Rolf

FE9
FE10

Biological Information

Gender

Male

Race

Beorc

Relatives

May contain spoilers

Rolf's Mother (Mother)

Oscar (Paternal Half-Brother)

Boyd (Paternal Half-Brother)

Game Data

Game

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

First Seen

Chapter 2: Rescue [Joins in Chapter 9 Gallia] (Path of Radiance)

Part 2, End Cutscene: Elincia's Gambit (Radiant Dawn)

Starting Class

Archer (Path of Radiance)

Sniper (Radiant Dawn)

Voice Actors

Japanese

Yu Asakawa

English

Lani Minella

[view]

“Hey! I'm not small! I'm a dangerous mercenary!”
—Rolf talking to Marcia in a support conversation

Rolf is a playable character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. He is the youngest member of the Greil Mercenaries and the younger half brother of Oscar and Boyd.

Profile

The youngest of the three brothers after Oscar and Boyd, Rolf's birth mother left him when he was a infant, abandoning her sons and their bedridden father for another love interest, leaving Oscar to take care of the family. Though he traveled with the mercenaries, his tasks were mostly chores such as helping Mist with cooking and cleaning. Because of this, he had no combat experience prior to when Greil died.

He was first taught how to use a bow by Shinon, so that, like Mist, he could be of some use to the group rather than staying behind every time the company went to work. Shinon told Rolf during his training never to tell anyone who taught him, and he remained faithful to that promise, although his eldest brother, Oscar, could detect the secret, but never told anyone, either, respecting Rolf's oath.

When the group encounters his birth mother by chance in Radiant Dawn, Rolf is given the opportunity to live with his mother, and she begs for him to return. He chooses to stay with his brothers, however, saying that she is a stranger to him, considering the fact that she abandoned him, his brothers and his sickly father when he was a baby just to be with another man, and that he would prefer staying in the company of what he considers his true family: Oscar, Boyd, and the rest of the Greil Mercenaries.

He can perform a Triangle Attack with his brothers under certain conditions, being that Oscar and Boyd are upgraded classes with the ability to use bows. This is a default setting in Radiant Dawn (keep in mind that Oscar must be a Silver Knight, and Boyd must be equipped with a crossbow of some kind), but optional in Path of Radiance.

In Game

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Recruitment

Chapter 9: Automatically from the start.

Base Stats

Starting Class								Affinity
Archer								Wind
Level	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Con	Wt	Mov
1	18	5	0	8	6	4	6	2	4	4	6
Skills				Weapon				Starting Items
-				Bow - E				Rolf's Bow Vulnerary

Growth Rates

HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res
60%	40%	20%	45%	50%	40%	30%	25%

Support Conversations

See also: Rolf/Supports

Bond Support

Oscar: 10%
Boyd: 10%
Shinon: 5%

Promotion Gains

Item Required					Promoted Class
( Master Seal)					Sniper
1	+3	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+1	+1

Death Quote

“I... wonder what will happen to me... I'm so scared... Boyd... Broth--”
—Death Quote

Overall

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.

Rolf joins underleveled, in chapter 9, with base stats that would barely be acceptable several chapters earlier. Being bow-locked with these stats would be a struggle on its own, but it's compounded on by the fact that Rolf joins with E bows. His growth rates are decent, but they aren't anything spectacular and certainly aren't enough to salvage his poor bases. Even with favoritism, he'll take several chapters to catch up to the rest of your team. On top of all of this, he joins at around the same time as Marcia and Kieran, two of the best units in the game, meaning he'll need to steal valuable experience from them to get anywhere. Even if you want to recruit Shinon, Rolf doesn't need any experience to be kept safe in chapter 18. The only potential threats are the siege tomes used on that map, but proper positioning and use of the barrier staff can make them a non-issue.

The other available choice for Sniper is Shinon. While neither are particularly worth using, Shinon is still arguably better due to joining with base B in bows, allowing him to wield the Brave Bow at base. His niche of being the earliest joining bow user is relevant only once, in chapter 12, but even then he's held back by the fact that effective weaponry only multiplies Mt by 2 in Path of Radiance, rather than the series's usual x3 multiplier. He will also be easily doubled if the player has not been investing in him up to this point. Once Astrid joins in the next chapter, any niche advantage that bows might have given him is gone. If for some reason 2 bow users are desired for the same map, he might see some use until Boyd promotes.