Who is the most influential character in each game (story-wise)?

[indigoasis]

The answer(s) to this question would probably be a Lord or main antagonist, but in the off-chance that it's not... which character do you think has the most influence or the biggest impact on the story in each Fire Emblem game? And why are they so important? Alternatively, are there any seemingly important characters that you think would have absolutely zero consequences on the plot if they were removed?

Also, if you have any Engage spoilers, I would humbly ask that they be placed within spoilers tags for my own sake because I haven't beaten the game yet, I don't have the kind of time that everyone else does for the sake of others that have yet to complete the game. Thank you in advance.

[Polinym]

In the world of Akaneia, you could basically get rid of 80% of the cast and the game wouldn't look much different. Probably gotta go with Mars as the most influential, as nothing in the game gets done unless he leads the army to do it. Followed by Gharnef, I guess? He sets the game's plot in motion.

[ping]

I'd say it's very consistently the main villain, or alternatively the villain awakening the main villain. Gharnef kickstarts both crises in Akaneia; in BinBla it's Zephiel and Jahn; Nergal in BlaBla; Lyon accidentally pokes Fomortiis with a stick; in Tellius, we have Lehran pushing Sephiran into trying to kill everything. The protagonists are always reacting to the threat and never really looking to change to world themselves.

1 hour ago, indigoasis said:

Alternatively, are there any seemingly important characters that you think would have absolutely zero consequences on the plot if they were removed?

I think Lyn is a popular example - mechanically the third lord, but in the plot, she's mostly just there to bounce off of Hector and at one point follow a trail of wyvern poop. In SacSto, you could argue that Innes and Tana only exist to be rescued by one (or both) of the wonder twins, even though they're the children of King Hayden.

[lenticular]

7 minutes ago, ping said:

I'd say it's very consistently the main villain, or alternatively the villain awakening the main villain. Gharnef kickstarts both crises in Akaneia; in BinBla it's Zephiel and Jahn; Nergal in BlaBla; Lyon accidentally pokes Fomortiis with a stick; in Tellius, we have Lehran pushing Sephiran into trying to kill everything. The protagonists are always reacting to the threat and never really looking to change to world themselves.

I think that definitely used to be the case, but is becoming less so with more recent games. For Awakening, I think that Robin and Lucina are both hugely important drivers of the plot. Then in Three Houses we have Byleth and Edelgard (even in the route where Edelgard is protagonist, she's still active rather than reactive). Basically, as we're moving towards having the main characters be dragons and gods, they're becoming more integral to the worlds around them.

1 hour ago, indigoasis said:

Alternatively, are there any seemingly important characters that you think would have absolutely zero consequences on the plot if they were removed?

My selection for "not as important as they seem" would be Ike. If you got rid of him, you'd lose the subplot of his personal quest for vengeance against the Black Knight, but that's about it. Titania could lead the Greil Mercenaries, they'd still have found Elincia and taken her to Gallia, still be entrusted with her care by Caineghis, Mist would still have the medallion, and everything would play out in largely the same way as it did otherwise.

[Etrurian emperor]

In Tellius is probably Lekain since just about every event in the story can be traced back to him. Similarly in Jugdral it would b Manfroy for being the man behind most villains in the games.

In Fodlan it would be Edelgard or Rhea of course. 

[indigoasis]

6 hours ago, lenticular said:

My selection for "not as important as they seem" would be Ike. If you got rid of him, you'd lose the subplot of his personal quest for vengeance against the Black Knight, but that's about it. Titania could lead the Greil Mercenaries, they'd still have found Elincia and taken her to Gallia, still be entrusted with her care by Caineghis, Mist would still have the medallion, and everything would play out in largely the same way as it did otherwise.

Now that's an interesting take. How do think that would affect Radiant Dawn?

[lenticular]

15 hours ago, indigoasis said:

Now that's an interesting take. How do think that would affect Radiant Dawn?

I don't think that there's much in Radiant Dawn that really requires Ike either, unless I'm forgetting something. There's stuff that needs the Greil Mercenaries, but most of it would have worked just the same without Ike. They could still have rescued Lucia just fine, could still have been dragged into the war on the laguz side, Soren could still have been condescending at Skrimir, they could still have squared off against Micaiah and co, and still have united under one army against Ashera in Part IV.

Again, you lose the final Ike vs Black Knight showdown in the tower, but I can easily imagine that as a Titania vs Black Knight battle instead, where Titania takes up Urvan and bests the man who killed her mentor, despite the fact that she has weapon disadvantage. You'd also need for someone else to be blessed by Yune to land the final blow on Ashera, but that would be easy enough to do since there's no shortage of characters who are both strong and storyline-important by that point.

And of course, Sothe wouldn't be able to have a big crush on Ike for Micaiah to get annoyed over. He'd just have to have a crush on either Titania or Elincia instead, which would have a totally different dynamic.

[Jotari]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:26 AM, indigoasis said:

Now that's an interesting take. How do think that would affect Radiant Dawn?

Yune be powering up Edward for that final strike against Ashera!

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

Garon for Fates.

You have Anankos in the back, but Garon gets things moving. 

[Deathcon]

I actually think Grima!Robin or Lucina is the main driver of the plot of Awakening due to the fact it was through Lucina and the rest of the kids traveling back in time that also allowed the Hierophant to travel back and make the game not a prelude to the Bad Future.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 2/9/2023 at 8:42 PM, Jotari said:

Yune be powering up Edward for that final strike against Ashera!

Coward. The final blow belongs to an Alondite-wielding Meg, and Meg alone!

Thinking more upon it, the most thematically interesting Ashera-killer would probably be Mist. She has an affinity for Order that lets her wield the Medallion, akin to Micaiah's affinity for Chaos. The two of them teaming up for the final blow would be great foreshadowing for Ashunera's reunion.

[Acacia Sgt]

28 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Coward. The final blow belongs to an Alondite-wielding Meg, and Meg alone!

Thinking more upon it, the most thematically interesting Ashera-killer would probably be Mist. She has an affinity for Order that lets her wield the Medallion, akin to Micaiah's affinity for Chaos. The two of them teaming up for the final blow would be great foreshadowing for Ashunera's reunion.

If I recall, what Mist has is a perfect balance between Order and Chaos, not just Order.

[lenticular]

32 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Coward. The final blow belongs to an Alondite-wielding Meg, and Meg alone!

Yune has a sense of humour. She powers up Meg, Fiona, Vika, and Lyre, and lets us choose which of them to give the final blow. to. She is a chaos goddess, after all.

35 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Thinking more upon it, the most thematically interesting Ashera-killer would probably be Mist. She has an affinity for Order that lets her wield the Medallion, akin to Micaiah's affinity for Chaos. The two of them teaming up for the final blow would be great foreshadowing for Ashunera's reunion.

I like this. It would be, honestly, probably more thematically interesting than it is for Ike to get the final blow, which is really only there because Ike is the hero and the hero has to kill the big bad. I definitely stand by my initial assessment that the Tellius games would have worked just fine without Ike.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

If I recall, what Mist has is a perfect balance between Order and Chaos, not just Order.

I think that might have just been a mistranslation, or even just a misinterpretation from the fanbase that stuck.

[Acacia Sgt]

40 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I think that might have just been a mistranslation, or even just a misinterpretation from the fanbase that stuck.

I mean, we do have this from the script:

Compared to other people, the balance within your sister is extremely strong. Your mother, it seems, was the same. That's why they could bear it safely. 

This is from Volke's Chapter 19 convo with Ike.

But yes, it may have indeed be a mistranslation. I checked the original line:

おまえさんの妹は、他の者に比べ…極端に正の力が強いんだよ。

Trying to pinpoint exactly, I reached 正の力, which apparently means "positive power". Or at least, that's what DeepL gave me. Still, it would point to the Order side of things. I went to check further, and while in the Tellius Artbook it does say Mist and Elena had higher sense of Order, it also stated Mist could hear Yune from within the Medallion. The game script corroborates, since it was Yune telling Mist to Sing the Galdr of Release. Yet, the Herons couldn't hear her. Which... honestly, if she was Order-aligned, how could she hear Yune? I do wonder...

Edited March 23, 2023 by Acacia Sgt