Anankos

Anankos (ハイドラ, Hydra in the Japanese version) is the true main antagonist of Fire Emblem: Fates, revealed in the game's third route. Once revered as one of the First Dragons, his descent into madness resulted in the obliteration of both Valla and almost all of its people.

In his dragon form, he is voiced by the late Rokurō Naya in the Japanese version. In his human form, he is voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki in the Japanese version and by Cam Clarke in the English version.

Profile
Anankos was one of the few dragons to remain after the ancient dragon wars due to his inability to become a spirit like the other dragons. During the wars he bestowed gifts to mankind and his blood, empowering them as thanks for their aid. Anankos was a kind dragon who loved humanity, granting knowledge to them and becoming close friends with the king of Valla. However, over the years, he began to become tainted by bestial urges to destroy everything as his power continued to grow. As this was a recurring problem among the dragon race before they became spirits, Anankos taught the people of Valla a calming song based on the prophecy he foretold of his own madness and death that removed some of his power. Its usage had decreased over the years due to it eventually killing the singers generations after it was initially used, falling out of use by the time Anankos' urges became too strong. Its ability to calm him also waned over time.

After losing control and burning a forest, the people decided to kill him to end the danger. Faced with this aggression and his urges, Anankos began to hate humanity, despite still calling out for companionship. When the king of Valla came to explain the people's fear, Anankos had been unable to trust him, and killed the king. The act of killing his close friend caused Anankos's body and heart to split into two, with his original body containing his maddening and corrupt urges and some of his power and original heart taking the form of a human with his original kind persona. After the human Anankos fled over what had happened, the dragon Anankos then instated himself as the god-king of Valla and proceeded with his plan to exact revenge on the people.

Anankos has a number of powers to befit his title as a dragon god. He can alter the very land itself through Dragon's Vein and terraform an entire world and bestow this power to humans on a smaller level. He can grant eternal life and youth and perpetual descendants. He holds power over water and can wield light and darkness, raise the spirits of the dead to act as his soldiers, the less used method of raising only the corpse to act as his servant as with Garon and Takumi, create a curse strong enough to even work on himself, see into the future, travel through time, travel between worlds, look into the hearts of humans, possess them, and spawn wormholes/blackholes when some of his power is restored. While capable of all of this, the human Anankos states that they are unable to fully bring the dead back to life.

Fire Emblem Fates
By the events of Fates, Anankos has become completely insane, acting as the tyrant king of Valla and killing nearly everyone across the land. Those that survive he enslaves. Outside Valla, he exists through images of the Dawn, Dusk, and Silent Dragons. In his mad lust to destroy humanity for abandoning him to his pain, he gains control of Nohr through King Garon, whose reanimated corpse was made into his familiar. He also resurrects Sumeragi and has him act as his agent as the Hooded Man that assassinates Mikoto with Ganglari, thus instigating the war between Hoshido and Nohr.

At the end of the Birthright route, he lends his dragon essence to the fake Garon to transform him into the Nohr dragon, this fails and the fake Garon is destroyed in the process. In the Conquest route, he possesses Takumi's body in a final attempt to kill the Avatar's party, however this also fails and Anankos is forcefully driven out of Takumi, who truly dies shortly afterwards.

In the Revelation route, his role is far larger, and it is finally revealed who and what he actually is. According to Azura, Anankos killed and usurped the previous king of Valla and slaughtered all of the residents there, except for her, the queen consort of the previous Valla King, Arete, and (unknown to her) Mikoto and her child, the Avatar. His ultimate goal is the complete annihilation of the world because of his hatred of humans. It is revealed in the third route that he also resurrected Sumeragi, Arete, and Mikoto to kill the Avatar and their army.

Throughout most of the Revelation route, Anankos possesses Gunter just like how he possessed Takumi in the Conquest Route. While under possession, "Gunter" faithfully served the Avatar like the real Gunter would, but whenever the Avatar was alone, he would attacked them in his invisible form, like his attempt to kill the Avatar on the way towards Valla, but was stopped by Scarlet at the cost of her life, or when he knocked out the Avatar when the group split up to explore the royal Valla castle. Towards the end of the game, Anankos finally fights the party in the throne room as Gunter. After being defeated, Anankos is banished from Gunter by Azura's singing and Gunter stabbing himself after the Avatar speaks with him. The mad spirit finally returns to his own body, but only with half of his power and having a stone mask on his head. During his dialogue, he demands to know why he alone should suffer, and that humans deserve to share his torment.

While the party was initially overwhelmed by Anankos' power, the Avatar's Yato gains the power of all the other legendary weapons carried by the royal brothers, transforming the sword into the Fire Emblem. With the Fire Emblem's devastating power, Anankos was put on the defensive, and was forced to summon Garon who offers himself as a vessel for Anankos. Anankos however, consumes Garon to gain his Nohrian dragon blood. Anankos' mask shatters and he transforms into a grotesque dragon monster with an orb full of eyes inside its mouth. With Anankos having his more of his strength back, he created a black hole in the sky that slowly destroys parts of the land and turns the entire sky dark. Afterwards, Anankos flies back towards the castle and shatters the roof while clamping to the side of it, starting the final battle. After a long fight, Anankos' dragon body gets destroyed, leaving nothing but the orb which contains his heart. The orb is eventually beaten and explodes in a purple dust and water bubbles, killing Anankos for good and bringing peace back to all three kingdoms. In the aftermath of his death, his remains are sealed away along with the now-ruined Valla when its portals are closed forever.

Hidden Truths
The human Anankos, in a desperate attempt to stop his dragon self, travels to the world of Fire Emblem Awakening and makes his way to Ylisse, where he has a vision of warriors killing an immense dark dragon. He eventually makes his way to the Ylissean Castle and gets into contact with Owain, Severa and Inigo, three of the warriors from his vision. Anankos pleads for them to come to his world and save it from his true self, which went on a rampage and destroyed the kingdom along with killing the former king of Valla.

As payment for such a risky mission, the human Anankos promises to grant the three young warriors a wish within his range of power. Since neither version of Anankos can properly bring people back from the dead (like the three and their friends' already deceased parents), they ask him to use his magic to revitalize the damaged Ylissean lands and give proper burial to everyone who lost their lives in the war. Anankos does so, and the spirits of the dead parents and the Avatar of this world thank him and the children for their kindness. Then Owain, Severa and Inigo agree to help out Anankos, but not before being ambushed by the Invisible Army at the Mila Tree.

As they arrive in Valla, Anankos tells the whole tale of himself, which includes his relationship with a Vallite woman named Mikoto, from which his child was born. He asks the three to go to Hoshido and seek out Mikoto for help, while Owain offers to search for human Anankos' child, the Avatar. Before Anankos can say the name of his child, the four get attacked by Lilith, who claims to be Dragon Anankos' child, but is the human form of a fragment of Anankos' madness. Lilith also reveals that the Avatar is in Nohr, kidnapped by Garon for unknown reasons.

After the fight, human Anankos sends "Odin", "Selena", and "Laslow" to Nohr Castle, and says that they need to earn Garon's trust, and become subordinates of Nohr.

As Lilith is about to kill the human Anankos, she tells him that she was never loved or cared for by her dragon father, and breaks down when human Anankos says that he sees her as his own child. The dragon Anankos overhears this and tries to get rid of Lilith by use of the Valla curse. The human Anankos sacrifices himself in her place by using all his life force to protect Lilith. The human Anankos apologizes to Lilith, to Mikoto and finally to the Avatar, before dying. Lilith apologizes to the dragon Anankos for betrayal, but wants nothing less than to be with her older sibling, the Avatar. Dragon Anankos tells her that no matter what path is taken, she will die, and so will the three warriors and the Avatar before breaking down in a maniacal laughter.

His heart takes control briefly to ask the four to come to him and end him, speaking one last time in his human voice.

Personality
Insane Anankos had Garon treat the Avatar as a disposable tool, and later had them sent on a suicide mission because they betrayed him by surviving. He didn't treat his daughter Lilith well either and used her as a tool, which caused her to be devoted to him solely to gain his approval. Once he no longer has a use for them he tends to kill them. As when he devoured Garon's corpse alive. Likewise Anthony failing to get rid of the Avatar results in him turning him into a mindless Faceless. However, Sane Anankos did indeed love them and Lilith. He sacrificed everything trying to save Mikoto and their child from his other self, including his life for that of his daughter.

Revelation Chapter 27 - Hear My Cry

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Revelation Endgame - Anankos
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Xenologue 20 - Memories of Foam 6: Unfinished Dawn
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Pre-Battle Quote
"I am the forgotten god. The betrayed King. The buried dragon."

- Anankos's Pre-Battle Quote

Defeated

 * "Whyyyyy..."

Retreat/Defeated
"Curse you...vexing humans...Once again...you've..."

- Anankos's death quote in Chapter 27

Etymology
Anankos may come from the ancient Greek word ἀνάγκη (ananke), meaning "destiny" or "fate". This could hint at both the title and the structure of the game, revolving around the Avatar's choice from which the three storylines begin. Even though it is less common, another meaning of the same word is "blood bond", which could refer to the relationship between the Avatar and Anankos.

In Greek mythology, Hydra is a serpent-like water monster which possessed many heads and for each one cut off it grew two more. It was slain by Heracles during the second of the Twelve Labours.

Trivia

 * Anankos' human form resembles Robin from Awakening in terms of a hood and unseen face.
 * Of the two symbols that are used to represent Anankos in game, only Garon's dragon form resembles his Nohr symbol, while the Silent Dragon symbol does not resemble his final forms. The Dawn Dragon symbol is unused.
 * In the final chapter of the Revelation route, Anankos has the highest HP out of any enemy in the series with 282 HP (61 HP for each arm, 80 HP for the head and 80 HP for the eye). In Lunatic mode, Anankos has 286 HP (63 HP for each arm, 80 Hp for the head and 80 HP for the eye)
 * Anankos' Dragon form shares his Japanese voice actor, the late Rokurō Naya, with Gunter, while his Human form share his Japanese voice actor, Nobunaga Shimazaki, with the male Avatar and Male Kana.