Pegasus Knight

The Pegasus Knight (ペガサスナイト Pegasasu naito) is a pegasus-mounted combat physical class that recurrently appears across the Fire Emblem Series, beginning from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. In almost all the class' iterations through the years, it has been female-exclusive, featuring warriors straddling Pegasus steeds and outfitted with Lances as their primary weapons of choice. It is also of note that Pegasus Knights tend to hail from locations that possess wintry climates.

History in the Series
In their original inception in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Pegasus Knights are able to wield both Swords and Lances as their weapons of choice. They promote into Dracoknights in this installment.

In Gaiden, the Pegasus Knight class wields solely Lances and promotes into the Falcon Knight class instead, gaining the ability to inflict effective damage against Monsters upon promotion.

In Mystery of the Emblem, Pegasus Knights are reverted to promoting into Dracoknights yet again. They use only Lances when mounted, reverting to Sword use only when dismounted. While all playable Pegasus Knights are female, the generic enemy Pegasus Knights are male.

Beginning from Genealogy of the Holy War, the Pegasus Knight class is cleanly separated from the Dragon Knight class, with the Falcon Knight class reintroduced and instituted to be the staple promoted form of the Pegasus Knight. In this installment, Pegasus Knights, like their Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light predecessors, are able to arm Swords alongside Lances. All Pegasus Knights within the game are explicitly female.

Pegasus Knight is the promoted form of the Pegasus Rider class in Thracia 776. Karin is the only playable member of the Pegasus Rider class. It is explained within the game that Pegasi usually only accept females as riders, establishing the class as mostly female.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, Pegasus Knights are identical to their portrayal in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, having access to both Swords and Lances and being able to promote into Dragon Knight. Pegasus Knight is also the promoted form of the Princess class, requiring the use of a ☆Pegasus Flute to be used in order for the promotion to take place.

To pay homage to their earlier promotion into the Dracoknight class, the Pegasus Knight is further given the option to promote into the Wyvern Knight class alongside the Falcon Knight class in The Sacred Stones.

In Path of Radiance, Pegasus Knights return to having a singular class change option.

The Pegasus Knight ( 天馬騎士ペガサスナイト Pegasasu naito) class is further able to promote into the Seraph Knight class after promoting into the Falcoknight class in Radiant Dawn. Pegasus Knight itself is technically unplayable as the returning Pegasus Knight from Path of Radiance, Marcia, is recruited as a Falcoknight. Despite this Pegasus Knights still advances to Falcoknight in the game data.

In Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem, remakes of the Archanea Series, the Dracoknight class is re-instated as the main promoted form of the Pegasus Knight class. Usage of special Elysian Whips in these two titles grants Pegasus Knights access to the Falcon Knight class.

In Awakening, Pegasus Knights are further able to promote into Dark Flier alongside Falcon Knight, a class defined by a black pegasus steed and the ability to wield Tomes alongside Lances.

The class is renamed Sky Knight (天馬武者 Tenma Musha, lit. Pegasus Warrior) in Fates and is made unisex. Treated as a Hoshidan class, the Sky Knight is able to promote either into the classic Falcon Knight class or the Kinshi Knight class. The latter class sees Sky Knights swooping into battle atop the backs of mythical Kinshi with Bows and Lances. The Sky Knight's Nohrian counterpart is the Wyvern Rider class. There is also a standalone, and personalized variant of the Pegasus Knight class available to a character only obtainable via download with a promotional code.

Combat
The Pegasus Knight may seem fragile, but they are one of the most useful classes to have on the field. Their ability to fly over normally impassable terrain for long distances, alongside their ability to use the Rescue command in later titles, allows them to be used as a type of transport for ground units. Pegasus Knights tend to have very low HP and Defense, a fact that makes them a little more fragile as compared to many other classes. They are also marred by their low Constitution (in games that utilize this stat), a fact that necessitates the need for them to wield lightweight weapons to prevent chronic Attack Speed losses. Pegasus Knights do possess quite a number of merits, however; their high Speed, for instance, is one of their defining traits, aiding them immensely in consistently dodging attacks. They are also fairly strong in terms of Resistance, positing them as effective dispatchers of magic-based enemies.

During any given skirmish, it is essential that Pegasus Knights are kept out of range of bow-wielding enemies. Already sufficiently fragile due to their low HP and Defense, Pegasus Knights are therefore even more vulnerable when facing such foes, ones who are able to inflict effective damage against them. Apart from this, Pegasus Knights must also be wary of wielders of Wind Magic, as these foes are similarly granted the ability to inflict effective damage against them. This is less of an issue as compared to their vulnerability to bow-wielding foes, as their decent Resistance growths can help them tide through at least one or two of such attacks.

Uniform
Characters of the Pegasus Knight class are often depicted outfitted in a tunic, with some of them featured wearing a miniskirt that just covers their hips underneath the tunic. In cases where miniskirts are not worn, the tunic is then lengthened to cover the hip, with most possessing slits on either side of the tunic from the top of their waist to the lower half of their hips. Pegasus Knights also wear a white belt with beige edges around their waist, and which sometimes has a sheath attached to act as sword carriers.

If wearing helmets, they will try to incorporate avian wing designs on them.

While Pegasus Knights do not wear leggings, most are shown wearing knee high or thigh-high socks and boots. An exception to this is Misha, who is depicted wearing leggings.

Pegasus Knights are also known to wear arm-length or wrist-length gloves, and in some cases, fingerless gloves. Certain depictions feature them with a headband tied around their heads.

For armour, Pegasus Knights are accustomed to wearing a breastplate, shoulder guards and a round helmet.

In Awakening, the belt worn by Pegasus Knights has an item pouch attached to the rear. Their armour has physical similarities to that of female Greek warriors as a refrence to the fact that Pegasi are a part of Greek mythology. Playable Pegasus Knight characters such as Sumia, Cordelia and Cynthia have a unique design for their armour and tunic while generic Pegasus Knights don't have any outstanding features.

Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Mystery of the Emblem

 * Caeda - The princess of Talys and later Marth's fiancee.
 * Palla - Pegasus knight of Macedon and member of the Whitewings.
 * Catria - Pegasus knight of Macedon and member of the Whitewings.
 * Est - Pegasus knight of Macedon and member of the Whitewings, later the wife of Abel.

Fire Emblem Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

 * Clair - Knight of Zofia and younger sister of Clive.
 * Possible Promotion For: Faye.

Genealogy of the Holy War

 * Erinys - One of the four Pegasus Knights of Silesse in the first generation.
 * Fee - Silessean Pegasus Knight and the daughter of Erinys in the second generation.
 * Hermina - Silessean Pegasus Knight who takes Fee's spot if Erinys does not have children.

Thracia 776

 * Misha - Mercenary Pegasus Knight from Silesse and the daughter of Deet'var.
 * Promotion for: Karin

TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga

 * Mahter - Pegasus Knight of Salia.
 * Frau - Pegasus Knight of Salia and younger sister of Mahter.
 * Verna - Pegasus Knight of Salia and older sister of Mahter.
 * Promotion for: Sasha

The Binding Blade

 * Shanna - Ilian Pegasus Knight in training serving under Dieck.
 * Thea - Ilian Pegasus Knight serving alongside Klein.

The Blazing Blade

 * Florina - Ilian Pegasus Knight who is close friends with Lyn.
 * Fiora - Ilian Pegasus Knight and commander of Ilia's 5th Wing of Pegasus Knights.
 * Farina - Ilian Pegasus Knight and member of the Strongwings, Ilia's 3rd Wing of Pegasus Knights.

The Sacred Stones

 * Vanessa - Frelian Knight and younger sister of Syrene.
 * Tana - The princess of Frelia, trained by Syrene.

Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn

 * Marcia - Knight of Begnion, later part of the Crimean Royal Knights.

Awakening

 * Sumia - A member of Chrom's Shepherds and a member of Ylisse's pegasus knights. Clumsy but has a pure-heart and good with animals
 * Cordelia - A member of Ylisse's pegasus knights. She is a perfectionist who excels at almost everything, but also holds forbidden feelings for a certain someone.
 * Cynthia - Sumia's daughter from the future. While she is clumsy, just like her mother, her enthusiasm and tomboyish nature makes up for it.

Fates

 * Hinoka - The eldest Hoshidan princess with a natural warrior's spirit. She passionately protects her beloved kingdom from all enemies.
 * Subaki - The first male Pegasus Knight in the series. A natural perfectionist who is demanding on himself to be nothing less than the best. He is one of Sakura's retainers.
 * Caeldori - The daughter of Subaki who strives to be perfect like her father. She resembles Cordelia in appearance.
 * Shigure - The son of Azura. He is a skilled singer like his mother and has a love for painting and other arts.

Trivia

 * In Mystery of the Emblem, enemy Pegasus Knights appear to be male, making them the first known male Pegasus Knights in the series. In Fates, the class has become unisex with Subaki officially being first male Pegasus unit under the player's control.
 * In The Blazing Blade, enemy Pegasus Knights appear female and are otherwise indistinguishable from allied Pegasus Knights, except that they use the male mounted formula for AID, giving them the highest AID of any unit in the game, 20.
 * Pegasus Knights are generally female due to the myth of the unicorn, which states that only pure-hearted maidens could approach Pegasi. Pegasi within the series alternate between being traditional pegasi or an alicorn/winged unicorn.