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Notice!
This article was heavily rewritten in 2026 because the original October 22, 2023 version frankly sucked. It has since been expanded with new information and many revisions. If you’re curious, you can read the original, unedited version here. |
Introduction
When playing through the Fire Emblem series, it’s hard not to notice the large rosters of characters. Excluding boss characters, enemies, and NPCs, there are still hundreds of playable characters that span across the 17 mainline games. In fact, there are almost as many FE characters as there are Pokémon…probably.
Anyways, amongst these colorful characters: some are loved, some are well-liked, some are forgettable, some are disliked by many, and some outright send people into a visceral rage when they’re even remotely brought up. Today, I’m going to discuss a character that fits mostly in the latter category. So, buckle up and get ready as I fly you to Macedon and talk about one of my personal favorite FE characters: Matthis the dashing fool.
Background
For a bit of background, I initially wrote this analysis when Matthis was just added to Fire Emblem Heroes. As such a surprising addition to that game, I scrambled to write this analysis on the day of his reveal, and while the initial version of the write-up was mediocre at best, I felt I could have done much better and explained my points and perceptions further.
That said, while many can argue that Archanea’s characters don’t leave much of an impression, Matthis was one of the few who stood out to me. Outside of the memes that surround him, in FE1, he was one of the few characters who, I felt, had a defined personality and a reason to be on the battlefield beyond “I want to serve my liege.” While in my first runs, I initially wrote him off as another mediocre cavalier, over time, he became one of my favorite characters in the Archanean line of games. I found him to be a unique character compared to the others in the Archanea roster, and I found him quite entertaining, whether that be intentionally or not.
The very first FE game I ever completed was Mystery of the Emblem. I played both Book 1 and Book 2, and at the time, I was really dumb. I didn’t read the game’s dialogue much and only saw units like Castor, Navarre, and Matthis as minibosses. I didn’t think you could talk to them and have them join your army, which resulted in me killing them in my first playthroughs. In fact, I killed every recruitable enemy unit until I reached Astram in Chapter 11. It wasn’t until later, when I played Shadow Dragon, that I recruited Matthis, and…I benched him because his stats didn’t impress me.
It wasn’t until later that I’d go online and discover how despised this guy truly was. If you’re newer to the community, this might be hard to believe since public opinion has mostly shifted over time, but back in the day. Matthis was, bar none, the most hated character in the Archanea games, and honestly, a top contender for the most hated character in the entire franchise, and that’s in no way an exaggeration.
On Discord servers, Reddit posts, and forum pages, people would constantly berate this guy, complain about his existence, and get legitimately and viscerally angry when they saw his face or saw anyone mention him in a remotely positive light. It all got to a point where I started thinking to myself:
The community’s reaction towards this one mediocre unit was honestly really disturbing and uncomfortable for me, since nothing he says or does felt congruent with the level of hate he received. But I eventually caved and educated myself more on Matthis’ character. I read all of his recruitment dialogues, his support conversations, developer interviews, supplemental content, and I even looked deeply and analyzed minor lines like death quotes and his “How’s Everyone” lines.
Furthermore, I also used him in my various replays. At first, I thought that perhaps everyone hated him because he was notably bad as a unit. However, units like Sophia from FE6 are also notable for being bad, but received exponentially less hate. In fact, Matthis isn’t even the worst unit in any of the games he appears in.
None of this really helped me understand the hate for him. While there are some things to dislike, like his mediocre stat line and his recruitment in Book 2, none of those things really caused me to hate him. His stats, while low, are far from the worst. His recruitment in FE1/Book 1/FE11 is pretty simple: just talk to him with Lena. His enemy AI can potentially attack Lena, but you actively have to go out of your way to have him do so. He’s also not even the only or first unit in the game to attack the unit that recruits him. In fact, every enemy unit that isn’t recruited by Marth is programmed to simply attack anyone in their range.
In Book 2/FE12, while going around the mountain sucks ass, numerous other factors cause you to do that aside from just Matthis alone. And minor inconveniences aside, through my research, I only found myself appreciating his character more as I read his dialogue. He brought a unique perspective compared to the typical knightly characters commonly found in the game’s medieval fantasy setting.
In a game filled with a ton of knights who are characterized by unwavering loyalty, unshakable chivalry, and unyielding patriotism, many of these units tend to blend together, at least to me. Abel’s subplot involving his relationship with Est and Hardin’s unrequited love for Nyna are slight exceptions, of course. But, beyond those instances that were only introduced in later games, many of these knight types failed to stick out to me. They were mostly characterized by traits expected from their occupations: chivalry and all that.
Then here comes Matthis, a notable outlier to the archetypal knight. Despite his cavalier status, he lacks courage, loyalty to a specific liege, or any remarkable combat skills. Instead, he displays traits of timidity, cowardice, and an acute distaste for conflict. Unlike most other knights, he prefers to preserve his own personal safety and well-being over fighting for the honor of his country—not without good reason, mind you. Nevertheless, despite his cowardice, when he discovers his sister’s safety within Marth’s army, he willingly joins the cause.
Profile
Early Life
Matthis and Lena hailed from a noble lineage in Macedon. Their mother, a respected bishop serving the Grustian royal court, likely passed on her clerical talents to Lena. When Lena was 10 years old, their mother passed away, and afterward, they were entrusted to the care of their grandfather in Grust—the very same grandfather who later provides the player with the Hammerne staff.
During this time, as their grandfather’s healing abilities waned, Lena assumed his role, tending to the wounded and infirm. It was during this period that she encountered Camus the Sable, a meeting that profoundly shaped her beliefs. Under Camus’s guidance, Lena learned that true justice demanded self-sacrifice.
Lena’s deep connection with Camus did not go unnoticed, though. Prince Michalis, eager to expand Macedon’s influence, saw an opportunity in Lena. Her status as a noblewoman endeared her to the people of Grust, making her an ideal queen. Additionally, Michalis was drawn to Lena’s wisdom, beauty, and the prospect of reconciling with the influential elder nobility connected to Lena through her foster father.
News of Michalis’ interest in Lena stirred envy among many women who admired the prince from afar. However, Lena’s response defied everyone’s expectations. She firmly declined Michalis’s proposal and left Macedon.
It was about this time that Michalis sided with Dolhr. While Matthis believes he was targeted because Lena rejected Michalis’s marriage proposal, that is actually not true. When usurping the old regime, Michalis naturally had to get other prominent Macedonian nobles to follow him. Lena’s family in Macedon is particularly influential, so Michalis selected Matthis to be put in Aurelis to force Lena’s father to follow his reign.
Aside from Matthis, other children of noble families were sent onto the battlefield to prevent potential rebellions, and, unfortunately, many of them died. The fact that Matthis was Lena’s brother was moreso of an unfortunate coincidence than anything else. In fact, according to developer notes, Michalis fully understood Lena’s refusal and even watched her from afar as she left.
War of Shadows
By a stroke of luck, Marth not only rescued Lena, who had been captured by the bandits of Ghoul’s Teeth, but also coincidentally arrived on the same battlefield where Matthis was deployed upon setting foot in Aurelis. In the battle, Matthis is assigned to either Bentheon’s Cavalry unit or Merach’s army, depending on whether you’re playing FE1/11 or FE3 Book 1, and is tasked with slowing down Marth’s advance.
However, all Matthis could think about was seeing his sister one last time before facing his inevitable demise. Fortunately, luck was on his side, as Lena and Matthis found each other once again amidst the chaos of battle. When the two converse, Matthis informs Lena about how General Bentheon owns a Ridersbane and– oh, oops, my bad. I accidentally talked to him while standing on the house…
Matthis informs Lena of how terrible Macedon has become since she left, and how much the prince has it out for him. He also explains that he was forced to enlist or face execution. Lena scolds him for giving in, encouraging him to fight for what he believes in instead. She explains that by allying with Dolhr, Macedon is only bringing suffering upon its people. She then urges him to join Marth’s army instead.
Matthis thinks it over for a moment before reluctantly agreeing to join Marth’s cause in a rather humorous, wishy-washy fashion.
After things settle down, he teasingly asks his sister about her love life. Lena claims she hasn’t found a man she’d like to settle down with yet. Matthis doesn’t press the issue, but he’s oddly perceptive enough to suspect that she isn’t being entirely truthful. Setting the matter aside, he tells her to stay safe, stating, “There are plenty of thieves out there who would steal a girl’s heart.” This establishes that he isn’t particularly fond of thieves—which is pretty funny, considering the man Lena actually has feelings for, Julian, is a thief.
After recruiting Matthis, Marth introduces himself to Matthis, only for Matthis to immediately shrink in fear at the face of the prince. It’s played for laughs, but it really shows how much Michalis’ actions had taken a toll on him. To the point where Marth has to swear that he wouldn’t “stick him like a pig” to get Matthis to trust him.
Like most other units in the game, after recruiting him, his role in the game depends on how much you use him. You can craft a story where he stays on the bench as a benchwarmer or train him up so you can make your own character arc of him starting as a weaker person and becoming stronger as you train him up, like I always do.
Or you can have an arc of him training up to try to be strong, but even though he still doesn’t become one of your best units, or good in general, the arc would conclude with “he learned to fight for what he believed in,”…or something like that. Regardless of what you do, after you defeat Medeus and save Archanea, Matthis returns to a peaceful, idyllic life in Macedon.
War of Heroes
Over the years between games, a lot has changed in the continent of Archanea. The most relevant thing is the fact that with Prince Michalis presumed dead, Minerva was made to take the throne, which was something she ultimately didn’t want. Many Macedonian soldiers, fed up with Minerva’s wishy-washy leadership, started a rebellion. In particular, General Lykke, alongside the Wyvern Knight Luhmer, organized a coup d’etat to overthrow Minerva and force a number of citizens to participate, including Matthis, who was, once again, forced to enlist against his will.
Once Marth heads to Macedon, he scales a mountain and encounters Julian hiding out in a village searching for Lena, and in turn, Julian encounters Matthis on the battlefield near Lykke’s fortress. Julian and Matthis bicker at first, but Matthis quickly comes to get along with Julian over the course of the single conversation.
After this little convo and joining Marth’s army, Matthis has a few base conversations, like his support conversations. However, similar to many other members of the cast, he only interacts with Kris. In fact, out of the 103 support chains available in the game, 72 of them involve Kris, making up approximately 69.9% of all supports in the game.
His first support is merely him being anxious and worried about his sister and her whereabouts. He doesn’t exactly tell you anything you didn’t already know. In his second support conversation, he wishes to be stronger. He asks Kris to help him train and become more experienced so he can be the one to rescue Lena. They then plan out this hypothetical training arc.
In his third support conversation, Matthis admits that he has given up on his training. He believes he can’t become much stronger in such a short amount of time. However, he hasn’t given up on his desire to rescue Lena. Instead, he places his trust in Kris, asking them to protect his sister.
After Marth defeats Medeus for the second time, every character says a little something after the war is completed. In this scene, Matthis expresses genuine shock that he’s survived throughout the game, which is honestly pretty funny.
Later on, there’s an admittedly cute scene involving Lena, Matthis, Julian, and Rickard where Matthis expresses worry towards Lena and asks her if Julian made any inappropriate advances towards her. Julian gets upset about it, but Lena lightheartedly laughs it off and notices that the two of them have seemed to grow closer.
As the war concludes, like in the previous game, Matthis would go back to having a peaceful and war-free idyllic lifestyle in Macedon.
Gameplay
As far as gameplay goes, Matthis is…nothing to write home about. That said, I’d argue his reputation is much worse than he actually deserves. While much of the community treats him as one of the worst units to ever exist, I’d place him around upper-mid tier in his best iterations and lower-mid to high-low tier in his worst.
People often overexaggerate just how bad he is, especially in the older games like FE1 and FE3, where he’s actually fairly solid. In fact, one of my favorite litmus tests for evaluating whether or not someone has a mind of their own is to see how they rank FE3 Matthis, more importantly, why.
In Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, he joins as a level 2 Cavalier. Because of his low level, his base stats are on par with the class bases of the Cavalier class, making him weaker than Cain and Abel, and much weaker than Hardin, who joins in the next chapter.
* In FE1, recruitable enemy units spawn with a randomly generated Luck stat ranging from 0 to 7.
He’s effectively a replacement unit, to use just in case you lost Cain or Abel, and he’s also the game’s first real replacement unit, if you don’t count Bord and Cord. His growth rates lean into HP, Strength, and Weapon Level, while everything else is on the lower side. Should you use him, his greatest strength is his elevated Weapon Level base of 8, allowing him to use the Silver Lance upon joining. With his 70% growth in the stat, he’ll quickly have access to Silver Swords, and he’ll have no issue reaching the requirement to use Gradivus if you use him long-term.
As a Cavalier, Matthis also benefits from high movement, allowing him to reach the front lines much faster than your infantry. If you can get him to level 10, his promotion grants substantial stat boosts, raising him to 22 HP, 8 Strength, 7 Skill, 9 Defense, and, most importantly, 11 Speed and 10 Movement.
Everything that applies to his FE1 iteration also applies to his FE3 Book 1 iteration, apart from the fact that now he can only use swords while dismounted, and being forced to dismount indoors cripples his movement. The change in the doubling threshold also makes him less likely to double enemies while using lances.
In Book 2, he now joins at level 4 and has had an increase in base stats. He has a notable leg up from Luke and Roderick and is about on par with Cecil, being more defense-oriented while Cecil is speed-oriented. He also has access to the Astral Shards, which allows him to circumvent his lower growth rates.
Hilariously, though, his base stats almost seem perfectly crafted to be a well-oiled dragon-killing machine in the midgame. With the Wyrmslayer at base, he has 3 AS, the exact threshold needed to double every dragon in the game and one round them, and as every dragon does 20 immutable damage, his 21 HP allows him to survive a hit. His only real downside is that FE3 would be the game where Cavalier units would get nerfed the most, dealing with either heavy terrain or forced dismounting on various maps.
In FE11, he retains the base stats he had in FE3 Book 1, but instead of his impressive 8 Weapon Level, allowing him to use almost every weapon in the game at base, he now has D lances and E swords, locking him to iron swords, steel lances, and javelins at base. On the bright side, though, his HP growth was almost doubled between games, with a small buff to his luck and defense growths. Unfortunately, though, the increase in enemy quality on the higher difficulty modes harms him substantially.
Furthermore, the addition of reclassing removes his niche of being one of your few very mobile units. If you opt to use him in FE11, though, your easiest way to do so is to either reclass him into a curate and spam heals, or have him chuck Javelins until he reaches C in lances and becomes an additional Ridersbane spammer.
In FE12, Matthis is probably at his worst; they took my man out back and shot him with the nerf gun in cold blood. Everything that applies to his FE11 iteration also applies to his FE12 iteration; however, because of the prologue, Luke, Roderick, and Cecil are now easily able to outpace him should you train them up. In addition, because of the increase in enemy quality and the nerfed Astral Shards, his lower growth rates are more noticeable here than ever before. If you wish to use him, you can go the curate route once again, or you could reclass him to a Pirate and give him a forged iron axe, as his growths in that class are okay-ish.
Naming
In Japanese, Matthis’ name is written as マチス (Matis). It is sometimes romanized as Machis in fan translations, as チ (chi) was traditionally used to represent the /ti/ sound in foreign names before the widespread adoption of ティ (ti). Matis is likely intended to represent the French name Matisse.
The official localizations render his name as Matthis, a spelling that may have multiple origins. One possibility is that it is simply a straightforward interpretation of his Japanese name. In older localizations, t sounds were sometimes represented with th in English. For example, the thunder tome Thoron is written as トローン (Torōn) in Japanese. With that in mind, it is easy to see how Matis could become Matthis.
Another possibility is that Matthis is a variant of Matthias, a name of Greek origin, which would fit the Greek-inspired naming conventions of Archanea. Interestingly, both Matthias and Matisse are ultimately derived from the biblical name Matthew, which itself comes from the Hebrew name Mattityahu (מַתִּתְיָהוּ), meaning “gift of Yahweh.”
In Japanese, his title in Book 1 and FE11 is “Macedonian Nobleman” (マケドニアの貴族 lit. Makedonia no Kizoku). In the English version of FE11, though, this was changed to “Dashing Noble.” In Book 2 and FE12, this title becomes “Lena’s Idiot Brother” (レナのバカ兄貴 lit. Rena no baka aniki). Then, in Heroes, his title just becomes “Brother to Lena.”
Appearance
Matthis is an average-looking man with tall crimson hair matching his sister’s, as well as many other characters originating from Macedon. However, the DS games would instead give him pinkish hair that is closer in color to Roger’s.
Even though his portrait has pink hair, his in-game battle animations still show him with red hair. He also wears blue armor, armor that is essentially the uniform for cavalier units, except for Hardin. Matthis is also seen to be wearing red clothing underneath
In FE1, due to memory limitations, Matthis and Vyland would share the same portrait. This portrait would depict him as slightly angry, and I personally feel it doesn’t effectively get his personality across, though the same can be said about several character portraits in the first game.
FE3 would be the game where Katsuyoshi Koya would pop off and grant many characters glow-ups in terms of their portraits. While Vyland would have a portrait more resembling the Yaranaika face, Matthis would instead adopt a more goofy yet laid-back expression in addition to taller hair. While this design doesn’t get across the general timidity associated with his character, it does give off a more casual and less serious vibe in comparison to the cavaliers who joined before him. Furthermore, his expression comes off as vaguely confident, which fits well with the more confident tone he tries to display when talking to Julian or Lena.
In FE11 and 12, Matthis would receive a portrait by Daisuke Izuka, which would make him look a lot less confident and much more depressed, like a lot of the portraits in those games. This more depressed look on him somewhat fits for his interactions with characters like Marth and Kris, or when he’s encountered as an enemy on the battlefield.
In Heroes, his design was done by nekomochi (ネコモチ) and almost pays homage to his FE1 design, most notably his hair. His hair would be cut shorter to match his old portrait, and his hair color would revert to its crimson red coloring to match his sister’s, who was revealed in a previous banner. His armor, while still a basic-looking design-wise, would get some added subtle designs, most notable on his shoulder pads. His right pant leg also has a small pouch, which I like to think is where he holds Vulneraries. His pose for his standard art also portrays his character pretty well, I feel. It depicts a man who wishes to appear confident but is still too diffident to properly portray himself as such.
In Fire Emblem Heroes, Matthis is voiced by Tsuchida Reiō, renowned for his roles as Arthur (FE4) in Heroes, Hose in Beyblade Revolution, and Sota Kazama in My Senpai Is Annoying. Meanwhile, in the English version, Matthis is voiced by Sterling Sulieman, known for bringing characters like Louis from The Walking Dead and Moros from Hades to life.
Personality
One of Matthis’ defining traits is that of an angsty, overprotective older brother type. There isn’t much to add that hasn’t already been covered, but he genuinely cares about Lena’s well-being. He worries constantly about her safety, hopes she finds someone who will treat her well, and, despite believing that her rejection of the prince’s proposal ultimately led to his conscription, he never harbors any resentment toward her.
When he’s recruited, Matthis is simply relieved to find that Lena is safe. Despite his distaste for fighting, he joins Marth’s army so he can remain by her side and protect her. Likewise, in the following game, he’s able to put aside his differences with Julian after realizing that Julian wants to protect Lena just as much as he does. The two gradually come to get along through their shared concern for her.
Another prominent trait of Matthis is his cowardly and timid nature. In that sense, he’s somewhat similar to a character like Luigi, especially with his portrayals in games like Luigi’s Mansion. When he’s on the battlefield, he’s an anxious mess who just wants to see his sister again, with the pessimistic notion that he’s going to die.
One underrated aspect of Matthis’ character is the contrast between his true personality and the image he tries to project. While he’s naturally anxious and lacking in confidence, he goes out of his way to present himself as a dependable older brother for Lena’s sake.
This is reflected in the way he speaks. When interacting with Lena, Matthis does his best to appear confident and dependable. He stands firm in his convictions, is noticeably less indecisive, and rarely lets his anxiety show. His interactions with Julian similarly reflect his protective instincts. He adopts a condescending tone, dismissing Julian as a “thieving rat” and taunting him with remarks like, “Ooh, you finally realized where you stand.” He even patronizingly refers to him as “little brother” and praises him with lines like, “Attaboy!” despite the two likely being around the same age.
However, whenever Lena isn’t around, that confident façade quickly crumbles. In his conversations with Marth, Kris, or even in his own monologues, Matthis reveals himself to be rather timid, insecure, and deeply afraid of battle. He seems especially reluctant to let his sister—or anyone associated with her—see that vulnerable side of him.
Even when he tries to sound courageous, his fear often undermines his words. When recruited by Lena, he declares, “I’d rather die as one of the dashing than one of the dastardly,” only to preface it with the far less heroic, “Well, if I’m going to die anyway…”
His protective older brother instincts shine through whenever Lena is involved. Upon reuniting with her at the end of FE12, he immediately asks, “I was worried about you. Tell me, did Julian make any distasteful advances on you?”—a line that suggests he’s more than willing to confront Julian if he believes Lena has been mistreated. Which would sound rather cool if only moments earlier he hadn’t been panicking, blurting out, “What? It’s over? I’m not… dead?”
Another characteristic often associated with Matthis is his portrayal as not being particularly sharp. This is mentioned in his death quotes, his Japanese endings, and his recruitment conversation with Julian, where Julian comments on how he pities Lena for putting up with his stupidity. However, I feel there isn’t too much to really show that he’s dumb; he’s just easily manipulated and meek. Furthermore, this aspect of his character, I feel, is only really brought up in FE3/12. In FE1 and 11, he’s rather grounded.
Analysis
As I mentioned at the start of this article, Matthis, as a character, provides a comical outlier to the knightly archetype. He’s the antithesis of the traditional RPG hero character. He’s not brave, strong, loyal to his country, or shown to be really chivalrous. He’s almost like the idea of having an extra from a movie join the main cast rather than just being killed off.
What makes Matthis so interesting to me is that he represents baseline human insecurity, simplicity, cowardice, mediocrity, and simple contentment contrasted against the larger picture that is the war of shadows. This also makes him feel more relatable in my eyes.
When you first encounter him on the battlefield, he’s an anxious mess, being so sure that he’s going to die, and only wanting to see Lena once more before that. But honestly, that’s a pretty apt reaction and something that’s not often addressed in the series, so much so that it can be hard to remember that the average person isn’t suited for warfare.
It’s easy to point and laugh as a player, but unlike seasoned warriors like Jagen or Ogma, Matthis is quite literally just Some Guy™ who, by all means, should be deeply traumatized and far more resentful towards his country.
Matthis was essentially a citizen who was forcibly taken from his home, with no combat training, forced onto the battlefield as a disposable pawn, witnessing the deaths of his fellow Macedonian men, and fully aware of his slim odds of survival.
While he’s not one suited for combat, though, when Lena talks to him, he does manage to muster up some bravery, for her sake. He could have easily just left, but he chose to fight despite his fear, for what he thought was right, while also placing a high amount of trust in his sister.
Additionally, while his convo with Marth is played for laughs, it does shed some light on the inner workings of Macedon and provide the player with some more worldbuilding.
That said, FE3 and especially FE12 are probably where I think a lot of his hate comes from, as those games, I feel, flanderized his character quite a bit and lean too much into the simpleton aspect of his character, which is the only good criticism of his character I’ve really seen online.
For one, Matthis is once again forced into fighting for the enemy, though the game never explains this beyond his fear of authority. To me, this feels like a regression from the backbone he developed in the previous game. While it’s nice to see him reconcile with Julian and move past his prejudice against thieves, their conversation is played more for comedy than for meaningful character development.
In FE3, this isn’t a big deal. After his recruitment, Matthis has very little dialogue, and although he initially lacks the courage to stand against the Macedonian rebellion led by Lykke, Julian eventually talks some sense into him. Remembering his desire to protect Lena, Matthis regains his resolve and once again joins Marth’s army.
FE12, however, takes his characterization in a direction that I think misunderstands his arc. In his support conversations, Matthis expresses a desire to rescue Lena and become stronger, yet he quickly abandons his training and asks Kris to save her instead, reasoning that he won’t become strong enough in time. While his lack of confidence certainly fits his characterization and his in-game stats, his willingness to give up so easily feels at odds with the determination he displayed in FE1, his earlier recruitment conversation with Julian, and even his portrayal years later in Fire Emblem Heroes.
If I were rewriting this support, I would have paired him with Julian instead of Kris. Rather than having Matthis simply abandon his goal, I’d have him learn that relying on others isn’t a sign of weakness. Julian could encourage him to train together, allowing the support to develop both characters while demonstrating how much Matthis has grown, and add more potency to the ending conversation he and Julian have with Lena.
This would also complete a satisfying character arc. At the beginning of FE11, Matthis is an unassuming nobleman forced into unfortunate circumstances. He distrusts Marth because of his resentment towards his own prince, Michalis, distrusts thieves because of his preconceived notions, and only joins the army because Lena convinces him it’s the right thing to do. As the story progresses, however, Marth’s army accepts him despite his weaknesses, gradually teaching him that there are people worthy of his trust.
By FE12, the only person Matthis still struggles to trust is Julian. His overprotective nature—and the memory of Lena’s kidnappings—make him believe that rescuing her is a burden he must bear alone. Through training alongside Julian, however, he would come to realize that Julian shares his desire to protect Lena, and that relying on others doesn’t diminish his role as her older brother. Instead, it would show how far he’s come since the timid, distrustful man he was at the beginning of the war.
But hey, I guess the FE12 writers figured that they didn’t have enough support conversations glazing Kris…
Furthermore, in FE12, his How’s Everyone conditional quotes also don’t really do him any favors when it comes to portraying him as the cowardly but determined guy he was in the previous game.
While most of Matthis’ barracks quotes are fairly generic and don’t reveal much about his character, his experience quote comes across as oddly rude…? In the fan translation, he says, “Today, I trained for a change. Is anyone going to pat me on the back, or am I going to have to do it myself?” This portrayal makes him seem lazy, as if he expects praise for doing the bare minimum, which greatly contradicts his characterization elsewhere.
That said, this impression is largely the result of the fan translation. His original Japanese line is much more lighthearted: “All right! I actually trained today for once. I think I’ve earned a pat on the back.”
「よし、今日は珍しく訓練したぞ。がんばった自分をほめてやりたい。」
That said, Matthis has overall become a character I’ve come to admire and feel endeared by. Before, I briefly mentioned Luigi as a character that he reminds me of, but he also reminds me a lot of Jerry Smith from Rick and Morty, and Tōji Suzuhara from Neon Genesis Evangelion. He’s a really good mix of both being the angsty, overprotective older brother and also the bumbling doofus who ultimately means well.
Sibling characters like Matthis, like the Macedon royals, like Marth and Elice, and like the Whitewings always touch my heart, and it’s genuinely really sweet to see how much Matthis cares for his younger sister despite his flaws. It’s really heartwarming how strong their bonds are despite Lena’s strong-willed and courageous nature contrasting with Matthis’…everything. That’s also why it pains me a lot when I see people online try to compare Matthis to characters like Makalov when the two couldn’t be any more different.
His flaws aren’t exaggerated like someone like Makalov, and while they are often played for comedic effect, they’re also very realistic and make Matthis feel more like a human than a mythologized hero.
A lot of these traits make this otherwise filler character really stand out to me, and over my years of playing Fire Emblem, Matthis has probably become one of my favorite characters in the series.
Other Iterations
Apart from the games, he also appears in the Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken manga done by Hakoda Maki. This iteration of Matthis portrays him as a seasoned tactician and an apprentice for Generalship and is shown to be brooding, stoic, stubborn, and prideful… …So he’s an entirely different character. He makes his debut in Chapter 8 of the manga, where Lena finds him while she’s out in the woods en route to Aurelis. The two of them have a heart-to-heart, and Julian overhears the two talking.
Overcome with jealousy, Julian tackles Matthis using the justification of “He’s a Dolhrian soldier,” and Matthis falls to the ground quicker than you can say “Matthis moment.” Lena then explains to Julian that Matthis is her brother.
He’s taken back to the base that the Alteans are residing in, and they interrogate and try to convince him to join. When taken back, he explains that while he’s Lena’s brother, he’s a Macedonian soldier above all else, and can’t just switch sides and join Marth’s army. After Matthis’ refusal, Marth talks about his battle plans for joining up with Princess Nyna and requests that Julian give him enough rations so he can make it back to the Macedonian army safely. Moved by Marth’s actions, he decides to stay with Marth’s group after all.
When he joins, he reveals that he was a cartographer for Dolhr’s army and gives Marth’s army a shortcut to reaching Aurelis’ castle quicker, as they notice that the castle is undergoing an attack. They then march to Aurelis with Matthis guiding them, and naturally, the story progresses once they unite with Hardin and his group.
While cool, this iteration is, as I said, not Matthis. It’s such a far cry from his game depiction, and he retains none of the traits I mentioned previously. But this is the case for a lot of the characters in the manga, and this is not really a downside or complaint or anything like that in regards to the manga. It’s just a different interpretation of the character, and I’d honestly highly recommend checking the manga out.
Trivia
- Did you know that Matthis’ recruitment conversation happens to be the longest recruitment dialogue in FE1? And not only that, it was supposed to be longer. There exists an unused continuation of his recruitment in FE1’s ROM. This continuation was re-implemented in his recruitment dialogue in FE3 Book 1, only to be removed once more in Shadow Dragon.
- Also, in FE3 Book 2, when engaging in combat with Matthis as an enemy, the game plays the Book 1 enemy phase battle theme for some reason. This detail was unfortunately removed in FE12, because it sucks.
- In the FE3 Hideo Takayashiki novels, the surname “Claude” (クロード lit. Kurōdo) is given to Matthis, and by extension, Lena.
- Matthis is a staunch ally of the LGBT community, as shown in his third support with F!Kris in FE12.
- In EmblemCon 2022, Lena’s English voice actress, Brittany Cox, was asked about her thoughts on Matthis. She and the chat claimed he was forgettable… 😭
- In Japanese, Matthis shares the same name (マチス) as Lt. Surge. The electric-type gym leader gets his name from a shortening of Clematis, a genus of plants; in the Japanese Pokémon games, all the gym leaders are named after plants, and all but Erika were renamed in English.
- The previous point is the reason why in the Japanese ROM Hack, Biraku Emblem, he joins with a Levin Sword in his inventory.
- The Matthis Moment meme is seemingly a meme that also exists in the Japanese community, so much so that even the FE1 APE Guidebook pokes fun at the fact that he can attack Lena as an enemy.
- Matthis, amongst other characters, has fanart shared by Nintendo on their official site. All the fanart can be viewed here.
Conclusion
So, in short, Matthis good. While I can understand the distaste for his portrayal in FE12, I don’t really understand the degree of hatred he once received in the past, and I likely never will. As a unit, I found him quite fun to use in both FE1 and 3, and not too hard to get him up to speed in FE11.
As a character, he’s become one of my favorites, even when ignoring the “Matthis moment” memes, and is a character I routinely use in my various runs of the games. I don’t know if that’s unpopular to say, but regardless, I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts, and even if you disagree with me, at the very least, I hope you can understand my outlook and reasons. In any case, good night, see you in the next post!
