Ask any long-term fan of Intelligent Systems’ strategy series about the cast of the 2015/2016 split-release, and you’ll likely get a very long, very heated explanation. It’s unavoidable. The Fire Emblem Fates characters represent a strange, experimental era for the franchise. It was a time when Nintendo leaned hard into the "waifu" and "husbando" culture that saved the series with Awakening, but they cranked the dial to eleven.
Honestly, it’s a mess. But it's a fascinating mess.
The game didn't just give you a handful of units; it gave you two entire royal families, a troupe of retainers, and a questionable "deep realms" mechanic that forced a second generation of kids into a war they had no business being in. You’ve got the stoic, noble Hoshidans on one side and the "European-gothic-but-actually-just-evil" Nohrians on the other. It was ambitious. Maybe too ambitious. While the gameplay in Conquest is often cited as some of the best in the entire series, the writing for the characters themselves often feels like it's fighting against the game's own structure.
The Corrin Problem and the Avatar Trap
At the center of everything is Corrin. If we’re being real, Corrin is one of the most polarizing protagonists in tactical RPG history. Because Fates was sold in three parts—Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation—Corrin’s personality had to remain pliable enough to fit three wildly different moral paths. The result? A character that often feels incredibly naive, bordering on frustrating.
In Birthright, Corrin is the prodigal child returning home. In Conquest, they are the "reformer from within," a role that requires a massive amount of cognitive dissonance as they serve a King (Garon) who is clearly, unsubtly a monster. Fans often point out that the Fire Emblem Fates characters surrounding Corrin treat them with an almost religious devotion, which can make the support conversations feel a bit one-sided. This is "Avatar Worship," a term that spiked in the community during this era.
It’s not all bad, though. Corrin’s dragon transformation is a cool mechanical hook. But the narrative weight they carry is heavy, and sometimes it breaks the immersion. When Xander or Ryoma—two seasoned warriors—defer every major tactical decision to a kid who has lived in a fortress their whole life, you start to see the cracks in the writing.
Why the Nohrian Royals Carry the Story
If you talk to anyone who prefers Conquest, they’ll tell you it’s because of the siblings. The Nohrian royal family is deeply messed up. That’s why they’re interesting. Xander, Camilla, Leo, and Elise aren't just units; they are victims of a "concubine war" that happened before the game even started. This bit of lore is mostly tucked away in supports, but it explains why they cling to Corrin so desperately.
- Xander is the big brother everyone wants to please. He’s a tragic figure, torn between his loyalty to a literal demon-king and his love for his siblings. His refusal to see the truth until the very end of Birthright is heartbreaking.
- Camilla is... well, she's the face of the game’s fan-service. But if you look past the design, there’s a deeply protective, almost feral maternal instinct there. She’s a powerhouse on a Wyvern, and easily one of the best units in the game.
- Leo is the intellectual. He’s probably the most sensible person in the kingdom. His relationship with his retainers, Niles and Odin, provides some of the best dialogue in the script.
The Hoshidan side, by comparison, often feels a bit too "perfect." Ryoma is the peerless samurai. Hinoka is the warrior princess. Takumi, however, is the exception. Takumi is an incredible character because he’s the only one who is reasonably suspicious of Corrin. His resentment, fueled by insecurity and a feeling of being replaced, makes him the most human of the Hoshidans.
The Retainers: Where the Personality Lives
The Fire Emblem Fates characters that people actually remember are often the retainers. Each royal gets two, and these sub-characters are where the writers clearly had the most fun.
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Take Arthur, for example. He’s a Nohrian hero with a literal comic-book chin and a penchant for justice, despite having the worst luck in the world. He’s a walking parody of American superheroes. Then there’s Peri, who is—to put it mildly—a serial killer. The fact that Xander keeps a murderous chef as a retainer is one of those "only in Fire Emblem" details that makes the world feel chaotic.
Over on the Hoshido side, you have Oboro. She’s a fan favorite for a reason. Her hatred for Nohr is grounded in a tragic backstory (Nohrian bandits killed her parents), and her design—focused on her being a tailor—gives her a hobby and personality outside of just being a soldier.
These characters aren't just stats. They have quirks. Sometimes those quirks are "I love pickles" (looking at you, Hisame), which can feel shallow. But other times, like with Laslow, Selena, and Odin, there’s a deep meta-narrative at play.
A Note for Newcomers: If those three names sound familiar, it's because they are actually Inigo, Severa, and Owain from Fire Emblem Awakening. They traveled across worlds to help out in Nohr. It's a weird piece of fanservice that actually adds a lot of depth if you’ve played the previous game.
The Second Generation and the "Deep Realms"
We have to talk about the kids. Fire Emblem Awakening used time travel to bring children characters into the mix. It worked perfectly because it was central to the plot. In Fates, the developers wanted to keep the marriage and child mechanics but didn't have a time-travel plot.
Their solution? The Deep Realms.
Basically, characters have babies, put them in a magical pocket dimension where time flows faster, and then go pick them up a few weeks later when they’re full-grown adults ready for war. It’s arguably the weakest writing choice in the series. It feels forced.
However, some of these Fire Emblem Fates characters are genuinely great units.
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- Kana: Corrin’s child. Adaptable, cute, but mostly just a mini-Corrin.
- Siegbert and Shiro: The heirs to the thrones. Their supports about the pressure of leadership are actually quite good.
- Ophelia: Odin’s daughter. She inherits her father’s theatrical flair and is arguably the best magic user in the game if you build her right.
Despite the shaky narrative justification, the gameplay customization offered by the children is immense. Inheriting skills and stat growths allows for "super-units" that can solo entire maps. It’s a min-maxer’s dream, even if it’s a storyteller’s nightmare.
Mechanical Depth vs. Character Growth
One thing Fates does better than almost any other game in the series is tie character identity to gameplay mechanics. Personal Skills were a huge addition.
For instance, Ryoma’s "Bushido" skill increases his crit rate when he’s at a higher level than his foe, which perfectly fits his "invincible master" persona. Benny, the terrifyingly huge Nohrian knight who is actually a total sweetheart, has a skill that lowers the avoidance of enemies nearby because they’re too scared to move.
This synergy makes the Fire Emblem Fates characters feel distinct on the battlefield. You aren't just moving chess pieces; you’re moving individuals with specific strengths and phobias.
The Reclassing system also allows for crazy experimentation. Want to make the soft-spoken healer Sakura a frontline Oni Chieftain? You can do that. It might not be "optimal," but the freedom to redefine these characters’ roles is why people are still playing the game in 2026.
The Localization Controversy
You can’t talk about these characters without mentioning the 2016 localization. Treehouse (Nintendo’s localization team) took a lot of liberties. Some characters had their personalities shifted. In the Japanese version, Effie is a gentle soul who happens to be strong; in the English version, she’s a gym-bro who talks about gains constantly.
Then there’s the infamous "..." support between Beruka and Saizo. In the Japanese version, they have a dialogue about their history as assassins. In the English version, the entire support (C through B) was replaced with silence.
While some found this funny, it contributed to the feeling that the Western audience was getting a "lite" version of the characters. This remains a point of contention in the community. Depending on which version you play (or if you use fan-translation patches), your perception of these characters might be completely different.
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Ranking the Best and Worst
"Best" is subjective, but in terms of utility and "standard" fan rankings, the list usually looks something like this:
The Powerhouses:
- Ryoma: He comes with the Raijinto, a sword that can counter-attack from any distance. He’s essentially a "win button" for Birthright.
- Camilla: High mobility, great bulk, and starts with great stats. She's the MVP of early Conquest.
- Xander: The physical wall. Put him on a bridge, and nothing gets through.
The "Why Are You Here?" Tier:
- Gunter: He’s the "Jagen" archetype (the early-game mentor), but his growths are so bad he becomes useless almost immediately. He’s mostly there for plot reasons.
- Revelations Revelations Unit Balance: In the third path, Revelation, the game gives you characters at levels that make no sense. You might get a level 10 unit when the enemies are level 30. It makes half the cast feel unusable without hours of grinding.
Practical Insights for Your Next Playthrough
If you’re dusting off your 3DS (or using an emulator) to revisit these characters, here is how to actually get the most out of them.
First, ignore the "canon" pairings. The best part of Fates is the "eugenics" simulator. Pair characters based on the classes they give each other. If you give a physical attacker a friendship seal to a class with high speed, you can fix their biggest weaknesses.
Second, do not sleep on the "filler" characters. Characters like Charlotte might seem like one-note jokes, but as a pair-up bot for Xander, she provides massive strength bonuses that turn him into a god.
Lastly, read the supports in the "My Castle" archives. A lot of the nuance for the Nohrian royals is hidden in their B and A supports with non-royal characters. That’s where you find out about the political infighting, the trauma of their upbringing, and their actual motivations beyond just "following orders."
The Fire Emblem Fates characters aren't perfect. They are often contradictory, sometimes annoying, and frequently designed more for aesthetic than narrative depth. But they are also some of the most customizable and mechanically interesting units in tactical RPG history. Whether you love them or hate them, you can't deny that they left a permanent mark on the Fire Emblem franchise.
To truly understand the depth of the cast, focus on building specific support chains between Hoshidan and Nohrian units in the Revelation path. This is the only place where you see the two cultures clash and eventually find common ground. It provides a level of world-building that the individual routes lack. Always check the "Growth Rates" for the second-generation characters before committing to a marriage, as the mother’s stats heavily influence the child’s viability in the endgame.