Rudolf

"Brave warriors of Rigel. You have fought with courage and skill at my side these long years. But the hour of reckoning is upon us. Our empire's light is guttering. Now heed my words well! If I should fall, my final order is that you lay down your arms and surrender. I hear the young Zofian general is a man of mercy. If you have any love and loyalty for me, you'll not waste your lives this day."

- Rudolf's pre-battle speech in Act 4.

Rudolf (ルドルフ Rudorufu) is one of the main antagonists of Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. He is the emperor of Rigel. He is 50 years old.

Profile
Rudolf is the fourth generation Emperor of Rigel, as well as a renowned general who stood on the battlefield from a young age, with numerous victories to his name. Within the empire, the people fear his reign of terror. About 17 years before the start of events of the game, Rudolf took his newborn son Albein to the Zofian general Mycen and left him in the knight's care, explaining that he planned to one day erupt Valentia in war in order to provoke true heroes into rising up and stopping him and creating a new era in which the people were free from the gods, whose over involvement was leading mankind to ruin. 16 years later, Rudolf befriends a man with amnesia who was found by Tatiana, a Rigelian priestess, and names the man Ezekiel. Rudolf became like a father to Zeke and promoted him to a high rank within the army of Rigel. One day Rudolf tells him that if he should encounter a man with a cross-shaped birth mark on his left hand, then he should dedicate everything to this person, as this person would be the savior of all Valentia.

Rudolf then begins his plan, requesting the Falchion from Duma in order to seal Mila, and aiding Desaix in his rebellion in order to provoke the true heroes to come out and stop him or unite the continent by military might. Before his army's final battle, Rudolf praises his soldiers for how admirably they had fought for him to this point and commands them to lay down their weapons and surrender if he is killed. The Rigelian army then does battle with the army of Alm, although Rudolf refuses to attack Alm. As he is dying he reveals that he is Alm's father and shows pride in the man he has become before requesting that Alm claims the Falchion and defeats Duma.

Stats
*Due to equipped Angel Ring

Strategy
As previously stated, if Alm attacks Rudolf or if Rudolf attacks Alm, then Rudolf will not attack/attack back. This is the only real method that the player can use to beat him (unless they level grind for a very extensive amount of time), as in addition to being equipped with an Angel Ring (which essentially boosts his critical rate by 20%), he has very high HP (52, the max HP of the game for all units except the final boss), attack, defense, and speed. Assuming the player has refrained from serious level grinding, he will generally be able to double any unit that attacks him, and given that the highest amount of defense your units will have generally is 20 at best (and this would only include your Barons), he will do an average of 14 or more damage given the fact that he has a high critical rate. If not for the fact that Rudolf will not attack Alm in battle, Rudolf would likely be the most difficult boss out of all the Fire Emblem games given his high stats and abilities, along with the fact that he moves.

Stats

 * -|Normal=

*Due to equipped Angel Ring
 * -|Hard=

*Due to equipped Angel Ring

Strategy
Like Gaiden, Rudolf will not attack Alm. If Alm is in range of Rudolf, he will initiate an attack on Alm.

Rudolf is fairly vulnerable to magic; the best strategy to abuse this would be to kill all of the enemy Bow Knights and use a Bow Knight of your own to kill the enemy Arcanists before attempting to attack Rudolf. This would require Rudolf moving out of his position, which would entail using the Invoke spell or sending an incredibly durable unit to lure Rudolf out of his position to a point where he can attacked by a Thunder or Sagittae spell over the wall of the right side of the map. In Hard Mode, Rudolf cannot be killed with magic alone due to his improved resistance and how the enemies on the map are positioned differently. The best strategy in Hard Mode would be to lure out Rudolf with Dread Fighter from Silque's Invoke spell, targeting him with as much magic as possible, and having Alm finish him off, with the Royal Sword's Double Lion skill if necessary.

If you have Delthea with Ragnarok however, as well as training 3 other mages (Preferably the 3 Saints), and you had defeated Nuibaba (which is highly recommended as Tatiana is by far the best healer in the game), you can use both Slique and Tatiana's Invokes to lure Rudolf into moving as soon as possible, and allowing all 4 to bombard him with attacks, and due to the Mage Ring that can be traded around, all 4 will have 1-4 range against Rudolf, and as Sephraim and Ragnarok are the most accurate spells in the game, this method should kill Rudolf quite easily, as long as Slique, Faye and Tatiana have decent attack values.

Quotes
"Come... Strike me!"

- Rudolf's battle quote in Echoes

"Alm... You've become a splendid young man... Was it no mistake to have entrusted you with Sir Mycen after all...? You should have realized it by now, haven't you? Your real name is Albein Alm Rudolf. My... one and only... son... Guh... I cannot speak for much longer... However, Alm. I have just one last request. Using "Falchion", that holy sword that sealed Mila... Defeat... the fell god... Duma..."

- Upon Rudolf's defeat in Chapter 4 in Gaiden

"You've...done well...I'm proud of you...my son. I knew I was right to entrust you to my dearest friend. I'd thought you'd have realized it by now. Your true name... Your true name is Albein Alm Rudolf. You are...my one and only son. Nnngh... Be still, Alm. I haven't time left...to explain. But I beg you to grant me one...final favor. Take the divine Falchion that...sealed Mila's strength... Duma has become a thing of mindless evil. Use the blade... Destroy him... Please, my son... You must..."

- Upon Rudolf's defeat in Chapter 4 in Echoes

Critical quotes
 * "The time has come!"
 * "Fool!"
 * "No mercy!"
 * "Now perish!"

Etymology
Rudolf is a Germanic name deriving from two stems: Rod or Hrōð, meaning "fame", and olf meaning "wolf".

Trivia

 * Rudolf's first name is unknown, as his son Alm's full name, Albein Alm Rudolf II, clarifies that Rudolf is the family name. This makes him one of the only Fire Emblem characters to be referred to only by his last name.
 * However, given the fact that his son is called Albein Alm Rudolf II, it's highly likely that the Emperor's full name is Albein Alm Rudolf I though this is never confirmed.
 * His official artwork depicts him weilding both the Emperor Lance and the Emperor Shield
 * Rudolf does not have facial hair in the manga adaptation, but he has it in the game.
 * In the manga, he wields an axe when only Thieves can use axes in Fire Emblem Gaiden. Gold Knights would be able to use axes in later games, however.
 * Aside from the manga, there is no artwork of Rudolf in any of the supplementary material for the original Gaiden. This is likely why he was excluded from SpotPass content relating to Gaiden in Fire Emblem Awakening.