Alm

"My station doesn’t matter, Celica. I’m here because I was called. I have a duty to perform, and I’ll perform it. No more, and no less."

- Alm to Celica in Echoes

Alm (アルム Arumu; romanized as Arum in the Fire Emblem Museum) is one of the two protagonists from Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. He is 17 years old in Echoes.

He appears as DLC in Fire Emblem Awakening, where his map introduces the Dread Fighter class.

Profile
Born in the year 385 in the Valentian calendar and year 590 in the Archanean calendar, Alm is a childhood friend of Celica and was raised by Mycen in the village of Ram in Zofia. Mycen trained Alm extensively, teaching him both battle tactics and even battlefield medicine.

Alm's Route
At the age of 17, Alm developed a desire to leave the village, but Mycen refused as Alm lacked a proper reason to leave other than the sake of traveling. and eventually leads the resistance against the rebelling forces of Desaix. After routing Desaix to his fortress, Alm reclaims Zofia Castle and reunites with Mycen and eventually Celica. The two go on their separate journeys and Alm's forces visit the Forest Village, where the mage Luthier asks him to save his sister Delthea. Alm slays Desaix and captures his fortress, freeing the Zofian knight Mathilda. At the floodgate Alm and his army confront and slay Tatarrah, freeing Delthea from his mind control. The floodgate opens after the corresponding floodgate at the Temple of Mila is opened first.

Alm then leads the counterattack on Rigel. After capturing a fortress belonging to the sorcerer Nuibaba, he finds the saint Tatiana who explains that Nuibaba took her prisoner in order to make her lover, Zeke, fight. Upon seeing that Tatiana is safe, Zeke cooperates with Alm's army to defeat the corrupt Jerome. At first Zeke refuses to join Alm's army due to his loyalty to Empire Rudolf, but changes his mind upon seeing a cross shaped Brand on his right arm. He explains that Rudolf told him that the mark would belong to Valentia's savior and that he must follow that person.

Eventually, Alm reaches Rigel Castle and the Emperor confronts him. Though the two engage, Rudolf does not attack Alm and is brought down. On his death throes, Rudolf reveals that Alm is actual Albein Alm Rudolf, Rudolf's only son. Alm is shocked by the sudden revelation and begs Rudolf to explain more, but the king hushes his son so he explain what he needs to do. Rudolf pleads to his son to embrace his destiny by claiming the Falchion being stored in the Duma Temple and use its power to end the age of gods. With the death of the king and named heir apparent, Alm is fully recognized as the prince of Rigel and is lead into the castle. Mycen explains that Rudolf saw the mark on Alm's hand and knew that he was one of the destined children. In order to forge Alm into the true Hero of legend, he was taken away by Mycen on Rudolf's orders, completely unaware of his true heritage. Alm's birth was completely unknown to the empire except for Rudolf and Mycen. The further spur his son's growth, Rudolf set out to become a conqueror so Alm would eventually rise up against him and become the Hero of all of Valentia. His plan ultimately lead to the events of the story and indeed, created a hero out of Alm. Alm is still devastated by the fact that he killed his own father, but willingly accepts his destiny as the hero and heads down into Duma Temple to claim the Falchion and slay Duma.

In the temple, Alm discovers Celica being imprisoned by Judah who intends of sacrificing her to Duma. In Echoes, Alm travels further into the Temple and encounters Berkut, driven into madness by his consecutive defeats and the revelation of Alm as heir apparent. Alm fights his cousin and eventually defeats him. On his death throes, Berkut places his faith in Alm to end the age of gods, but also adding another regret of killing yet another family member he just recently discovered. Upon reaching the deepest catacombs of the Temple, Alm is forced to brave the final chambers alone in order to claim the Falchion. In the final chamber, Alm is greeted by Celica, but is shocked to find her transformed into a Witch. As the two fight, Mila calls upon Alm to take the Falchion and use it to defeat Celica. The two clash blades which ends when Alm stabs her with the Falchion. As Alm mourns for Celica, Mila uses her remaining power in the Falchion to restore Celica back to life. Celica apologizes to Alm for the way she had treated him before. The two reconcile and use the power of their Mila's Turnwheels to open the gate leading to Duma's domain. Both Alm and Celica's armies join forces and kill Jedah and his daughters Hestia and Marla, allowing them to finally face Duma. With their combined powers and the Falchion, Duma is slain and laid to rest alongside his sister Mila.

With the influence of the gods upon the land gone, Zofia and Rigel are united into the Valentian Kingdom. Alm ascends the throne and becomes the first king of Valentia and marries Celica. Together, the two usher an era of peace for Valentia. Alm became famous throughout the history of Valentia as the man who established the grand empire and used his power to slay the oppressive gods who had ruled the land. He became known as Saint-King Alm I.

Awakening
Alm's legacy would endure even past the schism of the unified kingdom a thousand years later. One of Alm's successors would rename both the Kingdom and the continent as a whole Valm in his honor.

Personality
Alm is a kind-hearted yet naïve young man who has a strong sense of justice and subtly idealistic morals. He has a strong sense of obligation, wanting to leave Ram Village to help the people of Zofia when he heard about the outbreak of thieves, famine, and the aggression of the Rigelian Empire for the past few years. His sense of justice is rather black-and-white, as he is quick to blame individuals for a number of follies in situations he does not necessarily have the full context to. He has a vaguely puerile sense of humor, as he loves to make puns, and is a terrible dancer.

Alm is able to acknowledge his own naïveté and unfamiliarity with the world outside of his village, and is very attentive in general to compensate for said naïveté. He wears his heart on his sleeve and is very sensitive and emotionally expressive, often verbally communicating his insecurities and not holding back tears in melancholy situations.

Alm has a deep longing for a family, as he's said to have grown up lonely in said village, even getting deeply disturbed when an elder said that Mycen had no children. Thus, he ends up projecting his desire onto other party members, often idealizing them as his family by treating them as such in order to counterbalance his loneliness.

Growth Rates

 * 50%
 * 35%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 20%
 * 30%
 * 0%
 * }

Overall
As the main Lord character of Gaiden, Alm has very good stats for a Level 1 unit. Though his growths may seem low compared to future games, his growths in Gaiden are considered very strong as Gaiden has brutally low growth rates. He will likely end up with very high HP, Strength and Skill and relatively high Speed and Defense by endgame, so he can be used as a shield or offense type unit as you wish. His lowest growth is Luck, which is merely average.

When he promotes, he gets even more potential as he can use Bows, which are deadly in this game as they have a natural range of 3 that can be increased to a range of 5 with a Bow weapon equipped. The Falchion can only be wielded by Alm in Gaiden and is a necessity to defeat the final boss as he is immune to all damage inflicted on him once he reaches 52 HP (aside from a Nosferatu tome.) Alm should be given as much training as possible as not only is he key for the final boss, but his offensive strength for the army can prove to be very rewarding in the long run.

Alm is easily one of the strongest characters in Gaiden. He has strong base stats, some of the best growths in the game, can equip a huge variety of Swords (two of which can only be equipped by him) and Bows, and he is with you from the start of the game. His only real weakness is that he can only Promote once, and his Promotion requires you to find an optional hidden village in the Lost Woods that can be easy to miss.

Base Stats

 * -|SpotPass=

*Enemy only, joins unequipped.
 * -|Enemy (Xenologue 2)=


 * -|DLC (Xenologue 5)=

*Enemy only **After recruitment

Max Stats

 * 52
 * 41
 * 41
 * 39
 * 39
 * 41
 * 40
 * }

Growth Rates

 * 60%
 * 50%
 * 55%
 * 45%
 * 35%
 * 50%
 * 3%
 * }

Supports
Passive Supports
 * Mycen
 * Faye
 * Clair
 * Celica
 * Kliff
 * Tobin
 * Gray

Description
Hero of Prophecy
 * A brave but kind, young warrior, raised by the hero Mycen in Ram Village. His left hand is marked with the Brand. Appears in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Gaiden
"Damn!! Just a bit more..."

- Alm's death quote

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

 * Alm/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Quotes

Heroes

 * Alm/Heroes Quotes

Fire Emblem Gaiden
''In ages to come, this is what was passed down: He who sundered the evil chains of the gods And established this thousand-year reign Must never be forgotten: Our Exalted King, Alm the First!''

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
''As the first of the line of kings of unified Valentia, Alm devoted a lifetime to the reconstruction of the land. In the afterlife it was said that he was the one who cut the Gods' terrible chains and built our thousand year dynasty. Let us all never forgot our Saint-King, Alm.''

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

Etymology
Alm takes its reference from the Albein pasture of the same name. This is further supported in his full name, Albein Alm Rudolf. Alm is ostensibly derived from the Old Norse word "álmr", meaning "elm tree." Alm could also be a reference to giving alms, or an act of charity.

Alm's first name, Albein, is derived from the Latin word "Alpīnus " which means of pertaining to the Alps, a mountain range in Western Europe.

Trivia

 * As with many characters in Gaiden, Alm's hair color differs in various art assets. It is green on the manual and cover art, yet blue in game. In the manga adaptation of Fire Emblem Gaiden, Alm has green hair as well. In Fire Emblem Awakening, Alm has green hair but the very tips are blue, effectively combining both hair colors. In Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, his hair is green in both official art and in the game itself.
 * He is one of the few main characters to have a specified last name, the others being Sigurd, Seliph, Leif, Elincia, Sanaki, and Marth in the anime.
 * Alm's artwork for both the original Gaiden and Echoes depicts him wielding the Royal Sword. His Awakening artwork depicts him wielding Alm's Blade, which is visually based on the Royal Sword, while his Heroes artwork depicts him with the Falchion.
 * Alm was originally right-handed in Gaiden and all subsequent materials. However, Echoes depicts Alm as left-handed, both in his promotional arts and in-game appearances. This is further shown in Fire Emblem Heroes where he has different animations compared to most sword users.
 * In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Alm is the only playable character without a spell list.
 * In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Alm has a special animation whenever player phase starts; however, as a Hero, this animation depicts him holding his sword in his right hand.