Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Characters

This page is a list of all the characters in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. There are 46 playable characters, but it is only possible to recruit up to 43 characters in a single playthrough. In addition to the standard characters, certain NPCs may become available for use in trial maps if you play the game through more than once. And, as in any Fire Emblem game, do not let a character die! Once a character dies, he or she will be gone for good. The only exceptions are characters that are essential to the game's plot. They will retreat, not die. However, you will still be unable to play as them for the rest of the game.

Ike
He is commander Greil's son and the older brother of Mist.
 * Promotion: Story-driven. Promotes after Chapter 17.
 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically in Prologue.
 * Potential Supports: Titania, Soren, Elincia, Oscar, Lethe, Reyson, Ranulf.
 * Notes: In every chapter, you are forced to use Ike.  He is the only character able to wield Ragnell and the Regal Sword.

Titania

 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically at the beginning of Chapter 1.
 * Potential Supports: Ike, Rhys, Boyd, Mist
 * Notes: Because Titania is already promoted when you get her, her stats are higher than the other units in your team. Using her is highly recommended because of her performance early on in the game.

Boyd

 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically at the beginning of Chapter 1.
 * Potential Supports: Mist, Ulki, Brom, Titania
 * Note: After promoting, can perform the triangle attack with his brothers, Oscar and Rolf (assuming Oscar chose to use bows when he promoted). To do this, however, you need to have read the two base conversations about the triangle attack.

Oscar

 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically at the start of Chapter 1.
 * Potential Supports: Ike, Tanith, Janaff, Kieran
 * Note: After promoting, can perform the triangle attack with his brothers, Boyd and Rolf (assuming Oscar chose to use bows when he promoted). To do this, however, you need to have read the two base conversations about the triangle attack.

Rhys

 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically at the start of Chapter 2
 * Potential Supports: Titania, Ulki, Kieran, Rolf, Mia
 * Note: Only Light Magic user in the game

Shinon

 * How to Recruit: Initially joins in Chapter 3, but leaves after Chapter 7. To recruit him when he appears again in Chapter 19, speak to him with Rolf and then kill him with Ike. He will appear to die, but he is actually just wounded. He will rejoin at the end of the chapter.
 * Potential Supports: Rolf, Janaff, Gatrie
 * Note: As he vanishes and doesn't reappear until halfway through the game, it is not recommended that you let Shinon get a lot of experience through the first few chapters.

Gatrie

 * How to Recruit: Initially joins in Chapter 3, but leaves after Chapter 7. Talk to him with Astrid to recruit him when he reappears in Chapter 13.
 * Potential Supports: Shinon, Astrid, Ilyana, Marcia
 * Note: Don't let Gatrie get too much experience during the first few chapters because he will leave after chapter 7 and be gone for a while.

Soren
The best friend of Ike.
 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically before Chapter 4.
 * Potential Supports: Ike, Stefan,
 * Note: It is recommended that you pick staves over knives when Soren promotes. His nonexistent Strength makes it pretty much impossible to damage anything with a knife.

Mia

 * How to Recruit: Appears at the left side of the screen in Chapter 7. Talk to her with Ike, or let her come and talk to Ike herself.
 * Potential Supports: Rhys, Ilyana, Largo

Ilyana

 * How to Recruit: In Chapter 8, talk to her with Ike. She starts off as an enemy to the northwest.
 * Potential Supports: Gatrie, Mordecai, Mia, Zihark, Lucia

Rolf

 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically at the start of Chapter 9.
 * Potential Supports: Shinon, Mist, Tauroneo, Marcia, Rhys
 * Note: The only character able to wield Rolf's Bow.

Mist

 * How to Recruit: Joins automatically at the start of Chapter 9.
 * Potential Supports: Titania, Jill, Rolf, Mordecai, Boyd
 * Note: Even though she is not the best healer, she needs to be used early on if you are planning on using her during Chapter 27. She and Ike are the only ones in the room during the fight with the Black Knight; if you have not been using her, she will have to escape or be killed instantly.

Marcia

 * How to recruit: Talk to her with Ike in Chapter 3 and she will escape. She will return in Chapter 9 and will come and talk to Ike.  She will then join the team.
 * Potential Supports: Gatrie, Tanith, Kieran, Rolf

Lethe

 * How to Recruit: Appears as a partner unit in Chapter 9. Joins in Chapter 10 as long as she survived Chapter 9.
 * Potential Supports: Ike, Jill, Muarim, Ranulf

Mordecai

 * How to Recruit: Appears as a partner unit in Chapter 9. Joins in Chapter 10 if he survived Chapter 9.
 * Potential Supports: Mist, Ranulf, Ulki, Stefan, Ilyana

Volke

 * Promotion: Story-driven; re-hire him after Chapter 19.
 * How to Recruit: Hire him at the beginning of Chapter 10.
 * Potential Support: Bastian

Kieran

 * How to Recruit: open the cell he is held captive in, he'll join your group at the end of the chapter.
 * Potential Supports: Oscar, Marcia, Rhys

Nephenee

 * How to Recruit: Open the cell she is held captive in and she'll join your group in the next chapter.
 * Potential Supports: Calill, Devdan, Brom

Brom

 * How to Recruit: Open the cell he is held captive in, he'll join your group at the end of the chapter.
 * Potential Supports: Boyd, Nephenee, Zihark

Zihark

 * How to Recruit: In Chapter 11, have Lethe or Mordecai talk to him. Or, let him come talk to one of them. He will join on his own.
 * Potential Supports: Ilyana, Brom, Muarim

Sothe

 * How to Recruit: Read the base conversation before Chapter 12.
 * Potential Supports: Astrid, Tormod
 * Note: Sothe is the only unpromoted unit in the game that cannot promote. Therefore, he is usually considered the worst character in the game.

Jill

 * How to Recruit: Speak to her with Ike during Chapter 12.
 * Potential Supports: Lethe, Haar, Mist

Astrid

 * How to Recruit: Talk to her with Ike during Chapter 13
 * Potential Supports: Gatrie, Makalov, Sothe
 * Note: Her inherent Paragon skill doubles her experience points in battle. This makes it much easier to level Astrid up than it would otherwise.

Makalov

 * How to Recruit: Talk to him with Marcia during Chapter 14.
 * Potential Supports: Haar, Astrid, Bastian

Stefan

 * How to Recruit: Hardest character in the game to recruit.  In Chapter 15, take one of your laguz and have him/her stand on the space 3 spaces from the top right corner and 2 spaces down.  Stefan will appear and join you.
 * Potential Supports: Soren, Mordecai

Tormod

 * How to Recruit: He joins automatically at the start of Chapter 16.
 * Potential Supports: Sothe, Devdan, Calill, Reyson

Muarim

 * How to Recruit: He is a boss in Chapter 15, but you can't recruit him.  He joins automatically at the start of Chapter 16.
 * Potential Supports: Largo, Zihark, Lethe

Devdan

 * How to recruit: Talk to him with Soren, Rolf, Mist, Sothe or Tormod.
 * Potential Supports: Nephenee, Tormod, Largo

Reyson

 * How to recruit: Accept his offer to join the Mercenaries.
 * Potential Supports: Ike, Tormod, Tanith
 * Notes: Instead of fighting, Reyson uses Galldr, which allows adjacent units to move and attack again after it's use.

Ulki

 * How to recruit: Recruit Reyson.
 * Potential Supports: Boyd, Rhys, Mordecai

Janaff

 * Potential Supports: Oscar, Shinon, Lucia