Kieran

Kieran
Game Data
Game	Path of Radiance Radiant Dawn
First Seen	Chapter 10: Prisoner Release (Joins in Chapter 11: Blood Runs Red) (Path of Radiance) Part 2, Chapter 3: Geoffrey's Charge (Radiant Dawn)
Starting Class	Axe Knight (Path of Radiance) Axe Paladin (Radiant Dawn)
[view]

“I will brook no insult to my queen or my armor! You face Kieran, second commander of the Royal Knights...and your doom!”
—Kieran, fighting Valtome for honor

Kieran (ケビン Kebin, Kevin in the Japanese and German version) is a playable character from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. He is the sub-commander of the Crimean Royal Knights, and serves under General Geoffrey.

Profile

Path of Radiance

Serving as a member of Crimea's 5th Platoon, who, alongside Geoffrey, was entrusted with the honorable duty of escorting Elincia, Crimea's secret princess, from the Daein attack on Melior during the Mad King's War. When the escort is later ambushed by Daein forces, he is captured by the Daein army and held in Castle Canteus. Kieran is later rescued by Ike's forces, whereupon he will remain with them until the game reaches its conclusion. He will then cede his services back to Crimea, serving under the newly-crowned Queen Elincia.

Radiant Dawn

Three years later, in recognition of his deeds in the previous war, Kieran was able to rise all the way up to sub-commander of the Royal Guard. Receiving personal orders from Geoffrey to fight in order to prevent Duke Ludveck of Felirae’s coup d’état. Around that time, he also granted him a silver axe as a gift, making him elated to the point of forgetting his place.

Alongside the other Crimean Royal Knights, Kieran will then lay siege to Castle Felirae, essentially falling into Ludveck's trap. The Royal Knights will then rush to Fort Alpea in the next preceding chapter, serving as reinforcements to Elincia's stranded forces.

Kieran later appears as an enemy unit in Chapter 3-12 to the Daein army, representing the Crimean Royal Knights in Geoffrey's absence. The chances of the player managing to engage him in battle, however, are very slim if Jill is not used to fly down the cliff.

Kieran will survive the judgment of Ashera in Chapter 3-E, and may be assigned to any one of the three groups headed for the Tower of Guidance.

Personality

Kieran is a rather hotblooded, loud and proud individual, and is known to announce his name, rank and title before engaging in any battles. He is also extremely enthusiastic of his position as a Crimean Royal Knight, and constantly trains vigorously to protect his honor, often inflicting wounds upon himself in the process without realizing it. Furthermore, Kieran possesses an energetic and hyperactive disposition, and appears to be unable to quell his excitement in any given situation.

Kieran shares a bitter, yet one-sided, rivalry with Oscar, whom he resents for leaving the Crimean Knights. According to a support conversation he shares with Oscar, his rivalry with Oscar started in their second year of enlistment in the Crimean Army when they had just completed their horsemanship training. According to Kieran, during a final horse race, Oscar beat him "by the smallest of margins," while Oscar recalls the distance to be "at least three lengths." In the end, he and Oscar realize they want to save innocent civilians. Though they belong to different groups, they agree that they have the exact same motivations.

Character Data

Path of Radiance

Recruitment

• Chapter 11: The door to the prison cell that Kieran is held in must have been opened. Furthermore, he must have survived Chapter 10.

Base Stats

Starting Class								Affinity
Axe Knight								Wind
Level	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Con	Wt	Mov
12	30	11	1	10	12	8	10	1	10	33	8
Skills				Weapon				Starting Items
Gamble				Axe - C				-

Growth Rates

HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res
60%	50%	15%	50%	40%	25%	40%	30%

Support Conversations

See also: Kieran/Supports

• Oscar
• Rhys
• Marcia

Bond Support

• Geoffrey: 5%

Promotion Gains

Item Required					Promoted Class
( Master Seal)					Paladin
1	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+1	+1
Weapon Levels
/ / E*

*Depends on player's choice.

Overall

Kieran in the end will be fairly well-rounded except for his luck being a little low, though when he is recruited, it will take a bit of leveling before he is competent offensively due to the high weight of Axes. However, once Kieran's offense picks up, his high movement and his proficiency in Axes allows him to be a fairly reliable offensive unit, especially once he reaches the ability to use A rank Axes about 2/3 - 3/4 of the way into the game. Upon promotion, giving him access to either Swords or Lances is advised, as they provide a secondary physical weapon that gives him more leverage against enemy Sword users, which trouble Kieran until he promotes.

Radiant Dawn

Availability

Part 1											Part 2					Part 3															Part 4							Endgame
P	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	E	P	1	2	3	E	P	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	E	P	1	2	3	4	5	E	A1	A2	A3	A4	A5
														◎	△										○		○			○	□	□	□	□	□	□	○	□	□	□	□	□

◎=Forced　○=Available　□=Available for selected　△=Reinforcement

Base Stats

Starting Class								Affinity
Axe Paladin								Wind
Level	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Con	Wt	Mov
11	41	21	6	20	20	16	18	11	11	36	9
Skills				Weapon				Starting Items
Gamble Canto				Axe - A				Steel Poleax Hand Axe Vulnerary

Growth Rates

HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res
75%	60%	15%	40%	30%	30%	60%	25%

Biorhythm

Bond Support

• Geoffrey: 5%

Promotion Gains

Item Required					Promoted Class
( Master Crown)					Gold Knight
1	+4	+2	+4	+2	+2	+2	+4	+0	+0
Skills					Weapon Levels
Sol					C

Overall

Kieran joins with Geoffrey, Makalov, Astrid, and Danved in Chapter 2-3. He, along with Geoffrey, is a high-level second-tier Paladin, and comes with well distributed Base Stats. His HP is the higher than even Geoffrey, who's HP is not very high but it's still notable. His Strength is high enough that he won't have to worry about being weighed down, even by the Steel Poleax, the heaviest weapon in the game, therefore his solid base Speed, will not be lowered in battle. His base Skill and Defense are also good. His Resistance is quite low, however. If planning to bench the Crimean Royal Knights later, Geoffrey and Kieran will basically power through 2-3 and parts of 2-E, with maybe some supports from the others. Growth-wise, he has fantastic HP, Strength, and Defense, and his Skill is decent. His Speed, Resistance, and Luck are rather low.

After Part 2, he will quite easily fall behind Titania and Oscar by the time Chapter 3-9 rolls around. He can still be trained to become a Gold Knight quite easily if fed enough during 3-9, 3-11, and 3-E, or if Bonus Experience is used as he will cap his HP, Strength, and Defense quite easily allowing for efficient BEXP use.

Among all the potential Gold Knights and Silver Knights, Kieran has the highest Strength cap, at 36, tied for the highest Defense cap with Makalov, Geoffrey, and Oscar, at 30, and tied for highest HP cap with Makalov, Geoffrey, Oscar, and Titania, at 60, he also has the highest HP growth. Compared to Titania, he has slightly higher Strength due to the cap, significantly better Defense due to both growth and cap, will cap HP more easily, and similar Skill, and noticeably worse Speed. Compared to Makalov, he has significantly worse Speed, better Strength, similar HP, Defense, Skill, and Resistance, and worse Luck.

Death/Defeat Quotes

Path of Radiance

“Long live Crimea! Queen Elincia... May fortune smile on you...”
—Kieran's death quote in Path of Radiance.

Radiant Dawn

• In Part 2: Chapter 3

Kieran: General... Forgive me! I should have... trained harder...
Geoffrey: Kieran... No! I'm coming to help you! Hold tight! Kieran!! (Kieran dies, game over)

• In Part 3: Chapter 10 (as NPC)

Kieran: Hack... I have dishonoured myself before Queen Elincia!
Elincia: Kieran, you must retreat! Please, don't throw your life away.
Kieran: As... As you wish! (Kieran retreats)

Epilogue

Path of Radiance

"General, you are Crimea's savior! For your meritorious service, I salute you! Huzzah! Nay, a thousand huzzahs!"

Radiant Dawn

• Veteran Knight (剛の騎士, Tsuyoshi no kishi, lit. Just Knight)

Kieran served the royal family with nearly fanatical verve. His voice could be heard from anywhere in the castle.

Archetype

Kieran is a representation of the red cavalier in the classic Abel and Cain Archetype. He has the position of excelling in HP, Strength, and Defense growths in Radiant Dawn.

Etymology

Kieran is an alternative spelling of the Irish Ciarán, which means "small dark one". Ciarán comes from the Irish word "Ciar", which means either dark or black. Ciar can be linked back to Ciar, son of Fergus, King of Ulster. Ciar is linked to many other names, including Kerry, which hereby means Ciar's People.

Kieran is referred to as Queranus in Latin. It is also used in the vernacular of older rural Irish folk, who refer to it as small, irregular lumps of turf.

His Japanese name, Kevin, is an angelicized form of the Irish-Gaelic Caoimhín, meaning "little comedic one". This may refer to his personality, as he can be very comedic in many situations.

Gallery

Kieran as an Axe Knight in Cipher.

Kieran as a Paladin in Cipher.

Kieran's portrait in Path of Radiance.

Kieran's portrait in Radiant Dawn.

Kieran's battle model as an Axe Knight in Path of Radiance.

Kieran's battle model as a Paladin in Path of Radiance.

Kieran's battle model as an Axe Paladin in Radiant Dawn.

Kieran's battle model as a Gold Knight in Radiant Dawn.