The most anime thread in the Forest: who are the individually strongest characters in the series?

[Thane]

I was busy and bored, so I figured it was high time to procrastinate just a little bit and talk about something silly and fun: who are the individually most powerful human characters in the series? This is in terms of sheer combat prowess and any equipment the character rightfully owns; exclude things like political power.

I also want to underline that we're talking about human characters. That means shapeshifters are exempt from this particular topic, meaning no Laguz, Manaketes, Corrins, or what have you. However, having some dragon juice in you is fine so long as the characters don't transform.

Final note: it's better if the characters actually appear in the games proper, meaning no 12 Crusaders, First Exalt, etc.

Canon

Personally, I believe Xander and Walhart have to rank very highly on the list. Leo, even after having fought the Hoshidans, say they are no match for Xander, while Walhart can take out a large group of the best warriors in Ylisse by himself. Walhart is also notable for basically accomplishing what many Fire Emblem protagonists set out to do, yet doing so without any supernatural allies or legendary weapons; hell, his signature weapon merely states that it's his greataxe, nothing more.

Non-canon

Ike is stated to be the strongest Hero in Fire Emblem Heroes.

Xander doesn't believe himself to be Chrom's equal in battle in Warriors, which is pretty impressive considering how powerful Xander himself is portrayed to be.

I'm sure there are others though, especially from Jugdral where people are running around with several doses of superblood in their veins, but since I haven't played those games, I don't feel like I can comment properly.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, what are yours?

[Jedi]

The second generation of Jugdral is probably the most powerful set of people in the FE-verse simply from who their parents were to what they managed to succeed to do.

[Tryhard]

It's probably Ike, and I would have said Alm as well considering they both kill gods, but I guess Alm gets downgraded due to Echoes retconning the nature of the final boss.

Other characters like Athos (who certainly would be nowhere close to his prime in-game) deserve a mention as well.

[Jedi]

2 minutes ago, Tryhard said:

It's probably Ike, and I would have said Alm as well considering they both kill gods, but I guess Alm gets downgraded due to Echoes retconning the nature of the final boss.

Other characters like Athos (who certainly would be nowhere close to his prime in-game) deserve a mention as well.

Yeah Athos, somehow that slipped my mind, I'd agree with Ike partly although for his godslaying he did have to borrow power.

[Rezzy]

3-13 Archer and Leather Shield Mercenary.

[Tryhard]

11 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Yeah Athos, somehow that slipped my mind, I'd agree with Ike partly although for his godslaying he did have to borrow power.

True, but I'd say most Fire Emblem heroes do receive some divine help.

The founder of Begnion deserves some props just from being able to wield both the Alondite and the Ragnell at the same time dual-wielding. Damn, Altina.

http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Altina

(this image is metal as fuck)

That's breaking the whole "actually seen in-game" thing, though.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Tryhard

[secondworld]

Yeah I'd say the holy blood dudes from Jugdral would be the strongest, since it makes them practically superhuman in lore and obtaining their holy weapons gives them anime-esque power-ups. Among those I'd place bets on either Julia or Julius topping the list, given their specific holy blood.

Taking magic blood out of the equation, Athos does come to mind yes, though it's difficult to judge exactly what he's capable of. Ike and Walhart are definitely who I'd look to for pure physical capabilities. I would also say Karel, but that depends on how much truth there is to some of the stories we hear about him.

[Tolvir]

Dheginsea, Altina, and Soan would definitely be top contenders. You dont become a deity's chosen 3 warriors for no reason. Altina wielded both Ragnell and Alondite, and Dheginsea was an end chapter boss even in old age during Radiant Dawn, and a difficult one at that. Sephiran would also work, along with Ike and Zelgius, but to a lesser extent.

 

[BrightBow]

Ike is really nothing special compared to the Awakening folks. When he was a level 1 Ranger, he was awkwardly waving a training sword around. On the same level, Chrom was performing superhuman acrobatics against Lucina. He also claims to have broken the wall of Ylisse's castle, evidently leaving a hole large enough for a grown woman to pass through.

The holy blood folks from Jugdral may be able to compete. It's hard to pin them down in terms of power but it's rather telling that there is some dialog in the final chapter that suggests that allies without any holy blood are no longer meant to be on the battlefield at all. That implies a ridiculous difference in power.

Edited October 23, 2017 by BrightBow

[UNLEASH IT]

Sigurd conquered two countries without really meaning to, so I'd say him.

Edited October 23, 2017 by UNLEASH IT

[ChaoticHoundoom]

I would agree with Ike being one of the physically strongest characters in FE. Hector I think is also one of the strongest around too. He's wearing a bunch of armor.  If we would like to use in game sprites as some proof, wielding Armads is quite the feat.

[Punished Dayni]

5 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Ike is really nothing special compared to the Awakening folks. When he was a level 1 Ranger, he was awkwardly waving a training sword around. On the same level, Chrom was performing superhuman acrobatics against Lucina and supposedly broke the wall of Ylisse's castle, leaving a hole large enough for a grown woman to pass through.

The holy blood folks from Jugdral may be able to compete. It's hard to pin them down in terms of power but it's rather telling that there is some dialog in the final chapter that suggests that allies without any holy blood are no longer meant to be on the battlefield at all.

Well, I couldn't tell you about a comparison between Tellius and Awakening. But for Awakening, isn't there an issue that the main thing they have is the crazy acrobatics, and no massive strength feats behind them? So I could see Olympic gymnast Chrom, but I don't know about being super OP based off that alone. (And where is my spin dash in pretty much anything outside that cutscene? The Spin Lord must spin!)

Judgral would certainly be up there, considering that Holsety alone could likely wipe the floor with a majority of the cast anyway. 

As for the lore, we have the champions of the Scouring, and I also think there's the possibility of the warriors who succeeded the Rainbow Sage's trial besides Xander could count if we consider Xander among the greats (So Sumeragi, Garon and Gunter). The thing about FE is that usually the weapon is the source of power, so I doubt usually that there too much about a unit being super powerful in their own right. I'd bring up Canas, but well we all know how that ended.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Tryhard said:

It's probably Ike, and I would have said Alm as well considering they both kill gods, but I guess Alm gets downgraded due to Echoes retconning the nature of the final boss.

It's degenerate god vs. a half-god with sanity and near full power. Also, Ashera is a true goddess, no "I'm really just a dragon!" retcon (well possibly a retcon).

 

1 hour ago, Jedi said:

Yeah Athos, somehow that slipped my mind, I'd agree with Ike partly although for his godslaying he did have to borrow power.

The Falchions never get such a big power boost, but they are a divine help to the heroes who use them. Also, Ike had chaos coursing through his body when he slew Ashera, had he been a lesser soul, he might have gone berserk. Remember- Yune sealed away was the source of his father's madness.

 

20 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Ike is really nothing special compared to the Awakening folks. When he was a level 1 Ranger, he was awkwardly waving a training sword around. On the same level, Chrom was performing superhuman acrobatics against Lucina. He also claims to have broken the wall of Ylisse's castle, evidently leaving a hole large enough for a grown woman to pass through.

The holy blood folks from Jugdral may be able to compete. It's hard to pin them down in terms of power but it's rather telling that there is some dialog in the final chapter that suggests that allies without any holy blood are no longer meant to be on the battlefield at all. That implies a ridiculous difference in power.

Dang Awakening sloppy lore power creep.

As for the Holy Blood, if they choose to nerf/balance the HWs in the inevitable FE4 Remake, that'll make justifying the badassness of the Major Blooded a bit harder. If the Balmung becomes 17 Mt and +10 Spd, Shannan will still beat Larcei, but it won't be so great as it currently is.

 

Athos did tank, was it two or three giant Fire Dragon breath hits? Pretty impressive give they pierce all defenses (save his magic barrier- of the highest caliber no doubt).

On the enemy side, Gharnef barring the non-canonical Warriors appearance needs Starlight to beat. Julius has special dialogue if Seliph slays him so the game acknowledges that Naga isn't necessary to slay Julius. Loptyr < Imhullu.

[Etrurian emperor]

Dheginsea has a pretty strong chance of being one of the strongest Fire emblem characters. He's certainly the strongest mortal of his continent and if we're to believe Neasalla even Ashera would hesitate to get involved in a fight with Dheginsea. A goddess being scared of you is pretty high praise. 

Nergal is a possible contender. He has strong dark magic, can shrug off getting killed at least once and summoning an army of powered up mini bosses got to count for something. If Darin was accurate when stating Nergal could enslave dragons rather then just easily duped he's got that going for him as well. 

Arvis may not be the strongest in raw strength but he's arguably the most versatile fighter in the entire series. Aside from being a powerful mage that can wields almost all magic he can also wield almost every physical weapon, has a strong defense through his armor and has a good dose of cunning too. 

Ike is certainly the most powerful of the lords though he doesn't exactly face very high competition there, most lords never struck me as the powerhouse of their respective armies. In terms of power Ike is probably equal to Caineghis who he can spar with in the ending. Ike's got raw power but may rank lower in other atributes like intelligent. 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Etrurian emperor

[joshcja]

Camus may not have magic juice but he uuuuuh. Is Camus alright.

Just throwing that out there.

Edited October 23, 2017 by joshcja

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Good guesses, but it's actually a dragon girl with the physical and mental maturity of a grade schooler.

[Jave]

If we’re talking raw strength, (as in, who would win an arm wrestling contest), I think Effie could be a serious contender for strongest normal human. I’m not sure how much is played for laughs, but we do see her lifting carriages and boulders in Fates, which is quite the achievement. 

She also has the highest Attack stat in FEH, so there’s that. 

[Green Tees]

If we were to do stats, etc, Black Knight could systematically take down Anankos and Grima in one shot with Eclipse because of his stats.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

Well, I couldn't tell you about a comparison between Tellius and Awakening. But for Awakening, isn't there an issue that the main thing they have is the crazy acrobatics, and no massive strength feats behind them? So I could see Olympic gymnast Chrom, but I don't know about being super OP based off that alone. (And where is my spin dash in pretty much anything outside that cutscene? The Spin Lord must spin!)

Well, I did mention that Chrom supposedly broke the castle wall. A castle wall is intended to withstand entire armies and siege weaponry, so that implies an absurd amount of strength on his part. Chrom even claims that he did it during training, so apparently he is so strong that he broke the wall accidentally.

[Punished Dayni]

1 minute ago, BrightBow said:

Well, I did mention that Chrom supposedly broke the castle wall. A castle wall is intended to withstand entire armies and siege weaponry, so that implies an absurd amount of strength on his part. Chrom even claims that he did it during training, so apparently he is so strong that he broke the wall accidentally.

I didn't actually address that earlier, sorry. Well, while Ylisse is supposedly looking to keep peace at that point, you'd have to assume the wall was made before then. Might be a couple of reasons (consider them as dumb as you wish): The wall could be actually pretty weak by the time Chrom sparred there. We don't actually know what wall was broken, or the state of it when Chrom is supposed to have broken it after all. It could have not been repaired either for a long time or after the last war. Considering it's Chrom, I could see him going at full force with his swing too. Though it's unlikely, the Falchion might be a factor as well if he was swinging it in training. I don't think it's out of character for him to use it in training.

Though that's just some ideas that I doubt would change much. I was going to mention low gravity for the acrobatics earlier (I any case, possible link to when the concept for the game was being set on Mars?) Those feats might explain Awakening's high caps. :P

[Thunderstar]

1 hour ago, Thane said:

Non-canon

Ike is stated to be the strongest Hero in Fire Emblem Heroes.

FEH isn't the only game where Ike is stated to be the strongest Hero. If you consider FE13's DLC canon, the Old Hubba said it too in the Champion of Yore 3:

Spoiler

That's Ike! He was a legend—many say the strongest the world has known.

I think it was also one of the reasons why Chrom wanted to recruit Priam.

Aside from him, pretty much all the characters who have Holy Blood in FE4 especially the kids and the others in FE5 such as Galzus are probably the strongest.
Though Reinhardt doesn't have Holy Blood,  he was said to be the second coming of the Crusader Tordo/Thrud according to Dorias. 

 

The Brand of the Exalt, the brand of Mila and Duma are also proofs of having a special bond with Naga, Mila and Duma who are all Divine Dragons kinda like the Holy Blood (some of the Crusaders' descendants had brands/marks too) so I guess it could mean that Chrom and some of his family's members, Alm and Celica are supposed to be pretty strong.  Chrom also has broken the wall of the Ylisse's castle and he and the Falchion were pretty much blessed by Naga near the end of FE13. Moreover, if you want to recruit Walhart, Chrom needs to attack him at least once on the paralogue. I guess it makes Robin quite OP as well if that's the same thing with their brand.

The FE13 kids are probably pretty strong too because of the world they are from and Xander nearly lost a match against Inigo/Laslow. Anankos also gave some sort of power to Inigo, Severa and Owain.

The Branded in the Tellius games seem to be powerful as well. Stefan said in his support with Mordecai that the Branded have great power thanks to their Laguz blood. Micaiah had unique and special abilities though I am not sure if I would say she is pretty strong. Stefan himself and the Black Knight are pretty OP lore wise. Petrine was strong enough to be one of the Daein's Four Riders and Soren has good magic abilities. Spirit charmers are more adept with magic and can become very powerful mages so I guess Pelleas can count.

Overall it seems that most people who has a kind of brand/mark are quite strong lore wise.

 

The Three Regalia are strong and legendary weapons so I guess we could add Hardin, Camus, Jeorge, Astram and Minerva (the Hauteclere is said to be on par with the Regalia) .
If I remember well Jeorge was also considered to be the strongest Archer on the Archanea continent.

Other villains like Nergal, Ashnard, Gharnef,  Zephiel, etc... are probably somewhere near the top.
Marth for being able to defeat Medeus, Athos and others wielders of the Legendary Weapons of Elibe like Hector, other descendants of dragons and people having dragon blood like the Fates Royals are other good choices.

There are probably some others I forgot but there are the only ones I can think about right now.

[SMinairo]

Honorable mention to Rudolf.

I know it happens in Celica's dream, and that at the end he seemed to have Duma's power, but still, he beat Alm, Zofia's powerhouse, with a jousting lance while being dismounted, I mean... I'm probably the only one hyped by that.

[Tryhard]

5 hours ago, SecondWorld said:

I would also say Karel, but that depends on how much truth there is to some of the stories we hear about him.

in his support with Dart, Karel himself pretty much says the rumours are "embellished", so it's unlikely he's actually been one-against-an-army.

[donkeykhang]

2 hours ago, Thunderstar said:

If I remember well Jeorge was also considered to be the strongest Archer on the Archanea continent.

From the man himself:

Quote

Jeorge:
The finest in the continent...? I'm sorry, but that's a gross exaggeration. Please don't mention it again.
Jeorge:
I hail from a noble family, you see, and somebody within my family just spread that claim for fame and nothing else. I'm not actually that great.

Granted, there could be modesty or trickery on his part but I don't think that's the case here.

Ironically the localisation of his recruitment dialogue in Shadow Dragon actually has him kinda boast about showing the finest archery on the continent...

[Alastor15243]

6 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Ike is really nothing special compared to the Awakening folks. When he was a level 1 Ranger, he was awkwardly waving a training sword around. On the same level, Chrom was performing superhuman acrobatics against Lucina. He also claims to have broken the wall of Ylisse's castle, evidently leaving a hole large enough for a grown woman to pass through.

The people in Tellius can do that to prison doors made out of solid steel with a single swing.