Roy

"I have faith in mankind, I will not lose to a man who lost faith in his people and even himself!"

- Roy's declaration to Zephiel before their epic battle in The Neverending Dream

Roy (ロイ Roi) is a playable character and the main protagonist of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. He is the son of Eliwood, the main character of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. His first game appearance was in the Nintendo-brawler Super Smash Bros. Melee, prior to the release of his own game, The Binding Blade. The appearance of Roy and Marth sparked a greater level of Western interest in the Fire Emblem series, and was partly responsible for Nintendo's decision to release the games internationally, beginning with The Blazing Blade.

Roy's mother could be either Ninian, Lyndis, Fiora, or another unmentioned woman, depending on who Eliwood gained supports with in The Blazing Blade or if he had any supports at all. He is stated in the Hasha no Tsurugi manga to be 15 years old. He makes a brief cameo in the ending to The Blazing Blade.

The Blazing Blade
At the end of The Blazing Blade, if playing Eliwood's route, Eliwood asks the Tactician, whom he met during his story, to name his firstborn child. That child, Roy, appears briefly at the end of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade in an epilogue that takes place fifteen years after the events of the game. During Eliwood's visit to Castle Ostia, Roy accompanies his father and meets Hector and his daughter Lilina for the first time. The two quickly run off to play as their fathers discuss the unrest occurring in Bern by Zephiel.

The Binding Blade


Roy is only fifteen years old when the story of The Binding Blade begins. Bern had recently conquered the neighboring nations of Sacae and Ilia, and had turned its sights to the Lycian League. Following the Lycian code, each province is obligated to send their armies into battle against those who would attack the nation-states; Roy is thus called home from his studies in Ostia to lead Pherae's armies in his ill father's stead.

Along the way to Araphen (the Lycian realm closest to Bern), however, he meets the errant princess of Bern and sister of King Zephiel, Guinivere, who had escaped from her land in the hopes of negotiating a treaty with Lycian nobility. Roy quickly agrees to her proposal to search for a peaceful means to end Bern’s aggression, and it is this encounter (along with his tardy arrival at Araphen to a dying Lord Hector) that will eventually lead him on a journey across Elibe to save the continent from another war between dragons and humans. After Hector's death in Chapter 3, Roy is bound by oath to protect the Ostian lord's daughter, Lilina.

His campaign will force him to put Lycia under Etrurian protection, deal with rebellion across the continent, recruit comrades, search for seven of the eight legendary weapons of Elibe, and eventually draw the Binding Blade. The blade is found after the other legendary weapons start glowing and pointing in the direction of the Shrine of Seals. Roy draws the sword, triggering his promotion. In the final four chapters, he duels and defeats the errant King Zephiel, who is wielding the Eckesachs, kills Jahn, and finally vanquishes the demon dragon Idunn. Depending on the various supports and actions taken throughout the game, several different endings can occur. All of them generally result in the recovery of Idunn's soul, Roy's return to Pherae, the formation of the Kingdom of Lycia, and an era of peace.

Personality
Roy is an upstanding, thoughtful, and idealistic young man who repeatedly shows a desire to help and support others, shown in his interaction with Guinivere and his friend since youth, Lilina. While he would prefer to avoid bloodshed – a fact reflected in his interaction with Guinivere and his tactical efforts to conserve his soldiers – he maintains a strong resolve to see peace return to Elibe. Unlike most young protagonists, however, he is perceptive and cunning for his age – he tricks a traitorous Lycian vassal into exposing himself, deciphers that the bard Elffin is more than he seems (though he does not pursue the truth against Elffin's will), and often reacts calmly and tactically to disturbing news. In a support conversation between Lillina and Cecilia, it is revealed that Roy's inferiority complex is the reason why he picked up a sword despite his teacher using magic. Lilina also notes in a support conversation that he is clumsy and is known to "dance with two left feet."

Roy is notably dense, being oblivious to the feelings that some of the women in the army develop for him. Lilina in particular is quite smitten with him regardless of the player’s actions, but he never notices this. He can either marry her or several other women in the army (Sue, Larum, Cecilia, Shanna, or Sophia).

Growth Rates

 * 80%
 * 40%
 * 50%
 * 40%
 * 60%
 * 25%
 * 30%
 * }

Supports

 * Marcus
 * Alen
 * Lance
 * Wolt
 * Shanna
 * Sue
 * Lilina
 * Larum
 * Cecilia
 * Sophia

Overall
As a unit, Roy starts with mediocre base stats and is swordlocked with 5 movement. This is slightly mitigated by his growths after a few level ups (with his HP and Luck growths being particularly robust). He will not be a viable unit in most playthroughs until his promotion, which grants Roy a large increase to all his stats. Further hindering Roy's viability is the fact that he cannot promote until before Chapter 21x, when he receives his forced promotion and legendary weapon, The Binding Blade. Chapters preceding this require the player to escort Roy to seize Castles.

Roy does have exclusive access to the Rapier, which has three times effective damage against Knights and Cavaliers (Troubadours and Nomads are unaffected), giving him some utility within the first few chapters where effective weapons against Armored and Mounted units are rare. With some bosses up until Chapter 10 being either a Knight or Cavalier, Roy is able to perform a niche role. Although it must be noted that on Hard, Knights will generally have enough Defense and weapon advantage to offset his effective damage. The Rapier is limited to 20 uses and there are only two in-game (the other must be found inside a chest in Chapter 7).

Roy's combat improves drastically upon obtaining the Binding Blade. The sword has a 18 Mt base, good accuracy, a decent crit rate, 1-2 Range, effective damage against Manaketes, and grants +5 Defense and Resistance. The blade is also light enough that any speed penalty incurred is negligible. It can be used as an item to heal Roy for 30 HP but it is not recommended as it drains the already limited uses of the sword.

Base Stats

 * -|SpotPass=

*Enemy only, joins unequipped
 * -|DLC=

*Included after recruitment **Enemy only, joins unequipped
 * -|Enemy (CoY3)=

Description

 * Young Lion
 * The son of Eliwood, Marquess of Pherae and talented leader of its army. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Base Stats
Rarity:

Description

 * Brave Lion
 * The son of Eliwood, Marquess of Pherae. Has immense respect for his father and wields his weapon, Durandal. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Base Stats
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯

Description

 * Youthful Gifts
 * The son of Eliwood, Marquess of Pherae. He decided to visit the festival after receiving an invitation from Lilina. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Death Quote
"Everyone... I'm sorry...."

- Default Death/Game Over Quote

If Lilina available "Everyone...I'm sorry..."

- Roy

"I-I... I'm sorry..."

- Lilina

If Guinivere available "Everyone... I'm sorry...."

- Roy

"Roy...! Don't die..."

- Guinivere

Defeat Quote from Tutorial Mode "Roy...! How could you die? ...Is what I would be saying if this was a real battle. The battle is lost. Don't be discouraged... we'll try again tomorrow. Let's go back and get some rest."

- Cecilia

Heroes

 * Roy/Heroes Quotes

Possible Endings
Normal

Roy - Young Lion (若き獅子 Wakaki shishi)

"Roy returned home to rebuild the lands in Lycia that were trampled on during the war. Although both Etruria and Bern offered him high-ranking positions in their courts, he never accepted any of them. Still, people always seemed to like him, and he left behind many legends during the course of his life."

With Lilina

"After returning home, Lilina became the marquess of Ostia, and married Roy a short while later. Together, Roy and Lilina united the Lycia Alliance and created the Kingdom of Lycia, a peaceful nation blessed with prosperity and harmony."

With Shanna

"Shanna gave up the path of the Pegasus Knight and went to Pherae with Roy, where they married. Rebuilding the battered land was a painful process, but her cheerful personality encouraged many people to rise up and help lead Lycia to prosperity again."

With Sue

"Sue accompanied Roy to Lycia, where she married him and became the mistress of Pherae. However, she never could cast away her love for nature, and her behavior sometimes troubled those around her, who were not familiar with Sacaean culture."

With Larum

"Larum accompanied Roy to Pherae, where they married. Many voiced their discontent at bringing in a woman of unknown origins into the family, but Larum's perseverance and unbending will earned her respect. She then proceeded to live happily with Roy."

With Cecilia

"Cecilia accompanied Roy to Pherae, where she helped rebuild the battered land. She eventually married Roy, continuing to offer him close support and aid as the duchess of Pherae."

With Sophia

"Sophia accompanied Roy to Pherae, where they married. Although she was never very talkative, her wise decisions played a major role in the reconstruction of Lycia."

Super Smash Bros. series
Roy's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee marked his very first appearance, which preceded the debut of his own game, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. His inclusion in Smash also sparked interest in the Fire Emblem series in the West and was partly responsible for Nintendo's decision to release the games internationally, beginning with the seventh title in the series. Nintendo of Japan had originally intended to make him playable only in the game's Japanese release, but when he garnered favorable attention during the game's North American localization, Nintendo of America decided to keep both him and fellow Fire Emblem protagonist Marth in the North American and European versions. Roy speaks Japanese in all of his appearances in Smash due to the Fire Emblem series' exclusivity to Japan prior to Melee; Roy is voiced by Fukuyama Jun (福山 潤).

Melee
Roy is a clone of Marth, sharing a similar moveset focused around speed and mobility. However, there are some key differences such as the Binding Blade having its sweet spot at the base of blade, dealing more damage if an attack connects there. Most of his moves are also slightly stronger and slower as well as sporting fire effects. Roy is an unlockable character and can be acquired by completing 1P Classic Mode as Marth without using continues or by alternatively playing 900 VS. matches.

Brawl
In the next installment in the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Roy may have been originally planned to be in the game, but was cut possibly due to time constraints, or other unknown reasons. A package of unfinished programing found within the code of the game labelled "ROY" has been found via hacking. He only appears as a Sticker.

For 3DS and Wii U
"Roy Seals the Deal!"

- Roy's introduction tagline. An early leak on June 13, 2015 revealed that Roy was set to return in Super Smash Bros. 4 and was officially announced and released on June 14, 2015 as a DLC character. Roy's return was first hinted via datamining the 1.0.6 patch for the 3DS version which revealed a data file labeled ROY was hidden in it. Like Marth, Roy continues to only speak in Japanese and Jun Fukuyama reprised his role as his voice, re-recording the original Roy audio. Roy, for the most part, remains largely the same as he was in Melee, having the same sweet spot at the center and hilt of his blade. He received numerous new standard attack moves and different properties to his specials, making him largely different from Marth compared to Lucina. Roy also received a redesign, based on his design as a Great Lord in The Binding Blade. Some of his palette swap are references to other Elibe series characters including Marcus, Eliwood, Zephiel, and Cecilia. Marth also has a palette swap based on Roy's original Melee colors.

Special Moveset

 * Regular Special: Flare Blade: Roy's standard special move. Roy performs a vertical slash similar to his standard attack animation in his game. The move can be charged in place and will initiate once the player lets go of the B Buttons. If held for at least 5 seconds, Roy will automatically unleash the attack, creating a large explosion in front of him. A fully charged Flare Blade always deals 50% to any enemy that it hits and will result in a One-hit KO unless on a stage with an un-passable roof, or if used against superheavy characters from the opposite end of the stage. It will also inflict 10% recoil on Roy even if he does not connect with anyone. It can also break shields at full charge.
 * Side Special: Double-Edge Dance: Roy's side special move. Roy performs a series of different slashes depending on the button input by the player. After performing the standard Side Special input, the player can press B while pressing up, down, or forward, up to 4 attacks. With all the different move variations, Roy can perform 18 different versions of the Double-Edge Dance move. high variations are outlined with blue streaks, middle variations are outlined with red streaks, and low variations are outlined with green streaks. Roy's version is stronger than Marth's but slower, making it harder to hit an opponent with all hits of the special.
 * Up Special: Blazer: Roy's stage recovery move. Roy performs a leaping ascending vertical slash that can hit up to 4 times due to the fire effect imbued in his blade. However it has little horizontal movement making it difficult to recover from off the offscreen. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Roy now executes the attacks with a reverse grip uppercut slash and has more horizontal range, similar to Marth and Lucina's Crescent Slash custom move variation, while retaining the multiple hits.
 * Down Special: Counter: Roy's down special move. Roy takes a defenses stance and his body flashes for a few seconds. If any character attacks him with a non-projectile move up close, Roy will deal 1.35x the amount of damage that he would have received, slightly stronger than Marth's, whose deals 1.2x. If hit with a projectile, Roy will redirect the projectile upwards at a 30 degree trajectory behind him. However, if he tries to Counter an explosive projectile, it will detonate upon contact and deal damage to Roy.
 * Final Smash: Critical Hit: Unlike Marth and Lucina's rushing version of the move, Roy's version is a close range stationary attack. Roy will first slowly swing his blade backwards. Any characters within two character lengths in front of him will receive up to 5% during the start up swing while characters behind him can receive up to 10% and be forced in front of Roy. Roy then slams his blade down, creating a large explosion, hitting any foe within two character lengths of Roy. This move has lower knockback compared to Marth and Lucina's version, requiring at least 50% on Bowser to KO him from the opposite side of Final Destination. If the move connects, Health bars similar to the style of Awakening appear and quickly deplete to zero. The animation for the move is his actual critical hit animation when he wields the Binding Blade.

Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Roy is illustrated in the trading card game with the following cards:

Uses
While not particularly powerful as a unit, Young Lord of Pherae, Roy, is a showing of the Divine Weapons' focus on Support Skills, and the supporting mechanic, often having skills revolving around being supported by certain characters, and even special Support Skills. His Attack Support Skill, Hero Emblem, oftentimes does not appear at the right time, or the attack unit is too weak to utilize it correctly, and his Defense Support Skill, Hope Emblem, is not much better, unless your Champion is not Roy. General of the Lycian League, Roy, his new Field Cost 1 card, is a substantially stronger unit, allowing you to filter out your hand with Will of Fire and Fate Emblem, and also placing any card of your choice from your hand to the top of the deck (this will be referred to as stacking). Certain Champions may wish to run a few copies of this card, if only for Fate Emblem.

Son of Flames, Roy, is a near-mediocre card, like most other Field Cost 2 cards, for forcing you to tap him and flip 1 Bond to place a card on top of your deck from your Retreat that isn't Roy, as his 50 Attack could certainly come more in handy in attacking weaker units with ease. Leader of the Pherae Army, Roy, has a Rear Line enemy movement effect with the interesting condition of being supported by a card with a Support Skill, which wastes an attack that could be done on said unit. Rapier, while useful at times, will oftentimes not see use, as there are little to no viable Beast or Armor units in Cipher.

Young Lion, Roy, has a typical statline for his Field Cost of 4(3), but has no notable skills, as Banner of the Alliance is generally a more inferior version of Lodestar, Marth 's Hero of Light, and Binding Blade will rarely see use, due to either the strength or frequency of Dragon units. Foretold Flame, Roy, however, is a different story altogether. Each of his skills are once per turn each, and flip 1 Bond to do a variety of essential effects: Increase the attack of an allied unit, stacking a card, moving an allied unit, and moving enemy units. Coupled with more powerful Divine Weapons cards like Pious Mage, Nino, and Lovely Duchess, Lilina, and even the assistance of other factions, Roy's power is not to be trifled with.

Inheritor of the Sealed Flame, Roy, while notable for being in a faction that requires very little Bond-flipping to get good healing, continues to suffer from the syndrome of requiring 3 Bonds flipped and a copy of Roy, both of which are terrifyingly hard conditions to achieve together. His effect of stacking a card may prove to be efficient in ensuring attacks land, but he is nonetheless a rather standard and rather useless finisher.

Etymology
The name "Roy" has been linked to both the Gaelic "ruadh" ("red", commonly used as a nickname for someone with red hair) and the Old French "roi" (meaning "king", which can also be written "roy" in Old French), both of which pertain to Roy in some way. Roy's name could come from an abbreviation of "Elroy" continuing the family prefix "El".

Trivia

 * Roy is the only Fire Emblem character to be playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee before his game was released (by four months). He is also the only character in the Smash Brothers series who made his first debut in Smash Bros. instead of his own franchise.
 * Roy is also the only returning Fire Emblem representative to not appear in the Smash game succeeding the game he debuted in.
 * Roy was going to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl along with Mewtwo and Dr. Mario from Super Smash Bros. Melee, but they were removed, and he was possibly replaced by Ike from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, but this was neither confirmed nor denied by official sources.
 * Roy speaks only Japanese in all appearances in the Smash Series, along with Marth. Roy is the only playable Fire Emblem character to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series who does not have any games involving him as the main protagonist localized in the west.
 * Prior to Fire Emblem Heroes, Roy did not have an English voice in any game he appeared in.
 * On the official Japanese website for Nintendo, Roy won 1st place in the character popularity poll for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. The male-female vote ratio was 2:1. The voter comments mainly focus on his heroic personality, kindness, strength, nobility, and composure.
 * In a Japanese video game news website, Roy placed 1st on the character popularity poll for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. The male-female vote ratio was 4:1.
 * Roy came in 2nd place for males in the Fire Emblem Heroes Choose Your Legends popularity poll. He had 28,982 votes.
 * The Choose Your Legends versions of Roy and Lyn placed 3rd among the most popular Ally Support pairings in Heroes.
 * The Choose Your Legends version of Roy placed 5th among the most popular Summoner Support pairings in Heroes.
 * In Heroes, his Choose Your Legends version has a fourth select quote: "Roy's our boy!", referencing a popular community meme.
 * Roy can be 1/4th Manakete if Ninian is his mother because she is half Ice Dragon.
 * Roy can be related to Lilina if Eliwood is married to Fiora and Hector is married to either Florina or Farina because Fiora, Florina, and Farina are sisters.
 * Roy is the only primary protagonist in the entire series whose father is still alive at the end of his game (unless one counts Lucina, technically, though in her timeline her father does die and her status as a primary protagonist is debatable).
 * Roy's allies in the SpotPass battle with his The Binding Blade appearance represent some of his allies:
 * 3 Paladins (Alen, Lance, and Marcus)
 * 1 Sniper (Wolt)
 * 1 General (Bors)
 * 1 Hero (Dieck)
 * 1 Falcon Knight (Shanna)
 * And 2 Warriors (Lot and Wade)
 * Roy shares his English voice actor in Fire Emblem Heroes, Ray Chase, with Alfonse and Gaius.