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Avatar Creation (Awakening)

The Avatar creation process in Fire Emblem Awakening.

“Welcome! Today, another hero will be born. One who will help decide the world's fate... ”
Anna, introducing the player to the creation screen in New Mystery of the Emblem.

Avatars (マイユニット, My Unit in Japanese) are characters with player-defined traits. Such characters were first formally introduced to the Fire Emblem series via Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem in Japan and Fire Emblem Awakening internationally. They have since been a feature in all main series entries, with the exception of the remake Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, as well as some spin-off titles.

Overview[]

All Avatar characters are meant to directly represent the player in the games the function appears in. An Avatar is highlighted mainly by the player's ability to determine that character's name and gender to their preference, both of which have minor impacts on their stories as a whole, but does affect certain dialogue at various points. Depending on the game, several of the Avatars have fixed appearances with only minor customizations, usually limited to outfits in game. Others allow the player a wider range of visual customizations such as hair colors and voices.

The Avatar's role in each game differ, but they tend to play pivotal roles in their respective stories. They are treated in similar fashion to the Lord group distinction as their deaths during the storyline results in a Game Over. In several, they outright serve the role of a Lord character as the game's primary protagonist. One other common trait of all Avatars are their sole ability to create Supports with the entire cast while all others are given a smaller pool among their respective cast members.

Combat-wise, Avatars are generally given solid stats, sometimes allowing the player themselves to determine the Traits of their Avatar, but generally can be built to whatever specifications the player desires. They tend to have total class flexibility, allowing greater player expression of themselves in their in-game stand-in. Except in one instance, Avatars also have a unique Class that is exclusive to themselves in their games or can only be inherited by their children.

The Blazing Blade[]

While not an Avatar in the traditional sense introduced in later games, The Blazing Blade features a player stand-in character whose default name is Mark (マーク). Mark does not enter battle, but their role in the story is as the strategist for the player's force. Mark does provide certain benefits in gameplay, as the player can determine Mark's affinity through their selection of birth month and, in the Japanese version only, blood type, boosting the hit rates and avoid for units of the same affinity. Additionally, as the player progresses through the game, they earn Tactician Stars. The more Tactician Stars the player obtains, the more Critical Avoid is given to all units in the player's army. Aside from a battlefield sprite with an indistinct appearance, Mark rarely appears visually in the game's story, aside from two images in Lyndis's tale, where they are depicted along the edge of the frame, obscuring them.

While they do not have a portrait sprite nor do they speak, Lyndis, Eliwood, and Hector address Mark in dialogue, facing the player. Some dialogue between them and other characters change as well. For example, Florina is timid around Mark if they are male, while Sain flirts with Mark if they are female.

New Mystery of the Emblem[]

The player creates their own Avatar whose default name is Kris (クリス, Chris in Japanese) and is the first playable combat Avatar unit. Kris is the protagonist during the prologue and the deuteragonist for the rest of the game. The player can customize Kris with numerous faces, hair styles, and hair colors. Players also choose what kind of past, present, and future Kris has to determine their stat growths. Kris's starting class determines the kind of clothing their conversation sprite will wear, but like everyone else can be reclassed at any time. At the end of certain chapters, the Avatar will have a choice to adopt a new hairstyle, gain a new headwear, or even a mask. These changes become permanent until the player's next customization option is given.

Kris's starting class is the player's choice, though the classes available depend on their gender. Males can be a Mercenary, Fighter, or Knight, while females can be a Pegasus Knight or a Myrmidon. Both can be a Mage, Archer, or Cavalier. Kris also has Support Conversation chains with the full roster of player characters.

Awakening[]

In Fire Emblem Awakening, the Avatar is a character with the default name of Robin (ルフレ, Reflet in the Japanese version). While the customization options have been expanded to different body styles (3 per gender) and more hair colors (20 total) compared to New Mystery, there are fewer face options and hair styles per body type (5 for each body type for both face and hairstyle). The player can set Robin's birthday and can choose what stat will be their Asset (quickest growth) and their Flaw (slowest growth) which affects their stat growths and maximum stat caps. Robin's in-game 2D portraits can never be changed and will always appear in their Tactician clothes regardless of their current class. However, their 3D model and map sprite will correspond to their current class.

Robin begins as the Tactician class, and has the distinction of being able to reclass into all classes that their gender permits given that they have a Second Seal to do so. They will also pass down this trait to their children as well. Robin also has the unique ability to build supports with all playable characters, and can marry any opposite gender character by achieving an S-rank support, including second-generation characters, with the exception of their child Morgan.

Like Kris in New Mystery of the Emblem, Robin is a deuteragonist alongside Chrom. However, their role is far greater than that of Kris, as they play a central role in the plot of Awakening.

Fates[]

Corrin (カムイ, Kamui in the Japanese version), the Avatar in Fire Emblem Fates, is also the game's central character and Lord unit. The customization options have expanded off of Awakening's, boasting more options for hair color (30 total), faces (7 total), and hairstyles (12 total). While hair color cannot be changed once set, the Avatar's hairstyle can be changed in My Castle. There is also a separate category for hair accessories for female Avatars. Special facial features like bandages, which were fixed onto one particular face in Awakening, are now able to be freely added. Unlike Awakening, which had three body sizes, Fates is limited to two. The player is also given three voices per gender, the same amount as Awakening. The player chooses their Boon and Bane based on key words associated with a specific stat. They will also choose their secondary class from a list of skills. Once established, the player cannot change these once the game has started.

Corrin's starting class is the Nohr Prince/Princess and is the default image used for their 2D portrait, regardless of their current class. Their 3D battle model and over-world sprite will properly display their current class however. Like Robin, Corrin can build supports with any character in the game and S-Support any opposite gender character. Additionally, Corrin has the option to have a same sex S-Support with Niles and Rhajat. Achieving an S-Support with any opposite gender unit will produce a child named Kana whose gender is the opposite of Corrin's.

Heroes[]

At launch of Fire Emblem Heroes, the Summoner, whose default name is Kiran (エクラ Ekura, Eclat in the Japanese version) was similar in nature to Mark from The Blazing Blade, in that they play no role in combat, nor have any customization options beyond their name. Also similar to Mark, they play an important supporting role in assisting the player's force with the ability to summon heroes from other worlds using the Breidablik. The player can select a unit from the army to bond with Kiran through Summoner Support, and the selected unit will then receive bonuses in accordance with his/her support rank, with a maximum of +5 to HP and +2 to all other stats.

Through an update to the game, Kiran's appearance gained limited customization, offering a range of visual designs to choose from. They also became a playable unit, though limited specifically to the Mjölnir's Strike event.

Three Houses[]

Byleth (ベレト/ベレス), the Avatar of Three Houses, is also the main protagonist of the game, though they are not a Lord. As a professor at the Officers Academy, other characters commonly refer to them as Teacher, Professor or Instructor. Unlike the previous three main series entries which featured fully customized Avatar characters, Byleth has limited customizable appearance options, limited to their name, birthdate, and gender, with their appearance determined by gender choice. A selection of customizable clothing and accessory options for Byleth were subsequently added to the game as downloadable content.

Unlike prior Avatar characters, Byleth makes direct appearances in all of the CG cutscenes in which they are featured. Both Awakening and Fates avoided visually depicting their avatar units in CG events by depicting the cutscenes from their point of view.

Three Hopes[]

In Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, the protagonist is an avatar with the default name Shez (シェズ). Similar to Byleth in Three Houses, the player can only change Shez's name and select their gender, both of which cannot be changed after they are set. Shez's appearance in terms of outfits in and out of battle can be set through limited outfit customization options.

Byleth also appears in Three Hopes, and as in Three Houses, the player chooses their name and gender. Additionally, if the game detects save data from Three Houses, Byleth's default name when asked to name them will use whatever name the player gave Byleth in their most recent Three Houses save file.

Engage[]

Alear is the lead character of Fire Emblem Engage. Similar to Byleth, the player can only choose Alear's name, gender, and birthdate. While their general appearance is fixed, their attire while roaming the Somniel can be customized with a variety of costumes and headpieces.

Etymology[]

Avatar originates from the Hindi word Avatar which refers to the physical forms a Hindu deity could take when they appear in the real world. A deity could take on various forms and are not fixed to one appearance. Avatar roughly means "descent, alight, to make one's appearance".

In computing and gaming, an Avatar is a player customized character that is inserted into a story as a means to directly place the player into a story and provide a higher level of involvement. The customization for said Avatar character is usually the name, appearance, and/or gender, but not necessarily all need to be used to create an Avatar.

Trivia[]

  • In the English version of Fire Emblem Awakening, the 'silent' voice option was removed. The overall number of voice options was also reduced from four (five, if the silent option is counted as a voice option) to three.
  • Kris is the only Avatar whose native game has not been released internationally.

Gallery[]

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