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 -
• Artur -
• 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 -