Niles

"I am Niles, a retainer to Lord Leo, The enemy looks to be quite angry. Don't worry—it will be my genuine pleasure to make them regret crossing you."

- Niles in Chapter 17 (Revelation)

Niles (ゼロ, Zero in the Japanese version) is a playable character in Fire Emblem Fates and an ally on the Conquest and Revelation Routes. He is voiced by Takehito Koyasu in the Japanese version and by Roger Rose in the English version.

Profile
In his childhood, Niles' father abandoned his mother and eventually, she abandoned him. Eventually, he joined a gang of street thieves and they became his family. One day, they decided to raid the Nohrian palace, but were almost instantly caught. Looking to save themselves, the gang used him as a scapegoat. It was Prince Leo who found him and, knowing that he had nothing left, begged him to kill him. However, Leo saw worth in Niles and instantly made him his retainer. Since then, he has sworn loyalty to Leo and has abandoned his criminal ways. If he achieves an S-Support with a female character, he will have a daughter named Nina. He will also be the father of male Kana if he marries the female Avatar and Shigure if he marries Azura. If he achieves an S-Support with a male Avatar, it's mentioned that they adopt children in the epilogue of Revelations.

Niles' eyepatch apparently covers a completely empty eye socket. The skinship quotes with the Avatar have him explain that he lost his eye as a child, at the hands of another criminal. His birthday is April 22.

Personality
Sadistic, cold and callous, Niles derives pleasure from watching the suffering of others, a fact made plainly evident throughout his supports, where he visibly becomes excited when bearing witness to the pain and discomfort of his conversational partners. These traits of Niles in turn lends to his being an easily agitated individual; through his supports with Arthur, he is observed to, in response to being asked why a wanted criminal like him is permitted to serve a member of royalty, threaten to kill Arthur.

Niles' supports with Camilla and Azura explain the origin of his sadism. In his conversations with both women, he reveals that such tendencies arise from a bitter grudge that is deeply rooted to a wretched past, one in which he was in a state of complete destitution, forced to watch as others hedonistically enjoyed lavish lifestyles that they did not deserve. As a means of coping with the overwhelming hatred that he experiences towards such individuals, Niles thus began to develop a morbid enjoyment from watching others suffer. Mingled within this bitterness that Niles bears is a mixture of pain and sadness that all point towards his troubled past; his skinship quotes with the Avatar whom he marries see him reveal that he responds very badly to abandonment, and is tormented by severe nightmares that are closely associated with his past as a fugitive.

Owing to his background as a thief prior to his servitude to Leo, Niles thus bears innumerable connections with the intricate, chaotic web of the underworld, allowing him to achieve any purpose he puts his mind to with ease. His main uses for it are background researches on people (e.g. Odin) and incidents (the attack of Faceless that left Mozu homeless) so that he may learn more about them in order to know their history and weaknesses in order to protect Leo or to find any object, person or place he needs/desires.

Niles is also known to possess a rather lewd mind, one that he is portrayed to unreservedly reveal throughout his supports and skinship. A vast majority of the lines that he utters essentially function as double entendres, where he adeptly corrupts even the most innocent of subjects into ones that carry sexual connotations. This is particularly evident in his supports with Camilla, where he unabashedly spews one crude insinuation after another.

Niles' birthday is April 22. Out of everyone in the army, he enjoys looking at the moon the most.

Base Stats

 * -|Conquest Chapter 8 - Cold Reception=


 * -|Revelation Chapter 17 - Black Flames=

Birthright Chapter 18 - Leo

 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=


 * -|Lunatic=

Xenologue 20 - Memories of Foam 6: Unfinished Dawn

 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=


 * -|Lunatic=

Growth Rates
◾ Note: Growth Rates are based on the character in their starting class
 * 40%
 * 45%
 * 25%
 * 50%
 * 70%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 60%
 * }

◾ Note: Growth Rates as an Adventurer
 * 40%
 * 40%
 * 35%
 * 45%
 * 70%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 60%
 * }

◾ Note: Growth Rates as a Bow Knight
 * 50%
 * 45%
 * 20%
 * 45%
 * 65%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 50%
 * }

Max Stat Modifiers

 * -2
 * 0
 * -1
 * +3
 * 0
 * 0
 * +1
 * }

Supports
Romantic Supports
 * The Avatar (Both Genders)
 * Felicia
 * Effie
 * Elise
 * Camilla
 * Charlotte
 * Selena
 * Beruka
 * Nyx
 * Azura
 * Mozu
 * Setsuna (Revelation only)
 * Oboro (Revelation only)

Other Supports 
 * Nina
 * Leo
 * Odin
 * Arthur
 * Subaki (Revelation only)
 * Kana (Male) - If Niles is his father
 * Shigure - If Niles is his father

Standard Sets

 * }

Friendship Sets

 * -|Conquest/Revelation=


 * }
 * -|Revelation=


 * }

Partner Sets

 * -|All Routes=


 * }
 * -|Conquest/Revelation=


 * }
 * -|Revelation=


 * }

Special Classes

 * }

Base Class
While Niles isn't exactly indispensable, he fulfills a wide array of niches that other units would be hard-pressed to rival. He has respectable stats across the board, with enough Strength to one-round many of the enemies that he can double and enough Resistance to shrug off attacks from enemy mages despite his weapon triangle disadvantage. He is not without his weaknesses, however. Notably, he has shaky physical defenses and has trouble damaging foes with very high Defense stats. It should be noted that Niles is considerably less useful in Revelations, due his late join time and the fact that the player already has Takumi in their army.

As an Outlaw, he can open chests and doors, move faster than other units, and offer a +1 move pair-up bonus. Due to his ability to capture units, he is extremely useful in Conquest as he is required if the player wishes to obtain units like Kumagera and Haitaka or the various generic enemies with skills that they cannot normally obtain. This is more limited in Revelations as the player will have already acquired Orochi earlier on and the fact that every enemy after Chapter 18 cannot be captured.

Upon promotion, Niles can become either an Adventurer or a Bow Knight. As an Adventurer, Niles gains an additional layer of utility as a staff user, and can function passably well with the Shining Bow. Lucky Seven is a helpful ability during chapters where the player is seriously pressed for time, notably Chapter 21, Chapter 25, and Endgame. As a Bow Knight, Niles gains an incredible 9 movement, but he will find little reason to ever use swords because it is difficult to grind up weapon ranks in Conquest. The Bow Knight's Shurikenbreaker ability is extremely useful against the numerous Master Ninjas encountered in Chapter 25, and the Adventurer's Pass ability and access to the Rescue Staff can help the player bypass many of the hazards present in the Endgame. Because both of these abilities help alleviate some of the most difficult portions of a Lunatic playthrough, it might be worth it to train Niles as a Bow Knight until he gets access to Shurikenbreaker,then reclass him to an Adventurer.

Ultimately, in Conquest at least, Niles is one of the most useful units in the game and provides notable boons to the team from the very turn he is recruited to the final moments of the endgame, though his middling damage output and physical durability prevent him from being completely overpowered.

Secondary Class
Niles' secondary class is the Dark Mage class. His decent magic growths allows him to function well in this class, although Ophelia excels far better at a magic class compared to Niles. However, the player should not skip out on most of this set's class skills.

From the Dark Mage class, Niles can take advantage of Heartseeker to drop the avoid of units next to him to allow their stronger units to finish them off, especially if the player has trouble hitting them. Malefic Aura increases his damage by two, but only if he is using the Shining Bow or Levin Sword in battle.

The Dark Mage's promotions are the Sorcerer and Dark Knight classes. Niles is better off suited as Bow Knight or Adventurer, but he should still grab skills from both classes before returning to his normal promotions. From the Sorcerer class, Niles can learn Vengeance to help him deal more damage with physical weapons if he loses health. Bowbreaker will allow him to deal with enemy Snipers better if the player needs more bow-killing units. From the Dark Knight class, Niles can learn Seal Magic to sap magic off enemy Onmyojis or other magic using units and Lifetaker to restore health and allow healers to focus on other units instead.

Buddy Class
Niles can form an A+ Support with Leo, Odin, Arthur and Subaki. Note that his supports with Subaki are only available in Revelations. Leo and Odin pass down Dark Mage as their buddy class, which Niles already has as his secondary, so it is advised to either form an A+ with Arthur or Subaki instead.


 * Arthur - Arthur offers Niles the Fighter class. Since Niles functions better as a support unit, most of the skills from the Fighter class set will not add any benefit to him. The only exception could be Sol to recover lost health, and Axebreaker to help him avoid getting hit by axe users more easily.
 * Subaki - Subaki offers Niles the Sky Knight class. The skills from this set offer a good amount of skills designed for a supporting role. From the Sky Knight, Niles will benefit greatly off Darting Blow as his good speed growths will allow him to double enemy units that have speed stat near him. Camaraderie does not help as it requires Niles to be near a player unit so he can heal himself. The Sky Knight's promotions are the Falcon Knight and Kinshi Knight classes. From the Falcon Knight, Niles can learn Rally Speed (although it will be his only rally skill apart from Spectrum) and Darting Blow, which due to his good resistance growths, can allow him to tackle magic units even better. From the Kinshi Knight class, Niles can learn Air Superiority to be a great anti-air unit and Amaterasu to relieve nearby allied units.

Quotes
Refer to Niles/Quotes.

Possible Endings

 * Niles - Cruel to be Kind
 * Niles continued to support Lord Leo throughout his royal career, handling some of the unsavory tasks a royal must assign. As a result, he wasn't popular- except among Leo's staff.


 * Niles and Male Avatar (Revelation)
 * Avatar and Niles ruled over the Kingdom of Valla together, ushering in a new era of peace. Some years later, they adopted two orphaned children and raised them as successors to the throne.


 * Niles and Camilla
 * Niles continued to take care of Lord Leo's dirty work while helping reform Nohr's criminal population. His wife, Camilla, gave up her royal title and spent her days at home doting on her family.


 * Niles and Charlotte
 * Niles continued to take care of Lord Leo's dirty work while helping reform Nohr's criminal population. Records show his wife, Charlotte, was a caring wife and mother, and they had a happy family life.

Etymology
Niles is a surname derived from the given name Neil which in turn was derived from the Gaelic name Niall and the old Irish word niadh. While both translate to champion or warrior, the name Niall can also mean passionate, avid or cloud.

Niall is also the family name of the Uí Néill royal family who ruled Ireland during the 6th-10th centuries. The most famous family member being Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), an Irish King and ancestor of the Uí Néill royal family who received nine hostages from the kingdom of the Airgialla; four from the main empires of Middle Age-Europe (Scotland, Saxony, Celtic Briton and France) and five from the provinces of Ireland (Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Meath), whom of which Niles got his name from due to his ability to capture units for the Avatar's army and hold the hostage in the My Castle Prison.

Trivia

 * He shares Japanese voice actor, Takehito Koyasu, with Awakening's Lon'qu and Validar.
 * Niles is the only male unit in Fates that can have an S-Support with a Male Avatar.
 * Niles and Rhajat are the first units in the series who can potentially marry characters of the same gender.
 * Niles placed 7th in the official character popularity poll held on the game's official site.
 * Niles placed 8th in the character popularity poll issued by Nintendo Dream; he was tied for the spot with Ryoma.


 * While Niles has no right eye, he fires his arrows with his right hand. This is unusual as the hand used to pull the bow is determinant on which eye is dominant.
 * However, this could be excused as reusing the default bow animation.