—Lyon in a flashback in The Sacred Stones
Lyon is the secondary antagonist in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. He is the prince of Grado and the son of Vigarde, as well as a close friend to Eirika and Ephraim.
Profile
Lyon is a gentle person who greatly admires his close friends, Eirika and Ephraim, princess and prince of Renais respectively. His greatest ambition was to be a strong ruler to protect his empire but harbored feelings of uselessness fueled by his weak health, his one-sided feelings for Eirika, and his hidden jealousy of Ephraim.
Aided by Knoll, who was among a team of Dark magic researchers, he discovered and used a "forbidden" spell that allowed him to see into the future. What he saw was a massive earthquake that would destroy most of Grado. He began to experiment with the Fire Emblem, which was the Sacred Stone of Grado that contained the spirit of the Demon King, Fomortiis.
His extensive experimentation eventually caused it to split the Stone in two halves, one of which was still a Sacred Stone, the other of which was the Dark Stone, which now contained the Demon King's spirit. However, when Lyon tried to use the Dark Stone, he fell under the Demon King's influence and was convinced that he might be able to avert the disaster by reviving the Demon King and harnessing his power.
Lyon first appears in a cutscene in the chapter "A New Journey". Eirika and Ephraim share a flashback in which they talk with Lyon about their ambitions in life, etc. In Chapter 18, depending on the route taken, he is either completely possessed by the Demon King, who imitates his soft persona to convince Eirika to hand over the Renais Sacred Stone, or fakes possession (so as not to reveal the truth to his friends) and takes the Sacred Stone from Ephraim by force before revealing himself. He uses the demonic resurrection spell Naglfar in combat, as well as the demonic spell Fenrir and the leech spell Nosferatu in Chapter 17.
In the last chapter, he makes a last stand with a large group of monsters to ensure Fomortiis' ritual is not disrupted. Eventually, he is overwhelmed and dies in the arms of his friends. His death served as the final catalyst for Formortiis to return to his demonic body. Despite his efforts, the earthquake he foresaw happens anyway and is seen by people as the divine punishment for Grado.
Lyon is recruited by beating the Lagdou Ruins three times along with his signature tome Naglfar. He also gives the player another Hammerne staff.
Personality
When he is not fully dominated by the Demon King, Lyon's speech and behavior are different whether he talks to Ephraim or Eirika: when he faces Eirika he seems sad, remorseful and gentle, as well as somewhat willing to hear her; when he speaks to Ephraim, he is much more aggressive and straightforward, saying that despite cherishing his friendship with Ephraim, he wants to win a battle against him at least once.
Sometimes though, he falls completely under the Demon King's control and loses any semblance of courtesy and instead becomes menacing and dark; in this case, his speech often appears in a black box with white text, instead of a white box with black text. When this happens, it is likely that the Demon King is speaking through him as a medium, as Fomortiis himself speaks with that same black text box.
In-Game
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Base Stats
| Starting Class | Affinity | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Necromancer |  Ice | ||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Con | Mov |
| 14 | 44 | 22 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 19 | 7 | 6 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
 Dark - S Staff - A |  Naglfar Physic Hammerne | ||||||||
Boss Stats
Chapter 17
Final Chapter
Growth Rates
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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Lyon suffers from the curse of having horrible stat bases, yet he has some of the greatest growths in the game (in the English version). If you are going to use him, just max him out with stat boosters, at which point he will become very effective. If planning to use him, ensure that he gets enough Body Rings to reach 18 Constitution, as Naglfar is incredibly heavy. As the tome also has unlimited uses, he does not need to be given any dark tomes apart from Nosferatu and Luna.
As a Necromancer, he can also summon Phantoms to aid him in battle. They are similar to Knoll's and Ewan's Phantoms (if they were promoted to a Summoner), though they boast much higher luck.
Since he is only unlockable in the Creature Campaign, he cannot support with anyone and cannot be recruited in the main game.
It should be noted that his class, Necromancer, has the highest stat caps of any playable character available in the game, with each stat, aside from HP (60), Skill and Speed (both 25), at 30. This trait is shared with Idunn's Mage Dragon class as well as Nergal's Dark Druid class.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
SpotPass
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sorcerer | |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 20 | 60 | 28 | 35+5 | 23 | 21 | 4 | 33 | 35 | 6 |
| Skills | Weapon | Starting Items | |||||||
 Hex Anathema Vengeance Tomebreaker Tomefaire |  Tome - A |  Goetia* | |||||||
*Enemy only; joins unequipped
Fire Emblem Heroes
- Shadow Prince
- Prince of Grado; not fond of fighting. A childhood friend of Ephraim and Eirika. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.
Base Stats
Rarity: | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Prince | |||||
| Group | |||||
 Infantry | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | 18 38 | 10 32 | 3 19 | 3 23 | 8 28 |
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
 Fenrir Retribution |  Tome | ||||
Skills
| Type | Name | Prerequisite | Default | Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Flux | - | - | - |
| Ruin | - |  | - | |
| Fenrir | Ruin |  | | |
| Naglfar | Fenrir | - |  | |
 | Retribution | - | | |
| Vengeance | Retribution | - | | |
| A |  Resistance +1 | - | | |
 Atk/Res 1 | Resistance +1 | | ||
 Atk/Res 2 | Atk/Res 1 | | ||
| C |  Spur Res 1 | - | - | |
 Drive Res 1 | Spur Res 1 | | ||
 Drive Res 2 | Drive Res 1 | |
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
Counters
Skill Inheritance
- Demon King
- Prince Lyon of Grado, having become a vessel for the Demon King Fomortiis's power. It is uncertain who directs his heart. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.
Base Stats
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯
 | Title | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demon King | |||||
| Group | |||||
| Infantry | |||||
| Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
| 1 40 | |||||
| Skills | Weapon | ||||
| Blood Tome Daylight |  Tome | ||||
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
Counters
Skill Inheritance
Quotes
—Chapter 17 in The Sacred Stones
Lyon vs Eirika (Chapter 17, Eirika's Route)
Eirika: Lyon, please! You must stop! I...I have no wish to fight you!
Lyon: Heh heh..Wretched girl. Are you listening, Lyon? Is this truly the girl you loved? Then I will use these hands to tear her limb from limb!
Lyon vs Ephraim (Chapter 17, Eirika's Route)
Ephraim: Where's Lyon? What have you done with our friend?! ANSWER ME!
Lyon: Heh heh...What a splendid fool you make. Shall I dress you in a jester's cap? Shall we watch you jape in my demon's court? Lyon is dead. I devoured him. Can you not understand?
Ephraim: Monster!
Lyon vs Eirika (Chapter 17 Ephraim's Route)
Eirika: Lyon, please! You must stop! I...I have no wish to fight you!
Lyon: .....The cries of children. Away with you, insects, if you wish not to die...
Lyon vs Ephraim (Chapter 17 Ephraim's Route)
Ephraim: Where's Lyon? What have you done with our friend?! ANSWER ME!
Lyon: .....Heh heh...How foolish. The one you seek is already dead. I have cast him intro the abyss from which i crawled. That weakling is gone. Only the demon king remains!
Ephraim Grr... Monster!
—Chapter 17 in The Sacred Stones
Final Chapter Quotes:
—Final Chapter Battle Quote in The Sacred Stones
Lyon vs Eirika (Final Chapter, Eirika's Route)
Eirika: Lyon... I hope you're watching. I will defeat the Demon King.
Lyon: Heh, do you really think your blade can hurt me? Cut me and see! If you can even hit me, that is.
—Final Chapter of Eirika's route in The Sacred Stones
Lyon vs Ephraim (Final Chapter, Ephraim's Route)
Lyon: Tell me, Ephraim: do I look like I’ve grown stronger? The last time we dueled, I was too weak to test you. Why, I was so weak, I even lost to Eirika…
Ephraim: ……
Lyon: I’ve sacrificed the lives of many good people. I’ve committed many unforgivable sins. The caring heart that I once possessed died long ago… And I’ve grown stronger because of it. I’ve grown strong enough to defeat even you, Ephraim.
Ephraim: …No, you haven’t. You’re still no match for me. You were never one for combat. It’s not in you. You should never have chosen this path.
Lyon: ……
Ephraim: ……Here I come, Lyon.
—Final Chapter of Ephraim's route in The Sacred Stones
After Defeat (Eirika's Route)
Lyon: Ei...Eirika...Is...that you...?
Eirika: Yes, Lyon. It's me.
Lyon: Eirika... You stopped me, didn't you? I'm glad...
Eirika: Lyon... Lyon...
Lyon: Listen...Eirika... I never had the courage to tell you, but... I've always loved you...
Heroes
Non-Canon Appearances
Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Lyon is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards:
Etymology
The name "Lyon" probably comes from "Leon", a very popular name in Medieval to Early Modern Europe which is derived from the Greek word meaning "lion".
It is also the name of a city in eastern France. The city was originally founded by Romans and named Lugdunum. This name comes from the Celtic god Lugus, meaning light (from which the name Lugh is derived), and "dunon", which means "hill". The Romans associated Lugus with Mercury; the name Lugdunum therefore translates to either "hill of light" or alternatively "hill of crows". [1]
Trivia
- In the Japanese version of The Sacred Stones, Lyon's growth rates were much worse, with many of them being 10%.
- In Fire Emblem Heroes, Lyon was mentioned by Eirika in one of her quotes when speaking to the player.
- Furthermore, Lyon's tome, Naglfar, was mentioned by Loki during the dialogue from Paralogue 10.
- Lyon's artwork in Heroes depicts him in his Necromancer class, wielding Naglfar.
- Lyon's skill quote in Heroes "Well, come then." is directly referencing his words to Ephraim before the final chapter in Ephraim's route: "Well, come then, Ephraim. Try and stop me."
- Another of his skill quotes, "No one will stand in my way." is another reference to that exact scene, as he says it almost immediately after the aforementioned line.
- Furthermore, another skill quote of his, "My caring heart has died." is an obvious reference to his pre-battle dialogue with Ephraim in the final chapter of Ephraim's Route: "The caring heart that I once possessed died long ago."
- Rounding all these off, "I am the Demon King" is his final skill quote, though as is shown through interactions with the player, Lyon is not under the control of Fomortiis. All these dialogue references to Ephraim's Route, along with the fact that he is pretending to be under the Demon King's control—directly mirroring Lyon's state in Ephraim's Route—seems to heavily imply that the Lyon in Heroes is the Lyon from Ephraim's Route.
- When you fight against Lyon during the final chapter, his facial portraits can vary; a possessed Lyon is battled in Eirika's route, while normal Lyon is battled in Ephraim's route.
- When you obtain Lyon in Creature Campaign, his facial portrait will display him being normal regardless of route.
- In the Japanese version, checking Lyon's stats in the Final Chapter of Ephraim's route shows him with his possessed portrait. The English version changed his portrait to his normal appearance.
- Lyon is the only character to be able to get S Ranks in more than one weapon rank.
- Lyon is the winner of the 14th Voting Gauntlet (Fated Battles) in Fire Emblem Heroes.
- In Heroes, during Dark Burdens Lyon S-Support in the Forging Bonds event, it's said that the Original Lyon has already been defeated and he's the 'future Lyon' contrary to what Fomortiis said. However, some of his quotes made him look like he's still possesed, and his level 40 quote has him saying that he doesn't remember much of his past. If Lyon is bluffing, it's an oversight or it's a reference to the Creature Campaign in Sacred Stones is not known.
Gallery
- See main article: Lyon/Gallery.