Alm

"Of course, Celica thinks I should take a more compassionate approach to enemies... But really, it's a battlefield! How do you compassionately stab someone? It may sound barbaric, but that's just how I feel. If you hurt me, I hurt you back...tenfold."

- Alm

Alm (アルム Arumu; romanized as Arum in the Fire Emblem Museum) is one of the two protagonists from Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. He is 17 years old in Echoes.

He appears as DLC in Fire Emblem Awakening, where his map introduces the Dread Fighter class.

Profile
Born in the year 385 in the Valentian calendar and year 590 in the Archanean calendar, Alm is a childhood friend of Celica and was raised by Mycen in the village of Ram in Zofia. Mycen trained Alm extensively, teaching him both battle tactics and even battlefield medicine. He joins and eventually leads the resistance against the rebelling forces of Desaix. After routing Dozah to his fortress, Alm reclaims Zofia Castle and reunites with Mycen and eventually Celica. The two go on their separate journeys and Alm's forces visit the Forest Village, where the mage Luthier asks him to save his sister Delthea. Alm slays Desaix and captures his fortress, freeing the Zofian knight Mathilda. At the floodgate Alm and his army confront and slay Tatra, freeing Delthea from his mind control. The floodgate opens after the corresponding floodgate at the Temple of Mila is opened first.

Alm then leads the counterattack on Rigel. After capturing a fortress belonging to the sorcerer Nuibaba, he finds the saint Tatiana who explains that Nuibaba took her prisoner in order to make her lover, Zeke, fight. Upon seeing that Tatiana is safe, Zeke cooperates with Alm's army to defeat the corrupt Jerowm. At first Zeke refuses to join Alm's army due to his loyalty to Empire Rudolf, but changes his mind upon seeing a cross shaped mark on his right arm. He explains that Rudolf told him that the mark would belong to Valentia's savior and that he must follow that person. Eventually, Alm confronts Rudolf in battle, although Rudolf refuses to attack him. Rudolf is defeated, but before he dies he reveals that Alm is his son, and that his real name is Alpine Alm Rudolf, and also requests that he claims the Falchion and slays the dark god Duma.

At Rigel Castle, Mycen explains that Rudolf was the one who entrusted Alm to his care and that he had to make himself the "destroyer" in order to instigate the appearance of the true heroes who would save mankind from the destruction that would come of the negative consequences of Duma and Mila's deep involvement in mankind.

In Echoes, as Alm goes to claim the Falchion to slay Duma, he is confronted by Celica, who's soul was sacrificed to Duma, turned into a witch by Jedah. As she tries to kill him, Alm ends up having to stab her with Falchion, killing her. As Alm cries over her dead body, the power of Mila in the Falchion heals and brings Celica back to life.

Alm and Celica then go to confront Duma and joins with Celica's army, who were also being set up to be sacrificed to Duma by Jedah. Eventually he defeats Duma with the Falchion and is entrusted to govern the land justly by Duma before he returns to slumber in the shadows. After the war he marries Celica and becomes the Exalted King Alm the First of the united Kingdom of Valentia.

Awakening
Alm's legacy as the Exalted King of Valentia would endure even past the schism of the unified kingdom a thousand years later. Alm's immediate successor would rename both the Kingdom and the continent as a whole "Valm" in Alm's honor.

Personality
Alm is kind-hearted young man, who heavily values justice and has subtly idealistic morals, wanting leave Ram Village to help the people of Zofia when he heard about the outbreak of thieves and the aggression of the Rigelian Empire for the past few years. Alm is able to acknowledge his own naïveté and is not familiar with the world outside of Ram Village, and is very attentive in general to compensate for said naïveté.

Emotional, passionate, and a humble person, Alm joined the Deliverance to protect Zofia and save as many people as possible, even if the people in questions are Rigelians, as he bear no hatred for the citizens of Rigel, and has no desire to become a king like Celica claimed in a moment of heated passion, saying that when the still alive princess of Zofia, he would return to Ram Village.

Alm has a deep longing for a family, as he's said to have grown up lonely in Ram Village, and he was deeply disturbed when a elder said that Mycen had no children, Alm projects his desire for close familial relationships on to other party members, often idealizing them as his family by treating them as such in order to counterbalance his loneliness.

Growth Rates

 * 50%
 * 35%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 20%
 * 30%
 * 0%
 * }

Overall
As the main Lord character of Gaiden, Alm has very good stats for a Level 1 unit. Though his growths may seem low compared to future games, his growths in Gaiden are considered very strong as Gaiden has brutally low growth rates. He will likely end up with very high HP, Strength and Skill and relatively high Speed and Defense by endgame, so he can be used as a shield or offense type unit as you wish. His lowest growth is Luck, which is merely average.

When he promotes, he gets even more potential as he can use Bows, which are deadly in this game as they have a natural range of 3 that can be increased to a range of 5 with a Bow weapon equipped. The Falchion can only be wielded by Alm in Gaiden and is a necessity to defeat the final boss as he is immune to all damage inflicted on him once he reaches 52 HP (aside from a Nosferatu tome.) Alm should be given as much training as possible as not only is he key for the final boss, but his offensive strength for the army can prove to be very rewarding in the long run.

Alm is easily one of the strongest characters in Gaiden. He has strong base stats, some of the best growths in the game, can equip a huge variety of Swords (two of which can only be equipped by him) and Bows, and he is with you from the start of the game. His only real weakness is that he can only Promote once, and his Promotion requires you to find an optional hidden village in the Lost Woods that can be easy to miss.

Base Stats

 * -|SpotPass=

*Enemy only, joins unequipped.
 * -|Enemy (Xenologue 2)=


 * -|DLC (Xenologue 5)=

*Enemy only **After recruitment

Growth Rates

 * 60%
 * 50%
 * 55%
 * 45%
 * 35%
 * 50%
 * 3%
 * }

Supports
Passive Supports
 * Mycen
 * Faye
 * Clair
 * Celica
 * Kliff
 * Tobin
 * Gray

Description
Hero of Prophecy
 * A brave but kind, young warrior, raised by the hero Mycen in Ram Village. His left hand is marked with the Brand. Appears in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Death Quote
"Damn!! Just a bit more..."

- Alm's death quote in Gaiden

First Turn Selection

 * "I've got this."

Enemy Defeated

 * "I'll never yield!"

Healed By Ally

 * "Thanks."

Death Quote
"Damn, I was so close...I'm sorry Celica."

- Alm's death/game over quote in Echoes.

Heroes

 * Alm/Heroes Quotes

Fire Emblem Gaiden
''In ages to come, this is what was passed down: He who sundered the evil chains of the gods And established this thousand-year reign Must never be forgotten: Our Exalted King, Alm the First!''

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
"As the first of the line of kings of unified Valentia, Alm devoted a lifetime to the reconstruction of the land. In the afterlife it was said that he was the one who cut the Gods' terrible chains and built our thousand year dynasty. Let us all never forgot our Exalted King, Alm."

Etymology
Alm takes its reference from the alpine pasture of the same name. This is further supported in his full name, Alpine Alm Rudolf. Alm is ostensibly derived from the Old Norse word "álmr", meaning "elm tree." Alm could also be a reference to giving alms, or an act of charity.

Alm's first name, Alpine, is derived from the Latin word "Alpīnus " which means of pertaining to the Alps, a mountain range in Western Europe.

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

Trivia

 * As with many characters in Gaiden, Alm's hair color differs in various art assets. It is green on the manual and cover art, yet blue in game. In the manga adaptation of Fire Emblem Gaiden, Alm has green hair as well. In Fire Emblem Awakening, Alm has green hair but the very tips are blue, effectively combining both hair colors. In Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, his hair is green in both official art and in the game itself.
 * He is one of the few main characters to have a specified last name, the others being Sigurd, Seliph, Leif, Elincia, Sanaki, and Marth in the anime.
 * Alm's artwork for both the original Gaiden and Echoes depicts him wielding the Royal Sword. His Awakening artwork depicts him wielding Alm's Blade, which is visually based on the Royal Sword, while his Heroes artwork depicts him with the Falchion.
 * Alm was originally right-handed in Gaiden and all subsequent materials. However, Echoes depicts Alm as left-handed, both in his promotional arts and in-game appearances.
 * In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Alm is the only playable character without a spell list.