Erk

"Erk, you dolt......! Hahh... There was no reason to do that. Why can’t I talk to girls?"

- Erk

Erk is a playable character in Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. He is a solemn, intellectual young man who is deeply devoted to his studies. He is 15 years old, He despises distractions, especially when they come from his former employer, the cleric Serra.

History
It is unknown whether Erk was an orphan, or was abandoned by his parents at some point. Possibly, he may have left them voluntarily. Regardless, it is revealed that Erk was raised by the Mage General Pent and his wife, Lady Louise of Castle Wrigley, in Etruria, ever since he was twelve. Erk followed in Pent's footsteps to become a talented mage in his own right, and became so obsessed with his studies that he fell ill and Louise had to nurse him back to health. Eventually, when Erk grew older, he ventured out on his own. He embarked on a training sabbatical as a mercenary, and was employed by House Ostia to escort the Lycian priestess Serra back to the castle, but they got entangled with Lyn and her companions on their quest to thwart Lundgren and liberate Caelin. Erk was opposed to joining them for reasons of delay, but was forced by Serra to comply. When Lyn retook the throne of Caelin, both Erk and Serra left them and reached Ostia, where he fulfilled his mission despite his and Serra's constant bickering along the way.

In the following year, per Pent's instructions, he escorts the noblewoman Priscilla of House Caerleon in her pursuit for the truth behind House Cornwell's fall-out and for any signs of her family. However, they become trapped in Laus by Marquess Darin, who upon discovering Priscilla's lineage, and probably finding her attractive as well, imprisons her in one of Laus's villages until she would comply with his orders. Erk travels to another village up north to petition for aid, but is, unfortunately, unable to gain help from the peasantry. He leaves the village and runs into Serra, who is under Hector's employment. Though he is naturally hesitant to rejoin with his former contractor, whom he finds exasperating, he decides to take advantage of the fact that they are fighting against Laus and aids them. Later, Priscilla also joins the group, which allows him to continue his mission to protect Priscilla.

Subsequently, when Nergal and his morphs are defeated, he returns home to Etruria, where he is asked to become the new Mage General as Pent has retired. He politely refuses and instead devotes the rest of his life to the study of magic. Through supports with his various potential love interests, he could develop reluctant feelings for the cleric Serra, use his connection with Pent and own magical talent to gain the peerage to wed Priscilla, or marry a fellow mage, Nino, and settle down in Pherae, fathering Lugh and Lleu before disappearing to look for his missing wife, who had left her family to keep them safe from Black Fang bounty hunters.

If he is canonically the true father of Nino's children, it can be inferred that he may have died before the War on Bern occurred, as his children are orphans in the storyline sequel, Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi. On the contrary, his default ending merely states that after the game's events, Erk "devotes the rest of his life to studying magic." This implies that he likely survived in his single ending, but simply chose not to participate in future battles.

Personality
Ever since he was accepted under Pent's tutelage at the age of twelve, Erk has been highly studious and, more importantly, values dogged perseverance even at the expense of his health, collapsing once as he had forsaken food and sleep to continue his studies. Erk's personality is characterized as being overly serious and pedantic as he is a particularly introverted and withdrawn individual.

Erk seems to have low self-esteem, and he lacks full confidence in his own worth, as he tends to belittle himself and compare his capabilities to those of his master. While Erk can be uptight and snide at times, as his support conversations with Louise reveal, this is because he has a hard time letting others get close to him or try to help him because he feels overwhelmed by people displaying a great degree of affection or concern over him. His taciturn nature makes it difficult for him to express his appreciation to the people he cares most about, such as his foster family, Pent and Louise; alternately, to either of his clients Serra and Priscilla, though notably Serra in particular, or to the fellow mage Nino. The latter three he could later take as brides.

In-Game
As the first offensive magic unit who joins, Erk turns out to be one of the player's primary magic users, and as such has great potential. His early availability and slew of decent supports gives him an advantage in terms of usefulness, allowing him to be fielded easily. Furthermore, he can be trained in Lyn's Mode to become stronger for either Eliwood or Hector's respective modes. Despite this, Erk is commonly criticized for his mediocre stat growths, and his dependency on the Random Number Generator to measure his overall performance in the long run. Erk's stats can be unpredictable in multiple playthroughs because of this, save his excellent Speed usually, so players may prefer to use his teacher, Pent, over him once he joins, due to Pent's solid base statistics compared to that of Erk's wild card ones. On average, Erk's Magic, Skill, and Resistance are below par, his Speed stat is fairly high, and both his Luck and Defense are low, typical of a magic unit, although he usually fares better than the similarly offensive magic unit Lucius in both of these stats, which results in better durability. Nino, as the mage befitting the Est archetype, will best him statistically, though her incredibly late join time prevents her from being superior to him in terms of overall utility.

Once Erk promotes to Sage, he will be able to heal his allies as well as keep up his offense. Although his initial rank in staves starts off at E, this can be remedied if he is promoted at a decent time, and then by using the Heal staff constantly to possibly reach a C, at least, by the end of the game and, thus, be able to use the more higher-ranked ones (e.g. Restore, Unlock or Recover). If anything, Erk's access to staves lets him heal more allies, especially in cases of emergencies, and, unlike the unpromoted healers the player has likely been using, he can actually defend himself if he has to go to the front line to do it.

Lyn's Story
Name: Erk

Level: 1

Class: Mage

HP: 17

Magic: 5

Skill: 6

Speed: 7

Luck: 3

Defense: 2

Resistance: 4

Move: 5

Constitution: 5

Weapon Rank: Anima Magic: D

Affinity: Anima

Starting Weapon: Fire

Eliwood's/Hector's Story
Name: Erk

Level: 1

Class: Mage

HP: 17

Magic: 5

Skill: 6

Speed: 7

Luck: 3

Defense: 2

Resistance: 4

Move: 5

Constitution: 5

Weapon Rank: Anima magic: D

Affinity: Anima

Starting Weapon: Thunder, Goddess Icon

Note: His stats will always carry over from Lyn's Mode, should he have been leveled up previously. Otherwise, if he was killed at any point in Lyn's Mode, or if the mode was skipped, then these are his default stats.

Growth Rates
HP: 55%

Magic: 40%

Skill: 40%

Speed: 50%

Luck: 30%

Defense: 20%

Resistance: 40%

Quotes
Final Chapter: Light quote:

Erk: For years, I've studied. Now, let those studies show their worth!

Lyn's Story
Erk - The Wandering Mage

His contract with Serra complete, Erk sets off for Etruria. His time as a mercenary is just part of his training, and he is glad to see it end. He has since returned to his mentor.

Eliwood's/Hector's Story
Erk - Studious Mage

Erk returned to Etruria and was asked succeed the retiring Lord Pent. He refused and devoted his life to the study of magic.

Serra and Erk

After the battle, Erk returned to his studies. His newfound feelings for Serra were an unwelcome distraction. In Ostia, Serra declared she would “live for love” with Erk, and Marquess Ostia gladly saw her off.

Erk and Priscilla

They fell in love amidst conflict. Thought he was not nobly born, Erk’s talent and link to Lord Pent earned him the peerage he needed to wed Priscilla. As a trusted magic teacher, he lived his life in happiness.

Erk and Nino

They were married after the conflict and were gifted with twins boys. Their time in Pherae was happy until bounty hunters came for Nino. To protect her family, she disappeared. Erk vanished looking for her.

Etymology
This name is probably a derivation of the names 'Eric,' 'Aric' or 'Arik.' 'Eric' comes from the Old Norse 'ei' (ever) and 'rikr' (ruler). 'Aric' is short for 'Alaric,' which comes from the germanic 'adal' (noble) and 'ric' (kingdom). 'Arik' is a Jewish nickname for Ariel, which means 'lion of God.' Alternatively, 'Erk' could refer to the word 'irksome,' meaning 'annoying.'