nabata is a remote oasis hidden squarely in the middle of the desert, it doesn't seem that necessary, does it?

It's certainly a weird one.

[CyberController]

If you count creature campaign, you get to play as Valter 

[AnonymousSpeed]

5 hours ago, Benice said:

...I did not know that Jeritza was playable. Zoinks.

It's certainly a weird one.

On Edelgard's route, too.

Parental abandonment is a terrible thing and a rampant problem in Society™, but I feel like you should have some animosity if you're going to call a character "the worst" and Astolfo is kind of a beat-down loser by the time FE6 happens, so I don't feel entirely hateful towards him. He is a pitiable creature, suffering under a weight he crafted for himself.

8 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Until Bern found it and attacked it anyway.

Well yeah, but that was kinda weird and didn't really have anything to do with Astolfo.

2 hours ago, CyberController said:

If you count creature campaign, you get to play as Valter 

He's got mental health issues. It's not his fault, he is afflicted with Cursed Lane Syndrome.

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Well yeah, but that was kinda weird and didn't really have anything to do with Astolfo.

Yeah, but the point is that, at least after Athos' death, Arcadia isn't quite "hidden" anymore. Just in a remote place.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

12 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Edelgard.

Demonstrably false.

You can't recruit Edelgard. She's playable from the Prologue, and either sticks with you (CF), jumps ship midway (SS), or jumps ship early (AM/VW).

10 hours ago, Benice said:

FE8: Er... Marisa, I guess. She's not particularly bad, but she doesn't seem very "good" either.

I would actually say Colm. His very introduction is robbing Eirika! And he only joins the player's army because of his soft spot for our resident crybaby Archer...

From the series as a whole, I'm gonna say Lifis. Like, doesn't he almost rape Safy?

[BrightBow]

I suppose it depends on how you define evil.
My take would be that evil depends on how willing you are to commit vile actions for your own selfish desires. So it's not really a points system, it's a matter of your outlook and morals. Or lack thereof.
Like for example Alvis vs Lifis. Both of them are responsible for deaths, whether they were caused by their own hand or committed on their behalf.
However there is a very different scale here. Lifis terrorized a few towns, Alvis caused death and destruction across an entire continent.
But despite the scale of his villainy, there is a level of heinousness he not only does not approve of, but will actively risk his life to put a stop to it, even if there is no benefit for him. Lifis on the other hand has given no indication he cares about anything but himself. Would he give a shit about children being murdered? Probably not. He wouldn't feel compelled to stop the child hunting, let alone risking his life for that cause.
So from that angle, Lifis is more evil then Alvis. Lifis might not have as many concrete sins to his name, but lack of opportunity does not make you any less evil in my book.

Problem is there are a lot of characters that fit that bill. Lifis obviously. Also Tharja, Peri, Xander, Camilla, Corrin,... Their villainy has a different scale. Xander and Corrin are evil warlords with the biggest body count. Peri and Camilla are dedicated serial killers. They kill for no other reason then that it's fun for them. Tharja has no such compulsion, so she isn't causing that much harm comparatively. But she is perfectly willing to abuse people if it benefits her. She may or may not have raped Robin but if nothing else she is trying to.
So they are all very much equally evil in my book.

If I have to chose, I go with Xander. There is just something especially infuriating about someone who is born with all this privilege and power and instead of trying to use it to help people, he instead uses it to actively enable other awful people like Peri or Camilla.

[Whisky]

I want to mention Jaffar as a candidate. He might not be the worst among some of the competition but he is a merciless assassin who has no remorse about killing innocents. The only reason he didn’t kill Zephiel is because Nino was supposed to do it and then he tries to protect her. If he was sent alone he would have killed the prince without hesitation. And who knows how many other innocents he has killed in the past. He was raised by Nergal of all people. And he is very good at killing. You don’t get that good at something without a lot of experience.

[AnonymousSpeed]

14 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

You can't recruit Edelgard. She's playable from the Prologue, and either sticks with you (CF), jumps ship midway (SS), or jumps ship early (AM/VW).

Nah, that's, like, auto-recruit or whatever. The only way to not recruit her is to not play the game.

14 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

From the series as a whole, I'm gonna say Lifis. Like, doesn't he almost rape Safy?

"Lord Lief, Lifis is not an evil man," so says Safy, so says the good wiki.

This guy is in heroes, by the way.

[CyberController]

 

On 7/23/2022 at 1:07 AM, Jotari said:

My boi Lifis. He doesn't just murder innocent people, he outright tortures them, for no real reason (and August taught him how to do it!). And better yet, he's completely unrepentant. He doesn't join the heroes because he has any loftier goals, he joins them because they threaten him and he sticks around because he reckons he can get some tail.

Unless you want to count Heroes. Cause then you have, like, Grima.

And Heroes also has other psychos like Valter, Kronya, Lifis (again), Sonia, Gharnef etc.

 

But Grima’s definitely the worst one, imo.

[Dark Holy Elf]

On 7/22/2022 at 11:53 PM, lenticular said:

Oliver, from Radiant Dawn. Slaver, bigot, narcissist, corrupt politician.

This was my first thought as well. He's an utterly wretched human being; him being recruitable at all is basically just a joke. You didn't even touch on his treatment of Reyson which sends up giant red flags.

Other characters like Jaffar and Jeritza may have big body counts but they at least have the excuse of being traumatized/brainwashed and are, by the end of their games, trying to atone. Oliver is unapologetic slime.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I'll go by game.

• Shadow Dragon/(New) Mystery of the Emblem: Maybe Katarina? Katarina was literally an assassin who initially only joined to murder Marth.
• Gaiden/Echoes: Deen and Sonya both make a case. I honestly kinda wanna throw in Leon as a third candidate, his constant and open pining over a man grieving the loss of his family feels really gross, like he's not letting him grieve properly.
• Genealogy of the Holy War: This one is a bit tougher, but I suppose I'd have to give it to Beowolf. He's a straight merc and doesn't seem to have that honor code that others like Gregor and Gerik have.
• Thracia 776: Definitely either Lifis or Perne. I'd lean more towards Lifis, he's an absolute scumbag.
• Binding Blade: Saul. A priest using his station to pick up women is really nasty.
• Blazing Blade: I'd have to say either Karel or Jaffar. I suppose Jaffar is at least trying to turn a new leaf for Nino, you don't see anything like that with Karel until he's much older in Binding Blade.
• Sacred Stones: Lute. She literally tries to murder Knoll because she's afraid he's smarter than her. Lute sucks.
• Path of Radiance: Shinon. Racist scumbag.
• Radiant Dawn: Sephiran. Like Gangrel and Walhart...he's literally a primary villain. If not him, then it's Shinon again.
• Awakening: It's very difficult to not give the award to Gangrel or Walhart. I mean, they're two of the primary villains of the game, and they don't exactly change into good people when you recruit them. If I'm not giving it to one of them, then I'd have to go with Henry, because he's just prototype Peri.
• Fates: Peri. Just...Peri.
• Three Houses: If we're counting route exclusive characters, then Jeritza might take it here. Hubert, Dedue, and Catherine all have that troubling philosophy about their respective lords, so they might be in the mix with Jeritza. And Edelgard.

[jameslove001]

I think we are overlooking a very obvious candidate here - Ilyana. Literally she's like "Oh. Give me that cookie and I will kill a person."

Edited July 25, 2022 by jameslove001
i forgot the word kill and my post made no sense

[Jotari]

In Three Hopes Byleth (and Jearlt) kills people for money. S/he doesn't even give a fuck about whose right or wrong about the conflict.

[Fabulously Olivier]

Blazing Sword - Renault

Sacred Stones - Rennac, but in a fun way. I really like him.

Path of Radiance - Makalov sucks.

Radiant Dawn - Oliver sucks more, and the other characters even lampshade that.

Awakening - Tharja is a distinctly unpleasant and cruel person, even to her spouse and child.

Fates - Peri is obvious.

Three Houses - Sylvain and Catherine are really competing here. Sylvain is an insufferable, misogynistic cheater. Catherine is a despicable zealot who betrayed her closest friend. I guess I'm giving it to Catherine.

Three Hopes - counting bonus units, Rhea. Not counting bonus units, still Catherine - at least Sylvain grew up.