Nephenee

"Queen Elincia, Crimea needs you more than anything, and I reckon you could use my help."

- Nephenee, prepared to help Elincia at Fort Alpea.

Nephenee (ネフェニー, Nepenee in the Japanese version) is a playable character who appears in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Nephenee has rural origins, but prefers not to speak in order to hide her strong countryside accent — she only speaks to fellow residents of the countryside such as Brom and Heather, though Calill also tried to teach her how to shake her country roots. Nephenee is the oldest daughter of a large family, but left them behind in order to defend her Crimean homeland from the Daein invasion. She has 3 triplet brothers and two sisters. It has been shown, through supports with Devdan, that she is easily pressured and intimidated (especially by Devdan himself). In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, she and Brom quell a local rebellion that is incited by Ludveck's subordinates; she then travels to the Royal Palace in Melior to alert Elincia about the uprising. She fights alongside Ike during Part III, joining up with the merchant caravan on the way. After the war, she continues to live with her family in Melior and joins the fight when she is needed. A running gag in Radiant Dawn is that a female rogue named Heather seems to have affections for her.

Personality
She appears to be a simple country girl, who seems to dislike war. She is a kind and caring person, although she is easily scared that someone will dislike her because of her country accent. She is very helpful to other characters, especially the ones that she supports with.

Recruitment

 * Chapter 11: Her prison door was opened and she survived in Chapter 10.

Base Stats
|Soldier |Wind |7 |22 |8 |2 |10 |11 |6 |9 |3 |8 |10 |6 |Lance - E |Wrath |N/A

Growth Rates
|55% |40% |20% |55% |55% |25% |35% |25%

Support Conversations
Brom, Calill, Devdan

Overall
Nephenee is considered to be one of the best Beorc units in the game. She joins fairly early and is the only playable Soldier. Her HP is solid, and before promotion her Wrath skill can be of use. After promotion unfortunately, she is too good to have her HP halved -unless you try really hard. She may not max her Strength, but she can easily ORKO any enemy unit with a Silver Lance, usually without as well. She has good chances of maxing her Skill and especially Speed, as her cap is quite low. Her Luck is decent, and Defense could be over 20. Her Resistance, however, is a little low, but she will almost never be hit.

Recruitment
| | | | | | | | | | | | |◎ |◎ | |○ | | |○ |○ |○ |○ | |○ |○ | |○ |○ | | |○ |□ |□ |□ |□ |□ |□ |○ |□ |□ |□ |□ |□ ◎=Forced　○=Available　□=Available for selected
 * Part 2: Chapter 1: Automatically from Start, available in Chapter 1, 2 and Endgame.
 * Part 3: Chapter 2: Automatically from Base, available in Chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 and Endgame.
 * Part 4: Can select to join the team Micaiah/Ike/Tibarn, available in which team she joined and Endgame.

Base Stats
|Halberdier |Wind |1 |32 |15 |6 |19 |20 |12 |15 |14 |7 |12 |7 |Lance - B |Wrath Critical +5 Shove |Steel Greatlance Vulnerary

Growth Rates
|45% |35% |15% |70% |65% |40% |35% |45%

Overall
Nephenee is not that difficult to train because she has a lot of availiablity, starting from Part 2. She has the potential to be very powerful; although she has lower stats than normal in defense and strength, she has very good speed and skill. In Radiant Dawn, Nephenee will cap speed, skill, and resistance early making her a great choice for bonus experience abuse. Bonus Experience is an important part of Nephenee and Aran, and the choice between the two is really preference. If you prefer speed and resistance, then Nephenee is your choice, but if you opt for strength and defense, it would be best to choose Aran.

Death Quotes
"The world... It grows... so...dark..."

- Death quote, Path of Radiance "...It's darker than a prairie night... Why can't I...see...anything...?"

- Death quote, Radiant Dawn "Nephenee: Br-Brom... The...revolt... The queen...has to...be told... Brom: Nephenee! Don't go lettin' your family down! Nephenee, no!"

- Death quote, Radiant Dawn, Part 2, Chapter 1

Epilogue

 * Relentless Halberdier (最強の村娘, The Strongest Country Girl in the Japanese Version)

Nephenee lived with her family in Melior. Time and again she raised her lance in defense of the realm.

Etymology
The meaning of Nephenee's name is uncertain. It could derive from various South Slavic names like 'Nevena,' which come from the word for 'marigold.' In medieval Europe, poor Christian peasants offered marigolds (the name comes from "Mary's Gold,") to the Virgin Mary if they couldn't afford more expensive gifts or tithes. Therefore, this name could reference Nephenee's humble socioeconomic background but great virtue and valor.

In another vein, 'Nephele' in Greek myth was a nymph woman created by Zeus out of the clouds. A mortal named Ixion was lusting after Zeus' wife Hera, so Zeus created Nephele to look like Hera and therefore trick Ixion. So Ixion raped Nephele instead of Hera, giving Zeus the excuse to banish him thereafter to the underworld. The children from Ixion and Nephele's union were the centaurs. Additionally, 'nepenthe' is a mythical drug mentioned in the Odyssey which is supposed to cure grief by causing the user to forget his or her troubles. It is also famously mentioned in the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe.