Ayra

Ayra is a young fictional female swordfighter from the Fire Emblem series, more specifically Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, a 1996 release for the Super Famicom. Her name is spelt Ira in Japanese products such as the book, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu: TREASURE, and in the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game, however most English-speaking players call her Ayra as she was named in an early translation. She is called Aira in the most recent version of the fan translation patch to the game, but she is still called Ayra by the English-speakers. She was the first popular female swordfighter in Fire Emblem history, and the representation of the 'Nabarl' archetype in Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu. She was the first female of the Nabarl archetype, and she was also the first of the Nabarl archetype to be a member of royalty (later followed by Joshua of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones). She was also the first recruitable Myrmidon and Swordmaster. She also possesses the special skill known as Ryuuseiken, or Meteor Sword. Due to the difficulty of recruiting her, Ayra may be killed off as an enemy by players who are new to Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (which would be a huge loss to Sigurd's party and regretful to Celice's party), but she is very highly praised by more knowledgeable fans of the game and is one of the more popular Nabarl characters. She is the first recruitable enemy in the game. She is the first character to appear in the default demo sequence of the game, alongside Shanan. She is introduced at the beginning of Chapter 1 of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, shortly after Eltosian is through meeting with Sigurd. When she is introduced, Kinbois talks with her.

Ayra possesses the skills Pursuit, Awareness ("Nihil"), and Ryuuseiken (Meteor Sword) (which only Isaacian royalty can master). She is considered one of the more versatile characters of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, and vies in competition with Levin, the prince of Silesia, and Brigid, lord of Jungby, among others, for this title. She is a great suitor ability-wise for just about any playable male character in Sigurd's tale other than Sigurd and Cuan 1, being arguably the best suitor of Holyn, Lex, Dew, or Noish. However, since she does not let Levin pass the Holsety spell or Claude pass the Valkyrie staff on to Celice's generation, pairings with those two are rarely considered. Holyn and Lex tend to be most often dubbed her best suitors, both due to the skillsets they provide her children and because either of them can give her a Hero Sword, one of the better weapons in the game. However, it is possible to pair her with someone else after having one of them give her the sword.

Biography
Princess Ayra, a descendant of Odo 2, one of the 12 Jugdral Crusaders, was born and raised in the main castle of the Kingdom of Isaac, the northeasternmost country in the continent of Judgral. She has long, jet black hair with bangs. She was born to King Mananan (named after the mythical figure Manannan mac Lir) and an unknown deceased queen. According to unofficial manga, she was born in the Gran Calendar year 738; she stands 169 centimeters tall, weighs 53 kilograms, and her blood type is AB 3. She knew only Holyn before the onset of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu. In the Gran Calendar year 757 (the onset of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu), when Mariccle was King of Isaac, Prince Kult made the decision to have the Kingdom of Grandbell subdue the Kingdom Isaac. This came about due to the leader of Rivough, one of the major cities of Isaac, invading the city of Darna which was under Grandbellian protection. That conflict forced Ayra and her nephew Shanan, son of her older brother Mariccle, to flee the country. Mariccle foresaw that he would not survive the war, and wanted his son to be safe so he could return to Isaac and take the throne in the future. They eventually came to the Kingdom of Verdane and ended up working for Prince Kinbois as a mercenary.

Her story
In Gran 757, the Kingdom of Isaac was on the verge of destruction. In the meantime of the Prologue chapter of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, Prince Kult from Barhara Castle, Grandbell, makes the decision for the Grandbellian army to invade Ayra's country, the Kingdom of Isaac, because of public outcry involving the Isaacian barbarians from Rivough attacking Darna. Darna was once a peaceful dukedom and was cooperating with Grandbell, but there were reports of massive slaughter being caused by the Rivough army. Ayra's father Mananan was going to reveal to Prince Kult that Isaacian royality was not involved in the attack on Darna, but he was assassinated by Duke Reptor of Freege under Manfroy's influence. At the time, the defeated men and children of Isaacian royalty were to be executed, and although the case for women was instead slavery, this would usually end up with rape and torture to death. Mariccle did not want Ayra or Shanan to go through this suffering. Therefore, he ordered Ayra and Shanan to flee from Isaac, through Manster (which includes Lenster), through Miletos, through the south tip of Grandbell, and eventually to Verdane, in order to escape Isaac's conflict with Grandbell. At the time, Verdane was the only country that was not under Grandbellian protection, and that country is also hostile toward Grandbell. Even if Ayra and Shanan were to stay, with peaceful relations to Grandbell, in any of the countries that are under Grandbellian protection, they could be presented as prisoners to Grandbell if their identity was revealed to Barhara royalty at the time.

Upon arrival to Verdane, Shanan found his new life in Verdane amusing, making a game out of it, but Ayra was struggling to find her own way in life. She found out that she had no alternative but to work for Kinbois, son of King Batou and brother of Jamka, as a mercenary. Ayra shows up with Kinbois in Chapter 1 of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, taking place in the Gran Calendar year 757. She is employed to guard his castle, Genoa, while he advances northward to retake the castle of Evans, recently taken by Sigurd's army in their attempt to rescue Aideen of Jungby from Verdane's Prince Gandolf. Kinbois, having left only a pittance of his army at Genoa, had Shanan locked in the dungeon to prevent Ayra from shirking her duty. Ayra would also threaten to impale Kinbois on a stick in order to prevent him from breaking his promise.

When Sigurd and his forces come too close to Genoa Castle, Ayra declares that she will kill anyone coming near her, and she begins to fight. Sigurd has to conquer Genoa Castle, rescuing Shanan in the process, without killing off Ayra, and Shanan will explain the situation to Sigurd. Thereafter, Sigurd is able to recruit Ayra. Upon learning that Genoa castle has been taken by Grandbell, Ayra's thoughts turn towards Shanan, whom the Grandbellians will surely imprison if they find him, and heads for Genoa to rescue him before that happens. Sigurd comes across her before she gets back and informs her of Shanan's safety, and she joins Sigurd's army for the time being. Later in Chapter 1, after Sigurd is through talking with her, Ayra talks with Cuan about the political situation between Isaac and Grandbell. Cuan's father, King Lenster, has a high opinion of Ayra's father Mananan. As the player learns later, Mananan was assassinated by the Duke of Freege, Reptor, as he journeyed to Barhara to explain the situation with Rivough to Prince Kult. Even after she joins Sigurd's party, Ayra still views Grandbell as her sworn enemy, but Sigurd tells her that he does not want to ever have to fight against her, and he does not care too much about the war with Isaac, which ends in the meantime of Chapter 2, when her older brother Mariccle dies.

In Chapter 3, either Lex or Holyn may give her the Yuusha (or Hero/Brave) Sword, since things are going to become harder as the player advances through the game. In Chapter 5, after Sigurd conquers Lubeck Castle, Ayra's children flee with Shanan, Oifaye, and Celice to Isaac, eventually settling for the time being at Tilnanogue. After that Ayra talks with Sigurd, and informs him that she has finished her duties to raise Shanan and that she wants to stay with Sigurd until the Battle of Barhara at the end of Chapter 5 where Sigurd and his army fall into a fatal trap set by Alvis and his mage unit. The game Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu is unclear on her situation on the trap. According the manga adaptation by Oosawa Mitsuki, Ayra survived the Battle of Barhara (also known as the Barhara Massacre) but died years afterwards, but this is not confirmed. She is presumed dead during the ending of the game. However, it is unconfirmed whether she died in or survived the Battle of Barhara or whether she died afterwards, or whether she remained alive at the time of the game ending. She was not mentioned in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, and that game confirms that the other female members of Sigurd's army who were present in the Battle of Barhara survived. That has made some sources to assume that Ayra died in the Battle of Barhara.

Recruitment
Ayra is initially hostile toward Sigurd and his army, since she is from Isaac and most of his forces already in his army including himself are from Grandbell. Cuan, Fin, and Ethlin from Lenster in the Manster District (Lenster nobility having ties with both Grandbell and Isaac), and Dew the thief are the only exceptions at the time of Ayra's recruitment. Getting Ayra to join Sigurd's forces is somewhat difficult, but she is worth the effort. First, Sigurd and his forces have to lure her away from Genoa Castle, to allow Sigurd room to take it over; if she is nearby when he does, she will attack him (and likely either kill him, or die herself). Sigurd can recruit Ayra after subduing Genoa.