#Xander is only there because I like his design and have played fire emblem warriors. I don't know much about him but his design is fire

[creativesplat]

a little doodle of my favourite fire emblem guys (modern au!)

[airlock]

I’ve been pretty scarce lately, haven’t I? last week this was because uni was demolishing me, but lately, it’s been more about, ehum, the downside of spending like 50% of your social time in Fire Emblem communities when a new game releases, precisely in the middle of the aforementioned demolishment by uni

I’m still probably going to be ignoring non-direct notifications for the next while or so, but now that I’ve finally gotten my hands on the shiny new toy too, I’m eager to become part of the problem for everyone else!

and on that note, I’m here to post my impressions of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes as of the start of ch4

maybe this should go without saying, but goddamn, the DIFFERENCE that it makes to be back to having a protagonist with their very own dialogue as well as a discrete personality. Shez and Arval’s back-and-forths really get the most out of the “gremlin living rent-free in your brain constantly complaining about your dumb ass decisions” by actually having two participants to it. even the none-too-revelant dialogue pick prompts are a lot nicer now that Shez will actually verbalize the option that you pick, which also means you really get the most out of all the funny and/or mean options-

also, Arval is cute and I want to pinch her cheeks no matter how gross the texture there probably is

plus she forced Shez not to call Alois out on telling dad jokes. she gets it

on a related note, I’ve only had this version of Byleth for like three voiced lines, and I’ve already seen more charisma than anything they’ve done in the entirety of Three Houses. y’know, Jeannie Tirado is a phenomenal voice actress -- actually giving her lines to read brings that out all of a sudden, who woulda thunk? (somewhere between this and Xander Mobus complaining about how few actual lines he had as Persona 5 Joker, I’m arriving at the perhaps bygone conclusion that one should maybe not waste highly talented voice actors on silent protagonists-)

anyway, it’s funny as hell to me that they went to all the bother of setting up the whole “hey, you’re a garreg mach student now!” thing, only to shut the academy down and send everyone home in 2 chapters. also I hope Leonie got a refund-

I’m digging the gameplay so far; I was a bit worried that it seemed to be trying to spin too many unique plates at once -- I will, of course, really see yet how all these interlocking systems hold up throughout an entire game, but in this early juncture, it actually feels like everything has a place and nothing is encroaching too hard on anything else.

on the other hand, though, I think I can see what people mean when they said the original Fire Emblem Warriors was surprisingly headache-inducing for a Warriors game. I enjoy the tactical aspect, but it feels like it comes at the detriment of direct gameplay; you decide what everyone’s going to do, it feels awesome, and then you’re like, wait, what am *I* going to do now-

(”I never quite understand which character I’d rather be playing as at a given time” was also a thing that hassled me in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, though, so I guess this is just how Warriors game are designed now. that, or I had it too good with the original Hyrule Warriors)

also, apropos of nothing, but I’d not realized how fucking sweet Ignatz’s new outfit is back at the character trailers. holy fucking hell the man is oozing drip alongside all that paint

(ETA: and how could I forget to mention Holst??? they had me at “ProZD is doing his voice btw” and what can I say, promised and delivered)

if you’ve been beholding my wretched reactions to things so far, though, you know what the thing I’ve REALLY been looking forward to in this game is. and...

just the ch4 basecamp has already hit me with TWO long documents about little details about the Alliance, including new details about the local economy as well as more lords, territories, and details thereof. even Acheron has a household name and even a full name now! and they went and gave him one of the most badass fucking full names of anyone in this verse-- but I digress; I can see I’m going to be eating out of this game’s hand when it comes to worldbuilding. which is to say, I’m high up in the clouds right now, ready for Claude’s first named murdercousin (brother, apparently?) to fly by with his wyvern and kill me instantly.

[your-lady-star]

Why I’m Complicated About Female Corrin

So I’ve had two people inquire about my Fates tier list and why I had female Corrin in the “complicated” tier, something I can imagine would be confusing since I’ve been very vocal about Corrin being one of my favorite characters in the franchise. Admittedly, this is something I’ve been meaning to speak about for a while, and now is as good a time as any. It’s high time you guys learn why I refer to Corrin strictly with male pronouns.

To put it bluntly, my main issue with female Corrin has nothing to do with the character itself, that would be really stupid and completely contradictory to how I’ve analyzed Corrin over the course of the last few years, and it has nothing to do with tertiary aspects like her design and the way she’s been used. It 100% has to do with her fans.

I may not interact with the fandom that much, mainly because doing so opens up a whole can of snakes, but it doesn’t take much research to see there is a very distinct bias towards female Corrin, regardless of the context you look at her at. She consistently ranks high on CYL polls while her male counterpart consistently ranks the lowest of the lords. She’s always the first to receive an alt, the Adrift banner being the only exception, and time between their alts is noticeably long (for context, the time between their first alts was 5 months and their fallen versions a full year!). She was chosen to be the default gender for Corrin in Warriors, the male being locked behind the completion of a submap. Most merchandise of Corrin, whether it’d be official or fan-made is of the female. And people who play Smash competitively who use Corrin very often have a female skin on her. It’s pretty clear that there is clear favoritism towards female Corrin, and, normally, this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but some fans have taken it to the extreme to the point they believe that female is the canon gender for Corrin.

Which is a statement I vehemently disagree with.

I’ve never bought into this argument that the avatar characters have canon genders, mainly because it completely goes against the point of avatar characters. If they are supposed to have a canon gender, they never would have made them customizable avatars, they would have just made them that gender. I know that most people like to act that the avatars have widely different personalities depending on the gender, but outside of a couple of quirks shown in a handful of support conversations and interactions in Heroes, both genders are still the exact same characters with the exact same personalities. Regardless of what gender you pick, Robin is still calculative and supportive, Corrin is still compassionate and eager, Byleth is still resourceful and reserved. Your gender doesn’t identify you as a person no matter how much bad shows and cartoons seem to think it does.

And this brings me right back to why I say that my issues with female Corrin are due to her fans. The people who actively advocate that female is the canon gender for Corrin and actively argue for it are either guys who want to f*ck her or girls who project onto her so they can fantasize about f*cking their Fates husbando and they do not take well to people telling them that this isn’t the case or that they like the male version better. I distinctly remember one person posting about how they praised male Corrin on a forum and were almost instantly attacked by female Corrin fans telling them that they have bad taste and calling them sexist and misogynistic, and the praise in question was them simply saying that they liked his design. Not to mention that they’re reasoning for why female is the canon gender is some of the dumbest bullsh*t I’ve ever seen. I may not remember where I read it, but I do remember one person’s reasoning for why female is the canon gender is because it made Xander’s nickname for them make more sense in the context of him being in love with her. Not only is this brazenly stretching, since they’re basically saying that older brothers can’t give their younger brothers nicknames, but it’s obvious that they’re using this to justify why their ship is canon. And there is no doubt much worse sh*t than this, but I don’t have the fortitude to look for myself.

I think this really speaks to the raving hypocrisy this fandom engages in where Corrin, despite being the most infamously hated character amongst the fanbase, has received heaps of praise and love for their female form for no reason other than people thinking she’s hot. A character who’s popular for no reason other than waifuism. It’s a shame how common this is. The recent fallen heroes banner is one of the rare occasions I can point to where people were vocally praising male Corrin and saying he did something better than his female counterpart, and this really shouldn’t be case. This is why I’m complicated about female Corrin, despite that I really shouldn’t. I don’t have this problem with the other avatars in the series, but that’s because there isn’t this much of a heavy petty bias over which gender that should be. This is why, unless it’s necessary, I refer to Corrin as “he”. Call me petty all you want, but I’m being no less petty than these weirdos.

A lot of people have been hoping that Fire Emblem gets a proper anime for their game of choice, and I am definitely one of them. I would love to see an anime adaptation for Fates but only on the condition that they use male Corrin. Not only because it would be a nice change of pace from the blatant waifu bias and it would be hilarious to watch these fans throw a sh*t fit about it, but it gives them the perfect excuse to be as gay as they want with him. Corrin was the first officially stated LGBT lord and this is the perfect means to remind the audience about that. I won’t accept any Conquest anime if we don’t see Corrin being delightfully gay with his kinky boyfriend.

[superdawge]

FE Analysis: Female Corrin’s Popularity

Ever since it was announced that Female Corrin would be the default version of the Fates Avatar represented in Fire Emblem Warriors, it got me thinking about the rise in Female Corrin’s popularity. Where ever you look, from fan art to written works, it seems the fairer gender is given more of the spotlight. When I started considering her success in recent popularity polls, it also brought to my attention the lesser reception her male counterpart has received in comparison. But why is this? How is the difference so great when the two Corrins are essentially the same characters? Here’s my sort of thought dump on the factors leading to Female Corrin’s popularity that has made her the current poster child for the character.

To start, I think it’s important to note that Fire Emblem as a franchise, has always had a male-bias. It’s a widely accepted idea that boys play video games more than girls, so for a long time, FE games traditionally featured a male main protagonist to ensure a relatable viewpoint. Only recently with Awakening and Fates have players been able to specifically choose their character’s gender. This notion of male protagonists being more relatable, and therefore more popular and marketable can be seen in Super Smash Bros 4 where Robin was chosen to be represented by his male version on the character selection screen, in his character trailer, as well as the model for his Amiibo.

The decision from Nintendo to only produce Male Robin Amiibos was met with some disappointment that a Female version was lacking. When it was time for Corrin to receive an Amiibo, Nintendo notably made a point to include both genders. Now, this could have been in response to the criticisms towards the Robin Amiibo, but I think this also had to do with the fact that Female Corrin could not be left out because of her enormous popularity.

In the Awakening character popularity polls in Japan, both male and female versions of Robin were very popular. Male Robin ranked 3rd amongst the male cast, and Female Robin ranked 2nd amongst the entire female cast. It was this positive reception that would ensure that an Avatar character would return in Fates. However, when it was time for the Fates popularity polls, Male Corrin ranked a very good 5th place for males. Female Corrin, on the other hand, took 1st Place for females, beating out every other female in the game.

So what does this mean?

Well, in Awakening both Avatars were… pretty similarly liked. But in Fates, there is a clear difference between the two genders - something made Female considerably more popular. To cement this, in Fire Emblem Heroes’ Choose Your Legend popularity poll, Female Corrin nabbed 5th place for females in the ENTIRE FRANCHISE with 19,599 votes (9th Place overall). And Male Corrin? He managed a paltry 21st place for males (41st place overall), with 7,691 votes - almost a third as much as Female Corrin. Heck, even Dorcas beat out Male Corrin, and he got poisoned by Mutton.

You can see where this is going, right?

When you’re marketing a game, you put your best foot forward. For Robin, the genders were on pretty equal footing, so Male was the safe bet. It was the tradition - it was what came naturally to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Boys play video games, so make the rep a boy. But for Corrin, things were different. Nintendo could not afford the luxury of just trusting the Male version as the predictable safe bet. This time, there was a clear imbalance in who the fans like more, and who would be most well received if they were made the default version in Fire Emblem Warriors. From a marketing perspective, the obvious choice this time, was Female Corrin.

So what brought on such a large disparity in reception? What gave sway to the Female gender transcending the norm for what kind of protagonist is considered relatable and likable? The answers are rooted in a philosophy as old as time: sexism.

To understand what makes Female Corrin so much more popular than her Male counterpart, we need only look into the very essence of their characters. In Fates, Corrin is defined by their kind heart and naive idealism. Unlike traditional Fire Emblem lords that mainly fight against an outside force, many of Corrin’s problems revolve around struggling to stay true to their kind heart amidst a cynical war. Because many of Corrin’s conflicts are against family or otherwise good people, Corrin repeatedly shows mercy and goodwill during times when a general can ill afford to. Even when others pressure or try to dissuade them, Corrin holds onto their hope for an ideal world, and is often pained and deeply burdened by harsh reality.

The consequence that arises from this kind of personality is that there are certain gender roles that modern society has instilled deep in our psyche that prevails even now. One trope that you can see just about anywhere even today is Men Act, Women Are. This trope describes the notion that characters are most likable when they embody traits we associate with their gender, namely that men are defined by their achievements, while women are defined by their personalities and appearances.

From a story perspective, the narrative benefits from Corrin being female. Corrin embodies traits that are most stereotypically associated with female characters in the FE franchise - namely compassion and naivety. You can see these traits in other forefront characters like Celica, Mist and Micaiah. As modern day players, we are conditioned to admire and respect female characters who are able to pursue just ideals and embody values of peace and optimism. A female character who weeps for the loss of life and falters when a cruel act is needed is seen as loving and sympathetic. On the other hand, a male character that cries openly and hesitates during critical moments is seen as weak and unreliable. A female character who trusts easily is often seen as pure and innocent, but a male who does the same can come across as naive or foolish. On the other end of the spectrum, female characters who suppress their emotions are seen as stone-hearted and world-weary, while males who do the same appear cool-headed and mature. Basically, for the common media consumer, Corrin embodies traits that are more easily associated with femininity, and the story comes together better as a result because we are less likely to second guess a female behaving the way Corrin does. We see what we want to see.

There’s also the detail that Corrin is often “babied” and deeply cared for by their siblings. Xander constantly worries for Corrin’s safety, Camilla smothers them like a child, and the younger sisters stick to them like glue. In my personal experience, I found the story slightly more appealing when it was a Female Avatar receiving such affection because how less conventional it felt compared to the more common Male protagonist who’s the center of attention. I was able to believe young girls like Elise and Sakura would be more comfortable around and able to admire an older sister rather than a brother. A story of an innocent maiden finding her place in the world surrounded by loving family is more appealing to me than a naive young man smothered by his siblings. In traditional anime and games, women are often the ones with strong familial connections, while men are typically associated with independence. It’s a shallow sentiment, but I do believe this detail affects to some degree how some players perceive and appreciate the character of Corrin.

The next big reason is a purely aesthetic choice: Female Corrin is pretty. It’s a fact of life that visual appeal contributes to popularity with consumers. Female Corrin has a very attractive design, invoking regal feminine elegance, but also obvious warrior power. Boys are clearly meant to like her a lot. In comparison, the Male Corrin looks… pretty typical, and even a bit bland. His armor is jagged in some areas while Female’s is sleek and smooth. His shoulder sleeves look tight and restrictive while Female’s is puffy and elegant. His leggings are… leggings. Female has thighs. (＾＾)ｂ

And perhaps it’s due to generations of Fire Emblem only having female dragons, but I feel I’m conditioned to think pointed ears just look better on Female Corrin than it does on Male. I’m not sure if that’s just me. Regardless, a powerful, sexy dragon girl naturally should fair better in popularity polls than an average anime male protagonist. Boys want her and girls want to be her, such is the intention and role of the Avatar character. There’s also the fact that the Fates Avatar kind of has a more feminine fighting style, don’t you think? Graceful twirls and cartwheels are more often seen as a feminine combat style, again, better suiting the Female Corrin. Just a minor note of mine.

So what’s the main take aways from all this? What makes Female Corrin more popular than Male Corrin?

To put simply: she’s just better. From a story perspective, her gender more easily meshes with her game’s themes, plot points and interactions with other characters. Her design is more attractive, and from a superficial stand point, Female just is more likable for these reasons.

Now, does this mean Female is the “canon” gender of her games? Not at all. The Avatar is meant to be whatever the player chooses them to be, and it’s up to the player’s preference on which gender betters the story more. While both do have their merits, in my eyes, Female adds more to the story with her as the protagonist, which is enough to give her favor.

In the end, it is the numbers that speak louder than words, and with Female Corrin holding nearly three times as many votes as Male, it’s obvious who would be made the representing gender of the character in Warriors. Considering Nintendo’s track record as of late, I do believe we will be getting both Female and Male versions of Corrin in Warriors, with Female acting as the main face in the character selection screen.

While it may not seem like a big deal, there are implications to Female Corrin receiving the spotlight this time. Due to the fanbase’s appreciation for a female protagonist, this may influence the protagonist of Fire Emblem Switch to also be female, or at least encourage Intelligent Systems to continue making the protagonist’s gender selectable. We are experiencing a shift in the FE franchise in what gender best suits a protagonist is now less defined. I look forward to Female Corrin in Warriors (if it wasn’t clear by now, I like her more), and I’m excited to see how this small but important choice in Warriors may affect the franchise moving forward.

Not everything is so cut and dry and so easily labeled, however. I would like to hear your thoughts on which Corrin you appreciate more in their game and outside of it. Who do you like more?

I hope you enjoyed reading!

[mirika]

Now it's my turn mwehehehe: Laslow, Niles, Camilla, Sakura and Leo?

The only downside to some of these is that you had already told me so much about them, that I could not create a true first impression.

This took ages.

First impression:

Laslow: I did not notice his existence at all in Birthright to be fair. I might have even killed him off while he is one of the four deaths that you can spare (sometimes this haunts me). When I started playing Conquest, I had the words of my former classmate in my head (”you’re going to like Laslow probably” and me thinking “you don’t know my taste in men!” and well here we are), so my first impression got blended in with a feeling of “well I do seem to be rather fond of this one” but it was merely attachment at that point.

Niles: I already knew he was a pervert cause of you, and honestly that was something that just ended up being confirmed. I couldn’t shape my own first impression.

Camilla: I’m going to have to dig in my memory, but I had not much of an opinion of her other than “okay she is behaving a little creepy towards Corrin” and it doesn’t help I played male Corrin most of the time.

Sakura: I was annoyed with her stuttering because I thought Fire Emblem pulled a “shy girl that stutters” anime trope. I know better now, but that was my first impression.

Leo: Of him too I could not form a true first impression, sadly.

Impression now:

Laslow: In the end my former classmate was right and I ended up liking the guy. Uh. A little too much, perhaps. I will always wonder how my former classmate knew as he is nothing like the other fictional character he knows I’m into. Xander may give him a lot of shit for flirting, but knowing his background as to why he flirts so much with other women, and especially with his attitude of “you never know when you see someone for the last time,” he’s simply a precious human being trying to get to know his fellow people. Over a cup of tea, if possible.

Niles: He’s still a perv, but he’s also hilarious. Not an Odin-kind of hilarious, but hilarious nonetheless. Also, he does the random meow thing like me, so I send love to this guy. Not too much love though, don’t want to give him wrong ideas.

Camilla: Strong fierce woman, do not mess with her! I still find her a bit creepy when you play male Corrin though. I don’t feel like they translated that very well. I am rather fond of her though.

Sakura: Protect her! PROTECT HER! I became rather fond of Sakura. She’s adorable.

Leo: Well… he’s… he’s a grumpy book nerd, what can I say? I did not name him Ugh Boy for nothing. I actually don’t have a strong impression of Leo, I feel like he fell a bit into the background for me.

Favourite moment:

Laslow: Gee. A favourite moment. It’s a bit rough with non-royals as light isn’t shone upon them as much (is shone proper English?). I mean, obviously I like any interaction of his with Corrin, especially when he gets serious for a moment, but uh… I cannot think of any moment other than specific supports, like the support between Laslow and Mozu.

Niles: Remember when Niles said meow? Good times. No, I actually really enjoyed the Felicia and Niles support (mostly C and B when Niles is messing around). I just love Felicia’s obliviousness towards Niles’ innuendos.

Camilla: Her fight over Corrin with Jakob, whenever Camilla threatens others showing that you can’t mess with her, her support with Elise where she tells Elise need not be like her.

Sakura: I can currently only think of her support with Kaden and Elise.

Leo: Honestly his cut scene is pretty darn cool.

Idea for a story:

Laslow: Honestly, I’m going to fall back on a headcanon post I once made. Laslow being drunk allowing Odin to mess with him as payback from the times Laslow has been reading Odin’s book as I believe Laslow would be the kind of guy to spill the beans on whatever when he’s drunk.

Niles: Niles and his daughter Nina being thieving outlaws, but for the greater good like Robin Hood, helping the poor and all that.

Camilla: I would love to see a story in which Camilla would have to be in a more realistic medieval situation where she has to be ladylike in a clean and virtuous way, especially as a royal, even though we all know that’s not who she is. Of course this story would lead to her desire to protect her family as a warrior of sorts.

Sakura: A story in (short) movie format of Elise and her having a tea party with stuffed animals would be adorable even though they are likely to be too old for that. Let the princesses be their younger selves.

Leo: Can we have a story in which Leo falls hopelessly in love with a book character? A quest to somehow turn this fictional character into something real. I’m sure Odin’s got some supportive ideas.

Unpopular opinion:

Laslow: Oh boy. Well, I hate Xanlow and I dislike Peri and Laslow as well, but these appear to be two of the biggest ships. I actually like Elise and Laslow, I feel that this isn’t very popular, but maybe that’s because of Elise’s age; I headcanon their relationship as innocent and pure so I guess it’s just the point of view I have. Also, I hate the very idea of Laslow in female dancer clothes because I hate how Laslow is always turned into ‘the feminine one’ in whatever gay ship they like to imagine as if gay relationships consist of ‘the masculine one’ and ‘the feminine one’, just let the characters be who they are without ‘straightening’ gay relationships. Sorry, we hit the pet peeve area as that is something that bothers me in general.

Niles: I do not think there are any unpopular opinions to be created about Niles. I think everyone loves Niles. I do am pooped he’s the only character you can have a gay relationship with, but I think everyone agrees with that.

Camilla: I don’t mind her oversexualized clothing like you said in your answer too, especially because her gear is still convincing of that it is heavy armour that is capable of protecting her. Besides, boobs are a weapon too. Do not underestimate medieval times and the ability to distract men with boobs in combat. Do not underestimate boobs. In all honesty though, I really do not mind armour showing skin so long it still looks like the armour is protecting them. That’s character design for ya. Of course it’s a typical anime trope and therefore many dislike it, but it works for Camilla.

Sakura: I do not know the opinions about Sakura cause the only person I follow reblogs Nohrians and not so much Birthright (looking at you evangeline). I cannot imagine anything I could disagree with.

Leo: The Leo and Takumi ship is something I don’t really understand, but then again, I am not far enough into Revelations yet.

Favourite relationship:

Laslow: Corrin, but only my Corrin. This one’s rough. I paired him with with Elise and Azura as I liked these combinations when I play the male avatar, but I haven’t tried all things out yet (but reading into Laslow and Effie I like that Effie allows him to still chat up with women so that gets my stamp of approval as well).

Niles: I have a sincere adoration towards Niles and Felicia, I can’t help it.

Camilla: I like that putting her and Jakob together is basically a contest as to who loves Corrin more.

Sakura: Kaden!!! Sakura and Kaden are terribly adorable together! They take naps together and stuff. 

Leo: I like to pair up Leo with Azura, because you forget that Leo’s a grumpy kid as he seems to enjoy Azura’s singing so much.

I just wanted to add that I am not too much of a shipper to be that invested in this section of the ask, and I simply don’t feel that strong about every character and I do not know many supports by heart.

Favourite headcanon:

Laslow: After the war, Laslow found that it is time to put down his sword and invests his time into what he truly loves: dancing and making people smile. He would still low-key keep himself fit for combat by implementing his skill with the sword in some of his dancing rituals in case any new war would break out or if his partner were to come to danger, but the last thing he would want for is his partner to worry for his life as he would do the same for them if they were to be sent into battle.

Niles: Despite the sadist that he is, he reveals to have a weak spot to those who seem ever so oblivious to his behaviour. He feels the need to protect these people at all costs while continuing to behave the way he is with others. No one knows this softer side of him, however, until they get close to him.

Camilla: For some reason I like to think that Camilla ends up as a cat lady, always surrounded by furry friends. And uh, don’t mess with her cats either.

Sakura: She becomes best friends with Elise. Together they would always visit peasants and offer them food and flowers whilst keeping the children entertained with toys. They are to be known the kindest princesses of their current age as they are absolutely selfless in all they do. Even whilst growing into adulthood and marrying off other men, their friendship never lost its strength.

Leo: I like to think Leo is aromantic. His love for knowledge and magic is greater than for other humans, other than the platonic love he carries for his friends and family. This is why he remains an unmarried prince and this has always worked out as Xander’s son Siegbert is to take over the throne when Xander passes. If for some reason he must marry, he would find political reasons for this much more than to marry for love.

These headcanons are not necessarily favourites, I was already happy I could come up with some whilst avoiding any headcanons that involve specific ships. Some characters already have such a strong canon that I find it hard to headcanon around it as well.

[burgermiester]

Fire Emblem Warriors: The Likely and Unlikely Playable Characters (Lords)

I have seen one or two people hypothesize on the playable cast of FE Warriors saying something along the lines of “All the lords and x, y, z” but I personally feel like it is extremely unlikely that we will see all the lords in the series for two reasons.  First, theres too damn many.  Dynasty and Samurai and Orochi Warriors games have massive playable casts, the crossovers generally stay pretty small. The original One Piece Warriors had 13 playable characters, Arslan Warriors had 15, and the upcoming Berserk Warriors has 8.�� Hyrule Warriors had around 30 (half of which were DLC) so lets take that number as a hypothetical cast number for FEW. Depending on how you want to count it, FE has between 15 and 30 or more lords/main characters.  Thats an unreasonably large number of characters who, and this is my second reason, fight with very similar weapons in very similar ways.  Not only would players be bored by ~15 different characters who run on foot and swing a rapier or a bastard sword, the developers themselves would get bored making them and would prefer a variety of different fighters. 

With all that in mind, here’s the FE main characters and why I think they are likely or unlikely to make it into FE Warriors. Likely character names will be bolded and unlikely characters will be italicized. I will assume for now that the weapons they showed in the trailer are confirmations that their owners are playable characters, but if that changes I will amend the list.  So if you didnt know, those characters are Chrom, Corrin, Ryoma, Xander, and Marth, and I am just going to add Lucina to the list as not only does she also use the Awakening Falchion (as seen in the video) but she is one of if not the most iconic and popular FE character.

* Alm - Poor Alm.  Starting off is, I think, the least likely Lord to make it into FEW.  On top of being from a forgotten and unpopular game he fights on foot and with a sword, like so, so many others.  And the nail in the coffin is that if they would pick anyone from Gaiden they would pick...

*Celica - ...I think shes still a bit of a long shot because, well, its Gaiden, but she provides much needed gender diversity (neither the players nor the developers want a sausage fest) and, perhaps more importantly from a game design standpoint, she fights with both a sword and tomes, meaning her skillset is only competing with Robin among the main characters, and its a lot easier to give people with magic unique move sets than it is people who use the same exact kind of sword with no other powers. 

* Sigurd- Strictly from a design standpoint, Sigurd doesnt do anything that Xander doesnt already do. Both are older than most FE characters but still young and sexy, mounted swordfighting gentlemen, and Xander even has lasers in his sword.  The only thing that might save Sigurd is if his fan-favorite status in the US fan community is equally strong or stronger in Japan.

* Seliph- Theres simply no reason to put in another blue-haired swordfighting foot lord with no added abilities when you already have Marth, Chrom, and Lucina to struggle through trying to make play differently. 

* Leaf- Most likely to rep Jugdral.  He looks different (brown hair. Odd for FE lords), having him in the game means nobody can say you ignored Jugdral entirely, and most importantly has a light sword meaning you can design him to play pretty uniquely. 

* Roy- Smash rep makes him a fan favorite and a flaming sword at least looks different.  Downside is, hes yet another on foot sword lord man to add to the pile.  I predict he will be DLC, as big N already knows they can get away with making Roy a downloadable extra.

* Eliwood- foot sword male no extra power pile.  Plus looks like his son, so they wouldnt likely do both, and if they did one it would be Roy, not him.

* Hector- I think the odds are very good for Hector.  They are going to want to have an axe user in the game and in my opinion only Camilla has a better chance of making it in from all the characters in the series. And theres certainly room for both, as one is on foot and the other on a wyvern, making their play styles very different.

* Lyn- Shes known from Smash, gives gender diversity to the roster, and her unique fighting style of using a katana-esque sword means shes only competing with Ryoma (who has a lightning element to his weapon too, making them look and play a bit different). I think the odds are in her favor.

* Eirika- Could really go either way.  Shes yet another foot sword with no extra power but she at least uses a rapier and fights differently from a few others.  She also helps the male/female ratio. I think shes got a 50/50 shot.

* Ephraim- Most likely Magvel rep (if Magvel even gets a rep).  Hes the only lance lord, so thats unique enough on its own to get him in.

* Ike- Smash rep, fan favorite, special sword to make him fight differently; hes got it all.  Especially if they go by Smash Bros/Fates instead of Tellius (which lets be honest, they would) he has a slow, heavy fighting style that is unique from the other foot sword lords.

* Micaiah- Helps the gender ratio and uses a power (light magic) that nobody else really uses in the same way.  Good odds she will make it.

* Kris- Is neutral to the gender ratio (if they let you pick between male and female, at least), and their ability to be all classes could be represented in a variety of interesting ways in-game.  Plus I understand they are very popular in Japan. Good odds.

* Robin- Smash rep, reps one of the most popular games in the series, neutral to gender ratio (if they let you pick between male and female, at least) and a move set that plays like nothing else save Celica, and they can be made to play very differently even then.  I will be very surprised if they dont make it.