Sanaki

"You stand in the presence of Sanaki, empress of Begnion! I am the apostle, the voice of the goddess!"

- Sanaki

Sanaki (サナキ Sanaki), full name Sanaki Kirsch Altina (サナキ・キルシュ・オルティナ Sanaki Kirushu Orutina), is the Empress and Apostle of Begnion in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and its sequel Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. She is actually a young girl (10 in Path of Radiance and 13 in Radiant Dawn) that is said to be the vessel of the goddess Ashera. She wields a personal fire tome, Cymbeline.

Personality
Sanaki is very concerned about manners, and is often put off by Ike's lack of respect in his speech. However, she appears to be very respectful to the Laguz, unlike most of the Begnion nobility who disrespect the Laguz and call them sub-human. She has a very close relationship with her prime minister Sephiran, the Duke Persis.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
At first, she treats Ike and Elincia coldly and with disdain, but it is in fact a ruse, as she needs Ike's help in uncovering a Laguz slave-trading ring that other Begnion nobles are participating in. Her greatest desire is to atone for the genocide her people committed on the Heron tribe twenty years earlier. It is also revealed at the end that the apostle is the only one who can awaken the dark god from Lehran's Medallion, as she is the currently only known descendant of Altina, a companion of the Goddess Ashera and the Dragon King who fought to seal the Dark God.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
She escapes Begnion when the Senate, led by Duke Lekain of Gaddos, seizes control of the Empire; she subsequently forms an alliance with Gallia, Crimea, Phoenicis, and Serenes to reclaim her throne. Lekain later reveals that Sanaki once had an elder sister: only the firstborn daughter of Altina's lineage can hear Ashera's voice, they claim, and so Sanaki is a false Apostle. Upon defeating Lekain, she discards the title of "Apostle" and rules only as Begnion's Empress. Unlike her sister (who is later revealed to be Micaiah), Sanaki did not inherit the brand and therefore she cannot hear the voice of the goddess Yune. Sanaki later joins the Silver Army on the march on the Tower of Guidance.

Additional information
Sanaki is potent force offensively; rivaling the best of magic users in terms of sheer power. Her personal tome, Cymbeline, is the second most powerful Fire Tome available with an unparalleled durability of 45 points. Despite this, Sanaki's offensive potential is crippled by her low Strength; though it does not affect the power of her attacks, it causes most Tomes to weigh her down considerably, preventing her from performing double attacks on all but the slowest of adversaries, and allowing even moderately swift units to double attack her, which is likely to be fatal, considering her low Defense and HP. Sanaki is capable of attaining an SS-Rank in Fire Magic, granting her access to the most powerful of Fire Tomes, the SS-ranked Rexflame (However, Rexflame is also a very heavy Fire Tome (second only to Meteor), and even it's +3 boost to Sanaki's Speed hardly negates the penalty for her having such low Strength). Unlike most Magic users, Sanaki cannot use Staves, further inhibiting her usability. On the other hand, Sanaki can attain an S-Rank in all Magic except for Dark Magic, allowing her to use a wide variety of Tomes.

Starting Stats
|Empress |Light |1 |28 |2 |33 |22 |23 |32 |10 |28 |4 |4 |6 |Fire - S Thunder - A Wind - A Light - A |Shove Flare |Cymbeline Arcwind Arcthunder Elixir

Ending
Sanaki elected to guide her people in a world without the goddess, and made treaties uniting the continent.
 * Holy Empress (聖帝 Seitei)

Trivia

 * Sanaki is commonly refered to as Caesar in Japanese fandom. Julius Caesar is an Emperor much like Sanaki is an Empress.
 * There is notably a typo in the Unit Profile referring to Sanaki's class as Emperor.

Etymology

 * Sanaki's middle name, Kirsch, is the German word for "cherry".