Marth (Fire Emblem)

Marth
Fire Emblem series character
First game	Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi (1990)
Created by	Shouzou Kaga

Marth (マルス, Marusu) is a fictional character from the Fire Emblem series of video games. 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) and the third game, Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo (Mystery of the Emblem). He is the only character in the history of the series to star as the central character in more than one Fire Emblem game.

Although Marth's Fire Emblem titles were released only in Japan, he has acquired more widespread international attention through his appearance in the Nintendo brawler 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 version. 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.

Appearances

File:Marth(anime).PNG

Marth as he appears in the anime

• Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi, released for the Famicom in

1990. (A.K.A "Book I" in Monshō no Nazo[1])

• Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo, released for the Super Famicom in 1993. (A.K.A "Book II")
• An anime adaptation based on the events on both games. It was produced by KSS in Japan in 1996 and its two episodes were localized by ADV Films in North America.[2] See also: Fire Emblem Anime
• Super Smash Bros. Melee as an unlockable character along with Roy.

Synopsis of Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo, Book I

Template:Spoiler Marth is prince of Altea and a direct descendant of Anri, the warrior who slayed the dark dragon Medeus. However, Marth becomes an exile in the neighboring nation of Talis and his sister Ellis is taken hostage after his father is killed battling the evil sage Garnef. With the help of the Altean knight Jeigan, the Talisian Princess Seeda, and others, Marth embarks on a quest to find the sacred sword known as Falchion and the Fire Emblem that will allow him to wield it. Only then will he be able to confront Garnef and the resurrected Medeus, win back Altea, and rescue Ellis.

Synopsis of Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo, Book II

After the defeat of Medeus and the fall of the new Doluan Empire, Marth spent his days reconstructing the great kingdoms, returned the Fire Emblem and its pieces along with Falchion back to their original places and became ruler of Altea for five years until rumours had it that Hardin (a former ally of Marth), conquered various countries in Akeinia with the help of the Mamkutes (Manaketes in the U.S.). Hearing this, Marth gathered a new army and went off to Grunia. When Marth and his men arrived, several of his former allies were fleeing or some were murdered during the pillages of Hardin. Marth then travelled to Macedonia where he met Linda again who had been keeping the Fire Emblem safe from harm. Marth noticed however, that the pieces of the Fire Emblem were gone, tracing one of them to the Dragon's Mountain, Marth considered thinking they may have well scattered everywhere else. Heading back to Grunia, Marth reunited with Seeda who then leads Marth to General Lang. After Marth retrieved most of the gems, he headed back to Altea and found Hardin had conquerd it while Marth was gone, and Marth defeats every intruder and finds another gem and leaves to see Gra which he had seen a similar fate to what happened to his own kingdom.

Meeting even more old friends, he finds a secret passage to Hardin's fortress and outnumbers his army. Marth realizes it is hopeless defeating Hardin and uses Starlight dust to make Hardin powerless and Hardin then surrenders to Marth and begs for forgiveness and Marth discovers that Hardin was possessed by Garnef himself making Hardin drop the last piece of the emblem and than Hardin passes away. Marth then heads to Dolua where Garnef lurks and defeats him by using the Starlight dust, only then to find the new reborn Medeus who was guarded by possessed priestesses and guarded by Earth dragons, the Fire Emblem emits a power that scares away the Earth dragons giving Marth's army the opportunity to save the priestesses and for Marth to defeat Medeus once and for all with a slash of the Falchion. Marth then returned home and rebuilt all of Akaneia, where he'd live peacefully for the rest of his life. Template:Endspoiler

Super Smash Bros. Melee

File:Marthssbm.jpg

Marth as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee

Marth is unlocked when the player has used all the default (non-unlockable) characters in Regular Match mode or Versus mode at least once. He appears on the basis of the official Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo artwork. He uses his Falchion as his main weapon. As one of the four swordfighters in Super Smash Brothers Melee (alongside Roy, Link, and Young Link), he has a considerably long reach. The tip of his blade - its "sweet spot" - is markedly stronger than the middle of his blade (this is a possible reference to a normal falchion, whose blade is wider at the tip and narrower at the middle). His only real weaknesses are a lack of projectile attacks and poor endurance. However, his power, long reach, high speed, and deadly combos make him a formidable foe. Marth is considered an upper-tier combatant by the competitive Smash community. The tip of Marth's blade is stronger than the tip of Roy's blade. Likewise, near the hilt of Roy's blade is stronger than the area near the hilt of Marth's blade. However, the tip of Marth's blade is usually stronger than near the hilt of Roy's, and the area near the hilt of Marth's blade is usually stronger than the tip of Roy's. Using Marth at the top competitive level is very difficult, as his moves require extreme precision and timing to be truly effective.

Ken, the generally acknowledged best player in the world, uses Marth as his main character.

It is currently unknown if Marth will return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Notes and Trivia

• Marth was voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa in the Japanese version of the anime and Super Smash Bros. Melee. In the western localization of the anime, he is voiced by Spike Spencer, and is referred to as "Mars", but with the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, Nintendo of America officially localized his name as "Marth." However, it is worth noting that Melee's debug menu, which was written and programmed by the game's Japanese developer, lists his name as "Mars." [3]
• It is unknown whether or not the installments prior to the international expansion of the Fire Emblem series, (including those that Marth starred in), will be released outside of Japan as downloadable games on Nintendo's video game console, the Wii. However, Nintendo of America is hiring translators for the Virtual Console .