Abel

"Yes, sire. Princess Elice bade us protect you."

- Abel to Marth in Shadow Dragon.

Abel (アベル Aberu), is a playable character and a cavalier of Altea. He is known as the 'Black Panther'.

Background
Abel is a friend of Cain and a loyal knight of Altea, nicknamed Black Panther. He helps Marth in his entourage. However, unlike Cain, Abel retired after the quest and opens a shop. He also marries one of the Macedonian Pegasus Sisters, Est.

The attack from the Empire forces Abel to return to the military. However, Est was taken hostage and Abel was forced to fight against Altea. When confronted by Marth, Abel regretfully chose to side with Marth again, knowing the consequence that Est will be executed, although she can be saved if the player brings a healer with high level in staves (such as Yumina) and either the Rescue or Warp Staves. At the end of the battle, Abel vanishes, probably chasing after Est, who leaves him in her ending.

Base Statistics
|Cavalier |1 |18 |6 |7 |7 |2 |6 |7 |0 |9 |Lance Sword |Javelin Iron Sword

Growth Rates
|70% |40% |50% |50% |40% |70% |20% |0%

Base Stats
Book 1

|Cavalier |1 |20 |6 |7 |7 |2 |6 |7 |0 |9 |Lance Sword |Javelin Iron Sword

Book 2

|Paladin |1 |28 |13 |14 |15 |5 |11 |14 |16 |10 |Lance Sword |Knight Killer

Growth Rates
|70% |40% |50% |50% |40% |70% |20% |3%

Base Stats
|Cavalier |1 |20 |6 |0 |7 |7 |2 |7 |0 |9 |Sword - E Lance - D |Javelin Iron Sword

Growth Rates
|65% |40% |0% |50% |50% |25% |20% |0%

Support Relationships
Supports Supported by
 * Est
 * Palla
 * Cain
 * Marth
 * Est
 * Palla
 * Cain

Base Stats
|Paladin |1 |32 |13 |1 |14 |15 |7 |14 |6 |10 |Sword - D Lance - B |Ridersbane

Growth Rates
|100% |60% |0% |60% |60% |40% |40% |5%

Support Relationships
Supports Supported by
 * Palla
 * Cain
 * Est
 * My Unit
 * Marth
 * Est
 * Cain

Overall
Whether or not you want to use Abel over Cain, or vice versa, depends on both personal perference and the actual game either of them are a part of. Both can be good units when leveled up, however, and differences vary between the games they each took part in, and Some things hold pretty true across all games in which they participate:, Abel has a better strength growth in every incarnation of the character, while Cain always holds a superior luck growth.

Differences, however, now vary wildly between different games. In Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, Abel has more balanced growths as compared to Cain, and sports a higher strength growth, while also having slightly inferior growths in skill, speed, luck, and HP. Abel's bases are all either the same, or higher than Cain's with the exception of luck. He is preferred in this game by many for his rounded stats and superior strength growth, which proved to many to be more useful than the slight speed and skill growth lead Cain possesses.

In Book One of Monshō no Nazo, their growths are almost exact carbon copies of their first game, with the minor addition of a Mag/Res growth, and a significant decrease in Cain's health growth (from 90% to 60%), one of the 3 superior growths for Cain in the first game. A bigger difference in this game is between the two's bases: They both start out with bases opposite their respective growths, which has set a trend for the Cain and Abel pair archetype. One red horseman and one green, having bases that reflect the opposite of their actual growths. Cain actually starts out with a higher strength stat in book one (7 to Abel's 6) while having a lower skill and speed stat, while Abel starts out with less strength and more skill and speed. They end up very similar in this portion of the game in large part because their growths balanced out their bases, and despite eventually going in decently different directions stat wise, end up filing similar roles.

In Book Two, however, differences are far more noticeable, aside from their growth rates, which remain almost exactly the same (Aside from Cain getting less weapon level XP compared to before). Kain is recruited much earlier in the game (Chapter 8) while Abel comes in a moderate time later (Chapter 15). For one, their level differences are a huge factor: Abel starts out as a level one Paladin, and along with the trend more strongly set in book one, has higher starting speed and skill than his strength. Cain, on the other hand, is merely a level 9 cavalier, with lower bases in everything (Due to the fact, of course, he is unpromoted) and therefore, Abel has "Better," bases and more balanced stats. Cain also regains his higher HP growth advantage, it shooting back up to 90%. Leveling them up, of course, Abel proves to have higher strength once again, and is preferred by many in the end as compared to Cain, even though both prove to be very useful and are usually on most peoples rosters. Cain actually ends up with superior HP on average as compared to Abel (assuming Cain is a level one Paladin when you get Abel) while Abel boasts better base defenses.

In one of the recent DS remakes, Shadow Dragon, their bases are very similar to Book one of Monshō no Nazo: Both starting out pretty alike, Cain's is still slightly stronger while less swift and skilled, while Abel's bases are the opposite, with better skill and speed and worse strength. The similarities end there, however, as the growths are decently different from both of the previous games. In Shadow Dragon, Cain and Abel actually have identical speed and skill growths. Abel has a significantly lesser luck growth (the luck gap between the two wasn't this extreme in previous incarnations), less health growth (65% compared to Cain's 75%) and a slightly better strength growth (40% compared to Cain's 35%). Abel is preferred more often and often placed higher (if only slightly) on Shadow Dragon tier lists due to the slightly higher strength growth, which is on par with hard hitters like Barst's.

Another reason is that there is often no real situations that can be handled by Cain better than Abel, while Abel does prove to be superior in a few situations that Cain can't handle quite as well, due to (Assuming they are equal level and the same class) the fact that Abel will quickly surpass Cain's strength while usually staying slightly ahead on skill and speed. The loss to luck isn't felt too badly on Abel, and the health growth difference between the two usually isn't something that also makes or breaks a fight as they both have pretty high growths regardless. Many players therefore choose Abel over Cain if given the choice, even though both are very useful and preferred in a game that is generally considered to have a poor roster of characters.

In the next DS remake, however, the two are once more made distinct, their growths more unique in Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo Hikari to Kage no Eiyū than the game before. Again, Abel is superior on strength while Cain wins out on Luck. However, for the first time, their defense growths aren't the same (As they were identical in every other game they appeared in together) with Abel winning out (40% compared to 35% on Cain). Abel upholds his reputation of being more balanced by having slightly lower Skill and speed once more (both 60%) while Cain has an exceptional growths in those areas (70%). Also, oddly, Abel actually has a higher HP growth than Cain's HP growth, another odd example of the switching health superiority between these two characters through the series. In this game, being a remake of Book Two, Abel again joins quite a bit later while Cain shows up pretty early. In the end, Cain proves to be a tougher and stronger overall character reliably, while Abel proves to be merely decent this time around. Abels growths, while arguably better, are nonetheless hindered by his later arrival and far worse bases, and on average, Cain at the same level as Abel appears (Level 1 paladin) has superior stats in every area.

In the end, in all games they appear in, Cain and Abel prove to be valuable members of the team, being shining jewels among a sea of mediocre/bad characters. However, Abel ends up usually shining a tiny bit brighter, while Cain indeed can steal the spotlight.

Recruitment

 * In FE1/11, Abel starts off in your party in the first chapter.


 * In FE3: Book 1, Abel starts off in your party in the first chapter.


 * In FE3: Book 2, Abel must be recruited by Est or Marth in Chapter 15.

Archetype
Abel, along with Cain, also jump starts a trend of Fire Emblem characters consisting two Social Knights/Cavaliers that are often seen together as friends, one of them will specialize more on Skill and Speed, and the other specializes on Strength and HP, and their color scheme are usually red and green (in Abel's case, he wears green). However, the colors are sometimes inverted : Noish is part of Abel's Archetype, but he is a red cavalier, whereas Alec is green and part of Cain's archetype.

List of Abels
Notable Archetype in Abel's side are:
 * Rody (FE3/12)
 * Noish (FE4)
 * Kain (FE5)
 * Lance (FE6)
 * Kent (FE7)
 * Kyle (FE8)
 * Oscar (FE9/10)
 * Sort (FE13)

Anime
Abel plays a less significant role in the anime than Cain. He is portrayed as a calm, composed, and formal character. He saves a child from falling to death after his captor, a pirate, throws him up into the air after being attacked by Cain, and Abel says, "I can't believe I'm still picking up your messes after all these years". Like Cain and Jagen, he is present when Marth makes to the decision to Devil Mountain to save sister Lena.

Manga
Abel has a more significant story in the manga than in the anime. He's still friends with Cain and sometimes teases him, like the time when Cain got drunk after the victory at Aurelis Secondary Castle. Sometime later, Abel goes off to prepare for Lefcandith when he spots a suspicious-looking girl tending to her pegasus in a forest. She reveals her name as Est, but she leaves before Abel could tell her his name. He realizes too late that she was a spy for Minerva, but meets her later after Minerva and her Whitewings join Altea. The two fall in love over the course of the war, and after the war retires to live with Est in Altea.

Etymology
In Hebrew it can either mean "A breath" or it is the Christian Bible's character Abel: the son of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. He is a shepherd, whose offering to God is accepted but he eventually was murdered by his brother Cain, out of jealousy.

Gallery
Abel