The Black Knight

The Black Knight
Real Name	Zelgius
Species	Branded
Class	FE 9 General FE 10 Black Knight
Affiliation	Kingdom of Daein Begnion
Hair color	Blue
Eye color	Green
Weaponry	Alondite
Base	Begnion
Voiced by	Mark Dias
Debut	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

The Black Knight is a primary antagonist in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. He also appears both a playable unit and a main antagonist in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, where his true identity is revealed to be Zelgius (a relatively minor character seen in Path of Radiance).

Background

Zelgius was born in Daein and bore the Brand of beorc-laguz procreation. This caused him to be shunned by his family. He eventually joined with the Daein military in order to escape his shame, living alone and trusting no one. He always wore his armor, even indoors, in order to hide his Brand and his lack of aging. There he trained under his commanding officer, Gawain. Zelgius idolized Gawain and hoped to one day overcome his strength. He was crushed when Gawain left Daein mysteriously. He became dedicated to tracking Gawain down so that he could duel with him and see if he would be able to defeat him.

At the same time, Zelgius faced another problem in that he was going to be cast out from the Daein army soon. He visited a sage, Sephiran, to see if he could remove the Brand from his back so he would no longer have to suffer from the curse accompanying it. He also confided his backstory to Sephiran. He saw Sephiran had no way of removing the Brand, but Sephiran did invite Zelgius to join him in Begnion after his time in the Daein army, as Sephiran understood Zelgius's feelings of pain and isolation. Zelgius gladly accepted and enlisted in the Begnion army afterwards. He became commander of the Begnion Central Army, earl of Kadohl and a famed war hero throughout Begnion. At the same time he was Sephiran's sole confidant regarding Sephiran's grander schemes to awaken Ashera and destroy the world, and for the time neither of the two were alone anymore.

Sephiran later sent Zelgius to infiltrate Daein's army, so that he could keep an eye on the new king Ashnard and also aid his goal of awakening Yune from Lehran's Medallion. Ashnard judged his subordinates by strength with little to no regards to their background, so Zelgius joined the Daein army disguised completely in black armor and calling himself the Black Knight. He was appointed one of the Four Riders of Daein and became one of Ashnard's most trusted subordinates.

Path of Radiance

The Black Knight was first seen at the end of "Chapter 7: Shades of Evil", when he convinced his fellow Rider, Petrine, to retreat from the Gallian forces. Afterwards he met up with Greil and battled him to retrieve Lehran's Medallion for Ashnard. He was also doing this because Sephiran wanted Ashnard to receive the Medallion so he could awaken Yune, and he also wanted to finally test his skills against Greil. The Black Knight wielded Alondite and gave Greil the Ragnell sword so he would stand a chance, but Greil rejected it and was mortally wounded easily by the Black Knight. By then Greil's son Ike had arrived, and the Black Knight threatened to kill him if Greil didn't tell him the medallion's location, but he fled after he heard the roar of King Caineghis. The Black Knight later appeared before Ike's group in Chapter 11 and Chapter 24, but in those chapters he was more of something to be avoided rather than an enemy to kill.

In "Chapter 11: Blood Runs Red", he at first stood back and let Mackoya try defeating Ike's mercenary crew to capture the princess Elincia at Port Toha. But after Mackoya entered the battle, the Black Knight became impatient and set out to stop them himself. Ike and his friends successfully escaped. Ranulf then tried attacking Black Knight to hold him off, but Sephiran convinced Black Knight to leave Ranulf alone and not pursue the boat. The Black Knight obeyed Sephiran without revealing his true identity because Sephiran was Prime Minister of Begnion, and King Ashnard did not want war with Begnion yet. Then in "Chapter 24: Battle Reunion", the Black Knight observed Ike's battle with several Daein forces without moving. Ike later tried to attack him, but his sword did no damage. The Black Knight saw Ike as a promising opponent, so he let Ike live and told him to bring Ragnell next time so they could have a real battle.

In "Chapter 22: Solo", he was first seen as Zelgius when he was dispatched leading reinforcements from Begnion to aid Ike and the Crimean Liberation Army following Ike's successful capture of Daein Keep. Ike chose to send Zelgius and his men on a survey mission to capture straggling Daein troops, since he did not want Begnion to have any reason to take over Crimea once it had been captured.

Ike in battle with The Black Knight

Throughout the game, Ashnard sent The Black Knight on various jobs to help the Daein Army, first capturing a Serenes royal so that Ashnard could use their galdr to revive the dark god in Lehran's Medallion. He ultimately decided to capture Leanne. In "Chapter 28: Moment of Fate", he was sent to Grados Castle and assigned to execute Ena. The Black Knight however, did not land a clean blow on Ena after he stated that he will make her death "swift and painless". At this point Ike revealed that Greil had been handicapped during his battle with the Black Knight, as Greil had cut all the tendons in his sword-bearing arm, which made Zelgius's former victory even more fruitless. He then did battle with Ike, who brought Ragnell this time. However, he held back during the battle because he felt that Ike had the potential to become a great swordfighter like Greil, in which case he could truly test his powers as he had hoped. If Ike defeated The Black Knight in four turns, he acknowledged Ike's growth in strength, before collapsing. The soldiers then set off the traps that caused the castle to collapse in a last-ditch attempt to kill Ike's group. Black Knight, unconscious while the castle fell on him, was believed dead, but he somehow survived.

Zelgius also appears in the game's epilogue, but only if Tanith had been killed in battle. He claimed to have come to Crimea in case Ike needed reinforcements during the battle with Ashnard, and Ike thanked Zelgius for holding off the remaining enemies in Daein so that Ike's army could focus on moving ahead to Ashnard.

Alternate Plotlines

In "Chapter 28" of Path of Radiance, if Ike fails to defeat The Black Knight in four turns or flees, Nasir will sacrifice himself by setting off traps in the castle and bury himself and The Black Knight in debris.

Radiant Dawn

Three years later, Zelgius donned his Black Knight armor again. He was sent to defend Micaiah when she was being ambushed by Begnion soldiers in "Chapter 9: Solo" of "Part 1: Silver Haired Maiden". He claimed to be helping her because she was necessary for Daein's future, as she was leading the Daein Liberation Army. However, his true reasons for protecting her were that she was a descendant of Sephiran, as well as being necessary to sing the galdr of release in order to awaken Yune. He then aided the Daein Liberation Army again during their final battle against General Jarod in "Endgame: Daein, Arise!" and disappeared following the battle.

Zelgius

As Zelgius, he was sent to command the Begnion Central Army in war against the Laguz Alliance Army in "Part 3: Intersecting Vows". Tibarn attempted to stall the Central Army's progress by attacking their supply units, but they had been informed of that beforehand by Naesala so they sprung a trap for the laguz army there, stalling them while Begnion soldiers slaughtered every able-bodied hawk men in Tibarn's country of Phoenicia. The Begnion Central Army soon had the Laguz Alliance cornered on the other side of the Ribahn River. However, the army, led by Ike, was able to use deceptive strategies in order to cross the river and destroy the supply units while Zelgius was preoccupied battling Ranulf in "Chapter 3: River Crossing". It was from this battle that Ranulf realized that Zelgius was the Black Knight, but it would be some time before he told Ike because he wanted proof first.

The Laguz Alliance had gained an advantage from the battle, but Zelgius overcame that advantage by playing on Skirmir's primal instincts and challenging him to a duel in "Chapter 4: The General's Hand". Skrimir was brutally wounded in the battle, and Zelgius initiated a ceasefire, giving the Laguz Alliance army three days to retreat. This move was lambasted by the senators, who wanted the laguz to suffer. Zelgius soon found to his horror that the senators had gone out of control, imprisoning Sephiran under false charges of treason, repealing his ceasefire and also locking away Sanaki. Begnion also called in the Daein army to take care of the retreating Laguz Alliance army in "Chapter 6: A Reason to Fight". Zelgius fought alongside the Daein Army during those battles as the Black Knight. In "Chapter 7: Rivals Collide", the Daein army battled Ike's group, and the Black Knight potentially crossed swords with Ike once more.

He the resumed his pursuit of the Laguz Alliance Army as Zelgius in "Chapter 8: Incandescent Glow", but to his dismay he was replaced as commander by Senator Valtome, who made increasingly cruel decisions in his running of the army. Valtome led them on a march through Crimea to invade Gallia from there. The two sides then met on Crimea to battle in "Chapter 10: The Heart of Crimea". However, at the point Queen Elincia ordered both sides to retreat from her land, willing to take any measures to ensure no blood was spilled in Crimea. Zelgius complied with these demands against Valtome's wishes. Following the ensuing battle, Valtome prepared to execute Zelgius for his disobedience. However, he was saved when the Holy Knights arrived with Sanaki, who called off the execution. After being freed, Zelgius choked Valtome for disgracing Sephiran's name.

Zelgius later returned to Sienne, where he freed Sephiran from prison at the end of "Chapter 12: The Price", and together they then led an uprising against the senate. After Ashera and Yune were awoken by Micaiah's galdr, Zelgius remained in the Tower of Guidance with Sephiran. He only left once as the Black Knight to help Micaiah and the Silver Army to fight off Disciples of Order in the Grann Desert. He was there only to save Micaiah and offered to take her to the Tower of Guidance, but she seemed reluctant, so he left her to contemplate her decision.

The Black Knight was found in the second area of the Tower of Guidance in "Endgame: Rebirth". Ike had learned his true identity by then from Ranulf, and Zelgius proceeded to confirm it. He saw Ike as finally worthy as a fighter and engaged him in one-on-one battle, enacting a magical barrier to block off all others who would interfere with the battle. Ike was ultimately victorious. Ike stayed by Zelgius's side in his last moments. He told Zelgius that he had actually felt joy when he had learned that the Black Knight was still alive, saying that even though he was his father's killer, he was also his final teacher because of all the training Ike endured because of him. Zelgius was comforted by Ike's words, and in his last breaths he told Ike that his swordplay was as true as his father's.

Abilities

The Black Knight is an extremely powerful warrior, easily dwarfing King Tibarn in strength and matching even Ashnard. The Black Knight's armor was blessed by the goddess Ashera and could only be damaged by blessed weapons. He had an assortment of blessed items such as his sword Alondite, and his Arcane Powder which let him teleport at will, but it apparently took a toll on his body as well. Presumably all these blessed items were given to him by Sephiran.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Within the Super Smash Bros. series, the Black Knight has appeared as a Mii Swordfighter costume starting in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U (where it was available as DLC) and as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When summoned as an Assist Trophy, he moves slowly across the field and attacks anyone in his path. The Black Knight has also been represented through a trophy and a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, his theme music (which has been part of the soundtrack since Brawl), a Smash Tour item in the Wii U game (which gave players a chance of smash attacks causing one-hit KOs in the beginning of the match) and two stages of a Primary Spirit in Ultimate. The first stage is an Ace-rank Spirit of Zelgius, and that Spirit can be enhanced at Level 99 into a Legend-rank Spirit of The Black Knight, which came with the Armor Knight skill. When fought in a Spirit battle, Zelgius's Spirit would possess a Mii Swordfighter wearing the Black Knight's armor in a stamina battle.

Trivia

• Ashnard received his blessed armor from The Black Knight.
• Ashnard acknowledged The Black Knight's great strength and wished to test which of them was stronger one day.
• The Black Knight was the former owner of Ike's sword Ragnell, although not the original owner. He presumably received Ragnell and Alondite from Sephiran, who seemed to have received them from their first known owner, his former lover Altina.
• In Brawl, Ike uses something similar to the Black Knight's arcane powder to warp into battlefields as his pre-battle entrance.