Super Smash Bros. Fighters – Fire Emblem series – 02 Roy 

Debut

In the Fire Emblem series: Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (2002)
In the Super Smash Bros. series: Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)

Boxing Ring Title: The Young Lion

Theme Song: Beyond Distant Skies – Roy’s Departure

Roy is the main protagonist of “Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade”. Roy lives in Lycia, one of the six nations in the land of Elibe, and is an upcoming ruler of the Lycian noble house of Pherae.

In "Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade," Roy was off studying in Ostia until he was requested to return home due to his father, Eliwood, falling ill. Upon arriving back home in Pherae, Roy finds out that some bandits are invading the castle! Not only that, but his childhood friend, Lilina, is inside the castle as well! Once Roy and his army take care of the bandits, his father Eliwood entrusts him with leading their kingdom's army, and tells Roy to join up with the Lycia Alliance Army to stop the Kingdom of Bern, who have begun to invade the various kingdoms of the land. Thus, Roy begins his adventure to Castle Araphan, where the meeting of the Lycia Alliance Army will take place.

During this journey, a woman named Ellen stumbles into the group. She begs them to save her mistress, Princess Guinivere, who is being held hostage by a man named Rude. With some assistance from some soldiers who were also arriving late for the meeting, Roy and his army defeat Rude and free Guinivere. Guinivere reveals that she's the princess of Bern, but wants to find a way to peacefully end the war that her brother has started. Though a few are suspicious, Roy trusts her and promises to help her meet with the Lycia Alliance Army.

As they continue their trek to Castle Araphan, Roy receives grim news that two of the Generals of Bern have managed to completely decimate the Lycia Alliance Army! Roy hastens his pace to the castle to look for survivors. They manage to fight off Bern's army and find Hector, the ruler of Castle Araphan, locked in the dungeons. Hector reveals to Roy that the Kingdom of Bern have resurrected the Dragons, who have long since been banished from the land of Elibe. In his last breath, Hector tells Roy that he will have to lead the Lycia Alliance Army in his place, as well as inform him that his daughter, Lilina, knows the location of a Divine Weapon that is effective against Dragons.

As they head to Laus to visit Lord Erik, they find that the kingdom has decided to betray the Lycia Alliance Army for Bern, and attacks Roy! Luckily, they manage to survive. Afterwards Princess Guinivere reveals that her brother, Zephiel, is working with the dragons to "liberate the world", as he put it. They then decide to head for Ostia, but stop at a small village to help them fight off some bandits. The priest of the village, Saul, ends up revealing that Princess Guinivere has stolen the sacred Fire Emblem from her kingdom. He asks her why she did that. Guinivere gives no answer beyond hoping to end the war with no bloodshed.

As they pass through Thria, they briefly stop at its castle to pay respects to Hector's cousin, Orun, who runs the area. Unknown to everyone, Orun's advisor, Wagner, has assassinated Orun and taken control of the castle! He's also holding Sue, Princess of Sacaen, as his prisoner. His attempt to ambush Roy fails, thanks to a thief named Cath overhearing Wagner's plan and relaying it to Roy, allowing Roy to save Sue. Things don't get easier though, as upon arriving in Ostia, they find out that a revolt has occurred!

General Levgance, who is leading the revolt, has managed to not only take over the city and its army, but is also holding Princess Lilina hostage! With some help from the Ilian mercenaries, Roy and his army fight their way to the castle. With some further assistance from Barth and his unit of Ostian loyalists, Roy manages to save Lilina, defeat Levgance, and end the rebellion! Afterwards, Roy informs Lilina of the unfortunate news that befell her father.

Lilina decides to join Roy on his quest, and informs Roy about the whereabouts of the first Divine Weapon: Durandal, the Blazing Blade. Once Roy manages to obtain it, Merlinus arrives and warns Roy and Lilina that someone has stormed the Ostia castle! The invader turns out to be Narcian, who decided to try and take over Ostia. However, his plans are foiled by the timely arrival of Generals Cecilia and Perceval from the Kingdom of Etruria, who force Narcian to retreat.

Under orders from King Mordred, Cecilia and Perceval were sent to protect the Lycia. As part of the deal, Etruria is allowed to use the Lycian Army for its own purposes. Thus, they send Roy and his army out to the Western Isles to deal with the numerous bandits there. Guinivere is left in Cecilia's care. Upon arriving, they get quickly attacked by bandits and try to fight them off. However, Roy soon learns that the bandits are working under the Etrurian kingdom. Roy then heads to various areas of the island to help its citizens, as well as recruiting Elffin and Larum to his cause. After that, he heads to the island's capital, Jutes, to end the oppression. It is here that Roy witnesses one of Bern's Dragons: Aine.

Upon managing to defeat Aine to free the Western Isles, Roy and his army take a small detour to a nearby cave to search for the second Divine Weapon: Armads, the Thunder Axe. Upon grabbing it and leaving, Roy receives terrible news: Advisor Roartz and Arcard have overthrown Etruria's king, Mordred, and have joined forces with the Kingdom of Bern! Due to this, Cecilia was forced to escape with Princess Guinivere, while Percival and General Douglas have been forced to work for Roartz, lest they want the king killed.

Cecilia is trying to gather an army to fight back in Missur, but Bern's Armies are closing in on her position, so Roy decides it's best to head to her location to try and help. Unfortunately for Roy and his army, they are too late, as Bern's king, Zephiel, arrives and effortlessly defeats Cecilia in one hit, severely injuring her. Zephiel then reclaims his traitorous sister, Guinivere, before leaving.

Luckily, not all is lost. Zephiel makes the mistake of leaving the defense of Missur to Narcian, who decides to travel elsewhere, leaving the things in the hands of his lieutenant, Flaer. Furthermore, Zephiel left Guinivere in the care of her personal guard, Miledy, who cares more about Guinivere and her wishes than Zephiels' plans. Thus, Guinivere manages to convince Miledy to help her not only escape, but also team up with Roy and the Lycia Allience Army. Additionally, Cecilia's wounds were treated by a woman named Sophia, who was also locked up in the dungeon with her. Roy and his army are successful at stopping Flaer and reclaiming Missur.

Sophia reveals to Roy that she hails from a hidden village called Arcadia, the City of Dragons. The Bern Army have invaded the place and is currently attacking it, thus she asks Roy for his assistance. Since she helped Cecilia earlier, Roy agrees to help save her village. Although a blinding sandstorm makes the journey difficult, Roy and his army eventually make it to Arcadia and defeat the occupying forces that where there before the reinforcements arrives.

Afterwards, Roy heads to a nearby temple, and - with the help of Sophia - finds the third Divine Weapon: Forblaze, the Infernal Truth. Roy then learns more about the Dragons and The Scouring from the Dragon Elder before Roy decides to head back to Etruria. However, this journey is briefly stopped when a young dragon girl named Fae tried to sneak off to follow Roy, as she wished to see the outside world. After rescuing her, Roy decides to allow her to tag along with him and his army.

Back at Etruria, Roy and his army storm the castle to reclaim the castle from Narcian and rescue King Mordred. The two Etrurian traitors, Roartz and Arcard, escape via a secret entrance. Once Narcian falls, Mordred instructs Douglas to take Roy to head to the Tower of the Saint to not only reclaim it, but to also claim the Divine Light Magic, Aureola.

After all of that, Princess Guinivere knew that her kingdom, Bern, was next to be targeted by Roy. With the hope of ending the war peacefully quickly fading away, Guinivere decides to give Roy her kingdom's greatest treasure: the Fire Emblem; fully knowing that doing so may brand her as a traitor to her kingdom in Bern's history. Despite that, she informs Roy to head south to the Shrine of Seals first to find her kingdom's Divine Weapon.

Before heading out, Roy decides to rename the Lycia Alliance Army to the Etrurian Army. On the path to the Shrine of Seals, Roy ends up passing through either Ilia or Sacae, depending on certain factors in the journey. (Shanna & Thea's total Experience gain VS. Sin & Sue's total Experience gain. Shanna & Thea send Roy to Ilia if theirs is higher, while Sin & Sue send Roy to Sacae if they're higher. The default choice is Ilia if neither are trained, or if their total Experience gained is equal.) Regardless, Roy and his army cross paths with the Etruria traitors, Roartz and Arcard, and deals with them. Roy also finds the fifth Divine Weapon: Maltet, the Blizzard Spear (Ilia's Path) or Mulagir, the Tempest Bow (Sacae's Path).

Princess Guinivere also privately reveals to Roy the truth of her and Zephiel's backstory. Turns out they are half-siblings. Their father truly loved Guinivere's mother, but was forced into marrying Zephiel's mom to establish a connection with the Kingdom of Etruria, causing him to despise Zephiel. His disdain was further strengthened through jealousy when Zephiel tried to gain his father's affection by excelling at his studies and learning military training, since Zephiel managed to outdo him at both. Eventually, their father tried to kill Zephiel with a poisonous drink, which would've worked had Zephiel's most trusted general, Murdock, not saved him. Angered by this betrayal, Zephiel decided to get revenge by faking his death. As their father was checking the casket to ensure that his son was dead, Zephiel pulled out his sword and killed him.

Ever since then, Zephiel became quite strict, but still cared for his sister Guinivere. However, he slowly changed over the years, which eventually lead to where they are now. Guinivere then asks Roy to stop him no matter what, even if it means taking her brother's life.

Upon arriving at the border of Bern, a priest named Yodel would approach Roy to not only assist him and the join the army, but also to deliver him the 6th Divine Weapon: Mulagir, the Tempest Blade (if Roy journeyed to Ilia) or Maltet, the Blizzard Spear (if Roy journeyed to Sacae). He also informs Roy that it seems Bern has managed to resurrect the Dark Dragon, who is also capable of taking on human form. He suspects that the Dark Dragon may be a woman who is always seen at Zephiel's side, referred to as "The Dark Priestess."

Arriving at the Shrine of Seals, Roy and his army find it guarded by Murdock and Galle. They find themselves in a difficult fight, especially when the Wyvern reinforcements arrive, eventually, Roy and his army prevail. They then enter the depths of the shrine, where they manage to find the seventh Divine Weapon: Apocalypse, the Elder's Revelation.

Returning to the surface, Roy and his army proceed to the altar that houses the Binding Blade. Roy places the Fire Emblem into the blade's handle, unsealing it. Through its power, Roy is spontaneously promoted to the Master Lord class!

With nothing stopping them now, Roy and his army storm the capital of Bern and invade the castle. They learn that Zephiel has locked himself up in the throne room. To open it, two members of Roy's army has to activate switches at the opposite ends of the castle. Then Roy has to head to the door and use the Fire Emblem to open it.

Arriving in the throne room, Zephiel reveals his reasons for causing the war: he has gained an intense hatred for humanity, believing them to have grown quite selfish and greedy. Thus, Zephiel summoned the Dark Dragon so that they can end humanity together and give the world back to the Dragons.

Roy then engages in a tough fight against Zephiel, which ends with Roy slaying Zephiel, ending his tyranny.

However, the journey isn't over yet! If the player has managed to find the seven Divine Weapons (as well as making sure that they - and the Binding Blade - do not to break) Zephiel's sword begins to glow, revealing it to be the eighth and final Divine Weapon: Eckesachs, the Sword of the Kings of Bern! The other seven weapons begin to glow and resonate with each other before firing off a beam of light that leads to the hidden Dragon Temple! As the Dark Priestess is no where to be seen, Roy and his army suspect that it is where she ran off to.

Roy and his army quickly set off to the Dragon Temple, fighting off the remaining force Bern. They even recruit a retired warrior named Karel to their cause if his niece Fir, his brother-in-law Bartre, or Roy talks to him. Along the way, they cross paths with Brunya, the last Wyvern General standing. She attempts to stop Roy from entering the Dragon Temple as per Zephiel's last order to her, but ultimately fails.

As Roy and select members of his army enter the Dragon Temple, they encounter Jahn, the last remaining Dragon of the Dragon Temple. Jahn tells Roy that the previous dragons the prince fought were mindless "War Dragons." As Roy journeyed further into the Temple, Jahn reveals some startling new info that explains the more intricate details of The Scouring from long ago.

1000 years ago, the Dragons entered a war against humanity. While the Dragons were quite powerful, they had one weakness: they had fewer numbers than the humans did, and weren't able to produce as many replacements. As they began to lose the war, they asked the Divine Dragons - who were neutral to the war - if one of them could turn into a Dark Dragon so that they could endlessly produce War Dragons. The Divine Dragons refused, claiming that it would be defying the laws of nature. The Dragons held a meeting to figure out how to convince the Divine Dragons to help them, but before they even realized it, the Divine Dragons had left to parts unknown.

However, one Divine Dragon, a young girl named Idunn, stayed behind. She was hesitant on leaving, worrying that doing so would cause the Dragons to eventually go to war with the Divine Dragons. That hesitation allowed the Dragons to capture her. Despite their success, Idunn still refused to go with their plan. Thus, they went with a very drastic measure: Destroy her mind, her heart, and her soul so that she will follow their leaders commands.

With Idunn now nothing more than a mindless drone, she began to produce War Dragons, which allowed the Dragons to turn the tide of battle. Soon, the humans came to learn of the "Idunn the Dark Dragon," and realized it would be best to deal with her first. Crafting the eight Divine Weapons and giving them to eight capable warriors, the eight heroes stormed into the Dragon Temple and fought the Dragons!

However, when the weapons and the dragons clashed with each other, strange things happened. It began to snow in the middle of the summer, and the stars shined brightly in the day. This bizarre incident would cause the Dragons to transform into human forms to survive. This allowed the eight heroes to deal with the Dragons more easily. One by one, the Dragons began to fall, until their leader was slain.

They then prepared to face Idunn, only to come face-to-face with a young girl just staring blankly at them. She wouldn't even react to anything they said. Without the Dragon Leader around to give orders, she didn't know what to do. Regardless, the heroes knew they had to stop her. When they lunged at her to attack, she responded back by transforming into her dragon form to strike back at them. Eventually, one of the eight Heroes, Hartmut, used the Binding Blade and slashed her. As the sword responds to the emotions and thoughts of the wielder, it didn't kill Idunn. Instead, it put her in a deep sleep.

Hartmut would manage to convince the other heroes to build a temple in the forest, where they would place Idunn. Hartmut would use the Binding Blade and the Fire Emblem to seal her away in there. He would then establish the Kingdom of Bern near the temple so that he and his descendants could watch over and protect the seal.

1000 years later, Hartmut's descendant, Zephiel, would break the seal and re-awaken Idunn, becoming her new master, as well as saving Jahn. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake the Dragon leader made years ago, Zephiel made sure to give his last command to Idunn so she could still carry out his plan if he were to fall to Roy. (which he did)

Having told Roy all he knew, Jahn attacked Roy. Although he put up a good fight, he too fell to Roy. All that was left was to face Idunn.

Entering her chambers, Roy tried to persuade her to stop following Zephiel's orders, but to no avail. With no other options, Roy and his army had to fight her, and she turns into her Dark Dragon Form.

If Roy manages to deal the final blow to her with the Binding Blade, a flash of light happens as her demonic-looking dragon form disintegrates, leaving her in her human form, unconscious. However, without the power of the Dark Dragon, the weight of 1000 years began to cause the Dragon Temple to become unstable! Roy orders the others to escape, while he quickly rushes over to Idunn to pick her up and carry her. Roy manages to make it out at the last second, after which he asks Merlinus if could take help take Idunn to Arcadia.

Some time later, Roy and Lilina head to Bern to watch Guinivere get crowned as the kingdom's new ruler. Though Roy worries that there may be some people who think Guinivere "betrayed" the kingdom to claim the throne from her brother, Lilina is confident that she'll turn those opinions around and bring a new peaceful era to her kingdom. After the ceremony, Roy heads back home to check up on his father.

Some unknown time later, Roy visits Arcadia to see how well Idunn is doing. The Elder reveals that they managed to restore Idunn's soul, but she still hasn't displayed any sort of emotion yet. He then tells Roy that it may be some time before she's back to normal.

After saying that, young Fae comes running in to inform them that Idunn had managed to laugh for the first time in centuries! Looks like her road to recovery may not be as long as they had thought.

"Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade" is a prequel that takes place before the events of "Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade." Roy only shows up at the very end as a young boy, where he's seen running off with his childhood friend Lilina to play; all while his father Eliwood and Lilina's father Hector watch.

Personality-wise, Roy is upstanding and thoughtful, with a natural proclivity to help and support others. He would prefer to avoid bloodshed and works to find peaceful solutions to a conflict. He’s also a talented tactician, and is surprisingly perceptive and cunning for his age. Many characters in the story also note that, after taking over as the leader of the Lycia Alliance Army, Roy has greatly matured. That being said, his childhood friend, Lilina, reveals that Roy is somewhat socially awkward, and is rather oblivious to the fact that many girls in his army – herself included – have a crush on him.

In Super Smash Bros., Roy fights by using the Binding Blade and its power of flame! Compared to other sword fighters, he prefers using backhanded swings. His sword does more damage towards its hilt, so get as close as you can as you attack your foes!

Special Moves 

Neutral Special: Flare Blade

By holding the Special Button, Roy reels back a bit and charges his sword. Releasing the Special Button has Roy swing it overhead towards the ground, emitting an explosion of flames! How much damage and knockback he delivers depends on how long you charge it.

If you manage to charge it up all the way...

BOOM!!

A massive explosion occurs, and the opponent takes heavy damage! If they were shielding, their shield will instantly break open, leaving them stunned! However, Roy will take 10% recoil damage upon using a fully charged Flare Blade, regardless if he lands the move on the opponent or not.

As it takes quite a while to fully charge Flare Blade, the only way you might be able to land a fully-charged one is on a stunned opponent.

Inspired by the animation that plays when Roy uses the Binding Blade to either attack an enemy unit from afar, or manages to land a critical hit with it in “Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.” 

Side Special: Double-Edge Dance

Roy swings his sword forward. Pressing the Special Button again will have Roy quickly follow up with an additional slash. Roy can do about three follow-ups to his initial slash, for a total of four hits.

While you’ll need to hold the Control Stick left or right and press the Special Button to initiate the attack, you can tilt the Control Stick up or down for the follow up hits! Each direction is color-coded as well!

Forward/Neutral is red, and the final hit is the strongest of the three.

Up is blue, and can be used on the second swing. It can easily hit foes up above, and the final hit has the shortest end-lag.

Down is green, and can be used on the third swing! (trying to use it on the second swing will have Roy use a neutral swing instead) The final hit deals the most damage, but has the weakest knockback, and noticeable end-lag. 

In total, you have 18 total combinations of Double-Edge Dance! Mix-and-match wisely!

Inspired by the ability, Astra, introduced in “Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.” Astra gives the user a small chance of performing five consecutive hits on an opponent.

Notably, Roy is unable to learn Astra, as the skill doesn’t exist in his game. However, he could finally learn the skill in "Fire Emblem Heroes." 

Up Special: Blazer

Roy jumps upward while swinging his sword skyward! Anyone nearby gets dragged up with him and scorched by the flames of his sword!

You can also control the direction Roy goes as he rises. Forward pushes him… forwards, but at the cost of some upwards momentum. Backwards allows him to rise slightly higher, at the cost of forward momentum. Not pressing left or right will give Roy an “in-between” of the two.

Inspired by the jumping attack the Hero Class performs in "Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade." The fire effect is inspired by Roy's critical hit animation from "Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade" as well. 

Down Special: Counter

Roy gets in a defensive stance. If anyone happens to attack him while he’s in this stance...

…Roy counters by swinging his sword at the foe while shouting “Now!” or “Gotcha!”

Inspired by the core element of the Fire Emblem games. When a foe attacks the player’s unit, the unit will retaliate if they are equipped with a weapon that has a compatible range. (example: if the foe attacks your unit up close and your unit is holding a sword, they can counter; if the foe attacks from afar and your unit is holding a sword, they can’t because the foe is too far away) This also applies vice-versa when the player’s unit attacks a foe. Neither will retaliate if their HP drops to 0, in which case they are defeated.

Much later, the game “Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance” would introduce the Counter skill. How much damage it deals to the foe depends on the game – from half of the damage the user received to all of the damage the user received – but it allows it’s user to deal extra damage in addition to the retaliation attack.

“Fire Emblem Awakening” would allow Roy to gain this skill if the player changes his class to a Warrior. 

Final Smash: Critical Hit

Roy swings his sword around to try and hit any nearby enemies. Any foe that gets hit will get stunned.

Regardless if he hits anyone with the initial swing, Roy then follows up with a more powerful strike! If that hits anyone, a health bar will pop up and drain all the way to empty as the foe goes flying away, bathed in flames!

Inspired by the the Critical Hits that can happen in various Fire Emblem games. They have a rare chance of happening, but when they do, the user will to 3x the damage to their foe!

The animation for the move is taken from Roy performing a Critical Hit while wielding the Binding Blade in “Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.”

The health bar is modeled after how the Health Bar looks like in “Fire Emblem Awakening.” Yellow bars mean that the unit has plenty of health. As they take damage, the yellow bars disappear, and if they are all gone, the unit is considered dead. (unless you’re playing on Casual Mode, in which case your unit is simply defeated and retreats back to the base to safety)

Additional Notes

Despite sharing a similar moveset to Marth, he’s not considered his Echo Fighter. Which might be for the best, as Roy has his own Echo Fighter in Chrom, and considering that the game gives you the option to stack the Echo Fighters with the fighter they're sharing moves with, it would look pretty clunky, as this mock-up shows.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first time Roy is given an English Voice Actor in the Super Smash Bros. series: Ray Chase, who previously voiced the character in “Fire Emblem Heroes”. Before that, he mostly retained the voice clips provided by his Japanese voice actor, Jun Fukuyama. Incidentally, Ray Chaser has said he enjoys playing as Roy in “Super Smash Bros. Melee”, and he was happy that he was chosen to be Roy’s voice.

No, the release dates of Roy’s game and when he became playable in Super Smash Bros. aren’t mixed up, Roy literally made his debut to the world in “Super Smash Bros. Melee.” His game was intended to come out prior to Super Smash Bros. Melee’s release, but a delay prevented that from happening.

When including Roy in "Super Smash Bros. Melee," Masahiro Sakurai assumed that he was a hot-blooded and energetic character, due to Roy's early concept art - seen above - giving him that interpretation. Thus, Sakurai  made and characterized him with that in mind. When Sakurai later played "Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade," he was surprised to find out that Roy is actually pretty calm and collected character! That being said, Super Smash Bros.’s interpretation of Roy has managed to make its way into “Fire Emblem Heroes,” while also not completely overriding his portrayal in “The Binding Blade.”

Roy is, thus far, the only main character in the Fire Emblem series who’s signature weapon, the Binding Blade, can actually break after a certain amount of uses in his game. Talk about unlucky. Good thing Roy doesn't have to worry about it breaking in Super Smash Bros.

Pictured: Concept art for Roy (who's name was originally Ike) for the scrapped game, "Fire Emblem: The Dark Priestess."

Before "Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade" entered development for the Game Boy Advance, it was originally titled "Fire Emblem: Priestess of Darkness" and was in development for the Nintendo 64. Notably, the game was meant to be a prequel to "Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon," and the protagonist of the game was called Ike, though he would later be renamed - and rewritten - into the Roy we all know and love today.

Top Row, left-to-right: Lilina, Shanna, and Sue. Bottom Row, left-to-right: Larum, Cecilia, and Sophia.

At the end of his adventure, Roy can end up with Lilina, Shanna, Sue, Larum, Cecilia, or Sophia, depending on who he has the highest Support with.

With that being said, various promotional material heavily implies Roy ends up with his childhood friend, Lilina.

Left-to-right: Ninian, Lyn, and Fiora.

 In “Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade,” Roy’s father, Eliwood, can end up marrying either Ninian, Lyn, Fiora , or an unnamed woman at the end of his adventure.

Just like with what was said up above, various promotional materials (and especially Lilina and Marcus's B Support conversation in “Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade”) heavily imply that Eliwood chooses Ninian. On that note, Ninian is an Ice Dragon, while her son Roy wields the power of flames thanks to the Binding Blade. Pretty amusing and a bit ironic, huh? As an aside, this also means that Roy is one-quarter dragon.

Roy never got to meet his mother, as she died early on after he was born. However, he is given a chance of meeting her – and even teaming up with her – in “Fire Emblem Heroes”, so that’s something!

Super Smash Bros. Fighters – Fire Emblem series – 01 Marth

Debut

In the Fire Emblem series: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990 in Japan, 2020 in US)
In the Super Smash Bros. series: Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)

Boxing Ring Title: The Hero-King

Theme Song: Shadow Dragon Medley

Marth is the main protagonist of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, and its sequel Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. This also includes their remakes, which are titled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow respectively.

In Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Marth lives in the Kingdom of Altea with his father Cornelius, his mother Liza, and his sister Elice. Marth spends most of his days practicing his sword techniques, as well as his various studies.

One day, a massive war breaks out between Altea and the Kingdom of Dolhr! King Cornelius went off to try and stop it with some assistance from the Kingdom of Gra, but Gra betrayed them. Gra's soldiers then stormed Altea to take over. Thanks to Elice, Marth and a few remaining soldiers would manage to escape, where they begin to sail to the Kingdom of Talys, who's ruler was a friend of Marth's father. As they make their getaway, Marth swears to return to Altea one day to free his homeland, avenge his fallen father, and rescue his sister and mother.

Two years later, Marth and his army have spent their time training to get stronger. Marth would also befriend the Talys's princess, Caeda, and the two would grow quite fond of one another. When a group of Pirates invaded Talys, Marth and his army would manage to fight them off, after which the king encouraged Marth to head off to Aurelis to find allies so that he can reclaim Altea. As they approached Aurelis, Marth and his army discovered that Aurelis was in the process of being conquered by Dohlr! At the request of Princess Nyna and her gaurdian Hardin, Marth and his army head off to free the people.

Once Aurelis was secured, Nyna would entrust Marth with the mythical Fire Emblem, and the forces that were resisting Dolhr unite under Marth. Having dubbed their new army "The Archanean League" Marth and his army would head off to reclaim Archanea. During his travels, Marth would meet a man named Bantu, who tells him he's looking for the manakete named Tiki, who is the last of the divine Naga clan. He decides to journey with Marth to find her. Marth would later be told to look for the legendary blade - the Falchion - in order to defeat Dohlr's ruler Medeus, an evil and twisted manakete.

After freeing the kingdom of Achanea, Marth and his army head to Gra, not only to try and find the legendary blade, but also to exact revenge on its king, Jiol, for betraying Marth's father. Although they managed to bring Gra down, Falchion was nowhere in sight. Marth 's advisor, Malledus, suggests they head to Khadein, theorizing about the possibility that Gharnef has it.

The trip to Khadein proved fruitless, as neither the Falchion or Gharnef were there. However, Marth receives a telepathic message from a White Mage named Gotoh, who informs Marth that Gharnef did take the Falchion. However, trying to reclaim it from him now would be foolish, as Gharnef has learned a powerful magic spell called "Imhullu" which protects him from all harm. The only thing that can break the spell is the "Starlight" spell, which requires the Starsphere and the Lightsphere to make it. With this info, Marth decides it's better to head off and reclaim Altea from Morzas.

As Marth confronts Morzas, he received terrible news from the villain: Morzas has not only personally killed his mother, but handed his sister off to Gharnef! Despite this heavy news, Marth manages to slay Morzas and free Altea. Nyna insists that Marth should stop and rest for a bit, but Marth chooses to put on a brave face and and greet his people of Altea, who are all joyful at their freedom.

Afterwards, Marth and his army would head off to the Fane of Raman to try and find the Starsphere and the Lightsphere, all while a group called the Sable Order would try and stop them. Along the way, they come across Tiki, a Manakete who's been napping for quite some time. Before Marth and friends had arrived, Gharnef tried to manipulate her by whispering lies into her ears while she slept. This plan was working until Bantu woke her up. After which, Tiki joined Marth's army.

Managing to find both of the orbs, Marth decides it would be good to defeat Grust before heading off to free Macedon. Once Grust falls, Marth heads to Macedon and helps Princess Minerva overthrow her brother, Michalis, who has turned on everyone due to falling for Gharnef's lies. During this, Marth manages to find the humble abode of Gotoh, who uses the spheres Marth found to make the Starlight spell! With Michalis's defeat, Marth and his army march to Thabes to confront Gharnef.

Making their way into Gharnef's castle, the villain would "thank" Marth for obtaining the various powerful weapons for him, as well as killing off his competition. Gharnef then creates various illusions of himself and sends them off to kill Marth and his army!

Despite the bombardment of fake illusions, Marth and another member of his army would manage to get past them and find the real Gharnef. Said member of Marth's army uses the Starlight spell to make Gharnef vulnerable, allowing Marth to kill Gharnef. With that, Marth not only reclaims the Falchion blade, but also reunites with his sister, Elice!

With no other opposition to oppose them, Marth and his army marched towards Dolhr Keep to challenge the evil dragon, Medeus. With the Falchion in hand, Marth manages to defeat Medeus and end his reign of terror!

At the end of the war, spurred by Nyna’s urging, Marth would finally confess his feelings to Princess Caeda, to which she reciprocates. Sometime afterwards, Marth would return the Fire Emblem to Princess Nyna as well.

One year later. the events of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem occur. Marth has spent most of his time with the reconstruction of Altea, which is nearing completion. Additionally, Caeda has become his fiancée, and the two plan to wed very soon. However, on the day of their wedding, Marth receives a letter from his old friend, Hardin - who had married Nyna and became Emperor of Archnea - asking Marth to stop an incoming insurrection at Grust. Thus, the wedding was put on hold.

Upon arriving, Marth meets with Lang, the general occupying the force in the region, and a rather malicious and rude individual. Lang informs Marth that the plan is to reclaim the two royal children of Grust, Princess Yuliya and Prince Jubelo, and kill General Lorenz, who is leading the rebellion. Since Lorenz was a former ally of Marth's this causes the Hero-King to question the situation. Upon confronting Lorenz, Marth's suspicions are proven true when Lorenz reveals that he's trying to protect the young princess and prince. While an uprising in Grust did occur, it was in response to Archnea's harsh dominance of the region. Lorenz soon succumbs to the fatal wounds he took in a previous battle, but not before entrusting the prince and princess to Marth, as well as warning him of Emperor Hardin's sudden change into a cruel tyrant.

Before Marth could claim the kids, Lang would take them away and order Marth to head to Macedon, where their next mission is to save Princess Minerva, who has been capture by one of her generals. During this, Marth meets a woman named Linde, who gives Marth the Fire Emblem. She tells Marth that Emperoress Nyna had asked her to deliver it to Marth in secret, but for reasons Nyna didn't tell her. Despite their efforts, Marth and his army were unable to rescue Minerva, who had unknowingly been taken away by her brother Michalis, who has somehow come back from the dead.

Afterwards, Lang would order Marth to reclaim Princess Yuliya and Prince Jubelo, as a man named Ogma had stolen them away from him. Unable to stand Lang's harsh attitude anymore, Marth opposes to follow his orders. Lang takes this as a personal declaration of war against Archnea, and flees to inform Hardin. Marth and his army then move to instead rescue and take in Ogma and the two children.

Once they recruits them, Marth intended to get assistance from Hardin to remove Lang from his General position, only for Caeda to arrive. She reveals to Marth that Hardin's Archanean League, Gra, and Aurelis stormed Altea and took over. Caeda only managed to escape thanks to Marth's sister Elice. With this new info, they realize that Hardin set them all up to conquer Altea!

As Marth hurries back to his kingdom, he arrives at Olbern Keep, headquarters of General Lang. Marth decides it would be best to deal with him first to stop the Archanean abuse of the Grustian people. Upon Lang's defeat, Marth rescues a man named Wendell, who was on a quest to recover the 12 lost pieces of the Starsphere. Wendell asks for Marth assistance in this urgent task, and Marth agrees. Marth and his army than make a short detour to the Fane of Raman. Upon arriving, they find that the place has been ransacked by thieves! They also learn from Bantu that Gotoh has taken Tiki to the Ice Dragon Temple.

At Chiasmir Bridge, Marth comes face-to-face with Hardin, who informs Marth that he's trying to conquer various areas of the country to try and stop the dissent with him. Additionally, Hardin possesses a power that prevents other from hurting him, so Marth and his army are eventually forced to retreat by sea to Khadein.

As Marth tries to figure out how to defeat Hardin and reclaim his kingdom, Khadein Mages attempt to ambush Marth's Army, with the Archanean soldiers right behind them! During this kerfuffle, Marth would find Princess Minerva, who joins their cause once more. They also come across two students of Wendell, one of them - named Arlen who seized control of Khadein and sent its soldiers after Marth, due to feeling jealous that Wendel trusted Merric - Wendell's other student - more than him.

After getting Arlen to see the error of his ways, Gotoh contacts Marth via telepathy, and informs Marth that Hardin has been possessed by a mysterious orb called the Darksphere. The Darksphere brings out incredible power to its holder, but also amplifies the feelings of wrath and envy. He then asks Marth to visit him at the Ice Dragon Temple to obtain the Lightsphere, which may be able to counteract the Darksphere and save Hardin.

As Marth and his army make their way to the Ice Dragon Temple, they manage to find the pieces of the Starsphere shards. They also meet a man named Xane, who tells Marth the true history of Archanea, the Manaketes, and the creation of both the Falchion and the Fire Emblem. Arriving at the Ice Dragon Temple, Gotoh uses the twelve shards to restore the Starsphere, afterwhich he gives both it and the Lightsphere to Marth to use against Hardin. He also allows Marth to wake up Tiki to assist him on his journey, on the condition that Marth collects all five of the Fire Emblem's spheres to restore its true power and ensure Tiki's safety.

Gotoh then sends Marth and his army back to Altea using his magic, and Marth once again heads off to free Altea. At the battle's end, Gotoh uses telepathy to inform Marth that Gharnef has returned, and is holding Elice, Maria, and Lena hostage for unknown reasons. He then suspects that Nyna is the next target, so Marth and his army rush to Archanean to stop Hardin and get to Nyna before Gharnef can. However, upon arriving, they learn that Hardin has already sent Nyna to Gharnef.

The two armies engage in battle, which ends with Marth killing Hardin. In his dying breath, Hardin is freed from the Darksphere's - as well as Gharnef's - control, and begs Marth to save Nyna and stop Gharnef. He then gives Marth the final sphere, allowing the Fire Emblem to regain its power and transform into the Binding Shield! Marth then receives news from Gotoh that Gharnef is planning on resurrecting Medeus again by using the four maidens he kidnapped earlier: Elice, Maria, Lena, and Nyna! To stop Gharnef, Marth heads to the Dragon's Table, where a member of his army would once again use the Starlight to weaken Gharnef, allowing Marth to slay him.

Unfortunately, they were too late, as Medeus was fully resurrected into the frightening Shadow Dragon! However, thanks to the efforts of Merric, Sirius, Minerva, and Julian, the women were all freed from Medeus' control, allowing Marth to head in and kill Medeus with the Falchion for the second and final time.

With the war finally over, most of Archanea’s noble houses were in ruins. The surviving rulers ceded sovereignty over their territories over to Marth, who would take this opportunity to unite the continent as the Archanean Alliance, where he would serve as its first king, with Caeda serving as his queen. Under their reign, the continent experienced a golden era of peace.

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow is an enhanced remake of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. While the story is similar, a notable new feature is that the player can make a customizable avatar character named Kris, who serves as Marth's tactician and close friend. The player can choose if Kris is a boy or a girl, change their name, pick a hairstyle, choose the hair and eye color, as well as choose a detail about Kris's past that will influence their stat growth throughout the adventure. If Kris manages to live to the end, Marth gives Kris a personal thank you for helping him save Altea, as well as helping him and his army defeat Gharnef and Medeus.

2000 years later, Fire Emblem Awakening happens. While Marth doesn't have a role in the story, his descendant, Lucina, uses his name as an alias when she travels back in time to rescue her father, Chrom, from an upcoming calamity, as well as to try and prevent her disastrous future from occurring. The player can also recruit Marth, as well as some members of his army, via Spotpass and DLC.

Marth also starred in a short animated adaption of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, which adapted the early parts of the game's adventures. Notably, the animated adaption reveals that Marth's tiara belongs to his sister, and that he wears it to honor her. Additionally, this was the US's first exposure to the Fire Emblem series, as the games wouldn't start coming to America until the seventh installment, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, was released in 2003. As a final note, Marth's name was changed to "Mars" here, and he was also given the surname of Lowell.

Personality-wise, Marth’s most consistent traits are his bravery and nobility. His portrayal depends on what you’re playing. The two original games shown him acting somewhat childish and naive, while the remake of the first game changes him to being wise and somewhat mature. The remake of the second game also carries the “wise and mature” bit, though also includes a few nods to his original childish personality.

In Super Smash Bros., Marth fights foes by using graceful swipes with his Falchion. The tip of his sword is where he does the most damage, so try to keep some space between you and your foe!

Special Moves 

Neutral Special: Shield Breaker

By holding the Special Button, Marth reels back a bit and charges his sword. Releasing the Special Button has Marth stab it forward! How much damage he deals depends on how much you charge it. If you hit the opponent’s head, extra damage will be dealt!

You can also slightly aim the stab upwards or downwards by tilting the Control Stick in that direction as you’re charging.

If you use the move on an opponent that happens to be shielding…

CRACK!!

The opponent’s shield breaks, leaving them open for any attack you wish!

Inspired by the Rapier weapon, which debuted in “Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.” Rapiers have the ability to deal extra damage to armored enemies.

The animation of Shield Breaker is inspired by Marth's attack animation while using a Rapier in “Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem."

Side Special: Dancing Blade

Marth swings his sword forward. Pressing the Special Button again will have Marth quickly follow up with an additional slash. Marth can do about three follow-ups to his initial slash, for a total of four hits.

While you’ll need to hold the Control Stick left or right and press the Special Button to initiate the attack, you can tilt the Control Stick up or down for the follow up hits! Each direction is color-coded as well!

Forward/Neutral is red, and the final hit is the strongest of the three.

Up is blue, and can be used on the second swing. It can easily hit foes up above, and the final hit has the shortest end-lag.

Down is green, and can be used on the third swing! (trying to use it on the second swing will have Marth use a neutral swing instead) The final hit deals the most damage, but has the weakest knockback, and noticeable end-lag.

In total, you have 18 total combinations of Dancing Blade! Mix-and-match wisely!

Inspired by the ability, Astra, introduced in “Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.” Astra gives the user a small chance of performing five consecutive hits on an opponent.

Marth is unable to learn Astra in any of his games, but the “King Marth” bonus unit in “Fire Emblem Awakening” has it as an ability.

The English version of “Fire Emblem Fates” has an ability called “Dancing Blade” for the Lodestar class, and Marth is able to obtain it. However, the ability's original Japanese name - Gentle Blade - doesn’t match up with the Super Smash Bros. move's name - Marvelous Combination. Additionally, it gives Marth – and the Lodestar class – the unrelated effect of being faster, but slightly dropping their defense. 

Up Special: Dolphin Slash 

Marth jumps upward while swinging his sword skyward! The move has the most knockback at the beginning of the attack, and less knockback at any other point.

The move seems to be inspired by the final blow of the critical hit animation of the Swordmaster class in “Fire Emblem Thracia 776.” 

Much later in “Fire Emblem Warriors”, Marth can be seen performing this move as one of his Strong Attacks, though it is not named Dolphin Slash.

Down Special: Counter

Marth gets in a defensive stance. If anyone happens to attack him while he’s in this stance…

…Marth counters by swinging his sword at the foe while shouting “My turn!”, “Predictable!” or “Nice try!”

Inspired by the core element of the Fire Emblem games. When a foe attacks the player’s unit, the unit will retaliate if they are equipped with a weapon that has a compatible range. (example: if the foe attacks your unit up close and your unit is holding a sword, they can counter; if the foe attacks from afar and your unit is holding a sword, they can’t because the foe is too far away) This also applies vice-versa when the player’s unit attacks a foe. Neither will retaliate if their HP drops to 0, in which case they are defeated.

Much later, the game “Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance” would introduce the Counter skill. How much damage it deals to the foe depends on the game – from half of the damage the user received to all of the damage the user received – but it allows it’s user to deal extra damage in addition to the retaliation attack.

“Fire Emblem Awakening” would allow Marth to gain this skill if the player changes his class to a Warrior. 

Final Smash: Critical Hit

Marth holds his sword skyward as a light shimmers!

Marth then rushes forward! If he collides with anyone, a health bar will pop up and drain all the way to empty as the foe goes flying away!

Be careful! If you use the move in the air and there's no one to collide into, Marth could accidentally KO himself by flinging himself offscreen! If you think you’re gonna miss, press the Special Button again to have Marth swing the sword and stop his momentum!

Inspired by the the Critical Hits that can happen in various Fire Emblem games. They have a rare chance of happening, but when they do, the user will to 3x the damage to their foe!

The animation for the move is taken from Marth performing a Critical Hit while wielding the Falchion, Mercurius, or a Rapier in “Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.”

The health bar is modeled after how the Health Bar looks like in “Fire Emblem Awakening.” Yellow bars mean that the unit has plenty of health. As they take damage, the yellow bars disappear, and if they are all gone, the unit is considered dead. (unless you’re playing on Casual Mode, in which case your unit is simply defeated and retreats back to the base to safety)

Additional Notes

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first time Marth is given an English Voice Actor in the Super Smash Bros. series: Yuri Lowenthal, who previously voiced him in “Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.” Before that, Marth always used the voice clips from his Japanese Voice Actor: Hikaru Midorikawa.

Speaking of Hikaru Midorikawa, he first voiced Marth in the animated adaption of “Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem!” Guess Nintendo and Intelligent Systems must of loved his portrayal of the character to recast him as Marth’s voice in both the Fire Emblem games and the Super Smash Bros. series.

Left: Marth's original look in "Shadow Dragon." Right: Marth's redesign in "Mystery of the Emblem."

Marth’s original appearance was quite different to how it is today. His current outfit wouldn’t appear until the sequel, “Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem,“ which has - barring a few modifications here and there - stuck ever since.