Lethe

"Sure, I'll take you on. But it's going to hurt! When I fight, it's with claws out."

- Lethe to Ike in a support conversation

Lethe (レテ Rete) is a playable character from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. She is a Cat Laguz from the Beast tribe of Gallia. Fierce and agile, Lethe initially bore a deep-rooted hatred for all beorc, but after fighting alongside Ike during The Mad King's War, she has since learned to let go of this hatred, forming several friendships in the process. She is the leader of a small platoon of Gallian soldiers.

In Path of Radiance, if Lethe and Ranulf share an A rank in Support Conversations, Ranulf will offer Lethe the opportunity to return to Gallia, leaving Ike and the Crimean Army behind her. Lethe will then decline this offer, promising to defeat Ashnard alongside the Crimean Army.

Lethe has a younger twin sister named Lyre, and despite their arguments, Lethe only desires for Lyre's safety. Lethe will always try to protect Lyre, even if she has to be mean to her.

Lethe appears as a boss in the Radiant Dawn chapter, A Reason to Fight, but the player will neither be required to fight nor defeat Lethe in order to advance through this chapter.

Personality
Lethe is known as one of the harshest characters in the Tellius series. She has a sharp tongue and a vehement disdain for Beorc that appears to last throughout the series. Lethe's honor and respect for her duty leads her to be an extremely intimidating figure. Despite this very fact, Lethe does care for her comrades, as can be observed from the contents of her death quote.

Recruitment

 * Chapter 10: Automatically from the start.

Base Stats
|Cat (Untransformed) ↓ Cat (Transformed) | Heaven |3 |34 |12 ↓ 18 |4 |10 ↓ 14 |12 ↓ 15 |15 |9 ↓ 14 |10 ↓ 13 |6 ↓ 21 |11 |7 ↓ 9 |Strike | -- | Claw Beorcguard

Growth Rates
|130% |50% |5% |65% |70% |50% |40% |25%

Support Conversations

 * Muarim
 * Ranulf
 * Jill
 * Ike

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

Starting Stats
|Cat (Untransformed) ↓ Cat (Transformed) | Heaven |21 |51 |9 ↓ 18 |6 ↓ 12 |13 ↓ 26 |12 ↓ 24 |18 |9 ↓ 18 |10 ↓ 20 |6 ↓ 11 |11 ↓ 31 |7 ↓ 9 | Strike - A | Shove | Claw Laguz Stone

Growth Rates
|85% |35% |5% |30% |40% |45% |35% |20%

Overall
As a Cat, Lethe has quick transformation times, but can only stay in her transformed form for several turns. She is able to perform double attacks due to her high Speed, but her other stats may prove to be a detriment to her. Lethe's Defense and Strength are low, meaning that she will most likely sustain large amounts damage, alongside inflicting low amounts of damage at the same time. However, if trained, she may prove to be an important asset to the player's army, where she is able to last for a long period of time in battles.

Path of Radiance
"Ahhgrr! A terrible mistake... I must be allowed to withdraw. All of you, live to fight again!"

- Retreat quote

Radiant Dawn
"Ugh...! Defeat! I've gotta fall back... Everyone... Stay alive!"

- Retreat quote in Part 2

"While I can breathe... I will still...fight... ...L-Lyre..."

- Death quote in Part 3

Epilogue
Gallia's Valkyrie - Lethe (ガリアの女戦士 Garia no onna senshi, lit. The Female Warrior of Gallia)

Lethe later became captain in Gallia's home guard, and pounded battle skills and fighting pride into young warriors.

Trivia

 * Interestingly enough, Lethe's eye color differs between her two forms. While her her eyes are purple when she is in her human form, her feline form possesses yellow eyes.

Etymology
In Greek mythology, Lethe is a river in the underworld. Those who drink from it will forget their past lives.

Gallery
Lethe