Most Prominent Healer Character in FE1/11

[Randoman]

So of the Akeanean healer characters in FE1/11, who do you think is the most prominent of the four between Wrys, Lena, Maria, and Elice?

By prominent, I mean promoted the most by IS in general, or treated more highly by IS than the other healer characters. For example, Lilina would be considered more prominent than Lugh since Lilina gets more official art and Lilina shows up in Fire Emblem Heroes while Lugh doesn't. Another example would be Serra being more prominent than Priscilla due to Serra being a playable Heroes character and an FE13 spotpass character while Priscilla isn't.

As for who I think is the most prominent, I really don't know. With Wrys, I feel his exclusion from FE3 Book 1 is quite a significant strike against him, especially with how popular and highly regarded FE3 is in Japan compared to other FEs. Lena, she wasn't playable in Fire Emblem Heroes while Wrys and Maria are. Maria, well, she's in both Cipher and Heroes and wasn't cut from FE3 Book 1 like Wrys was, but Maria does miss out on things like not getting a Codename STEAM cameo like Wrys or not showing up in the Fire Emblem anime like Lena. Elice I mainly included in the poll just to keep the list of healers complete (though I'll admit, I do wish they gave Elice more promotion, since she is the sister of Marth, the main character, after all).

[Extrasolar]

This is a difficult question. I honestly don't think any of the healers in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and its remake are prominent out-of-universe; they don't really get much focus or promotion at all.

The anime isn't exactly the best reference point, considering it was planned to be a full adaptation of the game, but was cancelled prematurely. I'm sure that, should it have been successful, Maria would have shown up in it...though Wrys was curiously absent there, too.

I can only answer this question from plot relevance within the game itself.

Wrys is a definite no. Like you said, he was straight up written out of Mystery of the Emblem Book 1, so they're definitely not attached to him. Lena has a minor plot arc with her running away from home, meeting up with Julian and fleeing from Navarre, and her reuniting with Matthis, but falls off in relevance after that.

Maria is the sister of two of the game's antagonists (Minerva at least comes around eventually), so she's got a lot of plot relevance right off the bat. She's also responsible for keeping Michalis alive into New Mystery, so...there's that.

Elice is just straight up missing for most of the game, so I don't think that she qualifies.

I would give it to Maria on plot importance alone.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Extrasolar

[The Geek]

Wrys probably gets the most press out of all of the FE1 healers simply due to his memetic status.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Maria is probably the most plot important and most promoted. Lena's the most relevant gameplaywise due to Hammerne access. Elice is bizarrely irrelevant/ignored given that she is Marth's sister.

[eclipse]

So, let's see what each of them brings to the table:

- Wrys is a meme, to the point where he got an alternate art Cipher card
- Lena's prominence in the first game is somewhat minimal (Hammerne is nice, not the end of the world).  She's a part of the villain's plot in the second game, so meh.
- Maria is part of the Macedonian plot arc, is indirectly responsible for the second game's Starlight, and is the only one of the batch to appear in Heroes.
- Elice is the most plot-relevant, IMO.  She's kidnapped for both games, because of Aum access (first game) and Medeus' revival (second game).  Unlike Maria, she didn't make it into Heroes.

Thus, Maria > Elice > Wrys/Lena, IMO.  I'm taking into account the second game, since it helps to make everyone's places a little clearer - not that their positions would change.

EDIT: But if you're specifying which Archanea game, then this topic belongs in THAT subforum - not General FE.

Edited March 4, 2017 by eclipse

[Emeraldfox]

Wait where's Wendell how could you forget him.

 

Also Lena is the most prominent, I think.

[Extrasolar]

3 minutes ago, Emeraldfox said:

Wait where's Wendell how could you forget him.

Oh yeah... That douchebag kept killing my Marth back in Shadow Dragon until I got super lucky with the RNG and had him dodge a fatal hit.

[Armadillo8]

I'd say Wrys is the most "prominent" overall. It kinda depends on which factors you look at... "In-game" or "other sources"?
Judging from their in-game relevance I'd say: Elice<Maria<Lena<Wrys
And "Other sources" (Cipher, Heroes, Artwork etc.): Wrys<Maria<Elice<Lena

Edited March 4, 2017 by Mariode

[HK Motendra]

9 hours ago, Emeraldfox said:

Wait where's Wendell how could you forget him.

Wendell is a Sage, not a Bishop. Sure, his class enables him to heal others, but its not quite the same class path, despite both Sage and Bishop doing relatively the same, weapon wise.

The real question ought to be, where's Boah?

[RedEyedDrake]

Honestly? Elice, because of how the question of whether she is dead or if, by some miracle, she managed to survive is hanging over the protagonist's head for some two or three years, adding even more turmoil on top of all of his other burdens.

Also, she gets a nation named after her a thousand years into the future. Not even Marth himself got that treatment.

Edited March 4, 2017 by RedEyedDrake

[Randoman]

14 hours ago, Emeraldfox said:

Wait where's Wendell how could you forget him.

 

4 hours ago, Motendra said:

The real question ought to be, where's Boah?

I didn't include Wendell or Boah in the poll since I strictly wanted to take into account non-promoted healers only. I mean, in an FE game there's usually always that one unpromoted healer that gets a lot of promotion (like Clarine in FE6 and Mist in FE9/10), and I was wanting to know who was considered to be that for FE1/11.

14 hours ago, eclipse said:

Thus, Maria > Elice > Wrys/Lena, IMO.  I'm taking into account the second game, since it helps to make everyone's places a little clearer - not that their positions would change.

EDIT: But if you're specifying which Archanea game, then this topic belongs in THAT subforum - not General FE.

I'm okay with FE3/12 roles/importance/prominence being taken into account as well in regards to judging prominence of those 4. I just don't want Mallesia and Yumina to be judged among them in the list since I only want it be judged among the non-promoted healers in FE1/11.

Ah, so from now on, any FE1/11 related threads should go here, and if it includes FE1, 3, 11, and 12, (or general Akanea) it can go in General FE? I never actually knew the official rules with Akanea related threads, since some threads could technically belong in both NES/SNES era and the DS era.

[Hardin]

Wrys is a meme, but Lena is to clerics as Jagen is to Paladins. I don't see how it's even close between the 4. 

[Extrasolar]

3 hours ago, RedEyedDrake said:

Honestly? Elice, because of how the question of whether she is dead or if, by some miracle, she managed to survive is hanging over the protagonist's head for some two or three years, adding even more turmoil on top of all of his other burdens.

Also, she gets a nation named after her a thousand years into the future. Not even Marth himself got that treatment.

Actually there's some evidence that "Elice" and "Ylisse" aren't related. Elice's Japanese name is "Ellis," implying that the English name is pronounced "Ell-iss" and not "Eee-leese" like the country's name and the character from Fates. Just my two cents.

[RedEyedDrake]

Her name and the name 'Ylisse' are separated by two thousand years or so. Her name would obviously get corrupted over time.

[maybe]

Just now, RedEyedDrake said:

Her name and the name 'Ylisse' are separated by two thousand years or so. Her name would obviously get corrupted over time.

it's still probably a coincidence

i really doubt the writers intended on that, especially since the japanese name for ylisse is "iris"

[Fly_or_Die]

I voted Lena, but upon further reflection I actually think it's Maria. Lena is the most usable healer in her own game, but her impact outside of FE 1/3/11/12 is minimal. Maria shows up in much more frequently in official art outside of the DS games, if I am remembering correctly.

I mean ... out of these 4 healers, only Wrys and Maria are in FE Heroes (as of now). And 

20 hours ago, eclipse said:

Wrys is a meme, to the point where he got an alternate art Cipher card

so the answer is probably not Wrys.

[Flee Fleet!]

I'm just going to go with Maria, since she's plot important for some time (I mean she's the reason why Minerva fights and also gets recruited). She's also in Cipher and Heroes. And I've heard she has more artwork, so there's that.

Gameplay wise, it's Lena. I mean come on, how many of you haven't used Lena and haven't placed her on every single map? She's likely to be the most used healer in the game, and arrives early too. 

Elice is also another plot important character but you barely get to see her until the last few chapters come around. At least she gets more screen time in the prologue of FE11. She should have been in Heroes though, since she is Marth's dear sister.

Wrys just has a meme status and was replaced by a vulnerary in FE3. He did make it to Heroes and Cipher, but not being in FE3 was a heavy blow against him. 

So for me, I guess it's :

Maria>Lena>Elice>Wrys

it's my opinion though so uh...yeah.

[eclipse]

10 hours ago, Randoman said:

Ah, so from now on, any FE1/11 related threads should go here, and if it includes FE1, 3, 11, and 12, (or general Akanea) it can go in General FE? I never actually knew the official rules with Akanea related threads, since some threads could technically belong in both NES/SNES era and the DS era.

Here's how it works:

Specific game - specific game subforum
Is it all on one platform? - system subforum
Across multiple games/systems - General FE

In other words, figure out what game(s) you want to include, and work it out from there.

[The Geek]

On 3/4/2017 at 1:24 PM, RedEyedDrake said:

 

Also, she gets a nation named after her a thousand years into the future. Not even Marth himself got that treatment.

No, Elice and Ylisse are not related at all.

In Japanese Ylisse is called "Iris"

[Jotari]

Practically speaking why would they name a country after Elice? What did she actually do with her life aside form being Marth's sister that would warrant it? Then again coming to think about it the entire continent of Europe is named after a pretty minor character from Greek legend so I suppose it's somewhat plausible if the original names actually were similar.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Jotari

[Lord Tullus]

Why does it matter which is most prominent?  When you look at it from the original post's perspective, I'd say Maria, Wrys, Elice, then Lena, because Elice is such a grand burden for marth.  But in my eyes, Gameplay and story relevence is the important part, because IS recognizing characters is not worth my time to contemplate.  (They pretend like Tellius doesn't exist half the time) So personally, I'd say: Lena (First Arc and Hammerne and being the best Res tank), Maria, Elice, then Wrys.

[Magical Glace]

On 3/4/2017 at 1:54 AM, eclipse said:

only one of the batch to appear in Heroes.

Wrys is in Heroes as well though...

Plotwise, Maria or Elice, but outside of FE1/11/3/12 themselves I'd say Wrys's memes more or less carried him.  

[eclipse]

6 hours ago, Glaceon Mage said:

Wrys is in Heroes as well though...

Plotwise, Maria or Elice, but outside of FE1/11/3/12 themselves I'd say Wrys's memes more or less carried him.  

Nah, all I have is a vulnerary that's occasionally shared.

I think it says something about Elice when her plot importance revolves around being kidnapped.  IIRC, Maria chose to be imprisoned in FE11.

[Samias]

On 3/5/2017 at 11:52 PM, The Geek said:

No, Elice and Ylisse are not related at all.

In Japanese Ylisse is called "Iris"

The country is romanized as Iris, but in Japanese it's written out as イーリス, which sounds more like "Ee-risu". It actually sounds closer to how English speakers would say "Elice" compared to the flower Iris (aye-ris). Since Elice is derived from Eris, you could conceivably think of Iris of a further corruption. That is totally just speculation on my part, but we did get the country romanized as "Ylisse" because it sounds more like how the developers intended "Iris" to sound. That said, Elice barely has any presense within the game until she's back with the Alm staff, but she's back so late so I'd say it's hard to rate her above Maria in terms of plot importance.

That said I think Lena is the most prominent cleric, having an archetype of her very own. She also has a surprisingly large amount of backstory in a game where characters typically have little-to-none.