—Eliwood vs Nergal
Eliwood is one of the three main characters in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade and the father of Roy, the main character of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
Profile
Before The Blazing Blade
Eliwood is born to the noble house of Pherae. His father is Lord Elbert and his mother is Lady Eleanora. His childhood best friend is Hector, the younger brother of Uther, the Marquess Ostia. Eliwood met Hector at a young age when the two attended school together during a meeting between the lords of Lycia. In accordance to a warrior's tradition, the children of the lords were ordered by Erik of Laus to cut their hands and shake them with one other child of their choosing. Eliwood and Hector chose each other, and, as they grew older, their friendship developed as well, with them sparring since the age of twelve once every two months.
The Blazing Blade
Lyn's Story
Eliwood rescues Ninian.
Eliwood is first introduced in Chapter 7, where he is passing through Khathelet to meet with Hector for their monthly spar. Here, he stumble upon a group of bandits who had captured a young girl named Ninian. After he set about rescuing the girl, he meets Lyn and decides to help her in her quest to free Caelin from Lord Lundgren. While Lyn refuses his offer at first, she later requests his aid after she and her partners are branded as traitors and pretenders to the throne. Eliwood agrees to her request, convincing Caelin's neighbors to remain neutral during the course of Lyn's dispute with Lundgren.
Eliwood and Hector's Story
One year later, amid the disappearance of his father and rumors of his death, Eliwood elects to embark on a quest in order to find him in Chapter 11E. On the way to Santaruz in Chapter 12, however, he is quickly overwhelmed by some opposition. Fortunately, his friend Hector enters the scene to help Eliwood at the same time. After repelling the attack, Eliwood presses on into Santaruz Castle in Chapter 13, only to find a dying Lord Helman, who warns him of the Black Fang. Upon hearing more rumors about Marquess Darin, Eliwood continues heading to Laus with his allies to see if he knows anything about his father's disappearance. While he is initially attacked by Laus forces spearheaded by his son Erik in Chapter 14, Eliwood manages to repel the attack. To everyone's surprise, however, Darin is nowhere to be found inside the castle. Only a short time after this attack, it is announced that Laus has attacked Caelin, and as such, Eliwood hurries there to save both Lyn and Marquess Hausen in Chapter 15E/16H.
Although Eliwood's forces are successful in reclaiming Caelin, Darin is still nowhere to be found. Unsure of what to do next, Leila, a spy in the service of House Ostia, appears before him and Hector in Chapter 16E/17H. She informs the two lords that Elbert is still alive, and goes on to explain the Black Fang's true intentions, their past, and how Elbert had been kidnapped by the Dark Druid, Nergal, and imprisoned on the Dread Isle. After finding some aid from the pirates headed by Captain Fargus in Chapter 16Ex/17Hx, Eliwood's group ends up fighting their way through the Isle. Along the way, he comes across Ephidel in Chapter 19E/20H, who is responsible for orchestrating many of the events that had led to the current state of affairs in Lycia. The group eventually locate Elbert, alive but shaken. The reunion, however, is cut short, as Elbert's captor, Nergal, enters the scene and fatally wounds him by harvesting his quintessence. An entranced Ninian, made to do Nergal's bidding, unwittingly expedites this process as she draws some quintessence herself to open the Dragon's Gate. Even with this, however, Elbert manages to deliver one final act of rebellion against Nergal by almost fatally stabbing him. Thereafter, he himself dies in Eliwood's arms, urging him to continue to oppose Nergal.
Shaken by Elbert's death and the revelation that Nergal intends to bring dragons back into the world, Eliwood and his comrades decide to seek aid from Marquess Uther in Chapter 21E/22H. While Uther is unable to provide direct aid to the group, he points them to the Nabata Desert to seek "the living legend". After another long journey, though without hindrance, Eliwood's army enters a mysterious structure in the desert in Chapter 22E/23H, where they encounter an Archsage, revealed to be Athos. After seeking the advice of the wizened man, Eliwood's army is warped back to Lycia in order to continue their fight against the Black Fang.
After reuniting with his mother, at her behest, Eliwood decides to spend a day to rest in Pherae. Soon after in Chapter 23E/24H, Eliwood's army sets off for Bern in disguise as inconspicuous travelers in order to attack the headquarters of the Black Fang. However, the lords find their way deterred by the legendary Four Fangs of the Black Fang. In addition to slaying many of the members of the Black Fang, Eliwood ends up having to solve a problem in Bern's ruling class: Queen Hellene requests that Eliwood retrieve the Fire Emblem back from the Black Fang in exchange for granting him passage to the Shrine of Seals. After retrieving the Emblem and stopping a plot to slay Prince Zephiel in Chapters 25E/27H and 26E/28H respectively, Eliwood is granted passage to the Shrine. In Chapter 28E, he journeys deep within the earth to retrieve Durandal, a legendary sword and the eponymous Blazing Blade, once wielded by Roland, the founder of Lycia.
Eliwood, Hector, Lyn and Nils grieve over Ninian's death.
After retrieving Durandal, Eliwood's army encounters an Ice Dragon. Durandal, acting on its own, slays the dragon in one fell swoop. Nergal appears on the scene shortly after Athos ponders over the identity of the dragon, where he gleefully informs Eliwood that the dragon is actually Ninian. Crushed by the gravity of the horrible truth, Eliwood despairs as he holds Ninian's dying body in his arms. This tragic event deals a severe blow to his idealistic resolve, in turn negatively impacting his will to use Durandal in battle. Eliwood continues to press onward regardless, this time burning with the resolve to stop Nergal. After repelling one last desperate attack from Nergal in Ostia in Chapter 29E/31H, Eliwood returns to Valor and faces off against Nergal for the last time in the Final Chapter.
Athos passes in Hector's arms.
With the gate still open as a result of Nergal's actions, three dragons manage to cross through and pose as significant threats to Eliwood's army. Athos steps forward in a bid to fend against their onslaught, but is overwhelmed by the searing impact of the flames they breathe. Bramimond enters the scene immediately after, where he expends the remainder of his life energy to resurrect Ninian. Ninian manages to kill two of the three dragons and severely weaken the last one before she passes out from exhaustion. Eliwood's army is then tasked to defeat the weakened dragon, which they struggle, but ultimately succeed, in accomplishing. As Athos congratulates the army on their victory, he collapses to the ground, prompting Hector to rush forward to cradle him in his arms. As he lays dying, he sees the future of Elibe playing before his eyes, one that is yet again embroiled in the fires of war. Expressing regret that neither he nor Bramimond will be around to protect the continent, he warns Eliwood of an evil star rising in Bern, but that Lycia's children will stand strong in vanquishing it. Athos passes on shortly after, leaving Eliwood, Hector and Lyn to ponder over the words that he leaves in his wake.
Shortly after Athos' death, Ninian and Nils prepare to depart from Elibe, as, according to Nils, the air in the human realm is too tainted to sustain them, meaning that they will die if they remain. Depending on the events of the game, two separate events unfold before departing the Dragon's Gate:
- Should Eliwood and Ninian not have an A-Support, Nils and Ninian will depart through the Dragon Gate together, thanking their friends.
- Should Eliwood and Ninian have an A-Support, Nils will recognize Ninian's affections for Eliwood and suggests her to stay with him. With Nils blessings, he departs through the Gate alone and Eliwood returns to Pherae with Ninian.
Epilogue
One year later, Eliwood and Hector are crowned as the new Marquess of Pherae and Ostia respectively. Prior to Eliwood's coronation, he summons Mark to ask them to name his first child before they depart on their own personal journey with the conflict on Elibe now over.
Depending on Eliwood's support during Blazing Blade, he can either marry Lyn, Ninian, Fiora, or another unnamed woman. The two would eventually bear a son whom they name Roy, the name that was suggested to them by Mark.
Several years after his coronation, Eliwood is invited to Castle Ostia by Hector to discuss the unrest brewing in Bern. He meets Hector's daughter, Lilina, for the first time and has Roy befriend and play with her. Eliwood then directs his attention back to Hector, where they grimly talk of how Prince Zephiel's father's attempt to murder his son backfires, thereafter linking this event to Archsage Athos' prophecy. The scene ends with Hector vowing to protect his children from the dire future that awaits Lycia, and Eliwood pondering over the truth of Athos' belief that Lycia will bring hope to the land once more.
The Binding Blade
Many years later, Eliwood is besieged by illness and is no longer the gallant knight he once was. By the start of Binding Blade, Eliwood has been widowed and is left alone to raise his son. To make matters worse, bandits had begun to raid towns and he no longer can deal with them. Compelled to remain in Castle Pherae, he entrusts his son Roy with some members of Pherae's army to drive off the bandits in Chapter 1.
When news later arrives of Bern's invasion, Eliwood sends his son to Ostia, engaging the services of Dieck's mercenaries to aid him in Chapter 2. While he does not appear any further in the game's story, both him and Hector can be used as playable characters in the link arena and the battle maps after the game is beaten.
Personality
Eliwood is a very friendly and polite person who remains calm and helpful throughout conversations. He is quite casual and does not judge people at all; he looks at people for who they are and truly cares about all of the soldiers in the army. Eliwood himself states that he thinks of everyone in the group as an irreplaceable friend, regardless of gender, age, or social status. Although he is of quite high standing, he often tells others not to treat him as a lord, but as an equal. Eliwood often tries to be supportive to others' problems and tries to act as both a leader and a friend. On his journey, he is very determined to succeed, first to find his father and then to avenge his father's death.
He is an idealistic pacifist who, despite his charismatic disposition and natural talents for leadership, is frequently seen as weak, or rather, as someone who needs protection. This prompts his own knights, including Marcus and Harken, to urge him to stay out of battle, imploring him to let them deal with the enemies by themselves. Even Hector, at one point in the pair's supports, remarks that Eliwood is not suited for long-distance travel. Though aware of his physical limitations, Eliwood still prefers to remain on the battlefield, as he feels that he must fight, not only as a leader, but also because he considers it to be a duty that he absolutely cannot shirk from.
While Eliwood does struggle to deal with his physical frailty amongst other problems that he faces throughout his journey, he does not shy away from forming meaningful bonds with the members of his army. He is known to offer a listening ear to the concerns of his troops, as evidenced through his supports with Fiora, where he asks if she is comfortable with the duties that she performs as a combatant.
It is in these same supports with Fiora that Eliwood is also shown to be very much aware of the inescapable difference between his status and that of people like Fiora. While he expresses the idealistic notion that he sees himself and his army's members as equals, he recognizes that these words are ones spoken from a position of privilege, a position that Fiora is unable to access herself by virtue of her social standing and harsh upbringing. This recognition is translated through him making an effort to learn more about the mercenary culture of Ilia that Fiora is born into, granting him the opportunity to better empathize with her struggles.
In-Game
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Recruitment
- Trial Maps: Clear the game five times.
Base Stats
| Starting Class | Affinity | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Paladin |  Anima | ||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Con | Mov |
| 20 | 48 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 14 | 24 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
 Sword - A Lance - S Axe - C |  Silver Lance Silver Sword | ||||||||
Growth Rates
| HP | S/M | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60% | 20% | 30% | 35% | 25% | 15% | 5% |
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
Description: Marquess Pherae's young son. Just and honorable.
Recruitment
Eliwood’s Mode
- Chapter 11: Automatically from the start.
Hector’s Mode
- Chapter 12: Automatically from the start.
Base Stats
| Starting Class | Affinity | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lord | Anima | ||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Con | Mov |
| 1 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
| Sword - D |  Rapier Vulnerary | ||||||||
Promotional Gains
| Item Required | Promoted Class | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Heaven Seal (Hector Mode)
|
 Knight Lord
| |||||||
| 1 | +4 | +2 | +0 | +1 | +1 | +3 | +2 | +2 |
| Weapon Levels | ||||||||
| D
| ||||||||
Growth Rates
| HP | S/M | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | 45% | 50% | 40% | 45% | 30% | 35% |
Supports
- See also: Eliwood/Supports
Overall
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Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
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While Lyn possesses high Speed, Skill, and Luck, and Hector possesses high HP, Strength, and Defense, Eliwood has no stat in which he truly excels. It should be noted that he possesses an unusually high Resistance growth for any physical unit short of a Falcoknight, outstripping both of his peers in Resistance. In addition, his high HP growth and average Defense allow Eliwood to serve as a decent tank unit after a couple of levelups.
Although slow in comparison to Lyn, Eliwood's decent Speed and Luck growths, combined with his base of 7 for both, grant him good avoid and doubling capacities, although he may have trouble doubling enemies early on. His Skill will rarely be a problem, but his Strength starts off rather low, and this, combined with his early ineptitude to double attack, may result in the player having to feed him kills occasionally. His rapier can fix this offensive problem against cavaliers and armored knights at least, although the latter tends to boast enough defense to avoid getting onerounded.
Once Eliwood gets past his initial difficulty with scoring kills, he will usually become a decent combatant, having enough bulk, dodge and attack power to gain the upper hand against most enemies. However, being locked to swords as well as being unable to promote for a long period of the game holds him back from catching up to better combat units like cavaliers.
Eliwood possesses the Anima Affinity, widely considered to be one of the best Affinities in the game. This means that his supports with Hector and Lowen and to a lesser extent, Lyn, will boost his fighting capabilities.
During his own story, Eliwood will be forced to wait for a long time until he can finally promote, making him usually worse than Hector and Lyn for a couple of chapters since they stand to gain from a longer time to grow as a result of being able to promote earlier. He can still perform well after promotion nevertheless, as he gains a mount and access to lances. Furthermore, enemies in his story are generally not very challenging, allowing him to manage decently well.
In Hector's story, on the other hand, Eliwood can promote a few chapters earlier in Chapter 24, with Lyn being his only competitor for the first Heaven Seal. Compared to Lyn, he will gain a mount, more movement, a boost to his Aid and a D rank in lances instead of bows, commonly making his promotion preferable. While he will most likely still be outclassed by other promoted mounted units, he can still be a useful unit to ferry infantry units around, especially as maps begin to get quite enormous.
All things considered, Eliwood is a solid unit who is only held back by being sword-locked during the early sections of the game.
Fire Emblem Awakening
SpotPass
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Paladin | |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 20 | 61 | 35+5 | 12 | 36 | 36 | 32 | 33 | 20 | 8 |
| Skills | Weapon | Starting Items | |||||||
 Discipline Outdoor Fighter Defender Aegis Swordfaire |  Sword - A Lance - B |  Brave Sword* Eliwood's Blade* | |||||||
*Enemy only, joins unequipped
Fire Emblem Heroes
- Knight of Lycia
- A sincere noble of Pherae. His friends Lyn and Hector serve him loyally. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.
Base Stats
Rarity: | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knight of Lycia | |||||
| Group | |||||
 Cavalry | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 15/16/17 32/35/38 | 5/6/7 24/27/30 | 6/7/8 23/26/30 | 4/5/6 17/20/23 | 6/7/8 25/28/31 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
 Steel Sword |  Sword | ||||
 | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knight of Lycia | |||||
| Group | |||||
| Cavalry | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 15/16/17 33/36/39 | 5/6/7 25/28/31 | 7/8/9 25/28/31 | 4/5/6 18/21/24 | 7/8/9 27/30/34 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
Silver Sword Holy Vestments | Sword | ||||
Skills
| Type | Name | Prerequisite | Default | Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Iron Sword | - | - | - |
| Steel Sword | - |  | - | |
| Silver Sword | Steel Sword |  | | |
| Durandal | Silver Sword |  | | |
 | Holy Vestments | - | | |
| Sacred Cowl | Holy Vestments | - | | |
| B |  Axebreaker 1 | - | | |
 Axebreaker 2 | Axebreaker 1 | | ||
 Axebreaker 3 | Axebreaker 2 | | ||
| C |  Spur Res 1 | - | - | |
 Spur Res 2 | Spur Res 1 | | ||
 Spur Res 3 | Spur Res 2 | |
Overall
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Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
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Base Set
Eliwood exists in a very populated unit pool with few strengths that lift him up above the others. He has average Spd and a respectable Atk, but a low Def stat, leaving him vulnerable to physical matchups. He does have a respectable Res stat, however, allowing him to be an effective Ploy unit and a match up for dragon units. Durandal has a Death Blow 2 effect, making him strong as a Player Turn character. This further was improved with his Refine in which he can either make it a Blazing Durandal, accelerating his special cooldowns if his Atk is higher than his opponents, or giving it a refined effect, boosting the Death Blow effect to Death Blow 3 and attaching a Swift Sparrow 2 effect, thus granting him an impressive +10 to Atk and +4 to Spd just with his weapon alone.
Sacred Cowl mitigates damage taken from a ranged enemy by 30%, which mitigates some threat from range units that he can should be used to deal with. Axebreaker 3 denies Axe users from follow ups and grants him a follow-up guaranteed. Ward Cavalry is his Skill C, which gives him great synergy on a Cavalry team. He is the only easily available unit to have this skill as Olwen is locked to 5-Star rarity only and Berkut has limited summons. Eliwood has defensive options in his base kit, but he can inherit other skills that can make him both an offensive and defensive threat.
Counters
Any sort of Blue unit deals with him, even hyper mages like Delthea, Reinhardt, and Ophelia. Micaiah is especially powerful thanks to Thani's boosted damage. Strong Sword units, especially those carrying Swordbreaker easily tear through his low Defenses.
Skill Inheritance Options
- Devoted Love
- A sincere noble of Pherae. Wishes to enjoy the festival together with his close friends Hector and Lyn. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.
Base Stats
Rarity: | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devoted Love | |||||
| Group | |||||
 Armored | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 22 44 | 10 36 | 8 30 | 6 26 | 6 26 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
Casa Blanca Rally Attack |  Lance | ||||
Skills
| Type | Name | Prerequisite | Default | Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Lance | - | - | - |
| Steel Lance | - | - | - | |
| Casa Blanca | - | | - | |
| Casa Blanca+ | Casa Blanca | | | |
 | Rally Attack | - | | - |
| Rally Atk/Def | Rally Attack | - | | |
| A |  Fire Boost 1 | - | - | |
 Fire Boost 2 | Fire Boost 1 | | ||
 Fire Boost 3 | Fire Boost 2 | | ||
| C |  Spur Atk 1 | - | - | |
 Spur Atk 2 | Spur Atk 1 | - | ||
 Spur Atk 3 | Spur Atk 2 | |
Quotes
The Blazing Blade
Heroes
Possible Endings
- Eliwood - Knight of Lycia
- Eliwood succeeded his father as the marquess of Pherae. His sincerity and his clear guidance made him his father's equal in all eyes.
- Eliwood and Ninian
- Eliwood and Ninian were wed after the conflict. Ninian gave up her old life and her people to enjoy a brief life with Eliwood. They have a son named Roy, who will one day take up arms to defend his nation.
- Eliwood and Lyn
- The marquess of Pherae and the princess of Caelin were wed after the conflict. All of Lycia was in an uproar, but none could sunder their bond of love. They have a son named Roy, who will become a great hero.
- Eliwood and Fiora
- Eliwood and Fiora were wed after the conflict. A group of Lycian nobles protested that she was a mercenary, but none could sunder their bond of love. They have a son named Roy who will become a great hero.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Sticker Info
| Name | Image | Artwork from | Effect in The Subspace Emissary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eliwood
|
|
Fire Emblem | [Flame] - Resistance +33 Usable by: Marth, Ike |
Non-Canon Appearances
Manga
Hasha no Tsurugi
He plays a minor role in the Hasha no Tsurugi manga during the Kruzard arc, which occurs between chapters 9 - 13. During this arc, he is attempting to help reform the Lycia Alliance amidst a rebellion lead by Kruzard. He then later works with Cecilia in sending Al's group to the Western Isles to investigate the Etruian governments' corruption on the Isles.
Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Eliwood is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards:
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Etymology
Eliwood's name possibly comes from the Germanic name elements "elf" and 'wood,' meaning 'wood of elves,' which might be a reference to Avalon, the legendary island where King Arthur supposedly went to be healed after his last battle. Alternatively, the name 'Elwood' means 'elder tree forest' in Old English.
Trivia
- On the official Japanese website for Nintendo, Eliwood won 26th place out of 80 in the character popularity poll for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. The male-female vote ratio is 2:1. The voter comments seem to mostly focus on his appearance in the game's prequel and his role as the main protagonist Roy's father.
- Eliwood's The Blazing Blade incarnation came in 19th place for males in the Fire Emblem Heroes Choose Your Legends popularity poll. He had 8,393 votes.
- When Eliwood is a Lord, he holds his sword in his right hand. However, When he promotes into a Knight Lord, he holds swords and lances in his left hand.
- According to a support conversation between Marcus and Lilina in The Binding Blade, Eliwood once disappeared for three days from Pherae and returned with a flower from the "snowy highlands." He presented this flower to his unnamed wife when he returned.
- If you fight Eliwood as a SpotPass character for The Blazing Blade, the other units that join him could represent some of his early allies:
- 2 Paladins (Lowen and Marcus)
- 2 Warriors (Bartre and Dorcas)
- 2 Generals (Hector and Oswin)
- 1 War Cleric (Serra)
- 1 Trickster (Matthew)
- And 1 Swordmaster (Lyn or Guy)
- In Awakening, the rapier Eliwood wields in his The Blazing Blade official artwork is made into a usable weapon called Eliwood's Blade.
- Eliwood shares his English voice actor, Yuri Lowenthal, with Marth, Merric, Ricken, Kiragi, and the male Corrin from Fates.
Gallery
- See main article: Eliwood/Gallery.