Ninian

Child of Destiny
Ninian
Species	Ice Dragon/Human
Class	Dancer
Hair color	Blue
Eye color	Red
Base	Realm of the dragons
Relatives	Nergal (father) Nils (brother) Eliwood (possible husband) Roy (possible son)
Debut	Fire Emblem

Ninian is a playable unit in Fire Emblem and the only playable Dancer in the game. She shared a strong bond with her younger brother Nils, although only one of the two were playable at the time.

Background

Ninian and Nils were born to Nergal and a dragon woman around the time of The Scouring. However, their mother was captured by an angry mob of humans, at which point Nergal left to save her. He left the children back at his home with rations and asked them to retreat through the Dragon's Gate if he did not return in ten days. It seems Nergal did not return during this time period (and they became aware of their mother's death), and Ninian and Nils escaped through the Dragon's Gate to arrive in the realm where the other dragons had retreated to. In the new world, Ninian became an oracle at the dragon shrine (which was near the portal leading back to Elibe).

About a thousand years later, the siblings heard the voice of "an old friend" calling to them, at which point they impulsively opened the Dragon's Gate and returned to Elibe through it. After arriving on the other side, they found it was a trap set by Nergal. However, Ninian and Nils did not recognize him as their father (likely due to the many changes he had undergone over the years), while Nergal did not recognize his children in turn (this explained by Nergal having lost most of his memories when he gave himself to darkness). However, they lost most of their strength in the process and had to revert to their human forms. They placed their remaining quintessence within a dragonstone that Nergal stole in hopes of using it to summon more dragons. However, Ninian and Nils were able to escape.

Ninian and Nils began posing as a traveling dancer and bard respectively as they fled across Elibe, all the way hounded by minions of Nergal in the Black Fang. Eventually Ninian was captured in "Chapter 7: Children of Destiny" in Fire Emblem by a group of Black Fang men in Khathelet. However, she was soon rescued by Eliwood who brought her back to Lyn and his group, who were protecting Nils. After Ninian recovered, she asked them to go and find a ring the Black Fang men had stolen in the optional "Chapter 7x: The Black Shadow". The ring was Ninis's Grace, which had been given to Ninian by her mother before her death. Ninian was unable to join Lyn's group on the battlefield due to having sprained her ankle after she was captured by the Black Fang, but she was able to aid them from the sidelines. They did not tell Lyn the truth about their pasts because they liked her and did not want her to get caught up in Nergal's scheme.

After Lyn's campaign ended, Ninian and Nils went off on their own way. However, they were soon afterwards recaptured by the Black Fang and imprisoned in Nergal's headquarters at the Dragon's Gate. They spent the next year in Nergal's dungeon and at one point contemplated suicide. But that all changed when they received a cellmate in the form of Pherae's Lord Elbert. He knew what Ninian and Nils were but did not judge them. Instead, he raised their spirits by telling him stories about his family and his son Eliwood, whom the siblings came to feel would be the one to save them. Later on in "Dread Isle" (Eliwood Chapter 18, Hector Chapter 19), Elbert was able to free Ninian and Nils. They then tried escaping the island in a small boat. However, a storm tossed Nils from the boat, which stressed Ninian until she became lost within herself and forgot who she was.

Ninian's boat was discovered by Eliwood and his group, which included Lyn, when they were en route to Valor Isle. Ninian was brought aboard and her amnesia discovered. Lyn began to realize that the assassins hunting Ninian may have been the Black Fang so she decided to protect her. In "A Glimpse in Time" (Hector Chapter 19xx), the group stumbled upon Ninian's own home from her previous life. She wandered off after the chapter's battle and was found afterwards in the library looking over the picture of her parents. Soon afterwards, as they approached the Dragon's Gate in "Dragon's Gate" (Eliwood Chapter 19, Hector Chapter 20), Ephidel managed to steal Ninian away from Eliwood's group and return her to Nergal's inner sanctum.

There, Nergal sacrificed Elbert in order to send Ninian into a trance in which she used her powers to open the Dragon's Gate and summon forth dragons. However, Ninian was returned to normal after Nils arrived and his presence snapped her out of it (while also restoring her memories) before the first dragon could fully pass through the portal. After the group retreated to Badon in "New Resolve" (Eliwood Chapter 20, Hector Chapter 21), Ninian was eager to help Eliwood in combat in order to atone for taking Elbert's life. However, Nils saw that she was still weak and transferred much of his own power to Ninian. Ninian became enchanted with Eliwood and how he treated her like a normal person unlike most of the other people she had known. However, Nils did not approve of Ninian's hopes of romance with the nobleman because he did not have faith in a relationship between the two species and Ninian's lifespan would be drastically shortened if she remained in Elibe.

Nergal later confronted the group in person in order to take the siblings away at the end of "Cog of Destiny" (Eliwood Chapter 27, Hector Chapter 29). Ninian agreed to go with Nergal but only if he did not harm Nils or the others, and Nergal complied with her demands. However, after returning to Valor Island in "Valorous Roland" (Eliwood Chapter 28), he found that Ninian was not willing to hold up her end of the bargain and open up the Dragon's Gate for him. He then goaded her until she lost control and transformed into her dragon form, losing her memories again in the process. However, she then fled from Valor and wandered Elibe while drawn towards Eliwood's presence. She approached him at the end of the chapter, after he had retrieved the dragon-killing weapon Durandal. The weapon acted almost by itself in striking Ninian down. Ninian was fatally wounded and reverted to human form as she died, with Eliwood weeping at what he had unintentionally done.

Following Nergal's death and his summoning of three fire dragons from the Dragon's Gate in "Final Chapter: Light", Athos and Bramimond conducted a special ceremony which utilized power seemingly drawn from the seven legendary items that brought Ninian back to life with her soul. At Bramimond's request, Ninian used her ice dragon powers and took down two of the fire dragons before she grew fatigued and passed out. She did not awaken until following the final battle.

Possible Fates

Ninian has two different endings depending on whether or not she has an A Rank Support with Eliwood.

• Default Ending- Ninian saw that one day humans and dragons might be able to live in peace, but at the same time she believed that day was far off. Because of this, she decided to return to the realm of the dragons with Nils, and they closed the Dragon's Gate from the other side. This permanently closed off the link between the two realms forever.
• Eliwood and Ninian's Ending- Ninian was initially going along with the plan to return to the dragon realm and close off the gates between the worlds, but Nils saw how much she cared with Eliwood and allowed her to stay in Elibe while warning her that she would live a shortened life because of how much the air of Elibe had changed since The Scouring. Nils returned to their realm alone while assuring her that their bond would never break. Ninian than married Eliwood and together they had a son, Roy.

Abilities

Ninian is only playable in her human form. In human form, she has the normal powers of anyone in the Dance class. She also has several other powers not seen in battle. Both she and Nils have the power to sense incoming danger and predict weather changes. Additionally, Ninian can use special ice dragon powers even in human form. Like the Manaketes of other games, Ninian can shift into dragon form and use a wider array of powers.

Support Conversation Summaries

• Eliwood- In the first conversation, Ninian approaches Eliwood and thanks him for saving her life, having heard from Lyn that Eliwood was the one who saved her from the Black Fang back in Chapter 7. She wants to repay Eliwood, so he asks her to show him a special dance during her free time. In the second conversation, Eliwood talks about an annual harvest festival and Pherae and suggests Ninian come there to dance. He unintentionally brings up the subject of his father and assures her that Elbert's death was not her fault. But Ninian contests this and admits she has been deceiving Eliwood then begins crying. In the third conversation, Eliwood finds that Ninian is unwilling to reveal her secret, and Eliwood says he is unwilling to force her to, but she was always welcome to confide in him. Eliwood tells Ninian that he loves her regardless of whatever secrets she has and is willing to sweep away anything that troubles her in order to make her smile again. Ninian is left at a loss for words.
• Florina- In the first Support conversation, Ninian talks to Florina about Ilia and reveals that she was born there. In the second conversation, Florina asks Ninian if she knew of some way to make it easier for her to talk for other people, but Ninian replied that she also was not good at talking with other people and thus was not the right tutor for her. But since they were able to talk to each other easily, they decided to become friends. In the third Support conversation, Florina and Ninian disclose where in Ilia they were each born. Ninian says that she was born on the tallest mountain, and Florina is surprised, saying that's the Mountain of the Ice Dragon. Ninian claimed to know nothing about the legend of the Ice Dragon, so Florina told it to her. Florina told Ninian of how she had wanted to meet the Ice Dragon as a child and her belief that different species could get along together, saying that humans and dragons could get along like her and her pegasus.
• Hawkeye- Hawkeye checks up on Ninian's well-being and ensures that her duties are not too much for her. He mentions the village and Nabata and tells Ninian that she looks like she could be a friend of his daughter's. In the next conversation, Hawkeye tells her more about the village and that humans and dragons live in peace there. Ninian is amazed by this and says she always dreamed of humans and dragons living together. In the third conversation, Ninian begins to admit that she is a dragon, but Hawkeye says he already knows, having been told by Athos. He tells her that many humans in the modern day still fear dragons, but humans can learn and change during their short lives. Hawkeye says he believed his master when he said that humans and dragons could live together, and Ninian says she believes him too.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Ninian has been represented by a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and an Advanced-rank Support Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. As a Spirit, her Support effect was to raise the player fighter's defense at the cost of starting a match with 30 percent damage. When fought against in a Spirit battle, Ninian's Spirit would possess Palutena and fight alongside Roy. During the battle, her Final Smash meter would fill more quickly, and she would be capable of doing two Final Smashes in a row.

Trivia

• As only one of the two is playable at the same time, Nils and Ninian share experience, stats and items so that the two are basically the same character gameplay-wise.