Erk

Erk is a playable character in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. He is a solemn, intellectual young man who is deeply devoted to his studies. He despises distractions, especially when they come from his former employer, the cleric Serra.

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It is unknown whether Erk was an orphan, or was abandoned by his parents at some point. Possibly, he may have left them voluntarily, or they entrusted them to his master directly when he was young.

Regardless, it is revealed that Erk was raised by the Mage General Pent and his wife, Lady Louise of Castle Reglay, in Etruria, ever since he was twelve. Erk followed in Pent's footsteps to become a talented mage in his own right, and became so obsessed with his studies that he fell ill and Louise had to nurse him back to health.

Eventually, when Erk grew older, he ventured out on his own. He embarked on a training sabbatical as a mercenary, and was employed by House Ostia to escort the Lycian priestess Serra back to the castle, but they got entangled with Lyn and her companions on their quest to thwart Lundgren and liberate Caelin. Erk was opposed to joining them for reasons of delay, but was forced by Serra to comply. When Lyn retook the throne of Caelin, both Erk and Serra left them and reached Ostia, where he fulfilled his mission despite his and Serra's constant bickering along the way.

In the following year, per Pent's instructions, he escorts the noblewoman Priscilla of House Caerleon in her pursuit for the truth behind House Cornwell's fall-out and for any signs of her family. However, they become trapped in Laus by Marquess Darin, who upon discovering Priscilla's lineage, and probably finding her attractive as well, imprisons her in one of Laus's villages until she agrees to marry him.

Erk travels to another village up north to petition for aid, but is, unfortunately, unable to gain help from the peasantry. He leaves the village and runs into Serra, who is under Hector's employment. Though he is naturally hesitant to rejoin with his former contractor, whom he finds exasperating, he decides to take advantage of the fact that they are fighting against Laus and aids them. Later, Priscilla also joins the group, which allows him to continue his mission to protect Priscilla.

Subsequently, when Nergal and his morphs are defeated, he returns home to Etruria, where he is asked to become the new Mage General as Pent has retired. He politely refuses and instead devotes the rest of his life to the study of magic.

Through supports with his various potential love interests, he could develop reluctant feelings for the cleric Serra, use his connection with Pent and own magical talent to gain the peerage to wed Priscilla, or marry a fellow mage, Nino, and settle down in Pherae, fathering Lugh and Raigh before disappearing to look for his missing wife, who had left her family to keep them safe from Black Fang bounty hunters.

If he is canonically the true father of Nino's children, it can be inferred that he may have died before the War on Bern occurred, as his children are orphans in the storyline sequel, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. On the contrary, his default ending merely states that after the game's events, Erk "devotes the rest of his life to studying magic." This implies that he likely survived in his single ending, but simply chose not to participate in future battles.