—Nuibaba
Nuibaba is an enemy character from Fire Emblem Gaiden. A dreaded arcanist who has recently allied with the Duma Faithful, she is known as the mistress of Fear Mountain who sold her soul for the power of Medusa. She is 124 years old according to internal data for Echoes.
Profile
Betrayal and Pact[1]
In the past, Nuibaba was once a pretty young girl who lived happily with the man she loved. However, one night she was attacked by bandits who left a hideous wound on her face, causing the man to start avoiding Nuibaba in favor of her younger sister. Growing tired of her presence, the man and the younger sister lured Nuibaba deep into the woods and pushed her off a cliff. As Nuibaba lay dying, Medusa appeared before her as a ghastly apparition, attracted to the scent of death. With the promise to restore her and extend her lifespan, Nuibaba agreed to form a contract with Medusa. Upon being revived, Nuibaba took revenge on her former lover and sister for backstabbing her.
After secluding herself to the woods, she became obsessed with power and beauty, eventually becoming a witch, and began kidnapping numerous beautiful Rigelian women for several years, sacrificing them to keep her longevity and youthful beauty.
Tormenting the locals in her vicinity alongside Jerome, she kidnapped at least three local girls. One of them was a Saint from the Church of Rigel named Tatiana, whom not only did she plan on sacrificing to Medusa, but also was kept captive as a means to force Zeke into fighting for the Rigelian army alongside Jerome. (The other two were a Cleric from the Church and a local girl who's a friend of Tatiana)
Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
After Berkut convinced Emperor Rudolf to station him and his army at the border in case the Deliverance breaches the Sluice Gate and enter into Rigel, Nuibaba approached Berkut as he made preparations to go to the border.
Though antagonizing Berkut at first regarding his failure to defeat Alm, Nuibaba insisted that she wished to aid Berkut. Though Berkut refused such aid, Nuibaba warned him that another failure would result in Rudolf refusing another chance to Berkut. She then spoke of the power that the Duma Faithful possess, and how Jedah acquired power by offering his daughters to Duma.
Berkut was disgusted by this, and still insisted on fighting Alm with his own strength, Nuibaba asked that Berkut at the very least take a mirror that was filled with her sorcery to battle, and shatter the mirror should Berkut ever be cornered in battle. Though reluctant, Berkut took the mirror in the end. Nuibaba's mirror would be broken by Berkut in the end, nearly granting him victory, but the spell was broken by a charm Alm had gotten from Celica years ago.
Having failed to capture Alm using Berkut, Nuibaba resorted to using another means to lure Alm to her. Creating a phantom of Celica, she communicated with Alm, telling him that Celica is being held prisoner at Nuibaba's abode.
When he entered her Abode, Nuibaba appeared before the Deliverance and revealed to Alm that the Celica Alm had seen was not real, which Alm had suspected. However, despite her trap and using the power of Medusa, Nuibaba would ultimately fall in battle against the Deliverance, thus ending her machinations as well as freeing Tatiana and ultimately allowing Zeke to betray Jerome.
In Sonya's ending, it is rumored that a new witch had taken up residence in Nuibaba's abode.
Personality
Nuibaba is depicted as a cruel and narcissistic woman, caring little about others or even about Duma despite being part of the Duma Faithful. Her status as a witch was not out of swearing an oath to Duma, but for the purpose of retaining her beauty and the ability to use dark magic. This obsession for an everlasting youth and beauty has led her to capture and sacrifice beautiful maidens from all across Rigel to Medusa.
Despite also desiring to capture Alm for being a Brand bearer, Nuibaba did not share the reason with Jedah, as she sought to capture Alm for the purpose of sacrificing him under the belief that doing so would grant her immortality and eternal youth. This obsession with beauty and youth likely stems from how Nuibaba was betrayed by her sister and former lover, who tried to kill her because Nuibaba had become unsightly to them from the scar she received from the bandits that attacked her.
Nuibaba is also shown to be very skilled at manipulating others. Taking advantage of Berkut's fiery spirit, she made him take a cursed mirror that he would end up using in a desperate attempt to defeat Alm. Later on, she would trick Alm into thinking that she had captured Celica by sending an illusion of Celica to warn Alm about Celica's predicament; while Alm suspected that this was a trap, he still chose to go forward.
In-Game
Fire Emblem Gaiden
Stats
| Starting Class | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Arcanist | ||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 10 | 40 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 4 |
| Magic | Starting Items | |||||||
| Reserve Medusa | Magic Ring | |||||||
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Stats
Quotes
—Battle quote in Echoes
Critical
- "Now sleep!"
- giggles*
- "Excited yet?!"
- "I think not!"
Death Quote
—Death quote in Echoes
Etymology
When translated from Japanese, "baba" or "婆" can translate as "old woman" or more crudely, "hag."
Trivia
- Nuibaba's gender was unspecified in the Japanese script for Gaiden, though in some fan translations the character was referred to as male. However, in Fire Emblem Echoes, Nuibaba is established as female.
- Furthermore, Nuibaba's physical appearance also changed drastically between her original appearance and the remake. In Gaiden, she appears in a heavy cloak, with wrinkled skin that appears snake-like. In Echoes, she has a more youthful appearance, the snake-like traits are exchanged for horns and pointed ears, and her attire is more revealing. Also, while both versions hide one eye from view, in Gaiden, one eye is obscured by her cloak, while in Echoes, she wears a partial mask over her face.
- Nuibaba was an Arcanist in the original game but changed to a Witch in the remake.
- Unlike the other named Witches, Arcanists, and Cantors, Nuibaba got her power from selling her soul to Medusa rather than Duma or being sacrificed by someone else. This is reflected further in Echoes, as Nuibaba's skintone and eyes are noticeably different from the Duma Faithful.
- Nuibaba shares her English voice actress, Cindy Robinson, with Awakening's Libra and Aversa, as well as Hinoka in her appearances in Fire Emblem Heroes and Fire Emblem Warriors, Peri in Heroes, and Minerva in Heroes and Warriors.
- In Echoes, Nuibaba's motivations seem to be an allusion to Elizabeth "the Blood Countess" Báthory, a Hungarian noblewoman accused of having killed thousands of young women to bathe in their blood and keep herself young.
- The statue in the Altar of the Sorceress DLC bears a resemblance to Nuibaba.
- In the Gaiden novelization, Nuibaba is male. He is killed by Zeke during the duel between Nuibaba and Alm.
- It is stated in her concept artwork that the small face on her forehead is the death mask of her former lover.
Gallery
.jpg "FE15 Witch (Nuibaba).jpg (26 KB)")