Renning

Grim Cavalier
Renning
Species	Beorc
Class	FE9 Paladin FE10 Gold Knight
Affiliation	Crimea/Daein
Hair color	Green
Base	Crimea
Relatives	King Ramon (brother) Elincia (niece)
Debut	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Renning is a playable unit in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn whom had previously appeared as Bertram, boss character and one of the Four Riders of Daein, in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Background

Renning was the younger brother of Crimea's King Ramon. He was known for his valor and courage, and his peerless skill in combat, which led to him becoming the commander of the Crimean Royal Knights. He was later named successor to the throne of Crimea, but matters were complicated when Ramon had a daughter, Elincia. In order to prevent any blood feuds, Elincia's existence was kept a secret from the public, although Renning treated her with kindness and she later regarded him as the one person who understood her best. He also became a mentor to the young knight Geoffrey and a friend of the strategist Bastian.

During Daein's invasion of Crimea in Path of Radiance, Renning sent Geoffrey to escort Elincia safely to Gallia while he remained behind to fight off the Daein forces. Although he was believed dead in the ensuing battle, the truth is that Renning resisted multiple attempts on his life, at which point Ashnard was impressed by his skill and had him kidnapped. Renning was subjected to the drug which warped laguz into the Feral Ones - creatures who were bloodthirsty, powerful, and without inhibitions. This naturally made Renning even stronger while shattering his mind. He became known as Bertram, one of Daein's Four Riders, with a helmet that concealed most of his facial features. Bertram became greatly feared due to rumors that he was not a man beneath his armor but rather some sort of ancient specter or demon.

Bertram was eventually dispatched to battle the forces of the Crimean Liberation Army at Fort Pinell in "Chapter 26: Clash!". He was defeated, but still alive, at which point Bastian secretly had him taken back to his castle. Bastian was the only one at the time to know Bertram's identity, but he kept it a secret until he could find a cure for Renning's condition so as to not raise false hope in Princess Elincia. Over the next three years, Renning's mind continued to deteriorate, and eventually Bastian employed the assassin Volke to help him to find a cure. After researching the origins of the Feral One drug, they hypothesized that it could be cured through the heron galdr of rebirth.

In "Chapter 5: Unforgivable Sin" of "Part 4: Of Gods and Men" in Radiant Dawn, Bastian reached the camp of the Hawk Army to meet with Elincia and Reyson with Renning in tow. Reyson was able to successfully cure Renning's mind with the galdr of rebirth, and he remained unconscious until awakening in the "Renning" base conversation of "Final Chapter: Rebirth". Renning thanked Geoffrey, Bastian and Lucia for taking care of Elincia and for helping him to regain his sanity. Bastian provided him with his materials for battle, and he pointed out the irony of Elincia being overprotective of him. He swore not to leave Elincia behind at her request and then sparred Geoffrey for the position of the leadership of the nights, which Elincia objected to but Lucia saw it as a nostalgic distraction from the tension of the coming battle.

Renning then joined in on the final battles in the following day, eager to regain his honor. Presumably he lost his match to Geoffrey, as Geoffrey remained commander of the Crimean Knights. All of Crimea did rejoice at his return, although he avoided the limelight. Renning made due with helping Elincia to maintain the peace throughout Crimea.

Stats

Radiant Dawn

Base Stats

• Class: Gold Knight
• Lvl: 16
• HP: 56
• Str: 31
• Mag: 18
• Skl: 32
• Spd: 29
• Lck: 24
• Def: 27
• Res: 23
• Wlv: Sword SS, Axe A
• Affin: Earth

Growth Rates

• HP: 40
• Str: 60
• Mag: 10
• Skl: 50
• Spd: 40
• Lck: 10
• Def: 70
• Res: 20

Trivia

• In Path of Radiance, while fighting Ike, Bertram seems to ask Ike to kill him.
• An unused character portrait for Renning appears in Path of Radiance as well, and its similarity to the Bertram portrait was used to fuel the original fan speculation that Bertram was actually Renning. The presence of this portrait suggests that Renning was originally supposed to play a larger role in Path of Radiance which may have been carried over to Radiant Dawn.
• In Radiant Dawn, he has an automatic Bond Support with Elincia.