Minerva

True Leader
Minerva
Species	Human
Class	Dracoknight
Affiliation	Macedon
Hair color	Red
Eye color	Red
Weaponry	Hauteclere
Base	Macedon
Relatives	Michalis (brother) Maria (sister)
Debut	Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi

Minerva is the princess of Macedon who appears as a playable unit in Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi, both books of Monshou no Nazo and Shadow Dragon, as well as Part 2 of BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senki. She wields the most powerful axe in the games, Hauteclere.

Background

Ever since her childhood, she looked up to her brother Michalis as a hero and trained to match his strength. However, he was always a step ahead. Minerva grew to a loyal soldier who respected the rules of combat and led the Whitewings group, with the three pegasus knight sisters Palla, Catria and Est working under her.

Book One

However, her view of her brother would be altered forever when Michalis killed their father so that he could take the throne and form an alliance with Dolhr as part of his plan to make Macedon the ruling power of Archanea. Minerva did not agree to this war, so Dolhr forced her to take part in it by taking her sister Maria hostage. Eventually she came to see the whole world as having gone mad. In Part 2 of BS Fire Emblem, she wound up teaming up with a disguised Hardin to defeat corrupt deserters from the Macedon army who were capturing and abusing villagers. Afterwards, one of her men spotted Hardin and suggested pursuing him due to rumors that he was involved with anti-Dolhr rebellions, but Minerva pretended that she did not believe such rumors so that they could leave him alone.

The Whitewings were first sent into battle with the Altean Army in Chapter 7 (6 SNES), where she wanted to attack the enemy head-on to preserve her knightly pride, but General Harmein of Dolhr refused to allow this by threatening Maria. Minerva would then retreat from the battlefield after either being defeated or growing disgusted by Hermein's tactics.

After this point, Minerva began planning a rebellion against both her brother and the Dolhr Empire. Dolhr had suspected this and had the Whitewings separated from her. However, Minerva could not act as long as Maria was captured, so she sent Catria to inform the leader of the Altean army about this. In Chapter 10 (8 SNES), Maria was rescued by the leader of the Altean army, Marth, at which point Minerva became part of his army in order to redeem Macedon's honor after Michalis had defiled it. As the army began its campaign on Macedon, Minerva remained gravely determined to battling her brother, saying that she still loved him enough to kill him herself rather than by some stranger's hand.

They battled Michalis in Chapter 22 (17 SNES), and Book 2 implies it was Minerva who dealt the final blow to Michalis with his lance. He was believed dead (only to later get better), and following the War of Darkness's end, Minerva helped to restore Macedon to glory but remained reluctant to take up the throne despite the public's wishes.

Book Two

Over the next few years, Minerva had helped to renovate Macedon's army and removed the corrupt generals. However, she was opposed by a rebellion lead by General Ryuke, who captured and imprisoned her. Although the Altean army came to rescue her, she was whisked away by Michalis when he suddenly returned in Chapter 3. He later left her at a village in Khadein in Chapter 10 so she could meet Marth. Minerva believed he had returned to his old self, but Michalis insisted he had always been like this even he killed their father and that now he was motivated by searching for the missing Maria.

Marth soon met with her and recruited her back into his army, and they mused over Michalis's sudden change. Minerva was impressed that even someone like Michalis could be moved by Maria's gentle heart, but Marth told Minerva she must have hoped for the same thing when she did not finish him off, implying that she had intentionally or (subconsciously) not delivered a killing blow to Michalis in the previous war despite believing him dead afterwards. Regardless, Marth assured her that Macedon was in safe hands, and Minerva continued to fight alongside Marth as they had in the past.

During the final chapter, Maria was found under Medeus's hypnotic control along with the other missing maidens. However, Minerva was able to snap Maria out of his trance by telling her a lite that Michalis was alright (as he had died for good by that point). Following this war's conclusion, Minerva abandoned Macedeon's throne and instead worked at Lena's monastery.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Fire Emblem Warriors, Minerva appeared as a playable DLC character.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, she appeared as an Advanced-rank Primary Spirit. When fought in a Spirit battle, her spirit would possess Lucina and fight alongside Charizard.

Trivia

• Her name comes from the Roman God of wisdom and war, counterpart to the Greek Athena.
• In Monsho no Nazo, she receives a Support Bonus from Maria, and in Shadow Dragon she receives Support Bonuses from both Marth and Maria.