General

General (ジェネラル Jeneraru) is a recurring class which presents in almost every Fire Emblem game as well as the TearRing Saga series. They are the promoted versions of Knights who possess superior offense and defense, and surprising evasive ability for their size and somewhat decent resistance. Their lack of maneuverability is made up for their defensive and offensive ability. The majority of the bosses in several games are Generals (or their lesser form earlier in the game).

In Radiant Dawn, Lance Generals are considered the default General for their similarities. They can promote to Marshall, greatly improving most stats.

History in the Series
Generals first appear in Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi as a powerful armored class surpassing the Knight. Despite this and the class role indicating otherwise, the Knight class doesn't promote into General, possibly due to hardware and time limitations. Generals only wield swords in this installment, unlike Knights who used both Lances and Swords. While most generals in the game were enemy units, a powerful late game unit was recruitable. This is the only Fire Emblem title where Generals do not wield Lances or have it as their main weapon.

Generals technically do not appear in Fire Emblem Gaiden, but the Baron class is General in almost every aspect. The Baron class was a class change for Armor Knight, and used an edit of the General's map icon. Baron's exclusively wielded Lances, just as the rest of the Armored line in Gaiden.

In Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, Generals reappeared and were finally established as the promotion of Armor Knights. Due to no classes being able to use two weapon types in the game, Generals exclusively wielded Lances. Due to the Dismount mechanic, Generals were one of the few classes to be able wield Lances during indoor chapters.

In Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Generals were the promotion for not only Armor Knight, but its variations: Armor Sword, Armor Axe, and Armor Bow. Generals were thus given full control of all physical weapons, with a B-Rank in Bows and Axes, and a solid A-Rank in Lances and Swords. All Generals had the powerful Great Shield skill in the new skill system, which had a chance to nullify an attack completely. The Map graphics, icons, and artwork for Generals depicted them with a Lance, firmly establishing it as their main weapon.

Generals appeared in a similar light in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, where due to the return of Dismount and only an Axe Armor being recruitable, Generals were the only playable class capable of using Lances indoors. Great Shield was no longer a class skill of Generals, but one of the late game recruitable General had it as a personal skill.

Generals were playable in all three GBA games. In the first two, Fire Emblem: Binding Blade, and Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, Generals did not have Great Shield due to the removal of the skill system. In the third GBA title, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Generals had Great Shield again due to the return of the skill system, working as it did previously.

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Generals uniquely had Luna as their class skill, while Hawk Laguz received Great Shield (now known as Pavise).

In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the regular Lance Generals were joined by Axe, and Sword Generals. Generals were characterized with high resistance for a physical class in this installment, only falling behind the Falcon Knight. Generals were given a third tier promotion for the first time, promoting to Marshall.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, Generals are like their Fire Emblem counterparts in that they promote from Knights and have Pavise as a class skill, and like in the original Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, wield Swords exclusively.

In TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga, General was disconnected from Armor Knight, who now do not promote. Unlike Armor Knights, who wield Axes exclusively and wear bulky armor, Generals wear more streamlined armor without helmets and use Swords. Generals are equipped with exclusive General Shields, almost always had the Commander skill, and were all named characters.

Combat
Generals can act as "walls" to block enemy forces as well as endure in survival and defense objective battles. Enemy troops tend to have a difficult time penetrating these units, and thus set up a nigh-unbreakable choke point, especially if a healer is right behind them. They can be used to block small entrances to prevent opposing units from getting past them, this is very useful to stop thieves from escaping. A General's weaknesses are magic and anti-armor weapons (such as the Armorslayer), as well as fast-moving, durable and powerful units like Heroes, experienced Paladins and Warriors. In many recent games, Generals have higher magic stats, thus making speedy units and anti-armor weapons their prime weakness.

The rarity of a General ever being out matched on the field through sheer brute force is high, which means they are very valuable to any team and their durability is very helpful to weaker units as they can hide behind them.

In WiFi battle, Generals suffer greatly for their low speed cap. Although their high defense helps them survive even four hits from a Swordmaster, they can hardly survive being doubled by a Berserker or Sage. They lack high movement, and are affected anti-armor weapons. Individually, these flaws can be addressed by cards, but combined they cannot. Generals have high attack, and can use bows. Using a General often means leaving the fate of a battle in the opponent's choice of squad. If a General is placed up against a Swordmaster, and the Swordmaster does not have an Armorslayer, the battle can be quite even (especially using cards like Fleet Feet). However, due to the relative ease of counter-picking teams to beat Generals, it is difficult to use them reliably on WiFi.

Weapon Usage
Generals have been in almost every Fire Emblem game to date, bar Gaiden in which the identical Baron class fulfill their niche, and have had varying weapons available for them. The following table shows the differences:

Stats

 * &#9733; - FE10 SP Class.

Skills
In Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Generals have the skill Great Shield.

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Generals can learn Luna as their Occult skill, while in Radiant Dawn they learn it automatically when they promote to Marshalls.

In Fire Emblem: Awakening, Generals learn Rally Defense at level 5, which is good for strengthening your more frail units' longevity from swords, lances, etc. Pavise is aquired at level 15, which effectively increases their usefulness against units with anti armor weapons such as Armorslayer and Hammer, to the point of nullifying all damage if the General's defense is high enough. Alternatively, frail, high skill units such as Sumia can learn this skill and use it in a physically fragile class (Ex. Falcon Knight, Dark Flier, Sage, etc).

In Fire Emblem: Fates, Generals are arguably the same as their Awakening incarnation. However, their Rally Defense is replaced with Defensive Formation, which prevents them from being doubled in battle. Therefore, units with high speed such as Trueblades will have difficulty killing a General with one due to their moderately low strength against the General's high defense. With their already high Defense and health, Defensive Formation basically makes them an physically impenetrable wall when combined with Pavise.

Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi/Shadow Dragon

 * Lorenz - A general of Grust who opposed his country's alliance with Dolhr, and an old friend of King Mostyn of Talys
 * Horace - A general of Akaneia who was forced to betray his country to protect his people
 * Emereus
 * Harmein
 * Zharov
 * Hollstadt
 * Jiol - The king of Gra who betrayed Altea and sided with Doluna
 * Dactyl
 * Larissa
 * Promotion for: Draug, Macellan, Dolph, and Roger (such promotions are only possible in Shadow Dragon)

Mystery of the Emblem

 * Sheema - Daughter of King Jiol and later the ruler of Gra
 * Lang - General of Akaneia and leader of the Grust Occupational Army
 * Promotion for: Draug

Genealogy of the Holy War

 * Hannibal - A general of Thracia who is known as "The Shield of Thracia" and the foster father of Corpul
 * Promotion for: Arden

Thracia 776

 * Xavier - Former general of Leonster who sided with Freege in order to protect Leonster's people
 * Promotion for: Dalsin

TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga

 * Barbaross - A general of Canaan known as the "Shield of Canaan".
 * Zachariah - A general in service of the Kingdom of Salia, under the command of Ahab.
 * Promotion for: Billford.

Binding Blade

 * Douglas - The Great General of Etruria
 * Hector - The Marquess of Ostia, Lilina's father, and one of the main characters of Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
 * Murdock - The military commander of Bern and the leader of the Three Dragon Generals
 * Roartz - Noble of Etruria who betrayed his country and sided with Bern
 * Promotion for: Bors, Wendy, and Bath

Rekka no Ken

 * Darin - The Marquess of Laus
 * Murdock
 * Lundgren - The younger brother of the Marquess Hausen of Caelin who attempted to overthrow his brother
 * Uther - The Marquess of Ostia and Hector's older brother
 * Promotion for: Wallace, Oswin

The Sacred Stones

 * Vigarde - The "Silent Emperor" of Grado
 * Tirado
 * Fado - The king of Renais
 * Possible promotion for: Gilliam and Amelia

Path of Radiance

 * Tauroneo - A general of Daein and a former member of the Four Riders of Daein
 * Bryce - One of the Four Riders of Daein
 * Black Knight - One of the Four Riders of Daein
 * Promotion for: Gatrie and Brom

Radiant Dawn

 * Tauroneo
 * Brom
 * Gatrie - Member of the Greil Mercenaries
 * Promotion for: Meg

Shin Monshō no Nazo

 * Macellan - Knight of Akaneia loyal to Nyna
 * Dolph - Knight of Akaneia loyal to Nyna

Awakening

 * Ignatius - A Valmese commander and boss of Chapter 14.
 * Cervantes - One of Walhart's officers and boss of Chapter 16 and 20.
 * Mus - Enemy from Chapter 22 and one of the Deadlords. Boss of Infinite Regalia.
 * Possible promotion for: Kellam and Kjelle

Fates

 * Possible promotion for: Benny, Effie, and Ignis

Trivia

 * In various games, the General class can be seen as a parallel to the Wyvern Lord: both have the highest Strength & Defense caps (on the ground and in the air respectively), both have a status which makes them vulnerable to a certain type of weapon (in the case of the General, being weak against Armorslayers, Hammers, and Rapiers/Noble Rapiers) and both classes often wield Axes and Lances.
 * The General's Defense cap is the highest of all playable classes and is tied with the Berserker class for the highest Strength cap in Awakening.
 * Generals consistently possess the lowest Speed cap of all promoted classes in most of their appearances.