Donnel

"Fight and get stronger, he says... Guess it can't hurt to try. I sure hope I don't get in the way! Gosh, that would be just awful..."

- -Donnel

Donnel (ドニ Doni, Denis in the Japanese version), given the full name Donnel Tinhead in the localization, is a playable character in Fire Emblem Awakening.

He is voiced by Mitsuhiro Ichiki in the Japanese version and is voiced by Sam Riegel in the English version.

In Fire Emblem Heroes, he is voiced by Sam Regal in the English version.

Profile
Donnel is a villager from Ylisse, and is a common young man who likes plowing fields. Since he had never gone outside his village, he is interested in many things. Donnel appears as a kid in makeshift armor wielding a Lance on foot. He lives with his mother before leaving to join Chrom's army. His father was killed by Roddick trying to protect his wife and Donnel. Upon meeting Chrom he introduces himself as Donny before quickly correcting himself with his real name. Nevertheless, some members of Chrom's army refer to him as Donny, such as Lissa and Chrom themselves. Donnel is a bit younger than Lissa. Donnel wears a pot over his head in order to hide his messy hair.

One day, Donnel's village is attacked by bandits, but he is able to escape. Donnel encounters Chrom and asks him to save the kidnapped villagers. He leads them to the bandit's hideout and Chrom asks him to fight with them. Though he tells Chrom he's just a regular villager, after some encouraging words from Chrom, he musters enough courage to fight with them. After defeating the bandits and Donnel gets a bit stronger, he joins Chrom's army. Alternatively, if Donnel does not get stronger after defeating the bandits, he will remain in his village and cannot be recruited.

In the epilogue, Donnel returns back home to his village and lives a quiet life with his mother and his wife if he has one. He never returned to battle after this.

In his support with Nowi, it is revealed Donnel's father was an avid rock collector until he was killed. Donnel has carried his father's favorite stone ever since. In his support with Lissa, Donnel reveals that his dream is to travel the world looking for the secrets to his father's stone. In his supports with Maribelle and Miriel, Donnel reveals that he has a keen knack for memorization and learning. In his supports with Panne and both Avatars, it is shown that he is a good trapper and catches a lot of food for Chrom's army this way. His supports with Kellam show he grows food for the army as well.

Personality
Donnel is a typical village boy "from the sticks" and is unaccustomed to life outside of his village. Though he was hesitant to ever enter battle, Donnel musters enough courage to stand up for himself and eventually join Chrom's army. His speech is vastly different compared to the rest of the army, speaking with a southern-farmer accent, saying phrases such as "git 'r done!". Donnel is well versed in survival and practical skills including animal trapping, fishing, and cooking. Many people in the army note of his incredible aptitude in learning due to his eagerness to improve himself and find his true potential. His birthday falls on June 4.

Without Aptitude
For Aptitude, add +20% to all growth rates.
 * 85%
 * 55%
 * 15%
 * 45%
 * 50%
 * 80%
 * 45%
 * 20%
 * }

Max Stat Modifers

 * +1
 * -1
 * -1
 * -1
 * +3
 * +1
 * -1
 * }

Support
Romantic Supports
 * The Avatar (Female)
 * Lissa
 * Sully
 * Maribelle
 * Miriel
 * Cordelia
 * Panne
 * Nowi
 * Tharja
 * Olivia
 * Cherche

Other Supports
 * The Avatar (Male)
 * Stahl
 * Kellam
 * Donnel's children

Class Sets

 * }

Inheritance
Donnel has two Male-only classes: Villager and Fighter. If he marries someone who produces a daughter, then his daughter will inherit the following classes instead.
 * Pegasus Knight - Promotes to Falcon Knight or Dark Flier
 * Troubadour - Promotes to Valkyrie or War Cleric

Base Class
Donnel joins the party with very poor stats, making him more of a liability than an asset early on. This is especially true on Lunatic mode, where nothing short of strategic gymnastics and a complete commitment on the part of the player will allow him to level up. However, his Aptitude skill bolsters his already decent stats growths, so Donnel will often get around 5 to 6 stat increases per level up with a guaranteed HP and Luck increase every level. This makes him a very strong choice as the game progresses, as he will reach a point, typically soon after reclassing, where his advantage over the enemy will begin to snowball.

Underdog will also help Donnel once he ditches the Villager class since he will start off in another first-tier class and will be underleveled. Donnel has no choice but to give up his Lance rank forever if he wants to move to a non-trainee class, which is highly recommended to be done as soon as possible due to the incredibly low stat caps of the Villager. Put in the time to train him to Level 15 before reclassing and Donnel will be in good shape for future classes. Player who put in the extra time to level Donnel up to level 30 can change his class into a promoted unit. This is not advised as Donnel may miss out on crucial skills available in his base classes.

Thankfully, regardless of difficulty, it should be possible to level Donnel up to the point of promotion during Paralogue 2 by arming him with 5 Javelins and utilizing an AI exploit. If the player deploys a four man team with two pegasus knights, he or she can fly Donnel over to the four-tile-large island and fly another unit to one of the multiple safe-spots over the water in the northwestern corner of the map.The player can then move the other unit in and out of the safe-spot to manipulate enemy movements, allowing Donnel to take out the enemy army one by one, without any chance of suffering retaliation. While this strategy works with any unit capable of attacking at a range, Donnel is the unit that benefits the most from it.

Reclassing
Donnel's reclassing options are Mercenary and Fighter, both of which are a step above his Villager days.

After grabbing Underdog, it is highly recommended to go straight to Mercenary, since his immediate acquisition of Armsthrift combined with his high Luck makes him extremely good at extending the lifespan of rarer weapons. The class also balances out Donnel's stats with good speed, skill, and strength and good defense. In addition to the stat compliments, the Mercenary class will offer Donnel the Patience skill, which will increase his Hit and Avoid during the enemy turn. His Hero promotion from this class yields Sol, allowing him to heal himself during battle, and with his fairly high Skill, Sol should activate often. Hero is Donnel's most well-balanced class in terms of stats, abilities, and weapons and is recommended as his end class. Reclassing into Bow Knight will offer Donnel access to Bowbreaker, a useful skill to complement Counter from the Warrior class, which will not activate against ranged attacks from weapons such as bows.

Fighter boosts Donnel's offensive capabilities as much as possible while slightly dropping his defenses. This class emphasizes axes letting him wield Hand Axes for range until he promotes into either Hero or Warrior. Zeal and Max HP +5 are good skills for Donnel to use even outside of this class. However, over time, these skills may begin to lose relevance as Donnel begins to reclass multiple times, leading to them being swapped for more versatile skills such as Sol. Warrior adds higher Strength caps, Bows, and Counter to his repertoire, the latter of which is especially useful in conjunction with Sol from the Hero class. Unfortunately, due to the overlap of Mercenary and Fighter both promoting to Hero, Donnel has access to only three upgraded classes total. This gives him a rather limited, but useful, skill pool.

Overall, Donnel has to reclassed to be a unit worth using, as Villager is useless in the long run. Despite his somewhat shallow range of abilities, Donnel can still be a very capable unit with skill combos like Sol and Counter, with Bowbreaker alleviating the combo's range weakness to an extent and Patience further extending his survival during the enemy turn. Armsthrift will allow Donnel to wield expensive and forged weaponry for longer periods of time, making him a prime candidate for holding fabled weapons like Helswath. Ultimately, Donnel's biggest strengths lie in his fast growths and Luck stat. His growths and the benefits of Aptitude allow him to cap out faster than nearly all other units, making him a very strong mid- to-lategame unit with some early-game investment and decent training.

Inheritance
Donnel can be a great father due to his unique classing situation. Donnel's Aptitude skill is great to pass down to aid in stat building, though it becomes a useless ability once they are capped. Underdog is also worth passing down, since children characters are recruited in a lower tier and at a lower level than other units. Both of these skills are especially good to pass down to his daughters since they are unable to become Villagers themselves. If not, Counter works well as another pass down to his daughters. Because of Donnel's male-exclusive classes, he will pass down different classes to any daughters he may have. Daughters will gain the ability to turn into Pegasus Knights, making Donnel an excellent father for Noire, Nah, and Kjelle, as he gives them access to Galeforce. The addition of the Troubadour class can allow his potential daughters to gain more supportive skills from Valkyrie or gain Renewal from War Cleric.

Description
A farm boy from a country village in the Halidom of Ylisse. Handy and hardy. Appears in Fire Emblem Awakening.

Base Stats
Rarity:

Awakening

 * Donnel/Awakening Quotes

Heroes

 * Donnel/Heroes Quotes

Possible Endings

 * Donnel - Village Hero (村人 Murabito lit. Villager)
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and lived a quiet life with his mother. He never took up arms again—a blessing for which he thanked the exalt daily.


 * Donnel and the Avatar
 * Many wrote of Avatar's legendary exploits, but accounts of her origins and character varied. Scholars, poets, and bards agreed on one thing alone--she loved her husband, Donnel, above all else.


 * Donnel and Cherche
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Cherche. The latter's easy laugh and many skills quickly earned the love and respect of her new family.


 * Donnel and Cordelia
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Cordelia. The latter, however, continued to train hard as a knight and often answered the exalt's call.


 * Donnel and Lissa
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and Lissa. Still, the latter insisted on breaking the monotony, and the couple often traveled to far-flung markets.


 * Donnel and Maribelle
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and Maribelle. Still, he was careful not to pester his new bride about working in the fields, lest she lift a scythe for other reasons.


 * Donnel and Miriel
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Miriel. The latter directed her studies on the local flora; Donny was shocked that trees could have ten-syllable names.


 * Donnel and Nowi
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Nowi. She loved her new home and scampered through the fields and mountains with the fervor of a village cat.


 * Donnel and Olivia
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Olivia. Their forgotten hamlet glowed during festivals, when Olivia's dancing warmed more than any fire.


 * Donnel and Panne
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Panne. This new "warren" had more than enough nature to please any taguel, and her heart found a home at last.


 * Donnel and Sully
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Sully. The latter established a militia much like the Shepherds to arm the villagers against the threat of brigands.


 * Donnel and Tharja
 * Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Tharja. The latter never warmed to the villagers, but she was said to smile around her family.

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

Etymology
Donnel is an Irish name meaning "brave" or "dark-haired one". The latter probably refers to his dark purple hair color, and the former possibly refers to his Villager class.

Trivia

 * Donnel shares his English voice actor, Sam Riegel, with Stahl.
 * Donnel shares his Japanese voice actor, Ichiki Mitsuhiro, with Hinata and Hisame.
 * Donnel's portrait always shows him wielding a Lance, even though none of his other classes besides Villager uses it.
 * Donnel will sometimes say "let's get-r-done!" when Dual Supporting. This is probably a reference to the famous catch phrase used by Nebraskan comedian Larry the Cable Guy.
 * Donnel has the smallest class set out of the entire cast of Awakening having only 6 different classes (7 including Dread Fighter).
 * Donnel's base reclassing options (Mercenary and Fighter) are referenced in his C Support Conversation with Stahl, where Stahl recommends that Donnel learn from their fighting styles.
 * In Donnel's localized A-rank Support conversation with Cherche, he mentions that his last name is Tinhead. This is a reference to his Villager class, where he and all the others like him wear giant pots on their heads.
 * Donnel is one of the few Fire Emblem characters with known last names, the others being Jill, Elincia, Sanaki, Sigurd, Seliph, Leif, Alm and, anime-exclusively, Marth.
 * Donnel is the only character with a last name in the English but not in the original Japanese version.
 * A set of map sprites featuring Donnel as a Swordmaster exists within the game data, although they are unused in the main game itself.