Fire Emblem is chock-full of Ensemble Darkhorses, mainly due to having a large cast. A lot of them, such as Gheb, Glass and Batta the Beast (minor boss characters in both regards, or so the game's creators would have you think), have been elevated to Memetic Badass status.
Archanaea Saga (Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem and their remakes)
- One of the earliest Fire Emblem darkhorses was Catria, who is so popular she inspired a whole archetype (which also influence the equally fan-favorite Cordelia from Awakening). Between her utility as a pegasus knight and the whole unrequited love for Marth.
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
- Ayra the sword mistress, probably due to the fact that she's one of the most powerful units early in the game due to her Meteor Sword skill. Her looks and attitude (cold, tough, ass-kicking on the outside, but quite a sweetie on the inside) also help out. In fact, you can be assured that if there's some fans wishing that Genealogy of the Holy War gets represented in other games, if it's not Sigurd, or Seliph, it's her. Ayra's equally badass daughter Larcei also has quite the fan following.
- Arden, surprisingly for his character type, is extremely popular for both his memetic status as the only Armor Knight in the extremely mount heavy FE4, as well as the respect (and lack thereof) of such that comes with it - this combines with his surprisingly sweet personality and rather hilarious potential relationships makes him very much a darkhorse among Ensemble Darkhorses, as nobody expected him to be so well-liked; his outright memetic status got him ranked as the third highest ranking FE4 character in the entire Choose Your Legends 1 poll, which if you know anything about how big the cast of FE4 is, is really impressive.
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
- Nino qualifies, taking first place in a Nintendo of Japan popularity poll (ahead of the main characters), likely due to being an adorable Woobie who becomes extremely powerful if trained.
- Matthew, who also placed high in the popularity poll.
- Although he is an optional character who can only be recruited in a sidequest, Canas received 7th place in the above popularity poll and is often considered as a must-have character. This is likely due to his well-balanced stats, being the only dark magic (arguably the best magic in the game) user until the last chapter, his usefulness as a healer due to his magic stat, and being capable of dealing more damage than even Athos with Luna. People also seem to like his curious, passionate personality which contrasts with the typical brooding or evil stereotype of dark magicians.
- Denning, a character who only appears as an optional boss (killing him is not required to complete the mission) near the very end of the game fits this trope. He is found in almost every ROM Hack of Fire Emblem and was popular amongst the Fire Emblem fans, and his one-line vocabulary was found in a lot of people's signatures. A Denning was actually reported trolling World of Warcraft for two years.
- Despite its reputation as an Anti-Climax Boss, only showing up at the end and being nothing more than a raging and hateful beast, the nameless Fire Dragon remains memorable as a final boss. Its intimidating appearance even among other Elibian dragons, hellish roars, an epic Leitmotif, a Badass Normal by final boss standards because the previous and next games was a Demon Dragon and Demon King, this one was a plain Fire Dragon, Breaking the Fourth Wall with its hit point counter exceeding that of other bosses, the Fixed Damage Attack wiping out anyone in the game with only two hits, and overall being a mighty dragon that shames the last game's final boss!
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
- Joshua, the game's first Myrmidon. There was a lot of stylish hats involved, with a side of Handsome Lech. His great stat spread doesn't hurt either.
- Similarly, Lute is loved for her stoic yet hilarious moments, cute design and relationships with Artur. Among... other reasons.
- Amelia, Ross and Ewan are all very popular among fans, especially among casual fans of the series. Common reasons include all three being adorable Token Mini Moes with very sympathetic backstories and interesting personalities, all of whom growing into utter badasses should you choose to use them. Alongside that, there's also the heartwarming and very well-written dynamics they have regarding Garcia and Ross, Duessel and Amelia and Saleh and Ewan. Bonus points for the fact all three trainees can be shipped with each other, leading to some really cute Toy Ships.
- Amelia deserves a special mention in particular, as she's practically the Nino of her game; on top of being prime-time waifu material, there's her adorable dynamics with Franz, Ross, Ewan and Duessel making her among the most popular characters in the entire continuity of Magvel. This is bolstered by the notorious fact she can turn into a General when she has the stat spread of a Fragile Speedster, which only adds to her already large popularity. It's telling how well liked she is that in spite of the already-large popularity of the Magvel Trainees, she ranked seventh of the Choose Your Legends 1 poll for Magvel characters, and was the first one who made a debut in Fire Emblem Heroes before any of the other trainees, whom had to wait another two years.
- Marisa, much like Mia and Ayra, pretty much immediately caught on with fans for being a cute and sexy female Myrmidon with a surprisingly shy personality underneath her cool exterior. She was the fifth highest ranking female on the first Choose Your Legends poll, so this isn't too shocking.
Tellius Saga (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn)
- In the same vein as Ayra, Mia (Wayu) has an equal fandom without actual importance. The Myrmidon/Swordmaster/Trueblade classes always have some amount of fandom especially when said character is a Genki Girl with a Cool Sword.
- Similarly, Boyd also boasts a very strong cult following, being one of the most popular Fighters in the series, which is impressive for a class that's generally a mixed-bag in terms of popularity. Common reasons to loving him come from his likable personality, awesome design, as well as being a Lightning Bruiser unit in both games, a rarity for the Fighter class. This only escalated with in regards to Boyd's long absence from Heroes, prompting him to eventually shoot up to 66th Place on the sixth official Choose Your Legends poll.
- Path of Radiance has Oliver, a fat and ugly slave trader with an incredibly ironic love for beauty (which he sees himself as the paragon of), who as a boss dies so easily that the only challenge is getting to him before the allied NPCs kill him. He is loved for two reasons: his characterization being ridiculously over the top to the point of hilarity, and his Leitmotif, the famous Power-Hungry Fool
. He returns in Radiant Dawn, where he was revealed to be Not Quite Dead, and becomes recruitable. - Among series fans, the term "Nephenee Syndrome" refers to characters who are mediocre gameplay-wise but see a disproportionate amount of use from fans regardless due to their popularity for other reasons. Its easy to see why Nephenee made that impression: A demure Farm Girl with a distinctive and stand-out design who also holds the honor of being the first Solider in the localised games.
- Haar for being a flying tank with an eyepatch, and liking to nap everywhere. He also has a surprising amount of dialogue with many of the bosses in Part 4 of Radiant Dawn. Explanation
- In Path of Radiance, Sothe was a small (teenager-ish), weak thief with limited use. In Radiant Dawn, Sothe is a strong, developed Loveable Rogue. He appears as one of the main characters.
- The silent assassin Volke. He's pretty damn good at what he does, too.
- Radiant Dawn has the 3-13 archer. He's a non-playable AI-controlled character that manages to actually help you out a lot in a difficult chapter of the game.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
- Owain, who is an incredibly popular character based on how eccentric he is. His catchphrase "down, sword hand!" also helped make him one of the most popular characters.
- Tharja, the dark mage, proved very popular due to her unorthodox personality, attractive design, and being one of the strongest first-generation characters. She not only placed high in the popularity poll for Awakening, but placed fourth in one of Choose Your Legend polls for Fire Emblem Heroes, which had almost eight hundred characters.
- Mustafa, the boss of chapter 10, is by no means a major character, debuting in the same chapter he's fought and defeated. But his A Father to His Men tendencies, offering to allow any of his men who feel uncomfortable continuing to fight after Emmeryn's sacrifice to desert and he'll take all the blame from Gangrel, made him immensely popular—many fans wish that Chapter 10 wasn't a Rout chapter and therefore there's no way to spare him. As a result of his Anti-Villain tendencies, he became the first single-chapter boss to become playable in Heroes—and what's more, his first appearance was on a banner, not as a Grand Hero Battle reward (the usual method of distributing villains).
Fire Emblem Fates
- Oboro was popular with the Japanese fanbase, placing higher in the character poll that some of the main female characters. This made her the only non-main character to appear in the Top 3.
- Charlotte is a very interesting twist on this trope, as she was initially highly controversial due to a lack of information on her character (when she was announced) making many people assume she was a remorseless seductress who barely cared for anything except gold. This was very quickly amended when people got their hands on her supports, with her having some hilarious or downright heartwarming supports, with her supports with characters like Xander and the Avatar being hailed as some of the best supports in the series. Add to this a surprisingly deep character arc that explores the ramifications of being a Ms. Fanservice, the image of what a "perfect girl" is, and the fact Charlotte is a critical hit machine with insane Strength and Speed, and you have a character who wasn't just Rescued from the Scrappy Heap, but managed to go from The Scrappy into one of Fates' most adored characters.
- Speaking of Fighters, Arthur is also really popular among the fanbase, especially in the west. This is due to his hilarious bad luck, being basically a superhero in a medieval fantasy setting, the fact that he never lets it be an excuse from doing what's right, and especially for how darn sweet he is. Matters are absolutely helped by Cam Clarke, who gave a bombastic and scenery-chewing performance that was one of the few things in a very divisive localization to be universally regarded by both defenders and critics as good. Matters are also helped that he can be spared in Birthright alongside Effie.
- Niles may be one of the most unexpectedly popular characters at this point, even if he's something of a Base-Breaking Character in spite of his mass popularity. When he was first revealed, he didn't get much fanfare. Once it was revealed he'd be the Gay Option for a male Avatar, fans started to take a liking to him. His... interesting supports, particularly his one with Camilla, have resulted in a lot of (positive) notoriety. It doesn't hurt that he's pretty much the only bowman for quite a while on the Nohr route, where archers are very useful.
- An unnamed enemy found near the end of Conquest who starts off with four Rally skills, dubbed "Rallyman" by the fandom, is popular to capture and recruit.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- Lysithea is one of the most popular characters in the game, from a combination of factors that combine story factors (which includes being a Woobie), a recognizable design and voice actress; as well as being consider the best mage in the game (having access to one of easiest ways to trivialize That One Boss during the early game, and access to Warp magic, a staple of great utility units in the franchise). She has the honor of being the first non-main character to win a Choose Your Legends poll, during the 2020 edition.
- Marianne is also one of the more popular Golden Deer, despite being the only character who makes no appearances after the timeskip unless she's part of the player's house. She's quite popular for, among other things, her status as a Woobie, her friendship with Hilda that makes for good shipping material and her design(especially in Three Hopes).
- Fans quickly latched onto the nameless gatekeeper who greets the player outside the monastery. His chipper attitude despite all the chaos surrounding him, combined with his "Greetings, Professor! Nothing to report" Catchphrase (almost always right before giving you a report of current events) and the voice talents of Kyle McCarley helped contribute to his popularity. It's saying something that when he was included in the 2021 Choose Your Legends poll for Heroes, he was outright 1ST place overall, beating Marth by a whopping 25,000 votes. It is also saying something that he is a Secret Character in Three Hopes.
Fire Emblem Engage
- Yunaka quickly became quite popular despite only having plot relevance in her joining chapter. Part of her popularity stems from how useful she is, and part is due to her bubbly personality that she uses as a facade while hiding her Dark and Troubled Past as an assassin, making her both entertaining and somewhat more complex than most characters who join in the early game. Excellent voice acting by Laura Post also helped.
- Rosado is rather popular for just being one of Hortensia's retainers. His status as a Wholesome Crossdresser earned him many fans who appreciated how that trait was not played for laughs.
- Fogado is only important during the Solm arc with temporary Plot Armor, unlike his sister Timerra who appears in cutscenes for the rest of the game after her recruitment. However, he is still very popular due to his fun and interesting personality and for being a fleshed-out dark-skinned character from a country not primarily inspired by medieval Europe (in his case, Solm draws most of its inspiration Brazil and the Middle East).
Fire Emblem Heroes
- Heroes makes these out of lesser-known characters from the franchise, but the absolute king of these has to be Reinhardt. Reinhardt went from a non-playable boss in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, one of the least well-known entries in the franchise, to a thunder-spewing death machine in Heroes. Tellingly, his placing in the Choose Your Legends polls jumped from 584th in the first to 11th in the second.
