Top Eleven Fire Emblem Characters (6)

[mark_asphodel]

This one should not be surprising at all, to anyone.

Rounding out the bottom five... Ephraim.

I've gushed about his appeal and referred to him as Fire Emblem's "best lordly piece of ass."  I've written him as everything from a hot-shot test pilot to a 1960s rock star to a Civil War general to, well, a corpse.  I tend to do that when I'm really into a character.  Hell, I even use an icon just for him.  I don't do that for just anyone.  

So, yeah, I have my favorite character flag a-flying when it comes to this guy.  But, I did say this wasn't all about headcanon and fanfic... or about stats (another place where Eph has major appeal).  And I found him appealing well before Raphi got her Ephraim-meta off and running and made me reconsider some key things about him.  So, why Ephraim?

Maybe it was the way that he burst into the formulaic early chapters of FE8 and livened things up by several degrees of magnitude.  Maybe it's that, at least where Eirika's Route is concerned, he comes across as a pretty convincing "warrior prince" in spite of the "books suck!" attitude and dreams of running away from his duties.  Something about him clicked with me on that Route; he seemed a really good balance in terms of characterization without going too hard in the direction of Perfect Virtuous Noble (the way I felt about Eliwood then) or Meathead With Sword (the way I felt about  Ike).  

And the fact that he seemed kinda turned on by L'Arachel was charming.  Eph felt like a character with actual... zip... to him.

(I even have a nickname for him.  Obvious bias.)

Then there's the EphRoute angle, which is interesting in its own right and made him out to be a somewhat different character IMO, but nonetheless a "type" of character I gravitate toward.  And I could go on about that for hours and already have when you sum it all up.

And he's my Secret Fantasy Character for SSB, even if it'll never happen.  If that's not favoritism, what is?

Comments

[kyusil]

I like it when FE games bring you into the thick of things early on. That Ephraim-centric gaiden chapter is so much fun and so interesting and high-stakes compared to Eirika's gradual descent into the fray, so to speak, and playing through the game again I kind of wish there were more of them. Even if the first part of the story switched off between the two siblings regularly, I would've been okay with it.

Ephraim is very cool and I'm excited to play through FE8 and read a little closer this time around. Aah, and it just occurred to me that I haven't even read through all the supports...!

[raphiael]

Seconding this. (What, obvious, me?) IT would have been cool if you got more of each of them in the first section of the story. As much as I like Ephraim's route, it is a little jarring suddenly shifting to him again when you've only had one chapter with him at the helm. Up until that point it felt like "Eirika's story", but without the closure you get in other serious hero-switches I guess. The one chapter really did give you a sense of what a lucky bastard Ephraim was, though, and I think more might have made it seem a bit less stand-out.