Joshua

Joshua Artwork of Joshua from The Sacred Stones. A wandering swordsman from Jehanna. He loves to gamble.

Gender Male Race Human Family Ismaire (mother) Title(s) Prince of Jehanna Starting class Myrmidon Appearance(s) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

“	Gambling's what I live for. Even when I lose, I never want to stop.	”	— Joshua to Natasha.

Joshua, known as Jhosua (ヨシュア, Yoshua) in Japan, is the prince of Jehanna, a desert country on the eastern edge of Magvel. He first appears in Chapter 5 of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, in which he is hired as a mercenary sent to kill Natasha. If Natasha survives, she can speak with Joshua and end up recruiting him.

Joshua is shown right away to be a gambler, deciding his fate with a flip of the coin. He enjoys spending time in arenas as well. Joshua also mentions to Natasha in a support conversation that he may appear cynical.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Role

Joshua first appears in the beginning of Chapter 5 as a mercenary hired by the Grado army to defeat Eirika's army. He speaks to Natasha, who quickly rushes past him. When Natasha speaks to him during the battle, he offers her to gamble. After losing the bet, he agrees to join her side and fight against Grado.

Joshua's mother, Ismaire, dies.

In Eirika's route, the group travels to Jehanna to warn them of the oncoming war. They arrive in Chapter 14, but as the battle ends, Queen Ismaire has already been fatally wounded. Surprisingly, she calls for Joshua, her son and apologizes for not being a good mother. He is revealed to be the prince of Jehanna and son of the queen, as they talk with her dying words. As she dies, she leaves him the sword Audhulma and the wind (anima) tome Excalibur, the two Sacred Twin relics of Jehanna.

Joshua reveals that he ran away in order to learn about the people of the world, to be worthy of the crown. Tired of palace life, ten years ago, he left the royal court under the guise of a gambling mercenary. However, he regrets this as he sits by his mother's side while she dies. Afterwards, he vows to take on the monarchy of Jehanna and defeat Grado along with Eirika of Renais, Innes of Frelia, and L'Arachel of Rausten.

In Ephraim's route, Caellach mentions that he and Joshua used to be friends and comrades during a brief conversation with Lyon in Chapter 15; if you have Joshua attack Caellach, he'll confirm that fact, and that they had parted ways two years ago; he'll also talk about how Caellach used to get into fights with him (Joshua) because of his (Caellach's) desire to become king; otherwise, Joshua's identity and backstory are not mentioned at all.

Starting stats and growth rates

Myrmidon Level 5 Affinity

Recruitment: Chapter 5, talk with Natasha. Stats Growth Rates Max HP 24 Luck 7 Strength 8 Defense 5 Skill 13 Resistance 2 Speed 14 Constitution 8 Movement 5 Aid 7 Max HP 80% Luck 30% Strength 35% Defense 20% Skill 55% Resistance 20% Speed 55% {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}} Inventory Killing Edge Weapon Levels C -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Promotion stat gains

Class	HP	Str	Skill	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Con	Mov	Skills	Weapon level
Swordmaster	+5	+2	+0	+0	+0	+2	+1	+1	+1	--	+40
Assassin	+3	+1	+0	+0	+0	+2	+2	+0	+1	Silencer	--

Personality and character

Joshua says to Natasha in a support conversation that his personality makes him appear as if he is a cynical man. In support conversations with Artur, Innes, and Gerik it is shown Joshua has a tendency to cheat for victory in bets with shrewd trickery. He seems to show approval of Gerik in their A Support. In his support conversation with Natasha, he makes several bets to win her love. It is unknown whether or not if Natasha won the bet with Joshua, as Joshua states: "I may cheat, but I never worm out of a bet. It's a rule of mine." It is plausible that he first shown affection for her and really didn't wish to harm her.

In a support conversation with Artur, he learns that Joshua has a hard time fighting mages, a common fault in myrmidons with their low resistance.

In Eirika's route, the group learns that Joshua is the prince of Jehanna. If Joshua is alive, Ismaire, Queen of Jehanna, has a brief conversation with Joshua in which he reveals that he left Jehanna to view the world as a man and not a prince; he states that his motives were to leave the castle walls to understand his people. He later states that he regrets not being with his mother. If he survives up until this point, the player will gain the sacred weapons of Jehanna, Audhulma and Excalibur, from her.

In Ephraim's route, the player learns that Joshua had once been Caellach's best friend; but if and when they meet again on opposite sides of the battlefield, Joshua is well aware that Caellach just wants to be king of Jehanna (and in fact had wanted to be king for a long time) and refuses to let Caellach manipulate him to that end. Caellach calls him "a cold fish," to which Joshua replies that Caellach is "still as shameless as ever"

Supports

Main article: Joshua/Supports

Joshua Myrmidon Natasha Cleric Initial: 20 Per turn:+3 Artur Monk Initial: 5 Per turn:+2 Marisa Myrmidon Initial: 10 Per turn:+3 [[{{{support7}}}]] [[]] [[File:Is gba {{{affin7}}}affin.png|link={{{affin7}}} (affinity)]] Initial: {{{initialpoints7}}} Per turn:+ [[{{{support9}}}]] [[]] [[File:Is gba {{{affin9}}}affin.png|link={{{affin9}}} (affinity)]] Initial: {{{initialpoints9}}} Per turn:+ Innes Sniper Initial: 0 Per turn:+2 L'Arachel Troubadour Initial: 5 Per turn:+2 Gerik Mercenary Initial: 15 Per turn:+3 [[{{{support8}}}]] [[]] [[File:Is gba {{{affin8}}}affin.png|link={{{affin8}}} (affinity)]] Initial: {{{initialpoints8}}} Per turn:+ [[{{{support10}}}]] [[]] [[File:Is gba {{{affin10}}}affin.png|link={{{affin10}}} (affinity)]] Initial: {{{initialpoints10}}} Per turn:+

See Support § GBA games for more details on supports.

Endings

Joshua, the Tempest King
Joshua returned to Jehanna and ruled over it as king. His skills as a leader had grown great, and Jehanna flourished as never before. He never outgrew his love of travel and games of chance.

Joshua and Gerik
After the war, Joshua challenged Gerik to a duel in hopes of pressing him to move to Jehanna. The match ended in a tie, but Gerik was impressed by Joshua's swagger. From that day forward, Gerik never left Joshua's side.

Joshua and Marisa
Joshua returned to Jehanna with Marisa, where she pledged service to the crown and became the top swordfighter in the land. Joshua still loved games of chance, but when it came to Marisa, she was ever the winner.

Joshua and Natasha
When Joshua returned to Jehanna, he took Natasha as his bride and claimed the throne as its rightful heir. Natasha was the perfect companion, and together, they carried the mighty desert nation to great glory.

Death quote

“	First the girl, now this. Today really isn't my lucky day.	”	— Joshua, as an enemy

“	I... I guess my luck finally ran out... Heh.	”	— Joshua, after recruitment

Battle quotes

“	You'd get carried away and pick fights with me... You always said the same thing: "I will be King!"	”	— Joshua to Caellach, in Ephraim's route

“	Listen… You can’t reduce a nation to loot waiting to be divided. And more importantly, I made a vow to my mother. I’m going to succeed her as ruler of my homeland. Hey Caellach... You’re the one who killed my mother, aren’t you?	”	— Joshua to Caellach, in Eirika's route

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Joshua	A Hebrew name meaning "Jehovah is salvation", "Yaeweh is salvation", or "God rescues". Joshua was the helper of Moses who lead the Israelites through the Sinai wilderness. He was also one of the twelves spies who was sent by Moses into Canaan. He was appointed by God to continue leading the Isrealites after Moses had passed.
Spanish	Joshua
French	Joshua
German	Joshua
Italian	Joshua

Trivia

• Joshua can have supports with every recruit-able ice affinity character in the game, with the exception of Kyle.

References

This article is part of Project Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in the Fire Emblem series.