Marth/Synopsis

The story of the Hero King Marth from the Fire Emblem franchise.
== Archanea Saga ==
=== Background ===
In the early days of the War of Shadows, Prince Marth of Altea remained in his homeland with his mother Liza and older sister Elice, focusing on his studies. Marth's father, King Cornelius, waged war against the Dolhr Empire, ruled by the tyrannical Earth Dragon Medeus. Though previously slain by Cornelius' grand-uncle Anri, Medeus was resurrected by the Dark Pontifex Gharnef, and so Cornelius strode the battlefield with Anri's sword Falchion, one of the few weapons capable of slaying dragons. With much of the Altean army at the king's side on the battlefield, Altea was protected by a garrison from the allied kingdom of Gra. However, in the midst of battle, Gra betrayed Altea, and the garrison captured its castle for Dolhr. Marth fled the castle with the tactician Malledus and knights Abel, Jagen, and Frey, Elice staying behind to buy him time. On the way out, they were joined by Cain, who was present on the front lines. He stated that King Cornelius was killed and Falchion taken by Gra's forces. Marth also freed the knight Gordin from Gra's forces. The group is overwhelmed by reinforcements led by the king of Gra, Jiol, but are saved when Frey disguises himself as the Prince and flees south, diverting their attention. Altean knight Draug successfully prepared a ship to facilitate their escape, and Marth reluctantly leaves Altea with his retinue, vowing to return to free his homeland and seek vengeance against Gra and the kingdom of Grust.
=== War of Shadows ===
For two years after Altea's fall, Marth and his retinue lived in the nation of Talys' eastern fortress, granted to them by King Mostyn. When Galder pirates besieged the island, Mostyn's daughter Princess Caeda alerted them to the raid. After Marth and his men successfully routed the enemy, Mostyn advised them to take arms against the domination of Dolhr. Marth's group first arrived at the country Aurelis, which was occupied by Dolhr ally Macedon. During Aurelis' liberation, Marth befriended its prince, Hardin, and received the Fire Emblem from Princess Nyna of the Holy Kingdom of Archanea, symbolizing him as the world's champion against Dolhr.
From Aurelis, Marth's army liberated Archanea, then stormed Gra both to avenge Cornelius and retrieve Falchion. Gra fell and Jiol was slain, but Falchion was missing. Though Marth wished to liberate Altea, Malledus advised him to storm the desert city of Khadein, as he thought that the sword was held by its ruler, Gharnef. This mission ended in failure, as Falchion was nowhere to be found in Khadein and Gharnef proved invincible to attack thanks to his Imhullu tome.
While Marth's army reclaimed Altea, Marth learned that its occupying ruler, the Manakete Morzas, killed Queen Liza and sent Elice to Gharnef, who needed her to revive the dead with the mystical Aum staff. Despite his grief, Marth turned down Malledus and Nyna's suggestion to rest and greeted the newly freed and overjoyed Alteans. Following this, Marth's army conquered Grust and Macedon, and visited the White Sage Gotoh. Gotoh urged them to defeat Gharnef at the desolate city of Thabes and, using the powerful Starsphere and Lightsphere, created the Starlight tome, which could counter Imhullu's magic. Marth's army successfully slew Gharnef, recovered Falchion, and freed Elice.
Near the end of the War of Shadows, Marth's army attacked the country of Dolhr and stormed its keep, where Medeus waited. Marth engaged him in battle, and with Falchion, slew him as Anri did once before. After the war, Nyna encouraged Marth to confess his love for Caeda, and the two were engaged.
=== War of Heroes ===
In the year following the War of Shadows' end, Marth devoted himself to Altea's reconstruction. He also planned a wedding date for Caeda and himself, but was interrupted by a message from Hardin, who had since married Nyna and become Emperor of Archanea. Hardin requested that Marth help suppress an insurrection in Grust. As Archanea held power over Altea, Marth could not disobey this command, so he assembled Jagen, Arran, Gordin, Draug, and many newer knights to settle the crisis, leaving Altea in Cain's hands. In Grust, Marth met with the leader of Archanea's occupational army in the region, General Lang. Marth quickly grew to dislike of Lang's cruel nature, and developed suspicions about the Grust's rebellion when Lang revealed that its leader was General Lorenz, a former ally during the War of Shadows. Meeting with Lorenz, Marth learned that he launched the uprising due to the Archaean Empire's tyrannical treatment of the region, and to stop them from harming Grust's heirs, Prince Jubello and Princess Yuliya. Fatally wounded from a previous battle, Lorenz perishes in front of Marth, his last words warning of Hardin's corruption.
Lang took Yubello and Yumina into custody, despite Marth's protests, and demanded that the prince address a military coup in Mastodon. As the country's ruler, Princess Minerva, was another ally of Marth's, his army fought the rebellion with the help of Macedonian Whitewings Palla and Catria. While they were successful at subduing the coup, they could not find Minerva, as she was previously rescued by her brother Michalis. However, they learned from another Macedonian ally, Julian, that both his fiancé Lena and Minerva's and Michalis' sister Maria had mysteriously vanished some time ago. He also encountered his old Archaean ally Linde, who delivered the Fire Emblem to him once again on Nyna's orders. Returning to General Lang, Marth was next instructed to retrieve the royal heirs, who were rescued by the mercenary Ogma and on the run. As Ogma was another ally of Marth's, he had enough of Lang and refused to follow any more orders from him. Lang considered Marth's defiance an act of war, but fled when Jagen challenged him. Marth's army searched for Ogma, Yubello, and Yumina, finding them surrounded by bandits. Marth's forces rescued and recruited the three, along with a mysterious masked knight calling himself Sirius. After successfully fending off the bandits, Marth was interrupted by the arrival of Caeda, who claimed that the Archanean Empire launched a surprise attack on Altea, and she only escaped thanks to Elice staying behind to fend them off.
Deciding to liberate the Grustian people, Marth's army attacked Lang's headquarters, Ostern Keep. After killing the General, Marth finds his old ally Bishop Wendell, who warns him that the world is in danger of falling into ruin without the Starsphere, which shattered during the creation of Starlight. Wendell suggests that they search for the Starsphere's shards at the Fane of Raman in Chiasmir, but the place was plundered by a band of marauders. Leaving the Fane of Raman and crossing over a nearby bridge, Marth's army was confronted by Emperor Hardin himself, who made plain his intention to punish all dissention. Dark magic surrounding Hardin renders him invincible, forcing Marth's army to escape via ship. Marth resolved to find magic that could counteract Hardin's shield in the School of Khadein, but the school was defended by the city's magic corps, led by Wendell's pupil Ellerean. Both Marth and Wendell saw Ellerean target another of Wendell's students, and Marth's friend, Merric. The two mages were once friendly rivals, but when Wendell chose Merric to wield the Excalibur tome over Ellerean, the mage fell into a jealous rage. However, Wendell told Ellerean that his behavior was no better than Gharnef's, and the angry pupil saw the error of his ways while Marth's forces secured the school. During this time, Princess Minerva arrived in Khadein to join Marth, having been sent there by Michalis to help defeat Hardin.
After Marth successfully gains access to the School of Khadein, Gotoh magic contacts him, explaining that both Hardin's protection and his fall from grace were caused by the powerful Darksphere. The White Sage held the Lightsphere, which was capable of countering the Darksphere's magic, in the Ice Dragon Temple, so Marth journeyed there through Anri's Way, a path his ancestor traveled a century ago. Guided by his old Manakete ally Xane, Marth fought degenerated dragons and collected Starsphere shards on route to the temple, all while Xane revealed the truth Archanea's dragons, why many chose to become Manaketes, and the relationship between the Fire Emblem and the magical spheres. Upon spotting Marth's army, Gotoh used their shards to reconstruct the Starsphere, and bequeathed it and the Starsphere to Marth. He also woke Marth's Manakete friend Tiki from a deep slumber she was placed in to prevent her degeneration, but claimed that when awoken, such a fate was inevitable unless Marth could restore the Fire Emblem's true power with every sphere.
Gotoh magically warped Marth's army back to Altea, and after Marth successfully ousted the Archanean occupiers from his homeland, he contacted him to reveal that Gharnef had returned. It was the Dark Ponitfex who abducted Maria, Lena, and Elice, and was likely planning to kidnap Nyna as well. Marth's army marched upon Archanea with the intent to defeat Hardin and prevent Nyna's capture, only to learn from the Emperor that he personally gave her away to Gharnef. After a gruelling campaign, Hardin finally fell, and in his last moments was freed from the Darksphere's influence. With his dying breath he regretted all he had done and begged Marth to save Nyna. Recovering the Darksphere, Marth restored the Fire Emblem to its original state: the Binding Shield. Gotoh magically warped to Marth and revealed that Gharnef brainwashed the four maidens before taking them to the Dragon's Table to assist in the resurrection of Medeus.
En route to The Dragon's Table, Marth encountered a heavily wounded Michalis, who tried and failed to rescue Maria from Gharnef, but succeeding in sealing the Starlight tome. Depending on if Minerva encouraged him to live, Michalis either died after giving Marth Starlight or recovered and begrudgingly joined Marth's army. Inside The Dragon's Table, Marth's army felled Gharnef with Starlight once again and recovered Falchion. The revived Medeus, now a powerful Shadow Dragon, awaited them in the next room with the four maidens, who he intended to sacrifice should he be slain by Falchion. However, Maria, Lena, Elice, and Nyna were released from their trances by their loved ones, allowing Marth to kill him for a second time, ending the War of Heroes. In it's aftermath, many of Archanea's countries were heavily decimated, and most of their rulers relinquished their sovereignty to Marth. Marth declared himself First King of the Archenean Alliance, with Ceada as his queen. Under his reign, Archanea's wounds began to heal, and entered a golden age of peace and prosperity.
=== Legacy ===
Over millenia, Marth's rule passed into legend, and he is venerated as the Hero-King. The royals of the Halidom of Ylisse are his direct descendants, and two-thousand years post-unification, consist of the Exalts Emmeryn, Chrom, and Lissa. However, Ylissean culture portrays Marth as a more martial lord, downplaying his many acts of mercy. When she traveled back in time to prevent the resurrection of the Fell Dragon Grima, Chrom's daughter Lucina masked herself and adopted the name "Marth".
Chrom's army, the Shepherds, also encounter multiple Einherjar of Marth himself. Two Einherjar were available through SpotPass, one named Prince Marth and based on his appearance in the War of Shadows, while the other was named King Marth and based on his appearance in the War of Heroes. A second Prince Marth Einherjar appears in the first Champions of Yore DLC xenologue, where he is summoned by Old Hubba to help defend him from Einherjar summoned against him by an alternate Aversa. This Prince Marth joins the Shepherds after they help protect Old Hubba. However enemy Prince Marths summoned by this Aversa appear in the second and third Champions of Yore xenologues. In the first Lost Bloodlines DLC xenologue, a King Marth allies with the Shepherds, believing he has summoned them to help combat Jugdral Einherjar. However, King Marth opposes the Shephards in the second Lost Bloodlines xenologue when Jugdral is convinced they summoned the Shepards to combat the Archanean and Valentian Einherjar. Finally, Prince Marth battles the Shepherds in the third and final Lost Bloodlines xenologue when the latter's task is to defeat all three continents' Einherjar to seal them back into the cards they spawned from. Finally, a Prince Marth allies with the Shepherds in the first Rogues and Redeemers DLC xenologue to combat a group of Einherjar villains, but opposes them in the second and third Rogues and Redeemers xenologues when the villains are convinced they summoned the Shepards to fight the Einherjar heroes, and when the Shepherds try to seal both groups into their cards, respectively.
== Fire Emblem Engage ==
Marth appears as one of the thirteen Emblem Warriors, serving as the Emblem of the Beginnings. Of all the Emblems, Marth is the most recurring Emblem character in the entire game, and is one of the only two Emblems alongside Sigurd who knows the full truth behind Alear's past.
Category:Synopsis