Zephiel

"You shall not bar my path!"

- Zephiel in Fūin no Tsurugi.

Zephiel (ゼフィール, Zefiiru, called Zefhyr in the Japanese versions) is the main villain of Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi and a minor non-playable character in its prequel Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken.

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
Zephiel is the heir to the Bern throne, and the son of Queen Hellene. Zephiel is a very gifted child, and it is obvious that he will become a fine ruler of Bern. However, his spiteful and paranoid father King Desmond tries to stop him from taking the throne, wanting his favored daughter Guinevere's future husband  to rule instead. Despite this Zephiel and his half-sister, Guinevere, love each other dearly, but Desmond also wants to bring an end to their contact, starting with the order of killing a baby fox that Zephiel captured and gave to Guinevere as a pet.

During the game, Zephiel is almost murdered by Jaffar and Nino. However, Nino overhears his prayer asking for his family to live in happiness and that he can be accepted by his father. She relates with him due to her own struggles to be accepted by Sonia, who she believes to be her mother. She thus refuses to kill him. Jaffar, who feels compassion towards Nino due to her saving him in the chapter "Four-Fanged Offense", disregards his orders and the two of them attempt to flee, leaving the prince only unconscious. Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn ultimately rescue Zephiel from Black Fang troops led by Ursula.

Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi
Zephiel, now king of Bern, is the main villain of Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi. In this title, Zephiel's sanity is slipping away from him, and he seeks to rid the land of Elibe of humanity by allying himself with dragons, believing they would not repeat humanity's mistakes.

Many years after the events of Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, Desmond attempted a second assassination by handing his son a goblet of poisoned wine who took it under the belief that his father had finally accepted him. Zephiel fell ill from the poison, but did not die. However, with the help of his close ally Murdock, he stayed in hiding and had a false funeral arranged. When Desmond stepped up to the casket to view Zephiel's body at the funeral, Zephiel, now in a lust for revenge, rose and stabbed his father to death.

A few days later, Zephiel used the Fire Emblem to awaken the Demon Dragon Idenn. Shortly afterwards, the dragon Jahn sends an illusion of himself to confront Zephiel about his motives, and when it is revealed that they have similar goals, the two started working together. After this, Zephiel ordered his army to take over the continent of Elibe...

The nomad and myrmidon kingdom of Sacae was attacked by a force led by Brunya and the first to fall. Next was the mercenary and pegasus knight kingdom of Ilia, with the Bern forces led by Murdock. Then he personally led the attack on the Lycia Alliance and fatally wounded the marquess of Ostia, Hector, who'd die in Roy's arms.

Zephiel later forged an alliance with the Kingdom of Etruria, and caused a rebellion there; he personally went to an attack himself with Flaer, Nacien, and Percival, and knocked out Cecilia after she questioned him. When he left, and the Lycian army was noticed, Nacien left Flaer to command, and he was killed by Roy. Later, in chapter 22, Zephiel sends Brunya with Idenn to the Dragon Temple to complete his plan and later faces Roy, who manages to defeat him.

He can be unlocked as a playable character in the trial maps after the game is completed 7 times.

Fire Emblem: Hasha no Tsurugi
Zephiel makes his first appearance in person in Volume 6 after defeating Cecilia, where he engages Al in a duel. Al is nearly defeated, until he touches the Fire Emblem and promotes to a Dragon Lord and nearly defeats Zephiel until the Fire Emblem leaves his possession. After the battle Zephiel regains the Fire Emblem and figures out that Al is the son of Hartmut and Militha, a Dragon, who, along with Al, was sealed by Hartmut to hide that fact. Zephiel later appears at the final battle with Roy. This battle is slightly different as Zephiel starts with the Eckesachs and Sword of Seals, which he uses to seal Al again. Al then partially escapes and distracts Zephiel enough for Roy to get the Sword of Seals and kill him.

Several times in the manga Guinevere remembers Zephiel as a kind hearted boy, and even remembers a scene that took place in Rekka no Ken, when Zephiel gave her a fox kit.

Personality
Zephiel started out as an idealistic and talented youth wanting nothing more than his parents to reconcile and peace in the world.

Zephiel would later become twisted from his father's abuse and his mother's unintentional abuse of him. It is said by Guinevere that Zephiel was never the same after his fathers attempted poisoning of him and subsequent death by Zephiel.

"All I knew is that after our father died, Zephiel never smiled again. Until then, he was strict at times, but he was always a kind and loving brother to me. So..."."

- Guinevere talking about Zephiel's trauma.

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken

 * [[File:FE7prince.png]]Prince
 * 11
 * 20
 * 7
 * 7
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 * 5
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 * 13
 * 7
 * Sword.gif - A
 * Silversword.gifr Sword Elixir.gifr
 * }
 * Silversword.gifr Sword Elixir.gifr
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Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi
Normal Mode


 * [[File:King.png]]King
 * 20
 * 70
 * 24
 * 20
 * 14
 * 15
 * 22
 * 24
 * 17
 * 5
 * Sword.gif
 * Eckesachs.gifachs Herocrest.gif Crest
 * }
 * }

Hard Mode


 * [[File:King.png]]King
 * 20
 * 71
 * 24
 * 20
 * 14
 * 15
 * 22
 * 24
 * 17
 * 5
 * Sword.gif
 * Eckesachs.gifachs Herocrest.gif Crest
 * }
 * }

Trial Maps


 * [[File:King.png]]King
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 * 60
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 * 14
 * 15
 * 22
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 * 17
 * 5
 * Sword.gif - S
 * Eckesachs.gifachs
 * }
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Fire Emblem: Awakening
* Enemy only, joins unequipped
 * General
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 * 41
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 * 5
 * Defense +2.pngse +2 IndoorBattle.pngr Battle DefenseCry.pngse Cry Great Shield (FE13).png Shield FE13Conqueror.pngeror
 * LanceIconFE13.png - A AxeIconFE13.png - B
 * Spear*
 * }

Musical Themes
Zephiel's battle theme is called Battle for Whose Sake and plays whenever he enters battle in Fūin no Tsurugi. His event theme is The Kingdom of Bern, which is exclusive to him in Fūin no Tsurugi, but would be made the theme of Bern as a whole in Rekka no Ken.

Death Quotes
"...So you have defeated me... But remember... My will shall never die... As long as humans retain control, madness will persist..."

- Zephiel's death quote in Fūin no Tsurugi.

"Mother..."

- Zephiel's death quote in Rekka no Ken.