Jagen

Jeigan is a Veteran knight of Aritia. He acts as Marth's guardian. He is an invaluable unit at the start of the game due to being a much higher level than the rest of your units, but he has terrible growth rates and potential that severely handicap his usefullness later in the game.

The word Jeigan is also used as a term for characters which use up to much exp at the start of the game (only if you choose to use them) and so hinders the other characters growths.

Jeigan's are usually classed up Paladins that you get in the first chapter, and appear to be amazing units due to having much higher stats than your units. However, a Jeigan will barely gain any experience the first couple of times that you use it. Also, almost all Jeigan's have terrible growth rates and barely any endgame potential. Recent Fire Emblem games are abandoning this trend however, with the Jeigans in Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones, and Path of Radiance (Marcus, Seth, and Titania respectively) all ending up as decent units that are almost worthy of the experience you sacrifice by using them.

Radiant Dawn, the most recent Fire Emblem game, has no Jeigan whatsoever. The Jeigan from POR, Titania, makes a reapperance, but not until late in the game, and she is arguably the best Paladin in the game. The only other two units that could be Jeigan's are Sothe and Tauroneo, both of whom are classed up units you get early on. Sothe however, proves to be the best of his class and an amazing unit overall, and Tauroneo usually ends up decent. Due to this there is much argument over who the Jeigan in Radiant Dawn, but most agree there is none.