Joshua

The Tempest King
Joshua
Species	Human
Class	Myrmidon
Promotion	Assassin/Swordmaster
Hair color	Red
Relatives	Ismaire (mother) Natasha (possible wife)
Debut	Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Joshua is a playable unit in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and one of two recruitable Myrmidons.

Background

Despite his appearance as being an ordinary swordsman, Joshua is in fact the Prince of Jehanna and like his mother Ismaire, was skilled in the blade thanks to his training by Carlyle. Ten years prior to the events of Sacred Stones, he ran away from home. He felt stifled by the life of formality and simply left, feeling he could never learn to be a proper king that way. His plan was to wander the world and learn about others and he always planned to return home to claim his birthright. In order to finance his adventures, he became a mercenary and extremely skilled gambler.

Along his journeys he became a good friend of another mercenary, Caellach. The two traveled together for some time until they parted ways two years ago. During all his time adventuring, Joshua never revealed or even hinted at his true identity to anyone. He also became an exceptional gambler, learning to perfectly perform a trick that allowed him to rig a coin toss by replacing the betting coin with another while catching it. Even though he claimed to live by luck, most of his luck was self-made as he dedicated himself to becoming a better swordsman and a better future king.

During the war between Grado and Renais, Joshua found work for Grado while he was in the town of Serafew, though he spent a large amount of his time in the arena. While in town he happened to notice a beautiful cleric, Natasha, though she quickly rushed away for reasons he did not know. After losing a few rounds at the arena, he was found by one of the soldiers that were employing him and was set to work. During the battle he encountered Natasha again, who had entered into Princess Eirika's protection. When he ran into Natasha during the battle, she tried to convince him to leave Grado's employ by claiming that the emperor had become corrupt. He however dismissed it and said he didn't care since he was just a mercenary, but that killing a beautiful lady would leave a bad taste in his mouth. He instead put it up to a gamble - he would kill her if she lost and join her side if she won. After a coin toss, Natasha won (though Joshua likely rigged it to make her win) and joined her side. Afterwards he continued to accompany Eirika's army.

If Joshua accompanies Eirika on her path to Jehanna (depending on the player's choice), Joshua returns to his home after Carlyle betrays Ismaire to Grado so that he could at last take her as his wife. However Carlyle was double crossed by Caellach, Joshua's old friend who was now in Grado's employ. After Carlyle's defeat, they found Ismaire had already been wounded when she refused to give up Jehanna's Sacred Stone. Joshua came to her side and apologized for abandoning her, but she swiftly forgave him and bid him to retrieve the Sacred Stone. He then formally revealed his identity to the other nobles present (Innes and L'Arachel) and Jehanna officially joined the struggle. However if Joshua accompanies Ephraim instead, he never returns to Jehanna and it is assumed that his mother died anyways without him being there.

Later he would have the opportunity to meet Caellach in battle. If Joshua was present for his mother's death, Caellach has since learned that Joshua is the prince of Jehanna and Joshua learned that Caellach was her murderer; otherwise Caellach attempts to convince Joshua to change sides, but he refuses to do so. Joshua continued to fight against Grado until the conclusion of the war, revealing to no one else his true identity until he reclaimed his throne.

Possible Fates

Joshua has four different endings, depending on whether he reaches A-Support with Marisa, Natasha, or Gerik.

• Default Ending - Joshua returned to Jehanna and became its king. His skills as a leader had grown and he was able to lead Jehanna to new prosperity, although he never lost his love for traveling and gambling. The events of this ending seem to still take place in the other alternate endings.
• Marisa and Joshua's Ending - After Joshua won his match with her, he convinced her to come back to him with Jehanna where she would pledge service to the crown and become the top swordfighter. Though Joshua continued to enjoy gambling, for him Marisa was always the winner.
• Natasha and Joshua's Ending - Joshua returned to Jehanna and married Natasha. As his perfect companion, together they brought Jehanna to new glory.
• Gerik and Joshua's Ending - Following the war, Gerik and Joshua finally had their duel which ended in a tie. Gerik was impressed by Joshua's swagger that he ended up never leaving the Jehanna prince's side.

Support Conversation Summaries

Joshua is capable of support conversations with six other characters.

• Natasha - In the first conversation, Joshua thanks Natasha for all the help she has given with her healing arts and says that her smile eases all of the company's pain. In the next conversation Joshua saves her from a stray arrow, claiming he was "in the neighborhood" and offers to protect her so she can focus on healing others. He then tries to make another bet with her, betting that she would fall for him sooner or later, but Natasha took this as a joke and left out of annoyance. In the final conversation, Natasha appears to help Joshua when he shows pain, saying that she was in the neighborhood. Joshua tells her it's only a scratch but to treat it anyway. Joshua then poses a new bet that he would make Natasha happy, saying that if she came with him he would make it work. Natasha than decided to accept his wager and bet her future and her happiness, which made Joshua realize he couldn't lose, and Natasha hoped from the bottom of her heart that he would win. After realizing that Joshua had won his prior bet about Natasha falling for him, Joshua said this bet would be tougher and would require work. Natasha admitted that although the war was terrible, she was glad that it brought them together.
• Innes - Joshua meets Innes on the battlefield and proposes a bet, suggesting that they get to know each other if they are going to fight alongside each other and that a friendly wager was the best way to get to know someone. Innes says that he believes in skill rather than luck but goes along with the bet anyway and loses the coin-toss despite briefly believing that his side had come up, noting that there was more to gambling than meets the eye. In the next conversation Innes had lost ten times in a row and Joshua suggests that he stop while he still has money but Innes refuses to give in while on a losing streak. In the next conversation he still insists on betting, at which point Joshua confesses that the whole thing was rigged, and he begins to describe various scam artists he had met in the past and how he had initially learned the tricks so that they could not be used on him. Innes says he never had much experience with such things due to having been groomed to be king and realizes there are some things that he can only learn on the field. Joshua then offers to return his money to him, but Innes says that he can keep some because he blames himself for not seeing through his tricks, and Joshua considers it his tuition fee. To Joshua's surprise, Innes still wants to continue betting now that he knew Joshua's trick he feels a winning streak coming on, so Joshua reluctantly agrees and flips the coin while telling Innes to call it in the air.
• Artur - Joshua quickly pressures Artur into making a bet with him on a coin toss and wins, then saying that Artur would have to train with him as a result. Artur is reluctant due to the terms having not been named before the bet and already having busy evenings, but Joshua insists that he stick to the best and explains that he wanted to train with a magic user because he was having a hard time fighting enemy magic users. In the next conversation Artur is exhausted from the training sessions and wants out, so Joshua makes another bet that if Joshua won Artur would have to do what he told him. Joshua wins again and Artur asks to see the coin but rescinds after Joshua asks if he would accuse him of cheating. But seeing how tired Artur was, Joshua agreed to give him the day off and protect him during the battle but told him to be ready for the next day's session. In the final conversation Artur volunteers to train without going through the betting process first as Artur feels Joshua must have some divine betting power due to having won 19 of the 21 coin tosses. Joshua than admitted that Artur had actually won 11 and that he really had cheated, but he used this as a moral to say that monks may value trust and faith, but foes on the battlefield could never be trusted and if he gambled with them he would die 19 times over. Joshua then declared that they would still be partners, but Joshua would instead teach Artur about wagers. Artur then requested Joshua not cheat anymore.
• Gerik - When Joshua approaches Gerik, he comments on the mercenary's past accomplishments and mentions that he wants to propose a job, but wants to wait until later so he doesn't mess things up. In their next conversation, Gerik brings up Joshua's love for gambling. Despite Joshua's firm belief in his own luck, Gerik points out that luck isn't the only determining factor in things and that it should not be blamed for failures or mistakes. Though Joshua thinks it's a good point, he says he will continue to trust in his own luck. When they speak again, Gerik accuses Joshua of taking advantage of his men when they gamble and asks him to stop. He then makes a bet to try and win it back. Joshua enthusiastically agrees on the condition Gerik come work for him if he loses. When Joshua apparently wins, Gerik points out the coin switch and claims he's won instead. Joshua is surprised Gerik was able to see his trick and the mercenary reveals he used to do a lot of gambling in his past, despite feigning disinterest in it during their earlier conversations. Despite that, Joshua offers that the two of them should have a duel after the war and that if he wins, Gerik will come work for him.
• Marisa - Having heard of her skill, Joshua approaches Marisa about having a duel to test their abilities, but rather than a death match make it have odds about one owing the other depending on the victor, to which Marisa agrees. The second conversation begins after their first duel, in which they were evenly matched, though Marisa had the slight advantage. Joshua explains his love of gambling, but Marisa is more interested in dueling again with the same stakes. Their final conversation begins with the conclusion of their latest duel in which Joshua is the victor. Marisa claims to have made a mistake and Joshua concludes she was just having a bad day. He explains what his 'favor' will be, asking Marisa to accompany him as his partner for sparring with one another as well as gambling. He convinces her of the benefits of being around someone to spar with and she agrees to go along with it, though she is determined she'll beat him in their next duel.
• L'Arachel - L'Arachel comes to Joshua after a con toss had come up tails, leading him to believe he would be having an unlucky day. L'Arachel suggests he give the coin for honest prayer and that she does not need luck due to having divine grace. Joshua proposes a bet to see if luck or divine grace was stronger, and L'Arachel initially gave a long-winded protest calling gambling a sin. However, she then agreed to his wager claiming that it was only to teach him a lesson about the evils of temptation. She wins the coin toss, and Joshua suggests putting money on the line, to which she agrees and proclaims her winnings will go towards noble causes. In the next conversation Joshua asks L'Arachel to gamble with him again so he could try to win back his money, as he feels more lucky on this day, and she agrees. She continues to denounce gambling as a vile sin and says that she only continues because it is part of an ongoing lesson for Joshua and that gambling was not wrong when done for a just cause. Joshua says he held back on her before because she was an amateur and will no more, and L'Arachel invites him to because she says she cannot lose with righteousness on her side. In the final conversation, L'Arachel continues to win while Joshua is irritated because he continued to lose despite having rigged the games. He banters with her, with L'Arachel not understanding his figures of speech and thus missing his confession of his attempts to gamble, until he is annoyed to the point of admitting he was wrong and that he would not gamble with her anymore, at which point he left. L'Arachel was left to wonder why everyone runs away from her and who she would play with now, finally deciding that she would talk to her uncle about building a gambling hall in Rausten.

Trivia

• A sticker of Joshua appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.