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Least Favorite FE Character?


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From the older games, I don't like Makalov, but he's introduced like that and you're supposed to feel angry about him.

I hate Tharja and I find her so annoying that when after my first playthrough I killed her instead of recruiting her. Peri is just unlikeable! Who thought of this character and what kind of disgusting trope is she supposed to fill? Niles is bad, and finally, Camilla. Oh boy, I DESPISE characters like this, people complain about Faye, but she's waaaaaay more tolerable than any other stalker-type girl.

 

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Limiting it to just playable characters, Peri is without a doubt the absolute worst character in the series. Put as politely as I can, she's a disgusting excuse for a human being who has absolutely nothing redeeming about her and would be a boss for you to kill in literally any other FE game. She's a literal psychopathic serial killer.

Dishonorable mentions go to Keaton, Henry (they're both like Peri but to a lesser extent), and Tharja/Rhajat (she/they are just bad people).

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@Etrurian emperor ok so while I understand what you’re trying to say to which I agree to some extent that still doesn’t disprove my point. 

No one sets out(at least in their right mind anyway) to purposefully write a “bad” character. As an aspiring writer myself, I can certainly attest to that. In that sense the core intent of any writer is to write a “good” character. Now what defines a “good” character or a “bad” character can vary depending on the person you ask (which is why I hate using those terms when judging a character’s writing quality) and that seems to be the case here. When I say a character is “bad” or “good” per say I am more so talking from an objective stand point. My general consensus for what makes a “good” character or in other words a well written one generally boils down to a couple things:

1. Is the character consistent in how they’re characterized? Are there any inherent contradictions in their actions or words that the character would otherwise not make? A character can have contradiction but it needs to be condusive to  the story and make sense to to their overall characterization.

2. Can I understand why this character acts the way that they do? Since you mention Severa(who is atm my favorite FE character) I’ll use her as an example. While yes Severa is an abrasive jerk, I can understand why she acts that way. Essentially because of her inferiority complex due to always being compared  to her mother; she develops a superiority to compensate. She acts arrogant and condescending to others to validate herself. It gets to the point where she is an outright bully at times. Now does that necessarily excuse or justify her bullying or abrasive behavior? No it doesn’t but it does give it context and to me that’s more important.

3. Does the character have nuance? What I mean by this is that what aspects of the character combine together to create a greater whole? Like does the character have any hobbies? If so, do they make sense given what we know about them? What do they like? What do they dislike? and why? What’s their worldview? And what led them to having that worldview? I could go on but you get the idea

4. How do they fit into the story? What purpose do they serve? And does that purpose add to the overall narrative?

really what all boils down to(at least for me) is asking “why does this character act the way they do?” Or “why is this character here in this story?” And getting what I feel to be an acceptable answer. I consider a character “bad” if they do not meet these criteria. 

Now you seem to define a “bad” character as a character you generally don’t agree with or who clash with your own moral standards. Which is fine and is a valid reason to dislike a character but I do not think that any of that is relevant when judging whether or not a character is well written. Because by that logic, all villains would be considered poorly written by their very definition. All a villain really is is just another character, the only difference being is that they have to clash with the hero in some form or fashion. In this sense your definition of a “bad” character is just an unlikable one which again there’s nothing wrong with that but I don’t think that is relevant as to judging a character’s objective writing quality. 

In relation to azura and xander they tried to write good characters but failed for me at least(well somewhat anyway)because of the inconsistency between their supports and story iterations. In that sense they failed to meet criteria #1 because there are things they do in the story that their support counter parts would never do. That’s not to say, they’re horribly written because both characters have “good” aparts them like nuance, depth and very little contradiction in their supports at least.

To go back to my initial point. In the case of peri they tried to write a well written psychopath character which they somewhat failed to do, meeting really two of the criteria I presented. 

To summarize, no writer in their right mind ever sets out to purposefully make a poorly written character. A character may be unlikable sure but that doesn’t necessarily make them poorly written. Again the core intent of any writer or hell creators in general is a quality work which in this case means characters and in this case they kind of failed to do so.

 

Edited by Otts486
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Oh boy. Another one of these.

Tharja: Giving credit where credit is due: There is more to Tharja than her obsession with Robin, several conversations don't deal with this aspect of her character (or it only gets a passing mention), and the game fully acknowledges that her behavior is creepy and unhealthy. That still doesn't excuse Tharja of her awful actions against some of her support partners, how she was an abusive parent to Noire, and how unlikable and disturbing she is in general. I'm also not a fan of her as a unit, as she's a little too slow and inaccurate for my tastes, which isn't helped by the overall low accuracy of dark magic.

Sereva: While I'm glad the localization team went for a more "Jerk with a heart of gold" approach instead of the original "tsunduru" personality she had, they seemed to have focused a little too much on the "jerk" part. While this does make Sereva's rare moments of kindness shine brighter, you have to deal with a lot of her crap before you can find it, and it's just not fun to read her supports most of the time. It doesn't help that she has one of the more frustrating paralouge chapters in the game (although being fair, most of the paralouges where you recruit the child characters aren't fun to play), although I will praise her as a unit. Her mother is the only first generation unit besides Robin who can wield every single weapon type in the game, and Sereva inherits that and them some, making her extremely versatile in the roles she can fulfill.

Faye: I don't actually hate her at all, but she is still my least favorite character in Echoes. I do like that she serves as a bit of a deconstruction of Tharja and Camilla and the like (remove the fanservice and the other aspects of their personality, and what do you have left?) and that it has a reasonable in-game reason for coming about (an innocent crush was elevated when she was nearly killed by her own nations soldiers, was saved by the boy she liked, witnessed and possibly participated in a deadly fight against said soldiers, and clearly didn't take the whole thing well). However, it's annoying and frustrating to think that IS, out of thousands of other perfectly workable personalities they could have chosen for a new character, picked one that predictably caused some controversy. They didn't even need to give her a complex personality; even a simple one could have gotten far more interesting conversations and interactions with Alm and Silque than what we currently got. Her voice actress also sounds bored, and remains the only unimpressive performance of all the voice cast, but I don't blame her actress at all considering the lines she was given. However, I will say that cleric Faye is a GODSEND, as the usefulness of Physic on Alm's path cannot be stated enough, and I will always be thankful for that.

Runner-ups:

Sumia: She's a source of several funny moments and enjoyable interactions with other characters, but she's seriously hurt by having a limited support pool, as unlike Chrom, she can't make up for it with story presence. Not helping is that every single one of Sumia's partners have full support pools, meaning they have more chances to gain depth than her. She hasn't personally impressed me much as a unit, either, as while she can dodge and hit everything, damaging something is an entirely different story.

Henry: Anytime he opens his mouth, I either want to laugh my head off or deck him in the face. I also hate the "crazed killer who relishes in violence is actually a genuinely good guy and father" thing they were going for, as it seemed disrespectful to the other genuinely kind characters in the cast as well as trying to sweep the less appealing implications of his personality under the rug as a joke.

Matthis: He's a key example of how bad the AI of recruitable enemies can be, and it doesn't help that he's generally not worth the trouble.

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14 hours ago, Otts486 said:

pretty much sums up my thoughts on the guy. Honestly thank for finally being able to put into words what i've been thinking for a while but could never truly fully articulate. 

 

13 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

 

@Thane I feel like I've always had a hard time describing to people why I have issues with Alm, which is exacerbated by the fact that so many people seem to say he's their favorite lord or one of their favorite characters.  But you pretty much lined out how I felt about it, and also my issues with Azura.

Alm's popularity does confuse me considering he seems to embody so many of the things people don't like with Corrin. Now granted I don't think he's quite so bad, but I also don't think that our inability to name and customize him somehow makes the consistent pandering any easier to swallow. Alm does not work in his own story, and it's a damn shame, because it feels like they really tried with Echoes. Rise of the Deliverance which is spared both from Alm and the main plot of Gaiden which they adhered to far too much, has three amazing episodes of some of the best character interactions in the series. It really does make me wonder what Echoes could've been.

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5 minutes ago, Thane said:

 

Alm's popularity does confuse me considering he seems to embody so many of the things people don't like with Corrin. Now granted I don't think he's quite so bad, but I also don't think that our inability to name and customize him somehow makes the consistent pandering any easier to swallow. Alm does not work in his own story, and it's a damn shame, because it feels like they really tried with Echoes. Rise of the Deliverance which is spared both from Alm and the main plot of Gaiden which they adhered to far too much, has three amazing episodes of some of the best character interactions in the series. It really does make me wonder what Echoes could've been.

A lot of Alm's personality comes from his English voice actor Kyle McCarley, and the localization. If I recall you played with the JP dub of the game, so your experience may slightly vary with most of the people here that played with the English version. 

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2 minutes ago, Jingle Bells said:

A lot of Alm's personality comes from his English voice actor Kyle McCarley, and the localization. If I recall you played with the JP dub of the game, so your experience may slightly vary with most of the people here that played with the English version. 

Yes, but some added humor does not change Alm's role in the story or other characters' relationship with him. It does not magically expand upon his and Celica's relationship, for example, which feels artificial at best.

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7 minutes ago, Thane said:

Alm's popularity does confuse me considering he seems to embody so many of the things people don't like with Corrin.

This. Honestly the popularity of echoes’ cast as a whole is what confuses me. It really does grind my gears when I see someone say echoes has better characters than fates or awakening because while yes the characters themselves are likable and generally inoffensive, they are hardly interesting in any capacity. They have little to no depth or nuance beyond their surface level personalities. While the DLC helped a little it didn’t do enough in my eyes especially when compared to stuff like the future past or heirs of fate.

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2 hours ago, 1% Critical Hit said:

From the older games, I don't like Makalov, but he's introduced like that and you're supposed to feel angry about him.

I hate Tharja and I find her so annoying that when after my first playthrough I killed her instead of recruiting her. Peri is just unlikeable! Who thought of this character and what kind of disgusting trope is she supposed to fill? Niles is bad, and finally, Camilla. Oh boy, I DESPISE characters like this, people complain about Faye, but she's waaaaaay more tolerable than any other stalker-type girl.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about mentioning Faye, but then I remembered that Faye is just Camilla, but way more down to earth(Which is really saying a lot, because Faye is a total space case), and way less creepy.

I never get the feeling Faye would kill Celica because Celica gets Alm. She has her creepy stalker tendencies, and her ending shows that she's an awful mother and wife, but I don't get the feeling anybody isn't safe around her. I do, however, get the feeling Camilla would kill anyone Corrin chose over her, and then kill/hurt Corrin for good measure.

Edited by Slumber
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25 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

Henry: Anytime he opens his mouth, I either want to laugh my head off or deck him in the face. I also hate the "crazed killer who relishes in violence is actually a genuinely good guy and father" thing they were going for, as it seemed disrespectful to the other genuinely kind characters in the cast as well as trying to sweep the less appealing implications of his personality under the rug as a joke.

Amen. I liked Henry in my early days of Awakening, but over time his gimmick of being someone who relishes in bloody violence started to get tedious and off-putting. 

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1 minute ago, Thane said:

Yes, but some added humor does not change Alm's role in the story or other characters' relationship with him. It does not magically expand upon his and Celica's relationship, for example, which feels artificial at best.

It is a bit strange, from my perspective Alm is the most vanilla protagonist in the series. He doesn't fail (optional content doesn't really count), or struggle, or change much from beginning to end. The only I saw him have question himself was after killing Rudolf and Berkut, wondering who he is but that was so brief.

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Oh, and I want to bring up Kellam, as another character completely ruined by his gimmick. Unlike Gaius, who is made an insufferable character because of his gimmick, Kellam makes everyone else bad characters.

Kellam is a core member of the Shepherds that nobody acknowledges. They'll straight up look past him and just not acknowledge his presence. You might think this is some innate trait meant to be goofy and give him a really, really dumb character quirk. But this makes no sense when taken into context of his backstory and alternate circumstances. It's fully explained that people started ignoring him because they chose to.

Kellam was a shithead of a kid, and his family started ignoring him because of it, and he's acknowledged in the alternate timeline when people really needed him. It's especially egregious with the explanation as to why he's ignored, since he's a totally nice dude as an adult, meaning it makes no sense that he's been continued to be overlooked. You cannot have this duality of "This is a character who has very little presence among his friends and comrades" and "This is a character who people chose to ignore" without some really bad implications towards the former group.

This just makes the Shepherds look like a bunch of assholes who give no mind to their friend and struggle to acknowledge a guy laying his life on the line for them. So much so that nobody notices that he leaves after the war is over. He can marry several characters of high stature, and nobody even bothers recording it.

Edited by Slumber
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Oh I'm also not really fond of Odin and Ophelia. 

Odin is the point where Owain stopped working as a character. Owain should be wacky and unpredictible but when he returned as Odin he became boring and VERY predictable, the exact opposite of what he should be. Odin doesn't really work as Leo's retainer because I don't see any special chemistry between him and his lord which is the base requirement for being a retainer It also doesn't help that unlike Severa and Inigo he hardly grew as a person. Its just Owain...again. 

Ophelia is even worse because if a gimmick became tired the second time then it remains tired when used a third time. And she's just awful to Siegbert, bullying him about his greatest insecurity just because it clashes with her delusions. 

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1 hour ago, Thane said:

Alm's popularity does confuse me considering he seems to embody so many of the things people don't like with Corrin.

tbf, a lot of people also like Corrin.  Granted, I'm pretty sure the pool of people who like Alm and the pool of people who like Corrin doesn't find much intersection, but still people seem to find things to like in these characters.  Although I've only ever heard actual justifications for Alm, but I think that's mostly because this is the only FE community I visit for the most part and it's one of those communities that seems to have a past time of taking the piss out of Awakening/Fates and the idea of avatars.

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12 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Odin is the point where Owain stopped working as a character.

I think this is a good way of phrasing it. I'll extend this to all Awakening characters in Fates as it's a very shallow form of fan service. Even if Laslow is more agreeable than Inigo, the fact is that I don't buy any of them being there even with the dlc (which makes them come across as idiots in the game proper. That is a recurring problem in Fates). Asugi, Rhajat, and Caeldori's excuses for being there are even worse. 

8 minutes ago, Gregster101 said:

Why do I feel like I'm the only person in the history of ever to have Alm as his favorite lord? :(

You are not. We're even discussing just how popular he is. 

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Compared to other opinions in this thread, my reasons to dislike some characters are actually more shallow.

Jakob. I hate his fake accent, his quotes and his sickening 'loyalty.' The worst part is that those of us who prefer female Corrin must deal with this prick on every campaign. Thank God that he can actually die in Chapter 6.

Peri. I dislike her portrait, specially her mad face, and her hair is hideous. Not only is she a silly character, but a psycho killer among 'good guys' demands a ridiculous amount of ignorance from every other party member to be all in character. She might have had a chance as Hans's officer or such.

Camilla and Charlotte. The possessive and the fake. I dislike their voices, their tone and quotes. And I hate their outfits; if I wanted to see tits, I would look elsewhere. Camilla at least is a great unit, but Charlotte is just a backpack.

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14 minutes ago, starburst said:

Camilla and Charlotte. The possessive and the fake. I dislike their voices, their tone and quotes. And I hate their outfits; if I wanted to see tits, I would look elsewhere. Camilla at least is a great unit, but Charlotte is just a backpack.

Eh.  At least Charlotte has a decent explanation for her appearance and behavior, as opposed to Camilla.

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As far as Fatewakening characters go, I actually like Charlotte. I like that she's "just one of the guys", but due to gender norms and stuff, tries to come off as really girly and wears skimpy clothes in order to (hopefully)get the attention of some rich dude and marry into money so that she and her family are financially stable.

Not the greatest reason to wear nothing leather undies and belts, but it's something.

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3 hours ago, Slumber said:

Oh, and I want to bring up Kellam, as another character completely ruined by his gimmick. Unlike Gaius, who is made an insufferable character because of his gimmick, Kellam makes everyone else bad characters.

His class is also hated/disliked which adds to the forgettable gimmick more strength.

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6 minutes ago, 1% Critical Hit said:

His class is also hated/disliked which adds to the forgettable gimmick more strength.

I get that this was part of the joke, but they went way too far with the gimmick of the actual character to the point where it's another case of "They make everyone look bad by proxy". 

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Lyon: Everything wrong with Sacred Stones's story has him at the epicenter.

Arthur (Fates): To describe him in a word; Useless.

Sigurd: He's about as interesting as a block of wood, and is the poster boy for everything wrong with Genealogy.

Edited by Shadow Mir
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4 hours ago, Slumber said:

Oh, and I want to bring up Kellam, as another character completely ruined by his gimmick. Unlike Gaius, who is made an insufferable character because of his gimmick, Kellam makes everyone else bad characters.

Kellam is a core member of the Shepherds that nobody acknowledges. They'll straight up look past him and just not acknowledge his presence. You might think this is some innate trait meant to be goofy and give him a really, really dumb character quirk. But this makes no sense when taken into context of his backstory and alternate circumstances. It's fully explained that people started ignoring him because they chose to.

Kellam was a shithead of a kid, and his family started ignoring him because of it, and he's acknowledged in the alternate timeline when people really needed him. It's especially egregious with the explanation as to why he's ignored, since he's a totally nice dude as an adult, meaning it makes no sense that he's been continued to be overlooked. You cannot have this duality of "This is a character who has very little presence among his friends and comrades" and "This is a character who people chose to ignore" without some really bad implications towards the former group.

This just makes the Shepherds look like a bunch of assholes who give no mind to their friend and struggle to acknowledge a guy laying his life on the line for them. So much so that nobody notices that he leaves after the war is over. He can marry several characters of high stature, and nobody even bothers recording it.

...And this is why I hope IS never again attempts what they did with Awakenings cast. That is, introduce a character as a one or two dimensional trope, and then have them revealed to be three dimensional characters as one reads more supports. The execution was a double-edged sword, as while this makes unlocking supports of even average quality rewarding because the characters are gaining more depth little by little, it also means that if you don't use a character that often, you're stuck with an intentionally misleading first impression.

Kellam's gimmick isn't that he's forgotten. His "gimmick" that he's extremely difficult to spot. In the majority of his supports, a character in question is trying to look for him. Kellam makes his presence known, often to the shock of his support partner, and once the joke is passed over, they get to the meat of the support. Often times, this joke is either dropped or downplayed in their next supports.

The Shepherd's aren't being assholes and deliberately ignoring him. They know Kellam exists, and often try to talk to him in supports. The joke is that he's ridiculously stealthy despite not trying to be so, and all while wearing a giant suit of armor. Sometimes the support is based around this peculiar habit, sometimes it's about something else entirely.

This is why I believe Kellam's single ending was written before they created his supports and an oversight they didn't bother to fix. For it to take months or years for the Shephards to forget he was no longer there is so ridiculously out of character I don't see any other plausible explanation.

Edited by Hawkwing
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3 hours ago, Slumber said:

As far as Fatewakening characters go, I actually like Charlotte. I like that she's "just one of the guys", but due to gender norms and stuff, tries to come off as really girly and wears skimpy clothes in order to (hopefully)get the attention of some rich dude and marry into money so that she and her family are financially stable.

Not the greatest reason to wear nothing leather undies and belts, but it's something.

I feel if Charlotte was, like, wearing a dress or something appealing to men without being kinky/skimpy, she'd be more respected as a character.  Though then again, a lot of people are naturally inclined to hate golddiggers, so there'd still be plenty who would hate her.

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8 hours ago, Gregster101 said:

Why do I feel like I'm the only person in the history of ever to have Alm as his favorite lord? :(

If my avatar and banner didn't give it away, Alm's my favorite lord as well. I know he's not exactly a complex character, and I can agree that his relationship with Celica isn't exactly fleshed-out, but to me, he's the most likeable and relatable out of the other lords. I guess I'm just fond of the "nicer" types of people, the kind who I could probably sit down and have a conversation with, since I'm easily scared away by bolder personalities. I can see some of myself reflected in Alm's insecurity, too, I know I second-guess myself a lot and don't have much confidence without friends supporting me.

Though granted, it has been a while since I've played the GBA games seriously, so that opinion might change- I'm also quite fond of the Blazing Sword trio.

Edited by Farina's Pegasus
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