Anankos

"Why am I left to suffer? Why am I the one left to die? Why do humans flourish while I am buried here...ignored...forgotten? TELL ME WHY!"

- Anankos in Chapter 27 (Revelation)

Anankos (ハイドラ Haidora, Hydra in the Japanese version) is the true main antagonist and final boss of Fire Emblem Fates and he was also responsible for creating an imposter Garon and possessing Takumi in each events. Once revered as one of the First Dragons, his degeneration resulted in the obliteration of both Valla and almost all of its people.

Profile
Anankos is one of the First Dragons, also known as the Silent Dragon and the Dragon of Wisdom. Anankos loved humanity and gave them longevity and knowledge. Anankos became particularly close to the kingdom of Valla and started to live among its inhabitants. He was also a particularly close friend of Cadros, the first king of Valla. To a select few, he gave the essence of his blood, allowing them to utilize the power of Dragon Veins, a trait that was passed down through the Vallite royal bloodline.

However, as with the other First Dragons, he began to degenerate over time. Unlike the other First Dragons, Anankos did not shed his mortal shell, opting to stay behind as a figurehead for the Vallite people. Through the power of a song and a fragment of his dragonstone, both of which were passed down through Vallite royalty, his urges could be quelled. However, after many generations of kings, Anankos' rage grew strong enough for him to burn down a forest. The people of Valla blamed him for it and tried to kill him.

Unable to comprehend that the very people he had helped had betrayed him, Anankos locked himself away in a mountain cave, where his detest of humanity grew. The King of Valla and a few select people would make trips to his cave to express their belief in him. Unfortunately, he lost control of himself and killed the King of Valla of that time. Before he completely degenerated, he tore off a portion of his soul, which took on a human appearance in a last bid to stop his rage. Anankos then began to form an invisible army consisting of many of his former Vallite subjects. He even began to resurrect the dead to strengthen his army. He also self-sired a daughter named Lilith to further his goals.

The human portion wandered with no memories of his past and soon met Mikoto. The two fell in love and eventually gave birth to a child. However, soon after the birth of his child, he recovered his memories and sent them away from the kingdom to spare them from the ruined kingdom. He made Mikoto promise to never tell their child of their father to spare them from the burden of his past sins. With his newfound clarity, he had a vision of another world where many heroes felled a great dragon. He desired to seek help from the warriors of that world.

Hidden Truths
The backstory of Anankos' soul is shown through the two Hidden Truths Xenologues. Anankos transported himself to another world and arrived in Ylisse some time after the fall of Grima. He called out for anyone to help him, and the message was received by Owain, Inigo, and Severa. Bringing them to the Mila Tree, he asked for their help by coming to their world and the three agreed to, before Vallite forces sent by his dragon form ambushed them.

After defeating the Vallite forces sent by his dragon form, Anankos thanked the three for helping and offered to fulfill any request they desire. Initially, the three hoped that Anankos could resurrect their fallen parents and friends from their original timeline; however, Anankos could not fulfill that request. Instead, they asked that the original world be beautiful once more and that their parents and friends would have proper graves, which Anankos does for them. Before they leave for Valla, Anankos finds a Fell Brand, presuming that it came from the tactician of that world.

Upon bringing them to Valla, he is given time to explain his story to them. He makes a request for them to head to Hoshido first to see Mikoto and help his child fulfill their destiny to assemble the five divine weapons to take down his dragon self. Before he can tell them of his child's name, Lilith appears under orders of Anankos' dragon self to stop him. Shocked by the news, she informs him that his child had been taken to Nohr. Owain, Inigo, and Severa attempt to attack Lilith, but are unable to do so. Anankos had a vision prior to their arrival showing that the three would be defeated if they met a girl in Valla. Anankos offers to send them back home, but the three refuse and choose to stay and fight. After they encourage him to believe in them, Anankos gives them the power to defeat Lilith and bestows onto them their new names — Odin, Laslow, and Selena. Lilith summons a large contingent of Vallites to stop them, including Arete, but the three manage to escape.

At the conclusion of the battle, Lilith continues to summon more soldiers to fight, but Anankos warps them straight to Nohr and tells them to become retainers for the Nohrian royal family in hopes of finding his child. Left alone to deal with Lilith, the young girl tries to kill Anankos' human avatar, but finds herself unable to do so. Anankos tells Lilith that he really does love her despite just meeting her, but Lilith remains conflicted because his dragon form never expressed that same sentiment with her despite her efforts to please him.

When she finally decides to abandon her attempt to murder his human avatar, the dragon Anankos senses his daughter's wavering and attempts to kill her. Sensing this, Anankos sacrifices himself, taking the hit in her place. As he slowly dies, he asks Lilith to smile for him as he speaks his final words, apologizing to Lilith, Mikoto, and his child. Back in the Vallite Castle, Anankos swears to start a war between Hoshido and Nohr and end the human race. However, a fragment of his human avatar speaks through him, expressing his belief that Selena, Odin, and Laslow will one day bring the Avatar to him and defeat him.

Fire Emblem Fates
By the events of Fates, Anankos has become completely insane, acting as the tyrant king of Valla and killing nearly everyone across the land. Those that survive, he enslaves. In his mad lust to destroy humanity for abandoning him to his pain, he gains control of Nohr through King Garon, whom he possessed and gave a portion of his power. He also resurrects Sumeragi and has him act as his agent as the Hooded Man that assassinates Mikoto with Ganglari, thus instigating the war between Hoshido and Nohr.

In the Birthright route, Anankos gives Garon additional power, transforming him into the Dusk Dragon in a final attempt to kill the Avatar's party, but this fails and he loses a significant portion of his power.

In the Conquest route, he possesses Takumi's body in a final attempt to kill the Avatar's party; however, this also fails and Anankos is forcefully driven out of Takumi, who truly dies shortly afterwards.

In the Revelation route, his role is far larger, and it is finally revealed who and what he actually is.

According to Azura, Anankos killed and usurped the previous king of Valla and slaughtered all of the residents there, except for her, the previous queen of Valla, Arete, and (unbeknownst to her) Mikoto and her child, the Avatar. His ultimate goal is the complete annihilation of the world because of his hatred of humans. It is revealed in the third route that he also resurrected Sumeragi, Arete, and Mikoto to kill the Avatar and their army. Throughout most of the Revelation route, Anankos possesses Gunter, akin to how he possesses Takumi in the Conquest route. While under possession, "Gunter" faithfully serves the Avatar as he normally would, but he would attempt to kill them whenever they were alone. One of these attempts resulted in Scarlet being killed instead.

Towards the end of the game, Anankos is exposed and finally fights the party in the throne room as Gunter. After being defeated, Anankos is exorcised from Gunter by Azura's singing and Gunter stabbing himself after the Avatar speaks with him. The mad spirit finally returns to his own body and demands to the army to know why he alone should suffer, and that humans deserve to share his torment. While the party is initially overwhelmed by Anankos' power, the Avatar's Yato gains the power of the legendary weapons carried by the Nohrian and Hoshidan princes, transforming the sword into the Fire Emblem. With the Fire Emblem's devastating power, Anankos is forced to summon his servant Garon, who offers himself as a vessel for Anankos. Anankos, however, consumes Garon to reclaim the power that Anankos originally granted him. Now with his full power, Anankos unleashes his true form and destroys Caste Gyges, but after a long battle, he is ultimately slain by the army. With the dragon's tyranny at an end, peace is restored to Nohr and Hoshido, while Valla is later reestablished under the Avatar's rule.

Heirs of Fate
Anankos makes an appearance as the main antagonist of the Heirs of Fate DLC. This version of Anankos comes from a distorted version of the Revelation route. Rather than being killed by the united Nohrian-Hoshidan army like he was in that route, Anankos instead destroyed the Omega Yato and slaughtered the entire army, with Azura and her son Shigure being the only survivors. Unsatisfied with only conquering one realm, Anankos set his sights on invading other worlds where either Nohr or Hoshido won the war.

Unable to attack Nohr and Hoshido personally, as he would be much weaker outside Valla, he sends his Vallite minions to attack all the Deeprealms that the parents are keeping their children in to remove the only significant threat to his plans. While largely successful, one child from each world managed to escape unharmed.

In order to rid himself of the children without much effort, Anankos casts an illusion that makes the Nohrian and Hoshidan children see each other as Vallites, in the hopes that they will kill each other for him. This plan almost succeeds, but Shigure dispels his illusion, bringing both sides together. Shigure confronts Anankos, believing that he wanted to destroy all of humanity. Anankos, in his deteriorating mind, mistakes him for his old friend Cadros and explains that he was searching for a suitable place to build a new Valla free of human dominance. Shigure attempts to sing the full version of Lost in Thoughts All Alone, prompting Anankos to attempt to stop Shigure, as he did not want to see "Cadros" go into eternal suffering like Azura, stating that he is "not ready" for it. Suddenly, the other children teleport in, interrupting Shigure. Anankos becomes disappointed with "Cadros" for siding with humanity and prepares to battle with his Vallite minions, including the fathers of the children (barring the Avatar). Despite his best efforts, he is eventually defeated.

There are two endings:
 * Ending A (Good Ending): Shigure sings the full version of Lost in Thoughts All Alone; because the other children gave their memories as payment, Shigure is not subjected to eternal suffering for the rest of his life. Anankos thanks Shigure for saving him from his "nightmare" and prepares to leave, when Lilith arrives and accompanies him.
 * Ending B (Bad Ending): Same as the good ending, except Lilith does not arrive to accompany Anankos.

Personality
Anankos is portrayed as a ruthless dragon, seeing himself as no less than a god. Fully controlled by his draconic instincts, he loathes humanity and will stop at nothing to exterminate the human race. Although he considers himself to be the King of Valla, the Vallite people are no more than pawns whom he can freely control to bring his goals to fruition. Even Garon and his "daughter" Lilith, both of whom were steadfastly loyal to him, were nothing more than disposable pawns when the time was needed. However, in the past, Anankos was a benevolent dragon who loved humanity. Unfortunately, his draconic instincts eventually lead to his degeneration. Still, a fragment of him lived, keeping his original benevolent nature intact.

Eventually falling in love with Mikoto proved to be the biggest change in his life, as he became steadfastly protective of his family to send them away from harm long before the threat of his dragon form became apparent. Even after finding out the true nature of Lilith, he readily accepted his "daughter" and ultimately gave his life up to protect her. In the end, Anankos' love for his family were laid bare in his final breaths, as the last things on his mind were Lilith, Mikoto, and his child. He apologizes frequently, a trait that his child shares.

Revelation Chapter 27 - Hear My Cry
Help Description: One of the First Dragons, who has long since lost his once-formidable mind.
 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=


 * -|Lunatic=

Arm

 * -|Normal=
 * -|Hard=
 * -|Lunatic=

Head

 * -|Normal=
 * -|Hard=
 * -|Lunatic=

Eye

 * -|Normal=
 * -|Hard=
 * -|Lunatic=

Quotes
"I am the forgotten god. The betrayed King. The buried dragon."

- Anankos's Pre-Battle Quote

""Whyyyyy...""

- Defeat Voice Clip

"Curse you...vexing humans...Once again...you've..."

- Anankos's death quote in Chapter 27

Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Anankos is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards:

Etymology
Anankos may come from the ancient Greek word ἀνάγκη (ananke), meaning "divine will", "need", "inflicting pain", or "fate". This could hint at both the title and the structure of the game, revolving around the Avatar's choice from which the three storylines begin. Even though it is less common, another meaning of the same word is "blood bond", which could refer to the relationship between the Avatar and Anankos. In Greek mythology, Hydra is a serpent-like water monster which possessed many heads, and for each one cut off, it grew two more. It was slain by Heracles during the second of the Twelve Labours.

Trivia

 * Anankos' human form resembles the Avatar from Awakening in terms of a hood and unseen face.
 * In the final chapter of the Revelation route, Anankos has the highest HP out of any enemy in the series, with 282 HP (61 HP for each arm, 80 HP for the head and 80 HP for the eye). In Lunatic mode, Anankos has 286 HP (63 HP for each arm, 80 HP for the head and 80 HP for the eye).
 * Anankos' Dragon form shares his Japanese voice actor, the late Rokurō Naya, with Gunter, while his Human form shares his Japanese voice actor, Nobunaga Shimazaki, with the Male Avatar and Male Kana.
 * Anankos's Dragon form shares his English voice actor, Travis Willingham, with Lon'qu, Brady, Garon, Ogma, and Camus, while his Human form shares his English voice actor, Cam Clarke, with Arthur, Hinata, and Male Avatar.
 * Anankos' mask is heavily influenced by how Buddha is usually depicted, while his unmasked form's head design resembles several Buddhist depictions of Nāga, which are occasionally depicted as having multiple heads, much like Anankos' Japanese namesake.