Introduction
It's hard not to notice the series' large cast of characters when you play through the Fire Emblem franchise. 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’s part of the latter category. So, buckle up and get ready as I fly you to Macedon to talk about the courageous yet fear-ridden cavalier known as Matthis.
For a bit of background, I initially wrote this analysis when Matthis was just added to Fire Emblem Heroes. As an unexpected addition to the 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.
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, intentionally or not.
Image taken from the fan localization of Vyland Emblem
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 well, I benched him because his stats didn’t impress me.
It wasn’t until later that I’d go online and discover how hated this guy truly was. Matthis was, bar none, the most hated character in the entire Archanean Saga and a top contender for one of the most hated characters in the entire franchise. People would constantly shit on this guy, bitch about his existence, and get legitimately angry when they saw his face or saw anyone mention him in a remotely positive light. I remember once on Twitter, I made a meme about him that wasn’t really positive—it was more so neutral about Matthis—and within minutes, someone who could only vaguely be described as a human being called me a slur for liking him.
A lot of people in the community, for whatever reason, put him on the same level as some kind of active Nazi. And to anyone who isn’t in the community, you might think I’m being hyperbolic or over-exaggerating as a way to get my point across or to be funny or something, but no, I’m being dead serious.
All the heat that this guy constantly got eventually led me to research Matthis' character to better understand why everyone hated him so much. I read all of his recruitment dialogues, his support conversations, and I even looked deeply at minor lines like death quotes and his "How's Everyone" lines.
I thought maybe everyone hated him because he was notably bad as a unit. Sophia from FE6 is very notable for being bad, and Matthis received exponentially more hate than her, so he must be unusably bad—on the level of Bantu in FE12. So, I ended up using him on my team in every game he appeared in to get a better understanding.
But none of this really helped me understand the hatred for him. While there are some things to dislike, like his mediocre stats 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, and he'll only attack Lena if you're actively trying to have him do so, and he's not even the only or first unit in the game to do something like that. Every 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, 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. Abel’s subplot involving his relationship with Est and Hardin’s unrequited love for Nyna are notable exceptions, of course. Still, beyond these instances that were only introduced in later games, many of these cavalier 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 juxtaposition from 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.
Now, normally when talking about something opinionated, like my thoughts on a character, I’d say something like “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” and give some kind of disclaimer. But you know what? T•O•O•BAD! Fuck you! You are not entitled to your opinion!
His Design
Anyways, before talking about Matthis proper, I want to talk about his surface-level traits, starting with his appearance. Matthis is an average-looking man with tall crimson hair matching his sister’s, as well as a lot of 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 with the exception of Hardin. Matthis is also seen to be wearing red clothing underneath
In FE1, due to technical or time 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 with his old portrait and his hair color would revert to its crimson red coloring to match with his sister’s who was revealed in a previous banner. His armor, while still 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.
His Name
One minor thing I want to discuss relating to Matthis is his name. In Japanese, his name is マチス (Matis) which is sometimes rendered as Machis in fan translations, because the character チ can be read as "Chi" or "Ti" depending on the context. Matis is likely a Japanese rendition of the name "Matisse," a name of French origin.
The localizations render his name as "Matthis" which has multiple origins. The first one is that it can be read as a straight interpretation of his Japanese name, as sometimes "t" sounds are translated as "th" sounds, for example, the thunder tome "Thoron," is spelled as "Torōn" (トローン) in Japanese. With that in mind, it's easy to see Matthis coming from Matis. The second origin could be that Matthis is a corruption of the name Matthias, a name of Greek origin, fitting for the Greek inspiration of Archanea. The names Matthias and Matisse are both derived from the name Matthew, which in itself comes from the Hebrew name "Mattityahu" (מַתִּתְיָהוּ), which means "gift of Yahweh" or "gift of God."
His Voice
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.
Background
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, especially by King Michalis. Eager to expand Macedon's influence, Michalis, who had already seized the throne by killing his own father, saw an opportunity in Lena. Her status as a noblewoman endeared her to the people of Grust, making her an ideal match. 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 heroic king from afar. However, Lena’s response defied everyone’s expectations. She firmly declined Michalis's proposal and left Macedon.
Matthis believed that Lena truly hated the King and also thought that the King had it out for him because of Lena’s refusal, considering that Michalis would then abruptly conscript him into the battlefield. However, in reality, Matthis's deployment was less about Lena and more about suppressing the powerful noble families who supported the old regime. Aside from Matthis, other children of noble families were sent onto the battlefield to prevent potential rebellions and, unfortunately, many of them died.
Furthermore, while it seems as if Michalis had hard feelings toward Lena, according to developer notes, Michalis understood Lena’s feelings 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 stepping 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, and 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 actually informs Lena of how terrible Macedon has become since she left, how much the king has it in for him, and how he was forced into battle. Lena tells him that he should fight for what he believes in and that he should instead join Marth's army, as they want to stop Macedon and Dolhr from tormenting innocent people, which Matthis obliges in a humorous manner.
After calming down from his initial anxiety upon joining Marth's army and reuniting with Lena, he teasingly asks his sister about her love life, to which Lena dodges the question. Matthis doesn't make a fuss about it, but then follows up with a humorous remark, saying, "Well, you just be careful. There are plenty of thieves out there who would steal a girl’s heart," an obvious jest referencing Julian's profession as a thief, of which he has no idea.
There are two interesting pieces of trivia related to this conversation. Firstly, this conversation happens to be the longest recruitment dialogue in FE1, and secondly, there exists an unused continuation of this dialogue in FE1's ROM. Surprisingly, this continuation was re-implemented in the recruitment dialogue in the third game, only to be removed once more in Shadow Dragon.
"Greet" just means him sending his "goodbyes."
After recruiting Matthis, Marth would introduce 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 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 story 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 King Michalis presumed dead, Minerva was made to take the throne, which was something she ultimately didn't want. Many Macedonian soldiers being fed up with Minerva's wishy-washy leadership started a rebellion. In particular, General Lykke alongside the Wyvern Knight Luhmer would organize the rebellion to overthrow Minerva and force a number of citizens to participate including Matthis, who was 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. Interestingly, in FE3 Book 2, engaging in combat with Matthis as an enemy plays the Book 1 enemy phase theme for some reason.
In any case, Julian and Matthis bicker at first, but Matthis quickly comes to get along with Julian over the course of the single conversation in a pretty funny way.
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.
Anyways, his first support is merely just 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 discuss a training regiment to practice.
In his third support conversation, he reveals that he gave up on this regiment. He acknowledges that there are things he can and can’t do, and he feels he can’t get stronger in a short amount of time. However, he doesn’t give up on his wish to rescue Lena. Even though he wants to protect his sister, he isn’t afraid to trust someone else to do so or help him. Aside from having the funny line of Matthis showing that he’s an LGBT ally, this support chain, while short, does show how much Matthis’ willingness to trust others has shifted throughout the games.
I really wish this support chain was with Julian instead of Kris, as I think it would've been much more potent. Nonetheless, it tells a small arc of where at the beginning of FE11, Matthis didn't trust Marth, royalty in general, or thieves. However, as the story progresses, as the people of Marth’s army take him in and accept him, he starts to trust Marth and the people in his army. In FE12, he still had reservations about Julian due to his overprotective nature and his past experience with Lena being captured by thieves and wanted to be the sole person to rescue Lena. As he got to know Kris better through training, he not only realized that there were people he could trust to help him in his mission to save Lena but also started to change his perception of Julian
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 admittingly 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, hopefully for good this time.
Key Character Traits
One of Matthis' most defining traits is that he's an angsty, overprotective older brother type. There isn't a whole lot to add that I haven't said previously, but he genuinely worries about his sister's safety, whether she ends up with a man who won't harm her, and even when her refusal of the King's proposal indirectly causes him to be forced into battle, he isn't angry, resentful, or anything like that. Upon recruitment, he's simply happy that his sister is safe and continues to fight in Marth's army to stay by her side, despite his distaste for war. Similarly, in the next game, he's able to put his differences aside with Julian when he realizes Julian wants to help Lena too, and the two of them get along through her, all while he still dislikes the idea of fighting in a war.
Another prominent trait of Matthis is his cowardly and timid nature. In that sense, he's somewhat similar to a character like Luigi. 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 anyway. But honestly, that's a pretty apt reaction and something that's not often addressed in the series. Matthis is essentially a citizen who was taken from his home, with no combat training, forced onto the battlefield, witnessing the deaths of his fellow Macedonian men, and fully aware of his slim odds of survival.
It's easy to point and laugh as a player, but unlike seasoned warriors like Samson or Ogma, Matthis is just a regular guy who, by all means, should be deeply traumatized and far more resentful towards his country. In fact, anyone who was suddenly taken away from their comfortable life and forced into a warzone, like Iraq in 2003, would likely have a similar demeanor to Matthis.
One underrated trait I enjoy about Matthis is his shift between being an anxious mess and trying to come off as a confident older brother to look up to. I mentioned this briefly before, but if you notice, Matthis has a different way of speaking when compared to characters like Lena and Julian, versus when he’s talking to Marth or to himself.
In front of his sister, Lena, he wants to present himself as a role model she can look up to. He tries to appear confident and fights on her side for what is right. He’s much less wishy-washy and shows less anxiety when talking to her. Similarly, his interactions with Julian reflect his protective nature toward his sister. He adopts a condescending tone, dismissing Julian with insults like “thieving rat” and “Ooh, you finally realized where you stand.” He patronizes Julian, addressing him as “little brother” and using phrases like “Attaboy!”, even though their ages likely aren't significantly different.
Conversely, when he converses with Marth in Chapter 4 or when he’s left to his own thoughts, his façade quickly shatters, revealing his true, cowardly self. Matthis is inherently timid and lacking in confidence, and he dreads the idea of his sister or her associates seeing his vulnerable side—the meek person whom anyone could easily walk all over. In his attempts to appear brave and self-assured, he often fails though.
He might utter words that sound almost courageous, such as “I’d rather die as one of the dashing than one of the dastardly,” only for it to be preceded by a pessimistic remark like, “Well if I’m going to die anyway…”
Likewise, his protective instincts resurface when he speaks about his sister. For instance, he boldly questions Lena, “I was worried about you. Tell me, did Julian make any distasteful advances on you?” implying he would confront Julian if any harm befell Lena. Yet, not even five minutes prior, he expressed “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 and his recruitment conversation with Julian, where Julian comments on how he pities Lena for putting up with his stupidity. However, there isn’t much else to really show that he’s dumb; he's just easily manipulated and meek.
Gameplay Analysis
As far as gameplay prowess goes... he's nothing too special. While a lot of the community would act like he's the worst unit to ever exist, he's upper-mid tier at his best and higher-low tier at his worst. 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.
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. In addition, being a Cavalier gives him an inherent movement bonus allowing him to reach places quicker, than your foot troops. Additionally, if you manage to get him to level 10, he gains a lot through promotion bonuses.
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. Unfortunately, though, FE3 would be the game where Cavalier units would get nerfed the most, dealing with either heavy terrain or forced dismounting.
In FE11, he retains the base stats he had in FE3 Book 1, but instead of his 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 irons and steels. On the bright side though, his HP growth was almost doubled between games. Unfortunately, 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. 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 nerfs received by the 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 axe, as his growths in that class are quite decent.
Other Iterations
Apart from the games, he also appears in the Fire Emblem: Ankokuryuu 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 actually 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 for Julian to 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 complaint or anything like that. It’s just a different interpretation of the character.
Conclusion
So, in short, Matthis is just a character I like a lot; I don’t really understand the hate behind him, and I probably never will. I find his timid nature to be a really entertaining juxtaposition to a lot of other cavaliers in the cast. And 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.
Before, I mentioned Luigi as a character 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 type and also the bumbling doofus who ultimately means well. Older sibling characters like that always touch my heart, and it’s genuinely really sweet to see how much Matthis cares for his younger sister despite his flaws. That’s also why it pains me a lot when I see people online try to compare this guy to motherfuckers like Makalov when the two couldn’t be any more different.
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. 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 viewpoints and reasoning. In any case, good night, see you in the next post!
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