Sanaki

"You stand in the presence of Sanaki, empress of Begnion! I am the apostle, the voice of the goddess!"

- Sanaki

Sanaki (サナキ Sanaki), full name Sanaki Kirsch Altina (サナキ・キルシュ・オルティナ Sanaki Kirushu Orutina), is a non-playable character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and a playable character in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. She is the Empress and Apostle of Begnion. She is actually a young girl (10 in Path of Radiance and 13 in Radiant Dawn) that is said to be the vessel of the goddess Ashera. She is a descendant of a long line of Begnion Empresses, notably Altina, Meshua, Yoram, and Misaha (her grandmother). She is also revealed to be the younger sister of Micaiah. She wields a personal fire tome, Cymbeline.

Personality
Sanaki is very concerned about manners, and is often put off by Ike's lack of respect in his speech. However, she appears to be very respectful to Laguz, unlike most of the Begnion nobility who disrespect the Laguz and call them sub-human. She has a very close relationship with her prime minister, Sephiran, the Duke of Persis.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
At first, she treats Ike and Elincia coldly and with disdain, but it is in fact a ruse, as she needs Ike's help in uncovering a Laguz slave-trading ring that other Begnion nobles are participating in. Her greatest desire is to atone for the genocide her people committed on the Heron tribe twenty years earlier. It is also revealed at the end that the apostle is the only one who can awaken the dark god from Lehran's Medallion, as she is the currently only known descendant of Altina, one of Ashera's Three Heroes, who fought to seal the Dark God along with Dheginsea and Soan.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
She escapes Begnion when the Senate, led by Duke Lekain of Gaddos, seizes control of the Empire; she subsequently forms an alliance with Gallia, Crimea, Phoenicis, and Serenes to reclaim her throne. Lekain later reveals that Sanaki once had an elder sister: only the firstborn daughter of Altina's lineage can hear Ashera's voice, they claim, and so Sanaki is a false Apostle. Upon defeating Lekain, she discards the title of "Apostle" and rules only as Begnion's Empress. Unlike her older sister (who is later revealed to be Micaiah), Sanaki did not inherit the brand and therefore she cannot hear the voice of the goddess Yune. Sanaki later joins the Silver Army on the march on the Tower of Guidance.

Availability

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◎=Forced　○=Available　□=Available for selected　△=Reinforcement

Base Stats

 * FE10 Sanaki Empress Sprite.png Empress
 * FE10Light.png
 * 1
 * 28
 * 2
 * 33
 * 22
 * 23
 * 32
 * 10
 * 28
 * 4
 * 4
 * 6
 * FE10 Fire Magic.gif Fire - S FE10 Thunder Magic.gif Thunder - A FE10 Wind Magic.gif Wind - A FE10 Light Magic.gif Light - A
 * Shove.png Shove Flare.png Flare
 * Cymbeline.png Cymbeline FE10arcwind.png Arcwind FE10arcthunder.png Arcthunder FE10elixir.png Elixir
 * }

Growth Rates

 * 70%
 * 40%
 * 60%
 * 60%
 * 35%
 * 55%
 * 30%
 * 50%
 * }

Overall
Sanaki is a potent force offensively; rivaling the best of magic users in terms of sheer power. Her personal tome, Cymbeline, is the second most powerful Fire Tome available with an unparalleled durability of 45 points. Despite this, Sanaki's offensive potential is crippled by her low Strength; though it does not affect the power of her attacks, it causes most Tomes to weigh her down considerably, preventing her from performing double attacks on all but the slowest of adversaries, and allowing even moderately swift units to double attack her, which is likely to be fatal, considering her low Defense and HP. Sanaki is capable of attaining an SS-Rank in Fire Magic, granting her access to the most powerful of Fire Tomes, the SS-ranked Rexflame (However, Rexflame is also a very heavy Fire Tome (second only to Meteor), and even its +3 boost to Sanaki's Speed hardly negates the penalty for her having such low Strength). Unlike most Magic users, Sanaki cannot use Staves, further inhibiting her usability. On the other hand, Sanaki can attain an S-Rank in all Magic except for Dark Magic, allowing her to use a wide variety of Tomes.

Quotes
Death Quotes "I'm sorry that... I let everyone down..."

- Sanaki "Don't talk such nonsense... I've failed you when you needed me. My life is...meaningless..."

- Sigrun

Ending
Sanaki elected to guide her people in a world without the goddess, and made treaties uniting the continent.
 * Holy Empress (聖帝 Seitei)

Base Stats
*Enemy only, joins unequipped
 * Sage
 * 5
 * 33
 * 1
 * 25+2
 * 18
 * 20
 * 28
 * 10
 * 23
 * 6
 * Magic +2.png +2 Concentration.png Magiccryicon.png Magic Luna (FE13).png
 * TomeIconFE13.png - C StaffIconFE13.png - D
 * Arcfire*
 * }

Etymology

 * Sanaki's first name may be taken from the first line of the Galdr of Rebirth used to restore Serenes Forest: Imih"sanaki"keganonawot. The line is reversed from Japanese: Towa no nage"ki kanas"himi. Making Sanaki a backwards portmanteau from the words grief and sorrow.
 * Sanaki's middle name, Kirsch, is the German word for "cherry".

Trivia

 * There is a notable typo in the Unit Profile referring to Sanaki's class as Emperor. It should be noted, though, that in the original Japanese version, Sanaki is likewise known as (皇帝 Koutei) which usually translates to the male "Emperor". Female forms of the word such as (女帝 jotei or 皇后 kougou) are not used in the game.
 * The Falconknights in Sanaki's SpotPass team in Fire Emblem: Awakening represent the Holy Guard.