Soldier

Soldiers are lance-wielding infantry units which, for the most part of the Fire Emblem series' history, are unplayable and unpromotable.They usually have atrocious stats compared to other units at the same level, give you less experience than other types of enemies, and stop appearing later in the game. They are a playable class only in Fire Emblem Gaiden and in the Tellius series games.

History in the series
Soldiers do not show up in the original NES Fire Emblem game, Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi.

Soldiers first apear in Gaiden, as the first-tier class of the Knight/Baron path, Ruka being the first soldier to show up in the entire series.

Soldiers first showed up as an enemy only units in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. They were not as statistically poor as they would be in later games, some of the Soldiers encountered in the later chapters and especially the arena being quite powerful. Curiously they have a player palette which even pirates didn't have, despite not being playable.

Soldiers were an unused class with several weapon variations in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. This role appears to have been taken by Armor Knights in the finished game.

Soldiers first appeared as weak enemy only fodder in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 which carried onto the GBA games.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga there is a foot based class present called Spear Knight that has a lot of similarities to the soldier class, with the advantage of being able to promote.

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, they are a playable class for the first time since Gaiden and can promote to Halberdiers once Level 21 has been reached or 10 and above using a Master Seal. They usually have higher Speed and Skill than Knights, but at the cost of lower Strength and Defense in comparison. In Radiant Dawn, when the player is playing on hard mode, the soldiers at the beginning of the games can be quite dangerous as they have the speed to double units like Nolan.

They are one of the few common classes to be unplayable in Fire Emblem: Awakening. Ephraim appears as an enemy soldier in two DLC maps, however the playable version is a Great Knight. Nephenee oddly appears in DLC as a General. There is concept art for female soldiers, who only appear in cutscenes.

Uniform


Since Monshō no Nazo, Soldiers have had distinctive uniforms and helmets. Typically, Soldiers wear light armor with and helmets that cover their eyes. Since Fuuin no Tsurugi the color of the uniform will reflect the nation or alignment of the soldier.

Generic units of various classes such as Sniper, Cavalier, or Knight, will typically use a portrait based on Soldiers. This is even true in games where soldiers do not appear as in Genealogy of the Holy War.

Gaiden

 * Ruka - Sofia Rebel who started Alm's quest by recruiting in Ram Village.
 * Fols - Clive's second in command in the Sofia Liberation force.

Path of Radiance

 * Nephenee - recruited through Chapter 10 by opening her cell door.

Radiant Dawn

 * Aran - a childhood friend of Laura and a member of the Daein Liberation Army.