Ike (Fire Emblem)

"You'll get no sympathy from me."

- Ike

Ike is a character from two games in the Fire Emblem series, debuting in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the third Fire Emblem game released in the Western world (ninth in Japan). He is also a new playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He wields Ragnell, his two-handed sword, in one hand. Ike is the third Fire Emblem character in the Super Smash Bros. series after Marth and Roy. Ike is a very powerful fighter - one of the strongest, but he is also quite heavy and slow. Many of Ike's Special Moves are somewhat similar to Marth and Roy's special moves from Super Smash Bros. Melee, but have a few changes to them.

The Subspace Emissary
Ike makes his debut in the Subspace Emissary near the end of The Battlefield Fortress. During the story, both Marth and Meta Knight fail to stop the Ancient Minister from carrying another Subspace Bomb to another location in the trophy world. Hope seems lost for the two, until, out of nowhere, the Ragnell sword begins hovering behind the Ancient Minister, and Ike continues to use Aether on the Subspace Bomb, breaking it and deactivating it, making the Ancient Minister flee. The three warriors continue through the wasteland, finally reaching the Ancient Minister, but are unable to do anything as he floated over a cliff.

The three continue to dash onwards through The Wilds, after seeing Galleom in it's tank form. Galleom transforms into its main form after meeting the swordsmen. Ike, Marth, and Meta Knight face off against Galleom afterwards, and then continue into The Canyon. After Meta Knight had left the group after Galleom was defeated a second time, Ike, alongside Pokémon Trainer, Lucas, and Marth, are seen fighting many Primids, now with the Ice Climbers. The five "warriors" are then seen (Mario, Pit, Kirby, Link, and Yoshi) in the background, jumping off from a bluff to help fight off the army. After awhile, Ike, alongside many others, are flown into Subspace, where he and all others are turned into trophies. However, King Dedede, Ness, and Luigi recover him, and others (Kirby also helps afterwards). He and others are then pitted against The Great Maze, and then the creature whom turned the heroes into trophies, Tabuu.

Solid Snake Codec Conversation

 * Snake: This swordsman's gonna be tough to beat.
 * Colonel: Fighting Ike, eh, Snake? Ike is the leader of the Greil Mercenaries. He may look too refined to be a fighter... But he has one heck of a sword arm.
 * Snake: Yeah, he's swinging that two-handed sword around with only one hand. I don't even want to get near him.
 * Colonel: That's the holy blade of Ragnell. It's an extremely powerful sword. But don't forget, Snake, you're armed to the teeth yourself. To your opponents, you might just be their worst nightmare. The distance between you and your enemy is a crucial element in battle. Using that distance can give you an advantage against some enemies.
 * Snake: Yeah, I've got the same feeling...

Eruption
Eruption is a special move used by Ike in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is his Standard special move. It work's a bit similarly to Marth's Shield Breaker or Roy's Flare Blade. When used, Ike grips his sword, Ragnell, above his head. If the player holds the button, Ike will charge up Ragnell. When the button is released, Ike will plant Ragnell in the ground, and will blast the foe with fire from the ground. This attack can also be used in mid-air. If the special move button is released after fully charging and the foe is close, it will be an instant KO. That is extremely difficult to pull off, as it takes roughly 3 seconds to reach maximum charging time. If the attack is fully charged when Ike uses it, he does ten percent damage to himself. Although the force of the attack surrounds Ike, the fire appears farther in front of him. If Kirby copies Ike's powers, he will also be able to use Eruption.

Quick Draw
Quick Draw is Ike's side special move that appears in the Wii game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. If the player keeps the side input while attacking, Ike slices across the stage with his sword, in a similar fashion to Fox's Fox Illusion. If the player doesn't, however, he will stay stationary, and slice. This move can also be charged up by holding the attack button. The move has rather good knockback, and can also be used to recover to the stage. However, if he attempts to slash across the stage, he will stop if anyone is in the way, posing as a problem when trying to recover.

Aether
Aether is a special skill that can be used by Ike from the Fire Emblem series in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is his Up special move; he first tosses Ragnell (his sword) in the air, spinning, then quickly jumps up to grab Ragnell, hitting anyone in the way. He then swipes down with Ragnell, in a similar fashion to Kirby's Final Cutter move. He is resistant to attacks as he performs this move; he will still take damage, but he won't flinch. However, it's possible to interrupt this attack just by grabbing Ike.

Counter
Counter is Ike's down special move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The attack is performed by tilting the Control Stick downwards, and then pressing the B Button. Ike will crouch down, and hold his sword at the side of his head. Once an opponent comes to attack, he/she will miss, and Ike will automatically attack the foe. The attack must be used quickly, as it won't work if it is kept out for too long. This is the main reason the attack is hard to master, let alone use. However, the attack is very useful once done right.

Ike's Counter has a longer lag time for it to work properly, compared to Marth's and Roy's Counter. The damage that this attack does is 1.2x the damage that he would've taken from the blocked attack.

Lucario's move, Double Team, is very similar to this move, the difference being the damage dealt is affected by Lucario's damage percentage.

Great Aether
Great Aether is, as its name suggests, a more powerful version of Aether which acts as Ike's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It takes attributes from Aether, as well as a few attributes from Link's Final Smash, Triforce Slash. When Ike smashes open the Smash Ball, he starts to glow, and holds the power, until the special move button is pressed. As soon as this happens, Ike will slash upwards with his sword, but has to make sure he hits a player (or multiple players) in order for it to work. If he hits a player on the way up, no matter where the player was blasted, he will then fly directly at the player, and start slashing fiercely, similar to Triforce Slash. He continues hitting the player for a few seconds, until finally, he swipes downwards along with the opponent, eventually causing an explosion once he hits the ground. The range of the explosion is very large, and Ike is invincible while using it, so as long as he hits a foe with his sword at the start of the move, Great Aether will work very efficiently. It is possible to launch more than two players into the air at once, but as for any player not flung in the air, they can be safe, as long as they don't get blasted by the final drop. It is also possible for opposing players to attack a foe caught in Ike's attack while he's coming down. But if there is no ground below the middle of the stage on his final drop, Ike will keep falling until he, and any players caught in the attack, self-destruct.

Quotes
All quotations are from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * ''"Prepare yourself!"
 * ''"I fight for my friends."
 * ''"Great... AETHER!"
 * ''"You'll get no sympathy from me."

Trivia

 * The symbol that appears on the ground when Ike enters a battle indicates that he is using warp magic. Warp magic uses a compound known as "warp powder" to transport users from one place to another. The Black Knight (Ike's nemesis) was the only one seen using it in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
 * When Ike uses Aether to attack the Ancient Minister, he shouts "Great Aether" instead.
 * Although slow in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ike is one of the fastest characters in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
 * Ike is the very first Fire Emblem character to speak English in the Super Smash Bros. series. He's also the very first Fire Emblem character to appear as a starter.
 * In Melee, the name IKE pops up as one of the random names that players can get. However, this is just a coincidence as Ike appeared four years after Melee's release.
 * It is interesting to note that Ike's name is, and was most likely inspired by, the nickname of 34th president Dwight "Ike" D. Eisenhower.