Characters / Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - Major Antagonists

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn Main Character Index
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This here is the character page for major villains who appear in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Head back here for the main character page or here for Path of Radiance characters.

Take note: There are major spoilers that pertain to both this game and Path of Radiance.

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Begnion

Begnion Forces

Jarod

Jarod (Jeld)

A Begnion Knight who abuses his power over the Daein Garrison, Jarod is tasked with hunting down the Dawn Brigade by his superiors. Arrogant, brutish, and unconcerned with civilian casualties, Jarod nevertheless cares about his men, and is fully aware of the kind of people he is working for.

Class: Halberdier (Radiant Dawn)

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• Arc Villain: In Part 1, he is the commander of the corrupt occupation army opposing Micaiah.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: In a country whose vast majority of commanding officers are either nobles or mercenaries, it says something that this man got his rank on skill alone.
• At Least I Admit It: Said not by Jarod himself, but by Micaiah when she points out that while Jarod was a bastard, he was at least open and honest about it, unlike Numida and Lekain.
• Badass Normal: He fights against the mystically-empowered Black Knight with just steel and skill, and can do better against him than anyone else in the army.
• Bad Boss: Does not take failure well.
• Bullying a Dragon: He is not intimidated by the Black Knight at all, even when the Black Knight can take on his entire ambush party by himself. Justified, given that by that point in the story, he is a dead man walking and has nothing left to lose anyway.
• Climax Boss: The endboss of Part 1, and arguably the toughest opponent you'll face at that point.
• Defiant to the End: Abandoned by Numida and the Senate, with the countryside in open revolt, Jarod barricades himself in Daein Keep, commences launching a barrage of stones into the streets on civilians, and waits for Micaiah to arrive, hoping that if he kills her he can still salvage something from all this. And then there's his last words (see I Regret Nothing) which are pretty much the verbal equivalent of spitting in the Dawn Brigade's collective faces.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's the man you've been fighting for the entirety of Part 1, but his death means little to the overall plot.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His best friend took a hit from The Black Knight for him. It definitely leaves an impact on him.
• Evil Redhead: Red haired, and is one of the leaders of a brutal Occupation Army.
• Face Death with Dignity: His Last Stand is one final attempt at doing so.
• The Farmer and the Viper: After getting spared from death by Micaiah in order to bury his soldiers he uses it as an opportunity to kill Sanaki's emissary and firebomb the Daein capital.
• Four-Star Badass: General of the Begnion Occupation Army, and undeniably badass- the Black Knight can't actually kill him in one hit unless he activates Eclipse, unlike every other character in Part 1; the Black Knight will still double and kill him, but the fact that a relatively insignificant character like Jarod can survive more than a minute of combat against him still speaks volumes.
• The Heavy: Of Part 1.
• I Regret Nothing: His last words
  "Gh-ghuahh... I am... sorry for nothing. I regret... nothing. Because I did it my way... You win, Priestess. You must be delighted. Enjoy it while you can... Because... sooner or later... you..."
• Jerkass: He kills underlings he deems incompetent, and is generally an unpleasant man.
• Just Following Orders: Not that he or Micaiah really believe that it's much of an excuse.
• Kick the Dog: After receiving orders to stand down from Sanaki, he decides to retake control of Daein Keep and kill as many Daein civilians as possible out of sheer spite towards Micaiah.
• The Last Dance: A scary example of what a villain put in this situation can be capable of. After receiving orders from Begnion to stand down and await the Apostle's inspection team, which will end with him and his troops being tried and executed for committing numerous war crimes and abuses against the people of Daein, Jarod refuses to sit and wait for his inevitable end. He attempts an assassination on Micaiah but is thwarted by none other than the Black Knight. With another failure on his shoulders, he retreats to Daein Keep, kills the emissary who relayed Begnion's orders to him, and then decides to kill as many people as he can in Daein's capital city, Nevassa through the use of indiscriminate catapult strikes. His Rousing Speech to his soldiers is pretty much this trope.
• Last Villain Stand: Jarod knows he's a dead man as Micaiah closes in on his position. Rather than surrender and likely be executed, he rallies his men and prepares to go out in one last blaze of glory.
• Pet the Dog: His relationship with his soldiers, particularly his best friend, make him far more human than most villains in this game.
• Purple Is Powerful: Wears purple instead of the usual Begnion red, and is the most dangerous adversary in the first quarter of the game.
• Rousing Speech: Gives a pretty damn good one to his troops before their final battle with Micaiah's forces.
  "Listen up, all of you. This is our last chance to die as we've lived. As proud soldiers of the empire. If we survive this fight, imprisonment and a hushed-up execution await us. If we run from this fight, dishonor and pursuit will dog our miserable days. So I say, let's give those Daein curs a fight to remember, and let the glory of our deaths light our way! We've lived as proud soldiers of the empire! Let us die as proud soldiers of the empire! Now GO!"
• The Scapegoat: Jarod is a total bastard, and committed numerous atrocities while in command of Daein's Begnion garrison, including skewering civilians (and disobedient soldiers) in broad daylight. However, he was following imperial policy as set by Vice-Minister Lekain and relayed to him through Duke Numida. Unsurprisingly, all the blame for the revolt gets heaped in his lap after Numida washes his hands of the affair.
• Silent Scapegoat: After being blamed for the abuses of the occupation army, rather than expose the senate's treachery, he decides to take Micaiah down with him in a Last Villain Stand.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Every time he faces the Black Knight, to entertaining effect. Justified, seeing as by that point of the story he is a dead man walking and knows it.
• Suicide by Cop: His entire final confrontation with the Dawn Brigade is an attempt at dying with dignity.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Said last stand which involved killing countless innocents was done after he was spared his life once by Micaiah.
• Villainous Underdog: The Black Knight wears indestructible armor, wields a sword blessed by Ashera, and is a Branded with all that entails. Jarod's a normal man with a steel greatlance and standard-issue plate mail.
• Villainous Valour: Say what you will about Jarod - and there's a lot to say - but he's genuinely fearless. Even when he knows he's a dead man, he stares down the Black Knight and pulls a Last Villain Stand with his weakened, badly outnumbered forces.
• You Have Failed Me: He killed one of his soldiers in the start of the game for standing there and doing nothing to stop the Dawn Brigade.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When the Apostle comes after his superiors, they disavow and scapegoat him, leaving him to be killed by the Liberation Army.

Izuka

Izuka

Pelleas' aide, a Mad Scientist (emphasis on mad) who spends his time experimenting on Laguz and pestering the Dawn Brigade. Is among the biggest scumbags in the game, which is REALLY saying something.

Class: Summoner (Radiant Dawn)

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• Ax-Crazy: Mutters to himself constantly and whilst running his schemes through his head, even in the middle of conversation. Yeah, he's a bit unscrewed in the head.
  Tauroneo: Goddess help me, that man could try the patience of a stone.
• Black Magic: The only Summoner in the game, and packing the strongest Dark tome.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Izuka is a genius-level scientist and capable manipulator and sorceror, but it's made perfectly evident early into Radiant Dawn that he can't plan his way out of a paper bag. This makes him a HORRIFYINGLY poor fit as the Liberation Army's strategist, to the point where he's explicitly told that his strategies are VERY ill-thought-out and too dangerous to employ.
• Dark Is Evil: Wields Dark Magic, wears dark clothing and is an utterly reprehensible man.
• Ditzy Genius: Izuka is a very skilled scientist; enough to succesfully experiment on Laguz and force them to do his bidding. He also has the cunning to be able to fool Pelleas (although the latter being as naive as he is certainly helps), and can wield high level dark magic quite competently. The ditzy part comes from his utter inability to strategize and his outright CRIPPLING sociopathic tendencies.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He was one of the scientists of the Feral One's testing lab in the next-to-last chapter of Path of Radiance, making a hasty retreat once Ike & co. strolled into the area, and not being seen again until the next game.
• Evil Chancellor: To Pelleas.
• Evil Is Petty: Not only is it petty, but evil is bratty, too. He's quite a ways up his own ass about his talents as a strategist, but not only is he openly heinous, but he can't go a scene without talking down to the Dawn Brigade only to throw a petulant tantrum when they point out a flaw in his latest crackpot scheme.
• Evil Laugh: In his Early-Bird Cameo in Path of Radiance.
• Evil Genius: First to Ashnard, then to Lekain.
• Evil Sorceror: The magic he wields is as black as his heart.
• Expy: Izuka acts a little different but he visually resembles Grí­ma Wormtongue. His appearance and role as a mad scientist also evokes Professor Hojo.
• General Failure: He fancies himself a nigh-omniscient strategist, but when the chips are down he proves both blitheringly incompetent and transparently evil. In particular, he okays numerous actions, such as poisoning a lake near a populated area, that as Micaiah points out would badly damage public support for the Liberation Army.
• Gonk: He's not the most attractive man. In Radiant Dawn, his looks are as dreadful as his actions.
• Hate Sink: He's an utterly loathsome human being with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He drugs the Laguz as his tools for battles, and he even causes Muarim to go berserk and almost become a Feral One and hurt Tormod. Tormod is so enraged by Izuka's actions against his best friend and mentor that he nearly abandons Micaiah's team. He even used that same drug that causes Laguz to become Feral Ones on a human, Elincia's uncle Renning. It's telling that Volke, a complete Consummate Professional who is Only in It for the Money, admits he doesn't like him and offers to help you kill him for a heavy discount, and Bastian even threatens to have his brain dissected after killing him.
• High-Class Glass: Though mainly seen in the concept art.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: He's a loony Mad Scientist, but has the audacity to call Almedha a "paragon of sanity" for believing Pelleas was her son.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • During Chapter 8, the Liberation Army receives news that Begnion is taking prisoners to a nearby swamp to be executed. Izuka immediately tells Micaiah to ignore it since it's obviously a trap. Both she and Tauroneo admit that he's probably right on the money this time, but Micaiah decides to go in anyway.
  • Later Izuka expresses how Micaiah's popularity is going to make it impossible for Daein to recognize and respect Pelleas as its king. At first everyone says that's not true, but Micaiah herself realizes that he's right based on a conversation she had with Jarod. This actually helps Pelleas grow a spine later.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: In Path of Radiance, he makes a quick get-away before Ike and his troops arrive at Gritnea Tower and arrest him for his war crimes. He resurfaces in Radiant Dawn as Pelleas's adviser and disappears after deceiving Pelleas, but justice finally catches up to him in Part 4.
• Mad Scientist: Created the drug that turns Laguz into Feral Ones, and gave it to humans too, to see how it would affect them.
• Necromancer: Summons waves of undead Feral Ones in his iconic battle in Part 4. It takes an exasperating 25 turns for the onslaught to end (though you can kill him faster).
• Obviously Evil: An unpleasant looking man whose genius plan involves poisoning a lake, and freely admits to both creating the drug that turns Laguz into Feral Ones AND giving it to Muarim. When he's later revealed to serve Lekain, it's completely unsurprising to everyone except Pelleas.
• Slave Mooks: Produces Feral laguz for Ashnard and Lekain's forces, using Psycho Serum to keep them loyal. He's not above doing it to beorc as well, as evidenced by Bertram, who is actually Elincia's lost uncle Renning.
• The Sociopath: To the same degree as his former employer, Ashnard.
• The Strategist: Served as one in Part 1, though he sucked at it and his methods lean toward cynical and mass genocide.
• Stupid Evil: During his time as Pelleas' strategist, he advocates needlessly violent plans that would cause as much harm to the liberation army as they would to Begnion, or would cost the liberation army valuable public support due to lack of concern for collateral damage.
• Token Evil Teammate: Though he never joins you on the battlefield, he nevertheless plays this role during the time he serves as your (highly incompetent) strategist. It really puts into perspective the fact that, in part 1, you are playing from the view of characters who were citizens of the enemy nation in the previous game - and Izuka is the rock bottom of Ashnard's old baggage.
• Tuckerization: He is likely named after Daisuke Izuka, the graphic designer of Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
• Unique Enemy: He's the sole character of the Summoner class in the game, which had previously been playable in Sacred Stones but isn't here.
• Villain Teleportation: Uses Rewarp to run away to another corner of the map if you give him the chance. And because the battle takes place in a swamp, it'll take a long time for your non-flying units to trudge over to where he is.

Levail

Levail (Rubale)

A young and idealistic general who used to lead Lekain's army, but chose to abandon him in favor of serving Zelgius. Fights the rest of the army while Ike is going one-on-one with Zelgius.

Class: Sentinel (Radiant Dawn)

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• Anti-Villain: Type I or Type IV. Chooses Zelgius over his former master Lekain because he disapproves of the Senate's actions and considers Zelgius the "last true knight".
• Desperation Attack: Possesses the Resolve skill, which increases his skill and speed stats by 1.5 in battle after hitting less than 50% health. Keep in mind that speed affects dodge rate, and that skill affects accuracy, Critical Hit rate, and Limit Break activation rate.
• The Dragon: To Zelgius.
• Four-Star Badass: Once the commander of Lekain's personal army, now Zelgius' Number Two, Levail has reached the highest levels of the Begnion military, while remaining a Level 16 Sentinel and one of the few genuine third-tier foes your party will face.
• Hero-Worshipper: To Zelgius and Haar.
• Honour Before Reason: He won't attack the Herons, or anyone else who can't fight back, going so far as to tell them to run away. He'll also never try to attack Micaiah or Sanaki, because Zelgius and Lehran don't want them hurt.
• Horrible Judge of Character: His hero-worship of Zelgius, who (cool factor aside) is a pretty bad dude, what with being The Dragon to Ashnard and Sephiran.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The strongest lance, the Wishblade. Formerly belonged to Bryce, and now is in Levail's hands for some reason. If you beat him, you can claim it for yourself.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: If you battle him with Tanith, he states that he doesn't care about the goddess's agenda and serves only Zelgius.
• Noble Demon: The single most decent human being on the villainous side.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Unlike Zelgius, Levail really does embody the Knight In Shining Armour archetype, refusing to attack anyone who can't fight back.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The youngest of the bosses in the endgame, given that the most of them are old senators, Really 700 Years Old, or both. He's most likely around the age of a good amount of the Beorc in your crew, being at least in his twenties, given his conversation with Haar.
• Optional Boss: The level ends once Ike defeats Zelgius, regardless of how the rest of his troops are doing with routing the army Levail leads.
• Pretty Boy: He's a very handsome man, something Oliver will cheerfully comment on.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They may not look a thing alike, but personality-wise he's pretty much a younger Bryce, loyal to his master no matter what, blind to the worst of the atrocities around him, and wielding the Wishblade.
• Undying Loyalty: To General Zelgius.
• Worthy Opponent: Like his boss, he's always on the lookout for one.

Begnion Senators

Sephiran

Sephiran (Seferan)

Light of Creation

Sanaki's Prime Minister, and seemingly a gentle man who shares Sanaki's peaceful ambitions. However, upon further inspection, there seems to be more than meets the eye.

Class: Bishop (Path of Radiance, dummy cutscene class), Chancellor (Radiant Dawn)

Voiced by: Kazutaka Ishii (Japanese), Ed Bednarzik (English, Radiant Dawn), Jason Liebrecht (English, Fire Emblem Heroes)

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• 11th-Hour Ranger: Heavy emphasis on "Eleventh-Hour"... assuming you manage to recruit him.
• Anti-Villain: Very much a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, and remains unfailingly polite and soft-spoken even as he's telling Ike and his army that they must battle to the death in the second-to-last chapter of Radiant Dawn.
• Affably Evil: Is virtually never anything less than pleasant in a conversation... and wants all life on Tellius obliterated due to the horrible things he's had to deal with during his long life.
• The Archmage: He belongs to the single strongest magical class in the game short of Ashera herself.
• Badass Longrobe: Wears a white robe, is a world-class manipulator, and is INCREDIBLY dangerous in a fight, to say the least.
• Big Bad: Ultimately revealed to be the primary antagonist of the Tellius duology, largely due to his machinations going back many years and his key role involving Ashnard, Zelgius and Lekain.
• Blessed with Suck: He is immortal, but watching the world at its rotten core wore down his sanity. It is also implied that he couldn't even commit suicide because of his blessing.
• Casting a Shadow: Can use Dark tomes, but since he doesn't start with any, he'll have to take them from someone upon joining and him fighting requires a blessed tome from Pelleas.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In retrospect, it is a little suspicious how, in Path of Radiance, you first meet Sephiran in a prison cell as an NPC who just so happens to have a unique skill that makes him invincible. The fact that he proves capable of telling the Black Knight what to do in the very next chapter is even more suspect, but by the end of the first game, most players (who aren't aware of the events of Radiant Dawn) might not know what to make of Sephiran, with his enigmatic behavior and few onscreen appearances.
• The Chessmaster: Manipulated many things behind the scenes.
• Co-Dragons: With Dheginsea, who most emphatically does not take orders from him.
• The Comically Serious: He manages to keep a straight face while reacting to Sanaki and Oliver's antics during the endgame.
• Complete Immortality: His Mantle skill shields him from all damage not inflicted by weapons blessed by the Goddesses. As nobody on the map where he appears as an NPC in Path of Radiance has any such weapons, he can wade into the enemy lines and laugh at their feeble attempts to bring him down.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The magic spirits that are shielding Sephiran have a hidden Guard skill that directs all attacks away from him when he's below half HP. That isn't even how Guard works for the player in the rest of the game.
• Death Seeker: After losing his powers he attempts suicide several times before exiling himself into Goldoa to hide his existence. He again tries to kill himself, and the entire world along with him, after the previous Apostle is killed. He gets his wish in the end, unless the player is on a second playthrough and jumps through about 20 hoops to save him. During fights he actively tries to force every player to take him out; when he's killed his last words are "At last... I'm dying."
• Despair Event Horizon: When he lost his Laguz powers after his Branded child was born, he despaired due to him no longer hearing the Goddess's voice and attempted suicide. He eventually recovered while seeking asylum in Goldoa, but the Serenes Massacre was what finally pushed Lehran over the edge, believing that Beorc and Laguz no longer deserved life and plotted Ashera'a awakening to judge them.
• Defeat Means Playable: Second playthrough, after defeating him, you can recruit him as Lehran.
• Didn't See That Coming: Even he's completely flummoxed at Oliver's presence as one of Yune's chosen warriors if the two are made to fight.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He wants Yune's Army to see him as nothing but the manipulator of everything that's going on, but as Yune, Tibarn and potentially Ike can see, he's just a victim of major moral decay who wants to drown his sorrows of his power loss and the Serenes Massacre by way of Ashera wiping the continent clean of life, including himself.
• The Dragon: To Ashera. In fact, he once served as Lehran, the fourth member of the Goddess' Three Heroes. He was arguably the most loyal, given that he's been plotting for her return for the better portion of 780 years.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: There are only two people in the world he intended to spare from Ashera's petrification - his descendants Micaiah and Sanaki.
• Evil Chancellor: Subverted. His in-game class is even that, Chancellor, but what is lacking is the "evil" part. Okay, he is The Man Behind the Man for most events happening in Tellius, and he is planning a genocide, but he is not evil at heart, having just lost faith in the world after he kept seeing the atrocities people committed.
• Fallen Hero: Was the Sixth Ranger of the Three Heroes of Ashera, but lost faith in the world and planned a genocide after he got tired with the ugly side of people.
• Famous Ancestor: He is this to the Begnion imperial family, including Micaiah and Sanaki. This is the most carefully guarded secret on Tellius.
• Heel–Face Turn: If certain conditions are met, he'll join the army in the fight against Ashera.
• Healing Factor: He has Mantle that heals him based on his 40 luck.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Zelgius.
• Interface Spoiler: In Path of Radiance, when you meet him in the prison, you can see that he has god-like stats, along with a unique skill which makes him invincible to weapons who aren't imbued with Yune's magic, as you discover in Radiant Dawn. One of the many clues that hints that he's more than what he seems to be.
• Interspecies Romance: With Altina. They were not the first beorc/laguz couple, but they were the first to have a child. Everything can ultimately be traced back to how badly everyone reacted to the side effects of said child's birth.
• Irony: The herons are a weak, frail race with a strong aversion to violence and warfare. Not only is Sephiran, a de-powered heron, one of the most powerful combatants on the continent while being nigh-invincible, he also has more blood on his hands than anyone else through the wars caused by his machinations.
• I've Come Too Far: Expresses this notion if he encounters Micaiah in battle; he might have acted differently if he knew about her, but as far as he's concerned, he's too far gone.
• Light 'em Up: His element of choice.
• Light Is Not Good: Can use light magic, and he is the mastermind of the plot to annihilate all life on Tellius.
• Living Distant Ancestor: The most carefully guarded secret on Tellius is that Sephiran, in his original identity as Lehran, is the progenitor of the Begnion imperial family through the child he fathered nearly nine hundred years before. Apostle Misaha, herself a grandmother, refers to him as "the father of her mothers."
• The Man Behind the Man: To Ashnard, Zelgius, and Lekain, making him responsible for every in-series atrocity that wasn't the Serenes Massacre.
• Manipulative Bastard: Manipulated the entirety of Tellius in order to create enough war to awaken Ashera.
• Misanthrope Supreme: After all he's been through and the horrors he's seen, up to and including the assassination of his descendant and ensuing near-genocide of his people, he has come to the conclusion that beorc and laguz alike are monsters who don't deserve life. To achieve the Golden Ending, Ike can turn his view around on additional playthroughs.
• Necessarily Evil: Ashera wiping Tellius of all life is a long time coming, from his point of view, due to the actions of beorc and laguz alike. Of course, if the right conditions are met, Ike can change his mind.
• No-Sell: He cannot be harmed from weapons not blessed by Yune and his Mantle skill also grants Nihil/Fortune, blocking both skills and critical hits.
• Not Me This Time: When Ike asks if he ordered Greil's death, Sephiran admits that that was all on Zelgius.
• Omnicidal Maniac: "Maniac" is perhaps a stretch, but "Omnicidal" certainly fits, being that Sephiran's endgame is armageddon and, thus, the complete eradication of life on Tellius.
• Optional Party Member: Only recruitable if certain conditions are met.
• Parental Substitute: To Sanaki. Almost literally, as he is her distant ancestor.
• Precursor Hero: He is the uncredited supporter of the Three Heroes that defeated the dark god. It was his suggestion to seal Yune away in his medallion.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Is the one who imprisoned Yune in the Fire Emblem/his Medallion, not seeing it fit to comply with Ashera's belief that Yune needed to be silenced outright.
  • He sealed Ike's memory of watching Greil killing Elena in front of him when he was just a boy. Confronting him with his memories restored, Ike admits that he would have never been able to cope with the tragedy when he was young had that not happened.
  • Will pointedly refuse to attack Sanaki (she also won't attack him) and if you talk to him with her instead, Sephiran will confess that he genuinely loved her as a daughter and is deeply regretful that his plan ultimately resulted in him having to betray her.
  • For the exact same reason as the above, he will not attack Micaiah, being aware of her real identity and thus her relationship to him. Unlike her sister, Micaiah has no problem attacking him.
  • He will also not attack Rafiel, Leanne or Reyson, as they are his descendants.
• Pre-Final Boss: Serves as the penultimate boss of Radiant Dawn following The Reveal of his ultimate plan.
• Promoted to Playable: He's a minor NPC in Path of Radiance; if you fulfill several obtuse requirements in Radiant Dawn, he becomes playable for the final chapter. He would later be added to Fire Emblem Heroes in December 2020.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: Type 4; his motivation is that he feels a world where something like the Serenes Massacre could happen simply doesn't deserve to live.
• Really 700 Years Old: He was already at least 1,000 years old by the time Yune and Ashera had their feud. This means Lehran is at least 3,000 by Radiant Dawn's full epilogue.
• Redemption Demotion: Yes and no. Statistically, he's still incredible, but because he shows up after the final battle has already begun, he doesn't have a weapon blessed by Yune, so he's relegated to healing and fighting off the reinforcements (or forces one of your other spellcasters into this role, most likely the outclassed Micaiah or Pelleas). He also has Corona, but it's useless against Ashera who negates all skills. His saving grace is that he can hit Ashera twice with high magic using a blessed SS tome, and he won't be attacked by her. He's just bonus damage like Kurthnaga and Ena, and Micaiah were to Dheginsea and himself respectively.
• Redemption Equals Death: In a first playthrough, and in later ones if you don't meet all the conditions required to recruit him, he dies with a scene between Sanaki and Yune. If the conditions are fulfilled, it becomes Redemption Equals Life and he joins the party for the final showdown against Ashera.
• Restored My Faith in Humanity: Ike can do this if the right conditions are met. Before this, he wistfully expresses to himself that he may have acted differently if he'd learnt of Micaiah's survival, but that he believed himself to be at a point of no return.
• Sequel Hook: In the epilogue for Path of Radiance, he points out the loose ends in Ike's Rags to Riches story, and correctly guesses that his battles are far from over.
• Sole Survivor: In the epilogue, he is the only Hero to be alive when Ashunera returns to the world, as Altina and Soan died a long time ago and Dheginsea was defeated by Yune's Chosen Ones.
• Status Buff: Holds the Rudol Gem when you fight him, giving him +10 defense. Gives it to Sanaki at the end of the chapter, though by that point the only thing it helps with is the final boss's AoE attacks.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: He wants to die, but before he can let himself, everybody has to be turned to stone.
• Stepford Smiler: The fact that he's even psychologically capable of smiling after everything he's been through is astonishing, to say the least.
• That Man Is Dead: His former life as Lehran.
• Tragic Keepsake: Gives one to Sanaki in the form of the Rudol gem as he's dying, asking her to wear it in his memory. Potentially averted if certain NG+ conditions are met that keep him alive.
• Undying Loyalty: To Ashera, even after all that has happened. Heck, the epilogue (should he survive the events of Radiant Dawn) shows him patiently waiting for the return of his Goddess, now reunited with Yune as Ashunera, 1,200 years later.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Lehran had the best intentions when he spoke to Misaha, which prompted her to reveal her Brand to the world. Unfortunately, he did not predict that the Senate would kill her to prevent the damage that revelation would have caused to their power and credibility, or that they would then frame the Herons for their crime.
• Walking Spoiler: Needless to say, it's nigh impossible to talk about the guy at length without effectively revealing the vast majority of the Tellius dualogy's storyline.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: His faith in humanity was shattered by the Serenes Massacre, and he now seeks to put an end to all life.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: He is one of only ten units in the entire franchise to be capable of using both Light and Dark magic, the others being Athos, Ewan, Edelgard, Lysithea, Hapi, Hubert, Jeritza, Shez and Monica.^note While Ashera and her auras are technically capable of doing so as well, they never do so in legitimate gameplay.

Lekain

Lekain (Lukan)

Leader of the Begnion Senate, Duke of Gaddos, and an utter bastard to the core. He's effectively the ultimate mastermind of everything going on during the Tellius games... or so he thinks. Regardless, you'll be hard pressed to find a single heinous act in the series that wasn't caused, approved of or performed by him.

Class: Bishop (Path of Radiance), Saint (Radiant Dawn)

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Yune pities him, of all people. In the extended script, she finds it strange that being devoted to the goddess to the point of hurting others would allow someone to achieve happiness. Yet when she judged his heart before his death, she found his is still filled with doubt and unhappiness.
• Ambition Is Evil: All that matters to Lekain is maintaining or improving his social status and political power.
• Archenemy: To Sanaki. There are lots of people gunning for Lekain's head, but their enmity is easily the most personal—Sanaki defines her entire persona in opposition to Lekain's corruption, while Lekain's chief motivation is to gain control of Begnion and put Sanaki in her place (or in a grave). Lekain's Motive Rant in his final chapter, and Sanaki's reaction to it cements their status as one another's worst foes; by the time they face off at the end of the chapter (should you choose to use Sanaki) they have nothing left to say to one another.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Lekain loves to rub his status as Duke of Gaddos in everyone's faces, while sneering at anyone of lower birth than himself.
• Arranged Marriage: Was once in one with Astrid. Unsurprisingly, there are VERY good reasons she ran away from home upon finding out who her parents wanted her to marry.
• Ascended Extra: His single-scene appearance in Path of Radiance more or less writes him off as little more than another obnoxious, sniveling Begnion bureaucrat. Come Radiant Dawn, he's revealed to be much, much worse and gets a promotion in his narrative role to match it.
• Beard of Evil: Lekain has the beard and mutton chops to match his cred as arguably the vilest being on Tellius.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He's presented as the guy responsible for everything, but it turns out that Sephiran was manipulating him the entire time. Even Ike mocks him for believing himself to be the mastermind when he has no clue what the Medallion even is, therefore considerably reducing his significance in the grand scheme of things. To add insult to injury, he doesn't have Ashera's blessing as seen from Dheginsea and Sephiran, despite his claims. In spite of all this, it says something about how dangerous Lekain is that the one time he went offscript, he ordered a genocide.
• Came Back Wrong: It is implied that his resurrection reduced him to a distorted man with a delusion of supremacy and exaltation. Especially in the extended script, where it is also revealed through Pelleas's boss conversation that he died offscreen before the judgement occured.
• The Chessmaster: If something bad happened to somebody in Radiant Dawn, there's a pretty good chance that Lekain was the one behind it. The Blood Pacts are just one example.
• The Chosen One: By the end, he believes he was chosen by Ashera. He couldn't be further from the truth.
• Corrupt Politician: One of the Senators of Begnion, and the ringleader of every evil act they commit.
• Dark Messiah: Following Ashera's resurrection he comes to see himself as some sort of Jesus figure. This is rather different from his behavior beforehand and is suggestive of a mental breakdown as Lekain tries to rationalize his past crimes.
• Dead All Along: During a boss conversation with Pelleas, in the extended script, he comes to the conclusion that Lekain died some time before the judgement, which explains why his mark is fading and the Blood Pact's power is waning. This detail is omitted in the English version, because the circumstances of the Blood Pact were completely changed in localization. ^note For one, the entire escape clause is only present in the English version. The destruction of the pact itself is not in the Japanese script, and though Ashnard was able to break the pact by killing his father, killing Pelleas appears to do nothing.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Despite not being the real Big Bad, he's nonetheless a major villain who's fought during the fifth-to-last chapter of the game.
• Disposable Fiancé: He's an exaggerated Evil All Along variant to Astrid, although this is only revealed in a very specific battle conversation. Justified due to it being an Arranged Marriage.
• Dirty Coward: Lekain's a coward at heart. He hastily retreats if defeated in Part 4, and only sticks around to fight in the Endgame due to his delusions of power convincing him that he was chosen by Ashera.
• Evil Chancellor: To Sanaki, whom he's secretly plotting to overthrow... though in a slight variation on the trope, his status as leader of the Senate makes him more analogous to the American Speaker of the House then a traditional chancellor, that role being held by Lekain's immediate superior, Sephiran.
• Evil Is Petty: His boss conversations involve him talking trash towards pretty much EVERYONE he goes up against. He'll insult others for being lowborn, less prominent than himself, or for being Laguz (or even being incapable of violence like the Herons).
• Evil Laugh: Tah ha ha!
• Eviler than Thou: Proves to be more of a scumbag than Naesala, Jarod, and the Black Knight COMBINED, which is saying something.
• Fantastic Racism: Towards all Laguz, and especially the Heron Clan, whom he sneers at for being incapable of violence.
• Final Solution: He's the one who stirred up the people against the Serenes Herons, arranging for the extermination of the entire clan down to the last hatchling. He's very irritated when he finds out that Reyson, Leanne, and Rafiel have survived.
• A God Am I: A Chosen of God Am I anyway.
• Hate Sink: He's by far the most despicable villain in either of the Tellius games, being a cruel, hypocritical, unholy, cowardly bastard motivated solely by personal advancement. It's crystal clear in every single scene he's in that he's meant to be loathed. Appropriately, he has seventeen special battle conversations ^note Micaiah, Sanaki, Naesala, Ike, Sothe, Pelleas, Nailah, Tanith, Sigrun, Astrid, Oliver, Leanne, Reyson, Rafiel, Tibarn, Jill, and Haar where your army gets to express their utter disgust with him.
• The Heavy: While Sephiran is the ultimate mastermind, Lekain's actions nonetheless drive the plot of both Tellius games; it was his murder of the previous apostle, his scheme to massacre the Serenes Herons, and his constant undermining of Sanaki and Sephiran's reforms that caused Sephiran to go over the Despair Event Horizon and plot the extinction of all life on Tellius. In addition his use of blood pacts drive the war in Part 3, forcing Daein to ally with Begnion and Kilvas to betray the Laguz alliance.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: He is the first of the Endgame bosses to have a Judge attack that inflict an area-of-effect attack to any units in the map. In this case, his Judge attack inflicts Silence to all of your units (which is almost useless as the majority of the time, your physical units don't care about it while your magical units, the units that are affected by it, may dodge the effect due to their high resistance). In fact, it can be more helpful to you than it hurts you. In Radiant Dawn, only one status condition can be active at a time, so if one is inflicted with a status condition and then inflicted with another, it gets overwritten. Say, one of your units is inflicted with Sleep, if his Silence affects that unit, they lose the Sleep and can move again. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain.
• Hypocrite: Arguably Lekain's defining trait; he's supposed to be one of Ashera's Bishops, yet every other thing he says and does flies in the face of that. To wit: he participates in the assassination of her previous Apostle, the placement of a false Apostle on the imperial throne, the massacre of the Serenes Herons, the slave trade, consorting with practitioners of dark magic, and attempted genocide, before launching a coup d'etat against Sanaki. He seems to find his faith again following Ashera's resurrection, and promptly goes off the deep end. He also gets called out for his mental gymnastics and self-righteous grandstanding by several characters that fight him.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: As if he wasn't repulsive enough, his conversation with Leanne heavily implies that he would like to do this to her.
• Instant Runes: They appear whenever he invokes his Light magic.
• It's All About Me: All Lekain truly cares about is his own social advancement, by any means, fair or foul. He'll emotionally manipulate others, break Begnion's secular and religious laws, commit regicide, order genocide, and never bat an eye at any of it as long as he continues his rise to the top. He's so egotistical that he even tries to steal credit for Ashera's resurrection, something he knew absolutely nothing about.
• It's Personal: Lekain accumulates personal vendettas the way some people collect stamps. By the end of the game it's hard to find a character who doesn't have a deeply personal stake in putting him in the ground and Lekain, as evidenced by his boss conversations, returns the sentiment in almost every instance. This goes double with Apostle Sanaki, whose entire life has been ruined by Lekain's manipulations. Even Oliver wants his head for orchestrating the massacre of the herons.
• Jerkass: And that's putting it mildly. One particular standout example is his utterly dismissive remarks to any of the Herons you send against him (which you wouldn't do for any reason besides the boss conversation), who arguably have the greatest reasons to despise him.
• Knight Templar: Subverted. Lekain talks a good game, but doesn't even seem to believe in Ashera (until her final resurrection).
• Lack of Empathy: It quickly becomes obvious from just one scene involving Lekain that he's bereft of empathy for anybody but himself.
• Light 'em Up: Wields the Rexaura, the most powerful Light tome in the game. He's also inexplicably capable of blasting your whole party with the Silence condition.
• Light Is Not Good: He's a member of the Begnion Senate, wears white robes, his class is listed as Saint and he wields the Rexaura. None of this stops him from being one of the most irredeemable, self-righteous, sociopathic bastards in the entire franchise.
• The Man Behind the Man: To Jarod, Izuka, Naesala, and (he thinks) Zelgius.
• Manipulative Bastard: If nothing else, he's one of the Tellius games' more adept manipulators, as demonstrated by his control of the Begnion Senate and his ability to emotionally manipulate Sanaki, Pelleas, and even Naesala.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Lekain is so evil that he ends up inflicting this on Micaiah and the heron siblings when they use their empathic powers to look into his heart. They are variously horrified and disgusted by what they see.
  Micaiah: Your delusions can't change what I see in your twisted soul, demon!
  Reyson: ...Evil. You are pure evil. I hear it in your heart. How do you even survive?
• My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: A large part of his coup justification against Sanaki is that she's a false Apostle and therefore an invalid Empress. Shaky logic aside, Sigrun and Tanith will point out to him that there's actually no such law dictating that the two must be one and the same, it's just been traditional (as it benefits the Senate). Of course, by that time he's long past caring.
• Narcissist: A textbook example. He constantly proclaims his importance, has great delusions of grandeur beyond his actual stature, balks at the idea of actually accepting responsibility for his atrocities, and cares nothing for his subordinates' lives or well-being. He even tries claiming credit for Ashera's resurrection when he's little more than an Unwitting Pawn.
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: His boss conversations consist almost entirely of ranting about how he is the invincible chosen of Ashera.
• Offscreen Villainy: Lekain (and Izuka) tricking Pelleas into signing the Blood Pact and binding them to their control.
• Power Nullifier: Lekain can inflict the Silence condition on every member of your party, rendering all spell and staff users useless.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Lekain is the leader of the Senators, and is appropriately the most statistically dangerous. As a Level 16 Saint, he clocks in at two levels higher than his closest colleague, Hetzel, and dwarfs the likes of Valtome and Numida in power.
• Sinister Minister: One of the highest ranking members of Begnion's church, and a leading figure in the Senate, as well as a total psychopath. Interestingly he starts out as a hypocrite who more or less flouts all of Ashera's laws; following her resurrection he suffers a breakdown and begins to see himself as some kind of messiah figure.
• Smug Snake: He's a very good manipulator and one of the setting's central villains, yet he's not the true mastermind, and with the exception of the Serenes Massacre, nothing he did was his own idea. Ike nearly gets him to admit it if you pit the two against each other.
• The Sociopath: To the nth degree, and then some.
• Teleporters and Transporters: His Rewarp staff, whose capabilities (teleport to anywhere with no negative side effects) he's quite proud of.
• This Is Unforgivable!: The reaction of pretty much everyone once they find out that he gave the order at Serenes. Even Rafiel finds him utterly vile.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His order to assassinate the apostle Misaha and his Frame-Up and subsequent massacre of the Heron clan for said assassination drove Sephiran over the Despair Event Horizon and caused him to attempt to burn Tellius to the ground.
• Unwitting Pawn: Of Sephiran. Out of all his atrocities only the Serenes Massacre was his own idea.
• Villainous Breakdown: In Part 4, Lekain deludes himself to being chosen by Ashera, raving about his superiority and righteousness to others.
• Villain Teleportation: Carries an unstealable Rewarp staff, and uses it frequently in cutscenes to get around Tellius.
• White Mage: Villainous example. Lekain's a Saint (the third-tier version of the traditional Priest/Bishop support class), and comes equipped with a powerful Light tome, a Staff, and the ability to interfere with the enemy by casting Silence on them.

Hetzel

Hetzel

Yet another Begnion Senator, though this one actually isn't so bad. He took Rafiel in and nursed him back to health before the Serenes Massacre.

Class: Saint (Radiant Dawn)

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• Accomplice by Inaction: As pointed out by Sanaki, he did nothing to stop his fellow senators from abusing their powers and trodding on the populace to get ahead personally.
• Anti-Villain: He's mainly motivated by fear of repercussions rather than malice, as he doesn't mean ill will to the heroes, and especially since he's responsible for keeping Rafiel alive during the Serenes Massacre.
• Cowardly Lion: While an utter coward on the personal level, Hetzel's nothing to sneeze at statistically, and his Sleep and Silence Staves can make life very annoying for Ike's party.
• Dirty Coward: Although he expresses regret, Hetzel still refused to speak out against the crimes that the Senate had committed in order to maintain his status and his life. Even when the chips are down, he's still unwilling to go against Lekain and helps him betray Sanaki. While he's at least somewhat pitiable, he's every bit as responsible for the Senate's atrocities as the likes of Valtome and Numida.
• The Dragon: After Lekain, he's the most influential member of the Senate, and the most statistically impressive (a Level 14 Saint to Lekain's 16). Naturally, he's strongarmed into serving as Lekain's reluctant Number Two and back up.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Downplayed since he's more of a Dirty Coward, but he still expresses this sentiment when you fight him.
  Hetzel: Wait... I remember you... You were one of the dracoknights that fled to Daein, defying the senators... You opposed the almighty Begnion and the word of the goddess... Why? Why would you defy such power?
  Haar: You could live another lifetime, and you'd still never understand.
  
  Hetzel: I don't understand any of you. How can you oppose the goddess? It's only natural that people live to please the gods... the weak follow the strong.
  Jill: Strong, weak... It doesn't matter. I fight on the side of my conscience, and have yet to regret my battles.
  
  Hetzel: Mortals cannot measure up to gods. Any child knows as much. Why do you not kneel before her?
  Astrid: That would be throwing away my own beliefs to live a life of blind obedience. I stopped doing that three years ago, and I've never looked back.
• Evil Old Folks: Although he's not especially detestable on the personal level, Hetzel's still an old man with a rapsheet that includes corruption, slave-trading and high treason.
• Extreme Doormat: Wherever Lekain is concerned. Hetzel may have wealth, influence and power, but he's utterly spineless and always caves to Lekain's wishes.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: If his battle quotes are anything to go by, he professes a desire to be redeemed. A shame he's too spineless to even think about turning on Lekain when all's said and done, as his pre-battle conversation with Ike demonstrates.
• Heel Realization: Has one as his default battle quote.
  Hetzel: There can be no forgiveness for my hand in these evil deeds. Salvation is denied me and my stained soul. My torment will be eternal.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Hetzel's last appearance in Radiant Dawn spells out that he's little more than a terrified old man at the end of the day.
• Just Following Orders: Tries to use this as an excuse. The way he sees it, Lekain is the one who has betrayed the Apostle; he's just doing what Lekain tells him to. If pit against Sanaki, she naturally points out why he's full of shit.
• Light Is Not Good: Has the class of Saint, the rank of Bishop, and wields Staves (he can use Light magic, but proves too cowardly to do so). He's also the closest thing Lekain has to a Dragon. It's somewhat downplayed, because he's more of a fearful man and his involvement in keeping Rafiel safe in the backstory. Regardless, he's still a Dirty Coward who follows Lekain's orders pretty much entirely out of fear.
• Number Two: Reluctantly acts as Lekain's right-hand man.
• Pet the Dog: While his general characterization is that of a spineless coward, he was still directly responsible for saving Rafiel's life before the Serenes Massacre.
• Power Nullifier: His Silence Staff can render an enemy unit incapable of using their own Staves or Spells.
• Sinister Minister: For a certain value of "sinister". He's not as crazy as Oliver or that lunatic Valtome, and he's nowhere near the bastard that Lekain is, but the fact remains that Hetzel profited from the Senate's corruption and did nothing to warn Sanaki about Lekain's schemes. He arguably plays the trope the straightest, as unlike Lekain, Valtome and Oliver, he honestly believes he is following the will of the Goddess.
• Sympathetic Slave Owner: He was the owner of Rafiel who he treated kindly as he nursed him back to health after buying him from an auction. Unfortunately, this is his own redeeming quality as his cowardice and passiveness allowed the corrupt Begnion senators to do as they please. None of the heroes directly sympathized with him much, as he still stands against them, and even Rafiel refuses to speak to him.
• Token Good Teammate: Deconstructed. He may have his morals and remorse for all the crimes the Senate commits, but the actual good guys point out that his unwillingness to stand up to Lekain and actively profiting off their crimes make him a Dirty Coward in the end.
• White Mage: A (sort of) villainous variant. Hetzel's a third-tier version of the traditional Priest support class, equipped with Sleep and Silence Staves.
• Yes-Man: To Lekain. Hetzel always gives him what he wants and never says "no".

Numida

Numida

The Begnion Senator responsible for presiding over the Daein Garrison's abuse of power.

Class: Bishop (Radiant Dawn)

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• Death by Irony: Is left for dead by Lekain in the desert against Micaiah's approaching army, much like how he left Jarod to take the fall for everything the Occupation Army did.
• Dirty Coward:
  • Once the Daein Liberation Army gains serious momentum against his troops, Numida sets up Jarod as a scapegoat for all of the crimes committed in Daein and makes his escape.
  • Late in the game when you have a chance to return the favor, he fights you with a tome that hits up to 10 spaces away. While it only has 5 uses, he's also shielded by tons of Mooks and most characters struggle to move through the desert sand.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: He has a mustache that may remind you of a certain German dictator.
• Gonk: He has no eyebrows, his eyes are beady and piggish, and, dear God, look at that mustache!
• Light Is Not Good: Uses Light Magic, and is responsible for ordering a great deal of the atrocities the occupation army did to Daein.
• Sinister Minister: An evil bishop.
• Villainous Breakdown: In glorious fashion during his last stand. Fight him with as many different people as you can, particularly the Dawn Brigade members, for maximum dialogue and entertainment.

Valtome

Valtome (Balutelome)

Uwee hee hee!

Another Begnion Senator and Zelgius' superior during the Laguz/Beorc War. Described by the game as "a terrible narcissist, and is arrogant beyond comprehension", which sums it up nicely.

Class: Bishop (Radiant Dawn)

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• "Ass" in Ambassador: For a politician, he is very terrible with diplomacy. He never has one sentence with Elincia without being a complete asshole.
• Arc Villain: Appears in three chapters in Part 3 before being disposed of by the Apostle.
• Bad Boss: Sends his men into the lava-filled Kauku Caves (almost certain death) purely to "look for corpses".
• Back for the Dead: Reappears in Part 4 and is promptly steamrolled by the Hawk Army.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady : And how !
• Evil Is Petty : Orders the Begnion Army to raze all Crimean villages they come across into the ground after Elincia politely declines his request for supplies. He also hurls petty insults at his attackers in Part 4, notably mocking Kieran's armor or calling Elincia homely.
• General Failure: From the moment he takes command of the Begnion Army they suffer defeat after defeat.
• Giggling Villain: Uwee hee hee!
• He-Man Woman Hater: Given some of the names he calls Elincia, this seems pretty likely.
• Jerkass: It's readily established that he can't seem to go three seconds without being an absolute ass to everyone.
• Laughably Evil: Valtome is as vile as they come, but his behavior is so absurdly over the top that it's hard not to laugh or crack a smile.
• Light 'em Up: Uses Light Magic.
• Light Is Not Good: Wields corrupted Holy Magic (named after himself, no less) that will poison the opponent if it hits.
• Moral Event Horizon: Crosses it in-universe when he sics the Begnion Army on a defenseless Elincia after she tried to sue for peace. Zelgius deserts him in response.
• Narcissist: Part of a recurring enemy personality theme started in Thracia 776.
• Neck Lift: On the receiving end of one from Zelgius after he insults Prime Minister Sephiran.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Claims that Zelgius is his to kill in Part 4, despite being a frail magic user that Zelgius could rip apart with his bare hands.
• Poisonous Person: His spell, Valaura, poisons whatever it hits.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Throws a tantrum when Zelgius deserts him in chapter 3-10, and develops an obsession with punishing him after his first attempt is thwarted.
• Sinister Minister: Another evil bishop.
• Stupid Evil: So stupid that he makes the other Senators look like geniuses by comparison. He needlessly orders soldiers into a volcanic cave without any care for their safety, ignores Crimea's neutrality and ransack their villages, which led to a skirmish with the Knights, then insult Elincia for intervening in the affair without even considering her opposing him for the transgression, ordering the unarmed Elincia killed for intervening and deescalating a battle between Begnion and the Alliance, which again would cause Crimea and the Alliance to spurn Begnion, and even ordering Zelgius's execution without trial for abandoning him, despite the fact that he is the main reason why Begnion hasn't lost the war.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Par for the course for all Fire Emblem bosses, but he deserves special mention for genuinely believing that he can take the likes of Zelgius and Tibarn head-on. In fact he's the only member of the corrupt Begnion senate that doesn't have a single line of battle dialogue showing fear.
• Stalker without a Crush: In Part 4 he's shown to have developed an unnerving obsession with Zelgius. He even calls out his name upon being defeated.
• Unexplained Recovery: After his defeat in Part 3 he has his authority as general of the Begnion Army revoked by Sanaki and is last seen surrounded by soldiers and a very pissed-off Zelgius. Inexplicably shows up in Part 4 in command of a garrison of the Disciples of Order, alive and well.
• We Have Reserves: His justification for his Bad Boss actions.

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Other

Ludveck

Ludveck

^{Click to see Ludveck in Fire Emblem Heroes}

A Crimean Duke who attempts to usurp power from Queen Elincia while Bastian is in Daein.

Class: Axe General (Radiant Dawn)

Voiced by: Kosuke Takaguchi (Japanese, Fire Emblem Heroes), Austen Moret (English, Fire Emblem Heroes)

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To Lucia.
• Action Initiative: Possesses the skill Vantage.
• Ambition Is Evil: It's fairly obvious that all he wants is to rule Crimea and couldn't care one whit for the welfare of the people.
• Arc Villain: In Part 2, he is the leader of a coup d'état against Queen Elincia of Crimea.
• Bad Boss: Didn't care one bit that his soldiers would be sacrificed.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Ludveck's ego greatly outstrips his competence. While he considers himself stronger than Elincia and thinks his plan to dethrone her is perfect, the reality is Bastian set countermeasures to undo his rebellion before it even properly began. He ultimately proves a poor match for Elincia's iron will, Geoffrey's devotion, or Lucia's cunning, and his threat to Crimea is stamped out in short order.
• Climax Boss: Final boss of Part 2. You don't have to fight him though.
• Dirty Coward: Once everything falls apart for him, he tries every last dirty trick he can to save his skin: beg for mercy, make up a lame Secret Test of Character excuse for his actions, and blackmail Elincia with Lucia's execution, and even that quickly goes south when the Greil Mercenaries show up.
• Faux Affably Evil: Ludveck puts on a warm, compelling front, but in the end he's just about as legitimate and believable as Aizen.
• Filler Villain: What his role essentially boils down to. He has no real effect on the plot at large and only exists to further Elincia's Character Development.
• Hate Sink: He may be irrelevant to the greater plot involving Daein and Begnion, but in that time, Ludveck proves to be nearly as vile as Lekain himself, being horrendously ambitious, opportunistic, egotistical, and hypocritical on his alleged journey to make things better for Crimea. And by the time Elincia's arc ends, he proves to be every bit as cowardly as Lekain is.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Again... Poor, poor Lucia.
• I Have Your Wife: In this case, I Have Your (Surrogate) Sibling.
• Jerkass: Started a revolt in order to gain the throne of Crimea, and is perfectly happy to let his own supporters die if it gets him closer to his goal.
• Manipulative Bastard: He likes to think so, but he's often Out-Gambitted. Bastian suspected that if he left Crimea for a while, Ludveck and his conspirators would make their move. He arranged contingency plans for just such an occasion, and hired the Greil Mercenaries to lay low and keep tabs on the situation, with instructions to step in and aid Elincia only if it got out of hand. Ultimately Ludveck was never in control.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While he talks big about wanting to give Crimea a stronger ruler, he clearly just wants to satisfy his own ambitions.
• Optional Boss: The final chapter of Part 2 is a "Defend" chapter, so you can just hold back your units and never face him if you choose. The reason to face him anyway is you'll miss out on a bunch of items if you take a defensive stance.
• Promoted to Playable: Makes his playable debut in Heroes.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tries to give one to Elincia, telling her she's a weak queen because she's unwilling to make hard decisions or sacrifice her own people for a greater good, and framing his insurrection as a Secret Test of Character. However, Elincia calls him out on the fact that even if what he says is true (and she admits his greivances with her are well-founded), Ludveck's treatment of his soldiers and citizens as mere pawns proves that he won't be a better ruler.
• Secret Test of Character: Claims to have started the entire Insurrectionist stunt just to see if Elincia would have the mettle to order the death of her own countrymen if the situation required it. Elincia sees right through it as a bull excuse he made up on the spot.
• Smug Snake: Ludveck wastes no time in establishing himself as an absolute slime, arguably topped in deplorability only by Lekain.
• Villain Has a Point: Elincia admits that Ludveck is right about her shortcomings as a ruler and takes responsibility for allowing his rebellion to get as far as it did. That being said, she also bluntly says that he wouldn't be much better, given how willing he is to throw even his own supporters under the bus for his own gain.

Dheginsea

Dheginsea (Deginhanza)

The Black Dragon King of Goldoa, and one of only two living survivors from the time of the Great Flood. An extreme isolationist, he won't involve himself or Goldoa in the affairs of any other country, except mostly to scold the Laguz nations on inciting wars, and forbids his people to leave the country without his explicit permission. His loyalty to the goddess is unshakeable, and so when he discovers that Ashera was awoken in Part 4, he doesn't take it well...

Class: Black Dragon (Radiant Dawn)

Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako (Japanese, Radiant Dawn), Tadahisa Saizen, (Japanese, Fire Emblem Heroes), James A. Parker (English, Radiant Dawn), Drew Hobson (English, Fire Emblem Heroes)

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• Achilles' Heel: Nihil, like all the endgame bosses, shuts down his lethal mastery skill. He also can't retaliate at 3-range, allowing trained Marksmen to gradually shoot his HP off for free. He shares his brethren's weakness to Thunder magic, but this is usually impractical to exploit.
• Anti-Villain: He's not particularly evil and is working for Ashera solely because he does not have it in him to change.
• Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Enforced in his chapter by every dragon on the map, him included - he will not fight back at all against Ena and Kurth, even if they attack. This is handy for grinding their Strike rank up or using them to wall off reinforcements.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As a Laguz king, he is no exception. And considering that he was an ancient dragon that lived at the time of the Great Flood and was one of the Three Heroes, his boast of being the "greatest of all dragons" is no exaggeration.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The single most massive unit in the game.
• Bald Head of Toughness: He's bald... he also happens to be the toughest individual enemy in the game, having both extremely high resilence with his 100 HP, 50 Def and 46 Res, with constant healing of 30 HP each turn; and he also posses huge attack power (his total might being 75).
• Breath Weapon: Breathes fire, like all the other dragons.
• Co-Dragons: With the person directly below on this list.
• Death Seeker: One possible interpretation of his actions. Between his ungodly long life, his unwillingless to defy Ashera, the more or less shattered state of his family, and his grudging admission that he's gotten old upon defeat, one gets the impression that he knew he was headed for The Last Dance. His battle conversation with Micaiah heavily suggests this.
  "Yes. I knew the first of your kind. I have been alive for a very long time... Perhaps too long. But soon it will all be over."
• Happily Married: Nothing is shown of Dheginsea's late wife, but he apparently loved her deeply, and his last thoughts are of joining her and Rajaion.
• Healing Factor: Mantle has a healing effect based on his luck. With his 30 luck, he is healing for 30 HP out of his 100 at the start of the enemy's turn.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: His Judge attack inflicts physical damage to your units. It has 10 might (adding to his 50 strength), but loses power by 5 for every tiles separating between him and your units, which stops around 8 tiles.
• Large Ham: Just listen to his English voice.
• Living Legend: He was one of the Ashera's Three Heroes and the only living member (discounting Lehran/Sephiran) in both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
• Mighty Glacier: He lacks the high Speed of the other royals, though is RIDICULOUSLY powerful and tanky to compensate. Even tougher units like Haar and Ike will struggle to withstand his breath, and you'll need to either have a unit with very high Strength around or be able jump through a few tactical hoops just to deal meaningful damage to him.
• My Greatest Failure: The damning discrimination against the Branded can be fully chalked up to Dheginshea's attempt at damage control over the first Branded ever born. Laguz lose their powers if they have a child with a Beorc, and seeing the catastrophic potential for racism and war, Dheginshea scrubbed the child and their Laguz father (Lehran) from the history books and put forward the falsehood that Branded were "a crime against the Goddess" while rewriting Yune as a "Dark God". Unfortunately this did not stop Laguz and Beorc from interbreeding; not only did those Branded suffer as a result, but not knowing the truth of the Branded fostered war between nations. This has been eating away at Dheginshea for centuries even before Nailah informed him that the nation of Hatari, which never heard the heroes' edict, enjoys peace between the Wolf clan, the resident beorc, and the Wolf-Branded.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He has a tellingly subdued reaction to fighting Nailah and learning what Hatari is like in the absence of the decree that Beorc and Laguz should not interbreed.
• No-Sell: The first endgame boss with Mantle, which nullifies all damage from weapons not blessed by Yune while also acting as a combined Nihil/Fortune so neither skills nor critical hits can be activated.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Even after the beating into submission he receives from your party, he stands back up and scoffs that it would take more than that to kill him. Alas, he's lying. Just moments after he lets everyone go on ahead without him, he succumbs and dies.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic: The game doesn't make this clear, but it turns out dragons can only trigger Ire when fighting an enemy in melee (1-range). Nihil, therefore, is only necessary on units that need to fight him directly (other Laguz, namely).
• Papa Wolf: Dheginsea was so outraged over what Ashnard did to Rajaion and Almedha that he was on the verge of breaking his centuries-long neutrality policy and would have declared war on Daein if Ike hadn't defeated Ashnard when he did.
• Parental Favoritism: Nasir mentioned that Dheginsea held Rajaion more precious than Almedha, which implies that Kurthnaga was also beneath the eldest. However, it is not shown what effect this had on Dheginsea's treatment of his children, and the three of them loved each other dearly.
• Person of Mass Destruction: A walking nuclear weapon.
• Precursor Hero: He is one of Ashera's Three Heroes, alongside Soan and Altina.
• Promoted to Playable: He's playable in Fire Emblem Heroes after the Halloween 2020 banner.
• Secret-Keeper: Not only did he kept the fact that Altina and Lehran had a Branded child a secret, but also was the one to change history by rewriting it. Unfortunately, this ultimately did more harm than good.
• Secret Test of Character: Set Kurthnaga against him, and his reason for opposing the heroes becomes an awful lot clearer...
  "No more snivelling! You, Kurthnaga, were to rule the dragon tribe in years to come. Show me that you would have been capable!"
• Sole Survivor: He was the only living member of the Three Heroes that defeated the dark gods. He finally dies at the end of Radiant Dawn.
• Spell My Name With An S: Radiant Dawn normally uses Dheginsea, but the PAL version and Path of Radiance use Deghinsea.
• Stupid Neutral: Invoked and justified. Many centuries ago, he formed a covenant with the goddess Ashera to prevent the continent of Tellius from descending into war, lest she pass judgement on humanity. To this end, he maintains a policy of absolute isolationism, refusing to get involved in other countries' affairs even when megalomaniacal lunatics attempt to conquer the world. That way, he can claim that Tellius is not at war because Goldoa is neutral.
• Time Abyss: The Great Flood was at least 800 years before Path of Radiance took place. Dheginsea was alive at the time and was King of Goldoa then, too.
• Undying Loyalty: Has remained steadfast to the decree that the races shall never again go to war, and stands by Ashera and Lehran even though it means the end of the world.
• Wave-Motion Gun: His breath weapon crosses the line into this.
• World's Strongest Man: He isn't considered "godlike" for nothing. 100 HP, everything but Speed and Luck capped, a mastery skill that is more or less an instant kill, invulnerable to non-blessed weapons, and heals for 30 HP every turn. In fact, from a purely statistical standpoint, he is even more imposing than the Final Boss. His boast of "greatest of all dragons" is no exaggeration.
• Written by the Winners: As the remaining survivor of the Yune vs. Ashera war, he chose to villify Yune so no one would be crazy enough to touch her medallion. Alas, Ashnard was crazy already.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Tries to stop the party from ever reaching Ashera.

Ashera

Ashera (Astarte)

^{Click to see Ashera in Fire Emblem Heroes}

Order Goddess

The Goddess of Order, Yune's other half, and the final boss. Turned most of the NPCs into stone upon waking up (that is, after Yune's awakening). She despises Yune, the Goddess of Chaos, with passion, and refuses to accept her as a part of herself- and wants to destroy her to make herself "perfect". She was born 800 years before the events of Radiant Dawn, when Ashunera split herself in two beings (under the advice of Lehran- her and Yune) after having caused the Great Flood trying to stop the war between the Beorc and the Laguz, which only left alive those that lived in the highest peaks of Tellius.
As the flood was caused because Ashunera lost control of her emotions, she tried to wipe out Yune to get rid of her own chaos, but due to Lehran's advice, she simply sealed her away in the medallion. Despite Lehran's insistence to restore Ashunera, she instead arranged that she would enter a deep slumber, and if there was no fighting for 1000 years, Ashunera would be restored, if not, she would deliver her judgement. Unfortunately it didn't happen... Forcing Ike, Yune and company to stop her. She is finally slain by an Ike empowered with Yune's powers, allowing Ashunera to be finally restored.

Class: Order Incarnate (Radiant Dawn)

Voiced by: Kumi Sakuma (Japanese, Radiant Dawn), Janet Day (English, Radiant Dawn), Jessica Gee-George (English, Fire Emblem Heroes)

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• Above Good and Evil: Ashera doesn't really acknowledge either... As Yune explains, Ashera embodies Order in all of its forms, whether that is positive aspects like stability, or negative aspects like stagnation. Good and evil are simply not part of the equation.
• A God Am I: She is a goddess, what she isn't is a complete one, nor is she a mentally healthy one. She sees herself as being truly perfect due to lacking emotions, as revealed in her dialogue with Kurthnaga, so she refuses both restoration and therapy.
• The Archmage: As would be expected from a magic-oriented Goddess, she has an SS-Rank in every type of magic.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: She's protected by several barrier projecting light pillars that need to destroyed before she can be damaged, and damaging those causes the attacker to take damage. Combining this with the fact Ashera periodically damages every unit, has an individual attack and summmons spirits...and it's impossible to defeat her, purely by gameplay mechanics, without a small army. The next strongest fighter in game stats will just wear himself down trying to make her vulnerable. Even in story she isn't beatable with her other half's blessings until Yune gives up all her power.
• But Thou Must!: A variation; Ike has to be the one to slay her. Should anyone else fell the Goddess, Ashera will simply resurrect herself and the battle will continue.
• Coup de Grâce Cutscene: Weird case. When you go to deal the last blow with Ike, the game runs the calculations and if the attack will kill Ashera, you immediately go to a CG cutscene of Yune charging up Ike... then back to the game engine to watch the No Holds Barred Beat Down... then back to CG again. This also serves as an Interface Spoiler. If you would be able to deal enough damage to finish her, and you don't see the cutscene, prepare to see an attack miss.
• Dark Action Girl: Combines this with The Archmage and Lady of Black Magic.
• Didn't See That Coming: Ashera was unaware that the Branded could even exist. As a result she didn't know to target them with her judgment, and their only known community had no idea that something was wrong.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Yeah, Ike did. Justified in that he was drawing upon Yune's power.
• Emotionless Girl: Ashera is what was left after the Goddess of Dawn cast away her emotions.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Heavily implied to be as a result of having "cast out her emotions" (and having refused to fuse with Yune); it has left her cold and unfeeling towards humanity. She cannot understand why the normal people of Tellius would try to stop her, since from her perspective, they are all chaotic beings who fight and cause bloodshed. The notion of both good Beorc and Laguz trying to stop her just doesn't make sense to her.
• Evil Redhead: She's become incapable of seeing any wrong in her actions due to a sort of madness though
• Eviler than Thou: Usually Ashera is just a byproduct of the real Big Bad's actions. However, if you recruit him, Lehran will try to reason with Ashera by admitting that she was only summoned because he manipulated her. This prompts her to turn around and nick the Big Bad spot for herself by deciding to carry on regardless.
• Final Boss: Of Radiant Dawn; Similar to the Elibe Duology where the last enemy is a byproduct of the real Big Bad's actions.
• The Ghost: Only in Path of Radiance though; she finally appears in Radiant Dawn.
• God Is Flawed: Chalk this one up to her backstory. At one point in time, the Goddess of Dawn Ashunera became so overcome by emotion in response to the warring of the world that she summoned up a calamitous deluge, wiping out most of humanity (the mountainous continent of Tellius is the only remainder of the old world). Ashunera was so guilt-ridden by her actions that she discarded her emotions (what she believed to be the cause of her distress), splitting into Ashera (the mature Goddess of Order and Restriction) and Yune (the childlike Goddess of Chaos and Transformation). It takes a timeframe of about 2000 years before the two halves become whole and the benevolent Ashunera finally returns to her world to watch over it as its creator.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Yune outright says that neither she nor Ashera is "good" or "evil" per nature. As such, there's no reason why Ashera couldn't have been as benevolent as her. The difference between them is that, without regular human contact, Ashera effectively forgot humanity and her real responsibilities towards them.
• Hot God: Ashunera played it straight. Ashera is the evil variant while Yune is more of a "Cute Goddess" than anything.
• Hot Witch: If only by the technicality of using magic.
• Hypocrite: Pointed out by Caineghis with regards to her army of zombies; after all, says the lion king, what kind of Goddess of Order doesn't respect such fundamental laws of the universe as those of life and death?
• I Work Alone: Ashera has no respect for her other half. She didn't want Yune sealed after her defeat, she wanted her dead because she felt Yune's emotions were a detriment to the Goddess' work. And despite the "agreement" that she was supposed to consult with Yune after her resurrection before passing judgment on humanity, Ashera just goes forward with extermination right after awakening, even knowing that Yune was not unsealed by war.
• Lady of Black Magic: Actually, more like "Lady of White Magic". Oddly enough, Judge is a Strike weapon, but uses the Magic stat.
• Light Is Not Good: She uses light magic, she's also an oath breaker that is going to end all macroscopic life on the land.
• Magical Barefooter: Ashera is a magical being of unfathomable power, and her art in Heroes shows that she does not wear shoes.
• Meta Twist: Normally the final bosses of the Fire Emblem series are either an Eldritch Abomination, or Dragons, that seek to destroy the world for whatever reason, or are an absolutely insane tyrant. Ashera is unique in that she is neither; she's a full-blown God, and one aligned with Light and Order.
• Moral Event Horizon: Her raising all the Mooks the heroes have killed from the dead without their souls is regarded as such In-Universe, so much that even Yune runs away in tears upon witnessing it. Keep in mind that she is a Goddess of Order and Creation, so reviving the dead, as pointed out by Caineghis, is the exact opposite of Order.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: She is a tall, dainty woman that is clearly magically-inclined, having an SS-Rank in every type of magic. She uses almost none of them - her Judge weapon is a combination of Light magic and Strike, which is also at SS-Rank.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her turning all the Muggles of Tellius to stone actually ends up working in the heroes' favor, as it ends the war and motivates everyone to ally together and unite to take her down. Furthermore, it buys them enough time to destroy both Daein's and Kilvas' Blood Pact without anybody dying.
• Pieces of God: She is one half of Ashunera, the creator goddess of Tellius. Ashera is what left of her after discarding her emotions which became Yune.
• Pride: It's very obvious that she has this in spades. When informed of some of the good things that have happened in her absence, she refuses to back down because she has already made her decision and "doesn't make mistakes." This is true even if Lehran tries to reason with her.
• Promoted to Playable: She makes her playable debut in Heroes as a Mythic Hero of Astra.
• Taken for Granite: She turns all the NPC characters into stone. The only reason some aren't are due to Yune's blessing/presence, and some she deemed worthy to keep around.
• Tautological Templar: Her train of thought for anything is like: "As I am the goddess of order, I am therefore right in whatever I do, and any other opinion is wrong". "Yune is one of the halves of Ashunera? She's the goddess of chaos, so she must be wiped out." "Humans rebel against my judgement? They clearly don't understand that I am the one that is correct." "Yune is on your side? You can't be forgiven for this insolence."
• Time-Limit Boss: Ashera is not strictly one of these, but if you don't kill her by turn 10, she cripples your whole party with the Stun condition, at which point her magic spirit Mooks can freely pick people off at their leisure, unless one of your mages is holding a Restore Staff, or if there are units adjacent to units with the Boon skill, like Ena or Nasir.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She genuinely thinks she is helping the world by effectively wiping it all away. After all, if mortals are destructive and cause war, the best way to remove that is to get rid of all the "evil" people who do so. The problem is that she operates on a really skewed spectrum of who are worthy and those who are not, and has no sympathy for mankind anymore.
• Worf Had the Flu: She's not yet fully awakened, which is why all humanoids aren't snuffed outright, but Yune isn't either, which is why she can't take you straight to Ashera.

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