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Oh man FD you found the right guy to go on about. Well then here goes.

Sigurd: Amazing lord when he gets the right stats. Coming promoted, he's awesome. Given that he is mounted also helps him out. He gets major props for that. And his growths make me smile as well cause he generally caps at level 30 for me and has amazing stats. I just love this guy cause he is a good wrecking machine when I need him.

Right off the bat he isn't the strongest person given his starting weapons but he can grow to be amazing. The weapon he gets in the prologue helps him out so much and I think there is a slight chance he could possibly solo the entire first gen with some ease, but loads of difficulty. Clearly you would need some units to help out (Chapter four I am looking at you for sure) but all in all he's amazing. I like using him and I can be proud once he goes to finish his job.

Personality wise: He's there for his people. He goes to aid his friends when they need it (shown from the very beginning of the game to the end) and isn't afraid to cut down people in his path. Seriously, we need guys like this more often. He shows diplomacy when needed but when that doesn't work he won't turn tail and run. He'll fight to save his friends, family, etc. He's your neighborhood guardian in a way.

It's been a very long time since I last played genealogy of the holy war. sweatdrop

So Sigurd eh? Well, as a character he's a very powerful lord. Even from the beginning of the game I knew that this guy was just going to be plain awesome! Of course it's never a good idea to overuse him too much. He can take on plenty of enemies pretty easily. Well, with the exception of magic users as they can deal quite alot of damage to Sigurd. Yeah.. It's true that you could give him a barrier ring to help out his resistance a little bit I suppose?

Despite that he has Great stats all around! Especially since he has some pretty decent leadership and if you combine that with a character that has the charisma skill so that's definitely handy in tight situations.

Personality wise~ I really liked this character! He's one of my favorite lords hands down. And heck, he went through so many hardships throughout the game so it's difficult for me not to like him. xD

It looks like I have never posted in here. Worst of all, I missed Lowen! But better late than never.

I feel like calling Sigurd the first promoted Lord in the series is a tad misleading, what with FE4 promotion being different as it is. Sigurd starts at level 5, and he can still make the climb to level 30 and grab all the level-ups along the way. He starts out solid, he gets a helpful silver sword during the prologue, a handy holy weapon during chapter 5, he's mounted on a horse, and he has the growths to keep on being great. I have only been through FE4 once thus far, but he was a great unit . And I felt his absence during Gen. 2. A mounted lord right off the bat really did make things a lot easier.

Personality wise? Sigurd's not my favorite lord, but he's definitely likeable, and I certainly do like him. He's the sort of hero who stubbornly fights for what he believes in, and he goes through more than enough hardships over the course of the game that he can knock against. He does show colors of his own, but he is more shaped by what happens to him over the course of the game, which isn't a bad thing. Even though I don't think he's the most dynamic character, the game successfully sold him to me as a good person, and the kind of guy you want to see come out on top after all his hardships. Heh, yeah...

What a trooper.

Sigurd is my second favorite Lord in the series. I absolutely love his character and his story, and I’ll talk about that before his merits as a unit just because it excites me so.

Sigurd is a MAN. A REAL man; ******** all those 15-18 year old Lord protagonists in the other games (still love you though, Leaf). He gets married and has a child during his story instead of in some epilogue if he gets the right A support. His best friends from school Eltshan and Cuan live in different countries and all of them have real responsibilities that prevent them from assisting each other at all times, even if they’d like to, and to me, being the only protagonist of his age with all the circumstances that he has makes him seem like a much more fully developed and believable protagonist than Fire Emblem usually dishes out. There’s a maturity in how he handles himself that makes him very endearing; even as his story throws him further and further into Hell, he never sinks into despair and still constantly acts in the best interest of his country despite it certainly no doing the same for him (and without some really obnoxious cheery disposition younger characters tend to have). And then there’s his story. Sigurd does everything right and praiseworthy throughout his entire story, despite the various machinations and manipulations of others that eventually drag him down, and that gives his story such a tragic hue. He is THE archetypal tragic hero of the Fire Emblem series, and it was executed brilliantly in this game. Even as soon as he meets his wife Deidre the game is suggesting to you he’ll have an unhappy fate. When people talk about how great FE4’s plot is, they’re probably not referring to Gen II, they’re referring to the story of Sigurd (what happens with his son is SO much more generic and uninspired). And everything that happens to him, especially his ending, made me care about him so much more.

Suffice to say, I really like Sigurd’s character.

As a unit, he’s also pretty great. First Lord to come in a promoted class and the only one unable to promote again (and his class is clearly the inspiration for Eliwood’s promotion), and giving your Lord a mount in FE4 is a VERY good thing with its maps. But things work differently in FE4, and although he doesn’t promote, he DOES have 25 levels to gain, as Tiki pointed out – he just also gets the benefits of his promoted class for the entire game. He’s also the first Lord to come strong and remain strong (it’s a pretty huge improvement and shift coming after Marth). The weapon he’ll want to Berserk to pass down is conveniently handed to him in the Prologue and makes him VERY strong compared to your other units, and while you don’t want to overuse him, you DO want to get him to Level 30 for better stats for Celice, so he gets to utilize those nice stats throughout the entire first generation. 100 gold a use may seem steep at first when his other weapons are very small fractions of that, but Sigurd has no problems going through the arena, and when one remembers how expensive other weapons, especially Holy Weapons, are, still comes off as paying for peanuts for that Silver Sword of his. And, of course, being the Lord means perfect availability, which is great when combined on a unit like Sigurd. And he’s fortunate enough to have Pursuit, which you can’t take for granted in FE4. His growths are very nice for Gen I standards, and he has very good chances of capping Strength, Skill, Speed, and Defense (79% chance of capping Strength and Skill, 19% chance of Speed, and 15% chance of capping Defense), although they do have rather disappointing caps – still, it’s plenty impressive for Gen I. Also, while it is just for the last chapter you have him for, Tyring’s 10+ Skill, 10+ Speed, and 20+ Resistance totally make up for his less than impressive caps in the former two, and take him from a magically susceptible unit to a mage killer (not that there are exactly a whole lot of mages to be killed in Chapter 5, but it helps if he has to eat a Meteor).

On top of being a great combatant, he’s a great team player with those Leadership stars making him a mounted support unit for anyone that needs the help. It is unfortunate that he’s bound to Deidre for a lover which limits the benefits he gets from a lover and his ability to give the benefits of being one, but on the flip side, he doesn’t have to participate in the chaos of finding a lover and producing the best children possible and will never HAVE to be glued to any other unit which makes him more flexible in constructing strategies and formations.

The guy is totally solid, in character, story, and in use as a unit. And I really, REALLY want him to have a DLC chapter. He deserves it crying !



Curious: if Sigurd wasn’t stuck with Deidre who would you pair him with? I’m thinking Lachesis to stack Baldo and Hezul blood.

I hadn't even considered Sigurd with Ayra simply because he doesn't bring any skills to the table (I always do Lex now, who makes them nigh-indestructable and very quickly), but Baldo+Odo would be very nice.

But speaking of Baldo+Odo, Celice wouldn't mind Holyn for a father either, I imagine. And Lunar Sword would somewhat make up for his caps, although you'd have to be able to spare the Pursuit Ring, which impacts other pairings you can do in the same runthrough, I guess.


A lot of the second generation's fun comes from getting the fruits of your labors with the children, I feel like. The plot is more aftermath and in place already, I agree. I really don't care for Celice at all, but I can't get enough of Sigurd.

I actually stuck with Noish through my entire FE4 draft. Shock and awe; I'd never done it, before. Needless to say, if my First Gen group wasn't so small, I probably wouldn't have used him as much as I did.

His high Defense saves his life on numerous occasions, and his HP was fairly solid, which made him a good choice to meatshield with. His Strength surprised me; he punched through tanks relatively easily.

But his Speed. Oh god, his Speed.

Lacking Pursuit and barely ever activating Continue, he's a unit I wouldn't recommend to a serious FE4 player. I have never paired him, and would always prefer that he die single. In the event that he happens to fall in love with a lady (which I try my best to ensure never happens), it's time for a reset or a timely killing off. I prefer to pair Ayra with Lex or Holyn, myself.

He's not the most horrible unit I've ever had the displeasure of working with, but he certainly doesn't stand out. Without a Pursuit Ring, I found that he was only terribly useful with Javelin pot-shots or a Hero's Lance to make up for his speed deficit. On that note, Hero's weapons are the best (and probably the only) way to take advantage of that magnificent Strength and his Critical skill.

He made my Draft a lot easier, but I won't be using him again.

I realize Noish isn't nearly as exciting to talk about as Sigurd, but the show must go on.

The current unit to discuss is now Alec. My analysis of him will be coming soon. I DO have to say I find him more useful, even if I'm not using him OR Noish for a number of reasons that will be expanded upon.

And good news: After Alec, we move on to FE9 for a while, and start with Ike! Everyone likes Ike.

Covering Alec after Noish, FE4 really does have one of the weakest red/green Cavalier pairs in the series. The only pair that gives them competition is FE5’s (who have usable growths; they just happen to come too late at too low a level and aren’t good enough to warrant using).

Alec is definitely bringing more to the table than Noish does, at the very least, though. Both in terms of personality and as a unit. His growths are very “meh” (no need to post them thanks to you, Kurai; very appreciated), although they aren’t terrible (Noish arguably has the better growth spread despite being the worse unit for other reasons). But having Pursuit, alone, can put you above someone who doesn’t, and if one were to use both Alec and Noish, Alec would deliver more damage overall throughout a game just because of Pursuit, and he would deliver it consistently. He’s definitely not someone worth really trying to use much unless you’re doing a special runthrough where you’d need to, but he can make potshots and the like for a while, which is certainly of use.

What really makes Alec useful, and it isn’t big (but shouldn’t be ignored), is that he has Awareness and is thus a surefire Ayra-surviving lure for Chapter 1. That’s a somewhat big deal. Ensuring you can recruit Ayra without someone dying means you get a fantastic unit without someone dying. And so by helping us get Ayra, Alec has more value and purpose in FE4 as a unit then a number of other people. It’s something in his favor, and it really is quite useful.

Awareness is his only real notable selling point as a potential father, too. And that alone is hardly at the top of any list for making kids, but it can be used to amusing novelties. Alec can also be used as a sort of insurance in pairings, too, however.

In the eyes of many, Sylvia’s children are worse than their substitutes (cases can be made for both sides, but the substitutes are among the most used and most justifiably used). On top of that, Sylvia has tremendous use herself, and has the hots for one of the most useful Gen 1 characters, Levin. But Levin DEFINITELY does not want to be paired with Sylvia, which gives you the worst Holsety user possible. What all this amounts to is that it’s good to use Sylvia in Gen 1 because Dancers ******** rock in FE4, but you don’t want her to wind up falling in love with any father who’s actually good. And ESPECIALLY with Levin, who she can wind up paired with fairly easily. Suppose you want to use Sylvia as long as possible because she’s really useful, intend to kill her at the last moment possible to get Laylea and Sharlow, and don’t want Sylvia ruining any of your other pairings while having her around so long. Alec is your solution, since no one really cares about pairing with him, anyway. He has a very amusing conversation with Sylvia that will jumpstart how close they are to falling for each other, lets you pursue any other pairings without worry (especially those with Levin), and has no problem keeping up with her after she moves thanks to that mounted movement of his. It’s a very niche thing, but it’s also very useful for ensuring you get everything you want in that common enough scenario.

And speaking of his conversation with Sylvia, it really validates how fun Alec’s personality is. Certainly better than Noish’s anyway. He’s hornier than Sain! Or at least more open about sexuality than Sain, praising Sylvia for her body and sexuality very openly, and he makes sure to have fun doing so. It’s hard not to like his character, at the very least.

Overall, he’s certainly not impressing anyone with his combat abilities, but he offers a decent number of uses that require no prowess at combat, anyway. And that’s still better than plenty of people who aren’t impressive in combat but have no other redeeming qualities.