Stefan

"Have I violated the goddess's laws? Have my parents? No. Whatever happened was done by some forgotten ancestor. My parents are beorc, as were their parents before them. I do not know who is responsible for what I am. But now, after many generations, their sin has appeared in me. I bear no guilt, but the badge of impurity is mine to wear."

- Stefan to Mordecai in a support conversation

Stefan (ソーンバルケ, Soanevalcke) is an extremly skilled and powerful swordsman who resides in a colony of Branded in the Grann Desert. It is strongly implied that he is descended from Soan, one of Ashera's Three Heroes; his Japanese name is very similar to Soan's, and his character ending describes him as "Lion's descendant". He is recruited in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance by going two squares left and 1 square down from the top right square with Lethe or Mordecai in chapter 15: The Feral Frontier. If you send a Beorc character on the square he will just give his sword to the character, the S-ranked Vague Katti. In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, he is recruited by heading to the square 11 squares up and 1 square left from the lower right with Micaiah, Lethe, or Mordecai in Part 4, Chapter 3. However, to recruit him with one of the laguz, transferred data from Path of Radiance must be present. After the events of the game, he establishes a settlement of Branded, which eventually grows into an independent nation.

Personality
"And here I thought I'd never care about anyone. Life is a mysterious thing. My friend, ___. Don't you die on me now. I need you."

- Stefan with an A support.

Stefan is a loner, and his life as branded has shaped his personality. The Branded often have capabilities far exceeding that of any beorc. In Stefan's case it is his prowess with the blade. He knows much about swordsmanship and can judge another's prowess very well, as in Path of Radiance he offers to teach Ike some, as he can tell by watching that Ike's style is powerful, but incomplete (the result being getting an occult scroll). The conversation appears canonical though, in Radiant Dawn it says he taught Ike further mastery of the blade. In a special conversation in the battle with Homasa, Stefan reveals that he is very confident in his abilities and has respect for the lives of other fighters, in the conversation Homasa recognizes Stefan's skill as a fencer, but Stefan suggests that Homassa steps down and not fight because his skill level is much lower then Stefan.

In supports with Soren it is revealed that Stefan dislikes both Beorc and Laguz because they shun the Branded, stating that the Beorc fear the Branded for their power. He also says that the Laguz are the worst when it comes to dealing with the Branded, as they ignore them completely like they don't even exist. He believes this to be the fate of all Branded, and he believes they should become independent (although orginally he believed it might have been possible to live with Crimea and Gallia), hence he and other branded reside in the Grann Desert and Stefan acts as a hermit.

Because of this distaste for most of the people of Tellius, the guise of the hermit was perfect as it allowed him to be a loner. He never made true connections with others in Path of Radiance, only acting as a teacher for Ike, a guide for Soren, and an exchanger of ideas with Mordecai, the one he becomes closest with. In Radiant Dawn, he can become friends with another character, something he finds odd as he never truly cared for another as his life was full of hate.

The isolation that being Branded caused him to understand things much better, and question normal thought. In his conversation with Mordecai in Path of Radiance, he questions if the goddess' laws are really what they interpret them to be. He interacts with Yune who doesn't understand what he is, as being Branded is not something the goddesses predicted, and Yune thought at first Micaiah was the only one, but then caught on that there were more. Stefan then laughs when Yune says there are no 'Goddess' Laws' saying that Beorc and Laguz cannot have children, which Stefan takes as a sign that all the pain and suffering was for nothing.

Stefan also said that the Laguz can sense Branded and feel uneasy when they are around. Saying even if the Laguz don't know it directly they will still feel odd when around them and they will be shunned, something that would be demonstrated by Vika in her interactions with Micaiah three years later.

He is also very protective of other Branded. He states it as his reason for joining Micaiah when she and the silver army are fighting Ashera's disciples in the Grann Desert.

In-Game Appearance
In Path Of Radiance he appears no different than a regular enemy in the swordmaster class looking almost identical to Zihark, bearing the same robe he does in the hue of his blue coat shown in his artwork, also sporting his purple jacket underneath, however it is barely visible.

In Radiant Dawn he looks almost exactly as his art work depicts him using an almost completely different character skin then the default trueblade. While using him in battle he wears his coat on one arm letting the other dangle, though his purple jacket is shown underneath. He also sports a turtle neck as his undershirt, unlike other characters of the same class.

Base Stats
|Swordmaster |Heaven |8 |38 |19 |8 |27 |25 |5 |12 |9 |13 |13 |7 |Sword - S |Astra |Vague Katti

Growth Rates
|70% |50% |20% |40% |55% |25% |35% |30%

Base Stats
|Trueblade |Heaven |8 |53 |27 |7 |37 |36 |20 |21 |16 |13 |13 |7 |Sword - SS |Astra Shove Critical + 20 |Vague Katti

Growth Rates
|55% |50% |20% |60% |60% |15% |40% |50%

Speculations
"My sword has been beaten...impressive. It is moments like this that make life worth living. I'm leaving for now. But, truly, I hope to see you again."

- Stefan's death quote in Path of Radiance

Stefan is a "retreating" character in Path of Radiance, despite being a rather undeveloped character in terms of the main storyline. "Retreating" simply means that, instead of dying, the character simply retreats. Other retreating characters, such as Titania, Volke, and Sothe, all play a large role in the storyline. The "retreat" is really just a way of covering plot holes for characters that appear often outside Info and Support conversations. Stefan is not one of these, appearing in only one Info conversation in Path of Radiance and no storyline events. This leads fans to speculate that there may be a third game in the Tellius Series.

However, this argument has been rebuked by the fact that Stefan, in his post-game biography, founded a nation that grew prosperous in the continent's future, which can be an indication that the writing staff intended for Stefan to survive the events of the game to create a more interesting ending for him.

Lion-Blooded - Stefan
Stefan gathered like-minded individuals to form a tiny,

Independent settlement which later became a great country.

Quotes
"Don' t worry. If I were going to die, I'd have done it a long time ago."

- Stefan

"I am the desert, and I brook no intrusion. Make peace with your goddess."

- Stefan

Trivia

 * Stefan is presently the only character in the entire Fire Emblem series that can only be recruited by moving a certain character to a certain spot on the map, as well the only character to do this twice, both times being on desert maps, and both times having him buried in the sand only to pop out and confound what ever character found him.
 * In both games, he appears at Level 8 of the final tier of the Myrmidon class.
 * Stefan has Astra as his personal skill in Path of Radiance; althugh in Radiant Dawn, Astra is available for all Trueblades (as with all other Occult skills with 3rd tier classes), therefore it can be said that Stefan has no personal skills in there.