Greil

"Open your ears and listen. Listen! All of you."

- Greil in Chapter 5 of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Greil was the father of Ike and Mist, the founder of the Greil Mercenaries, and the Teacher of General Zelgius of Begnion. He was once known as General Gawain, one of Daein's 'Four Riders'. For a time, he and Elena lived peacefully in Gallia. During this time, they had Ike and Mist, and Greil also met Titania, who had been sent by Crimea to study in an officer exchange program.

Stats and Class
Greil is a NPC, and is a level 11 Hero. The only time you get to see him fight in-game is in the prologue of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and he goes easy on Ike, so you don't get to see his real stats. His in-game class is that of Hero, the only one in Path of Radiance, and one of the two in the Tellius Series (the other being his son Ike in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn).

History
Originally, Greil was one of the Four Riders of Daein, and went under the name of Gawain. It was during this time he trained General Zelgius. However, he fled his homeland with his wife, Elena, after she was entrusted with Lehran's Medallion, and the melody Galdr of Release by the elder sister of Prince Reyson.

However, one day, Greil made the mistake of taking hold of the medallion, and immediately went berserk. After engaging in a mindless slaughter, the medallion was eventually pulled from his grasp by Elena. When he returned to his sane mind, he found his wife impaled on his sword. After her death, he hired Volke for the purpose of killing him should he lose his mind again, and slashed the tendons from his hand so that he would no longer be able to wield a sword. He entrusted the medallion to Mist, who had the same gentle spirit as her mother, and forbade Ike from ever touching the medallion himself.

Greil eventually founded the Greil Mercenaries, and earned a living by performing tasks for various villages in Crimea. Sensing the danger that Daein posed upon news of the invasion, he quickly had Ike take on more responsibility within the company, and eventually fled with the mercenaries to Gallia in order to protect Princess Elincia.

Death
Following chapter seven, in the midst of the night, Greil engages in a duel with his former pupil from his days as General Gawain, the Black Knight. Ike shows up during the middle of the battle, when The Black Knight tosses Greil the sword, Ragnell saying that he wishes to fight General Gawain at his full strength, but refusing to wield it, Greil chooses to fight with his axe, Urvan, and tosses the sword aside saying that he has thrown the name of Gawain away. Ultimately losing to the Black Knight, Greil is mortally wounded and dies as Ike hauls him back to the mercenary encampment. Greil dies on the way, on Ike's back. With A rank support with Ike and Titania, it is revealed that Titania loved Greil.

Etymology
'Greil' may refer to the 'Holy Grail' of Arthurian legend which Sir Perceval seeks.

'Gawain' is the name of King Arthur's nephew and most trusted knight. In earlier Arthurian stories he is portrayed as the quintessential knight, but in later versions his portrayals become more negative, especially in regard to his treatment of women. All sources agree that he is killed in Arthur's second-to-last battle against Mordred. Later writers say that his death there was due to a wound he had received from Lancelot (see Alondite). Gawain had challenged Lancelot because Lancelot accidentally killed Gawain's younger brother, Gareth.