Mordecai

Mordecai speaking with a squirrel
Mordecai
Species	Laguz (Tiger)
Class	Beast Tribe (Tiger)
Affiliation	Gallia Crimean Liberation Army
Hair color	Blue
Base	Gallia
Debut	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Mordecai is a playable unit in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and one of the first playable laguz characters in the game.

Background

Mordecai hailed from Gallia, and was a powerful tiger laguz. But in contrast to his great physical strength, he was very friendly and sought peace with other creatures. He was even friendly with squirrels. Mordecai did not like combat, so he closed his eyes while attacking enemies, which sometimes led him to miss his targets. Mordecai worked with Lethe in the palace of King Caineghis. The two sometimes broke out into arguments due to Lethe's temper and bad manners.

In Path of Radiance, Mordecai and Lethe were initially deployed by Caineghis to escort the Greil Mercenaries to Gallia's palace. They met with the mercenaries at the end of "Chapter 8: Despair and Hope", after eliminating the remaining Daein soldiers threatening the mercenaries. Mordecai instantly befriended Ike. Soren then provoked Mordecai by insulting the laguz and calling them subhumans, which led Mordecai to attack Soren in a feral rage, but Ike broke up the fight by taking the blow for Soren. Afterwards, Mordecai and Lethe served as allied units while escorting them to see the king in "Chapter 9: Gallia".

After the conference with the king, it was decided that Mordecai and Lethe would continue to act as escorts to the Greil Mercenaries during their journey to Begnion and the rest of their battles in the war with Daein. In the "Final Chapter: Repatriation", Giffca delivered a message to them from the king thanking the for their service and asking them to return home alive, and both of the laguz warriors felt honored. After the war was over, Mordecai decided to lend his strength towards helping Ike to rebuild Crimea.

Support Conversation Summaries

Mordecai is capable of having Support conversations with five other characters.

• Ilyana- Mordecai meets with Ilyana and becomes concerned about her skinny and weak-looking body. He asks Ilyana if the enemy would tear her to shreds with her paper-thing body, but Ilyana say she was ready if that happened. Mordecai does not agree with this and decides to protect her. In the second conversation, Ilyana compliments Mordecai's strength as he lifts crates and asks her how he could carry all those. Mordecai tells her he gets strong through big meals, and Ilyana says she doesn't have money to buy her own meals so Mordecai gives her his own gold. In the final conversation, Mordecai is impressed by all the food Ilyana had eaten, but she was still skinny. This led Mordecai to compare her with a squirrel, and Ilyana laughed at the comparison, but Mordecai seems to seriously think she was a squirrel laguz and asks her when she hibernates.
• Mist- In the first conversation, Mordecai retrieves a scarf that Mist had been looking for, and Mist finds herself nervous while speaking to Mordecai and wishing she could be more casual like Ike. In the second conversation, Mist very nervously rambles on to Mordecai, but he eventually tells her to calm down and breathe. He notes that she must not have spoken to many laguz before but can tell that she is trying to be his friend in her heart, and he says that they will grow to be friends in time and that he was nervous too while talking to her. In the third conversation, Mist runs into Mordecai while he's looking for Ike, and after they briefly discuss him, Mordecai admits that his hand was shaking when he returned Mist's scarf to her. Mist and Mordecai realize that they must have much in common.
• Ranulf- In the first conversation, Ranulf and Mordecai get reacquainted, and Mordecai asks Ranulf if he thinks he is making progress in learning the human language. Mordecai remembers how the laguz needed only roars to communicate, but Reyson reminds him the beorcs might be frightened by the roaring, and Mordecai agrees that he does not want to scare the beorcs. In the second conversation, Ranulf wakes Mordecai from a nap and notes that both he and Ike seem to have iron nerves, but Mordecai says he does not mind napping because he trusts his allies. He then tells Ranulf about his inability to properly attack enemies. In the third conversation, Mordecai apologizes to Ranulf and says he cannot change the way he fights because it is the way he is. Ranulf assures Mordecai he has no need to apologize and is no burden to Ike's army, and the two agree to crush the enemy and bring the war to an end.
• Stefan- Stefan asks Mordecai about Gallia, and he in turn asks Stefan what he thinks about Begnion, but Mordecai does not understand some of Stefan's words, such as when he says he "detests" Begnion and that Mordecai is lucky to be "ignorant". In the second conversation, Mordecai had studied the meaning of the words and thought them insults, so he confronted Stefan, who told him to look up The Branded and he would then understand Stefan's feelings. In the the third conversation, they discuss the Branded and the prejudice against them by both beorc and laguz. Stefan explains why he detests Gallia and and the laguz for considering him a non-entity. But Mordecai decides to acknowledge Stefan, saying that if the laws of Ashera made him unwanted then Mordecai wanted nothing to do with her. Conversely, Stefan then becomes thankful to the goddess, saying that if someone like him could become so sincere a friend, then she might not be to blame and her laws may not be what they think.
• Ulki- In the first conversation, Mordecai asks Ulki what its like to fly, and Ulki says he doesn't really notice because he does it naturally. He then asks Ulki about Phoenicis. In the second conversation, Ulki tells Mordecai how his kind (with the exception of Janaff have poor eyesight in the darkness and how he wishes he could see around at night, while Mordecai says he has good night vision except in pure darkness. In the third conversation, Mordecai proposes a strategy in which he rides on Ulki so he could show Ulki the forest at night and experience the joys of flying at the same time. Ulki says he cannot support Mordecai's weight, but they could be able to make it work if Mordecai lost weight and Ulki got stronger. Mordecai swore to decrease his eating in order to lose weight, but Ulki nervously told him not to go overboard because it was just an idea.

Mordecai also has an in-built Support bonus with Lethe that boosts his chance of delivering a critical hit when she is nearby (and vice-versa).

Trivia

• His name is of Biblical origins; Mordecai is a figure from the Book of Esther. The Biblical Mordecai was a Jewish person who fought Haman, a man who was planning to exterminate the Jewish people, similar to how many beorcs in Path of Radiance sought to oppress the laguz.