Manakete

Manaketes (マムクート Mamkutes in the Japanese versions), also referred to as simply Dragons, are both a race and character class in the Fire Emblem series. Manaketes transform from a humanoid form to a dragon form using dragonstones. The type of dragon formed is dependent on either the race of the wielder or the type of dragonstone used. Members of the class usually have good stats, most of which are increased further when transformed.

As a race, Manaketes are often shown to be in conflict with humans during the games story or backstory. They are sometimes divided into tribes based on their element, such as fire, ice, flying, and earth dragons, although tribes not based off a particular element, like magic and divine dragons, have appeared as well. However in the third game and its remake, the playable manaketes, like Tiki, can use a dragonstone from a different tribe via the Secret Shop.

Although Manaketes are similar in concept to the Laguz of Tellius, specifically the Dragon tribe Laguz, they are different in most other ways. Manaketes were originally planned to appear in TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, but were replaced with the similar Emiyu race in the final version. The direct descendants of the Emiyu race transform using rings instead of dragonstones.

Appearance and characteristics
Most male Manaketes appear as hooded, hunched-over humanoids with small wings extending from their back, although more notable ones may appear younger and thus stand upright. They usually wear robes instead of clothing. Many Manaketes display draconic features like fangs, claws and a pale pallor in the DS games, though the Divine Dragon tribe appears more human-like. Manaketes generally have long or pointed ears while in human form. Hybrid Manaketes may or may not inherit this.

Manaketes have extraordinary lifespans, lasting over several millennia. Manaketes age slowly, as shown with Tiki first appearing with the appearance of a young girl during Marth's time, 1000 years after her birth, and having the appearance of a young adult by the time Chrom is born, 2000 years later.

This longevity comes at a price: Tiki remarks that due to this long life, they will lose many of their human friends to their shorter lifespans. Additionally, Manaketes have an extremely low birth rate and sterility is a problem.

While Manaketes will eventually feel the effects of old age, it is unclear if they ever die of old age. An example of this is the elderly Bantu still being alive 2000 years later in Awakening.

Often, much of a Manakete's life is spent in sleeping in a state similar to suspended animation. For example, while Tiki had lived for over 1000 years at the time of the War of Heroes, she had only spent 10 years awake. Manaketes can dream in this "sleeping" state as shown by Tiki's talk of having constant nightmares. When mortally wounded, extremely powerful Manaketes will often go into a sleep until they recover their strength.

According to Nah, some Manaketes also possess the ability to 'smell' a person's true intentions, but its unknown if others have this ability.

Jahn in Binding Blade says Manaketes, excluding the Divine Tribe, do not feel strong emotions the way humans do.

Hybrids
Manaketes are also able to mate with humans, creating half-breeds, such as Nils, Al, Sophia, or Nah. These half-breeds usually use normal human classes, though in some cases the hybrid children can change into their manakete form. These hybrid children also gain the manakete's long lifespans, though not to the same extent as their full blooded parents.

As Units
The main factors to remain consistent with Manakete units are their use of dragonstones either as items or weapons and having low stats that shoot up when their dragonstone is used. A recurring factor is for different manakete tribes to have different abilities such as the Divine Tribe being specialized against fighting other manaketes or the Mage Tribe's immunity to magic.

In Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, dragonstones were used weapons, had 1 range, infinite durability, and were unique to cerain characters, such as Bantu being the only playable manakete to use the Firestone. The class was changed in Monshō no Nazo, now Manaketes used dragonstones as items to transform into a different dragon based class. The amount of turns player manaketes would remain in this form was based on their luck stat. Enemy manakates who had no luck stat would spend the rest of the map in their dragon form. The dragon classes had 1-2 range with their breath attacks. Dragonstones had finite uses and could break if overused. Tiki could also use different dragonstones.

Starting with Binding Blade and The Sacred Stones, Manaketes would mostly revert to their original class mechanics, though dragonstones would remain breakable. In the DS remakes Dragonstones were usable by every manakete, excluding the Divinestone and Earthstone which were exclusive to their respective tribemembers.

In Awakening, Dragonstones now have a 1-2 attacking range and can be bought in shops. An enhanced version, Dragonstone+, which resembles the Divinestone, can be bought later in the game. These stones cannot be forged or renamed however. All Manakete units retain their Dragon Unit status even if they have been reclassed into a non-Manakete or other Dragon Unit class.

Akaneia and Jugdral
Tens of thousands of years ago, in Akaneia, the Dragon Tribes did not need to seal their power into Dragonstones and spent much of their time in dragon form. They cultivated a powerful empire and ruled the continent. However, the Dragon Tribes eventually started to decay. First they became sterile, then finally they began to lose their sentience altogether, becoming wild beasts.

To avoid this terrible fate, the Dragon Tribes were forced to seal their powers into stones and spend their lives in human form, only assuming their dragon forms when needed. Humans took advantage of their weakened state and attacked them, even if the Manaketes in question were benevolent.

To get the revenge on the humans for treating them as outcasts, most of the manaketes formed the cruel Doluna empire.

Zombified dragons appear in Valentia, indicating they might have lived on the continent at some point.

While no manaketes appear directly in the Jugdral series, several legendary manaketes are mentioned in the backstory as traveling to the continent to stop a rogue dragon. These Manakates created powerful tomes, some of which pass on the will of their creators.

Ylisse
A few Manaketes appear in Fire Emblem: Awakening including Naga herself.

Curiously their Dragon tribes aren't stated, though the other Manaketes have a similar Dragon form to Tiki, can communicate with Naga, and can use what appear to be Divinestones.

Elibe


In the distant past, the Dragon tribes shared the continent with humanity and lived separately in peace, however this peace would not last. While the exact details of the war's beginning has been lost, it is known that humanity was the first to declare war and only the Divine Dragon Tribe remained neutral.

The result was The Scouring, a continental war that lasted for generations. Eventually Eight Human Generals armed with Divine Weapons managed to turn the tide in humanity's favor. The clashing of these godlike weapons managed to cause a world changing cataclysm known as the Ending Winter to occur. Due to the ending winter, Dragons were forced to conserve their power in stones to survive.

Having lost the war, the Dragon tribes fled the world through a portal known as The Dragon's gate. The dragon soldiers who were unaware of the gate. remained on the continent and were routed out by humanity(barring one). The only Dragons to remain on the continent were the Divine Dragons who formed the hidden civilization Arcadia where humans and dragons lived in together in peace.

The Dragon types known to exist on Elibe were Fire, Ice, and Divine, with Mage Dragons existing as an unnatural creation.

Magvel
In Magvel, only one unique type of Manakete is shown and it is unknown if there are other dragon types. Described as "halfway between man and monster", the Manaketes turn into yellow fire breathing dragons.

Eight hundred years in the past, the Demon King Fomortiis turned many of the Manaketes into Draco Zombies during his reign. Eventually a powerful Manakete known as Morva led a group of Five Heroes and together they sealed the Demon King.

Purposefully remaining uncredited, Morva led a solitary existence in Darkling Woods, guarding the Demon King's corpse. During this time, Morva adopted an orphaned Manakete known as Myrrh.

While others are known to exist, only Morva and Myrrh directly appear in The Sacred Stones. Both are also called Great Dragons.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 20
 * Skl: 20
 * Spd: 20
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 20
 * Res: 20

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon/Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 20
 * Mag: 20
 * Skl: 20
 * Spd: 20
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 20
 * Res: 20

Fire Emblem: Awakening

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 40
 * Mag: 35
 * Skl: 35
 * Spd: 35
 * Lck: 45
 * Def: 40
 * Res: 40
 * Dragonstone, Dragonstone+

From Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem

 * Tiki (Divine Dragon)
 * Bantu (Fire Dragon)
 * Nagi (Divine Dragon)
 * Mannu (Fire Dragon)
 * Khozen (Fire Dragon)
 * Morzas (Mage Dragon)
 * Xemcel (Mage Dragon)
 * Medeus (Earth Dragon)

Former Manaketes

 * Gotoh (Divine Dragon)
 * Xane (Divine Dragon)

From Binding Blade

 * Fae (Divine Dragon)
 * Idenn (Mage Dragon, former Divine Dragon)
 * Jahn (Fire Dragon)
 * Ain (War Dragon)

From The Sacred Stones

 * Morva
 * Myrrh

From Fire Emblem: Awakening

 * Tiki (Divine Dragon)
 * Grima (Fell Dragon)
 * Nowi

From Binding Blade

 * Sophia (Divine Dragon)

From Rekka no Ken

 * Nils (Ice Dragon)
 * Ninian (Ice Dragon)

From Awakening

 * Nah
 * Female Morgan (If mother is Nowi, Nah, or Tiki)

Trivia

 * The names "Mamkute" and "Manakete" are trademarked by Intelligent Systems
 * Several of the more powerful Manaketes, such as Naga, Forseti, Loptyr and Grima, are worshiped as deities.
 * Other than Bantu, all recruitable members of the Manakete class have been female, with the other playable male Manaketes using other classes.
 * In Fire Emblem: Awakening, the Manakete class is only used by female characters
 * The Manakete's Dragon form in Awakening seems to be based on the leafy seadragon.