Sanaki

Holy Empress
Sanaki
Real Name	Sanaki Kirsh Altina
Species	Beorc
Class	Empress
Affiliation	Begnion
Hair color	Blue
Eye color	Red
Age	13 (as of FE10)
Weaponry	Cymbeline
Base	Begnion
Relatives	Altina, Lehran (ancestors) Misaha (grandmother) Micaiah (older sister)
Debut	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Sanaki was the ruling apostle/empress of Begnion, despite her youth, and a supporting character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, as well as a playable unit in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Background

Sanaki was born into the pure bloodline of Altina. At the time her grandmother, Misaha was the apostle of Begnion, who doubled as the empress. However, one year after emancipating all laguz slaves in Begnion, Misaha was assassinated. This prompted an angry mob of Begnion citizens to attack the peaceful heron tribe of Serenes Forest and nearly wipe them out in what became known as the Serenes Massacre. Unbenownst to the people of Begnion, as well as Sanaki herself, Sanaki had an elder sister, Micaiah, who went missing around the time of Misasha's assassination. Five years later, despite still being a child, Sanaki was appointed the new apostle of Begnion because the senate needed a figureheard for the masses to follow. Sanaki initially was difficult and threw tantrums until she was calmed by the young senator Sephiran, who was appointed Prime Minister of the senate to calm Sanaki and also to further boost the public image of Begnion's government by the senate.

However, she was not a true apostle because only the first-born females could hear messages from the goddess and become the apostle. Sanaki was troubled when she could not hear the voice of the goddess, but, not knowing of her older sister, she rationalized that she was too young and would hear the goddess when she came of age. Even though she was not responsible for the Serenes Massacre, Sanaki still felt a great amount of guilt for the damage her people had caused and sought a way to redeem Begnion. She had a remarkable maturity for her youth, which she needed to engage the Begnion Senate in many political battles. This is because Sanaki sought the wellbeing of her people, while the senate was rife with corruption and senators seeking to help only themselves. Because both the apostle and the senate were both considered to be chosen by the goddess, they both were obligated to respect the other, and Sanaki could not move against the senate without proof. However, she had several trusted advisers such as Sephiran, who helped her to keep the senators in line. He acted like a father figure to her. At her command were also the Holy Pegasus Knights of Begnion, headed by Sigrun and Tanith.

Path of Radiance

Sanaki during Path of Radiance.

In Path of Radiance, Sanaki learned that King Ramon's orphaned daughter Elincia was on the run from Daein forces after Daein's sudden takeover of Crimea and was seeking aid from Begnion in resisting Daein. After hearing Sephiran's positive report about them, Sanaki decided to meet with her in person, so she set out with the Holy Guards to meet them while they were traveling to Begnion on a ship.

In "Chapter 13: A Guiding Wind", Sanaki was left on the ship at a seaport while Tanith brought the pegasus knights to meet with Elincia on her ship. But she grew impatient of waiting and had the ship take off without them. They were soon attacked by Daein soldiers posing as pirates. Sanaki took refuge in the ship's cabin until the Greil Mercenaries and pegasus knights were able to fight off the enemies. She was able to slip out during the chaos and spent some time hiding aboard the Crimean ship, posing as a stowaway. Ike and the other mercenaries believed her, but she eventually blew her top and revealed her identity to expose Ike's ignorance.

They returned in Begnion by "Chapter 14: Training", at which point Sanaki held a meeting with Elincia and Ike. From the beginning she tested their worth by interrogating Elincia and harshly criticizing her lack of proof of her birth, which caused Ike to talk off the apostle. Sanaki gave up that charade sand said she had definite proof of Elincia's heritage in the form of Sephiran's testimony. This caused Ike to rant even more at Sanaki for playing games with Elincia's emotions, but Sanaki was able to quiet him down by reminding him that his behavior towards her could result in him being killed for blasphemy, and she also reminded him that Crimea needed to stay in her good graces if they wanted Begnion's help in the war against Daein.

In the following days, Sanaki began employing the Greil Mercenaries in a series of missions which made them aware of the underground laguz slave trade in Begnion. Sanaki could not do anything about it herself without alerting the public of the senate's corruption, so she instead used the Greil Mercenaries as her sword, even though they were not clear of her intent. In "Chapter 15: The Feral Frontier", Ike returned with Tormod, the leader of the Laguz Emancipation Army. She then revealed her intentions of helping to combat the underground laguz slavery and next sent the Greil Mercenaries to investigate the corrupt noble Oliver in "Chapter 16: The Atonement".

Ike then rudely burst in on Sanaki after returning, as Oliver's slave turned out to be a laguz heron, and Ike demanded to know what happened twenty years ago. After he was calmed down, Sanaki, with the help of Nasir, told the story of the Serenes Massacre. She requested that Ike find the heron survivor, Reyson, before Oliver could and to bring Reyson to see her, promising to grant Begnion support to Crimea if he accomplished this. At the end of "Chapter 17: Day Breaks", Sanaki was able to met with both Reyson and Leanne at the edge of Serenes Forest. Despite her position, she sacrificed her dignity by bowing before the herons and begging them for forgiveness. Reyson accepted, after being convinced by Leanne, and under these circumstances the two were then able to sing the galdr of revival which rejuvenated the forest.

True to her word, Sanaki supplied reinforcements to aid the Crimean forces in "Chapter 18: Crimea Marches". There was only one more requirement, which was that Ike would have to receive peerage as she would not allow Begnion troops to work under some commoner mercenary. After Sephiran returned, Sanaki then sent Zelgius over with addition reinforcements. The whole ordeal had taught Sanaki about the importance of the laguz, and inspired her to strive towards eliminating the underground laguz slavery practiced by her nobles. She also told Elincia that she would attempt to work towards a more fully integrated society of beorc and laguz, while admitting that it would be difficult due to the obstacles posed by the senate. She urged Elincia to rebuild Crimea, and then the two of them could work together to change the world for the better.

Radiant Dawn

Three years later, Sanaki was alerted by Tormod of injustices being performed by the Begnion Occupational Army and the senators commanding them in Daein. So she sent a task force headed by Sephiran to investigate. She also chose to look into the laguz's accusations that the senate was responsible for the Serenes Massacre. However, at this point the senate chose to make their move. Led by Lekain, they captured Sanaki and locked her away in Mainal Cathredal (while Sephiran was imprisoned under false accusations of treason) while they took control of Begnion and mobilized the troops into war with the Laguz Alliance. Sanaki was eventually able to escape some time during "Part 3: Intersecting Vows". As she left, she took several items she thought would be of use to her - including the sword Ragnell, so she could return it to Ike.

Sanaki was later reunited with her holy guard. They then brought her to the Begnion Central Army's camp at the end of "Chapter 10: The Heart of Crimea". She arrived just in time to prevent Valtome from executing Zelgius. The Begnion army was then split between those who believed Sanaki was the true apostle, and those who believed Valtome's lies that Sanaki was a false apostle and the senate was truly holy. Sanaki and her Begnion forces then joined with the Laguz Alliance Army so that together they could overthrow the army in Begnion. Sanaki appointed Ike the leader of the combined army. They were nearly killed in an ambush by Micaiah in "Chapter 12: The Price".

During the clash between the Laguz Alliance/Begnion/Crimean armies and Daein in "Endgame: From Pain, Awakening", Sanaki remained at the camp with Naesala looking after her. Naesala had been bound to follow the senate through a blood pact, but he found a loophole around serving them by serving their superior, Sanaki. Sanaki convinced him to take her closer to the battlefield. Afterwards, Sanaki was called back by Ike and the others who believed she was Altina's true heir and wanted her to awaken Yune from Lehran's Medallion since the seal on the medallion was about to break from the chaotic energies of the war and Mist had been told in the vision that things would be better if Yune was awakened through the galdr instead of the energies of war. Sanaki attempted to sing the galdr, but it did not work; to her surprise, it was Micaiah who was able to awaken Yune.

The armies were then split up into three smaller armies in "Part 4: Of Gods and Men" during the quest to find Ashera and defeat her to save the world from being destroyed and remade by her. Sanaki was sent to travel with the Silver Army. She was sad about having to fight her own people, whom had been recruited by Ashera. At the same time she also began to doubt her own abilities by comparing herself to Micaiah, who was able to awaken the goddess Yune and was always able to hear her voice, while Sanaki had never heard the voices of any goddesses. In "Chapter 3: Distortions", Lekain encountered her while they traveled through the Grann Desert and revealed to her the truth of her past and that she was not the true apostle. Sanaki refused to believe Lekain's revelation, and he challenged her to a duel but ultimately retreated.

Sanaki then joined in on the final battles of "Endgame: Rebirth". She continued to find more shock when she learned that Zelgius was the dreaded Black Knight. Ike suggested that Zelgius was working under Sephiran's orders, but Sanaki found the very idea of Sephiran working against them to be ludicrous. She eventually found out the hard way when they met Sephiran that he was working for Ashera and had manipulated everyone in order to awaken her because he wanted the world to be destroyed. Sephiran then forced them to battle him by enacting a barrier on the door to Ashera's sanctum that would only break if he was killed. Sanaki and Sephiran, reluctant to battle each other due to their bond, would not directly attack each other.

After the war ended, Sanaki met with Micaiah, having put the pieces of the puzzle together to realize that Micaiah was her sister. She asked Micaiah to return to Begnion and take her place as apostle, but Micaiah refused because Daein was her homeland and needed her, and she also told Sanaki that she was a just ruler regardless of whether or not she was the true apostle. Micaiah also asked Sanaki to pass a bill that would allow Daein and Begnion to become equals, and Sanaki eagerly agreed. Sanaki then guided her people in a world without the goddess and united the continent with many treaties.

Stats

Radiant Dawn

Base Stats

• Class: Empress
• Lvl: 1
• HP: 28
• Str: 2
• Mag: 33
• Skl: 22
• Spd: 23
• Lck: 32
• Def: 10
• Res: 28
• Wlv: Fire S, Thunder A, Wind A, Light A
• Affin: Light

Growth Rates

• HP: 70
• Str: 40
• Mag: 60
• Skl: 60
• Spd: 35
• Lck: 55
• Def: 30
• Res: 50

Trivia

• In Radiant Dawn, Sanaki has automatic Bond Supports with Sigrun and Sephiran.