Celica

"But when it comes down to it, both Rigelians and Zofians are the same, aren't they? We are all people of Valentia. Even if these divisions of country no longer existed, we should all still be able to live together in happiness."

- Celica

Celica (セリカ Serika, Cellica in the Japanese version) is one of the two protagonists of Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. She is 17 years old in Echoes.

She was mentioned in the official website for Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade and in the name of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl track With Mila's Divine Protection (Celica Map 1), both sources use the name "Celica".

Celica appears as DLC for Fire Emblem Awakening, where she was illustrated by doujin artist Masatsugu Saito.

She is voiced by Nao Tōyama in the Japanese version.

Profile
Born in the year 385 in the Valentian calendar and year 590 in the Archanean calendar, Celica is in actuality Princess Anteze (アンテーゼ Antēze) of Zofia, who was adopted by Mycen in order to save her from Desaix. She is the childhood friend of Alm and was raised with him by Mycen before she was left in the care of Nomah and put into hiding at the Novis Monastery.

When Mila disappears, Celica, along with Mae, Boey, and Genny, leaves the monastery to investigate the cause. After defeating the pirate leader Dahha and gaining the forces of Valbar and his men, Leon and Kamui, Celica reunites with Alm at Zofia Castle, the two recollect on old times and Celica wonders why they are fighting and expresses that she does not believe King Rudolf to be as evil as they say. Alm states he wants to invade Rigel to which Celica accuses him of doing it only in the interest of becoming king of Zofia. However, when Alm mentions that he plans to search for the missing Zofian princess, she claims there is no such thing and leaves to prepare to head for the Temple of Mila. Celica and her party are then forced to make a detour through the desert, along the way vowing to help Palla and Catria save their sister Est from Grieth. After defeating Grieth, one of the women he captured is revealed to know her mother, Liprica, the queen of Zofia, and reveals that Liprica was forced into marriage with Lima IV and later suffered from illness in which she died giving birth to Celica. To cheer her up, the woman hands her a circlet that belonged to Liprica, causing her to class change into Princess.

Once she arrives at the Temple of Mila she learns that Rudolf sealed Mila in the Falchion and sets off to Duma Tower in order to unseal her. Along the way, she visits the Sage Hamlet and speaks to Hark, a banished sage of Duma who promotes Alm to Hero at Celica's request. At the top of Duma Tower, Duma's head priest Judah leads her army into a trap by playing off her concern for Alm and sets them up to be sacrificed to Duma. Eventually Alm comes to her aid, where she apologies for how she had treated him before, and together they defeat Judah and his daughters Marla and Heste, opening the way for Alm to defeat Duma. After the war she marries Alm and together they form the Kingdom of Valentia, with her kindness and wisdom aiding Alm in his rule.

Personality
Celica is very polite with moments of emotional candor that shine through, but she holds back emotionally to an extent after having cared deeply and lost people for it too many times; as a result, she comes off as cold. She is a soft idealist and peacemaker at heart, but will take violent measures or approach situations through other methods if needed. From a young age, she has had a very strong sense of responsibility–seeing her assume a royal, graceful persona at the age of ten to get Alm to let her go because she knows she is putting him in danger. Celica regrets showing her full emotional hand of cards on the rare occasions when she really opens up. In her body language in cutscenes and sprites, she's much more subtly guarded and closed-off.

Celica is very lonely, but feels that loneliness is selfish when she is only ever put those she cares about at risk, and she starts out with lingering sense of discomfort at being treated like royalty. She is in a high position as a priestess at Novis Monastery, however, she deeply values her acolytes and is extremely close to them, especially in the case of Mae. While she does not outwardly express her confidence issues, she greatly lacks self-worth. During the events of Gaiden, Celica bears the heavy weight of responsibility to save Zofia as well as the guilt she experiences after her argument with Alm in Zofia Castle, both of which take a toll on her ego. She does not feel she deserves the respect her birthright affords, when all that birthright has ever brought her is strife. She also has been shown to be clumsy, possibly a trait rubbed off on her by Nomah.

Growth Rates

 * 30%
 * 25%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 40%
 * 20%
 * 0%
 * }

Overall
Celica is one of the better characters in her route, and one of the better characters in the game. She is not quite as good as the very best (like Alm, Catria and Palla), but she is better than the majority of Magic users. All of her base stats are good other than her HP and Defense. Her growths are impressive aside from HP, Strength, and Defense, which are average. She will likely have high Skill and Luck, as well as relatively good Speed by the end of the game, meaning she will be one of the more evasive Magic users in the game. Sadly, Skill does not affect Magic Accuracy, so her good Skill stat will be for Critical strikes only. Celica's class, Priestess, has the unique ability to attack physically or with magic.

Celica has a few problems that hold her back from being among the best. One problem is that she has average Strength growth, making her damage less impressive than it should be for a Lord character. This isn't helped by the fact that for the majority of the game, her spell list will consist of Fire, Thunder, and Angel. She does not get access to any really powerful spells (such as Aura or Arrow) until she obtains Ragnarok, the most powerful spell in the game. The problem is that by the time you learn it, you should be near the end of the game. On the upside, she learns Angel at level 5 which will make her very effective at fighting against the majority of monsters in the game from the very beginning. The other problem she has is the same as all Magic users in Gaiden: she is fragile, and has even lower HP than most of the other Mages you can get.

Celica still remains one of the better units in the game, and in particular is one of the most effective characters at fighting monsters for most of the game. She does fall short of being amazing, but she is undoubtedly worth using in her route.

Fire Emblem Awakening

 * -|DLC=


 * -|Enemy (CoY3)=

Supports
Passive Supports
 * Mae
 * Atlas
 * Nomah
 * Conrad
 * Alm
 * Gray
 * Tobin
 * Kliff
 * Faye
 * Boey
 * Genny

Gaiden
"I'm no good after all. I'm sorry, everyone..."

- Celica's death quote in Gaiden

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia
"I can't do anything after all...I am sorry Alm..."

- Celica's death quote in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Level Up Quotes:

 * "I can feel the warmth of Mila's blessing..."

Enemy Defeated:

 * "All thanks to the Mother."
 * "I must complete my mission."

Ending
''Afterwards, she and Alm joined together to become the founding king and queen of Valentia. Her kindness and wisdom helped the young king establish the foundations of the Kingdom of Valentia. The people believed that she was the reincarnation of Mila. It is said that they never ceased to love her from the very depths of their hearts.''

Etymology
Celica is ultimately derived from the Latin word coelica, meaning "heavenly" or "celestial".

Celica's real name, Anteze, is ostensibly derived from ancient Greek word "ἄνθος" (ánthos) which means “flower”. Anteze could also be an allusion to the word "antithesis" reflecting her contrasting ideals and approach to saving Zofia with Alm.

Trivia

 * In several of Nintendo's promotional materials for the downloadable content in Fire Emblem Awakening info about Celica, she is incorrectly named "Cecilia".
 * Celica is ambidextrous, as she is seen to hold her sword in both her right and left hand.
 * In Awakening, one of her DLC skills is Rightful King which is a reference to her being the last of the Zofian royal lineage.
 * Celica is the only Lord character in the Fire Emblem series to not feature the color blue either in her hair or her clothes.
 * While alone, Celica calls Mycen by his name, otherwise she uses various terms to describe an older man that don't necessarily mean familial relation when addressing him anywhere else. However, in the prologue, she calls him "grandpa" one last time for the sake of the short new life she leaves behind.