Leila

"Aa... Ma...Matthew...."

- Leila's final words

Leila is an NPC character from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. She is a spy from Ostia and serves under Hector. She had a lasting relationship with a fellow spy, Matthew before her untimely demise.

History
Not much is known of her history, though it is speculated that she had served as a spy for Ostia, keeping watch over the events of the Lycia league for the current Marquess. Sometime in the past, she ran into Matthew when he was first employed, and the two became fast friends. Later, their relationship deepened, and they fell in love. Matthew had thoughts of asking if they could both leave this spying business behind, though he procrastinated until it was too late.

Her first appearance is at the end of Noble Lady of Caelin, where she is ordered by the morph, Ephidel, to dispose of Marquess Caelin, Lyn's beloved grandfather, while he guards Darin and escorts the marquess to Valor. Leila agrees and quickly takes the body of the marquess, leaving the sage to quietly smuggle Darin out of Caelin. At the end of the chapter with the decimation of Laus's army and the death of the Knight Commander, Bernard, at the hands of the group, she appears before the lords and reports her true affiliations with Ostia, as well as accompanying Lyn to her grandfather, which Leila had tended to in the morph's absence.

With the Black Fang out of the fortress, Leila reveals that she had been part of the Black Fang for quite a while after suspicious activity was reported in the organization. She spoke of the enigmatic sorcerer, Nergal, and his morphs, those in particular Limstella, Ephidel, and Sonia. Soon after informing the lords, she bumps into Matthew (if he is still alive at this point) and Matthew happily comments on her safety despite the perilous predicament. Leila comments that they were spies, and what they were doing was always dangerous.

Leila returns to Valor and the Dragon's Gate, though conveniently arrives late enough to eavesdrop on a conversation between Nergal and Ephidel. Learning of a plot to murder the lords on the Dread Isle and influence the king of Bern, she quickly rushes to their aid, though is intercepted by Ephidel. Leila tries to talk her way out of Ephidel's grip, though he is unconvinced and believes her to be a spy. He then asks Jaffar, an assassin and one of the legendary Four Fangs, to remind Leila of the punishment for treason. Jaffar does so, killing the spy.

In her dying moments, she remembered Matthew and uttered his name, mimicking Matthew's dying quote as he says her name when he dies in combat.

At Ephidel's orders, Jaffar leaves her body in the forest for Eliwood and his companions to find. While for a short moment they see her figure and believe her to be well, they quickly realize that she is dead. Hector and Matthew are particularly saddened and enraged. She is buried on Valor. Matthew also reveals his plans to marry her to a supportive Hector.

Personality
Leila can be best be described as the perfect example of careful and cautious spy, keeping a silent aura about her and leaving herself unnoticed, easily blending into the Black Fang's organization for quite some time. She was able to mingle with most of its members and retrieve the information that aided the lords greatly on their missions, showing that she was able to keep a collected and calm mind in the fortress of the Black Fang.

Despite this, she also is shown to have the same sardonic and optimistic attitude that Matthew retains, showing that the two are very similar in terms of ability and personality, though they go about their job in different ways.

She, like Matthew, holds a deep love for the other, saying his name before she dies.

In-Game
Leila is unavailable in the game as a playable character nor as a NPC accessible during your player phase. Her sprite only appears at the intro of Chapter Eighteen/Ninteen: The Dread Isle, where she is portrayed being killed by Jaffar. Oddly, she appears as a Thief during the combat screen, though her sprite is of an Assassin's. This could be because the game had no female Thief sprites made for the overworld map, though it is not confirmed. However, through hacking, it is discovered that you can access her stats and add her as a playable character. Should you do this, it is revealed that she has high base stats and impressive growth rates even for a Thief, making her one of the most powerful units if she was ever used in your party. Additionally, she shares the same affinity as Matthew, so a support between the two would help boost her already high statistics (So would a body ring to boost that low con).

Base Stats
|Thief |Wind |14 |24 |14 |16 |20 |8 |12 |15 |5 |6 |Sword - S |Silver Sword

Growth Rates
|80% |70% |65% |80% |55% |30% |40%

Trivia

 * Although Leila's character does not actively appear until the chapter Noble Lady of Caelin, her portrait is shown during the background information for the chapter False Friends in Hector mode while Ostian spies are mentioned. However, she is not mentioned by name.
 * While in combat her sprite is that of a thief, her overworld sprite is an assassin's. Although, female thieves are shown similar to assassins instead of one like Cath's from FE6.

Etymology
'Leila' means 'night' in Arabic. Her name is probably inspired by the Leila of Lord Byron's poem 'The Giaour,' where Leila, one of Hassan's harem-girls, is killed by Hassan for her infidelity with another lover.