Lekain
Lekain in Radiant Dawn. | |
Lekain | |
Species | Beorc |
Class | Saint |
Affiliation | Begnion |
Hair color | Blonde |
Weaponry | Rexaura |
Base | Begnion |
Debut | Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance |
Lekain is a corrupt senator of Begnion who serves as one of the main antagonists of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
Background[edit]
Lekain was the duke of Gaddos who served as a member of Begnion's senate, being Vice-Minister at the time the games take place, and constantly sought more power through shrewd schemes. He made use of blood pacts to control others, such as the king of Kilvas. It is known that the king of Kilvas attempted to go back on his agreement with Begnion, but this then caused more and more of Kilvas's citizens to drop dead on each day as a result of the blood pact's curse, until he gave in to Begnion's demands. However, Lekain waited until the hundredth day to accept it. This left Kilvas under their complete control years later, when Naesala was their king.
They also executed schemes to maintain more power within Begnion, as the senate was actually subservient to the apostle/empress of Begnion. In the years 625, they assassinated Apostle Misaha, which was believed to be connected to her plans to reveal that she was a Branded, which would cause untold controversy in Begnion. They also arranged for Misaha's eldest granddaughter, Micaiah to be killed as well, but Micaiah survived unbeknownst to any of them. They framed the herons of Serenes Forest for the assassination, which caused an angry mob to carry out the Serenes Massacre, which wiped out nearly the entire heron race.
Over the next fifteen years, the senate received various complaints from the citizens regarding the lack of a ruling apostle in Misaha's place. They eventually caved in to public pressure and appointed Misaha's younger granddaughter, Sanaki, who was only five years old at the time, to be the new apostle. Neither the public nor Sanaki knew of Micaiah's existence, so they all believed that Sanaki was the eldest daughter and rightful apostle. Only the senate knew the truth, that Sanaki was actually the younger daughter and thus could not her the voice of the goddess. Sanaki spent most of her time crying, until she was cheered by the presence of their youngest senator, Sephiran of Persis. They decided to take advantage of this and appointed him the senate's prime minister in an unprecedented move, because the public image of the child and young senator gave them a strong public image that pleased the public while the rest of the senate was free to scheme in the shadows.
However, this also worked against them, as both Sanaki and Sephiran both had strong senses of justice, and they began to persecute the injustices of various senators more and more as the years went by. In Path of Radiance, Lekain was first seen during a brief appearance in "Chapter 14: Training", when he demanded that Ike be put to death for speaking out against the apostle, but Sanaki revealed it was actually a secret test of character that Ike had passed, and she listened to Ike's complaints despite Lekain's protests about his rudeness.
Three years later during Radiant Dawn, the tension between the senate and the apostle reached its height. Their Daein Occupational Army committed various injustices under the control of Duke Numida, and Lekain secretly had his spy Izuka seek out a gullible peasant boy named Pelleas who would act as a figurehead for Daein's rebel forces, as a king who would be easily controlled by Begnion even after Begnion's occupational army would be removed. Indeed, Sanaki decided to send a team to investigate the occupational army after hearing of their corruption and denied Lekain's offer to lead the investigation team, appointing Sephiran instead. Around this time, laguz messengers began to call the senate to task for their supposed role in the Serenes Massacre. The senate killed the messengers, and when Sanaki decided to pry into this matter as well, they had her locked in her room, while Sephiran was imprisoned under false accusations of treason.
It wound up being Lekain who led the forces that investigated the corruption of Begnion's Daein Occupational Army and oversaw Pelleas being crowned the new king of Daein. As Pelleas was blindly loyal to Izuka, Lekain was able to use this to trick Pelleas into signing a blood pact with Daein. At the same time in "Part 3: Intersecting Vows", the Laguz Alliance declared war on Begnion. Lekain maintained control over Begnion by claiming Sanaki was sick, and he forced Pelleas into mobilizing Daein's army against the Laguz Alliance by telling him about the blood pact. He was also able to use the blood pact with Kilvas to force Naesala into betraying the other laguz. He also found trouble with Begnion's Commander Zelgius due to his moral code, so he had Senator Valtome replace him. Lekain continued to pit the Laguz Alliance Army and Daein's Royal Army against each other until it reached the point where the goddesses Ashera and Yune were revived.
Ashera passed her judgment upon the world, turning most of the people into stone. Lekain and the senate were spared by her, because she saw use in them. They were formed into the Disciples of Order, with Lekain as their leader, and they traveled around trying to destroy the three armies that had teamed up under the leadership of Ike, Sanaki, Micaiah and Elincia. In "Chapter 4-3: Distortions", they confronted Sanaki's army at the Grann Desert. Lekain told Sanaki the truth about her heritage and her being a false apostle, but Sanaki refused to believe him and challenged him to a battle to the death. Lekain at first gladly accepted, but when Sanaki's forces started to win, Lekain began to fear his safety and warped away, leaving Numida behind to die.
Lekain next showed up at the Tower of Guidance as the boss of the first area of "Part 4 Endgame: Light". He believed none would touch him due to Ashera's blessings and continued to taunt Sanaki, while freely confessing that he was behind the Serenes Massacre. If Ike battled him, it was shown that Lekain believed himself to be the mastermind behind Ashera's resurrection, but when he saw that Lekain did not know anything about the medallion, he realized Lekain had no idea what he was really talking about; all along he had unknowingly been helping the true mastermind, who was later shown to be Sephiran. Lekain was ultimately killed in the battle, and the blood pacts found on his person were destroyed.