Renault

Renault ​is a playable character in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. He is a Bishop of the St. Elimine clergy seeking to atone for his sins in the past on Valor. Although first seen during the chapter Imprisoner of Magic at the southern ruins, where he will give the party a Goddess Icon, he may be recruited in Victory or Death (Chapter E30, H32) at the northwestern ruins.

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Renault's mysterious legacy is difficult to decipher, requiring several playthroughs and support conversations in order to learn his history.

Through his various Support Conversations, it is understood that Renault was once a soldier of the Caelin army, even knowing Wallace when the latter was just a recruit, but lost his best friend during a battle.

Driven mad from this, he became a blood-thirsty mercenary, killing many that opposed him. A victim in particular was Lucius's father, who was killed in front of a young Lucius and his mother. (During the Lucius/Renault A support conversation, Lucius forgives Renault for killing his father.)

Eventually he associated himself with the Dark Druid, Nergal. Later learning of Nergal's intentions of raising morphs, Renault aided him faithfully in the hope that his deceased friend could be reborn with his magic of morph development. Doing so made him "less than human". Based on this, it is possible that part of Renault's essence was used in the creation of the morphs, or it could be a non-literal statement meaning that he discarded the empathy and decency that makes people human. Also, it is quite possible that Renault's (morph) friend was Kishuna, the morph with emotions. Nergal reincarnated his friend, but Renault saw the error of Nergal's ways and the atrocities committed as a result, and abandoned him. Wishing to atone for his sins, he joined the St. Elimine clergy, becoming one of its most powerful, yet mysterious Bishops.

Eventually, he sought sanctum on the Dread Isle, wishing to atone for his sins from his past, though the most reasonable explanation is that he wished to eventually exact revenge on Nergal. When found by Eliwood, Hector, and their companions, he found them suitable soldiers to oppose Nergal and his morphs, and joined them.

Shortly after the final battle, he disappeared, leaving questions of his past in his wake. His fate is unknown, though it is possible that he could have been living somewhere remote and lived a normal life.

According to a Support conversation with Canas, he may be several centuries old, though this seems to contradict the timeline, as Renault was a mercenary when Wallace was a youth (who despite being old, is not centuries old), and only chose to aid Nergal and leave Caelin after his friend had died. Thus, it is likely that Canas believed Nergal started creating the morphs assisted by Renault several centuries ago, when in fact it may have just been a few decades when Nergal first created his morphs. Another possibility that after leaving Nergal, he returned to Caelin and became a knight for a while before becoming a Bishop, though it is unlikely as he is said to have killed Lucius's parents when Lucius was a child.

Though it is unlikely to be true, Canas seems to believe that Renault himself may be a morph with his comment about Renault living for several centuries, "Perhaps, you are also...?", though Renault does not answer him; nor does he incorporate a morph's appearance attributes (golden eyes, etc.).

Another possible interpretation of the timeline is that a couple of centuries ago, Renault was a Caelin solider up until his friend (heavily implied to be Kishuna) died. Upon his death, he aided Nergal in attempts to bring him back. He became a mercenary of sorts, killing to gain quintessence for Nergal for this goal. However, he is not a morph and thus probably cannot collect quintessence, so he would need to have been accompanied by a morph who would do the collecting. A killer could have been necessary for Nergal at the time because he could have been less skilled in making morphs and they perhaps were less competent in battle. Renault's longevity could have been due to Nergal using quintessence to heal him and preventing his body from aging and decaying, much as it worked for Nergal. After killing for Nergal through the centuries up until a few decades prior to the events of The Blazing Blade, he killed Lucius' father as he was a famed mercenary and thus had excellent quintessence. Even centuries after his time in service to Caelin and the death of his friend, his mercenary deeds still aligned with his loyalty to Caelin. As a result, he associated with the soldiers from time to time. This was when he met and trained Wallace. Within a relatively short time after this, Nergal attempted to reconstruct his friend. The morph made was, as Renault put it, "a soulless vessel". Angry, betrayed, and filled with renewed grief, Renault left Nergal and turned to St. Elimine to atone for his sins. He later went to Dread Isle to live out the rest of his life in solitude, quietly repenting or to attempt to take his revenge on Nergal.