Forde

The Wild Knight
Forde
Species	Human
Class	Cavalier
Promotion	Great Knight/Paladin
Affiliation	Renais
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Green
Base	Renais
Relatives	Franz (brother) Vanessa (possible wife)
Debut	Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Forde is a playable unit appearing in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Information

Forde as the older of the two sons of a great knight of Renais. They idolized their father and would vie for attention on his shoulder. Forde himself showed great talent as a future knight when he was young and even won a tournament for training swordsmen by defeating his lifelong friend Kyle. He drew a picture of his mother at the same time and noticed that she seemed to be more impressed by the drawing than his victory. Tragedy struck when their mother grew ill and died, and their father was killed by an assassin not long afterwards, around ten years before The Sacred Stones. Forde was forced to take up the responsibility of taking care of Franz while also working his way towards knighthood. Forde still took time to work on his painting skills and had a picture of his mother hanging in their home so that Franz would always know what she looked like. Forde eventually became an official cavalier of Renais. He often came across as lazy and took naps, but he was always serious in battle. Forde was usually paired up with Kyle, who did not usually see past his carefree demeanor and often criticized his perceived laziness, while Forde usually tried to get Kyle to loosen up.

When Gradio invaded Renais, Forde was part of Prince Ephraim's group which acted with guerrilla tactics while on the run. The group also included Kyle and Orson. In "Chapter 5x: Unbroken Heart", they succeeded in a siege of Renvall. However, Forde did a perimeter check afterwards and found that they were surrounded by Grado reinforcements. They managed to escape, even though it later turned out that Orson had betrayed them. Ephraim, Kyle and Forde returned to Renvall in "Chapter 8: It's a Trap!" due to Eirika's company being lured there as a trap. Forde and Kyle bickered about the best course of action, with Forde wanting to decimate the Grado forces first while Kyle wanted to unite their forces with Eirika first. Ephraim's guidance was able to help them accomplish both. This also reunited Forde with Franz, who was now a knight as well. When Ephraim and Eirika split forces, depending on the character chosen by the player, Forde either remained part of Ephraim's forces or was sent to join with Eirika. Regardless of the path, Forde remained with the army for the remainder of the War of the Stones. Forde was left tired at the end, although he realized that they would probably not have time to rest anytime soon.

Possible Fates

Forde has four different endings, depending on whether or not he achieves A Rank Support with one of three certain characters:

• Default Ending - Forde returned to Renais and made his hobby of painting public. He was commissioned as a court artist and became popular. However, this caused his days to become so busy that he regretted changing his career.
• Forde and Eirika's Ending - Eirika and Forde returned to Renais after the war. He faithfully supported her in her reconstruction of Renais, and his portrait of her captured her smile that he thought had been lost forever. It is not elaborated whether or not they form an actual relationship, however.
• Forde and Kyle's Ending - Forde and Kyle were celebrated in song and story upon their return to Renais, with the narrator remarking that the greatest friends sometimes differ greatly in personality. They lived their days in happiness, as dearest friends and toughest rivals.
• Forde and Vanessa's Ending - Forde's love for Vanessa grew after the war. She loved him back, but she put her duty to Frelia before their potential relationship. Forde was not deterred by this and moved to Frelia. They married over time.

Support Conversation Summaries

Forde is capable of having support conversations with the following four characters:

• Eirika - In the first conversation Forde wonders if Eirika feels her armor is too exposing, but after joking about it she says that freedom of movement is more important to her in battle. Forde then talks about his armor and gives both noble and clumsy explanations for the scars in it. Eirika thanks Forde for helping Ephraim earlier on and restraining his recklessness, asking Forde to always stand beside them. In the next conversation she asks Forde what he plans to do after the war, at which point he reveals his intentions to take a nap and then continue painting. Eirika then inquires more about this hobby and asks him to make a portrait of her. In the final conversation Forde asks Eirika want she plans to do after the war, and she says that aside from helping to rebuild the country what she truly wants is to restore happiness to the people. Though she initially thinks it an abstract goal, Forde rebukes this by saying it is actually a wonderful ambition. He then asks to renew his oath to the country to help her dream come true, determined to do anything for them that does not involve heavy lifting. Forde then describes the profound effect that the leadership has on the rest of the army, saying that he fights to help restore Eirika's smile. Forde says if he could do that then he would make her portrait, and together they would make their way towards the end of the war and making her dream come true.
• Ephraim - During battle, Ephraim forces Forde to show him his painting he was hiding, which Forde first attempts to pass off as a topographic map of the battlefield. However, Ephraim commended Forde for his artistic values and says it reminds him of his younger days traveling with Eirika, although he also warns him that the battlefield is not a good place for him to indulge in his hobby. In the next conversation, Ephraim chastises Forde by comparing him to Franz, but Franz says that as a brother he should know its unfair to be compared with one's siblings. Ephraim admits this and as they muse on the roles their siblings play in their lives and the effects they have on them, Ephraim and Forde realize that they depend on Eirika and Franz more than they realized. In the final conversation, Ephraim asks to look at the painting again and "carry it in his heart" as it represents the peaceful Renais of the past that Ephraim wants to restore after winning the war. Forde lets Ephraim keep the painting and describes how his hobby started as a way of cheering a young Franz, although in exchange Forde asks for a vacation after the war, and Ephraim tells Forde to earn it if he really wanted it.
• Franz - Forde and Franz compliment each other, and Franz asks Forde about what will happen after the war, but is frustrated by Forde's light-hearted answers. Forde compares Franz to Kyle and tells him that he will make mistakes if he takes everything too seriously, and Franz understands. In the next conversation, Franz finds Forde painting, and Forde questions Franz about his own hobby of fishing. Franz explains the peace that comes with fishing, and Forde suggests that he try to fish and get some food for the army while off-duty. Forde now has something to look forward to, and Franz wonders if it was all about getting him some fresh fish to eat. In the final conversation, Forde thanks him for the fish, and Franz realizes that Forde his his role model. He says that he became a soldier to be like him and will now work much harder to become a great knight like him, which confuses Forde due to his obvious laziness. But Franz sees that Forde only likes to act lazy as part of his charm, as he acts serious in battle and only plays the part of the fool to make the others happy. He goes on to describe his sword, spear and geography skills, while Forde is left shocked and suggests Seth as a role model, but Franz says he only admires Seth. Franz then tells Forde to make sure he does not die and leaves, while Forde says that he needs Franz to survive this war so that they could go home and rebuild their lives.
• Kyle - Kyle walks in on Forde while he is painting (or sketching as Forde corrects), and he is confused by Forde doing so in the middle of the battle. Forde says he does to to keep record of their battles through his pictures, and Kyle dismisses that as a rationalization, telling him he had to start acting like an actual cavalier. Kyle becomes agitated by Forde's reluctant attitude and bluntly insults him before claiming he did not say anything. Kyle then asks to spar, seeing it is a more productive use of his time and pointing out how he utilizes all of his time efficiently for the sake of the war effort as he sees it as his duty. They end by summing up the conversation as Forde tells Kyle he has to take himself less seriously, and Kyle insists that Forde take his duty more seriously. In the next conversation, Forde wonders why he is so lethargic, and Kyle chastises him for sleeping on the battlefield, proceeding to lecture him about his lack of self-preservation, comparing his common sense to that of an infant. This prompts Forde to jokingly speculate that Kyle must planned strategies to take over the nursery as an infant. Forde points out how stuck up Kyle always has been and is surprised that the ladies still like him, but Kyle refers to it as irrelevant. Forde points out the importance of having an heir and thinks Kyle must be a gentleman to most ladies. He recalls how Kyle had helped a crying little girl when he was little, and he thought it was cool. Kyle insists that he could just never turn his back on someone in need due to being a knight, even though he was not yet. Forde admits that he respects Kyle and then laughs at his embarrassment. In the final conversation, Kyle comes to Forde looking tired, saying that he was lost in thought and was trying to find some breathing-room, realizing that this is why Forde paints. Kyle realizes the point in Forde clearing his head by painting, but he refuses to go as far to condone it being done on the battlefield due to the potential negative influence on younger soldiers. Kyle asks Forde how long he has been painting, initially interpreting his silence as forgetfulness, but Forde then tells him the story behind his painting resulting from his mother's death. He mentions the tournament from their youth, which causes Kyle to admit that he initially strove to improve himself because of the time he lost the tournament to Forde. Forde wonders what it is about Kyle that causes him to talk so much and become unusually introspective. Kyle asks Forde to teach him how to paint when the war is over, and Forde agrees as long as they get out alive first.
• Vanessa - Vanessa and her pegasus stumble upon the napping Forde and angrily tries to wake him in vain due to the war being waged around them. Forde only regains consciousness after she leaves. In the next conversation, they introduce each other, and she tells him about how she witnessed him sleeping the other day, and how he had disappeared when she returned later to protect him from enemies. Forde assures her that his nap was a strategy to catch enemies off guard, but Vanessa doubts this. She realizes that he is so devoid of stress that he is like the opposite of Innes, and Forde is able to quickly guess that she has a crush on the prince. Forde quickly mentions the scandalous implications, but said that he himself would be okay with people loving whoever they wanted, although he also pointed out that she would have lots of competition for a prince. Vanessa is flustered and quickly leaves. In the last conversation, Vanessa realizes that she had misunderstood Forde and sees that he has been working for her from behind the scenes. Forde is used to such misunderstandings and then asks her if he is too far a cry from a prince. This confuses Vanessa, so he explains that everyone has a different type of energy, and that he had felt hers when she was near him in his sleep. This caused him to dream of running across a field while being engulfed by a warm energy like a summer wind. He offers to let her feel his energy as well, and she leaves him with a maybe.