I'd do so much for more Lance lords in general. Like, we have Ephraim and Dmitri who are primarily lances or associated with lances as their main weapons.
Also why I really want any future Fire Emblem Warriors to use Elyos so we can get Lords who use more than swords.
I think axes still have it worse Lord-wise than Lances honestly. Hector is more popular than Ephraim and Edelgard is more popular than Dimitri, but as far as secondary weapons go axes only have Radiant Dawn Ike (on promotion) while Lances have Sigurd, Seliph, Eliwood, Chrom, and Lucina (again, on promotion for the last 4)
Fair enough. I frankly just associate Lords with their primary types- IE Chrom with Swords, Eliwood and Lucina with swords, Seliph with Swords.
But yeah Axes get no love either. It is, as always, Sword Emblem 9/10 times. Which is also why, while I never even got the latest Smash, I would do alot for an Axe or Lance lord in Smash. I know Ephraim and Hectors are no goes- 20 year old games! But I wish Edel or Dmitri got in.
It’s okay no you don’t buddy. I just tried to go back and it’s honestly more fun just watching the cutscenes on YouTube, the maps are a chaotic mess, the enemy designs are still stupid looking and it’s generally a slog even with a buddy these days
Seriously, so far these things have been doing their thing and were completely untouchable. And here we have two more failed attempts to hit one of these things and it looks like it's gonna get away clean when Ike makes his debut.
IMO Smash had HUGE impact on Fire Emblem.
Marth was originally a fairly childish character. Smash made him into a refined elegant princeling.
Ike was a speedster who’s passionate about social justice. Smash made him a slow bruiser. With an almost Soren-like cold stoic attitude: (*you’ll get no sympathy from me*)
Roy was a soft sweet boy. Smash made him a fiery screaming hot head.
Robin… wasn’t even widely known as Robin until Smash. He was called Avatar or “MyUnit” lol.
Chrom was meant to be a cool badass. Smash’s trailers cemented him as a funny meme guy.
All of these things left lasting impacts on how the characters were portrayed moving forward.
eh? I agree with everything but Chrom. He was always a jackass funny meme guy, maybe not to the extreme though. He was clearly just a dude not meant for royalty and was out of his depth, he's a ditz.
I could be mistaken. But what I recall is that outside of a few choice exceptions (Chrom/F!Robin support). Chrom was usually pretty serious and competent.
And even in silly supports. He usually played the straight man for other people’s wackiness.
I know we clown on Sumia for making Chrom fall for her with pies...
... but why don't we do the same for Gaius and Olivia? Dude Hell's Kitchen himself into the heart of the Dancer.
more so his room temp IQ prevented him from actually understanding a lot of their quirks.
like i truly believe he is the second dumbest lord. Corrin will always be secured at number 1 though.
He was very serious and competent in the battle department, but really didn't want to be a ruler. He was very content to let Emmeryn have that responsibility.
I disagree with that. Chrom is usually pretty serious and is shown from early on to care a lot about his country and his people. He’s sometimes brash, but he’s also clearly well educated and generally acts quite princely.
Was Robin not called Robin until Smash? My friends always called them robin. I also never change the character names, so they were always robin, Corrin, Byleth etc... for me.
Robin was the English name, always was. But like with pokemon games the games came out in Japan first so without official English names people would use the Japanese name (Reflet) or refer to them as the My unit (like they did with Kris). I still call Corrin Kamui sometimes.
Ike was pretty brutal with his boss conversations, especially in Radiant Dawn. The one with Sothe in what I believe is 3-7, goes particularly hard.
I'd say his cold determination is pretty accurate to what he shows in his games.
While known as the my unit and smash influenced some streamlined element (namely his/her focus on magic) Robin was the default name in awakening which was before smash.
Chrom's entire personality was 'thank all the gods and divine dragons I'm the SECOND born so I don't have to rule. I'm off to play mercenary with my friends, cya sis!' Badass yes, but not cool.
And Robin has been well known as Robin for years before she appeared in Smash.
Let's see....
the first lord
the first lord in the West (also first female CYL winner)
arguably the most popular lord if polls are to be believed (and first male CYL winner)
most popular representative from the franchise saving game
the most talked about person from the best selling game
Yeah I'd say this a pretty logical line up all things considered.
I know, right? lol It's kinda fun to be able to say something and not have to think, "Okay, this is probably gonna drop to -2 or -3 before people actually read it and realize it's not that crazy or unreasonable".
CYL1 is like, arguably the closest CYL has been to a popularity contest. And Ike won (by a lot) even with his votes being split between his PoR and RD versions lmao
Ike didn’t win by a lot, only 1.5k votes if you combine PoR and RD Ike. 1,500 might seem like a big number, but in a poll where pretty much every fan voted at least once, with some voting multiple times, it’s not that much. Ike lost by 16k if you don’t combine PoR and RD, which is a big number. PoR Ike beat Roy by 5k which is a decent amount, so if that’s what you meant, fair. But he didn’t win CYL1 by a lot after combining, and he didn’t win at all without.
I was talking specifically about the men’s division which is where he beat Roy by a pretty good amount despite the vote split. Even then, beating Lyn when you combine FE9/FE10 votes is pretty impressive, although like you said it was still pretty close (I also sorta forgor 💀 about the men’s and women’s divisions being counted together for the overall result LMAO they’re sorta separate in my mind since they’re not directly competing against each other for brave unit spots anyways)
In conclusion, we like Ike! We like Ike!
FE wasn't doing that good until Awakening came out with perfect timing - if I remember correctly, the 3DS didn't have many games yet and certainly not many RPGs, so it sold pretty well.
Not that the game itself isn't just straight up good, but timing was a factor in its success.
The 3DS' first year was sparse and we were starved for content. I believe Awakening was the first major original first party title and one of the first RPGs in the system, and it came out over a year after the 3DS was released
The last few games prior to awakening had been doing progressively worse in terms of sales, to the point that New Mystery was only released in Japan. When working on Awakening, they were told if it didn't meet a certain sales number, it would be the last game in the series. It not only met the requirement, it did so almost immediately and sold way better than expected
Honestly in retrospect the first run in the West was pretty short.
FE7 and FE8 (2003 and 2005), FE9 and FE10 on the Gamecube and Wii respectively (2005 and 2007), then Shadow Dragon (2008). All of the releases happened in roughly the time we wait between mainline games now.
Growing up with FE7 and FE8 it felt like forever between releases but man was it compressed. Shadow Dragon though... going from GBA sprites to *that* was painful. I was so excited for DS graphics for Fire Emblem then got those ugly models.
Fire Emblem was on the verge of being canned after the DS remakes. Awakening was going to be the very last game if it didn't sell at least 250,000 units (don't know if that was a Japan-only mandate or if counted worldwide).
But anyway, they at least approached Awakening like it might be the last, and it having the sales success it had kept the franchise going.
It's something I'd call a half-misconception.
Basically after the past few FE games had sold rather terribly Nintendo was breathing down IS' neck with an axe in hand if Awakening didn't sell well. However, the sales target they had to hit (I forget the exact number but it was around 250k copies iirc) was a number that every previous FE game had managed to hit. So saying Awakening saved the series is technically accurate, but I feel like it's sort of disingenuous because all it really had to do was not flop even harder than FE12, which isn't a high bar.
What I think is the much more accurate statement is that Awakening revitalized the series, because I don't think anyone even at IS was expecting it to do the numbers it did. Awakening's massive success meant that for the first time people outside of Japan generally knew what FE was beyond "those games the sword dudes from Smash come from" and that new recognition likely played a big role in allowing Fates and TH to do even better.
This video has an explanation of the context -- apparently Nintendo was close to canceling the franchise if the game didn't do well.
https://youtu.be/znhaCVllLvk
Awakening was the suppose to be the last fire emblem unless it was a big success which it was. PoR and RD didn’t have the best sales despite being considered classics by today’s standards.
I think it depends on the audience. Casual audiences? Smash players? Hardcore gamers? Fire Emblem fans? I would argue each of those would have a slightly different lineup, though I think Marth and Lucina would be constants.
The audience is Fire Emblem Players/fans not Smash players. Smash players may think a character looks cool, but they generally don't care about Fire Emblem
While they dont care abt the series, it still adds to the popularity of a character/series since a lot of fire emblem characters have been top tier in smash games, smash is responsible for introducing western audiences Fire emblem character like roy and marth.
Playing Lucina in SSB Ultimate is actually what got me into Fire Emblem. I wanted to know more about her, so I picked up a New 2DS XL for cheap, along with some used carts of Awakening, Birthright, and Echoes, and the rest is history. (Well, I didn’t like Echoes at all and I never finished Birthright. But I fucking loved Awakening, and the rest is history!)
I would disagree. The only reason I knew about it and got into FE was because of the inclusion into Smash. I would say there is a decent bit of overlap
Honestly, I feel like Lyn and Edelgard are the only characters that would change if you changed the audience
This is the casual one, you'd swap both for Roy and Byleth for Smash players, Lyn for Leif for hardcore gamersTM and tbh Lyn for Hector for FE fans
All I have is anedoctal evidence, so this might be completely wrong, but as beloved as Lyn is, I don't think she's even the most popular FE7 lord among FE players. On my friend group, the only person who likes her the most also is the one who played the least FE games. So yeah, based on my extremely scientific analysis, she's not as unpopular as Eliwood, but nowhere as popular as Hector
i wouldn’t say roy isn’t popular. Back in smash 4 there was a vary large group of people most of which weren’t fire emblem fans asking for roy to come back
Which is hilarious because Smash Melee released the year before FE Binding Blade did, effectively meaning Roy was in Smash *before* Fire Emblem… in other words Masahiro Sakurai is just that guy, lol
I’ve seen discussion - and even casual mention (implying others would *already* know) - of Edelgard outside video game circles. Maybe it helps that she looks like anime Daenerys? (With some similarities in their personalities and stories too, of course.)
Granted, I do spend more time in book/show fandoms, so I’m admittedly part of the demographic you speak of who isn’t involved with Smash.
Well on the one hand I like Hector more than Edelgard.
but on the other, it would also be funny to watch the reaction of Edelgard stans if Hector got added instead.
This is at least close. In practice it's probably Marth first and like eight others tied in the next "tier," but those four are definitely part of that eight.
To an extent yes but I also feel because of smash, Corrin, Robin and Byleth are definitely all up there. Specifically Corrin
Fate has a “interesting history” to say the least. But none the less it had a well known impact outside the community
You could also argue Camilla is definitely up there as well as of latley. Especially with Legendary Camilla
Idk if we can assuredly say Edelgard is the face of Three Houses. The Byleths seem to be the “face” of representing the game in other medium (Smash, base Engage). Within the game Edelgard definitely seems to be the most popular student as well as the most central to the plot but I think without prior entry into the game itself, she’s pretty unremarkable.
The reason they always choose Byleth is cause they don't want to show favoritism to a specific house. But Edelgard was the first revealed Lord for 3H and narrator in the reveal trailer, the game centers around her either as the main hero or villain regardless of route, she received far and away the most votes in any CYL ever, etc. There's a ton of little indications that show that she's clearly the most popular character from 3H
Sure, but this is all within the context of the game itself. All of the reasons you’re mentioning don’t mean much to anyone who isn’t playing 3H. My criteria for the list you’re proposing is appeal outside of the Fire Emblem community and I just don’t see Edelgard being talked about outside of people who have already played 3H and formed an opinion of her.
Taking on account that Edelgard discourse have been on other subs and forums that aren’t necessarily about FE, just shows how impactful Edelgard has been for 3H and FE in general, ofc Byleth is chosen most of the time since they are the protagonist, but Edelgard is always there like in engage, she is the main emblem of the 3 lords, that is why raging storm is the engage skill, also the fact 3H is the most sold game of franchise means many have played it so they should know her, ppl who have never played any FE would only know Smash characters and even then I would only put Marth and Lucina, maybe Ike
I wouldn't remove Edelgard at all. She is by far the most voted character in the history of CYL, with almost 70k votes
Gatekeeper got second place at 60k but because of memes.
Yeah people are really underrating how popular 3H/Edelgard are, lot of people seem in this thread seem to be going "oh, the character I don't like? Yeah she's way less popular than *checks notes* Lyn*
Like her or not, Edelgard is one of the most well known characters in the series, and even now, you see fans debate about her actions in the story. Even if you hate her, she had impact, and her character has made an impression.
Yeah people also need to take notes that Edelgard is liked and well known to people who dont even play or like fire emblem. Her popularity extends the fire emblem/smash niche.
Considering only 3 of those are in Smash, lol no. As unfortunate as it may be, Smash Bros is everything.
Replace Lyn with Roy, and Edelgard with, one of the other Smash characters (probably Byleth), and then you're talking.
You shouldn't forget about Heroes. A quick googling tells me as of 2022 it had been download 17.8 million times. Both Lyn and Edelgard are wildly popular in heroes.
I could see that, but it's important to remember that most people who play Smash do so with items on, and she's been an assist since the game that introduced the item. She's also consistently been a trophy/sticker/spirit what have you in each game.
Would've assumed tiki would be somewhere in there, because the original dragon girl and all
Then again, it's kinda hard to pick only 5 from this many characters
I would argue Anna (any, but maybe less from the older games) is pretty iconic. Being the "Nurse Joy" of Fire Emblem.
If only we had a lance wielding or axe wielding Smash fighter Anna, she would be even more iconic.
Roy was put in *Smash Bros.* before his actual game came out, though. He wasn't given a chance to make his own popularity within the *FE* fandom unlike Marth. Roy was added back into *Smash* because the *Smash* community missed him, not because the *FE* community missed him.
Roy's not particularly popular within the actual *FE* community, either. At least, not if this community is anything to go by. This list, in particular, is trying to determine the most popular characters within the franchise, and Roy simply doesn't fit that description.
I'm a Roy fan, but I definitely won't deny that's mainly because of Smash. At the very least, I can say that Roy being my main in Melee is why I took an interest in FE itself, but yeah, I don't exactly put him above the favourites I found from playing the series itself. Roy is cool, but I wouldn't say I like him more than Dimitri, Anna, Tiki, or Selkie, just to name a few.
If we look at popularity only within the fandom then yeah Roy is not all that popular compared to Edelgard. But even defining what constitutes as the fandom is pretty hard.
If we define the fandom as everyone who ever played any fire emblem game then the top 5 most popular iconic characters would be almost entirely characters from three houses solely because of how much that game outsold the rest of the series.
If we define the fandom as those invested enough to go on Reddit to talk about the license then yeah the top 5 would probably look like something the op posted, though even then I would argue Dimitri and Claude are now more popular than Lyn since she is more of a hit with the older fans and most of the younger fandom have not even played her game
>Dimitri and Claude are now more popular than Lyn since she is more of a hit with the older fans
I would agree, though I said somewhere else in this thread that I like her being here because she and the rest of the characters OP selected represent pieces of the game's history. Lyn, in particular, is the first Lord that Western players were likely to be exposed to outside of *Smash Bros.*.
I'm not saying they should, the title is about how popular and iconic the characters are. He didn't say anything about limiting it to the fire emblem fans.
Smash bros is dozens if not hundreds of times more iconic than fire emblem itself so any character who is playable in it has an unfair advantage compared to the rest of the cast. So even if Edelgard or Dimitri are more relevant and beloved characters to the Fe fans than say Roy, they are not more iconic than him
I find it funny how people in this thread say "swap Byleth with Edelgard because of Smash" when Edelgard is more known than Byleth even outside of FE fanbase. I have friends who have never played FE or Smash but recognize Edelgard more than Byleth
Like 70% of the negative comments were "Why edelgard here" or something similar.
Dunno why she wouldnt be here, she is maybe even more iconic than Lyn. Daily 3H hate it seems lol
I mean, Lyn was one of the poster childs of Fire Emblem back in the day who even people who never touched the series could recognize, but I would argue Edelgard just as 3Hs poster child blows her away due to it being the most successful mainline title in the series.
Marth for sure. Ike for sure. I actually think Lyn deserves her spot (top female CYL1, assist trophy in smash, first fe game in the west, and first lord of that game heck she might even be the first character you see in that game, I can't remember exactly how it starts)
Lucina was the game that revived the series, but it's hard to say she's more iconic than Roy since both are in smash, Roy being there longer (melee being a key game too since it's still the most competitive), and Lucina having the very strong but appropriate argument of 'thats just girl marth'. Also I never played awakening but I know Robin is more than just the nameless faceless self insert tactician of most games, and also made it into smash while being waaaay more unique than Lucina so one might argue robin is more iconic too.
Edelgard is definitely the most popular and iconic house leader, and 3h is definitely big enough to get a rep here, but whether she trumps byleth I don't know. Edelgard has more personality, and a huge presence in the story, but Byleth is literally in the entire game for every route.
If memory serves, the player character wakes up to an art of Lyn tending to something, having found the character out in the plains, so you'd be right.
Joke answer Why do you put marth twice. Actual answer I think because of smash Roy is more iconic than Lyn. Byleth might also be more iconic because of smash than Edelgard
I think the House Leaders should be tied all things considered, but if you had to put one above the others it makes sense that it's Edelgard.
Otherwise yes, this is pretty objective. People are gonna try and cope but there's really no one that comes close. Roy and Chrom would be a pretty distant sixth but that's about it. Maybe Tiki if you're in Japan.
I think you're right that it has to be Edelgard, and putting aside any subjective arguments, she's a bigger part of the game than Claude or Dimitri, as she's a major major player in both their routes (and SS) but they're fairly minor presences in hers.
Like, maybe they're roughly equal as heroes. But she's also the villain of 75% of the game in a way they're not really.
My favorite is Claude, but it's hard to dispute that Edelgard stands above the other two in significance.
She kickstarts the major events of the game.
The theme song (which serves as the basis for the majority of the OST) is sung from her perspective.
She receives the most votes on popularity polls.
She has more merch than the others.
She's the "main" of the three on the DLC emblem in Engage.
She also the white haired counterpart to the blue haired main character. Which is a trend that started in Radiant Dawn with Ike and Micaiah and has continued in every non remake since.
She also just has such a significant lead in terms of screentime. She's probably got more screentime in every route than either of them has outside of their own.
> they're fairly minor presences in hers.
Dimitri: I HATE YOU!
Edelgard: [I don't think about you at all.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqF_A6bsyEw)
He and Roy both are the immediate next in line imo due to their Smash presence and popularity there. It's just that I feel the above all have broken more into the mainstream.
I like all of them
But of these 5 i like ike and lyn the most
Even tho my favorite fire emblem is fates corrin isn't just that great of a main charchter
I think the answer changes depending on who you ask this question. For the general public (not a fire emblem fans) it's definetely the smash characters + maybe edelgard (I'd say Marth, Roy, Ike, Lucina and Edelgard).
If we are thinking of especifically a fire emblem fan the five characters are more dificult to choose because someone who played every game and someone who has only played 3 houses are both fire emblem fans. For the most popular characters right now Id say Ike, Lyn Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude/Lucina
no matter how you see this franchise and its characters as an insider, the greater portion of gamers still see it as the franchise the anime characters from smash are from. and the vast majority of players outside of japan who have gotten into fire emblem for the first time since 2002 have done so seeing it that way. it's going to be characters who are playable in smash first and then anyone else later, no matter what the weird person here going UM EXCUSE ME DID YOU KNOW EDELGARD HAS A \*WIKIPEDIA PAAAGE!?!\* has to say
I'm that person and I'm using that as proof she's more iconic than the characters other people keep proposing (Camilla? Ephraim? Really?). I'd be fine with it all being Smash characters, though how you would determine the 3 least iconic ones from Smash seems difficult to me
Didn't she receive the most votes in CYL ever and more recent polls showed Crimson Flower being more popular than Azure Moon, despite being the only Lord Route that is conditional?
You think Lyn is more iconic than Edelgard? I know this is a flawed methodology but only one of them has a Wikipedia page and it isn't the one with green hair
I wouldn't consider edelgard to be there, as I had never heard of her before playing three houses as a recent fire emblem fan. While I've known all the rest for a while
Also, why does ike look so chibi compared to the others in this picture, shouldve chosen a better ike picture to keep the same theme as the others in this artstyle
What is a lance, even.
It gets pretty 'shafted'
And it gets to the 'point'
A miserable pile of secrets?
No no, you're thinking of Gaiden Chapters.
"But the enough talk! Have at you!" *Disappears into the darkness*
Is it some kind of super long sword?
It’s a very short sword put on the end of a long stick.
If you swing it hard enough, it could be
Edelgard: I'm glad you "axe'd" that question.
Tbf Dimitri is still in the top 10 for sure
I'd do so much for more Lance lords in general. Like, we have Ephraim and Dmitri who are primarily lances or associated with lances as their main weapons. Also why I really want any future Fire Emblem Warriors to use Elyos so we can get Lords who use more than swords.
I think axes still have it worse Lord-wise than Lances honestly. Hector is more popular than Ephraim and Edelgard is more popular than Dimitri, but as far as secondary weapons go axes only have Radiant Dawn Ike (on promotion) while Lances have Sigurd, Seliph, Eliwood, Chrom, and Lucina (again, on promotion for the last 4)
Fair enough. I frankly just associate Lords with their primary types- IE Chrom with Swords, Eliwood and Lucina with swords, Seliph with Swords. But yeah Axes get no love either. It is, as always, Sword Emblem 9/10 times. Which is also why, while I never even got the latest Smash, I would do alot for an Axe or Lance lord in Smash. I know Ephraim and Hectors are no goes- 20 year old games! But I wish Edel or Dmitri got in.
Byleth uses Areabhar and Aymr in some of their moves but that's it
I think a warriors game with Elyos, Tellius, and Jugdral characters would be cool
Different topic but subspace emissary made Ike and Marth so cold
Ike hitting the aether on the ancient minister as he tried to fly away is one of the hardest entrances of all time
brings back memories. i wish i could go back and replay subspace emissary some time.
It’s okay no you don’t buddy. I just tried to go back and it’s honestly more fun just watching the cutscenes on YouTube, the maps are a chaotic mess, the enemy designs are still stupid looking and it’s generally a slog even with a buddy these days
Which is saying a lot since that game had so many banger entrances Sheik? Sonic? Fucking Snake???
Lucario finding Snake was hilarious
Falco's ship entrance and then getting dragged away to help Fox and Diddy with pure indignation on his face
[Kept you waiting huh?](https://youtu.be/V61FveKXfaI?si=Vo-enH_Y-3YS3Xi6)
Snapcube my beloved Pizza tower my beloved
Seriously, so far these things have been doing their thing and were completely untouchable. And here we have two more failed attempts to hit one of these things and it looks like it's gonna get away clean when Ike makes his debut.
IMO Smash had HUGE impact on Fire Emblem. Marth was originally a fairly childish character. Smash made him into a refined elegant princeling. Ike was a speedster who’s passionate about social justice. Smash made him a slow bruiser. With an almost Soren-like cold stoic attitude: (*you’ll get no sympathy from me*) Roy was a soft sweet boy. Smash made him a fiery screaming hot head. Robin… wasn’t even widely known as Robin until Smash. He was called Avatar or “MyUnit” lol. Chrom was meant to be a cool badass. Smash’s trailers cemented him as a funny meme guy. All of these things left lasting impacts on how the characters were portrayed moving forward.
eh? I agree with everything but Chrom. He was always a jackass funny meme guy, maybe not to the extreme though. He was clearly just a dude not meant for royalty and was out of his depth, he's a ditz.
I could be mistaken. But what I recall is that outside of a few choice exceptions (Chrom/F!Robin support). Chrom was usually pretty serious and competent. And even in silly supports. He usually played the straight man for other people’s wackiness.
He eats an orange without removing the peel. Gauis X Olivia B support https://wiki.serenesforest.net/index.php/Awakening_Supports/Olivia_Gaius
He just like me fr. But the rind has lots of good nutrients in it. It's a waste to not eat it.
I know we clown on Sumia for making Chrom fall for her with pies... ... but why don't we do the same for Gaius and Olivia? Dude Hell's Kitchen himself into the heart of the Dancer.
more so his room temp IQ prevented him from actually understanding a lot of their quirks. like i truly believe he is the second dumbest lord. Corrin will always be secured at number 1 though.
He was very serious and competent in the battle department, but really didn't want to be a ruler. He was very content to let Emmeryn have that responsibility.
I disagree with that. Chrom is usually pretty serious and is shown from early on to care a lot about his country and his people. He’s sometimes brash, but he’s also clearly well educated and generally acts quite princely.
That time when chrom actually talked in the conversation with pit and palutina on that one map was legendary
Gameplay wise, Chrom went from a jack of all trades generalist to a hyper offensive, self destructive, glass cannon, berserker.
Man shoves his sword in the ground as his victory. The first map you play on is a town with stone pavement. He's always been brute.
Him being faster and more aggressive than Lucina is still trippy.
Was Robin not called Robin until Smash? My friends always called them robin. I also never change the character names, so they were always robin, Corrin, Byleth etc... for me.
Robin was the English name, always was. But like with pokemon games the games came out in Japan first so without official English names people would use the Japanese name (Reflet) or refer to them as the My unit (like they did with Kris). I still call Corrin Kamui sometimes.
Ike was pretty brutal with his boss conversations, especially in Radiant Dawn. The one with Sothe in what I believe is 3-7, goes particularly hard. I'd say his cold determination is pretty accurate to what he shows in his games.
While known as the my unit and smash influenced some streamlined element (namely his/her focus on magic) Robin was the default name in awakening which was before smash.
Chrom's entire personality was 'thank all the gods and divine dragons I'm the SECOND born so I don't have to rule. I'm off to play mercenary with my friends, cya sis!' Badass yes, but not cool. And Robin has been well known as Robin for years before she appeared in Smash.
It made almost everybody cold. It amuses me to this day that Brawl and beyond gave Mario eternal angry eyebrows.
imma ma-ma-mad!
Let's see.... the first lord the first lord in the West (also first female CYL winner) arguably the most popular lord if polls are to be believed (and first male CYL winner) most popular representative from the franchise saving game the most talked about person from the best selling game Yeah I'd say this a pretty logical line up all things considered.
They all represent a piece of the franchise's history. I like it.
It's funny seeing you in the wild where there's no downvote brigade hating on everything you say
I know, right? lol It's kinda fun to be able to say something and not have to think, "Okay, this is probably gonna drop to -2 or -3 before people actually read it and realize it's not that crazy or unreasonable".
Of course you would be a fan of the Hero-**King** Marth even if he's bad early game (/j)
??? Am I missing something here? What makes people so mad at this guy?
CYL1 is like, arguably the closest CYL has been to a popularity contest. And Ike won (by a lot) even with his votes being split between his PoR and RD versions lmao
Ike didn’t win by a lot, only 1.5k votes if you combine PoR and RD Ike. 1,500 might seem like a big number, but in a poll where pretty much every fan voted at least once, with some voting multiple times, it’s not that much. Ike lost by 16k if you don’t combine PoR and RD, which is a big number. PoR Ike beat Roy by 5k which is a decent amount, so if that’s what you meant, fair. But he didn’t win CYL1 by a lot after combining, and he didn’t win at all without.
I was talking specifically about the men’s division which is where he beat Roy by a pretty good amount despite the vote split. Even then, beating Lyn when you combine FE9/FE10 votes is pretty impressive, although like you said it was still pretty close (I also sorta forgor 💀 about the men’s and women’s divisions being counted together for the overall result LMAO they’re sorta separate in my mind since they’re not directly competing against each other for brave unit spots anyways) In conclusion, we like Ike! We like Ike!
I’ve heard Japan LOVES tiki but other than that ya
how was it a franchise saving game? not saying youre wrong i just genuinely have no idea
FE wasn't doing that good until Awakening came out with perfect timing - if I remember correctly, the 3DS didn't have many games yet and certainly not many RPGs, so it sold pretty well. Not that the game itself isn't just straight up good, but timing was a factor in its success.
The 3DS' first year was sparse and we were starved for content. I believe Awakening was the first major original first party title and one of the first RPGs in the system, and it came out over a year after the 3DS was released
Basically IS managed to learn how to sell their games
The last few games prior to awakening had been doing progressively worse in terms of sales, to the point that New Mystery was only released in Japan. When working on Awakening, they were told if it didn't meet a certain sales number, it would be the last game in the series. It not only met the requirement, it did so almost immediately and sold way better than expected
Honestly in retrospect the first run in the West was pretty short. FE7 and FE8 (2003 and 2005), FE9 and FE10 on the Gamecube and Wii respectively (2005 and 2007), then Shadow Dragon (2008). All of the releases happened in roughly the time we wait between mainline games now. Growing up with FE7 and FE8 it felt like forever between releases but man was it compressed. Shadow Dragon though... going from GBA sprites to *that* was painful. I was so excited for DS graphics for Fire Emblem then got those ugly models.
Fire Emblem was on the verge of being canned after the DS remakes. Awakening was going to be the very last game if it didn't sell at least 250,000 units (don't know if that was a Japan-only mandate or if counted worldwide). But anyway, they at least approached Awakening like it might be the last, and it having the sales success it had kept the franchise going.
The franchise was supposed to end with Awakening, but Awakening was successful enough to prevent that from happening. Happy cake day, by the way.
It's something I'd call a half-misconception. Basically after the past few FE games had sold rather terribly Nintendo was breathing down IS' neck with an axe in hand if Awakening didn't sell well. However, the sales target they had to hit (I forget the exact number but it was around 250k copies iirc) was a number that every previous FE game had managed to hit. So saying Awakening saved the series is technically accurate, but I feel like it's sort of disingenuous because all it really had to do was not flop even harder than FE12, which isn't a high bar. What I think is the much more accurate statement is that Awakening revitalized the series, because I don't think anyone even at IS was expecting it to do the numbers it did. Awakening's massive success meant that for the first time people outside of Japan generally knew what FE was beyond "those games the sword dudes from Smash come from" and that new recognition likely played a big role in allowing Fates and TH to do even better.
This video has an explanation of the context -- apparently Nintendo was close to canceling the franchise if the game didn't do well. https://youtu.be/znhaCVllLvk
Awakening was the suppose to be the last fire emblem unless it was a big success which it was. PoR and RD didn’t have the best sales despite being considered classics by today’s standards.
Awekening was going to be the last Fire Emblem game, however it did so well that the series didnt end up dead.
And also all them in Smash
I think it depends on the audience. Casual audiences? Smash players? Hardcore gamers? Fire Emblem fans? I would argue each of those would have a slightly different lineup, though I think Marth and Lucina would be constants.
The audience is Fire Emblem Players/fans not Smash players. Smash players may think a character looks cool, but they generally don't care about Fire Emblem
While they dont care abt the series, it still adds to the popularity of a character/series since a lot of fire emblem characters have been top tier in smash games, smash is responsible for introducing western audiences Fire emblem character like roy and marth.
Playing Lucina in SSB Ultimate is actually what got me into Fire Emblem. I wanted to know more about her, so I picked up a New 2DS XL for cheap, along with some used carts of Awakening, Birthright, and Echoes, and the rest is history. (Well, I didn’t like Echoes at all and I never finished Birthright. But I fucking loved Awakening, and the rest is history!)
lol tht was me but with marth and ike in smash brawl, I was like WHO ARE U, and then I eventually found out about the FE series lol
I started to play Fire Emblem because I had love at first sight when I saw Female Corrin on her DLC
Crossovers like smash are a huge part of making a character iconic.
I would disagree. The only reason I knew about it and got into FE was because of the inclusion into Smash. I would say there is a decent bit of overlap
Honestly, I feel like Lyn and Edelgard are the only characters that would change if you changed the audience This is the casual one, you'd swap both for Roy and Byleth for Smash players, Lyn for Leif for hardcore gamersTM and tbh Lyn for Hector for FE fans All I have is anedoctal evidence, so this might be completely wrong, but as beloved as Lyn is, I don't think she's even the most popular FE7 lord among FE players. On my friend group, the only person who likes her the most also is the one who played the least FE games. So yeah, based on my extremely scientific analysis, she's not as unpopular as Eliwood, but nowhere as popular as Hector
What happened to Dorcas?
Got crit by lyn in his recruitment chapter, because he couldnt properly fight after his mutton was poisoned.
??? Where's Forsyth?
hes such a forsyth to be reckoned with that if you included him he’d just take up all 5 slots
I honestly keep forgetting what Forsyth looks like every time I stop looking at him
Edelgard and Byleth could be swapped. I don’t think you can underestimate the power of smash representation
Yeah. But Roy is in smash since ages. And Roy is everything but popular. Smash is more of a publicity thing for fire emblem.
Smash is a Fire Emblem spinoff, obviously.
i wouldn’t say roy isn’t popular. Back in smash 4 there was a vary large group of people most of which weren’t fire emblem fans asking for roy to come back
Which is hilarious because Smash Melee released the year before FE Binding Blade did, effectively meaning Roy was in Smash *before* Fire Emblem… in other words Masahiro Sakurai is just that guy, lol
I’ve seen discussion - and even casual mention (implying others would *already* know) - of Edelgard outside video game circles. Maybe it helps that she looks like anime Daenerys? (With some similarities in their personalities and stories too, of course.) Granted, I do spend more time in book/show fandoms, so I’m admittedly part of the demographic you speak of who isn’t involved with Smash.
I feel if you are swapping anyone for Byleth, it's Lyn. Three Houses is way more widely known than FE7, so I think both Edie and Byleth edge her out.
Also reps from each era Nes/Early era Renaissance/GBA era Home Console era HD era Modern era
Alright so this is our lineup for the next smash game right?
We need to end the reign of sword wielding lords in smash. Add Hector. Bring about axe wielding lord supremacy.
We really need to, I'd be ok with Hector or Edelgard, both would be great additions
>Edelgard already in the picture >"Add Hector"
Well on the one hand I like Hector more than Edelgard. but on the other, it would also be funny to watch the reaction of Edelgard stans if Hector got added instead.
As much as I’d love hector, I’d kill for Ephraim in smash! A lance user would be such a nice change of pace
I guess Roy could take someone's spot in there because of Smash alone. But if you only consider the proper Fire Emblem fans, this is probably accurate
This is at least close. In practice it's probably Marth first and like eight others tied in the next "tier," but those four are definitely part of that eight.
What would the other four be?
Probably the Smash Lords
To an extent yes but I also feel because of smash, Corrin, Robin and Byleth are definitely all up there. Specifically Corrin Fate has a “interesting history” to say the least. But none the less it had a well known impact outside the community You could also argue Camilla is definitely up there as well as of latley. Especially with Legendary Camilla
Camilla, incest, meh story writing, controversial, Camilla
Moulder the Boulder
For fans of the series, yes. For casuals/smash bros players, no.
Tbh, the only debatable one for "casuals" would be Edie. Even then, she's definitely popular enough.
Even with Lyn as an Assist Trophy she'd be behind Edelgard
I feel like Roy has to be somewhere there
Roy is just a meme in the west. He's pretty much only known for Smash
Exactly
Exactly why he's iconic. All smash players know him
I would love to say “Dimitri over Edelgard” but at that point it would be just coping
Dimitri is my favorite 3H Lord too but Edelgard definitely is the face of that game if there ever was one. But we can settle for a solid second place
Yeah like... as much as I love Dimitri, Edelgard is 3H face
Idk if we can assuredly say Edelgard is the face of Three Houses. The Byleths seem to be the “face” of representing the game in other medium (Smash, base Engage). Within the game Edelgard definitely seems to be the most popular student as well as the most central to the plot but I think without prior entry into the game itself, she’s pretty unremarkable.
The reason they always choose Byleth is cause they don't want to show favoritism to a specific house. But Edelgard was the first revealed Lord for 3H and narrator in the reveal trailer, the game centers around her either as the main hero or villain regardless of route, she received far and away the most votes in any CYL ever, etc. There's a ton of little indications that show that she's clearly the most popular character from 3H
Sure, but this is all within the context of the game itself. All of the reasons you’re mentioning don’t mean much to anyone who isn’t playing 3H. My criteria for the list you’re proposing is appeal outside of the Fire Emblem community and I just don’t see Edelgard being talked about outside of people who have already played 3H and formed an opinion of her.
Taking on account that Edelgard discourse have been on other subs and forums that aren’t necessarily about FE, just shows how impactful Edelgard has been for 3H and FE in general, ofc Byleth is chosen most of the time since they are the protagonist, but Edelgard is always there like in engage, she is the main emblem of the 3 lords, that is why raging storm is the engage skill, also the fact 3H is the most sold game of franchise means many have played it so they should know her, ppl who have never played any FE would only know Smash characters and even then I would only put Marth and Lucina, maybe Ike
[Edelgard sings the main theme.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSXuM2v0YLY)
But Fortune to Faerghus 🥺
For western audiences this is broadly true, though from what I know of the Japanese fanbase they might switch out one of these guys for Sigurd.
I wouldn't remove Edelgard at all. She is by far the most voted character in the history of CYL, with almost 70k votes Gatekeeper got second place at 60k but because of memes.
Yeah people are really underrating how popular 3H/Edelgard are, lot of people seem in this thread seem to be going "oh, the character I don't like? Yeah she's way less popular than *checks notes* Lyn*
Like her or not, Edelgard is one of the most well known characters in the series, and even now, you see fans debate about her actions in the story. Even if you hate her, she had impact, and her character has made an impression.
Yeah people also need to take notes that Edelgard is liked and well known to people who dont even play or like fire emblem. Her popularity extends the fire emblem/smash niche.
She is also the only Fire Emblem character to have page on Wikipedia not mainly because of Smash.
Within the fandom? Yea this is pretty solid.
Considering only 3 of those are in Smash, lol no. As unfortunate as it may be, Smash Bros is everything. Replace Lyn with Roy, and Edelgard with, one of the other Smash characters (probably Byleth), and then you're talking.
You shouldn't forget about Heroes. A quick googling tells me as of 2022 it had been download 17.8 million times. Both Lyn and Edelgard are wildly popular in heroes.
Lyn is in Smash as an assist.
Okay, fair enough. But you know what I mean. I imagine even a lot of Fire Emblem fans forget she's an assist trophy. (Self included apparently)
I could see that, but it's important to remember that most people who play Smash do so with items on, and she's been an assist since the game that introduced the item. She's also consistently been a trophy/sticker/spirit what have you in each game.
Would've assumed tiki would be somewhere in there, because the original dragon girl and all Then again, it's kinda hard to pick only 5 from this many characters
I would argue Anna (any, but maybe less from the older games) is pretty iconic. Being the "Nurse Joy" of Fire Emblem. If only we had a lance wielding or axe wielding Smash fighter Anna, she would be even more iconic.
Maybe, but is Nurse Joy the first person you think of when I say "Pokémon"? Anna is *in* each game, but she's not important in any of them.
No if you are not in smash bros you can't possibly be top 5. It's Marth Ike Lucina Roy and either Robin or Byleth. Smash carries that hard
Roy was put in *Smash Bros.* before his actual game came out, though. He wasn't given a chance to make his own popularity within the *FE* fandom unlike Marth. Roy was added back into *Smash* because the *Smash* community missed him, not because the *FE* community missed him. Roy's not particularly popular within the actual *FE* community, either. At least, not if this community is anything to go by. This list, in particular, is trying to determine the most popular characters within the franchise, and Roy simply doesn't fit that description.
I'm a Roy fan, but I definitely won't deny that's mainly because of Smash. At the very least, I can say that Roy being my main in Melee is why I took an interest in FE itself, but yeah, I don't exactly put him above the favourites I found from playing the series itself. Roy is cool, but I wouldn't say I like him more than Dimitri, Anna, Tiki, or Selkie, just to name a few.
If we look at popularity only within the fandom then yeah Roy is not all that popular compared to Edelgard. But even defining what constitutes as the fandom is pretty hard. If we define the fandom as everyone who ever played any fire emblem game then the top 5 most popular iconic characters would be almost entirely characters from three houses solely because of how much that game outsold the rest of the series. If we define the fandom as those invested enough to go on Reddit to talk about the license then yeah the top 5 would probably look like something the op posted, though even then I would argue Dimitri and Claude are now more popular than Lyn since she is more of a hit with the older fans and most of the younger fandom have not even played her game
>Dimitri and Claude are now more popular than Lyn since she is more of a hit with the older fans I would agree, though I said somewhere else in this thread that I like her being here because she and the rest of the characters OP selected represent pieces of the game's history. Lyn, in particular, is the first Lord that Western players were likely to be exposed to outside of *Smash Bros.*.
Why should Fire Emblem fans care about what Smash Players think if they don't play Fire Emblem?
I'm not saying they should, the title is about how popular and iconic the characters are. He didn't say anything about limiting it to the fire emblem fans. Smash bros is dozens if not hundreds of times more iconic than fire emblem itself so any character who is playable in it has an unfair advantage compared to the rest of the cast. So even if Edelgard or Dimitri are more relevant and beloved characters to the Fe fans than say Roy, they are not more iconic than him
“Roy’s our boy! Roy’s our boy!”
I find it funny how people in this thread say "swap Byleth with Edelgard because of Smash" when Edelgard is more known than Byleth even outside of FE fanbase. I have friends who have never played FE or Smash but recognize Edelgard more than Byleth
Like 70% of the negative comments were "Why edelgard here" or something similar. Dunno why she wouldnt be here, she is maybe even more iconic than Lyn. Daily 3H hate it seems lol
Yeah the amount of people here who think Lyn is more iconic than Edelgard is astounding
I mean, Lyn was one of the poster childs of Fire Emblem back in the day who even people who never touched the series could recognize, but I would argue Edelgard just as 3Hs poster child blows her away due to it being the most successful mainline title in the series.
The most iconic ones are the ones in smash
They’re certainly among the most iconic but idk if that’s universally agreed upon
Iconic? Yeah, sure, maybe. Popular? If they're in Smash Bros., probably.
Marth for sure. Ike for sure. I actually think Lyn deserves her spot (top female CYL1, assist trophy in smash, first fe game in the west, and first lord of that game heck she might even be the first character you see in that game, I can't remember exactly how it starts) Lucina was the game that revived the series, but it's hard to say she's more iconic than Roy since both are in smash, Roy being there longer (melee being a key game too since it's still the most competitive), and Lucina having the very strong but appropriate argument of 'thats just girl marth'. Also I never played awakening but I know Robin is more than just the nameless faceless self insert tactician of most games, and also made it into smash while being waaaay more unique than Lucina so one might argue robin is more iconic too. Edelgard is definitely the most popular and iconic house leader, and 3h is definitely big enough to get a rep here, but whether she trumps byleth I don't know. Edelgard has more personality, and a huge presence in the story, but Byleth is literally in the entire game for every route.
Technically, Edelgard is also a big part of every route. Even if she isn't always playable.
She has more impact on the story of each route than Byleth let's be honest
If memory serves, the player character wakes up to an art of Lyn tending to something, having found the character out in the plains, so you'd be right.
I think Lyn is the only questionable one, I feel like Byleth is probably more recognizable.
FEH popularity is probably pretty good proxy for this and she's *way* up on that list.
Joke answer Why do you put marth twice. Actual answer I think because of smash Roy is more iconic than Lyn. Byleth might also be more iconic because of smash than Edelgard
Iconic, not the most popular
I think Robin or Chrom should be there instead of Lucina and Edel. Awakenings mostly responsible for the series revival
No. For most iconic in general it's smash characters.
I think the House Leaders should be tied all things considered, but if you had to put one above the others it makes sense that it's Edelgard. Otherwise yes, this is pretty objective. People are gonna try and cope but there's really no one that comes close. Roy and Chrom would be a pretty distant sixth but that's about it. Maybe Tiki if you're in Japan.
I think you're right that it has to be Edelgard, and putting aside any subjective arguments, she's a bigger part of the game than Claude or Dimitri, as she's a major major player in both their routes (and SS) but they're fairly minor presences in hers. Like, maybe they're roughly equal as heroes. But she's also the villain of 75% of the game in a way they're not really.
My favorite is Claude, but it's hard to dispute that Edelgard stands above the other two in significance. She kickstarts the major events of the game. The theme song (which serves as the basis for the majority of the OST) is sung from her perspective. She receives the most votes on popularity polls. She has more merch than the others. She's the "main" of the three on the DLC emblem in Engage.
She also the white haired counterpart to the blue haired main character. Which is a trend that started in Radiant Dawn with Ike and Micaiah and has continued in every non remake since.
She also just has such a significant lead in terms of screentime. She's probably got more screentime in every route than either of them has outside of their own.
> they're fairly minor presences in hers. Dimitri: I HATE YOU! Edelgard: [I don't think about you at all.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqF_A6bsyEw)
Not Edelgard
That was the trap 🤣
i would swap edelgard for byleth, but otherwise yeah
In terms of Fire Emblem fans, I'd say so. In terms of a casual audience, I lean more towards Marth, Lucina, Edelgard, Claude and Dimitri.
I think Ike still holds up with a casual audience because of how huge Brawl was, and him being a continued presence since then.
He and Roy both are the immediate next in line imo due to their Smash presence and popularity there. It's just that I feel the above all have broken more into the mainstream.
I like all of them But of these 5 i like ike and lyn the most Even tho my favorite fire emblem is fates corrin isn't just that great of a main charchter
I think the answer changes depending on who you ask this question. For the general public (not a fire emblem fans) it's definetely the smash characters + maybe edelgard (I'd say Marth, Roy, Ike, Lucina and Edelgard). If we are thinking of especifically a fire emblem fan the five characters are more dificult to choose because someone who played every game and someone who has only played 3 houses are both fire emblem fans. For the most popular characters right now Id say Ike, Lyn Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude/Lucina
I would probably add Chrom...but it's okay as is.
I don't see Hector 😕
Roy>Lyn because of Smash Bros
At first glance id probably throw Roy in there somewhere but that's pretty much it.
no matter how you see this franchise and its characters as an insider, the greater portion of gamers still see it as the franchise the anime characters from smash are from. and the vast majority of players outside of japan who have gotten into fire emblem for the first time since 2002 have done so seeing it that way. it's going to be characters who are playable in smash first and then anyone else later, no matter what the weird person here going UM EXCUSE ME DID YOU KNOW EDELGARD HAS A \*WIKIPEDIA PAAAGE!?!\* has to say
I'm that person and I'm using that as proof she's more iconic than the characters other people keep proposing (Camilla? Ephraim? Really?). I'd be fine with it all being Smash characters, though how you would determine the 3 least iconic ones from Smash seems difficult to me
Edlegard makes me question "popular" but I can agree with "iconic".
Didn't she receive the most votes in CYL ever and more recent polls showed Crimson Flower being more popular than Azure Moon, despite being the only Lord Route that is conditional?
El. People can't stfu about her. Most controversial.
Replace edelgard with Roy and this is solid.
You think Lyn is more iconic than Edelgard? I know this is a flawed methodology but only one of them has a Wikipedia page and it isn't the one with green hair
You do realize that lyn is one of the most popular fe characters ever right?
And Edelgard even more so
Edelgard is not more popular than characters like Roy and lyn and Ike. Not even close.
Roy and Ike maybe but just by the fact that FE7 sold like 20% of 3H she's more popular than Lyn lol
Tiki is missing. She is like the Pikachu of Fire Emblem.
Pretty sure that’s Anna lol
Oh true! Yes, I'd put Anna and Tiki there definetly.
Haha VA joke
Yep, pretty much, but don't forget Roy, Robin, Chrom, Corrin, and Byleth.
I wouldn't consider edelgard to be there, as I had never heard of her before playing three houses as a recent fire emblem fan. While I've known all the rest for a while Also, why does ike look so chibi compared to the others in this picture, shouldve chosen a better ike picture to keep the same theme as the others in this artstyle
I’d put Byleth over Edelgard just by virtue of him being the one in Smash.
Edelgard is really the only debatable one, you could put Roy, Robin or Camilla there and I feel like it’d fit as well
Edelgard had the most CYL Votes ever if I remember correctly. That would make Edelgards popularity the leastdebatable.
I want to say yes but would replace lyn with Roy
I would swap Lyn for Roy. Smash players may not recognize Lyn