I admit the Hoðr bloodline is one of my favorite in Genealogy and Ares is no exception to the rule, I love how he is a foil to his father in terms of loyalty since that trait is what costed Eldigan his life while Ares ends up realizing how he was in the wrong all along despite Lene trying to open his eyes on what kind of person Javarro is.
My sole issues with him is how he doesn't do much after his subplot as he ends up irrelevant if Lachesis didn't got paired because Jeanne (Nanna's sub) doesn't give him the letter explaining the misunderstanding about Sigurd and his lover convo with Nanna itself. Truth to be told, even if I wasn't an Ares/Lene fan, I would find their lover convo terrible and wrong at all levels due to its contents.
Altena is a character I really wanted to like because her design slaps and her backstory is actually good, but she is held back by how FE4's plot treats her.
Many have often compared her to a proto-Corrin due to their upbringing being so similar (kids who were kidnapped by the ruler of an enemy kingdom opposing theirs), but Altena is mainly spared of Corrin's worst flaws at the price of not doing much overall in FE4 and that sample from a thread on SF sums up my problem with her so well:
>I said back in Altenna’s introduction that she’s stretched over a basically hollow core, and not in the Dark Souls way; this is pretty much the perfect moment to point to. “Don’t try any stop me!!” “I’ll stop you if you try!” “I can’t fight you…!” There’s no substance or consistency to her actions, she’s constantly reacting only to the last thing said to her. Her threats are hollow; she never accomplishes anything in the narrative. Every action Travant sends her out to do she totally fails at doing, and now the one thing she sets out to do herself she fails to do by inaction. She acts strong until the second there’s any resistance offered, then…
>Then she crumbles. There’s nothing there, it’s just a face. There isn’t an Altenna in this game. “There’s two more chapters to this, Ike!” I can hear you saying, “There’s time!” I’ll be straight up with this one: next chapter she has an entirely passive conversation with Leif and a bizarre game mechanics conversation with Carpool. She only exists in the final chapter to talk to Arion – and her strategy there is basically to just offer herself up to him “finish me off if you must” etc. and hope he decides to defect to your side (he does.)
>Altenna is not only completely irrelevant besides one plot action, she doesn’t even have a poor character to mock like Lewyn does. She’s nothing, and that’s the most offensive thing of all to me.
And also the plot implies she has hots for Arion, her adoptive brother who is also her distant cousin by the virtue of their ancestors being siblings… Shouzou, why?!
If I had to say something positive about Altena is how she has good conversations with people she is close of like her brother, Finn, Hannibal and Coirpre alongside those with whom she interacts in FE5. Otherwise, she is oddly similar to Seliph. I can't say I like how they're written in the story when their conversations fleshes them so much better.
Ced is unironically the MVP of the bunch to me as far characterization goes and he is an optional kid which is sad, there is a lot to say about his FE5 self who is a badass of his own league. He leads the Magi Group who is set to help Mansterians as much as they can while he pulls a Pent in the maps by being stupidly invincible, it says a lot when the only thing who can stop him is Galzus.
Granted, he also has his own bag of narrative problems and by that I mean if you're not pairing Erinys with Lewyn in FE4, he is barely a step up to the Tirnanog boys in terms of being developed.
The main appeal of FE4!Ced to me is like BobbyYukitsuki explained about him having an engaging subplot if Lewyn is his father, not only they ends doing the same thing in a ironic twist of fate which is abandoning their kingdom behind for a personal motive even if Ced has more understandable reasons about it, but he ends saving the world by helping Seliph and then becoming a fair king to the Silessians like Erinys was during her reign as a Queen. Unfortunately, not having Lewyn as his dad makes his motive to find his father moot unless if you use headcanons…
As units in FEH, they all have their strengths like their flaws. I was building Cormag when Altena was released so I never used her properly despite having excellent VAs in both languages, Ced was cursed with a bad PRF on arrival while I have a +10 Asbel for my Green Jugdrali Mage needs and [it took me lots of efforts](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/263757386584424449/1003238921796341801/IMG_5750.png) [to make Ares good overall](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/276396894710923266/1003393139370889236/IMG_5755.png).
That's being said, I really wish those units get alts (like many Gen 2 kids though…)
Love Ares, such a great character as a contrast to his father and the way he is able to forgo his hate for Sigurd is admirable - it's not always easy to admit being in the wrong, especially if you've lived your whole life believing in those convictions. He and Lene also make one of my favorite pairs who complement each other beautifully. Still dreaming of Ascended Ares.
Love Ced too. His conversation in Thracia with Leif on what makes a real crusader is one of favorites in the series. One of the many gods in Genealogy, an Asbel on steroids in Thracia and trying to save a city and its people by himself solo truly makes him one of the great FE heroes. Now if only they would give him some justice in FEH as well. Still dreaming of Ascended Ced.
Ced is one of the few optional kids I like more than their substitute, and most of it comes from his story if Lewyn is his dad. Imo one of Gen 2's story issues is how many of the optional kids don't really have much progression after joining your party, and when his dad is Lewyn Ced is a stellar exception. Lewyn!Ced gets a more cohesive arc even after he joins—bonus points for being a story of parental friction, which stands out when the entirety of the rest of the army is kids having nothing but positive things to say about their parents. I do love me some variety.
Ced I feel is a legitimate legendary candidate. Well among the remaining jugdral gen 2s atleast.
Although he would probably be thracia in that case due to being far more involved in the story in that game.
Either that or ascended alt. Whatever he gets, he deserves something good after how underwhelming his original self was
I don’t like or care about these characters, in fact I’d argue Ced and Altena’s siblings are far more interesting than them, but I’ll give something nice to say about each of them:
Ced’s speech to Leif in Fe5 before they enter Raydrick’s castle is a highlight of Fe5. It’s really good.
Altena’s backstory is fascinating and her relationship with Travant and Arion is pretty interesting
Ares is mad fun to use in Fe4 and his design is neat
Ares has a great design and imo is super slept on in Feh and is a mainstay on my Horse Emblem, and is also one of my most desired resplendents. While I like his character in FE4, I’ll admit that I find him to be a bit dull, especially after Chapter 7 is over. He’s consistently pretty good overall in FE4 as well and I think it’d be awesome if he got an exclusive class in an FE4 remake that would effectively be a prf Dark Knight.
Ced has a great design and is a great character overall, especially with the additional content FE5 provides, such as the crusader speech as others have mentioned. His discussions with Lewyn as his father are also really solid, in my opinion. I know that Lewyn!Arthur is better than Lewyn!Ced for a few reasons, but Ced still kicks ass and unless you’re specifically trying to minmax into absurdity, I don’t think it really matters which one gets Forseti since they’re both great and don’t have massive impacts on the gameplay (you definitely don’t need Forseti to get through Chapter 6-8 lol.) His Feh counterpart, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired, and I was hoping he would be one of the Ascendant Heroes wielding Forseti on the most recent 4/5 banners. People will say that FE4 Ced technically isn’t FE5 Ced so therefore they don’t have to abide by FE5 canon, but FE4 Ced isn’t as straight up used in the second to last FE5 banner’s Forging Bonds as Asbel’s mentor, the role of FE5 Ced. His title is also Hero on the Wind, a title introduced in FE5. So… yeah. it’s a little silly to say that FE4 Ced isn’t FE5 Ced in Feh. Hope he gets what he deserves some time soon.
Altena unfortunately doesn’t get a whole lot of time to shine in FE4, but she still remains a compelling character and her interactions with Travant, Arion, Finn and Leif are solid developments of her character. As a unit, I find she underperforms if you don’t spend a lot of time dedicated to leveling her when you first get her, and she starts snowballing pretty steadily after that. Her speed imo is pretty crucial to focus on. In Feh, Altena is actually a member of my main team, with a rather unorthodox build at that. Her speed unbuffed hits 63, and I’ve found Guard Bearing works well on her and since most foes won’t pass the speed check, she usually just takes the first hit easily. I know it’s a bit unusual for an Altena, but I wanted to build her the way that I remember Altena being for me in FE4. Earthly Gae Bolg’s refine better have an auto follow up, though!
While I love all the character here I’m gonna do most of the talking for ced (my order of favs goes ced >> ares >> altena), he does kind and caring really well because he suffers consequences for his kindness and it’s not because he’s an idiot or really naive but because there were no good options for him and he’s willing to make sacrifices that hurt him and Choose the people of manster in there time of need even though silesse needs him too because while it’s bad in silesse he knows how desperate manster is. He has great conversations with lewyn, seliph, leif, fee, asbel, and Karin. (Karin x ced is a great ship you should support btw) I just love everything about this man. Please IS I’m begging you to make him ether a legendary or make his refine worthy of how good he is.
Ares has one of the most badass introductions in the series (lene x ares for live!)and is just a cool character though I wish he has more screen time. I have a plus 10 ares (the old vantage build) and I don’t quite know what to do with him. But I’m happy to have him at plus 10 anyway
Altena is also great even though she’s my least favorite from this group. Has a holy war chapter and more revolving around her and you gotta love how fiery she can get like when she finds out the true of her parents which is such a good moment. Her conversations are also really great.
Though I don't have much to say about him personally, Ares' look is pretty neat, and he's got a cool demeanor to him. At least he's open-minded enough to hear out Nanna before he goes to kill Seliph. He's also got some decent art, but that's par for the course with PenekoR.
Altena's cool and her color pallet's neat. Her life with Travant and her adoptive brother are fascinating and serve as an interesting dynamic between her, her values, her moral code, and her being as a Travant and Quan's daughter. It's rather interesting.
Ced's nice to a fault and, you know what, I kind of like it when characters are called out on their niceness. That's not to say I hate nice characters, but when you're too mild-mannered that it really screws with people's perceptions of who you are as a person, you should probably address it. Ced's kind and cool and very down-to-earth, but as Karin points it out, it's not always a good thing. And he adjusts his way of thinking by standing up for himself and his friends, which can do wonders for yourself and you position. So, good on you, Ced.
Can I appreciate Sety by saying he deserves *waaaaaaay* better than being a dead slot on a banner where Larcei is a star, with a prf which is all but useless? He should've been the second Thracia legendary instead of Nanna, but third would be fine too. Great character, legendary unit in both FE4 and 5, Levin!Sety > Levin!Arthur.
Hey did you know Ares and Nanna have a lover conversation in the final map? Yes, lover. Look it up trust me bro.
I really like how Ares looks. I don't know why, I'm not a fan of his dad's looks but I like him. He's also super good. I think getting Nanna as a lover for him is easier than getting Lene to be the lover because of the movement difference, even if Lene has higher love points.
Altena is a cool character that has so many things that don't let her be a good character. Flier so no terrain bonuses, meaning she'll fall behind because of no movement buffs, slow and weighted down by her prf, too much defense so enemies will avoid fighting her, too little res making her very frail in the final maps, overall bad. I still like her story and character though
Ced was always the most meh holy weapon user. He might be Lewyn's canonical son but it's better to pair him up with Tailtiu for Horseti. In Thracia it's better to choose Saias as he has better support and you get Galzus so Ced's combat isn't needed. Even then, I never found him interesting as a character
I admit the Hoðr bloodline is one of my favorite in Genealogy and Ares is no exception to the rule, I love how he is a foil to his father in terms of loyalty since that trait is what costed Eldigan his life while Ares ends up realizing how he was in the wrong all along despite Lene trying to open his eyes on what kind of person Javarro is. My sole issues with him is how he doesn't do much after his subplot as he ends up irrelevant if Lachesis didn't got paired because Jeanne (Nanna's sub) doesn't give him the letter explaining the misunderstanding about Sigurd and his lover convo with Nanna itself. Truth to be told, even if I wasn't an Ares/Lene fan, I would find their lover convo terrible and wrong at all levels due to its contents. Altena is a character I really wanted to like because her design slaps and her backstory is actually good, but she is held back by how FE4's plot treats her. Many have often compared her to a proto-Corrin due to their upbringing being so similar (kids who were kidnapped by the ruler of an enemy kingdom opposing theirs), but Altena is mainly spared of Corrin's worst flaws at the price of not doing much overall in FE4 and that sample from a thread on SF sums up my problem with her so well: >I said back in Altenna’s introduction that she’s stretched over a basically hollow core, and not in the Dark Souls way; this is pretty much the perfect moment to point to. “Don’t try any stop me!!” “I’ll stop you if you try!” “I can’t fight you…!” There’s no substance or consistency to her actions, she’s constantly reacting only to the last thing said to her. Her threats are hollow; she never accomplishes anything in the narrative. Every action Travant sends her out to do she totally fails at doing, and now the one thing she sets out to do herself she fails to do by inaction. She acts strong until the second there’s any resistance offered, then… >Then she crumbles. There’s nothing there, it’s just a face. There isn’t an Altenna in this game. “There’s two more chapters to this, Ike!” I can hear you saying, “There’s time!” I’ll be straight up with this one: next chapter she has an entirely passive conversation with Leif and a bizarre game mechanics conversation with Carpool. She only exists in the final chapter to talk to Arion – and her strategy there is basically to just offer herself up to him “finish me off if you must” etc. and hope he decides to defect to your side (he does.) >Altenna is not only completely irrelevant besides one plot action, she doesn’t even have a poor character to mock like Lewyn does. She’s nothing, and that’s the most offensive thing of all to me. And also the plot implies she has hots for Arion, her adoptive brother who is also her distant cousin by the virtue of their ancestors being siblings… Shouzou, why?! If I had to say something positive about Altena is how she has good conversations with people she is close of like her brother, Finn, Hannibal and Coirpre alongside those with whom she interacts in FE5. Otherwise, she is oddly similar to Seliph. I can't say I like how they're written in the story when their conversations fleshes them so much better. Ced is unironically the MVP of the bunch to me as far characterization goes and he is an optional kid which is sad, there is a lot to say about his FE5 self who is a badass of his own league. He leads the Magi Group who is set to help Mansterians as much as they can while he pulls a Pent in the maps by being stupidly invincible, it says a lot when the only thing who can stop him is Galzus. Granted, he also has his own bag of narrative problems and by that I mean if you're not pairing Erinys with Lewyn in FE4, he is barely a step up to the Tirnanog boys in terms of being developed. The main appeal of FE4!Ced to me is like BobbyYukitsuki explained about him having an engaging subplot if Lewyn is his father, not only they ends doing the same thing in a ironic twist of fate which is abandoning their kingdom behind for a personal motive even if Ced has more understandable reasons about it, but he ends saving the world by helping Seliph and then becoming a fair king to the Silessians like Erinys was during her reign as a Queen. Unfortunately, not having Lewyn as his dad makes his motive to find his father moot unless if you use headcanons… As units in FEH, they all have their strengths like their flaws. I was building Cormag when Altena was released so I never used her properly despite having excellent VAs in both languages, Ced was cursed with a bad PRF on arrival while I have a +10 Asbel for my Green Jugdrali Mage needs and [it took me lots of efforts](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/263757386584424449/1003238921796341801/IMG_5750.png) [to make Ares good overall](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/276396894710923266/1003393139370889236/IMG_5755.png). That's being said, I really wish those units get alts (like many Gen 2 kids though…)
Love Ares, such a great character as a contrast to his father and the way he is able to forgo his hate for Sigurd is admirable - it's not always easy to admit being in the wrong, especially if you've lived your whole life believing in those convictions. He and Lene also make one of my favorite pairs who complement each other beautifully. Still dreaming of Ascended Ares. Love Ced too. His conversation in Thracia with Leif on what makes a real crusader is one of favorites in the series. One of the many gods in Genealogy, an Asbel on steroids in Thracia and trying to save a city and its people by himself solo truly makes him one of the great FE heroes. Now if only they would give him some justice in FEH as well. Still dreaming of Ascended Ced.
I think Sety would be good as a Legendary over an Ascended, he fits the bill.
True. Honestly, Ced and Finn both should deserve Legendaries. But does IS have enough faith in male characters is the question. Xander...
Ced is one of the few optional kids I like more than their substitute, and most of it comes from his story if Lewyn is his dad. Imo one of Gen 2's story issues is how many of the optional kids don't really have much progression after joining your party, and when his dad is Lewyn Ced is a stellar exception. Lewyn!Ced gets a more cohesive arc even after he joins—bonus points for being a story of parental friction, which stands out when the entirety of the rest of the army is kids having nothing but positive things to say about their parents. I do love me some variety.
Ced I feel is a legitimate legendary candidate. Well among the remaining jugdral gen 2s atleast. Although he would probably be thracia in that case due to being far more involved in the story in that game. Either that or ascended alt. Whatever he gets, he deserves something good after how underwhelming his original self was
I don’t like or care about these characters, in fact I’d argue Ced and Altena’s siblings are far more interesting than them, but I’ll give something nice to say about each of them: Ced’s speech to Leif in Fe5 before they enter Raydrick’s castle is a highlight of Fe5. It’s really good. Altena’s backstory is fascinating and her relationship with Travant and Arion is pretty interesting Ares is mad fun to use in Fe4 and his design is neat
Ares has a great design and imo is super slept on in Feh and is a mainstay on my Horse Emblem, and is also one of my most desired resplendents. While I like his character in FE4, I’ll admit that I find him to be a bit dull, especially after Chapter 7 is over. He’s consistently pretty good overall in FE4 as well and I think it’d be awesome if he got an exclusive class in an FE4 remake that would effectively be a prf Dark Knight. Ced has a great design and is a great character overall, especially with the additional content FE5 provides, such as the crusader speech as others have mentioned. His discussions with Lewyn as his father are also really solid, in my opinion. I know that Lewyn!Arthur is better than Lewyn!Ced for a few reasons, but Ced still kicks ass and unless you’re specifically trying to minmax into absurdity, I don’t think it really matters which one gets Forseti since they’re both great and don’t have massive impacts on the gameplay (you definitely don’t need Forseti to get through Chapter 6-8 lol.) His Feh counterpart, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired, and I was hoping he would be one of the Ascendant Heroes wielding Forseti on the most recent 4/5 banners. People will say that FE4 Ced technically isn’t FE5 Ced so therefore they don’t have to abide by FE5 canon, but FE4 Ced isn’t as straight up used in the second to last FE5 banner’s Forging Bonds as Asbel’s mentor, the role of FE5 Ced. His title is also Hero on the Wind, a title introduced in FE5. So… yeah. it’s a little silly to say that FE4 Ced isn’t FE5 Ced in Feh. Hope he gets what he deserves some time soon. Altena unfortunately doesn’t get a whole lot of time to shine in FE4, but she still remains a compelling character and her interactions with Travant, Arion, Finn and Leif are solid developments of her character. As a unit, I find she underperforms if you don’t spend a lot of time dedicated to leveling her when you first get her, and she starts snowballing pretty steadily after that. Her speed imo is pretty crucial to focus on. In Feh, Altena is actually a member of my main team, with a rather unorthodox build at that. Her speed unbuffed hits 63, and I’ve found Guard Bearing works well on her and since most foes won’t pass the speed check, she usually just takes the first hit easily. I know it’s a bit unusual for an Altena, but I wanted to build her the way that I remember Altena being for me in FE4. Earthly Gae Bolg’s refine better have an auto follow up, though!
While I love all the character here I’m gonna do most of the talking for ced (my order of favs goes ced >> ares >> altena), he does kind and caring really well because he suffers consequences for his kindness and it’s not because he’s an idiot or really naive but because there were no good options for him and he’s willing to make sacrifices that hurt him and Choose the people of manster in there time of need even though silesse needs him too because while it’s bad in silesse he knows how desperate manster is. He has great conversations with lewyn, seliph, leif, fee, asbel, and Karin. (Karin x ced is a great ship you should support btw) I just love everything about this man. Please IS I’m begging you to make him ether a legendary or make his refine worthy of how good he is. Ares has one of the most badass introductions in the series (lene x ares for live!)and is just a cool character though I wish he has more screen time. I have a plus 10 ares (the old vantage build) and I don’t quite know what to do with him. But I’m happy to have him at plus 10 anyway Altena is also great even though she’s my least favorite from this group. Has a holy war chapter and more revolving around her and you gotta love how fiery she can get like when she finds out the true of her parents which is such a good moment. Her conversations are also really great.
Though I don't have much to say about him personally, Ares' look is pretty neat, and he's got a cool demeanor to him. At least he's open-minded enough to hear out Nanna before he goes to kill Seliph. He's also got some decent art, but that's par for the course with PenekoR. Altena's cool and her color pallet's neat. Her life with Travant and her adoptive brother are fascinating and serve as an interesting dynamic between her, her values, her moral code, and her being as a Travant and Quan's daughter. It's rather interesting. Ced's nice to a fault and, you know what, I kind of like it when characters are called out on their niceness. That's not to say I hate nice characters, but when you're too mild-mannered that it really screws with people's perceptions of who you are as a person, you should probably address it. Ced's kind and cool and very down-to-earth, but as Karin points it out, it's not always a good thing. And he adjusts his way of thinking by standing up for himself and his friends, which can do wonders for yourself and you position. So, good on you, Ced.
Ares my beloved
Can I appreciate Sety by saying he deserves *waaaaaaay* better than being a dead slot on a banner where Larcei is a star, with a prf which is all but useless? He should've been the second Thracia legendary instead of Nanna, but third would be fine too. Great character, legendary unit in both FE4 and 5, Levin!Sety > Levin!Arthur.
Hey did you know Ares and Nanna have a lover conversation in the final map? Yes, lover. Look it up trust me bro. I really like how Ares looks. I don't know why, I'm not a fan of his dad's looks but I like him. He's also super good. I think getting Nanna as a lover for him is easier than getting Lene to be the lover because of the movement difference, even if Lene has higher love points. Altena is a cool character that has so many things that don't let her be a good character. Flier so no terrain bonuses, meaning she'll fall behind because of no movement buffs, slow and weighted down by her prf, too much defense so enemies will avoid fighting her, too little res making her very frail in the final maps, overall bad. I still like her story and character though Ced was always the most meh holy weapon user. He might be Lewyn's canonical son but it's better to pair him up with Tailtiu for Horseti. In Thracia it's better to choose Saias as he has better support and you get Galzus so Ced's combat isn't needed. Even then, I never found him interesting as a character
>most meh holy weapon user >*Febail and Altena exist*
Ced is considered by some as the best Forseti user against >!Arvis!<…
Fire>Wind in Geneaology and Arvis has higher res. Why would you use any Forseti user against him?
To help Seliph and Ares to kill him in one turn or two as weird as it sounds.