—Idunn
Idunn is the final boss of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. She is the Demon Dragon who is also known as the Dark Priestess.
Profile[]
Several centuries ago, Idunn's tribe, the Divine Dragons, had remained neutral in the Scouring, a deadly war in which humans and the Dragon brethren both shared the goal of total extermination of the other side. However, when the Dragons started to lose due to their inability to keep up with the numerous and fast breeding humans, the dragons appealed to the Divine Dragons for volunteers to turn into a Demon Dragon and increase their forces with artificially spawned "War Dragons".
When the Divine Dragons refused to do so and disappeared, Idunn stayed behind because she feared the Divine Dragons would go into conflict with the others and was captured. Idunn was made into the Demon Dragon, but when she would not follow the commands given to her, the dragons destroyed her soul in order to gain control over her. Now an empty shell sworn to obey the leader of the dragons, Idunn started creating War Dragons at an incredible rate.
With the endless number of War Dragons, the Dragons now had the advantage over humanity. However, when all hope seemed lost for the humans, the Legendary Heroes of humanity rose to prominence, each wielding a legendary weapon created by combining the best technology and magic.
With this new advantage, humanity began to lead the final push against dragons. This culminated in a final battle in the Dragon Temple, where Idunn resided. In the massive battle, the sheer power of the legendary weapons led to the Ending Winter, which forced the Dragons to become Manaketes to survive.
As humans stormed the temple, they killed the Dragon's leader and wiped out almost all of the dragons within the temple. However, when the heroes reached Idunn, they saw only the sad shell of a little girl, staring into space with no orders to obey. The leader of the heroes, Hartmut, felt pity for Idunn, having heard of rumors of her tragic plight, but unwilling to let her potentially endanger humanity, chose to seal her away with the Binding Blade.
About a millennium after her defeat, Idunn is unsealed by Zephiel, Hartmut's descendant and the current King of Bern, and serves him as a vital part in his scheme to bring new order to the world by replacing humanity with the emotionless War Dragons.
Before his death, Zephiel ensures Idunn will continue to follow his commands in case of his death and entrusts her protection to Jahn, the last Fire Dragon left on Elibe and the only survivor of the battle at the Dragon Temple.
If the player collects all the Legendary Weapons, Roy will go out to find Idunn after defeating Zephiel. Despite Roy's pleas and insistence that she should not follow the now deceased Zephiel's commands, she refuses to submit and transforms into her dragon form to attack his army.
If Roy deals the final blow with the Binding Blade, Idunn once again survives her battle and is taken to Arcadia; she is seen laughing and playing with Fae, finally showing signs of recovering her soul. Otherwise, if any unit aside from Roy deals the final blow on her, she will be killed by the falling rubble in the collapsing temple. If the player fails to get all the Legendary Weapons, the game ends after defeating Zephiel, and Idunn will disappear.
Personality[]
In the past, Idunn, like the other Divine Dragons, insisted on maintaining her neutrality in the Scouring and refused to fight humanity even after becoming a Demon Dragon.
Upon the death of her soul, Idunn became a drone who showed little emotion and slavishly followed her current master, even after their death. She is also shown to be rather emotionless regardless of the situation, and uncomprehending of anything beyond her immediate orders.
Fire Emblem Heroes reveals that since regaining her soul, her kindness and hope for the future have been restored. She feels great sorrow over her inability to save Zephiel from himself, having come to realize that he was lost to his inner darkness just as she had been trapped in her own soulless state. Despite no longer being bound to follow his orders, she remembers the kindness he showed her in unsealing her and wishes that she might be able to return the favor by freeing him from his own torment one day.
She believes that with her heart returned to her, she can help create what Zephiel truly wanted for Elibe before he gave into his despair: a world free from suffering where humans and dragons can coexist in peace. While in theory she retains her ability to create War Dragons. The act of doing so would cause her to lose her soul once more, and so she has resolved never to use it again. Even so, she is willing to fight alongside her new friends for the sake of a better future.
In-Game[]
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade[]
Description: The demon dragon that was feared by all mankind during the Scouring.
Boss Stats[]
| Starting Class | Affinity | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Demon Dragon | N/A | ||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Con | Mov |
| 20 | 78* | 29 | 23 | 16 | 18 | 30 | 21 | 25 | 2 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
| Breath |  Dark Breath | ||||||||
* 79 on Hard Mode
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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Idunn is generally regarded as one of the easiest final bosses in the series. While her statline is impressive on paper, it is not much higher than other bosses like Zephiel or Murdock, and it does not raise on Hard Mode barring a single hit point. Furthermore, at this point in the game, the player has accumulated many different Legendary Weapons with effectiveness against dragons, not to mention the Binding Blade itself. While the Binding Blade must be used against Idunn to obtain the good ending, the player likely needs little prompting, as its already impressive Mt is tripled to 54, and it even outranges Idunn's Dark Breath. Generally, even the worst-raised Roy will be able to take Idunn down in about three hits, and a well-raised Roy can one-round her outright.
Fire Emblem Heroes[]
- Dark Priestess
- Transformed into a Demon Dragon and sealed during the Scouring. She was awoken by Zephiel and serves him so he may realize his ambition. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
Base Stats[]
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯
 | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Priestess | |||||
| Group | |||||
 Armored | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 18/19/20 42/45/48 | 10/11/12 32/35/38 | 3/4/5 22/26/29 | 8/9/10 36/39/43 | 3/4/5 31/34/38 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
 Demonic Breath Glowing Ember |  Breath | ||||
Skills[]
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[]
As a powerful Armored Dragon, Idunn has solid HP and Attack and phenomenal Defense and Resistance, with her only weak stat being Speed. While similar sentiments can be shared among other Armored Dragons, what makes Idunn special is the unique trait of her weapon, Demonic Breath. If she is injured or debuffed before combat in any way, all debuffs she has will be negated and she will instead gain +4 to every stat sans HP during combat. This allows her to blatantly ignore Ploys, Smokes, Panic etc., all things that would heavily cripple a tank.
In her base kit, she comes with Fort. Def/Res 3 to capitalize on this bulky playstyle, which gives her a permanent Def/Res+6 in exchange for -2 Attack. Vengeful Fighter 3 offsets the Attack drop and low Speed by giving her two attacks and extra cooldown acceleration for each if the enemy initiates combat with her, which without Guard will result in her second hit being an instant Bonfire bolstered by her massive Defense stat. Her final passive skill is Ward Dragons, an ability that helps her nearby Dragon allies by giving them Def/Res+4 during combat.
Counters[]
Imposing as Idunn's weapon and statline may be, she is still an Armor and a Dragon and carries the weaknesses of both, though it should be noted that she is bulky enough to take at least one hit from Anti-Armor or Anti-Dragon weapons. An armorkiller that favors the Desperation skill like Hana or someone with guaranteed doubles and counter-blocking like Legendary Marth are the safest options. Legendary Julia will utterly destroy her thanks to her high Atk, Weapon Triangle advantage, and effectiveness against dragons; Oboro works similarly as a more budget option.
Should neither of these options or anything similar be viable however (due to Idunn's ally units or team constraints), Idunn becomes a much harder problem to solve, as her innate bulk mixed with whatever her allies may be giving her can make for an incredibly stubborn obstacle that will take multiple attacks to bring down. If melee combat is unavoidable, the best option is to let Idunn initiate on your unit to lessen the threat of an instant Bonfire activation; melee should not even think about initiating on Idunn without Guard active. Ranged units can also chip away at Idunn's HP as her base kit has no response to them.
Skill Inheritance[]
As an Armor, Idunn's movement is only one space per turn, so any skills that allow her to move further are preferred. Swap or Pivot for Assist skills, and/or (if she is allied with armors) the Armor March C Skill, are the most prominent options.
While Bonfire on its own is a quick and cheap option, Idunn can just as easily use its superior version Ignis as her Special to really reap the benefits of her massive Defense stat. Or should she want more survivability, Sol or Aether will suffice.
The A Skill tends to be a toss-up between her base Fort. Def/Res 3, which doubles down on her tanking ability, and Distant Counter, which drops some of the bulk in exchange for being to counterattack Ranged enemies.
Vengeful Fighter as the B Skill is acceptable, but she has stronger options: Bold Fighter gives her two attacks and cooldown acceleration for a much more threatening Player Phase, while Special Fighter accelerates her cooldown while slowing the enemy's. Both cases will ideally want Quick Riposte as the Sacred Seal so as not to neglect her Enemy Phase.
Meet Some of the Heroes[]
| Dark Priestess Idunn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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The mysterious Idunn, known as the Dark Priestess, first emerged in Bern's war that ravaged the continent of Elibe. | ||
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She's no ordinary priestess, though—she's actually a Divine Dragon! Or she was... Her spirit had been broken by the other dragons during the Scouring, and in her grief, she became a Demon Dragon. | ||
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An eternal seal was placed upon her, but it didn't withstand intrusion by Zephiel, the ruler of Bern, who broke her binds and allowed her to wreak havoc on humanity once again. | ||
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That's the sad story of how Idunn became the menacing Demon Dragon she is today. I wonder how accurate the stories about her fearsome powers really are... | ||
| Closely Associated Characters | |||
| Zephiel | The ruler of Bern. In his youth, he had a kindly disposition, but later lost his faith in humanity and chose to yield the world to the dragons. He is the one who broke Idunn's seal. | ||
- Dragonkin Duo
- The last of the dragonkin on the continent Elibe. They heard about the spring festival and are trying the costumes out for themselves. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
Base Stats[]
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯
 | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragonkin Duo | |||||
| Group | |||||
| Armored | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 19/20/21 43/46/49 | 8/9/10 34/37/40 | 3/4/5 22/26/29 | 6/7/8 34/37/41 | 7/8/9 35/38/42 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
| Zephyr Breath Chilling Wind | Breath | ||||
Skills[]
Duo Skill[]
| Duo Skill | Standard Effect |
|---|---|
| Grants Def/Res+6 and the following status to unit and allies within 5 rows and 5 columns centered on unit for 1 turn: "Neutralizes 'effective against dragons' bonuses and 'effective against armored' bonuses."
(Duo Skills can be used once per map by tapping the Duo button. Duo Skills cannot be used by units deployed using Pair Up.) |
If unit is 5★ and level 40 and unit's stats total less than 185, treats unit's stats as 185 in modes like Arena. (Higher-scoring opponents will appear. Stat total calculation excludes any values added by merges and skills.) |
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[]
Joined by fellow Elibe Manakete Fae, Spring Idunn remains a Red Dragon Armor unit, but with many new tools at her disposal mainly due to being a Duo Hero. Spring Idunn by herself carries an impressive mixed bulk that scores 83 for physical and 84 for magical. She has a decent strong Atk at 37, though her Spd is a bit low, but unsurprising for an armor at 26. Because of her unit combination, Spring Idunn is incredibly flexible teammate, being run on dragon and armor based teams. However, for the latter, she is especially powerful because of her Duo skill as stated below. On her own, she is incredibly durable and if build correctly, can be nigh unkillable, especially thanks to her access to Armor skills. In the player's hands, she can be a true force to be reckoned with and can clear maps with ease just by sheer bulk. Needless to say, she is a valuable unit to have at your disposal.
Zephyr Breath grants her an innate flat Res +3 increase and deals effective damage to armor units. If she has received any form of visible stat buffs or movement buffs, Spring Idunn immediately expunges all penalties she has taken. During combat she reduces her foe's Atk by 6 and negates their ability to perform a follow-up attack.
Her Duo skill works well with Dragon units as using it causes all dragon units within five rows and columns centered around her to lose their weakness to dragon effective weapons like Falchions, Naga tomes and even Naga the unit's Divine Fang effect. As an added bonus, she also gains Def/Res +6 for the turn, making her even bulkier.
Iceberg deals 50% of her Res as additional true damage, dealing 19 additional neutral damage. Sturdy Stance 3 grants her Atk/Def +6 if her foe initiates combat on her and also inflicts Special cooldown -1 per attack, slowing their activation. Vengeful Fighter allows Spring Idunn to accelerate her own Special cooldown and guarantees that she performs a follow-up attack when her opponent initiates combat. Goad Dragons grants dragon allies within two spaces of her an additional Atk/Spd +4 boost during combat.
Counters[]
Spring Idunn's bulk is an issue, but utilizing dragon and armor effective weapons quickly speeds up this process. The latter is especially potent as he Duo skill does not affect this unit type. Oboro, Nephenee, and Micaiah can deal incredible damage to her as a result of having the color advantage. An AI enemy Idunn cannot use Duo skills so dragon effective weapons can still be used without worrying about her activating the negation effect, so Naga, Legendary Tiki, and Legendary Julia makes nice counters. If Naga can give her Divine Fang effect to her allies, this expands the range of units who can check her.
Skill Inheritance[]
Pivot grants Spring Idunn greater movement by placing herself on the adjacent tile of the ally she unit she uses on. Swap also works to swap places with an ally. Distant Counter ensures that Spring Idunn can retaliate against all foes. Special Fighter essentially does what the Sturdy Stance 3 enemy special slowdown and her Vengeful Fighter's acceleration effect, though Bold Fighter also makes a decent replacement as it improves her player turn offense instead. Noontime easily keeps her refreshed with its fast cooldown and with her high damage, can easily repair any damage she may have taken while tanking. Aether also works as she can charge its lengthy cooldown quickly and not only heal, but also hit hard. Skill C can be replaced with better dragon skills or armor skills, especially Armor March if using her on an armor team. Otherwise the skill slot is flexible enough to run whatever is needed.
Meet Some of the Heroes[]
| Dragonkin Duo Idunn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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We've got an unusual pair with us today. Not only am I joined by Idunn and Fae, but they're here to make a special Spring Festival appearance! | ||
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They're both powerful dragons, and because of this, they normally live in secrecy in the Nabata Desert—but that doesn't change the fact that today is the Spring Festival! No one will complain if they cut loose just this once. | ||
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And look at little Fae's beaming smile! She must be so happy to be able to take part in the festival with her friends. Idunn's as expressionless as ever, but I have a feeling she's smiling on the inside. | ||
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The two of them have suffered from a great deal of hardships in their lives, but today's the day to forget about the burden of draconic powers and be cute little bunnies instead! | ||
| Closely Associated Characters | |||
| Roy | After overcoming misfortunes, he quells the uprising at Bern and ends the war between humans and dragons. He seals Idunn's power after she becomes a Demon Dragon. | ||
- Divine Demon
- Once a Divine Dragon, she was transformed into the Demon Dragon. After the uprising in Bern, she began a new life in Nabata. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
Base Stats[]
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯
 | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divine Demon | |||||
| Group | |||||
| Armored | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 14/15/16 42/45/49 | 9/10/11 39/43/46 | 6/7/8 23/26/30 | 9/10/11 39/43/36 | 7/8/9 35/38/42 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
| Dew Dragonstone Glowing Ember |  Breath | ||||
Skills[]
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.
|
Base Set[]
Counters[]
Skill Inheritance[]
Meet Some of the Heroes[]
| Divine Demon Idunn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Idunn is a Divine Dragon with incredible power. But long ago, during the war between man and dragon that scoured the continent of Elibe, she became a Demon Dragon, and forfeited her heart and soul. | ||
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After the war, Idunn was sealed away for a thousand years—and then Zephiel, King of Bern, broke her binds, plotting to use her merciless power to wipe out mankind! | ||
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Fortunately, Roy came to the rescue, using the power of the Binding Blade to save Idunn. With Idunn freed from her existence as a Demon Dragon, mankind was spared. | ||
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Afterwards, Idunn settled in the hidden village in Nabata. Nourished by the bright-eyed cheer of Fae, Idunn looked to the future, living in harmony with mankind as a Divine Dragon once more. | ||
| Closely Associated Characters | |||
| Roy | The son of Eliwood, Marquess of Pherae. Talented leader of Pherae's army. He saves Idunn's life after she had become a Demon Dragon. | ||
| Zephiel | King of Bern. Once a kindhearted boy who became disillusioned with humanity. Wants his world to be ruled by dragons. Breaks the seal binding Idunn and takes advantage of her power. | ||
| Fae | A surviving Divine Dragon with the nature of a child and very little life experience. After the battle, she and Idunn live together in Nabata. | ||
Quotes[]
The Binding Blade[]
—Idunn's defeat quote.
Engage[]
—Idunn's defeat quote
Heroes[]
Non-Canon Appearances[]
Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)[]
Idunn is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards:
Choose Your Legends Placement History[]
| Round | Placement | Character Version | Votes |
|---|
| CYL1 | 236 |  The Binding Blade |
1,026 |
| CYL2 | 151 ↑85 |
The Binding Blade |
1,697 ↑671 |
| CYL3 | 83 ↑68 |
The Binding Blade |
3,222 ↑1,525 |
| CYL4 | 104 ↓21 |
The Binding Blade |
1,505 ↓1,717 |
| CYL5 | 129 ↓25 |
The Binding Blade |
733 ↓772 |
| CYL6 | 126 ↑3 |
The Binding Blade |
769 ↑36 |
| CYL7 | 129 ↓3 |
The Binding Blade |
467 ↓302 |
| CYL8 | 149 ↓20 |
The Binding Blade |
462 ↓5 |
Etymology[]
Idun is the Norse goddess of eternal youth, and wife of Bragi, who guards the golden apples of immortality which keep the gods young. In one myth, a giant named Thiazi captured Loki, the Norse trickster god, and only released him on the condition that Loki help him steal Idun's golden apples. Loki obliged, luring Idun away by saying he had found more apples like her magical ones. When the gods began to age and die without Idun to guard their youth, they forced Loki to rescue her again. He disguised himself as an eagle, flew to Thiazi's palace, and there transformed Idun into a nut and carried her back to Asgard, the gods' kingdom. Thiazi pursued but burned his wings on the fires the gods set against him, fell to the ground, and died. Idun was returned to her original form in Asgard.
The name Idun comes from early Norse elements 'ið' meaning 'again' and 'unna' meaning 'to love.'
Trivia[]
- Idunn is the first female final boss.
- Idunn was originally going to have a different weapon in The Binding Blade that gave her heavily overpowered stat boosts, so much so that even the Dragon-effective legendary weapons would have been lucky to even scratch her. In this original design, only the game's titular Binding Blade could do meaningful damage to Idunn. This plan was changed, however, as the fight with Idunn would have been borderline unwinnable if the player had broken the Binding Blade earlier in the playthrough.
- In cutscenes, Idunn appears as a female Shaman, similar to Sophia. If forced to initiate a battle as a shaman through cheats she uses the generic battle palette and animation for female shamans.
- Idunn is one of the few final bosses in the entire series that is able to move. The others are Duma, Fomortiis, Ashnard, Garon and Nemesis.
- Like Lyon, Idunn's in-game portrait has light purple hair, while she has silver hair in her official artwork.
- Like Ranulf and Peri, Idunn is heterochromic (it is more noticeable when she is not wearing her hood): her right eye is red and her left eye is green.
- In Heroes, Idunn shares her Japanese voice actress, Risa Taneda, with Palla.
- In her Ascended Hero form, Idunn's portrait can be seen holding a basket filled with fruit; mostly apples. This is likely a reference to how Idun in Norse Mythology is usually shown holding a basket containing the golden apples of immortality.
- Idunn shares her etymological inspiration with the Fruit of Iðunn, a tome wielded by Tana in Fire Emblem Heroes.
Gallery[]
- See main article: Idunn/Gallery.