Marth

Marth (マルス, Mărusu) is a character from the Fire Emblem series. More specifically, he is the central protagonist and Lord-class character of the original game, Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi (The Dark Dragon and Sword of Light), the third game, Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo (Mystery of the Emblem), and the DS remakes of his games, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~ . He is the only character in the history of the series to star as the central character in more than one Fire Emblem game.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
In the Archanean year 602, Marth's father, King Cornelius left Altea, and led his army against Emperor Medeus of Dolhr, and his allies Macedon and Grust. As his father battled his enemies, Marth remained at home and trained day after day, in case he would someday have to take to the battlefield. Unfortunately, that day came sooner than expected, as Cornerlius was betrayed by his ally, King Jiol of Gra, and fell in battle. As news of the death of his father reached Marth, the Gra army appeared in Altea, ready to take the young prince hostage. Fortunatly, the quick thinking of his tutor Malledus, Knight Commander Jagen, and his sister Elice allowed him to escape harm. As sister remained behind to buy Marth time, Marth escaped on ship heading for the small island kingdom Talys.

For two years, Marth lived and trained with the people of Talys, never forgetting the shame his nation had faced from defeat. During his time on Talys, Marth grew close to Princess Caeda, she served as a pillar of stregnth for the exiled youth. When the Pirates of Galder attacked Talys, Marth and his knights came out of hiding and rescued King Mostyn from his peril. With his location announced to the world, Marth, Caeda, the Altean Knights, Talys Mercenary Army, and a volunteer corp left the island for Archanea.

Their first objective was to meet with Princess Nyna of Archanea, and Duke Hardin of Aurelis who were leading an uprising against the Macedon army in Aurelis. As they traveled, they wiped out the remain Galder Pirates and liberated the village of Galder, defeated the Soothsire Bandits of the Samsooth Mountains, and rescued the Macedonian noblewoman Lena from slavery. Soon they arrived in Aurelis, and Marth reunited with his old friend Merric, a mage who was studying at Khadein, the sanctuary of sorcery. Together, the young men defeated the Macedon army in southern Aurelis, and raced to meet with Hardin and Nyna in the north.

When Marth and Hardin finally met, Hardin offered Marth the role as leader of the Archanean League, believing Marth to be just and honorable. As Marth accepted the role, Hardin remained by his side as sub-commander of the army. Together the two men captured Aurelis Castle, and forced the Macedon army out of Aurelis for good. With Aurelis liberated, Princess Nyna gave Marth the Fire Emblem, a shield which represented being the hero of Archanea whose life is dedicated to protecting mankind. With Marth recognized as the hero of Archanea, he and Hardin turned their attention to Archanea, and moved to liberate the Holy Kingdom.



As the army marched, they were ambushed by the Grust army at Port Warren, and forced to flee to the isolated kingdom Pyrathii. In Pyrathii, the enraged king Mannu challenged them to battle, and he revealed himself as a member of the ancient Manakete race. After a hard fought battle, Mannu was defeated, and Marth prepared to invade Archanea. Before he could attack, the Macedonian Whitewing Catria appeared before him, and asked Marth to save the young Princess Maria. If Maria could be saved, the elder Princess Minerva would lead a rebellion against Dolhr and her brother King Michalis.

Taking the Macedonian for her word, Marth and his army reluctantly marched on the prison at Deil Castle, and there inside its walls was the tiny Princess Maria. With Maria safe, Minerva defected to the Archanean side and helped Marth liberate Archanea. After the Archanea League stormed the Archanean Palace, Marth defeated Lord Volzhin and Archanea was saved. With Archanea safe, Marth turned his attention on Gra, and avenged his father's death at the hands of King Jiol. Despite his victory against Gra, Marth felt no joy as he saw how Gra had been destroyed from the war. With a new sense of determination, he left Gra, and headed to Khadein to liberate the city from the Dark Pontifex Gharnef.

When he arrived at Khadein, he discoverd that the Dark Tome Imhullu had made Gharnef invincible, and that as long as this tome existed, the land would never be safe. The wise Archsage Gotoh appeared before Marth, and told him that the only way to defeat Gharnef was by creating the Starlight tome, which could be created by bringing the Starsphere and Lightsphere from the Fane of Raman to him. Since Altea was on the way there, Marth decided to liberate Altea before finding the Orbs.

When Marth arrived in Altea, he encountered heavy resistance from the occupying Grust army, but his sheer determination overcame their might. After defeating the Manakete Morzas, Marth learned that his mother Liza had died in prison, and his sister Elice was taken away by Gharnef to his hideout in Thabes. With his homeland safe, Marth and the army moved out for the Fane of Raman.

When Marth entered the holy temple, he discovered Tiki, the last known survivor of the Divine Dragon Tribe. The kind Manakete Bantu snapped Tiki out of her trance, and Tiki offered her support to Marth, as the Divine Dragons are bound to save humans from danger. Marth recovered the Lightsphere and Starsphere from the temple, and prepared to meet Gotoh in Macedon.

Along the way there, Marth battled Camus the Sable in Grust. Princess Nyna had fallen in love with the general and asked him to join the Archanean League, and give his support to her. While Camus did love Nyna, he was unable to betray his kingdom, and fought against Marth in a heated battle. After the battle ended, Camus disappeard, and was presumed dead.

History (Out of Japan)
Although most of Marth's Fire Emblem titles were released only in Japan, he has acquired more widespread international attention through his appearance in the Nintendo GameCube game Super Smash Bros. Melee. Nintendo of Japan had originally intended to make him playable only in the game's Japanese release, but when he garnered favorable attention during the game's North American localization, Nintendo of America decided to keep both him and fellow Fire Emblem protagonist Roy in the North American and European versions. The appearance of Marth and Roy sparked a greater level of western interest in the Fire Emblem series, and it was in part because of this that Nintendo began releasing the games internationally beginning with the seventh title in the series. Later when Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out, they kept Marth but swapped Roy out for Ike. All three are from the Fire Emblem Series.