Lyon

Lyon
Species	Human
Class	Necromancer
Affiliation	Grado
Hair color	Purple-Gray
Eye color	Purple-Gray
Weaponry	Naglfar
Base	Grado
Relatives	Vigarde (father)
Debut	Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Lyon is the primary antagonist of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, who is shown as a tragic character.

Background

Lyon was the imperial prince of Grado born to its emperor, Vigarde. Throughout his life he suffered various insecurities, considering himself both weak and unworthy of one day taking the throne. He spent most of his time reading and learned how to perform dark magic. In the beginning, Lyon had the simple goal of doing what was best for his people and being like his father. Three years prior to the events of The Sacred Stones, he met Ephraim and Eirika, who had a remarkable effect on him, as they were his first friends. Lyon studied history with Ephraim under Father MacGregor and often had to help the less attentive Ephraim with his studies, and grew to admire him for his strength. Lyon also secretly fell in love with Eirika, but constantly losing to her in sparring matches prompted him to ask Ephraim to tutor him in fighting with a lance. However, rooted in these opposite emotions for Renais's twin heirs were also darker emotions of envy and vanity.

At the same time, Lyon had begun studying the Sacred Stone of Grado as a way of saving lives. Lyon was motivated by Vigarde's illness, as he wanted to find a way to cure his father. As the Sacred Stone housed the Demon King's soul, Lyon was not allowed to directly interact with it. Rather, he worked with the energies surrounding it in an attempt to impress Father McGregor. He was eventually able to save a girl who was injured in a fire by using a sliver of the stone's power. In addition to healing wounds, Lyon saw the possibilty of predicting and averting future tragedies by using a powerful magic called the time shear. However, this required large amounts of dark energies, which led him to continue his experimentation on the Stone. Lyon wanted to prove that the ancient "dark" magics were not necessarily evil and had good applications. Mentioning these experiments in passing to Ephraim, Ephraim showed some concern and suggested Lyon relax without taking on too much, unaware of how far Lyon had already gone with his experiments. Eventually he was successful in predicting a terrible storm and preventing resulting deaths by closing down the harbor for the night. One and a half years before The Sacred Stones, Ephraim and Eirika parted from Lyon with their studies complete. Lyon told Eirika that she was the reason he was able to save that girl, and he expressed doubts with Ephraim about whether they would remain friends after becoming kings, likely due to some deep-lying doubts (which the Demon King would later exploit) that Ephraim and Eirika were feigning compassion for him. Ephraim assured Lyon that they would always remain friends, even if their country went to war.

However, things only became worse in Grado. A year before The Sacred Stones, the time shear showed Lyon about a much worse incoming tragedy: an earthquake that would devastate Grado within five years and wipe out half of the country. Around the same time, Vigarde's condition worsened and he passed on. Overwhelmed by the stress of becoming ruler and having to deal with the impending disaster coupled with his fears that he was too weak led him to turn towards a source of becoming stronger and of bringing his father back before the news of his death became public. He ordered Knoll to open the seal on the Sacred Stone of Grado and began directly experimenting on it. Going without food or sleep for weeks, Lyon eventually reached a breakthrough when he split the stone into two- a Dark Stone that contained the Demon King's soul and power, as well as a Sacred Stone. He would later claim (at least in the Ephraim story) that upon his first touching the Dark Stone, he saw two paths: one in which his soul was completely consumed by the Demon King, and another in which he could save himself from being consumed by the Demon King while gaining the power he needed to change the world. The most likely possibility would be that the former describes his state in Eirika's tale (where, despite appearing innocent, the Demon King is ultimately shown in control of the body, which wears down on it), while in Ephraim's story the latter would be true due to Lyon's claims of not being fully consumed by the Demon King (although even so, the Demon King seemed to control him unconsciously). Lyon proceeded to destroy the Sacred Stone and begin a war to destroy the remaining Stones, the only items that rivaled the Demon King's power. Questioning his orders and his health led to Knoll being imprisoned and Father MacGregor being executed. He began his war by attacking Renais, and apparently he personally killed King Fado.

Using the power of the Dark Stone, Lyon was able to revive his father. However, Vigarde was merely a puppet whom Lyon manipulated to start his wars across the continent for the Sacred Stones. Within the game he was first seen quietly at Vigarde's side as he commanded his generals, only requesting Selena to get him a dragonstone for his research in Chapter 11 of Ephraim's path. In Chapter 14 of Eirika's path, he came to the desert with Caellach, who thought Lyon was still just a weak kid, a theory supported by Lyon's apparently poor health. He attempted to spare Ismaire's life, but Caellach disobeyed his orders and killed her. Soon afterwards, he appeared to Eirika and acted like his old self, claiming that he could not say much but that he would always be her friend. In Chapter 14 of Ephraim's story, Ephraim stormed Grado Keep. Lyon ordered his men to kill Ephraim, but they failed and Ephraim "killed" Vigarde. It was at this point that Lyon revealed his true colors to Ephraim, claiming that he wanted to make the world his plaything and that he had planned it since before meeting Eirika and Ephraim, but Ephraim knew this was a lie and came to believe Lyon was possessed by the Demon King. Lyon then taunted Ephraim by talking about how he killed Fado, but hesitated to actually battle Ephraim and warped away, claiming that he was not yet at full power. By this point, Lyon had destroyed the Sacred Stones of Frelia and Jehanna in addition to the Stone of Grado, which left only the Sacred Stones of Renais and Rausten. At the same time, he had left the Sacred Twins of Grado intact, possibly as a sign of mercy towards Ephraim.

In the Ephraim version of Chapter 15: Scorched Sand, Lyon showed up to confront Caellach, talking down to him and accusing him of planning to kill him for power one day, although Lyon claimed he would allow Caellach to live despite this as long as he did his job. Lyon and Riev then visited Orson at Renais Castle in Chapter 16 in order to manipulate him into wanting to kill Ephraim. In the Ephraim version, he did most of the talking to Orson, but in the Eirika version he was silent and notably suffering from his illness, leading Riev to teleport away with him to tend to him. Lyon next confronted Ephraim and Eirika in Chapter 17: River of Regrets, once more with two different portrayals. In Eirika's path he pretended not to remember his previous encounter with Ephraim at Grados, but then cast off the charade and claimed that he was in fact the Demon King, whom had eaten away Lyon's heart and left nothing of the original Lyon there. In Ephraim's path, Lyon said something similar but without the charade, proudly admitting what he had said to Ephraim at Grados from the beginning.

Lyon then showed up in Chapter 18: Two Faces of Evil, where he stole and destroyed the Sacred Stone of Renais. In Ephraim's tale, he stole it immediately and then seemingly reverted to normal. It was at this point where he recited his story about the two paths and claimed that even though the Demon King was devouring his body and soul at first, thinking of Ephraim gave him the strength he needed to fight it off, as he did not like the Demon King's simple appetite for mindless destruction. In Eirika's path, he pretended to be back to normal and dying to trick Eirika into giving him the Stone, at which point he destroyed it and revealed that he was completely under the control of the Demon King. At this point, Lyon left to prepare for a ritual in ten days within the Darkling Woods. In Ephraim's path, he claimed that it would give him the power to save Grado while at the same time changing him completely; in Eirika's path, it seems the Demon King was conducting this ceremony to free himself from Lyon's body at the cost of Lyon's life. Lyon made his way through the woods in Chapter 20: The Darkling Woods. En route to the Dark Temple, he was confronted by Morva, a dragon whom had battled the Demon King 800 years ago. In Ephraim's path Morva claimed that Lyon was a fool to think that he had complete control under himself and told him that in the end he was following the Demon King's wishes. Regardless of the path, Lyon used powerful magic to turn Morva into a savage enemy for Ephraim and Eirika to contend with.

They finally confronted Lyon within the Darkling Woods in the Final Chapter. In Eirika's path, the last of Lyon that was still him reached out to Eirika, feeling guilty that the Demon King had played off of his hidden feelings of vanity and envy, but Eirika assured him that everyone had weaknesses. Lyon then begged Eirika to kill him just as the Demon King took control again. In Ephraim's path, Lyon was confident that he would be able to save Grado with his new power but welcomed Ephraim to challenge him. Either way, Lyon was killed in the following battle, which caused the Demon King to be revived. In Eirika's path, he admitted his love for her in his last words, while in Ephraim's path he confessed to always admiring and envying Ephraim for being strong and handsome with Eirika always by his side, leading Ephraim to assure Lyon of his own positive traits. Lyon claimed responsibility for everything and asked Ephraim to smile like he used to just as his body faded away, and the Demon King was revived.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Lyon appears as a Primary Spirit that has the added effect of boosting magical attack power. In Spirit battles, Lyon's Spirit would possess Robin. After defeating the Lyon-possessed Robin, the player character would then have to fight the dragon Ridley, as a way of mirroring how Fomortiis is battled after Lyon's death.

Trivia

• He is unlockable as a hidden character for the Creature Campaign mode, where he is unlocked by clearing the tenth floor of the Lagdou Ruins three times.