Kaze

Kaze (スズカゼ, Suzukaze in the Japanese version) is a playable character in Fire Emblem Fates. Unlike his brother Saizo, he accompanies the Avatar regardless of their decision. He is voiced by Daisuke Ono in the Japanese version and David Stanbra in the English version.

Profile
Kaze comes from a long line of Ninja that has served the Hoshido royal family for generations. Kaze himself does not serve any particular master at the start of the game, but later pledges his services to the Avatar as his/her retainer in their A-Support. In contrast to his older twin brother Saizo, he is a polite and calm young man. If he achieves an S-Support, Kaze will have a daughter named Midori. He is the most well-liked member in the army. His birthday is October 2, the same as Saizo.

When he was little, Kaze accompanied Sumeragi and his subordinates during the trip to Nohr. One night, he spotted several suspicious Nohrian soldiers who were attempting to assassinate Sumeragi. However, he did not know what they were going to do and did not report the incident. Consequently, Sumeragi was killed and the Avatar was kidnapped. Since that night, he felt that if he reported them, he might have prevented the tragedy. As a result, he promised himself to not to pledge loyalty until he serves the Avatar, and swore to protect the Avatar to repent for his mistake. Kaze believes Mikoto may have foreseen her child's return and arranged things so that Kaze could fulfill this pledge.

Before the beginning of Fates, Kaze and Rinkah were captured by Nohrian soldiers. Alongside a few other Hoshido soldiers, they are brought before King Garon in order to test the Avatar's loyalty to Nohr by executing them. He is surprised to hear the Avatar's name but focuses on the battle first. After a harsh battle, Kaze and Rinkah are gravely wounded, but the Avatar chooses to spare them. Garon does not approve and immediately demands the Avatar execute them, but thanks to a deception by Leo, the two barely survive. After recovering, Xander tells the two to leave Nohr immediately before Garon finds out.

After Lilith returns the Avatar back to the Bottomless Canyon, they are knocked out by Rinkah, who mistakenly believes they are a random Nohrian soldier. After they regain their senses, Rinkah realizes that the Avatar is also of Hoshidan descent and goes with Kaze to bring them back to the capital. On the way, he, Rinkah and the Avatar help Ryoma lead a rescue effort to save Sakura and Hinoka from being killed by a group of Faceless.

Birthright
In Chapter 15, Kaze watches from the shadows as the Avatar talks with Keaton. Keaton then attacks the Avatar after an explosion kills one of his friends, believing that the Avatar was responsible for it despite their protest. Kaze dashes out from the shadows and blocks Keaton's first attack, but is hurt when he is attacked by him again.

At the end of the chapter, Kaze talks with the Avatar, but the ground below them shakes violently and the ground the Avatar is on breaks off, causing them to fall into the chasm. Fortunately, Kaze will grab them before they fall to their death. From then on, two scenarios can take place:
 * If Kaze has not obtained at least an A-Support Rank with the Avatar prior to this chapter, he will throw the Avatar to Hinoka before falling into the canyon to his death. Crushed by Kaze's sacrifice, the Avatar grieves for the fallen Ninja, but knows that they need to move on.
 * If Kaze has achieved at least an A-Support Rank, Kaze will notice a magic crystal across and presumes that it is an explosive one. To check if his guess is right, he throws one of his shurikens at the crystal to detonate it. The resulting explosion hurls both the Avatar and Kaze to safety. Grateful for Kaze's rescue, their bond is fortified and the army moves on to Nohr.

Conquest
Kaze is seen again in Chapter 11, working with Hinoka to prevent the Nohrian forces from seeking the Rainbow Sage. After the Hoshidan troops are routed from the area, Kaze overhears the Avatar's speech of ending the war in their own words. Kaze realizes that the Avatar joined Nohr not to destroy Hoshido, but to prevent Nohr from killing Hoshido's troops. Kaze decides to join the Avatar's army. Despite knowing that he will be branded a traitor in Hoshido, he does not regret his choice.

After the war is over, Kaze attends Xander's coronation.

Revelation
After the Avatar infiltrates Fort Jinya, Saizo decides to blow himself up in order to kill the Avatar. However, Kaze and Sakura stop Saizo, believing in the Avatar's story as they know their character well. Kaze places his trust in them because they spared him from execution when he was captured by Nohr. Kaze voices his allegiance to the Avatar and Saizo accepts his brother's resolve, allowing the Avatar, Kaze, and the rest of their group to leave unopposed.

Regardless in all paths, Kaze is lost to history, only appearing in rumors and heroic exploits.

Personality
In his supports with the Avatar it's revealed that he is very popular with women. He often receives gifts from them, usually when he does something for them, but he is known to receive gifts from them for no particular reason. Ironically, Kaze does not know why women react so positively him, even though he's very attractive and his personality is such that people are attracted to him. In his Personal Quarter lines, he states that he thinks he is not very attractive and that he and his twin brother lack any resemblance. Even though Kaze comes across as being serious and straight laced, in many of his supports, particularly with females, he will often gently tease them..

Kaze has a sense of loyalty to the Avatar, as he asks to become the Avatar's retainer at the A-Support. In the Conquest route, this is further solidified by Kaze accepting the fact that he will be seen as a traitor by Hoshido for siding with the Nohr in that route to help the Avatar achieve their dream of peace.

Base Stats

 * -|Chapter 4 - Hoshido=


 * -|Conquest Chapter 11 - Rainbow Sage=

Chapter 2 - Gift of Ganglari

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 * -|Lunatic=

Conquest Chapter 11 - Rainbow Sage

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Xenologue 20 - Memories of Foam 6: Unfinished Dawn

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Growth Rates
◾ Note: Growth Rates are based on the character in their starting class
 * 60%
 * 45%
 * 0%
 * 65%
 * 85%
 * 20%
 * 25%
 * 50%
 * }

◾ Note: Growth Rates as an Master Ninja
 * 60%
 * 45%
 * 0%
 * 65%
 * 85%
 * 20%
 * 25%
 * 55%
 * }

◾ Note: Growth Rates as a Mechanist
 * 65%
 * 50%
 * 0%
 * 60%
 * 75%
 * 25%
 * 25%
 * 50%
 * }

Max Stat Modifiers

 * -2
 * 0
 * +2
 * +3
 * -2
 * -1
 * +1
 * }

Standard Sets

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Friendship Sets

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 * -|Conquest/Revelation=


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 * -|Birthright/Revelation=


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Partner Sets

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 * -|Birthright/Revelation=


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 * -|Conquest/Revelation=


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Special Classes

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Supports
Romantic Supports
 * The Avatar (Female)
 * Azura
 * Mozu
 * Felicia

Nohr

 * Effie
 * Peri
 * Beruka
 * Selena
 * Nyx
 * Charlotte
 * Camilla
 * Elise

Hoshido
Other Supports
 * Hinoka
 * Sakura
 * Orochi
 * Kagero
 * Oboro
 * Rinkah
 * Hana
 * Setsuna
 * The Avatar (Male)
 * Saizo
 * Silas
 * Xander
 * Midori
 * Kana - if Kaze is his father
 * Shigure - if Kaze is his father

Base Class
Kaze's stats befits the strengths of his Ninja base class. He has extremely high speed and skill, befitting the Abel archetype while his brother Saizo is the Cain of the game. Curiously, he has a pretty solid resistance growth, good for taking down Mages as shruikens also has a weapon advantage against Tomes. His strength is slightly below average and his Defense and Luck are abysmal. That aside, Kaze can utilize his strong Speed and Skill to launch Critical hits or land Shurikens attacks to weaken enemies for other units to kill. Kaze's personal skill is Miraculous Save, which essentially grants the unit that he supports in battle the Miracle skill, making him a worthwhile partner if the player's luck is solid enough to have it activate in a pinch.

Kaze starts off with Locktouch, allowing him to open locked doors and chests. In Birthright and Revelation, he will be the first unit recruited with the skill. In Conquest, Niles will be the first. While good through the story in certain situations, it can be abandoned later for better skills. Once Kaze reaches level 10, he will learn Poison Strike, which reduces the enemy's current health by 20% after a battle with him. This can help to reduce the health of high Defense targets like Knights to kill them much quicker.

His two promotions are the Master Ninja and Mechanist classes. The Master Ninja barely changes his stat growths aside from a slightly higher resistance growth and provides him with the ability to use Swords, giving him access to Armorslayers and Wyrmslayers, two weapons good against high defense classes. He learns Lethality, an instant kill skill, though its activation is incredibly low, making it more of a gamble to equip it, especially when needing it in a pinch. Shurikenfaire increases his Shuriken damage, which gives him that damage boost he needs to kill units on his own. Mechanist focuses on mobility and trades some of his speed and skill for more strength. Golembane is used to damage Stoneborn and Puppet units, though because of its selectiveness for its damage, it may not be nearly as useful as some of his other skills. Replicate is a good utility skill, though the player will need to use proper management to avoid careless deaths.

Secondary Class
Kaze's secondary class is the Samurai class, which compliments his stat growths due to the high Speed and Skill stats of this class. From this class, he can learn Vantage and Duelist's Blow. Vantage is particularly useful, given that he can attack in the 1-2 tile range with shuriken, allowing him to potentially kill an enemy before he himself is. Duelist's Blow increases his avoid when he starts a battle, which makes his initiated combat a little safer.

The Samurai's two promotions are the Swordmaster class and the Master of Arms class. Swordmaster provides Astra, a more reliable attacking skill than Lethality, which can help fill a Guard Stance gauge or attack an enemy enough times to kill them or significantly wound them. Swordfaire can be used for more sword strength in his Master Ninja class if needed. Master of Arms provides Seal Strength, which reduces the Strength of enemies attacked, making them safer to engage by other allies. Life and Death is a risky skill, increasing his damage output by 10, but also increasing the opponents damage output the same amount. If willing to make riskier tactics, consider this skill to give Kaze the needed guaranteed damage to finish off foes.

Buddy Class
Kaze has one Buddy Class which comes from either Silas or Xander. Saizo can be chosen as his Buddy, but he gains no new class from him.
 * Xander/Silas — Given that Kaze only has one class option, choosing either Silas or Xander is worth taking for a few extra skills from the Cavalier class. The Cavalier class gives him Elbow Room, boosting his damage in the open tiles with no terrain bonuses by 3. Shelter can be used to rescue heavily damaged allies. The Paladin class provides Defender boosting his stats when in a Guard Stance and Aegis to shave off damage from distance weapons. The Great Knight provides Luna which halves the enemy's defenses when he attacks, good for high defense targets, and Armored Blow, reducing his taken damage by 10 when he attacks an enemy. This skill syncs well with Life and Death as it neutralizes the enemy's damage bonus, though only on the player's turn.

Marriage Options

 * Beruka/Camilla — Camilla allows Kaze to access the Wyvern Rider class, along with its promotions the Wyvern Lord and Malig Knight classes. From the Wyvern Rider class, Kaze can learn Strength +2 and Lunge, although Strength +2 wears out as he levels up and Lunge is almost useless in any scenario. From the Wyvern Lord class, he can learn Rally Defense, although this will be his only Rally skill. Swordbreaker allows him to deal with accurate sword users like Swordmasters better. From the Malig Knight class, Kaze can learn Trample and Savage Blow. Trample will further increase his damage by 5 (which can stack to a total of 20 with Life and Death and Shruiken/Swordfaire). Savage Blow makes Kaze an especially dangerous unit as he will chip off 40% of his primary target's health and 20% off those in two tiles or less from him.
 * Rinkah — Rinkah provides the Oni Savage class and its promotions, the Oni Chieftain and Blacksmith classes. The Oni Savage class provides Seal Resistance for another stat reduction skill and Shove to move allies from danger after their turn is completed. the Oni Chieftain provides Death Blow, increasing his Critical hit chance during his turn, reaching as high as 60% during the player's turn using an unforged Barb Shuriken. Counter can be used to retaliate with pure damage should he be hit by a close quarter weapon during the enemy's turn. The Blacksmith allows Kaze to learn Salvage Blow, although this is almost useless to him due to Ghostly Gold DLC and the fact that this is only offered in Birthright and Revelations, both which have skirmishes where gold can be obtained. Lancebreaker assists Kaze as it allows him to safely engage against lance users, which often have high strength stats.

Quotes
Refer to Kaze/Quotes.

Possible Endings
Kaze - Easygoing Ninja (涼風の忍 Ryōfu no Shinobi lit. Shinobi of the Cool Breeze)
 * Few records of Kaze exist. Numerous poems of the time say he worked for his homeland and for Avatar from the shadows. His gentle yet mysterious nature made him a legend among ladies.


 * Kaze and Azura (Revelation)
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. There are few records of Azura beyond her marriage. She remains a historical mystery.


 * Kaze and Felicia
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. Felicia gave up her career in the service industry for the military, ultimately becoming a commander.


 * Kaze and Camilla
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. His wife, Camilla, gave up her royal title and spent her days at home doting on her family.


 * Kaze and Beruka
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. Beruka was torn about leaving Camilla but enjoyed having enough emotions for them to conflict.


 * Kaze and Kagero
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. Kagero remained a ninja. It is said the couple got along, but didn't have much time together.


 * Kaze and Selena
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. After marrying, he and his wife, Selena, disappeared from records. They likely lived happily ever after.


 * Kaze and Orochi
 * While no official records of Kaze survive, he appears in many rumors and tales of heroic exploits. His wife, Orochi, was completely indispensable, both through her intelligence and her future sight.

Etymology
Kaze means "wind" in Japanese.

Suzukaze literally means "Refreshing Breeze" in Japanese. Suzukaze is also the name of a Japanese Imperial Army Destroyer Boat.

Trivia

 * He shares his English voice actor, David Stanbra, with Xander and Shura.
 * He also shares his Japanese voice actor also voiced Frederick and Priam in Fire Emblem Awakening.
 * He is the third character in Fire Emblem history who can leave the party permanently if certain conditions are not met (save for normal in-map deaths). The other examples of this are Jill in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Zihark in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
 * Kaze and Saizo are the first members of the Cain/Abel archetype whose base classes are not Cavalier-based.
 * Kaze placed 10th most popular male in the official character popularity poll held on the game's official site.
 * If Kaze obtains an A-Support with the Avatar, Kaze will be the Avatar's only Hoshidan retainer.