History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / FireEmblemHeroes

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* Thrasir. She is an alternate version of Veronica, but older and under Hel's rule. With that, you'd think there'd be some interesting interactions between her and Veronica as well as the rest of the Order when they learn this and see how different she is from her younger counterpart and whether or not she's still affected by Embla's Curse. However, unlike Líf who has several chapters focused on him, Thrasir has only one chapter dedicated to her and even then, not much is learned about her before she's unceremoniously killed off.
* Hel. In comparison to her fellow Book villains, after traveling to the alternate Askr, [[OutOfFocus Hel ended up getting sidelined like the above Book III characters]], as the rest of the story focused on Alfonse and Líf, only appearing to remind Eir of her mission to betray the Order of heroes. It wouldn't be until the very last chapter after Líf is dead that she came back to face the Order again, but by then, it was far too late and she was immediately disposed off, leaving less of an impact than her fellow Book villians.

* Ash, despite being billed as the deuteragonist of the book like Fjorm, Eir, and other new characters, has very little to do in the story, sometimes not even appearing in chapters at all. Her ability to undo Embla's sealing magic at the cost of her limbs is only brought up once, and her relationship with Askr is not mentioned until his death. She has no real stakes in the story aside from being Askr's messenger essentially, and even though she later is given a degree of importance when Askr dies, the story focuses almost entirely on Veronica over Ash. Even the developers seem to be somewhat aware of this, as she was replaced by Veronica on the game's icon after the book VI midpoint update.

* While the ''VideoGame/TokyoMirageSessionsFE'' characters do their best to replicate their home game as best they can considering the GenreShift, they did waste a very good opportunity to have the characters and/or their Mirages interact with their counterparts. This especially sticks out because the banner would have greatly benefited from a Forging Bonds event, which could have given audiences a chance to experience the characters better, but instead the interactions were left to only unit dialogue and any future dialogue.
* Many view the Dark Desert Rituals banner as all but missed potential. The banner is ostensibly based on Plegia and its culture, but only has ''one'' character from Plegia in Tharja, accompanied by two characters only distantly related to Plegia[[note]]Male Kris and Katarina hail from Archanea, which went on to become the continent of Ylisse, which includes Plegia[[/note]] and three others without any connection to Plegia. This in spite of the wealth of Plegian characters from which to choose, including Henry, who at that time hadn't had an alt since Halloween 2017; Gangrel, the Mad ''King'' of Plegia, and Validar, who has yet to appear as playable in ''Heroes'' at all.
* Book III is notoriously guilty of this, due to the way the story was structured, only Alfonse and his AlternateSelf Líf are given importance, leaving the rest of the Book III characters in the dust. For specifics:
** Thrasir is [[spoiler:an alternate version of Veronica, but older and under Hel's rule.]] With that, you'd think there'd be some interesting interactions between her and Veronica as well as the rest of the Order when they learn this [[spoiler:and see how different she is from her younger counterpart and whether or not she's still affected by Embla's Curse.]] However, unlike Líf who has several chapters focused on him, Thrasir has only one chapter dedicated to her and even then, not much is learned about her before she's unceremoniously killed off.
** Hel herself was subjected to this in her own book. In comparison to Veronica, Surtr, Freyja, Eitri, and Embla, after traveling to the alternate Askr, [[OutOfFocus Hel ended up getting sidelined like the above Book III characters]], as the rest of the story focused on Alfonse and Líf, only appearing to remind Eir of her mission to betray the Order of heroes. It wouldn't be until the very last chapter after Líf is dead that she came back to face the Order again, but by then, it was far too late and she was immediately disposed off, leaving less of an impact than her fellow Book villians.
* While Book VI tries to wrap up the plot threads established in the first book, several characters end up getting the short end of the stick. Similarly to Book III, only Veronica, Letizia, and Embla feel like they are given importance, while the rest are barely given anything to do. For specifics:
** Ash, despite being billed as the deuteragonist of the book like Fjorm, Eir, and other new characters, has very little to do in the story, sometimes not even appearing in chapters at all. Her ability to undo Embla's sealing magic at the cost of her limbs is only brought up once, and her relationship with Askr is not mentioned until [[spoiler: his death]]. She has no real stakes in the story aside from being Askr's messenger essentially, and even though she later is given a degree of importance when [[spoiler: Askr dies]], the story focuses almost entirely on Veronica over Ash. Even the developers seem to be somewhat aware of this, as she was replaced by Veronica on the game's icon after the book VI midpoint update.
** Elm receives no characterization or backstory outside of brief mentions of his UndyingLoyalty to Embla despite being a major antagonist since the start of the book. He comes across as a noticeable FlatCharacter in a game that is noted for giving its villains, especially those serving the BigBad, strong characterization. Worse, as soon as Letizia is beaten, he immediately helps get Embla into the story, giving himself no time to really do anything aside from attacking the heroes on occasion.
* In Book VI, the appearance of Fallen Gustav in Chapter 7. There are a lot of possible interesting interactions with him in the story of Book VI since he was mentioned in a previous chapter, including his interactions with his children in the Order of Heroes, the fact that [[spoiler:he has to fight again as a zombie and has to ask Alfonse to take him down again]], how he was under the control of Letizia and the possibility that she could learn the ins and outs of Askr culture and its royalty through him and that [[spoiler:Alfonse killed him in Book III, as mentioned in Book VI Chapter 5]]. Instead, he just delivers a single line in his introduction Chapter part and fights just like another mook on a later one. What's more jarring is that they chose to play Hel's theme for his line.
* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. [[spoiler:Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders coming from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seiðr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. After the twist was well-received, many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he created this plan as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja in Book IV... only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing as not only is Njörðr‘s reasoning being a generic hatred of humanity, [[EvilIsNotAToy Gullveig immediately kills him off]] once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]]. The fact that he was revealed to be evil only to die immediately after made many fans question why they made him evil at all, or killed him off anticlimactically.]]
* Kvasir also suffered this fate during Book VII. [[spoiler:She's the past version of Gullveig and Seiðr, having experienced the grief that both Gullveig and Seiðr experienced, having been betrayed by Njörðr to become the Golden Seer and end the world]]. She nurses the Summoner back to health in the past and even grows attached to them for the 100 days they're in the past, and afterwards she reveals she is [[spoiler:Gullveig]]. The problem is that Kvasir doesn't do anything besides simply completing her role in the cycle [[spoiler:by approaching Njörðr to let him know of Gullveig's existence and completing a ritual to turn into Seiðr]]. Even compared to Heiðr, [[spoiler:where her role was that she was destined to die from the Golden Curse]], Kvasir felt like she was included without any real idea what her role was supposed to be, which became notable due to how she barely felt important in the story until near the very end: [[spoiler:During Chapter 12 when Gullveig brings Kvasir to the present and she dies unceremoniously at the hands of Alfonse and Seiðr. Many fans were hoping to spare her, or were at the very least hoping she would play a bigger role in the story due to retaining knowledge as both Seiðr and Gullveig, but in the end, she's defeated without providing much to the story beyond her debut in Book VII, Chapter 2.]]

* Kvasir also suffered this fate during Book VII. [[spoiler:She's the past version of Gullveig and Seiðr, having experienced the grief that both Gullveig and Seiðr experienced, having been betrayed by Njörðr to become the Golden Seer and end the world]]. She nurses the Summoner back to health in the past and even grows attached to them for the 100 days they're in the past, and afterwards she reveals she is [[spoiler:Gullveig]]. The problem is Kvasir doesn't do anything besides simply completing her role in the cycle by approaching [[spoiler:Njörðr to let him know of her existence and completing a ritual to turn into Seiðr]]. Even compared to Heiðr, [[spoiler:where her role was that she was destined to die from the Golden Curse]], Kvasir feels like she was included without any real idea what her role was to be, which became notable barely felt important in the story until near the very end, during Chapter 12 when Gullveig brings Kvasir to the present and she dies unceremoniously at the hands of Alfonse and Seiðr. Many fans were hoping to spare her, but in the end, she's defeated without providing much to the story beyond her first appearance.

* Kvasir also suffered this fate during Book VII. [[spoiler:She's the past version of Gullveig and Seiðr, having experienced the grief that both Gullveig and Seiðr experienced, having been betrayed by Njörðr to become the Golden Seer and end the world. She nurses the Summoner back to health in the past and even grows attached to them for the 100 days they're in the past, and afterwards she reveals she is Gullveig. The problem with this however, is that Kvasir doesn't do anything truly villainous, other than simply completing her role in the cycle by approaching Njörðr to let him know of her existence and completing a ritual to turn into Seiðr. Even compared to Heiðr, where her role was that she was destined to die from the Golden Curse, Kvasir barely felt important in the story until near the very end, during Chapter 12 when Gullveig brings Kvasir to the present and she dies unceremoniously at the hands of Alfonse and Seiðr. Many fans were hoping to spare her, but in the end, Kvasir was treated as a villain despite not truly feeling like one compared to previous Book villains. The fact that she was an AntiClimaxBoss certainly didn't help matters, either.]]

* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. [[spoiler:Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders coming from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seidr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. After the twist was well-received, many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he created this plan as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja in Book IV... only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing as not only is Njörðr‘s reasoning being a generic hatred of humanity, [[EvilIsNotAToy Gullveig immediately kills him off]] once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]]. The fact that he was revealed to be evil only to die immediately after made many fans question why they made him evil at all, or killed him off anticlimactically.]]

* In Book VI, the appearance of Fallen Gustav in Chapter 7. There are a lot of possible interesting interactions with him in the story of Book VI since he was mention in a previous chapter, including his interactions with his children in the Order of Heroes, the fact that [[spoiler:he has to fight again as a zombie and has to ask Alfonse to take him down again]], how he was under the control of Letizia and the possibility that she could learn the ins and outs of Askr culture and its royalty through him and that [[spoiler:Alfonse killed him in Book III, as mentioned in Book VI Chapter 5]]. Instead, he just delivers a single line in his introduction Chapter part and fights just like another mook on a later one. What's more jarring is that they chose to play Hel's theme for his line.

Generally speaking from a gameplay perspective, units that don't honor their original depictions within ''Heroes'''s framework tend to leave fans disappointed at best or enraged at worst, particularly if they were decent to amazing (or just outright popular) in their home game. While any characters' fans could make a case for them, here are the ones that are nigh-universally agreed to be wasted potential.
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!!Gameplay-wise

* Lucius's regular and Young variants being revealed to be [[WhiteMage staff-users]]. In his home game, Lucius was a Monk, a magical class that used light magic, and he was a high-tier unit, due to having impressive Magic, Speed, and Resistance stats as well as good availability. Granted, he does get staves upon promotion, but relegating one of the most useful units in his home game to being a mere staffbot rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.
* Similar to Lucius above, regular Lachesis being revealed to be a healer, as opposed to a Master Knight equivalent, didn't sit well with the fanbase either. Her design making her appear much younger than her home game also didn't sit well, even if her voice does her a bit more justice. However, like a lot of healers, they would become better regarded once the weapon type received a BalanceBuff, but she remains one of the single worst units gameplay wise, and many fans hope she one day gets an alt that better fits her character (her Dancer alt being a good starting point).
* Continuing the trend, Tobin being revealed to be a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword user]] made a lot of fans angry. Considering that there's an over-saturation of sword users already, the fact that the previous Tempest Trials already rewarded an infantry sword user and many people were expecting him to be an archer or even the first Bow Cavalier, it's easy to understand why. When he was revealed to merely have an Armorslayer and some generic skills, fans were about as pleased as one might expect. At the very least, his stats are higher than other infantry units due to being classified as a villager or trainee unit like Donnel. If given enough investment, he can at least put in some work, especially after getting a weapon refine that made him much better, but he still has people who feel he really should have been an archer over anything else, especially when, after many years since his release, he has yet to receive an archer themed alt.
* Regular Seth was well-regarded in ''Sacred Stones'' as one of the single best units, since he averted the normal problems a CrutchCharacter had by having great base stats and great growths. Once put into ''Heroes'', however, he showed up not using a lance, but a sword. Although some were annoyed at this, it wouldn't have been a problem if it was actually something nice, but he just comes with a Ruby Sword+, which is nothing special, since it suffers from CripplingOverspecialization — it only works well on Green Units. Not helping is that his base kit is something of a mix of Stahl's and Tempest Trials reward Clive, both of whom are extremely average at best and lack unique or powerful skills, with his only unique skill being Lukas' Fortress Defense. He also shows up in the same banner as [[OvershadowedByAwesome even better units]], who all bring something new to the table, making him stand out even further. Sadly, his later weapon refine did little to redeem his status in the eyes of fans, so unless he gets an alt like a Legendary, Ascended, or Rearmed Hero, he is often viewed as a poor depiction of his character.
* Many people were disappointed by the fact that Arvis was an infantry mage rather than an armored one. As of this writing, an Armored Mage variant for him has yet to be introduced. However, he's still a perfectly serviceable unit on his own and some still mention that since Arvis was a Sage in Generation 1 and he's based on Generation 1, it makes sense that he's not an Armor Mage, which he only became once Generation 2 started.
* Many fans were baffled that Garon of all people was not an armored unit despite the clear heavy armor that he has in his artwork. The fact that Christmas Tharja, Legendary Tiki, and Halloween Kagero and so on are all armored units despite not having any actual armor in their artworks doesn't help. This sentiment grew even further when Idunn, another red dragon unit, was shown to be an armored unit despite not actually wearing any armor.
* The [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Death Knight]] was a highly anticipated character for many players. His showing in his home game had Counterattack, which is ''Three Houses's'' equivalent of Distant Counter, on top of being a LightningBruiser, making him something of an EnsembleDarkhorse and leaving many players expecting something great out of him in his ''Heroes'' version. When he was released in ''Heroes'', however, many players groaned in disappointment that he, outside his Close Guard, had a lackluster skill kit, on top of having his weapon Scythe of Sariel unrefined being situational due to being reliant on enemy buffs to activate, which is inconsistent and unreliable, and that he had MightyGlacier stats, instead of his LightningBruiser stats like his ''Three Houses'' version, and even with his refine, he only gets additional stats and a guaranteed follow-up, which, alongside the other base effect of his weapon, get walled by Null Follow-Up effects. His lack of Distant Counter, either through his weapon or an A-Skill, was also seen as a wasted opportunity for players, even in his Grand Hero Battle, despite the skill being a GameBreaker and highly sought after for skill inheritance in ''Heroes''. At the end of the day, he comes off as a mediocre lance cavalier for some players, like Regular Berkut before him, with his only saving grace was his somewhat okay potential if invested in.
* [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Ferdinand von Aegir]], one of ''Three Houses''' more popular characters. His appearance on the third ''Three Houses'' banner was met with excitement from the community, only for it to turn to annoyance once his kit was revealed; on a banner filled with three other units with unique weapons, good stats, and either new skills or powerful kits, Ferdinand comes in with an underwhelming kit (Vanguard+ Lance, Reposition, and Fortress Defense 3), and his only unique skill is Rouse Speed/Defense, which while a good skill, makes him only decent fodder. Players hoped that at least his stats would be good, but his stats are only okay; meanwhile his fellow banner units are both busted and more unique. Part of the problem lies in the fact he was put on the banner as the 4 star demote unit, meaning he's supposed to be balanced by the fact he is available easier, and compared to many other Lance Cavaliers, he actually is overall better in terms of stats than several of them, but his incredibly generic kit, bland stats, and how weak he is compared to how insanely overpowered his banner mates are, it comes across as though he was just slapped on to make a full four banner unit. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Many also were upset that none of his voice lines include him saying his]] memetic "I am Ferdinand von Aegir!" line. As a final nail in the coffin, more powerful Lance Cavaliers would come out that blow him out of the water, such as Petrine and Regular Ingrid.

* Legendary Dimitri. Instead of being based off of the first half of the timeskip, where is AxeCrazy and obsessed with killing Edelgard about all, Legendary Dimitri is based off of Dimitri after chapter 17 of the Azure Moon route, where he his CharacterDevelopment kicks in and [[TookALevelInKindness he begins to revert to his old self again]]. Many wish that he was based off his more unhinged self, as it would make his Brave version seem like a natural progression of the character. Instead, that version of Dimitri was added as a FallenHero version, much to the contention of many players.
* Nemesis. Despite being an important lore figure in ''Three Houses'', a powerful foe in the story, and having a unique skill in said game that made him difficult to fight, his showings and handling in ''Heroes'' are very disappointing. While his typing (Red Sword Infantry) makes sense, he has a weak weapon effect for his Dark Creator S (gives boost to Atk/Def based on the amount of allies with above 90% HP, and once during a player phase reduces damage from attacks by 15% per allies with above 90% hp), stats that are too focused on tanking, and he has a boring kit for his character. The fact he isn't a Legendary or Mythic hero in particular is seen as a waste, because he makes perfect sense to be one, where his weapon could be more powerful and a unique skill could be given to him that makes him stand out, but overall the community were very let down by the way he was implemented. The only silver-lining for him is that he could still get a Legendary/Mythic form since the GHB version appears to be based off his appearance as the FinalBoss of the Verdant Wind route.

* For similar reasons, many players felt that the "Bite of Flame" banner was a wasted concept. While both Múspell and Rinkah made sense due to their fire theme and the lore around them, the other characters felt out of place on what was essentially a banner themed around fire and seemingly fire spirits; Lyn, though she comes from a tribe that would fit, is the worst option to represent them given her lack of connection to them for most of her story compared to anyone from the setting like Rath, Duo Tana and Peony have not only nothing really in common to make sense why they are a Duo unit, but neither have any connections to fire, and even the free Mordecai feels random to include. Despite there being characters that would fit naturally, such as Petra and Fuga, both of whom have flame spirits they reference, but even outside of the religious aspect, plenty of characters in the series are fire themed, making there potentially many different characters to put in instead.
* Scáthach. His appearance in ''Heroes'' left a lot to be desired: being Larcei's twin with access to unique skills and weapons like her, on top of how the Od lineage had been consistently treated well in ''Heroes'', either with unique weapons, Astra variants, or being given strong stats/skills. Despite all that going for him, he came into heroes as a MightyGlacier (high atk/def, average/below average spd), a generic kit that lacked anything unique, he has a generic, if somewhat rare, weapon, and he's on a banner themed around House Friege despite not being part of it. This left him feeling like a tacked on character who was meant to be just the newest sword demote in a long time[[note]]It had been nearly four years since a new 4 star infantry sword unit was added[[/note]], but unlike more recent demotes, who either had a new weapon or a unique one, he lacks anything to make him stand out except for his high attack and defense. He's saved from being a LowTierLetdown thanks to his solid stats and being a great candidate for the Arcane Éljúðnir, and being the first permanent Infantry Sword demote in years, but he's generally viewed as a wasted implementation of the character, which considering everyone else on his debut banner had tier four skills, a unique weapon, or typing, comes across as he was slapped onto the banner just so it'd have four new heroes.
* Nyna is a pivotal character in her home game, and someone some fans had wanted in FEH for a long time. Despite all these going for her, she was included as a 4-5 star infantry staff unit on a banner with characters that had far better skill sets. That would be fine if she was at least given anything unique, but she has no new skills other than the new weapon Respite+[[note]]this weapon has the same effects as the Tannenbaton+, but is available via regular summoning, unlike Tannenbaton+[[/note]], and what's worse, she was also put on a banner that debuted at the same time Elice, also an infantry staff, was instantly added to the 3 and 4-star pool. For a plot relevant character that could have been given more focus, she ends up being completely shafted.
* Sylvain's regular variant left a lot to be desired. For one, although he was consistently one of the most voted-for characters in Choose Your Legends ever since ''Three Houses'' characters became eligible, he was still implemented as a demote. More importantly, although he has a Hero's Relic in the Fódlan games, that being the Lance of Ruin, in ''Heroes'', he's an axe cavalier without an exclusive weapon despite being more associated with lances, rubbing many Sylvain fans the wrong way. Although there is still the chance that Sylvain may receive an alternate version in the future that does wield the Lance of Ruin, many feel he should have had it from the start, especially since the player can only obtain it before the TimeSkip in ''Three Houses''. It doesn't help that Rearmed Ingrid being a Lance unit means that the Lance of Ruin could easily have been used by a Rearmed Sylvain, especially when ''Engage'' brought in a brand new character (Alfred) with an Arcane weapon, showing there isn't any rules for who is one or not.
* Lapis is one of the more popular characters from ''Engage'', but unfortunately, her debut in ''Heroes'' is generally considered to be poorly timed at best and shafted at worst. Firstly, she was an instant 3-4 star demote, making it much harder to summon her than even the 5 star focus units, let alone +10 her. This wouldn't be nearly as bad if she was given out as a quest reward unit like some of the other instant demotes, except she wasn't. Second, she debuted a month before the Choose Your Legends 7 banner, meaning that she's a month late to the base stat total increase that occurs with every Choose Your Legends banner. Third of all, she's an infantry sword who has a decent statline, but doesn't have a personal weapon. Not only is the sword infantry class by far the one with the most competition, but 2023 saw a lot of powerful sword infantries released, including Lumera, a Grand Hero Battle unit who many players built due to her personal weapon being outstanding for a free unit, Diamant, who's a focus unit on the banner she debuted with, and Male Alear, who was given out for free for all players. The disparity of power between her and the premium sword units is especially jarring due to her status as an instant demote who wasn't given out for free, making her much harder to merge than the aforementioned Lumera or even the premium sword infantries. In particular, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/comments/154h62u/1_lapis_fan_goes_through_32_copies_of_diamant_to/ one player summoned 32 copies of Diamant before managing to summon 11 copies of Lapis]], which goes to show how unfortunate her position is as an instant demote who's not a quest reward unit.

!!Story-wise
* Even if a character gets into a banner (typically a Special Heroes banner), there is a chance that they are not given any speaking roles in the main story/paralogues they appear in, which could make for this trope. Priscilla and Tailtiu are examples of these in the banners they appear in, but most egregiously, Elincia, Nephenee, and Oscar got this treatment in their own main story banner despite all being featured on it.
* Book III is notoriously guilty of this, due to the way the story was structured, only Alfonse and his AlternateSelf Líf are given importance, leaving the rest of the Book III characters in the dust. For specifics:
** Once each book ends, the playable unit introduced in said arc gets thrown to the side to make way for a new character who takes the spotlight for the new arc. Fjorm, Eir, Peony, and Reginn were relegated to only Forging Bond cameos and seasonal alts once Books II, III, IV, and V ended, despite the fact they have unique personalities and could contribute to the plot. While Fjorm has some amount of justification due to her SecretlyDying, Eir has no such justification and simply vanishes from the story after. While this may be due to wanting to avoid bloating the cast, its a waste of what are unique characters, all of whom could contribute in some form to the story. Book V having Peony and Fjorm make a cameo notably caught players off guard for this very reason, and soon, the developers continued the story of Book II where it last left off with the "Ice & Flame" Tempest Trials series and Book III with the "Life and Death" Tempest Trials series.
** Thrasir is [[spoiler:an alternate version of Veronica, but older and under Hel's rule.]] With that, you'd think there'd be some interesting interactions between her and Veronica as well as the rest of the Order when they learn this [[spoiler:and see how different she is from her younger counterpart and whether or not she's still affected by Embla's Curse.]] However, unlike Líf who has several chapters focused on him, Thrasir has only one chapter dedicated to her and even then, not much is learned about her before she's unceremoniously killed off. Thankfully, this was rectified with the Valentine variant of Thrasir alongside Líf, where Thrasir talks about [[spoiler:herself what she was like being younger to "Líf"]], as well as Thrasir interacting with Veronica in the end of the "Lost to Love" Tempest Trials+ in February 2021, and a [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming moment]] at that.
** Hel herself was subjected to this in her own book. In comparison to Veronica, Surtr, Freyja, Eitri, and Embla, after traveling to the alternate Askr, [[OutOfFocus Hel ended up getting sidelined like the above Book III characters]], as the rest of the story focused on Alfonse and Líf, only appearing to remind Eir of her mission to betray the Order of heroes. It wouldn't be until the very last chapter after Líf is dead that she came back to face the Order again, but by then, it was far too late and she was immediately disposed off, leaving less of an impact than her fellow Book villians. Even after her book was over, she was left out in the alt department, whereas the other Book villains (barring Eitri) received at least one alt (Those being Pirate Surtr, Summer Freyja, and Veronica's Easter and Valentine's variants).
* Triandra ended up in a very similar boat to Thrasir. Near the end of Book 4, Plumeria's final chapter broke the mold of FEH's story by adding relevant story progression to all five gameplay chapters. As a result, Plumeria received notably more exploration and development into her personality than most other FEH characters. This led to expectations of Triandra receiving the same treatment – only for the story to revert to its more simplistic style, with only two or three of the chapters having relevant story dialogue and the remaining chapters essentially consisting of the new banner Heroes spouting random quotes. [[spoiler: Triandra doesn't even die in the climax of her chapter, which is instead dedicated to the reveal of Alfonse actually being the summoner.]] Because of this reversion, her development and her subplot with [[spoiler: Peony]] comes off as notably underdeveloped and rushed, especially compared to Plumeria who got a lot of love from the story in the prior chapter.
* Nótt is an egregious case of this. After having only one chapter dedicated to her and Dagr, the Jötunheimr princesses became OutOfFocus during the course of Book V, focusing more on the characters from Niðavellir, especially Fáfnir. As the princesses were underdeveloped, most people thought they would have much more significant focus in a future book...only for Chapter 12 to drop where [[spoiler:Nótt suddenly dies protecting Dagr from Fáfnir, leaving Dagr as the only Jötunheimr princess left to take the throne. Not only did this feel like an AssPull as there was absolutely no foreshadowing leading up to this event, but it also enraged fans of Nótt who either preferred her over Dagr, wished to see more of her character arc with Dagr, or both.]]

** Out of all the new characters, Askr probably suffered the hardest. Being named after the nation Alfonse and Sharena hail from, as well as seemingly being the creator of Breidablik and coming off as a cheery TeamDad, he seemed ripe for interactions with his people, Embla and the Summoner as well as lore on the ancient relic among other details. However, not does he never interact with the PlayerCharacter once throughout his appearance, [[spoiler: his presence only lasts for a mere 2 chapters before he kicks the bucket to give everyone the MacGuffin needed to remove Embla’s influence on her people, at most getting a heartfelt moment with Ash before he dies.]]
** Bruno ended up becoming this for some after Chapter 11. After spending several out of game years being OutOfFocus save a few moments, he finally becomes important again, getting some CharacterDevelopment, the player getting to see his face, and him even rejoining the Order Of Heroes again, and being purged of his blood curse. [[spoiler:Then he's promptly killed off, rendering his and the main character's efforts to help him AllForNothing]].
* Despite being advertised as protagonists, Anna and Sharena get very little plot relevance after Book II, compared to Alfonse and Veronica. While Sharena is notorious for having plot lines around her that go nowhere (Books III and IV being notable standouts), Anna has received no major characterization in the main story and does not even appear in a majority of the marketing for the game's story despite being the one who summoned forth the PlayerCharacter in the first place.
* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. [[spoiler:Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders coming from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seidr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. After the twist was well-received, many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he created this plan as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja in Book IV... [[ShaggyDogStory only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing]] as not only is Njörðr‘s reasoning being a generic hatred of humanity, [[EvilIsNotAToy Gullveig immediately kills him off]] once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]]. The fact that he was revealed to be evil only to die immediately after made many fans question why they made him evil at all, or killed him off anticlimactically.]]

* Lapis is one of the more popular characters from Engage, but unfortunately, her debut in Heroes is generally considered to be poorly timed at best and shafted at worst. Firstly, she was an instant 3-4 star demote, making it much harder to summon her than even the 5 star focus units, let alone +10 her. This wouldn't be nearly as bad if she was given out as a quest reward unit like some of the other instant demotes, except she wasn't. Second, she debuted a month before the Choose Your Legends 7 banner, meaning that she's a month late to the base stat total increase that occurs with every Choose Your Legends banner. Third of all, she's an infantry sword who has a decent statline, but doesn't have a personal weapon. Not only is the sword infantry class by far the one with the most competition, but 2023 saw a lot of powerful sword infantries released, including Lumera, a Grand Hero Battle unit who many players built due to her personal weapon being outstanding for a free unit, Diamant, who's a focus unit on the banner she debuted with, and Male Alear, who was given out for free for all players. The disparity of power between her and the premium sword units is especially jarring due to her status as an instant demote who wasn't given out for free, making her much harder to merge than the aforementioned Lumera or even the premium sword infantries. In particular, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/comments/154h62u/1_lapis_fan_goes_through_32_copies_of_diamant_to/ one player summoned 32 copies of Diamant before managing to summon 11 copies of Lapis]], which goes to show how unfortunate her position is as an instant demote who's not a quest reward unit.

* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. [[spoiler:Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders coming from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seidr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. After the twist was well-received, many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he created this plan as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja in Book IV... [[ShaggyDogStory only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing]] [[EvilIsNotAToy as Gullveig immediately kills off Njörðr]] once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]]. The fact that he was revealed to be evil only to die immediately after made many fans question why they made him evil at all, or killed him off anticlimactically.]]

* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. [[spoiler:Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seidr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. Many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he was doing this as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja... [[ShaggyDogStory only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing]] as Gullveig immediately kills off Njörðr once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]].]]

* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seidr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. Many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he was doing this as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja... [[ShaggyDogStory only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing]] as Gullveig immediately kills off Njörðr once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]].

* King Njörðr of Vanaheimr unfortunately suffered this fate in Book VII. Throughout the story, Njörðr sought to help the Order of Heroes in their quest to stop Gullveig, the Golden Seer. Keen players noticed questionable orders from him, such as asking Seiðr to retrieve his Ar from his sister Nerþuz, who warns her and the Order that he should not have it. Additionally, he demands Seiðr to bear a child, much to her confusion. Eventually, it was revealed that Njörðr was the one who wanted to turn Seiðr into Gullveig, by using his light to turn Heiðr into a monster and force Seidr to put her own, thus allowing Njörðr to transfer the curse to Seiðr so that she would become Gullveig. Many people had high hopes for Njörðr as the main Book VII villain, theorizing he was doing this as revenge for the Order of Heroes killing his children Freyr and Freyja...[[ShaggyDogStory only for the whole set-up to ultimately amount to nothing]] as Gullveig immediately kills off Njörðr once he summons her at the end of Book VII, Chapter 10, [[TheUnfought and without any boss fight against him, to add salt to the wound]].

* Scáthach. His appearance in ''Heroes'' left a lot to be desired: being Larcei's twin with access to unique skills and weapons like her, on top of how the Od lineage had been consistently treated well in ''Heroes'', either with unique weapons, Astra variants, or being given strong stats/skills. Despite all that going for him, he came into heroes as a MightyGlacier (high atk/def, average/below average spd), a generic kit that lacked anything unique, he has a generic, if somewhat rare, weapon, and he's on a banner themed around House Friege despite not being part of it. This left him feeling like a tacted on character who was meant to be just the newest sword demote in a long time (which is true, it had been nearly four years since a new 4 star infantry sword unit was added), but unlike more recent demotes, who either had a new weapon or a unique one, he lacks anything to make him stand out except for his high attack and defense. He's saved from being a LowTierLetdown thanks to his solid stats and being a great candidate for the Arcane Éljúðnir, and being the first permanent Infantry Sword demote in years, but he's generally viewed as a wasted implementation of the character, which considering everyone else on his debut banner had tier four skills, a unique weapon, or typing, he, much like Seth and Ferdinand, comes across as having been slapped onto the banner just so it'd have four new heroes.

* For similar reasons, many players felt that the "Bite of Flame" banner was a wasted concept. While both Múspell and Rinkah made sense due to their fire theme and the lore around them, the other characters felt out of place on what was essentially a banner themed around fire and seemingly fire spirits; Lyn, though she comes from a tribe that would fit, is the worst option to represent them given her lack of connection to them for most of her story compared to anyone from the setting like Rath, Duo Tana and Peony have not only nothing really in common to make sense why they are a Duo unit, but neither have any connections to fire, and even the free Mordecai feels random to include. Despite there being characters that would fit naturally, such as Petra and Fugo, both of whom have flame spirits they reference, but even outside of the religious aspect, plenty of characters in the series are fire themed, making there potentially many different characters to put in instead.

* Continuing the trend, Tobin being revealed to be a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword user]] made a lot of fans angry. Considering that there's an over-saturation of sword users already, the fact that the previous Tempest Trials already rewarded an infantry sword user and many people were expecting him to be an archer or even the first Bow Cavalier, it's easy to understand why. When he was revealed to merely have an Armorslayer and some generic skills, fans were about as pleased as one might expect. At the very least, his stats are higher than other infantry units due to being classified as a villager or trainee unit like Donnel. If given enough investment, he can at least put in some work, especially after getting a weapon refine that made him much better, but he still has people who feel he really should have been an archer over anything else.

* Sylvain's regular variant left a lot to be desired. For one, although he was consistently one of the most voted-for characters in Choose Your Legends ever since ''Three Houses'' characters became eligible, he was still implemented as a demote. More importantly, although he has a Hero's Relic in the Fódlan games, that being the Lance of Ruin, in ''Heroes'', he's an axe cavalier without an exclusive weapon despite being more associated with lances, rubbing many Sylvain fans the wrong way. Although there is still the chance that Sylvain may receive an alternate version in the future that does wield the Lance of Ruin, many feel he should have had it from the start, especially since the player can only obtain it before the TimeSkip in ''Three Houses''.

!! Story-wise

* Lucius being revealed to be a [[WhiteMage staff-user]]. In his home game, Lucius was a Monk, a magical class that used light magic, and he was a high-tier unit, due to having impressive Magic, Speed, and Resistance stats as well as good availability. Granted, he does get staves upon promotion, but relegating one of the most useful units in his home game to being a mere staffbot rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.
* Similar to Lucius above, Lachesis being revealed to be a healer, as opposed to a Master Knight equivalent, didn't sit well with the fanbase either. Her design making her appear much younger than her home game also didn't sit well, even if her voice does her a bit more justice. However, like a lot of healers, they would become better regarded once the weapon type received a BalanceBuff, but she remains one of the single worst units gameplay wise, and many fans hope she one day gets an alt that better fits her character (her Dancer alt being a good starting point).

* The [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Death Knight]] was a highly anticipated character for many players. His showing in his home game had Counterattack, which is ''Three Houses's'' equivalent of Distant Counter, on top of being a LightningBruiser, making him something of an EnsembleDarkhorse and leaving many players expecting something great out of him in his ''Heroes'' version. When he was released in ''Heroes'', however, many players groaned in disappointment that he, outside his Close Guard, had a lackluster skill kit, on top of having his weapon Scythe of Sariel unrefined being situational due to being reliant on enemy buffs to activate, which is inconsistent and unreliable, and that he had MightyGlacier stats, instead of his LightningBruiser stats like his ''Three Houses'' version, and even with his refine, he only gets additional stats and a guaranteed follow-up, which alongside the other base effect of his weapon get walled by Null Follow-Up effects. His lack of Distant Counter, either through his weapon or an A-Skill, was also seen as a wasted opportunity for players, even in his Grand Hero Battle, despite the skill being a GameBreaker and highly sought after for skill inheritance in ''Heroes''. At the end of the day, he comes off as a mediocre lance cavalier for some players, like Regular Berkut before him, with his only saving grace was his somewhat okay potential if invested in.

* Scáthach. His appearance in ''Heroes'' left a lot to be desired: being Larcei's twin with access to unique skills and weapons like her, on top of how the Od lineage had been consistently treated well in ''Heroes'', either with unique weapons, Astra variants, or being given strong stats/skills. Despite all that going for him, he came into heroes as a MightyGlacier (high atk/def, average/below average spd), a generic kit that lacked anything unique, he has a generic, if somewhat rare, weapon, and he's on a banner themed around House Friege despite not being part of it. This left him feeling like a tacted on character who was meant to be just the newest sword demote in a long time (which is true, it had been nearly four years since a new 4 star infantry sword unit was added), but unlike more recent demotes, who either had a new weapon or a unique one, he lacks anything to make him stand out except for his high attack and defense. He's saved from being a TierInducedScrappy thanks to his solid stats, and being the first permanent Infantry Sword demote in years, but he's generally viewed as a wasted implementation of the character, which considering everyone else on his debut banner had tier four skills, a unique weapon, or typing, he, much like Seth and Ferdinand, comes across as having been slapped onto the banner just so it'd have four new heroes.

** Once each book ends, the playable unit introduced in said arc gets thrown to the side to make way for a new character who takes the spotlight for the new arc. Fjorm, Eir, Peony, and Reginn were relegated to only Forging Bond cameos and seasonal alts once Books II, III, IV, and V ended, despite the fact they have unique personalities and could contribute to the plot. While Fjorm has some amount of justification due to her SecretlyDying, Eir has no such justification and simply vanishes from the story after. While this may be due to wanting to avoid bloating the cast, its a waste of what are unique characters, all of whom could contribute in some form to the story. Book V having Peony and Fjorm make a cameo notably caught players off guard for this very reason, and soon, the developers continued the story of Book II where it last left off with the "Ice & Flame" Tempest Trials series.

* The [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Death Knight]] was a highly anticipated character for many players. His showing in his home game had Counterattack, which is ''Three Houses's'' equivalent of Distant Counter, on top of being a LightningBruiser, making him something of an EnsembleDarkhorse and leaving many players expecting something great out of him in his ''Heroes'' version. When he was released in ''Heroes'', however, many players groaned in disappointment that he, outside his Close Guard, had a lackluster skill kit, on top of having his weapon Scythe of Sariel being situational due to being reliant on enemy buffs to activate, which is inconsistent and unreliable, and that he had MightyGlacier stats, instead of his LightningBruiser stats like his ''Three Houses'' version. His lack of Distant Counter, either through his weapon or an A-Skill, was also seen as a wasted opportunity for players, even in his Grand Hero Battle, despite the skill being a GameBreaker and highly sought after for skill inheritance in ''Heroes''. At the end of the day, he comes off as a mediocre lance cavalier for some players, like Regular Berkut before him, with his only saving grace was his somewhat okay potential if invested in, but until he gets a Weapon Refine to really make his strengths stand out, he is a lot weaker than someone of his status would suggest.

* Regular Seth was well-regarded in ''Sacred Stones'' as one of the single best units, since he averted the normal problems a CrutchCharacter had by having great base stats and great growths. Once put into ''Heroes'', however, he showed up not using a lance, but a sword. Although some were annoyed at this, it wouldn't have been a problem if it was actually something nice, but he just comes with a Ruby Sword+, which is nothing special, since it suffers from CripplingOverspecialization — it only works well on Green Units. Not helping is that his base kit is something of a mix of Stahl's and Tempest Trials reward Clive, both of whom are extremely average at best and lack unique or powerful skills, with his only unique skill being Lukas' Fortress Defense. He also shows up in the same banner as [[OvershadowedByAwesome even better units]], who all bring something new to the table, making him stand out even further. Sadly, his later weapon refine did little to redeem his status in the eyes of fans, so unless he gets an alt like a Legendary, Arcane, or Ascended Hero, he is often viewed as a poor depiction of his character.

* Despite being advertised as protagonists, Anna and Sharena get very little plot relevance after Book II. While Sharena is notorious for having plot lines around her that go nowhere (Books III and IV being notable standouts), Anna has received no major characterization in the main story and does not even appear in a majority of the marketing for the game's story despite being the one who summoned forth the PlayerCharacter in the first place.

* [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Ferdinand von Aegir]], one of ''Three Houses'' more popular characters. His appearance on the third ''Three Houses'' banner was met with excitement from the community, only for it to turn to annoyance once his kit was revealed; on a banner filled with three units with unique weapons, good stats, and either new skills or powerful kits, Ferdinand comes in with an underwhelming kit (Vanguard+ Lance, Reposition, and Fortress Defense 3), and his only unique skill is Rouse Spd/Defense, which while a good skill, makes him only decent fodder. Players hoped that at least his stats would be good, but his stats are only okay given how busted his fellow banner units are, and how unique they all are. Part of the problem lies in the fact he was put on the banner as the 4 star demote unit, meaning he's supposed to be balanced by the fact he is available easier, and compared to many other Lance Cavaliers, he actually is overall better in terms of stats than several of them, but his incredibly generic kit, bland stats, and how weak he is compared to how insanely overpowered his other banner units are, it comes across as though he was just slapped on to make a full four banner unit. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Many also were upset that none of his voice lines include him saying his]] memetic "I am Ferdinand von Aegir!" line. As a final nail in the coffin, more powerful Lance Cavaliers would come out that blow him out of the water, such as Petrine and Regular Ingrid.

* Scáthach. His appearance in ''Heroes'' left a lot to be desired: being Larcei's twin with access to unique skills and weapons like her, on top of how the Od lineage had been consistently treated well in ''Heroes'', either with unique weapons, Astra variants, or being given strong stats/skills. Despite all that going for him, he came into heroes as a MightyGlacier (high atk/def, average/below average spd), a generic kit that lacked anything unique, he has a generic, if somewhat rare, weapon, and he's on a banner themed around House Friege despite not being part of it. This left him feeling like a tacted on character who was meant to be just the newest sword demote in a long time (which is true, it had been nearly four years since a new 4 star infantry sword unit was added), but unlike more recent demotes, who either had a new weapon or a unique one, he lacks anything to make him stand out except for his high attack and defense. He's saved from being a TierInducedScrappy thanks to his solid stats, and being the first permanent Infantry Sword demote in years, but he's generally viewed as a wasted implementation of the character, which considering everyone else on his debut banner had tier four skills, a unique weapon, or typing, he, much like Haar and Ferdinand, comes across as having been slapped onto the banner to make fill out four new heroes.
* Nyna is a pivotal character in her home game, and someone fans had wanted in FEH for a long time. Despite all these going for her, she was included as a 4 star staff demote on a banner with more unique characters. That would be fine, if she was given anything unique, but she has nothing unique about her, and worse, was put on the same banner that Elice was instantly put into the 4 star pool as the exact same typing as well. For a plot relevant character that could have been given more focus, she ends up being completely shafted.

* While Book VI tries to wrap up the plot threads established in the first book, several characters end up getting the short end of the stick. Similarly to Book III, only Veronica and Letizia feel like they are given importance, while the rest are barely given anything to do. For specifics:

* Book III is notoriously guilty of this:

* While Book VI tries to wrap up the plot threads established in the first book, several characters end up getting the short end of the stick. Only Veronica and Letizia feel like they are given importance, while the rest are barely given anything to do. For specifics: