Celica

"There’s more to be done than simply fighting the foes laid before us."

- Celica in Echoes

Celica (セリカ Serika, Cellica in the Japanese version) is one of the two protagonists of Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. She is 17 years old in Echoes.

She was mentioned in the official website for Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade and in the name of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl track With Mila's Divine Protection (Celica Map 1), both sources use the name "Celica".

Celica appears as DLC for Fire Emblem Awakening, where she was illustrated by doujin artist Masatsugu Saito.

Profile
In the year 385 in the Valentian calendar and year 590 in the Archanean calendar, Celica was born as Princess Anthiese (アンテーゼ, Antēze, Anthesis) of Zofia, daughter of Lima IV and Liprica. Anthiese bore a great resemblance to her mother, but her mother died while she was very young. Anthiese bore a special mark on the palm of her right hand, one that would tie her to a great destiny alongside another individual who bore a similar mark. In her brief childhood in the royal villa, she became close to one of her half-siblings, Conrad. 10 years prior to the game events, the villa housing Lima IV's numerous wives and children was set ablaze by Desaix as a means to instigate a coup against the king. Mycen, a legendary Zofian knight, managed to locate Anthiese in the blaze and rescued her. She had hoped that Mycen could find Conrad, but Mycen informed him that he could not find him, leaving Anthiese as the sole survivor of the fire. To most of Zofia, however, it was believed that there were no survivors. Mycen brought Anthiese to Ram Village for her safety and was given the name Celica, her new name that she would go by for many years.

Prologue
Living with Mycen for some time, she became particularly close to Mycen's grandson, Alm. The two were practically inseparable, fortified by the fact the the two bore a special birthmark on their opposite hands. Her time in Ram Village was also filled with happiness with her friends in the village Tobin, Gray, Kliff, and Faye. She was taught swordplay by Mycen alongside the other Ram Village children in order to protect herself. Unfortunately, her happiness was cut short when one of Desaix's cronies, Slayde, came to Ram Village and discovered Celica's heritage thanks to a special Brand on her right hand. Though he was repelled from the village thanks to Mycen, Celica was forced to leave the village. As she departed, Alm vowed to one day reunite with her, a sentiment she shared. She was brought to the Priory on Novis where she was raised by Nomah. She would spend the rest of her adolescence training in the teachings of Mila and became skilled in magic. She became close to three students at the priory: Mae, Boey, and Genny.

Pilgrimage to Mila's Temple and Reunion with Alm
After the news of the king's death, Celica, along with Mae, Boey, and Genny, leaves the monastery to investigate the cause of the crop failures occurring the consecutive years prior, believing Mila is somehow related to it. She also hires Saber to protect her and the group during the journey to Mila's Temple.

On her way to the Valentian coast, Celica is forced to overcome numerous pirate ships through the sea, eventually defeating the pirate leader Barth and gaining the forces of Valbar and his men, Leon and Kamui. Reaching the mainland, she meets a pair of pegasus knights who are looking for their abducted sister, though Celica does not help them yet.

Celica detours to Zofia castle once she catches wind of the new leader of the Deliverance and deduces it's Alm. Inside, she finds the residents of the castle still celebrating Desaix's departure, as well as Mycen, much to her surprise. Greeting him, Celica informs him of her goal to reach the Temple of Mila to ask Mila's role in it. Mycen is not surprised at this, and tells her that someone she may be interested in seeing is upstairs. Reaching the balcony, Celica and Alm reunite.

Though overjoyed by their reunion after many years, the two get into an argument when Celica asks Alm to consider a peaceful resolution to the conflict, expressing that she does not believe Emperor Rudolf to be as evil as others claim and that Alm's proposed counter-agressions are inherently rooted in a black-and-white sense of justice. Alm rebukes that this is irrelevant, since his army had already invaded Zofia, and remains resolute to begin an assault on Rigel in order to drive back the invasion. When he points out that the late king is responsible for provoking the empire, Celica accuses him of vying the throne. Alm is insulted by this, and says he only wishes to protect Zofia, and if the missing Zofian princess took his place, he'd return to Ram at a moment's notice alongside her. Celica, who is indeed the princess of Zofia, is frustrated that Alm does not wish to negotiate, and claims there is no such thing as a lost princess and leaves in order to prepare to head for the Temple of Mila.

Killing Grieth and Arriving at Mila's Temple
Upon departing Zofia castle, Celica encounters a Masked Knight who warns her to take a particular path towards the eastern half of Zofia. Ignoring his warning, she chooses a shorter path through a mountain, only to nearly be caught out by a landslide. Thanks to the Masked Knight's intervention, Celica is saved, however the landslide completely cuts off Celica from returning to the other side, preventing her from reuniting with Alm in the meantime. Celica and her party begin their journey north again, though they make a detour when they encounter Palla and Catria embroiled in battle with pirates and vow to help save their sister, Est, from Grieth. Celica also meets Atlas, who had his relatives kidnapped by the pirate overlord Grieth, and rescues Jesse, who tried to help Est and got captured, with both joining her.

After defeating Grieth, Celica reaches his headquarters and rescues Est as well as a Mila priestess, Irma, who had also been kidnapped. Irma recognizes Celica as the princess due to her close resemblance to her mother, Liprica. Pledged by Celica, Irma reveals her mother's past: One of Lima IV's numerous wives, Liprica was forced into marriage with Lima IV and later suffered from illness, dying shortly after giving birth to Celica. To cheer her up, Irma hands her a circlet that belonged to Liprica, causing her to class change into Princess in Gaiden. However, in Echoes, Irma does not have the circlet in her possession, rather, the Masked Knight does.

Celica eventually arrives at the Temple of Mila, which she finds under the control of a priest of Duma, Mikhail. After the defeat of Mikhail, Celica enters the Temple of Mila and finds Mila absent. The temple priestesses tell Celica that Rigel attacked the temple and Emperor Rudolf sealed Mila away. After her coronation, Celica lowers the eastern sluice gate, having the authority and recognition to do so granted by her circlet, and continues north into Rigel to press her investigation.

Journey to Duma Tower
Learning that Mila is being kept at Duma Tower though the Masked Knight, she sets off in order to unseal her. Along the way, she is confronted by numerous members of the Duma Faithful. One in particular, Dolth, is defeated, but he plays on Celica's selflessness by telling her that if she continues the route with her friends, they will suffer alongside her. He threatens her by hurting Mae and Saber. Celica nearly agrees to follow him back to Duma Temple alone, but the Masked Knight intervenes, killing the Cantor. Unable to contain himself any longer, the Masked Knight removes his mask, revealing that he is actually Conrad, who had miraculously survived the villa fire as well. Vowing never to sacrifice herself again, Conrad formally joins her party and Celica is overjoyed to be reunited with her beloved half-brother.

Conrad leads her to the Sage Hamlet where she speaks to Halcyon, a banished sage of Duma and Conrad's master. At her request, Halcyon casts a spell on Alm, allowing him to unlock further power by becoming a Hero when he finally desires to accept this blessing. Rounding Duma's Tower, Celica and her group ascends the tower where Jedah awaits. Playing off her concern for Alm, whom was at the time being attacked by Draco Zombies, and for her friends accompanying her, Celica willingly allows herself to be captured by Jedah to spare Alm as well as her own party. Though Jedah agrees not to kill either group, he betrays her by teleporting Celica's group into the catacombs of the Duma Temple and leads her to a cell in the basement of the Temple.

End of the Age of Gods
After Alm arrives at the temple bellow Duma Tower, he finds Celica in a cell, and when he tells he that he is going to kill Duma, who has succumbed to the madness all dragons go through near the end of their lives, as requested by Rudolf, she tries to convince Alm that he shouldn't do it, fearing that Rigel will be even more barren than it already is without Duma. Jedah allows her to say one final farewell to Alm before offering her soul to Duma. As she says goodbye to Alm, she confesses to him that her only desire in life is to not want Alm or anyone else to be hurt or killed, and tells him that she wishes that things could've turned out different, that she could've gone back with Alm and lived with him at Ram Village, before tearfully running off to accept her demise as Duma's sacrifice.

Shortly after that, Jedah reveals to Celica that he was never planning to revive Mila after Celica offered her soul to Duma, telling her that Mila sealed the Falchion, which had been impaled into her head, preventing anyone from using it. He then destroys Mila's body, with only Mila's head remaining, then proceeds to sacrifice Celica to Duma by having the latter steal her soul, turning her into a mindless puppet of Duma. Jedah then teleports Celica (as well as Mila's head) to the treasure vault, where they await Alm's arrival to fight him.

Upon Alm's arrival, he and the now-possessed Celica clash blades with each other. During the fight, Celica asks Alm to kill her before she can kill him, which Alm is reluctant to do so. Mila's voice instructs Alm to grab the Falchion, which he then succesfully unbinds the blade from Mila's head. Under Mila's instructions, Alm then stabs Celica with the Falchion, killing her. As Alm cries over Celica's dead body, Mila uses her remaining power in the Falchion to restore Celica back to life. When Alm asks Celica how she is alive, she says that she heard Mila's voice, telling her to have faith in the Falchion. Mila's soul instructs Alm to use the Falchion to kill Duma so that Valentia would no longer be completely dependent on the gods. Celica apologizes to Alm for the way she had treated him before. The two reconcile and use their respective Mila's Turnwheels to open the gate leading to Duma's domain. Both Celica and Alm'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 One Kingdom of Valentia, with Celica marrying Alm and becoming the queen of Valentia. With Celica aiding Alm with her wisdom and compassion, the two ushered an era of peace for Valentia. Said qualities were well received by the masses and were key in healing the scars of war, with some even believing that she was the reincarnation of Mila herself through her efforts towards the new kingdom.

Personality
Celica is a kind and polite person, who is often bold yet refined, but she holds herself back emotionally to an extent after a series of traumatic events and familial loss; as a result, she can come off as cold and stoic, and normally maintain a aura of polite distance, as shown her body language in cutscenes and sprites, which is subtly guarded and closed-off. She usually regrets showing her raw emotions, especially in the rare moments that she lashes out in anger, bitterness, or even sentiment. Celica feels the need that she has to set aside her emotional candor in order to fulfill her responsibilities as royalty. She is a firm believer in bringing peace without fighting, believing that fighting between one another is not the path towards peace and will always try to resolve conflicts peacefully. However, she is more than willing to put her life on the line and fight with her comrades in order to protect them. She also has been shown to be clumsy, possibly a trait rubbed off on her by Nomah, and enjoys studying and reading.

Often hurt by the fact that she must keep her role secret, even from those she loves, Celica feels that she is solely responsible for shouldering her responsibilities. This also makes her extremely naive and turns her natural kindness into a crucial flaw, as she will willingly sacrifice herself to the enemy the second her friends are threatened, even when knowing that they cannot be trusted or not even knowing if they would honor their promise in exchange for her compliance. Though she is in a high position as a priestess at Novis Priory and as a princess of Zofia, she values the three other children at the priory and is fairly close to them, especially in the case of Mae.

She often feels very lonely, but believes that her loneliness is selfish when she only ever puts those she cares about at risk. As a result, though she does not outwardly express it, she greatly lacks self-worth and confidence, feeling immense guilt for her father's actions in his reign as king, and despises him greatly for it. Regardless, Celica later states that she secretly wished to be there for him in order to change his attitude, pitying him for who he was.

The entirety of the Zofian royal family ordeal burdens her with the discomfort of being treated like royalty; She does not feel she deserves the respect her birthright affords, when all that birthright has ever brought her is strife.

Her deep connection to Alm is a result of his impact on her life during their time together, as while Celica's introspective accounts on the outside world gave Alm a greater desire to find his place in it, Alm's warmness allowed Celica to avoid self-isolation and open up to others more easily, which is reflected on her first reunion with him after ten years. This does not prevent from seeking to impose her will over his, however, as she initially acted brashly over his decisions acting opposite hers, regardless of the logic behind them. She eventually rekindles her trust in Alm and becomes more accepting of his views, knowing that she can rely on him to help bring peace to both nations.

Growth Rates

 * 30%
 * 25%
 * 40%
 * 30%
 * 40%
 * 20%
 * 0%
 * }

Overall
Celica is one of the better characters in her route, and one of the better characters in the game. She is not quite as good as the very best (like Alm and Catria), but she is better than the majority of Magic users. All of her base stats are good other than her HP and Defense. Her growths are impressive aside from HP, Strength, and Defense, which are average. She will likely have high Skill and Luck, as well as relatively good Speed by the end of the game, meaning she will be one of the more evasive Magic users in the game. Sadly, Skill does not affect Magic Accuracy, so her good Skill stat will be for Critical strikes only. Celica's class, Priestess, has the unique ability to attack physically or with magic.

Celica has a few problems that hold her back from being among the best. One problem is that she has average Strength growth, making her damage less impressive than it should be for a Lord character. This is not helped by the fact that for the majority of the game, her spell list will consist of Fire, Thunder, and Seraphim. She does not get access to any really powerful spells (such as Aura or Sagittae) until she obtains Ragnarok, the most powerful spell in the game. The problem is that by the time you learn it, you should be near the end of the game. On the upside, she learns Seraphim at level 5 which will make her very effective at fighting against the majority of monsters in the game from the very beginning. The other problem she has is the same as all Magic users in Gaiden: she is fragile, and has even lower HP than most of the other Mages you can get.

Celica still remains one of the better units in the game, and in particular is one of the most effective characters at fighting monsters for most of the game. She does fall short of being amazing, but she is undoubtedly worth using in her route.

Awakening

 * -|DLC=


 * -|Enemy (CoY3)=

Base Stats

 * -|Prologue=
 * Due to equipped Golden Dagger
 * -|Chapter 2=
 * Due to equipped Golden Dagger

Personal Max Stats

 * 52
 * 42
 * 40
 * 40
 * 39
 * 39
 * 40
 * }

Growth Rates

 * 50%
 * 60%
 * 50%
 * 50%
 * 45%
 * 35%
 * 4%
 * }

Supports
Passive Supports
 * Mae
 * Atlas
 * Nomah
 * Conrad
 * Alm
 * Gray
 * Tobin
 * Kliff
 * Faye
 * Boey
 * Genny

Overall
Celica has improved significantly in Echoes thanks to a huge boost to several of her stats in her base class. Her stat growths across the board are very even and have reached an average of 50% chance of increasing for most stats. Like most units in Echoes, her Resistance is lacking, but she has a semi-decent starting Resistance compared to most other units. She is still slightly outshined by Palla and Catria, but Celica is still one of the strongest units in her route and in the game as a whole.

Celica's biggest blessing in Echoes is her sharp 35% ATK growth increase from Gaiden to 60%, making her a very threatening offensive unit in game. This come in handy especially given that Celica learns Seraphim earlier than any other unit in the game, making her a powerful unit when combating Terrors from early on in the game and into the rest of it. It also makes her a very threatening unit as until other units can start to promote, Celica is the only character who can wield both Swords and Black Magic in her base form, making her a flexible offensive unit to exploit specific weaknesses of enemy units. She is also the only other character along side Delthea to learn the powerful Ragnarok spell. Given that Celica's promotion is executed automatically by the end of Chapter 3, Celica should spend as much time training before promoting to maximize stats gained.

Celica also gains her own personal weapon in Echoes the Beloved Zofia. Celica needs to forge the Golden Dagger that she starts off with into the sword, thus granting her several useful skills from the sword. Passively, the sword grants her the Recovery skill, healing her for 5 HP each turn. With some training with the weapon, she first learns Subdue, which leaves the enemy with 1 HP, which is great for training other units. She can later learn Swap, allowing her to reposition herself with an adjacent ally for a multitude of reasons. Upon reaching maximum proficiency with the sword, Celica learns her unique Ragnarok Ω attacking skill; a powerful Magic spell that costs 14 HP, but has a tremendous 30 to 34 base might, making it the strongest spell in the game.

Description

 * Caring Princess
 * The princess of Zofia; trained as a priestess. Caring toward others, and dislikes fighting. Bears the Brand on her right hand. Appears in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Gaiden
"I'm no good after all. I'm sorry, everyone..."

- Celica's death quote

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

 * Celica/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Quotes

Heroes

 * Celica/Heroes Quotes

Gaiden
Her kindness and wisdom helped the young king establish the foundations of the Kingdom of Valentia. The people believed that she was the reincarnation of Mila. It is said that they never ceased to love her from the very depths of their hearts."''
 * ''"Afterwards, she and Alm joined together to become the founding king and queen of Valentia.

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

 * "In marrying Alm, Celica became the first queen of the One Kingdom of Valentia, and aided her king with wisdom and compassion. Believed by the people to be a reincarnation of Mila, she was universally loved for her work fostering peace in the nascent kingdom."

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

Etymology
Celica is ultimately derived from the Latin word coelica, meaning "heavenly" or "celestial".

Celica's real name, Anthiese, is ostensibly derived from ancient Greek word "ἄνθος" (ánthos) which means “flower”.

The Japanese version of Celica's real name is based on the period in which a flower is fully open, and functional, and also refers to the outset of that period.

Celica's last name, Lima, is simply an anagram of "Mila", which means "file", as in the tool, in Latin.

Trivia

 * In several of Nintendo's promotional materials for the downloadable content in Fire Emblem Awakening, Celica is incorrectly named "Cecilia".
 * Celica is ambidextrous, as she is seen to wield her sword in both her right and left hands.
 * In Awakening, one of her DLC skills is Rightful King, a reference to her identity as a member of Zofian royalty.
 * Celica is the only female Lord character in the Fire Emblem series to not feature the color blue either in her hair or her clothes.
 * In the Japanese version, Celica refers to Mycen by his name when they are alone. In the presence of others, she uses various terms that typically refer to an older man who is not necessarily a familial relation. In the prologue, however, Celica calls him "grandpa" one last time before leaving Ram Village for good.
 * Celica has a strong fondness for sweet and refined food, detesting "rough" provisions.
 * Celica's artwork in Echoes depicts her wielding the Ladyblade.
 * Celica has the highest number of supports in Echoes, sitting at a total of 11, while Alm, the character with the second highest number of supports, has only 7.
 * In the raw Japanese script of Gaiden, Celica uses very formal vocabulary, and tends to place masculine inflections on her speech mannerisms.
 * She drops said mannerisms in scenes with Alm.
 * In Echoes, several characters have recorded mourning quotes that were supposed to play after Celica fell in battle. They ultimately remain unused, since her death instantly results in a game over, regardless of stage.
 * As implied in Echoes, Celica is older than Alm, but not by a drastic amount, as she is the same age as him.
 * As insinuated in the flavour text in Echoes, Celica is very afraid of fires, the fear of which ostensibly is connected to the trauma of the Imperial Villa's fire.
 * Further derived from the flavour text in Echoes, Celica is quite fond of cats.