Loptous (character)

"Urrgghh... Take note, Seliph! While greed exists in men's hearts...I will return!...You've been warned! Gaaahhh..."

- Loptyr speaking to Seliph through a dying Julius

"Urrgghhh... NaGa... yOu'Ve RuInEd EvErYtHiNg YeT aGaIn..."

- -Loptyr speaking to Julia through a dying Julius

Loptyr (ロプトウス, Roputōsu; romanized as Loptous in the Fire Emblem Museum and Loputousu in fan-translations of the game) is a major antagonist in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.

Background
Loptyr is a dragon from the continent of Archanea who is known as the Dark God (暗黒神, Ankokushin) by the people of Jugdral, belonging to one of the most powerful tribes, rivaling even the Divine Dragons, the Earth Dragon tribe. In the past, the dragons were well flourished and ruled the lands, but everything changed when the dragon race began to decline and slowly degenerate.

To avoid facing extinction, Naga, the leader of the Divine Dragons, proposed to all the other dragons that the dragons surrender their rule to the slowly flourishing humans as they take on human forms themselves by sealing their dragon powers into a Dragonstone. However, this was rejected by Loptyr and the other Earth Dragons, who saw humans as nothing more than insects. This refusal to become Manaketes resulted in the rest of the Earth Dragons, save for the Earth Dragon prince Medeus who did become a Manakete, to degenerate into madness. Loptyr somehow hadn't yet succumbed to the degeneration at this time.

As the rest of his kind became feral beasts, they began to attack humans, which forced the Divine Dragons to intervene on humanity's behalf, and this led to a war between the two tribes.

It was during the war that Loptyr soon came across a human, hailing from Jugdral, who went by the name Galle, an ambitious man that sought to acquire the great powers of a dragon. Loptyr, knowing that the war would lead to his tribe's defeat, and figuring that through Galle, the Earth Dragon could unleash his hatred upon humanity further than the war could, agreed and formed a blood pact with the bishop, and encased his powers and will into an unholy tome that was named after him.

Loptyr soon lost his physical form, but was now able to possess and enforce his will into Galle, who had his blood. Upon entering Jugdral and using his powers, Loptyr, through Galle, had formed the Loptyrian Cult, a religion where Loptyr was their god. Later on, with their newfound powers, the Loptyrian Empire would be formed and Galle would be the first emperor of it. It was then that Loptyr was able to unleash his terror upon the humans in Jugdral, where he had countless humans slaughtered, and child hunts organized to be sacrificed to him. His reign of terror continued to last as Galle's descendants would all be possessed by Loptyr for seventeen generations before Loptyr's existence finally came to be known by Naga.

Eventually, a huge revolution occurred through Jugdral as people began to oppose Loptyr and his empire. Despite this, they were no match for Loptyr's powers, until the Miracle of Darna occurred, where Naga and 11 other dragons came from the heavens and performed a blood pact with 12 other warriors, and giving them holy weapons to combat the Empire. The twelve warriors that would combat Loptyr were known as the Twelve Crusaders, and led by Heim, who possessed Naga's power. Eventually, Emperor Galle XVII was slain by Heim, and Loptyr was seemingly vanquished upon the loss of his vessel.

The Final Holy War
However, Loptyr's bloodline had not actually been vanquished, as years before the Miracle of Darna, one of Galle's descendants that had not inherited major Loptyr blood, Maira, who was the younger brother to the Galle successor, had actually been the key to the survival of Loptyr's bloodline. Due to not possessing the cruelties of the Loptyr Empire, Maira had sided with the people, and soon led a rebellion on the Empire, which was defeated, and Maira was exiled. However, this is precisely what allowed Loptyr's bloodline to continue, eventually reaching one child that would play a role in Loptyr's rebirth: Cigyun.

While she was prohibited from ever having more than one child, Cigyun ultimately gave birth to two children, the first with her husband, Duke Victor of Velthomer, and the second through an affair with Prince Kurth. Her two children, Arvis and Deirdre, both inherited minor Loptyr blood.

This led for the leader of the surviving Loptyrian Cult, Manfroy, to manipulate events that made the two half-siblings marry, leading to the birth of twins: Julius and Julia. While Julia inherited major Naga blood, Julius instead carried major Loptyr blood, as Manfroy predicted. As such, at a certain time, Manfroy had given Julius the tome that contained Loptyr's powers and will, thus allowing Loptyr to possess Julius, allowing the Earth Dragon to once again plunge the continent into disarray. While Loptyr first tried to eliminate the remaining Naga descendants, Julius' mother was able to warp Julia away while she herself perished.

Through Julius, Loptyr worked to rebuild the Loptyrian Empire, but was later met with opposition from Julius' half-brother, Seliph, who had formed a liberation army to overthrow the Empire. Julius was not afraid of them, though, as his only fear from Loptyr was of those that possessed Naga's blood, the remaining threat being his sister. Despite later getting Julia back and wanting her dead, Manfroy convinced Julius to keep Julia alive to make use of her, something which would ultimately have been a fatal error on his part.

After Seliph killed Manfroy and saved Julia, she soon obtained the Book of Naga, before confronting her brother. As Julius was killed by his siblings, Loptyr took control of Julius completely. To Julia, he curses Naga for ruining him once again, and to Seliph, he warns that so long as mankind has greed in their hearts, he would return once again. As Julius died, Loptyr's spirit left with a roar and faded into nothing.

Despite claiming that he would return, there are no known living descendants that carry his blood, so it is possible that Loptyr will remain dead.

Etymology
"Lopt" was an alternative name for Loki in Norse mythology. During the development of Genealogy of the Holy War, Loptyr was originally planned to be named Loki. "Tyr" was a Norse God of war.

Loki's creations and children included Fenrir, Hel, and Jörmungandr. The tomes associated with Loptyr bear these same names.

Trivia

 * While not confirmed, it is possible that Loptyr can be classified as a Dark Dragon like Medeus.
 * Due to blood bonding with Galle, Loptyr was one of the two Earth Dragons to avoid mental degeneration (albeit without his corporal form), the other being Medeus.
 * Despite Forseti (possessing Lewyn) claiming that even with all the other dragons, Naga's power would be essential to be able to defeat Loptyr, it is still possible for Julius to be killed without even getting Julia or the Book of Naga.