is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
from the ''
Fire Emblem
is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core entries and five spinoffs. Game ...
'' series, developed by
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese video game developer best known for developing games with Nintendo and the ''Fire Emblem'', ''Paper Mario (series), Paper Mario'', ''WarioWare'', and ''Wars (series), Wars'' video game series. Originally, the company was headqua ...
and owned by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
. He is the protagonist and Lord class character in the first
and the third games in the series, ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'',
and ''
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem'',
as well as their respective remakes, ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'' and ''
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem''.
On December 4, 2020, Marth's original Famicom game and the first installment in the ''Fire Emblem'' series was localized and released outside of Japan for the first time to commemorate the franchise's 30th anniversary. Marth's first appearance outside of Japan was in Nintendo's ''
Super Smash Bros.'' series of fighting games.
Marth and
Roy
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
's appearances increased western interest in the ''Fire Emblem'' series, and in part it led Nintendo to start releasing the games internationally, beginning with ''
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade'', the seventh installment in the series, released to the west under the title ''Fire Emblem''.
Creation and development
Marth was one of the characters created for ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' by the game's designer and writer
Shouzou Kaga
Shouzou Kaga (加賀昭三, ''Kaga Shōzō'', born 1950) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the ''Fire Emblem'' series. During his career at Intelligent Systems, he would lead the development of ''Fir ...
. According to Kaga, though Marth takes a prominent role in the story, he is not technically the main protagonist. During early development, a scene would have depicted Marth kneeling in grief next to the body of his retainer Jagen in a pool of Jagen's blood: this was designed to be a symbolic moment of Marth violently coming of age by losing a father figure. Due to hardware limitations, this and other similar scenes needed to be cut.
Marth's character designer is currently unknown, though the graphics and character art for ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' was cooperatively handled by Tohru Ohsawa, Naotaka Ohnishi, Saotshi Machida and Toshitaka Muramatsu. Marth's appearance underwent alterations for promotional posters, having a slightly different hairstyle and an altered shade of blue for his hair.
Marth was redesigned for ''
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem'' by the game's character artist Katsuyoshi Koya. For the first game's remake, ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'', Marth underwent a redesign. The staff's main aim for the redesign was to make the character look and feel fresh while not straying too far from what fans had come to expect.
His redesign was handled by ''
Ghost in the Shell
''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 under the subtitle of ''The Ghost in the Shell'' ...
'' artist
Masamune Shirow
, better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. Shirow is best known for the manga '' Ghost in the Shell'', which has since been turned into three theatrical anime films, two anime television series, an anime television movie, an a ...
. He was redesigned once again for the third game's remake, ''
New Mystery of the Emblem'', by Daisuke Izuka. Marth's design for his appearance in downloadable content for ''
Fire Emblem Awakening
''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth in ...
'' was by Senri Kita, the character artist for ''
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn''. This, along with other character redesigns featured in the game's DLC, was dubbed an "underworld" design.
''Super Smash Bros.'' developer
Masahiro Sakurai
is a Japanese video game director and game designer best known as the creator of the '' Kirby'' and '' Super Smash Bros.'' series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design of '' Meteos'' in 2005 and directed '' Kid Icarus: U ...
initially wanted Marth to be part of the roster for the
original game, but time constraints prevented this.
The developers of ''
Super Smash Bros. Melee'' originally intended to make Marth playable only in the Japanese version of the game, but when he garnered favorable attention during the game's North American localization, they decided to keep both him and fellow ''Fire Emblem'' protagonist Roy in the North American and European versions. Sakurai redesigned the character for ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...
'', where he was included as a playable character alongside other ''Fire Emblem'' protagonists. By this time, Marth had also been redesigned for ''Shadow Dragon'', with Sakurai being shocked when he saw it. He commented that, if he had known earlier, he would have incorporated the new design into the game rather than his own.
Marth's later appearances in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series were brought in line with his design from ''New Mystery of the Emblem''.
The
original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
version of ''Mystery of the Emblem'', Marth was voiced by
Hikaru Midorikawa
is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actor from Otawara, Tochigi who is represented by Aoni Production. He is best known for the roles of Softon in ''Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo'', Tamahome in ''Fushigi Yûgi'', Seiran Shi in ''Saiunkoku Monogatari'' ...
, with
Ai Orikasa
is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan who is currently affiliated with Axlone.
She has played a variety of characters, from young girls to women and boys, and is particularly good at voicing attractive, strong, and b ...
voicing him as a child.
Midorikawa would go on to voice the character in all his subsequent appearances in other media.
For the OVA dub, Marth was voiced by
Spike Spencer
Charles Forrest "Spike" Spencer (born December 21, 1968) is an American voice actor and columnist best known for dubbing Japanese anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originati ...
. His name was localized as "Mars", which was put down to the vague pronunciation of the katakana of Marth's name. In his other voiced appearances in video games outside the ''Super Smash Bros'' series (with the exception of ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...
'' in which he speaks English overseas), Marth has been voiced by
Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal (born March 5, 1971)Birthday references:
*
*
*
is an American voice actor, producer and screenwriter known chiefly for his work in cartoons, anime and video games. Some of his prominent roles in animations and anime include S ...
.
Appearances
Video games
Marth debuted in 1990 with the release of ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' in Japan.
He is depicted as a heroic prince, sixteen years of age who is forced to flee his home kingdom of Altea after it is attacked. He then leads a rebellion to regain control of his kingdom and save his sister Elice. Marth keeps his role in ''Mystery of the Emblem''s ''Book 1'' and ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'', ''Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Ken''s remakes.
In ''
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem'', released on January 21, 1994, and in the 2010 extended remake of ''Book 2'', ''
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem'', Marth returns to his role as the story's protagonist. Marth's peaceful reign over Altea is disrupted when he discovers Emperor Hardin, a former ally, comrade and friend, was conquering neighboring kingdoms by force.
In ''
Fire Emblem Awakening
''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth in ...
'', a game set in the far future of his story and starring his distant descendants, Marth is available as both a paid
downloadable content
Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...
character in the "Champions of Yore 1" package (which is also included in a bundle with "Champions of Yore 2," which features Roy from ''The Binding Blade''), and as two different
SpotPass
SpotPass and StreetPass are communication systems first introduced in the Nintendo 3DS. SpotPass was later incorporated into the Nintendo 2DS, models of the New 3DS and New 2DS, and Wii U game consoles. SpotPass delivers content from the Intern ...
characters: "Prince Marth" and "King Marth", representing his portrayals in ''Shadow Dragon'' and ''Shin Monshou no Nazo'' respectively. During the course of the game's main story, his descendant Princess Lucina of Ylisse disguises herself as Marth and, wearing a mask, actively claims to be him until her father, Chrom, Prince of Ylisse, discovers her true identity.
Marth is set to return in ''
Fire Emblem Engage
is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is an installment in the ''Fire Emblem'' series and was released on January 20, 2023.
''Fire Emblem Engage'' received genera ...
'', as a partner to game's protagonist Alear. Along with other previous protagonists of the series, Marth is summoned as an Emblem to the realm of Elyos using an Emblem Ring and fights alongside Alear to defeat the Fell Dragon.
Marth was introduced to the Western audience by the GameCube title ''
Super Smash Bros. Melee'', where he is an unlockable character alongside
Roy
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
, who would later appear in the Japanese only release ''
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade''.
Marth reappears in the 2008
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
title ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...
''.
In the game's story mode, the "Subspace Emissary", he teams up with
Ike
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
from ''
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance'' and ''
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn'' and
Meta Knight
is a fictional character and antihero in Nintendo's ''Kirby'' video game series created by Masahiro Sakurai and developed by HAL Laboratory. He first appeared in the 1993 video game ''Kirby's Adventure'' as a nameless character, remaining un ...
from the ''
Kirby
Kirby may refer to:
Buildings
* Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States
* Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England
* Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...
'' series. His final smash, Critical Hit, strikes opponents with a blow that instantly knocks them out of the screen unless they hit a barrier. During this attack, a quickly-depleting 60 HP health bar is shown, as an
homage
Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to:
History
*Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance
*Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts
*Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
to the ''Fire Emblem'' series' battle system. Marth is also playable in ''
Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U'', using his character design from ''New Mystery of the Emblem''. He is also a starter character in the series for the first time.
Marth was confirmed in the June 2018
Nintendo Direct
Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentation or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began i ...
to return in ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...
'' for the
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
. For the first time in the series, he received an English voice.
Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal (born March 5, 1971)Birthday references:
*
*
*
is an American voice actor, producer and screenwriter known chiefly for his work in cartoons, anime and video games. Some of his prominent roles in animations and anime include S ...
voiced him in the game's North American release while
Hikaru Midorikawa
is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actor from Otawara, Tochigi who is represented by Aoni Production. He is best known for the roles of Softon in ''Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo'', Tamahome in ''Fushigi Yûgi'', Seiran Shi in ''Saiunkoku Monogatari'' ...
reprised his role in the Japanese release.
Additionally, by using his respective
Amiibo
(, ; officially stylized as amiibo; plural: ''Amiibo'') is a toys-to-life platform by Nintendo, which was launched in November 2014. It consists of a wireless communications and storage protocol for connecting figurines to the Wii U, Ninten ...
figure, Marth can be unlocked as a playable character in both ''
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.'' and ''
Fire Emblem Fates
''Fire Emblem Fates'' is a tactical role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console, developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo. It was released in June 2015 in Japan, then released in ...
'' using the ''
New Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It is the fourth system in the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld consoles, following the original Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, and Nintendo 2DS. The system was released in Japan on October 1 ...
''
Near Field Communication
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be u ...
'' function.
In other media
An anime under the title ''Fire Emblem'' was released in 1996, adapting a part of the first game's plot. Marth's name is
romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
as 'Mars' and he is given the surname of 'Lowell'. The anime ended production after only two episodes were finished.
Marth is featured as a card in both of the final expansion sets for the ''Fire Emblem Trading Card Game'' along with other characters from ''Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem'', and also appears as a promotional card.
Character
In the story set in the kingdom of Altea, the hero Marth gathered an army to recapture and restore his home and the rest of the Archanea continent, and is the warrior who twice slew the Shadow Dragon Medeus.
Being in the first ''Fire Emblem'' game, ''Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Ken'' he is the first Lord (main character) of the ''Fire Emblem'' series. Typical of most ''Fire Emblem'' "Lords" in successive games, he is a swordsman with a slim build and wears a cape; he shows nobility and justness in both of the ''Fire Emblem'' games that he appears in, though he also shows himself to be somewhat single-minded in his pursuit in ''Shadow Dragon''. He also has difficulty in expressing his romantic feelings for the character Caeda in that game's epilogue (if she survived). His nobility of character has carried over to the anime, in which he is fighting against villains.
His father Cornelius was the King of Altea, his elder sister Elice is the Princess of Altea, and Caeda becomes his queen at the end of the game. Marth wields the Divine Blade of Legends, Falchion, as his main weapon in both the ''Fire Emblem'' games and ''Super Smash Bros.'' series.
One hundred years had passed since Medeus was slain in Archanea. Once Medeus was resurrected he rebuilt his land of Dolhr, readying himself for an invasion of Archanea once again. After the attack from Dolhr, Marth was forced into exile on the island nation of Talys. His father, Cornelius, was killed battling Gharnef, an evil priest and a devout follower of Medeus; his elder sister Elice was taken hostage.
He had also discovered that Altea's neighbor and ally Gra has betrayed the kingdom, due to Gharnef's manipulations and King Jiol's cowardice. With the help of the Altean knight Jagen, the Talysian Princess Caeda, and other characters, Marth embarks on a quest to defeat Medeus, reclaim the kingdom of Altea, and rescue his sister. Marth meets Nyna, the princess of Archanea-the most prominent kingdom—who gave him the country's national treasure, the Fire Emblem. Marth later obtains the Falchion sword, which was stolen from his father by Gharnef. He uses it to confront Medeus.
After the defeat of Medeus, Marth was engaged to Caeda and spent his days peacefully in Altea. It wasn't until rumours had it that Hardin—a former ally and friend of Marth—had begun to conquer various countries in Archanea with the help of the Manaketes
that Marth was forced to leave his rule of Altea to investigate. When Marth and his men gathered at Grust, several of his former allies were fleeing, or some were murdered during the pillages of Hardin. Marth then travelled to Macedonia where he reunited with Linde, a mage of Archanea, who had been keeping the Fire Emblem safe from harm. He discovers that several magical spheres are needed for the Fire Emblem to regain its true power. Marth retrieves most of the spheres, only to realize that Hardin had conquered Altea in his absence. He leaves to see Gra, a kingdom that had seen a similar fate to what happened to Altea. He meets Sheema, Gra's princess, who had left Gra when her father decided to betray Altea as she wanted no part in it.
After reaching his palace, Marth defeats Hardin,
obtaining the Darksphere. The spheres are placed on the Fire Emblem, which becomes the Shield of Seals. Marth discovers that Hardin wasn't really evil and was possessed by the evil priest Gharnef himself through the Darksphere. He then heads to Dolhr where Gharnef lurks. After Gharnef is defeated, all that remains is the new reborn Medeus, guarded by Earth Dragons and possessed clerics, including his sister, Elice, and Princess Nyna. The Shield of Seals emits a power that forces the Earth Dragons to retreat, giving Marth's army the opportunity to save the clerics and for Marth to defeat Medeus once and for all with a slash of Falchion.
Afterward, Marth is declared Emperor of Archanea and is finally married to Caeda.
Reception
Marth was noted to be the most famous character in the series by ''
Official Nintendo Magazine
''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo.
Originally published by EMAP as ''N ...
'', and a popular character by ''
GamesRadar
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'' and ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
''. In North American Fire Emblem character popularity polls running up to the release of Fire Emblem Heroes, Marth was ranked number 6th out of all Fire Emblem male characters. Marth's inclusion in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series of video games popularized both him and ''Fire Emblem'' in the West; it was in part because of his inclusion that Nintendo began releasing the games internationally beginning with ''
The Blazing Blade''.
Series producer Toru Narihiro attributed an increase in reputation for both Marth and fellow ''Fire Emblem'' character
Ike
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
to their appearances in ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...
'', adding that their reputations grew beyond the staff's expectations.
''
UGO Networks
UGO Entertainment, Inc. was a website that provided coverage of online media in entertainment, targeting males aged 18–34. The company was based in New York, New York, United States.
History
The company started in 1997 as Unified Gamers Online ...
'' remarked Marth is "cool" because he is a "blade-wielding fighter who is both quick and strong", adding he is "one of the more capable fighters on the roster" of ''Brawl''. In 2013, ''
Complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' ranked him 36th among the 50 greatest soldiers in video games.
References
External links
FIRE EMBLEM MUSEUM Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi(Marth)at
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (NCL)
FIRE EMBLEM MUSEUM Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo website(Ankokusensouhen no Marth)at NCL
at NCL
*
ttp://www.fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Marth Martha
Fire Emblem Wiki
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Marth (''Fire Emblem'')
Fictional swordfighters in video games
Fictional war veterans
Fire Emblem characters
Prince characters in video games
Male characters in video games
Nintendo protagonists
Role-playing video game characters
Super Smash Bros. fighters
Video game characters introduced in 1990
Video game mascots