These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Fire Emblem Jugdral
Alas, Poor Villain: Alvis clearly becomes one of the major antagonists...and yet at the same time, actually isn't that bad. Despite killing Sigurd and taking his wife (who was unknowingly related to him), he nonetheless wanted to make a much more peaceful empire out of everything, and despite that his son and Manfroy had gone mad, he still tried to stop the casualties of the child hunting. There was a good reason Celice said that Alvis does not deserve hatred. Of course, this doesn't excuse all the evil Alvis did, and proved he was very willing to do, just to seize power and create his utopia.
Anti-Climax Boss: Despite having perhaps the most influence on the plot, Manfroy isn't any different from any other level 30 Dark Bishop you've been fighting for the last few chapters. Likewise, Juliushardly puts up a fight once you get your hands on Narga. (Though the difficult part is getting your hands on Narga while MANY others are at your case.)
Hilda tortures and kills Tiltyu, then brutally abuses Tinny (and if in any case Tiltyu died during the first generation, Hilda would instead torture and kill Tiltyu's little sister Ethnia; then abuses the hell out of Tinny's substitute/Ethinia's daughter Linda), goes on child-hunting for fun (and that's when her husband Blume, Tiltyu's brother, had second thoughts of child-hunting despite being an overall bastard as well. She also manipulates her and Blume's Dark Magical Girl daughter Ishtar into marrying the guy she loves, Yurius, solely because Hilda wants to use said marriage to get more power for herself..
The Schwarze Rosen, an entire army, burns entire populations when even a single person rebels.
Trabant barely avoids this in Genealogy with a Heel Realization, but still came across as one in general in the first half, during which he already crosses the Moral Event Horizon with his method of killing Cuan and his wife Ethlin, then capturing and raising their daughter Altenna..
Archbishop Manfloy is responsible, directly or indirectly, for almost everything that happens in the plot, to the point that he's pretty much the game's Big Bad.
First Generation: He manipulated various rulers and dukes, causing the war against Isaac by using Duke Reptor of Freege to assassinate Ira's father, King Mananan, while also manipulating King Chagall into killing his father and sending his envoy Sandima to stir trouble in Verdane. During this time he worked primarily with Alvis, whom he was blackmailing with knowledge of Alvis's Loputo blood in addition to his Fala heritage, thus poisoning him with hatred and envy. Later, he kidnaps and brainwashes Sigurd's wife Diadora (and in one of the mangas, he outright mind rapes her and laughs about it), then manipulated her and the emotionally-weakened Alvis so they'd marry and have children who could be used as Loputo vessels (and they're half-siblings, by the way). And as the cherry on top, he killed Levin of Silesia with his own hands in the Battle of Barhara (With Holsety becoming a Dragon Ex Machina to let him escape death).
Second Generation: A while before it started, he gave Prince Julius the Loputo tome, causing him to become the vessel for the Dark God and kill his mother Diadora while attempting to kill his twin sister Julia (who Diadora is just barely able to save with her dying breath), shaping him into the horrible rival we'd meet later, and also attacked his pregnant daughter and his son-in-law purely because they broke his Parental Marriage Veto, killing him and driving her into insanity, which would cause his soon-to-be granddaughter Sara to be pissed off at him forever. And after all of that? He organized and helped commit the horrible child hunts already mentioned, and later he kidnapped Julia (who had been taken in by Levin, and later by Celice's army) and brainwashed her so she'd become his and Julius's Apocalypse Maiden. Go. To. HELL. Manfloy.
Once the player understands how the romance and inheritance mechanics work, and they start pairing people up for items and stats rather than for their in-story relationships, a lot of the resultant pairings are like this.
Ensemble Darkhorse: This timeline in general, Genealogy of Holy War amongst titles, and Ayra.
Game Breaker: If you play your cards right with the pairings in the first generation, you can end up with a whole army of Game Breakers. Justified, since most people wouldn't have a clue on their first time through that pairing people up was actually extremely important, never mind which pairings were good or bad, and the game doesn't take it easy on you.
Special mention goes to any magic user who inherits Holsety. Especially Sety or Arthur.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite being a fan-favorite among English speaking Fire Emblem communities, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the Jugdral games the lowest review scores of the Fire Emblem series.
Famitsu might not have liked them, but Genealogy of the Holy War was the best-selling Fire Emblem game ever in Japan. Thracia 776 didn't sell very well, but then again, it was released for the SFC in 1999 and in regular cartridge form in 2000, being the second to last SNES game. (For reference, the Nintendo 64 debuted in 1996).
High Octane Nightmare Fuel: The very idea of how the Battle of Barhera developed. Think about it: Not only do you see your leader being burned to death by the local Magnificent Bastard, but immediately afterwards your whole army is decimated via a particularly horrifying and fiery Death from Above via a Meteor shower of sorts.SERIOUSLY, NOT COOL.
The Child Hunts. Children are forcibly taken from their families to be sacrificed to an evil god.
'YT commenter: There's hardly a more faith-rocking experience than losing this many friends in one sitting. (...) Though, to be honest, the little Fire Emblem sprites of the mages casting Meteor are just a little too... cute... to truly affect any person. I'd love a remake of this game.
It Was His Sled: The ending of Gen 1 in which Sigurd and almost everyone he's with dies seems to be known by everyone now.
Memetic Mutation: "I kill Tailto for Linda". Literally, as Tailto must die childless if you want to get Linda instead of Tinny.
And Ferry? She. Has. FURY!!
Moral Event Horizon: Alvis brings the brainwashed and amnesiac Diadora in front of her husband, Sigurd, to taunt him, just before he kills Sigurd and his entire army. And shortly beforehand, Trabant assaults and slaughters Cuan's entire army in a desert. The catch is, Trabant's army are flying Wyvern Knights, Cuan's army is made up of Cavalry hindered by the desert. Cuan's beautiful wife Ethlin (on whom Trabant may have a Villainous Crush on) got killed, her 3-year-old daughter Altenna is captured by Trabant and is used as a hostage so Cuan drops the only thing that could save him: the Gae Bolg. Then Trabant killed Cuan out of cold blood, and takes Altenna and the Gae Bolg to Thracia.
Narm: As if the narmification of the Battle of Barhera via limited graphic quality wasn't enough, a veryantiquated word usage in some fan translations ruins it all over again.
Sigurd: " ALVIS, YOU DASTARD!"
It doesn't help that the whole Battle of Barhara (the incident mentioned above) is represented as tiny little Super-Deformed mages casting Meteor over an equally cutesy army. Wha…?
Scrappy Mechanic: Dismounting in Thracia 776, Knights specializing only in Lances spontaneously losing their ability to use their Weapon of Choice and being forced to use Swords when they get off a horse is completely illogical. This also turns makes all of the Lances acquired Vendor Trash in the later chapters.
Shipping: It's a game mechanic here. Who you pair up determines what characters, with what stats, you get. Thus, Ship-to-Ship Combat is about mechanical benefits as much as it is about sex appeal.
Tier Induced Scrappy: Arden, dear lord. Also, do NOT mention wanting to use your high priests as combat units. Ever. Sylvia and her children (Leen and Corple) aren't well-liked either, forum discussions will practically implore you to kill Sylvia or not pair her up and take the substitutes Laylea and Sharlow.
Lance Knights with the exception of Finn are considered totally inferior to Cavaliers in Thracia 776.
