Zelgius

"Let us test your stronger arm then. Come, Son of Gawain, show me your strength."

- The Black Knight to Ike, before their duel at Nados castle.

Zelgius (ゼルギウス, Zerugiusu), better known as the Black Knight (漆黒の騎士, Shikkoku no Kishi, Dark Knight in the Japanese version), was Daein's most powerful general. He is first seen as Zelgius when he is sent as reinforcements to Ike and his company after their conquest of Nevassa. The Black Knight's identity was unknown in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, save for the fact that he was once a student of General Gawain. In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, his identity was revealed to be General Zelgius, Earl of Kadohl, the greatest general of the Begnion Empire, and the right-hand man to Prime Minister Sephiran. He was also one of the Branded, which he revealed to Sephiran, who provided him with the blessed sword Alondite and the blessed black armor. It is implied that he is the personal general of Prime Minister Sephiran, Duke of Persis.

His power was so extraordinary that King Ashnard, after a comment from General Petrine about the Black Knight's strength, said he would be interested in challenging the Knight to battle some day.

Path of Radiance
At the beginning of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, he was the most powerful of Daein's Four Riders. He wore a special suit of full-body black armor that had been blessed by the goddess Ashera, making it impenetrable to all weapons save those that have also been divinely blessed, such as Ragnell. He also had access to numerous other arcane items as well, such as the warp powder he used to travel, his sword Alondite, and the sword Ragnell, which he gave to Greil seemingly as an act of mercy, although he merely wanted to test his strength against Greil. After killing Greil, he became Ike's mortal enemy, despite Greil's wishes. The Black Knight spent much of the game aiding Ashnard and his plans, such as providing Ashnard with blessed armor similar to his own.

Ultimately, Ike faces off against the Black Knight in a duel where Ike, canonically, wins. However, the player does not have to defeat the Black Knight, as the castle that the two were battling in collapses at the end of the fifth turn. Regardless of whether or not the player is able to defeat the Black Knight, Ike and Mist were able to flee the castle, though the Black Knight was buried in the resulting ruins.

It was revealed in Radiant Dawn that Bastian sent men to find the Black Knight's body sometime after the castle's collapse, but they were unable to locate any trace of the Black Knight. One therory on how he survived is that he used his Warp Powder to escape. It is also explained in Radiant Dawn that it was Sephiran who sent Zelgius to Ashnard, so as to observe Ashnard and see if he could cause a continent-wide war to awaken the Goddesses.

Radiant Dawn
As the Black Knight, he returned to protect Micaiah when General Jarod of the Begnion Occupation forces attempted to assassinate her as Begnion began cracking down on the Occupation Army's oppression of the Daein people. Thanks to the Black Knight, Jarod failed, and he continued to protect Micaiah in the war against the Begnion Occupation Army, though to Sothe's objection. He disappeared after the fall of the Occupation Army for reasons unexplained, though it could be assumed that it was that Zelgius was being recalled to Begnion because of the growing tensions between the Begnion Empire and the Laguz Alliance.

As Zelgius, he led the Begnion Central Army, the largest military force on the continent, against the invading Laguz Alliance. He defeated first Ranulf and later Skrimir in single combat, forcing the Laguz Alliance to retreat. When Daein ambushed the Alliance at the Ribahn River, initiating their entry into the war, Zelgius reassumed his mantle as the Black Knight to aid Daein, specifically to protect Micaiah. He continued to remain at their side until the Greil Mercenaries began engaging Micaiah's forces.

Zelgius's only goal was to face Gawain at the height of his power; his pursuit of this duel was the only action he undertook of his own accord after becoming Sephiran's follower. However, upon finding that Gawain was not at his true power, he sought out Gawain's remaining student, Ike, and faced him in a one-on-one fight at the Tower of Guidance, while Micaiah and the rest faced off against the other Disciples of Order and General Levail of the Begnion Northern Army. Ike defeated him and Zelgius died believing that Ike fought with all of the skill Gawain possessed in his prime. His death was in peace, and waited for Sephiran to join him. After the battle, Ike considered Zelgius his final teacher.

He served Prime Minister Sephiran selflessly and viewed him as his master. All of his actions were guided by Sephiran's will, including his eventual return to Daein as the Black Knight.

If the player uses a hacking device, they may see Zelgius's in-game stats. He has a bond with Sephiran and is considered a Level 20 Marshall (which is considered closer to the Black Knight class than to other Marshalls) with Eclipse for a mastery skill. Eclipse negates all defense and resistance, and attacks with 5 times the strength, able to cause up to 255 unshielded damage with maxed strength and wielding Alondite. Most notably, Ashera would not be able to survive the attack without her Mantle skill. When facing Ranulf and Skrimir, he wields an Iron Sword, although his artwork suggests his weapon is a Silver Blade.

On their second playthrough, if the player attempts to recruit Sephiran, Zelgius (as the Black Knight) must be used in Part 1: Endgame, and Ike must engage him in battle without defeating him in Chapter 3-7.

Boss Appear

 * Chapter 11
 * Chapter 24
 * Chapter 27

Base Stats
|General |Dark |20 |60 |30 |17 |30 |27 |11 |30 |22 |13 |18 |6 |Sword - S Lance - A | Luna Renewal |Alondite

Boss Appear

 * Part 3: Chapter 7
 * Part 4: Endgame Area 2

Recruitment

 * Part 1: Chapter 9: Automatically from start, available in Chapter 9 and Endgame.
 * Part 3: Chapter 6: Automatically from Turn 6, only available in Chapter 6.
 * Part 4: Chapter 3: Appears as an Other Unit.

Base Stats (Black Knight)
|Black Knight |Dark |20 |70 |38 |18 |40 |30 |20 |35 |25 |13 |25 |6 |Sword - SS Lance - S |Nihil Imbue* Shove Eclipse |Alondite Concoction**

* He does not have this skill as a boss in easy mode. ** As a playable character only.

Base Stats (Zelgius, Unused)
|Marshall |Dark |20 |70 |38 |18 |40 |30 |20 |35 |25 |13 |23 |6 |Sword - SS Lance - S |Nihil Imbue Shove Eclipse |N/A

Bond Support (Zelgius)

 * Sephiran: 10%

Path of Radiance
Chapter 27 in Path of Radiance Vs Ike Black Knight: What an odd fate. This will be the third time I have defeated you. The first was in the forest of Gallia. The second at Delbray in Crimea. Ike: We've met twice, and I've lost twice. But the third time will be different. Black Knight: Oh? Ike: My sword-fighting skills were given to me by my father. If I stay true to them, I cannot lose. Black Knight: Did you never think that using your father's techniques on the man who killed him would be futile? Ike: My father robbed himself of using his stronger arm. If he had, he would not have lost to the likes of you. Black Knight: Hah... You think so? Let us test your stronger arm, then. Come, son of Gawain... show me your strength.

Vs Mist Mist: ...sniff...sniff... Black Knight: Do you tremble in fear, little daughter of Gawain? How...entertaining. But if you value your life, you will leave this place at once. Mist: You...you took my brother and my father! My sword may not even scratch you, but I don't care. This one blow... will contain... all my anger... and all my pain... Rrrraaaaa! I'll kill you!

Radiant Dawn
Vs Ike in Part 3 Chapter 7 Ike: So, you are alive. Somehow, I knew it wasn't over yet. Black Knight: Of course it wasn't over. You were a boy trying to live up to the memory of the greatest swordsman in history. Ike: And yet, I was the one who walked out of the castle that day.

Black Knight: You have your father to thank for that. When you told me that he had crippled himself, I realized that I had never fought him at all, merely his shadow. Ike: What are you getting at? Black Knight: I saw immediately that you were not your father's equal, but that one day you might be. So I did the only thing I could to keep you alive... I let you win. Ike: ...You did, didn't you? I've relived that fight so many times... How could I not have seen it before? Black Knight: You were not yet capable of seeing it. But I had to let you live, so that you could continue to train and perhaps one day be worthy of Gawain's legacy. My armor's blessing is gone; let us see if that day is today. Ike: I promise that it will be. Begin.

Vs Ranulf Ranulf: Oh, I thought I smelled you earlier. We just have stop meeting like this.

Black Knight: ... Ranulf: Back in Gallia, in Crimea... We just ran into each other recently, too. I don't know about others, but I can tell who you are. You have one heck of a stench. Black Knight: ...Enough talk. Prepare yourself. Ranulf: Still won't own up, huh? Fine. If that's the case, I'll just tear your mask off and show everyone myself!

Vs Ike in Part 4 Endgame Zelgius: Let's see how you handle this!

"Zelgius: Impressive! Most impressive!"

- Zelgius' Death quote

Other Appearances
In the Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Black Knight makes an appearance as a trophy. But, in his description, he was stated as the wielder of the sacred blade Ettard, instead of Alondite. However, this was a change made from the Japanese version to the English, on part of Intelligent System's translation team: the Black Knight's blade in the Japanese version was Ettard while Ike wielded Alondite. Also, his battle music, unchanged since Path of Radiance, was a possible music for the Castle Siege level, although the music was titled "Against the Dark Knight" instead of "Against the Black Knight" - although he is known as "The Dark Knight" in the Japanese version, probably just a localisation mistake - the same happened to Lyn in her trophy (they put her age as 15 - as it is the Japanese version, instead of writing 18 as she is in the localized version of Fire Emblem). He makes another appearance as a sticker.

Trivia

 * In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Zelgius introduces himself as the Earl of Kadohl. However, in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Valtome addresses him as Zelgius of Cador. This is probably attributed to the translators leaving one of the two titles in un-Romanized form.
 * It can be noted that Zelgius does not wield Alondite while wearing his General armor, most likely to hide his second identity as the Black Knight.
 * In Radiant Dawn, since the Black Knight is playable in some levels, you can raise his lance weapon level from S to SS.

Etymology
The Greek god 'Zelus' was one of the four children of Pallas and Styx, the others being Nike ("victory"), Cratos ("strength"), and Bia ("violence"). The modern word 'zeal' is derived from this name.

'Black Knights' are a common trope in Western literature. They are usually associated with antagonists, lawlessness, and death, and serve as a foil for the archetypical 'white knight.' However, the 'black knight' is not always associated with evil. In texts such as Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, knights who wished to go unrecognized at tournaments would dress in black. Examples of these include Sir Gareth, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Tristram.

Because of his relationship with Gawain, the Black Knight could also be seen as a parallel to the Green Knight from the famous West Midlands Middle English alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The clearest allusion is probably that both the Green Knight and Black Knight are somewhat mythical individuals that are brought into conflict with their respective Gawains. The Green Knight and the Black Knight also both appear to be immortal thanks to enchantments and magic, and they both rise from the dead; the Green Knight is beheaded by Gawain but seems unfazed as he picks his head up and reminds the knight of his promise to be subjected to the same in a year and a day, and the Black Knight is supposed killed by the collapse of Nados Castle but he escapes with warp power and, as far as Ike is concerned, returns to life. Furthermore, the Black Knight's relationship with Ike, Gawain's son, evolves into that of a mentor to a student as Ike pursues the Black Knight; when Ike finally defeats Zelgius in the Tower of Guidance, he says that Zelgius is his last teacher. Finally, although both the Greek Knight and the Black Knight fit into the role of antagonists, neither of them is purely evil; the Greek Knight is only a ploy sent by Morgan le Fay to test the Knights of the Round Table, and the Black Knight is regarded as an honorable and worthy commander by both his subordinates and enemies.