Summary
Fire Emblemis a popular and influential series. Once exclusive to Japanese consoles, it is now so widely knownit is even being studied at an American university. The series is rooted in conflict, with wars spanning across kingdoms and sometimes even entire continents. But with every war comes profiteers, who tend to make up our antagonists. However, many major villains in the series tend to have their villainy rooted in tragedy. Before becoming the evil king who wishes to enact genocide on the human race inFire Emblem: The Binding Blade, Zephiel was a kind prince who wished to impress his father. However, his father’s repeated attempts to assassinate him eventually solidified his descent into villainy.
While the human angle doesn’t absolve the character of his crimes, it presents a caveat; this character was a personbefore they became a villain. Some characters prove to be a bit less multifaceted. From the information we’re given, certain characters seem significantly more evil than others. Whether defined by their singular devotion to an evil cause or lack of even a Freudian excuse to motivate them, this series has produced some truly heinous antagonists.
The Archbishop Was The Architect Of A Continental War
Fire Emblem: Genealogy Of The Holy War
Fire Emblem: Genealogy Of The Holy War is the fourth entry in the tactical RPG series from Intelligent Systems, launched in 1996 for the Super Famicom in Japan only.A dangerous cult rises up, causing war among the eight kingdoms of Jugdral. With dark powers at play, you must guide two generations of heroes as they bid to stop the cult.
Archbishop Manfroy is a unique villain in the greater context of the series; he is one of the few to be successful against a main character. InFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, he seeks to revive the Dark Dragon Loptous. To this end, he oversees the assassination of many key political figures. Most notably, he manipulated Arvis, the Duke of Velthomer,into assassinating Sigurd, thehero of the game’s first generation. This was one of many tasks Manfroy made use of the Duke for,blackmailing him with the knowledge of his dark dragon blood. He installed him as emperor andcrafted an incestuous union between Arvis and his half-sister (and also Sigurd’s wife)to create a vessel with sufficient dark dragon blood to reawaken Loptous, which became the future emperor, Julius.
Beyond success and political power, Manfroy’s single-minded devotion to evil secures him a spot on this list. Efforts he leads, such as the hunting of children to sacrifice them to his dark lord, are opposed by even those once in alignment with him, such as Arvis himself. He is shown not to even grant mercy for his family’s sake, assassinating his son-in-law due to disapproving of him, which earned the ire of his granddaughter Sara, who aids in the effort against his church in the game’s midquelFire Emblem: Thracia 776.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Discover the origins of the Fire Emblem saga! As young hero Marth, you must reclaim your stolen homeland and save your sister from the evil forces of Medeus.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is an enhanced Nintendo DS remake of the original Fire Emblem for Famicom, which was previously released only in Japan. Assemble an army and plot your strategy in turn-based battles, taking into consideration the terrain, unit strengths and weaknesses, to defeat enemy forces.
Become a living legend, save the kingdom and your family’s future!
In the original Nintendo DS game, certain weapons were available by connecting to the internet. In the Wii U Virtual Console feature, these weapons are available without an internet connection. Rare weapons are only available during specific times of the month, so if you see something good, snap it up!
A frequent theme in Fire Emblem is the corruption of once decent people, whether by dark magic or more conventional means like the promise of power.Gharnef was directly captivated by both. Once a disciple of the Divine Dragon, Gotoh, Gharnef became enraged when he was not granted the Aura tome, due to a lack of compassion. As a result, he immersed himself in darkness and never quite came out of it. He used the darksphere to craft the Imhullu tome, which embedded his soul in the darksphere, but granted him vast power. From there, he seeks to destroy the world by reawakening the vengeful earth dragon, Medeus.
Gharnef used his brainwashing powers to force a bishop who once saved war orphans to instead raise them into assassins. He was also responsible for driving key figures in both Book 1 and 2 ofFire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblemto rally their own nations into battle. He corrupted Marth’s former comrade, Hardin with the darksphere, giving him a pale ghastly appearance and deteriorating his moral faculties. Beyond his crimes, Gharnef’s evil is cemented by both his willingness to gain power and his incorrigibility. While many other “corrupted” antagonists, including Hardin, spend their last moments filled with remorse,Gharnef merely laughs, reveling in his belief that he doomed the world.
The Fell Dragon is perhaps one of the most widely knownFire Emblemvillains. He sets into motion the events ofAwakeningand is confirmed to have achieved his goal in an alternate timeline,murdering the majority of the human race.
His religious sect, The Grimleal, is shown to control the nation of Plegia, with the highest-ranking members often pledging some sort of fealty to the dragon. He is shown to be a strategist capable of rivaling Robin, his chosen vessel,and shows no remorse for his actions. Grima’s only backstory confirms he was a former experiment who became too evil and too powerful, giving players little to sympathize with.
The Bigger Bad
If this list measured villains by power, dragons would likely fulfill the entirety of the list. That said, few are as outwardly vindictive as Loptous. The dark dragon formed the Loptr Church, setting into motion the numerous political assassinations carried out in the first half ofGenealogy of the Holy Waras well as the child sacrifices in the second half.
His actions pair well with his M.O.: killing humans. Like Medeus, he was originally an Earth Dragon. Unlike Medeus, he did not attempt to give the human race a chance. He formed a blood pact with a human, in an effort to undo the human race when he gained enough power. While most other evil dragons in the greaterFire Emblemseries detest humans, they are often characterized outside that sole prejudice. Medeus saw the persecution his kind suffered from humans, which spurred him towards evil. Sombron lost his family, home, and companion,which cemented his destructive desires. Loptous has no such backstory,he merely always viewed humans as inferiorand sought to survive for the sake of making them miserable.
Proof That Sinners And Saints Are Not Mutually Exclusive
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Fight for a better tomorrow! Command the members of the Dawn Brigade, and use your strategic skills to free their homeland!Foster bonds betwen your allies to bolster their strength, but guide your soldiers wisely - if they fall in battle, they’re lost forever!Build an army that suits your tactics - strike from afar with Leonardo’s bow, or attack directly with Edward’s blade!
Despite all his clearly evil and self-serving actions,he still believes himself to be chosen by the goddessuntil his dying breath.Fire Emblem:Radiant Dawndoesn’t even respect him enough to make him the penultimate or final antagonist. Instead, he dies early on, supplanted by far more powerful, yet still less evil foes. However, as a testament to his evil, many characters have special conversations with him before they duel, with beorc, laguz, his former fiancée, and even past subordinatesall united in their hatred of him.
