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Wyvern

From Fire Emblem Wiki, your source on Fire Emblem information. By fans, for fans.
Wyvern

FEMN Wyvern.png
Artwork of the Wyvern from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game.

Unit type(s)

Dragon

Weapon(s)

Fire Breath

Skill(s)

None

But wyverns can be proud. They won't warm up to anyone they think unworthy. Took me three years before this one would let me ride on his back. Oh, he hated me at first. Always snarling and snatching at me... I don’t know how many times he threw me when I tried to ride him.
— Cormag talking about Genarog, his wyvern steed.

Wyverns (Japanese: 飛竜 wyvern) are one of the dragon subspecies of Archanea and other continents in the Fire Emblem series. Wild wyverns are frequently tamed by humans and ridden as steeds for battle, comprising the Wyvern Rider class and its advanced forms.

History

Archanea

As with the other dragon tribes, the wyverns were once part of the flourishing dragon civilization in the antiquity of Archanea. This changed one thousand years before Archanea's formation, as the dragons began to show signs of deterioration. When the Divine Dragon elders recommended that dragons seal their power into dragonstones and take a human form to ensure their survival, it is uncertain whether any wyverns co-operated as no wyvern manaketes have ever been seen; either way, a large number of wyverns refused to shed their dragon lives and eventually degenerated into wild beasts. The wild wyverns lived primarily in the Mamorthod Desert, the Wyvern's Dale, and in the forests of what would later become Macedon.

Humans first adopted the art of riding wyverns as mounts during Medeus's first reign of terror upon the land, in the War of Liberation in the year 493. In the Macedon region, a revolution arose among the abused slaves to the Dolhr Empire, spearheaded by the hero Iote. Iote and his companions were the first to tame the wild wyverns for use as steeds, and with them fought back against Medeus's occupation to free the slaves. Following the defeat of Medeus by Anri, Iote founded the Kingdom of Macedon, which rapidly gained fame as the home of the dracoknights, renowned and fearsome warriors who continued to tame wyverns for use as their mounts.[1]

While wyvern-riding knights are most prevalent in Macedon, other countries like Grust utilize them as well.

Elsewhere

In other continents and worlds, wild wyvern populations are typically found only in one country on the continent, and in a similar vein to Macedon that country's military tends to be famous for its wyvern-riding knights. These countries are:

Characteristics

Physical appearance

Concept artwork of a Wyvern from The Binding Blade.

Wyverns are significantly smaller and more agile than other dragon clans, and are characterized primarily by their affinity for quick flight. Wild wyverns and wyvern-transformed manaketes breathe fire like the fire dragons, but tamed wyvern mounts appear to never use this ability, with the exception of the Savage Blow skill of Malig Knights. Some tamed wyverns, such as Cherche's wyvern Minerva, exhibit relatively high intelligence and are capable of comprehending human speech to some degree.[3] However, this ability seems to be as much a result of the skill of the rider in communicating thoughts and emotions without using words as anything else,[4] and is compared to the ability of some people to communicate with their pets.[5]

Their general appearance and number of limbs varies between different games in the series. Traditionally in European cultures, a wyvern is defined as being more serpentine in their general shape and possessing only two legs, as opposed to the four legs of traditional European dragons. In this respect, the majority of Fire Emblem depictions of wyvern mounts differ significantly from their mythological origin: some have four legs and almost all look more like a lizard or traditional dragon in their body shape. The best visual match for the traditional wyverns are the Wyvern Knights of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and The Sacred Stones, whose serpentine appearances differ greatly from the other wyverns in other games.

The number of legs shown on wyvern mounts in each game are as follows:

  • Two-legged wyvern mounts: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem, Genealogy of the Holy War (Dragon Rider only), Thracia 776 (Dragon Rider only), The Sacred Stones (Wyvern Knight only), Awakening, Fates, Three Houses, Engage
  • Four-legged wyvern mounts: Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, The Binding Blade, The Blazing Blade, The Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery of the Emblem

"Wyverns" and "dragons"

In the Japanese version of the Fire Emblem series, the classes which are referred to in English as riding wyverns are usually referred to as "Dragon Knights", specifying dragons rather than wyverns; the English versions of Radiant Dawn and Shadow Dragon do this as well. However, the dragon name primarily acts as a title for the class in these cases, and in dialogue these tamed wyvern mounts are still explicitly referred to as "wyverns" in the Japanese version, spelled the same way as the wild wyverns of Mystery of the Emblem.[6] It is thus a safe assumption that no matter how varied the appearances of these mounts are, they are indeed meant to be the same species as the wild wyverns.

Notably, the battle sprites used for wyverns in Mystery of the Emblem are identical to the the wyvern mount in the Dracoknight class's battle sprites. The Nintendo DS remakes did not retain this similarity.

Notable wyvern mounts

Wyvern-mounted classes

Thirteen classes have used wyverns as mounts throughout the Fire Emblem series.

Class data

Wyverns exist as an individual class only in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem and its remake, New Mystery of the Emblem. Wyverns attack with Fire Breath, are the only dragon class to act as an actual flying class with immunity to terrain penalties, and also possess a large movement range. The games' playable Manaketes can transform into wyverns using the rare wyvernstone items, exclusively available from secret shops, although only Tiki can use them in the original Mystery.

In Mystery, the main advantage to the Wyvern transformation was the movement bonus, but in the remake dragonstones function purely as weapons and do not allow the user to stay in that state, removing the movement benefits that were there initially.

Base stats

Game HP Strength Magic Skill Speed Luck Defense Resistance Movement Constitution Weapon level
Mystery of the Emblem 40 4 -- 0 0 0 10 5 12 -- Breath: 7
New Mystery of the Emblem 18 5 0 5 8 0 9 4 12 -- --
The stats for New Mystery of the Emblem are used to calculate the stats of a Manakete using a Wyvernstone in combat.

Max stats

Game HP Strength Magic Skill Speed Luck Defense Resistance Movement Constitution Weapon level
Mystery of the Emblem 52 20 -- 20 20 20 20 20 20 -- Breath: 20
New Mystery of the Emblem 60 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 14 -- --
The stats for New Mystery of the Emblem are used to calculate the stats of a Manakete using a Wyvernstone in combat.

Miscellaneous stats

Game Experience CRP Gold Weight mod. Capacity Vision Size
Mystery of the Emblem 50 -- -- -- -- -- --

Class growth rates

Game HP Strength Magic Skill Speed Luck Defense Resistance Charm Constitution* Movement* Weapon level
Mystery of the Emblem 50% 10% -- 10% 10% 0% 10% 10% -- -- -- --
New Mystery of the Emblem 60% 50% 0% 60% 80% 0% 50% 20% -- -- -- --
See class growth rate for more details on the mechanics of class growths in each game.

Class change

All appearances

Base class
Bs fe12 wyvern.png
Wyvern

Trivia

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language Name Definition, etymology, and notes
English

Wyvern

A wyvern is a legendary creature with a dragon's head and wings, a reptilian body, two legs, and a tail often ending in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip. The English Localization of The Sacred Stones avoids giving the Wyvern Knight's mount a distinguishing term.

Japanese

飛竜
蛇竜[7]

• Wyvern; literally "flying dragon".
• Snake dragon, this term is used in reference to the Wyvern Knight's mount in The Sacred Stones.

Spanish

Wyvern

--

French

Wyverne

Wyvern

German

Wyvern

--

Italian

Viverna

Wyvern

Portuguese

Wyvern

--

Korean

비룡

Wyvern; lit. "flying dragon".

Simplified Chinese

飞龙

Wyvern; lit. "flying dragon".

Traditional Chinese

飛龍

Wyvern; lit. "flying dragon".

Gallery

References

  1. "Once upon a time, the region of Macedon was a territory under Dolhrian rule. A century ago, the dragonkin rulers sent many slaves to these wild forests, to excavate ruins and build a country. Many slaves were forced to work to their limits, barely fed, and then slaughtered. A young man stood up against such tragic conditions. Iote was his name. He and his companions fled to the forests and fought, astride wyverns, to free the slaves. After Dolhr's demise, the slaves established their own country in these now abundant lands. And the hero Iote was chosen as their first king. And so was born the Kingdom of Macedon, later feared as the domain of dracoknights." — Opening narration of Chapter 3, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
  2. "Bern is the only country on the continent where wyverns still fly." — Eliwood, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
  3. "Miriel: That wyvern you have there appears to comprehend human speech.
    Cherche: She's a very smart girl.
    Miriel: I've read reports which claimed that ancient dragons possess the power of language. However. I'd not heard that living wyverns were capable of such feats.
    Cherche: Well, sounds like you've stumbled upon the discovery of the century, then!
    " — Miriel and Cherche, Fire Emblem Awakening
  4. "It is clear the subject, Minerva, does in fact respond to human language. However, there is no causational evidence that she understands the words themselves. It is also evident that you and the beast share a special and unique bond. Most-like this connection enables a mutual grasp of thoughts, emotions, and intent. In conclusion, there is but one rational explanation for Minerva's apparent skill. The answer lies with you, rather than the wyvern." — Miriel in her and Cherche's B support, Fire Emblem Awakening
  5. "That's not so special. Many humans say they can communicate with their pets." — Cherche in her and Miriel's B support, Fire Emblem Awakening
  6. "俺はヒース。 見てのとおり、竜騎士だ。 相棒の飛竜はハイペリオン、見た目は怖いが、いい奴なんだ。" — Heath in his and Priscilla's C support (Japanese version), Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
  7. {{cite|{{lang|ja|今までにしくじった者たち同様 あの蛇竜に惨殺される結末だ・・・|Beran in [[Turning Traitor|Chapter 10 (Ephraim's route)|The Sacred Stones}}

See also

Project Classes.png This article is part of Project Classes, a project focused in writing articles for every class present in the Fire Emblem series.
Races and animals of the Fire Emblem series
Major species BeorcBrandedDragon (ManaketeDivine DragonEarth DragonFell DragonFire DragonFirst DragonIce DragonWar DragonWyvern) • EmblemGodHumanKitsuneLaguz (Black DragonCatHawkHeronLionRavenRed DragonTigerWhite DragonWolf) • MirageMorphNabateanTaguelWolfskinZunanma
Animals and other species CorruptedFabricationGriffinHorseIllusionKinshiMonsterPegasusPhantomRisenWolf
Classes in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
Base classes ArcherArmored KnightCavalierClericHunterMageMercenaryPegasus Knight
Advanced classes BishopDracoknightGeneralHeroHorsemanPaladinSniper
Dragon classes Divine DragonEarth DragonFire DragonIce DragonMage DragonShadow DragonWyvern
Other classes BallisticianBarbarianBerserkerBrigandDancerDark MageEmperorFighterFreelancerKnightLordManaketePirateSoldierThief
Unused classes Dark KnightGuardianSea Dragon
Classes in Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
Base classes ArcherBarbarianCavalierClericCurateDark MageFighterHunterKnightMageMercenaryMyrmidonPegasus KnightPirate
Advanced classes BerserkerBishopDracoknightGeneralHeroHorsemanPaladinSniperSorcererSwordmasterWarrior
Dragon classes Divine DragonEarth DragonFire DragonIce DragonMage DragonShadow DragonWyvern
Other classes BallisticianDancerEmperorFreelancerLordManaketeSoldierThief