Mercenary

The Mercenary (傭兵 Youhei) is a combat physical class of foot soldiers that recurrently appears across the Fire Emblem Series, beginning from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. This class wields Swords as its sole weapon of choice.

While many characters in the series are commonly referred to as mercenaries (the Greil Mercenaries being one such example), they are not necessarily of the Mercenary class; they are merely referred to as such due to the sellsword nature of the services that they render to the various games' protagonists.

History in the Series
In their original inception in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, the Mercenary class is the primary Sword-wielding foot unit class and promotes into the Hero class when the necessary requirements are made.

In Archanea Saga, Malice acts as the first female character to assume the Mercenary class in the series. During the period preceding her entrance to the series, all Mercenaries have been predominantly male.

The Mercenary class is replaced by the Sword Fighter class as the primary Sword using foot soldier in Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776, though certain Sword Fighters promote to a Hero-inspired equivalent instead of the usual Swordmaster.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, the class takes on two distinct forms: The playable Fighter (せんし Senshi) and the enemy-exclusive Mercenary (ようへい Youhei) classes. Statistically, the Fighter class is identical to the original Mercenary class, but has slightly higher stat bases. Unlike in the preceding Fire Emblem titles, Sword Fighter is presented as an entirely separate class.

The class makes its official return to the series in The Binding Blade, where, like in TearRing Saga, it is split from the Sword Fighter/Myrmidon class and coexists with it. From this point onward in the series, Mercenaries strictly promote directly into Heroes, while Myrmidons promote into Swordmasters.

In The Sacred Stones, Mercenaries are further given the option to promote into the mounted Ranger class alongside the Hero class.

In Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem, remakes of the classic Archanea Series, a number of characters who were first introduced to the series as Mercenaries are remodeled to assume the Myrmidon class instead, including the likes of Navarre, Radd and Malice.

In Awakening and Fates, Mercenaries are given the option to promote into the Bow Knight class alongside the Hero class, mirroring the Ranger option from The Sacred Stones.

In Fates, the Mercenary (マーシナリ― Māshinarī) class is treated as a Nohrian class and is considered to be the counterpart of the Hoshidan Samurai.

Combat
Mercenaries tend to possess balanced stats, replete with high HP, Strength and Skill, alongside decent Speed and Defense. When compared to the Myrmidon class, a class that similarly wields swords exclusively, Mercenaries are generally better in terms of HP, Strength, Skill and Defense, although their counterparts are usually superior in the Speed department.

Mercenaries are versatile in both offense and defense. In most cases, mercenaries are capable of dealing good damage while being durable enough to sustain quite a number of attacks. The only problem that Mercenaries potentially face is their average Movement, which may prove detrimental to their survival in situations where they are completely overwhelmed by enemies. However, high-level Mercenaries can dispatch hordes of axe-users with ease, and can even stand a chance of avoiding lance and sword attacks. They will more often than not strike their target with precision, and score a few Critical Hits due to their high Skill.

In Awakening, Mercenaries learn Armsthrift, one of the most useful skills available in the game. Because this skill can reduce or completely negate weapon durability loss, it is thus highly sought-after by players seeking to maximise the potential of their characters.

In Fates, weapon durability is no longer present, and mercenaries instead gain Good Fortune and Strong Riposte, which further increase their durability and ability to defend themselves, respectively.

Uniform
Across all games, the Mercenary class's uniforms have consistently comprised of simple clothing and light-to-medium armour that varies between games. Not much of the class's outfit can be seen in earlier titles, but according to the TCG depictions, generic Mercenaries wear light breastplates, a helmet, shin-guards and wrist braces. In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, Fighters and Mercenaries are featured wearing basic clothing with a leather vest and a belt containing the sheath of their sword. In Awakening and Fates, the uniforms of Mercenaries are very similar to the ones from TearRing Saga, but are different in terms of the heater shields that is strapped to their left forearms like a rerebrace, in addition to the light leather vest and gloves that they don, with the difference being that Mercenaries from Fates are shown with a heavier leather jacket and a more military-styled uniform than in Awakening. Enemy portraits of Mercenaries in both games show them wearing a head-brace.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
Note: Nabarl and Radd are Myrmidons in the remake.
 * Ogma - A mercenary of Talys hired by King Mostyn to protect Caeda
 * Navarre - A stoic mercenary who is also known by the alias "Crimson Fencer".
 * Radd - A citizen of Port Warren who joins the Archanean League with Caesar.
 * Caesar - A mercenary hired to protect Port Warren.

Fire Emblem Gaiden

 * Saber - A mercenary hired by Celica
 * Kamui - A mercenary hired by Valbar
 * Jesse - A mercenary who tries, but fails, to save Est from Grieth.
 * Promotion for: Gray, Tobin, Kliff, Atlas

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
Note: Samuel is a Myrmidon in the remake.
 * Samuel - An impersonator of Nabarl.

Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga
Note: Malice is a Myrmidon in the remake.
 * Malice - Daughter of Dice and is constantly in pursuit of gaining riches.

TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga

 * Xeno - A former slave.
 * Attrom - The younger half brother of Renee and the half brother of Holmes

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

 * Dieck - Leader of a small mercenary company hired by Eliwood
 * Ogier - A mercenary from Ilia hired by Ostia

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

 * Raven - Originally Lord Raymond of House Cornwell and the older brother of Priscilla. Seeks revenge against Ostia.
 * Glass - A Sacaen swordsman who tries to steal the Mani Katti.
 * Puzon - A mercenary hired by a group of bandits plaguing Caelin.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

 * Gerik - The leader of Gerik's Mercenaries; known as the Desert Tiger.
 * Zonta - A mercenary hired by Tirado as bait to lure Ephraim into a trap laid out by Orson.

Fire Emblem Awakening

 * Gregor - The wandering "Swell Sword".
 * Severa - Cordelia's daughter from the future.
 * Inigo - Olivia's son from the future.

Fire Emblem Fates

 * Selena - A familiar competitive girl from a distant land who strives for perfection. She has pledged her elite services to Camilla.
 * Laslow - A familiar philanderer from a distant land who is skilled in the art of dance. He has pledged his elite services to Xander.
 * Soleil - Laslow's daughter. A confident, cheerful girl who is popular with other girls and enjoys flirting with them.
 * Zhara - A swordsman formerly renowned for his skill, now reduced to a common sellsword. (encountered as a boss; must be captured)