A red-haired female who has appeared in every Fire Emblem game, bar Gaiden, and is essentially the
mascot of the series. In general, Anna never appears as a unit and
only appears when you suspend the game or visit a Secret Shop. In
the GBA games, she also appears in the Link Arena and during the
prompt before you delete all data. In Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, she hosts the in-game tutorial and
gives the player a lot of friendly advice.
Anna briefly has dialogue in Dark
Dragon and Sword of Light, Genealogy of the Holy War, Blazing Sword and Shadow Dragon. In each of these
games, she appears to have a close relationship with another
recurring character, Jake. She also appears before your Avatar in Heroes of Light and Shadow: the
first time to confirm his/her details and the second time to inform
him/her about the How's Everyone feature.
Finally, in Awakening, Anna is a playable character who can
be recruited in a side mission. Like the other characters, she can
enter a relationship with your Avatar and be the mother of your
child. Personality-wise, Anna is friendly and eccentric and she
reaaaaally loves money. Of note, her behaviour and the wisdom she
possesses (for example, of autographs) seems well ahead of its time,
suggesting she's closer to you and me, rather than your typical Fire
Emblem character...
Awakening also reveals that there are many different
versions of Annas, who Anna (the playable one) claims are her
sisters. There are several Annas working as traveling merchants (who
can be summoned using Rift Doors...), one who runs the Outrealm
Gate--a door to other dimensions--and one of the DLC episodes even
requires you to protect five Annas at once. Not to mention, in the
DLC episode "The Strongest One's Name", another Anna is the "ultimate boss".
Jake
(Image from Blazing Sword)
A male who has a close relationship with Anna; he varies in
appearance, but usually has dark hair. Jake first appeared in the
very first game, Dark Dragon and
Sword of Light, as a playable Shooter (Ballistician).
However, in the Mystery of the
Emblem remake, he was removed (along with some other
characters). His next appearance was in Genealogy of the Holy War, where he appears in
front of Amid or Linda at the source of the Thracian River.
Afterwards Jake appeared again in Blazing
Sword, where he is a member of Fargus's pirate crew. He
pops up to greet the ship's passengers if somebody visited Anna at
the inn in the Port of Badon
chapter. Recently, he is a playable character again in Shadow Dragon and Heroes of Light and Shadow. As
a character, Jake is cheery and friendly, cares a lot about Anna,
but seems to lack common sense. He attempts to adveritse Anna's
Secret Shop to both Marth and your Avatar, with mixed results.
Larabel/Aimee
(Image from Mystery of the
Emblem)
Larabel, known as Aimee in the English versions (except for in the
North American version of Shadow Dragon), is the owner of
the Vendor in Dark Dragon and
Sword of Light, Mystery
of the Emblem (although her name is not stated here) and
the remakes. She also appeared in Path
of Radiance and Radiant
Dawn, as a member of the merchant convoy and once again
serves as the Vendor. Story-wise, she has an unhealthy crush on the
leader of the Greil's Mercenaries, Ike.
In Heroes of Light and Shadow, she's briefly mentioned in a
base conversation involving Samson and your Avatar.
Dragon tribe
(Image from Mystery of the
Emblem)
A race that has appeared in most of the games. Dragons usually
assume human form, by sealing their powers within dragonstones, and
are then known as Manaketes (Mamkutes in the Japanese version).
In Dark Dragon and Sword of Light,
Mystery of the Emblem and
the remakes, the dragon tribe became Manaketes after a mysterious
decline, thought to be the work of the gods. Those who refused to
change ended up losing their minds and becoming feral. Thousands of
years ago, the entire Earth Dragon tribe went feral and almost wiped
out humanity, were it not for the Divine Dragon King, Naga's
intervention. Shadow Dragon Medeus was the one of the only Earth
Dragons who became a Manakete and his sanity allowed him to forge
the Dolhrian Empire.
In Sword of Seals and Blazing Sword, there was a
savage war between man and dragon, known as the Scouring. In the
end, the dragons were forced to become Manaketes after the power of
the Divine weapons altered nature. In their weakened form, the
dragons were eventually defeated and forced out of Elibe. Some fled
through a gate to another world; the Divine Dragons, meanwhile,
found refuge in the desert utopia of Arcadia. In The Sacred Stones, the Great
Dragon, who helped humans defeat the Demon King, was a Manakete.
In Genealogy of the Holy War
and Thracia 776, the
dragon tribe do not appear physically (unless you count the final
boss), but they are mentioned as the gods who descended at Darna to
create the Twelve Crusaders. In Genealogy
of the Holy War'sEpilogue,
Levin is revealed to have been possessed by Holsety--a member of the
dragon tribe. Similarly, Evayle's ending in Thracia 776 implied that she
was also possessed, although her case appears to be different. The designer's
notes for Genealogy of the
Holy War indicate that the dragon tribe hail from
Archanea.
In Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, a different
dragon tribe (known as the "scaly dragon tribe" in the Japanese
versions) feature. They are part of the greater Laguz race and do
not require dragonstones to transform, but can instead transform at
will (provided they have enough power to do so). Curiously, the
White Dragon Laguz bear a resemblance to the Divine Dragons in Shadow
Dragon and Heroes of Light and Shadow.
The original dragon tribe reappears in Awakeningand
two dragons--Naga and Grima--form part of the backbone of the story.
In particular, Grima's skeleton literally stretches across most of
Plegia, with Plegia Castle built on top of Grima's skull. Otherwise,
the citizens of Ylisse and Plegia worship Naga and Grima
respectively (although Ylisseans refers to Grima as the Fell Dragon,
Plegians call it a Divine Dragon like Naga). In this era, it seems
few Manakete exist, although one of them, Tiki is well known and
revered on the Valmese continent.
Furthermore, Awakening introduces the Taguel race, which is
strongly hinted to be descended from the Laguz and is conceptually
similar to the Manakete--its a near extinct tribe that uses stones
to transform into beasts or birds. By extension, it's possible that
the Manaketes are descended from the dragon Laguz.
Throughout the series, the dragon tribe transform into various forms
when they use their dragonstones. These include: Fire Dragon, Ice
Dragon, Wyvern, Mage Dragon, Earth Dragon, Divine Dragon and Shadow
Dragon. In Mystery of the Emblem,
there is also an unused Sea Dragon. The dragon tribe in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn can transform into
Red Dragon, White Dragon or Black Dragon.
Spirits
(Image from Radiant Dawn)
An entity that has appeared in many games, usually related to nature
or magic of nature. In Genealogy
of the Holy War, spirits appear indirectly in the form of
the Spirit Forest, a forest said to be home to spirits. In Blazing Sword the rings, such
as Ninis's Grace and Filla's Might, are blessed by the spirits of
Fire, Ice, Thunder and Wind. Also, the blade Mani Katti is said to
blessed by spirits and is referred to as the "sword of spirits".
In Path of Radiance,
spirits appear in the form of the item, Spirit Powder, and
spirit-charmers. Spirit-charmers are those who let spirits inside
themselves to enhance their magical power, with the spirit slowly
consuming their soul in the process. In Radiant Dawn spirits finally make a physical
appearance. These spirits are split into Fire, Thunder and Wind
variants, and attack with Fire Tail, Thunder Tail and Wind Tail
respectively.
The undead
(Image from Awakening)
On numerous occasions, people who died are brought back to life, but
they aren't the same person they used to be and are instead nothing
but a mindless zombie.
In Gaiden and The Sacred Stones (and Awakening,
but I'll get to that later) there are Revenant and Entombed (Zombie
and Mummy in the Japanese version) enemies, but that's not quite
what I'm referring to.
This theme probably begins in Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia
776, where its suggested the 12 Dark Warlords were created
from the bodies of fallen warriors. In particular, the warlords in Thracia
776 are modelled after and have the same faces as Leidrick and
other playable characters who have died; their portraits have a pale
complexion compared to the originals. In an interview
about Genealogy of the Holy War, it's revealed that some of
the Dark Warlords were originally skilled warriors or clergy and
that is why they possess holy blood.
Blazing Sword reuses this idea on a large scale with the
empty Morphs created by Nergal. In the final chapter, there's even a
direct parallel with the Dark Warlords in the form of the Morphs
based on fallen Black Fang members such as Lloyd and Linus. The
Sacred Stones carries on this theme with Monica (Orson's
wife), Vigarde and Morva, who were all resurrected by Lyon. Radiant
Dawn also touches on this theme with the revived Order
soldiers in Part 4 Endgame.
Finally, we come to Awakening, which introduces the Risen,
who are again mindless zombies; the game suggests the Risen are
fallen soldiers from the Grima-invaded
timeline. Curiously, one of the final chapters has
Aversa fighting together with the 12
Deadlords (Dark Warlords), who carry holy weapons from Jugdral.
The origin of these particular enemies is unclear, although the DLC
episode "Infinite Regalia" features not
just 12, but 36 Deadlords and suggests they're
fallen heroes from other worlds (which includes a failed Marth and Chrom's company who lost
to Grima).
Naga
(Image from Genealogy of the Holy War)
A divine being that is mentioned in a number of games.
In Dark Dragon and Sword of Light,
Mystery of the Emblem (and
the remakes), Naga was the king of the Divine Dragons and the
guardian deity worshipped by the Archaneans. In the past, Naga
protected mankind from the feral Earth Dragons; before her death,
she created the Falchion and Fire Emblem from her fangs. Tiki,
another Divine Dragon, is her daughter. It should be noted that
Naga's gender is never directly mentioned in these games ("king" is
gender-neutral in Japanese); early texts refer to Naga as male, but
recently we believe it's more likely that Naga is female.
In Genealogy of the Holy War
and Thracia 776, Naga was
one of the twelve dragons that blood-bonded with the Twelve
Crusaders during the Miracle of Darna. According to legend, Naga
took on the guise of a young maiden. The Naga holy blood was carried
by Saint Heim--the ancestor of Grandbell's King Azmure and Prince
Kurth--and Naga is also the name of Grandbell's holy light magic. In
the developer's
notes, it's revealed that Naga was the Divine Dragon King from
Archanea, who traveled to Jugdral to stop the rogue Earth Dragon
Loputousu's intentions.
In Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, Naga isn't ever
mentioned. However the prince of Goldoa, Kurthnaga's name is formed
from the two words "Kurth" and "Naga", which appears to be a blatant
throwback to Genealogy of the
Holy War.
(Image from Shadow Dragon)
Shadow Dragon
introduced a new character named Nagi--a Manakete that looks very
similar to an older Tiki. She resides in a tower from another world
and gives Marth a weaker version of the Falchion. Before you wonder
what Nagi's relevance is, her ending title during the game's
Epilogue is "Divine Dragon King's Avatar", while the event where she
appears is named "Revived Divine Dragon King" (in the Japanese
version). Furthermore, her internal (in-game) name is NAGA.
In other words, Nagi is
Naga (or perhaps the successor to Naga). Curiously, Nagi appears
again in Heroes of Light and
Shadow, but Marth doesn't recognise her, implying that her
recruitment in Shadow Dragon
was not canon.
Naga appears again in the backstory of Awakening, as the
kind Divine Dragon who helped mankind defeat the Fell Dragon.
Thousands of years ago, Naga blood-bonded with the first Exalt of
Ylisse and now the Mark of the Exalt (Mark of Naga in the Japanese
version) appears on various Ylissean royal family members. Near the
very end of the game, Naga
appears before Chrom and company, after being summoned by the
Awakening ritual. This is also the first time Naga physically
appears as a character--she appears in the form of a woman and
bears a striking resemblance to Nagi.
Additionally, the Knights of Iris book explicitly suggests that Naga
in Awakening is the spirit of the Divine Dragon King of
Archanea and that Grima is an Earth Dragon descendant.
However, before you think it's all safe in the bag, in the DLC
episode Future of Despair 3 (which takes place in an alternate
timeline), Naga's power is exhausted
and thus cannot help the children defeat Grima. Instead,
Tiki--who was killed by Grima earlier on in this
timeline--becomes the next Naga, in place of the original Naga.
When the children initiate the Awakening ritual, Tiki grants
them her power to defeat Grima. This implies that
Naga doesn't always have to be the same person.
Falchion
(Image from Awakening)
A powerful sword that appears in a couple of games.
In Dark Dragon and Sword of Light,
Mystery of the Emblem and
the remakes, the divine
sword Falchion was created from the fang of Naga, king of the Divine
Dragons. Afterwards it was stolen from its resting place, but
eventually found its way into the hero Anri's hands. The Falchion
was used by him and, his descendant, Marth to slay the Shadow
Dragon, Medeus.
In Gaiden, Mila, the Earth
Goddess, was sealed within a Falchion. Alm obtains this Falchion by
passing a trial in Doma's Temple, and uses it to defeat the Dark
God, Doma.
In Genealogy of the Holy War,
the Tyrfing, used by Sigurd and Celice, has a very similar design to
the Falchion.
The Falchion reappears in Awakening, as the national
treasure of Ylisse and Chrom's personal weapon. Long ago, the first
Exalt defeated and sealed away the Fell Dragon using the Falchion.
Afterwards, the Falchion's power was sealed to prevent its power
from being misused. Early in the game, Chrom encounters a masked
swordsman named Marth who carries another Falchion, even though
there's supposed to be one Falchion in existence. Towards the end of
the game, Naga dispels the seal on
Chrom's Falchion and it becomes the Divine Falchion blade once
more.
