Sothe

"No offense, Tormod, but thieves are loners. I can't have you tagging along, snapping twigs and making lots of noise!"

- Sothe talking to Tormod in a support conversation in FE9.

Sothe (サザ Saza) is a playable character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Sothe appears as a Trophy and a Sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Personality
Sothe shares a protective close and brother-sister type friendship with Micaiah. Due to his childhood life with Micaiah he has an unshakeable faith in her even to the point he can be a bit of "Micaiah's boss", though that could be due to her leading the army or due to their childhood friendship because she looked after him when he was little. He gets into a rivalry with the Black Knight because the Black Knight has come to protect Micaiah much to the annoyance of Sothe. Also (much to the annoyance of Micaiah), he gained a slightly more-than-healthy admiration for Commander Ike from serving under him in the Mad King's War, at one point aggravating Micaiah to such a point that she refers to Ike as the "father of Sothe's children." Sothe's overall personality is very calm. According to an info conversation with Micaiah, it seems that Sothe doesn't smile much.

Path of Radiance
Sothe first met Micaiah when he was a young child, and the two eventually formed a close bond, treating each other as brother and sister. During Path of Radiance, Sothe first appeared as an orphaned stowaway seeking a lost, unnamed companion; in Radiant Dawn, it is revealed that that this companion was Micaiah, who fled Daein to prevent him from being affected by her identity as a Branded.

Radiant Dawn
Sothe was the first character of the Path of Radiance cast that was announced to return in Radiant Dawn. After the Mad King's War, Sothe returned to Daein's capital of Nevassa, found Micaiah, and expressed how upset he was that she had abandoned him. As a result, Micaiah realized how important she was to him, and she swore to never leave him again.

However, Sothe and Micaiah continue to have their disagreements. Throughout most of the game he argues with her, mainly over Sothe's strong respect for Ike, whom Micaiah views as responsible for destroying Daein in the Mad King's War. Nevertheless, he is very protective of her, and he stays by her side during their battles against Ike. He promotes to Whisper in the fourth section of the game after receiving a blessing from the goddess Yune. If he and Micaiah have an "A" level support rank at the end of the game, they wed and he becomes her pillar of strength as they work tirelessly to help the poor, thus becoming the 15th King of Daein.

Classes
Sothe starts on the Chapter 2 already promoted into Rogue, he can be very powerful if trained. In Part 4, after the Prologue, he is promoted by Yune into a Whisper.

In this form, he earns the Bane Skill, which leaves the target with 1 HP. In both forms, he can use only Knives.

Recruitment

 * Chapter 12: View the Base Conversation, "Boy"

Starting Stats
|Thief |Wind |1 |20 |5 |1 |7 |11 |5 |4 |0 |8 |8 |7 |Knives |Blossom |Knife

Without Blossom
|60% |55% |10% |70% |65% |55% |35% |30%

With Blossom
|66.7% |61.1% |11.1% |77.8% |72.2% |61.1% |38.9% |33.3%

Support Conversations

 * Astrid
 * Tormod

Death Quote
"Oof... Is this the end? I...cannot...die yet... Hate to do this, but I'm leaving."

- Sothe

Recruitment

 * Part 1, Chapter 2: Automatically during the chapter

Starting Stats
|Rogue |Wind |1 |35 |18 |4 |20 |20 |15 |14 |9 |8 |8 |7 |Knives - B |Shove Steal Guard |Kard Bronze Dagger

If you manage to get Sothe to max stats in Path of Radiance then his starting stats will be:

|Rogue |Wind |1 |40 |20 |15 |20 |20 |40 |20 |15 |8 |8 |7 |Knives - B |Shove Steal Guard |Kard Bronze Dagger

Growth Rates
|30% |60% |20% |80% |45% |65% |20% |30%

Base Stats
|Trickster |15 |44 |26 |22 |35 |35 |31 |17 |25 |10 | Picklock Movement +1 Lucky 7  Acrobatics  Defender |Sword - B Staff - D |Silver Sword* Levin Sword*

* Enemy only, joins unequipped

Use Strategy
In Path of Radiance, Sothe is obtained after Volke and starts out weak in combat, as he is unable to promote. However, Sothe, unlike Volke, will pick locks for free, an advantage negated by the large amount of money available in Path of Radiance. His Blossom skill gives him great stats for an unpromoted unit, but due to his low caps he is inferior (especially in speed and skill). His low strength cap can be negated if he is given the Stiletto knife as it boosts the critical hit rate, though still innefective should enemies have high enough defense.

It is recommended that you use him wisely in Radiant Dawn, as without the ability Paragon, he drains experience from the other Brigade members. He is best used for weakening enemies with his weak knives, though his high speed and decent criticaling allow him to be a decent offensive unit as well. By Part III Sothe's durability drops dramatically, but if still supporting with Micaiah, Sothe is still a decent unit. His speed, skill and luck are his strong points, as is his offensive capabilities if presented with the Baselard knife which is found in the sands of Grann. His low strength cap as a Whisper is nullified with his mandatory Bane skill.

Epilogue
Becoming a pillar of strength for Queen Micaiah, Sothe worked tirelessly to assist the poor and downtrodden.
 * Zephyr (緑風 Ryokufū)

Becoming Queen Micaiah's husband and her pillar of strength, Sothe worked tirelessly to assist the poor.
 * (A support with Micaiah)

Etymology
Sothe's name sounds like the word 'sooth,' which means 'truth' in Old and Middle English. 'Sothe' was a variant spelling of the word. The Japanese pronunciation of his name, Saza (サザ), means 'small.'

Trivia

 * In FE10, Sothe is the closest thing to a Jeigan. He is the strongest member of the Dawn Brigade at first, but will swiftly be dwarfed by the likes of Edward, Nolan, and Jill. He could actually be an Oifey, as he can still be a decent unit, especially since he's a thief type.
 * By that note, Sothe is the only Jeigan who can still promote.
 * While Sothe is a required unit for the DB chapters and for the Tower of Guidance team, he can be left out of the Tower fights.
 * Oddly enough, Sothe's luck cap as a Rogue is higher than his luck cap as a Whisper. So when he is forced to promote at the end of Chaos Named, a negative "gain" may appear next to his luck.
 * Sothe has a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There is an error on the caption, however; it says "he is a talented swordsman", even though he does not use swords.
 * It has been stated that Micaiah is much older than she looks. Coupled by the fact that Sothe met her when he was just a young child, some consider it odd that they become married, since it is likely that Micaiah would outlive him, and since as he grew older in appearance, she would remain youthful.
 * In the instruction book of Radiant Dawn it's said that Sothe claims to be Micaiah's brother, and the two of them share a brother-sister relationship during the game. That's another reason why their possible marriage is slightly odd.

Gallery
Sothe